http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/ Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:48:42 CET Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:48:42 CET http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8029 (Speech at the Conference on “Regional Integration: an Opportunity Presented by the Crisis”, Universidad de Deportes, Asuncion, Paraguay, July 21-22, 2009.) Globalization has ended in massive failure. One response to this crisis has been to dump export-oriented industrialization and reemphasize the primacy of the national market in sustaining economic growth. Another response, complementary to this, has been to build regional associations or regional blocs. Regional economic blocs ar ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8028 (Presentation at the Conference on “Regional Integration: an Opportunity Presented by the Crisis”, Asuncion, Paraguay, July 21-22, 2009.) What I will tackle this evening is an updated version of the notes I used for the Regional Integration: Opportunities to Face the Crisis conference in Asuncion, Paraguay, and the Philippine WS on ASEAN, earlier this year. There is no claim that regional responses are the only viable responses to the global crisis, but hopefully we would be able to determine ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8027 * Parts from this paper were presented at International Conference of governments and social movements “Regional Integration: an opportunity to face the crises” (21 and 22 July 2009, Asunción del Paraguay) [1] As is well-known to social movement analysts and activists in Southern Africa, there are long-standing fundamental motivations for economic and political unity - or at least strategic cooperation and tactical coordination - between the countries of Southern Africa, and the African conti ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8026 The Hugo Chavez administration has invested during its 11 years in power $330 billion dollars in social programs, more than 60 percent of the overall income during that period, said today the president of the National Institute of Statistics Elias Eljuri . According to the official, governmental policies have reduced poverty and extreme poverty, unemployment and wealth unequal distribution, while ensuring health and food for the vast majority of citizens. Not even with the economic downtur ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8025 Bolivian President Evo Morales will leave for Chile tomorrow at the head of a flight with assistance to help earthquake victims in Chile, confirmed today the deputy minister of Civil Defense Hernan Tuco. In statements to Prensa Latina, Tuco said the president will fly in a Bolivian Air Force with a load of 40 tons of powdered and condensed milk. He added that the departure is planned for the morning, and should mark the beginning of Morales\' visit to the Chilean nation, to participate in ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8024 My request to interview President Hugo Chavez Frias of Venezuela was finally granted on March 2nd while we were down in Montevideo, Uruguay with President Chavez for the inauguration of the new left-ish president and freedom fighter, Jose Mujica. The reasons I went down to Venezuela with my team of two cameramen were two-fold. First of all, I just got tired of all the misinformation that is spread in the US about President Chavez and the people’s Bolivarian Revolution. In only one example, ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8023 The National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) announced on Tuesday the carrying out of a consultation to the population to create a constituent assembly to refound the country. The Front specified in a press release that the action will take place on June 28, a year after the coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya. The coup army, which is supported by the leaderships of traditional parties, business associations and the church, prevented the carrying out on that day of a national poll ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8022 The UN held a High-Level Conference on South-South Cooperation in December 2009 in Nairobi. Vicente Yu of the South Centre participated in the Conference. His statement at the Conference highlighted the South’s own definition of South-South Cooperation and how this must be respected in light of attempts by the North to define S - S Cooperation in their own light. Below are excerpts from the statement. Introduction The South Centre places great importance on this High Level Conference on So ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8021 Venezuela\'s revolution has often been tied to the slogan “Socialism in the 21st Century.” What might that might mean concretely in changes under way in the renationalised state telecommunications company, CANTV? TNI fellow, Daniel Chavez has been part of a team of international advisers working with Venezuelan researchers and CANTV to review the the state telecommunications company\'s history and put forward proposals for converting it into an effective socialist public company. Tell us a ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8020 The sharp north-south divide on intellectual property rights (IPR) remains unresolved after the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 7-19 December 2009. Negotiations on this issue in the AWG-LCA has been polarized with developed countries insisting that there should be no reference to IPRs and developing countries advancing proposals on measures that can be taken to remove barriers to the development and transfer of technologies arising from IPRs. Developed ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8019 9 March In spite of its considerable natural resources, this country of 10 million inhabitants is one of the poorest in Latin America. In 1952 Bolivia went through a major revolutionary upheaval leading to land reform, nationalization of mines, free, compulsory education and universal suffrage. From 1971 to 1978, Bolivia was under the iron rule of Hugo Banzer’s military regime. From 1985 on, the worst kind of neo-liberal policies were enforced on the country. To bring 20 years of such polici ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8018 The South Centre workshop session on climate change saw an interesting reflection on what happened at the UNFCCC’s Copenhagen Conference, on the multilateral negotiations, the Copenhagen Accord and what should happen next. The Chair of the session, Chief Emeka