WE ARE NO DEBTORS! WE ARE CREDITORS OF A HISTORICAL, SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL DEBT!
JUBILEE SOUTH/AMERICAS - REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON THE ILLEGITIMACY OF DEBT
Thursday, 13 September 2007
JUBILEE SOUTH/AMERICAS
REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON THE
ILLEGITIMACY OF DEBT,
STRENGTHENING RESISTANCE
AND ALTERNATIVES
Quito, Ecuador, August 17-19, 2007
FINAL
STATEMENT
The peoples of the South, creditors of
the social, historical, cultural and ecological debt, are watching with
hope and joy the new historical moment faced by Ecuador. The government
has taken an unprecedented step forward in proclaiming its decision to
carry out a comprehensive Audit of public debt, in order to determine
the legitimacy of debts still claimed of the country and set into
motion actions aimed at putting an end to the tyranny of debt,
punishing those who were responsible for its accumulation and
implementing reparatory measures.
Workshop participants from nine countries in the region
agreed on congratulating the government of economist Rafael Correa on
the step taken towards dignity and the reaffirmation of national
sovereignty. The peoples of Ecuador are on the way to recovering full
sovereignty over their territory, resources, and cultures, against the
imposed mode of production which contaminates, degrades, and excludes,
and the aspirations of the international banks, transnational
corporations, the governments of the United States, Canada, and the
European Union, and International Financial Institutions to maintain
their harmful and illegitimate operations in Ecuadorian soil. Thus,
Latin America and the Caribbean continue advancing to put an end to the
looting and plundering of resources, and to reject foreign military
presence anywhere in our continent, including Manta and the noble
nation of Haiti – particularly remembered in our discussions.
We understand the fact that the unfair international
structure of capitalism is unwilling to acknowledge the illegitimacy of
the financial debt imposed on the exploited nations of the South,
against the interests and without the consent of their peoples.
Therefore, we offer our solidarity and experience to the complex task
undertaken by Ecuador, which is aimed at establishing the illegitimacy
of certain loans and debts and put an end to their service. However, we
must also acknowledge the overwhelming evidence regarding the criminal
and genocidal activities perpetrated by capitalist powers and
companies. And in the light of a centuries old history of
dispossession, it is indeed the peoples of Ecuador and the South as a
whole, who are the true creditors and it is they – particularly the
native populations – who are demanding compensation, as a condition of
justice, for the real debt that has resulted mostly from the
irreparable damage inflicted against life, nature, and culture.
We are certain of the fact that any
legitimate financial debt has already been more than repaid, both in
financial terms as well as owing to their multiple impacts. Any Audit,
therefore, should seek to determine what is fairly owed to the
communities and peoples. A comprehensive audit not only should be aimed
at determining those who are responsible but also the corresponding
costs and penalties. The grave character of the daily plundering and
destruction of lands and life on Earth cannot admit any sort of
impunity. Those who were responsible should be identified and they
should pay. Also, processes of indebtedness that continue to lead to
the accumulation of new environmental and social liabilities should be
stopped.
Consequently, we believe that the
government of Ecuador will continue to take decisive steps aimed at
achieving legal recognition of the illegitimacy of the system of
indebtedness that is orchestrated by Northern power centers with the
complicity of treacherous local elites. Likewise, we hope that
governments of other Latin American countries will support this
sovereign and necessary action, by launching similar Audits and taking
steps to ensure that the full enforcement of human and environmental
rights is granted due priority over any financial or economic
transaction. In this context, we warn governments that within the new
framework of integration and alliances there should be no room for
development models characterized by capitalist megaprojects.
From the numerous cases analysed during our discussions
– based on unobjectionable data - we have reached the following
conclusions:
The only true and legitimate debt is that owed by the
North and the ruling classes to the South and the oppressed classes, as
well as to nature and mother Earth.
The so-called external debt is a mechanism, among
others, aimed at the ongoing control and looting of Southern resources;
it is increasingly complemented by the increase of internal debts and
the potential of further indebtedness as a result of trade and
investment treaties and the waiver of jurisdiction, such as for
example, to ICSID.
The illegitimacy of these debts together with global
capital’s failure to acknowledge its ecological, social, and historical
debts form part of a comprehensive strategy including free trade,
privatizations, militarization and the criminalization of social
movements.
We are committed to fortify our capacity building and
mobilization in order to continue fighting for an equitable and
sovereign society based on a solidarity economy, dignity, and respect
for Earth, as an alternative to the capitalist neo-liberal model.
We will move forward with the strengthening of our
strategic claims, calling for the support of those social forces and
entities in the North that have been allied to our cause.
Only an alternative of social and environmental justice
will be able to compensate, pay off, and provide reparations for the
true debts owed to our nations by International Financial Institutions,
transnational banks and companies, Northern governments, and their
Southern accomplices, as part of the capitalist system.
Finally, we call upon the peoples of Ecuador and all
Our America, to face the challenges of this moment with strength and
unity. The success of the comprehensive Audit of the debt demanded of
Ecuador, as in each of our countries, will depend on our capacity to
both strengthen and conduct it as a political-pedagogic tool, by
gathering the corresponding claims and accusations and mobilizing in
order to make sure that the results of the investigation become true
steps towards justice, non-payment, and reparations.
In that spirit, we call upon movements and
debt-campaigners everywhere to take action in support of the Audit
process launched in Ecuador, as well as in support of the creation of
autonomous financing alternatives such as a Southern Peoples’
Solidarity Bank. In particular we encourage specific actions during the
Week of Global Action against Debt and International Financial
Institutions to take place all over the world next October 14-21.
We declare our support of those Central American
popular movements and organizations that are demanding recognition and
responsibility from European countries as regards the Ecological,
Social and Historical Debt accumulated by them in the region, as a
precondition for the political dialogue and negotiations proposed by
that block within the framework of a Partnership Agreement. Likewise,
we declare our solidarity with the people of Costa Rica in their fight
to say ‘NO’ in the referendum on the Free Trade Agreement with the
United States.
WE DON’T OWE, WE
WON’T PAY-
WE DEMAND PAYMENT OF
THE ECOLOGICAL DEBT -
WE ARE THE CREDITORS.
Quito, Ecuador,
August 19, 2007
*Translation
from the original in Spanish provided by IFIs-Latin America Monitor
JUBILEO SUR/Américas
Secretaría Regional:
Piedras 730, (1070) Buenos Aires
T/F +5411-43071867
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