Anyoaku, said that much hope was placed on the Copenhagen Summit, but there was an early universal verdict that the outcome was far less than satisfying. Bernarditas Muller, the G77 and China coordinator for the Ad-hoc Working Group ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8017 Published on March 9th 2010 Yesterday Venezuela celebrated International Women’s Day with a ceremony involving 200,000 women and some of Venezuela’s highest political female leaders. The women also formed a Bicentenary Front of Women. Meanwhile, a National Assembly committee is discussing women’s right to abortions. In Caracas president Hugo Chavez, attorney general Luisa Ortega, president of the National Electoral Council Tibisay Lucena, Minister for Women Maria Leon, Human Rights Ombudsp ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8016 7 March If we are to believe the G-7 finance ministers, Haiti is on its way to getting something it has deserved for a very long time: full \"forgiveness\" of its foreign debt. In Port-au-Prince, Haitian economist Camille Chalmers has been watching these developments with cautious optimism. Debt cancellation is a good start, he told Al Jazeera English, but \"It’s time to go much further. We have to talk about reparations and restitution for the devastating consequences of debt.\" In this tel ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8015 Sunday, March 07, 2010 “The donkey is an intelligent animal because it never forgets where it can eat.” – Farmer, Ex-Guerrilla and current Uruguayan President José “Pepé” Mujica, in an interview with La Brecha. The smell of fried food and sausage sandwiches filled the Montevideo air as José “Pepe” Mujica assumed the presidency of Uruguay on Monday, March 1st. Street vendors lined the inauguration parade route selling Uruguayan flags to the boisterous crowd which cheered, “Olé, olé, olé, Pe ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8014 Sunday, March 07, 2010 March is Women’s History Month, recognizing women’s central role in society. Unfortunately, violence against women is epidemic in the United States and around the world. Domestic violence is on the minds of many now, as reports published by The New York Times implicate New York Gov. David Paterson in an alleged attempt to influence a domestic violence case against one of his top aides. The Times reports, based in part on unnamed sources, say that the Paterson aide, D ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8013 “To produce more or to live well” expresses one of the central contradictions of the struggle between growth models according to the Belgian philosopher François Houtart. On the one hand, an increase of production - even under more socially just conditions and more acceptable for all - would mean putting in danger the well-being of important parts of the population, in particular indigenous peoples, says Houtart, who is executive secretary of the World Forum of Alternatives. On the other hand, h ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8012 Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Relations called allegations linking the Venezuelan government to the Basque separatist movement, ETA, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, politically motivated and unacceptable in a statement released on Tuesday. The allegation of collusion with terrorists was made Monday by the Spanish Judge Eloy Velasco, who accused the Chávez government of protecting an alliance between the Colombian guerrilla movement and ETA. ETA, known by its Basque ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8011 In an impressive and well coordinated smear campaign, the Spanish corporate media has launched a preemptive strike against President Hugo Chávez. The print media included Público, El País, ABC, El Mundo, La Razón, Cadena Ser, COPE, Libertad Digital as well as the TV Channels. The media campaign then spread world-wide to the BBC, CNN, Fox News and of course the internet was flooded with this explosive story. As usual, the finger of guilt was pointed at Venezuela and President Chávez in particu ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8010 Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez, responded yesterday to a call by US Senators Christopher Dodd and Richard Lugar to open a debate on Venezuela’s human rights record, stating that such a move is “tantamount to intervention.” Sen. Dodd (Democrat – Connecticut) and Sen. Lugar (Republican – Indiana) have called for a hearing to be held at the Organization of American States (OAS) after the organization’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) released a 35 ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8009 Uruguayan President-elect Jose Mujica, of the governing Frente Amplio (FA), noted that important causes \"need to be supported by those collective beings who are the parties and organized people.\" Mujica, who was quoted by the newspaper La Republica, noted that \"without collective tools that fit our right to self-determination and personalities, great causes fail because they need the parties that are the ones that replace the fiber of the struggle in a long process,\" he said. The presi ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8008 The US authorities continue to harbour Branko Marinkovic, a leader of the Bolivian right-wing opposition accused of financing a terrorist cell to assassinate Bolivian President Evo Morales. Evidence has now come to light that the CIA was receiving information from contacts close to the very same terrorist cell. On April 16, 2009, Bolivian police stormed one of the rooms in the Hotel Las Americas in Santa Cruz to break up a group of foreign and Bolivian mercenaries who were part of a plan t ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8007 Today, while those in power wage a campaign of media disinformation to prepare the scene for the 2011 presidential elections, peasant communities of Ayabaca, Piura continue to fight multinational mining corporations. With government support, these companies continue to explore for and exploit mineral deposits, ignoring residents’ concerns about the environment and the water supply. Upside Down World interviewed Mario Tabra Guerrero, one of the leaders in this fight, and president of the Frente ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8006 In January, Bolivia’s left-wing President Evo Morales began his second term by appointing a new cabinet in which women are equally represented for the first time. Morales, Bolivia’s first president from the nation’s long-oppressed indigenous majority, is leading a revolutionary process of transformation. The 10 women ministers are from a wide range of backgrounds, and three of them are indigenous. Introducing the new ministers, Morales said: \"My great dream has come true — half the cabine ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8005 On Saturday 700 hundred delegates at the 13th meeting of the four month long United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) extraordinary congress unanimously approved internal regulations for nominating PSUV candidates to the National Assembly elections in September. All 7 million members registered in the party will be eligible to vote in a process monitored that the National Electoral Council (CNE) will supervise, using its technology. All party members may nominate themselves or others betwee ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8004 A little more than two months ago, an article appeared on NACLA’s website purporting to be “an objective assessment of President Daniel Ortega’s government in Nicaragua . . . [and] the programs it has put in place that are improving the lives of the poor.” Solidarity activist Katherine Hoyt wrote the article, which was based, she said, on the findings of a 10-person delegation to the country sponsored by the Nicaragua Network. Unfortunately, the article lacked any discussion of the broader polit ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8003 Gathered in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in the occasion of the events held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the World Social Forum and facing a new aggressive escalation of imperialism, we, members of social and popular movements, networks and organizations with varied aims, meet once more in a campaign that is similar to the one we organized against the FTAA in order to affirm that Latin America is a peaceful region and to say no to foreign military bases! For more than a decade, Latin America ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8002 From 21 January to 2 February 2010 Eric Toussaint and Olivier Bonfond, both involved in alterglobalization activism, members of the International Council of the WSF, of the world coordination of social movements, and of the international network CADTM (Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt), participated in various international events and meetings in Brazil: international seminar of social movements (Sao Paulo, 21 - 23 January), international youth camp at Novo Hamburgo, internati ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8001 The January earthquake only added to the natural, and unnatural, calamities that have caused misery in Haiti since the slave revolt that launched it more than 200 years ago. The earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January may have killed 150,000 people, and certainly put over a million refugees on the streets and any scrap of open land. Haiti has a history of not quite natural calamities: a heavy storm can kill several people and cut off a district. At Pétionville in November 2008, a storm dem ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=8000 The article below is the call issued by Bolivian President Evo Morales for the People’s World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights to be held in Cochabama, Bolivia, over April 19-22. A number of Australians are already planning to travel to Bolivia to attend. If you are interested in taking part in the Australian contingent, email weekly.greenleft@gmail.com. For more information on the conference, at which the Bolivian government expects as many as 10,000 people to attend, visit ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=7999 A country of sharp inequality and class polarization, Honduras recently returned to the frontlines in the battle for Latin America’s soul. The terrain of struggle has shifted on multiple occasions over the last seven months, following the military coup against the democratically-elected President, Manuel “Mel” Zelaya. The battle entered its latest phase last week with the ascension to power of Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo. Lobo was inaugurated on January 27, following his victory in the fraudulent Novem ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=7998 Dominican President Leonel Fernandez assured on Saturday that \"Haiti claims and is worthy of a better future and ratified a world summit to set commitments of aid will be held next June. Solidarity with Chile alter the earthquake that shook the country today, was also expressed by the president when he presented a report on his performance in 2009. In a long speech lasting 1.43 hours, Fernandez reviewed the state of the economy of his country last year, which he termed as dismal as a resu ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=7997 The second paragraph of a January 27 article in Venezuelan daily El Universal entitled “Riot leaves at least 7 dead and 17 wounded in La Planta” announces that “a little after 9 this morning, inmates in the La Planta prison, mainly in cell blocks 1, 2 and 3, initiated a shootout. Meanwhile the National Guard responded with shots from above.” The fact that the Caracas prison inmates have obtained materials with which to initiate a shootout suggests that the National Guard, tasked with prison secu ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=7996 Johnny Rivas is a vocal member of the Unified Movement of Aguan Farmers (MUCA), an organization that claims over 3,500 families demanding the redistribution of land in the North Coast of Honduras. For over five years Rivas has fought for land rights in Aguan, known as the ‘capital of agrarian reform.’ MUCA formed in 2001 in order to reclaim lands that Rivas says \"were transferred to corrupt businessmen under fraudulent terms.\" Rivas has recently been a target of constant death threats for his ... http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/EN/readarticle.php?article_id=7995 Leaders of the ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS) have organized a mass demonstration for Sunday along main streets of the capital in support of their candidates for regional elections, slated for April 4. The march to be led by President Evo Morales is also expected to include candidate for the post of governor of La Paz Cesar Cocarico, candidate for Mayor of La Paz, former deputy Elizabeth Salguero, and candidate for the post of mayor of El Alto city Edgar Patana. Candidates for the ...