From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: FMLN: Alternative Development in Latin America
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 00:00:36 GMT

/** reg.elsalvador: 122.0 **/
** Topic: SAO PAULO FORUM **
** Written  9:12 pm  Sep 30, 1992 by gn:zenzontle in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
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                        Sao Paulo Forum:
                      OUR  OWN  ALTERNATIVE

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     In February 1992, 90 researchers, politicians and activists from 19 
countries came together in Lima, Peru, for a Working Seminar entitled 
"Integration and alternative development in Latin America and the 
Caribbean". Forty two papers were presented and discussed during the 
three days of the Working Seminar which laid the foundations for the 
development of specific national and regional alternatives. In this 
article we outline some of the discussions, conclusions and agreements 
of the Working Seminar. A complete and more detailed account can be 
found in the appropriately titled "Proyecto Propio Frente al Proyecto 
Ajeno" (Our own Project in opposition to the Alien Project) published 
by the Fundacion Andina, and available in Spanish at our office.   
     A number of general proposals were put forward by multilateral
organisations such as the IMF and the World Bank, and by national governments.
Most of these proposals can be described as neoliberal since they share 
some fundamental characteristics. For instance, they all give priority 
to the market as the only mechanism for allocating resources. They 
are all in favour of the privatization of the State in all its productive, 
administrative and social functions. They all assign a subordinate 
role to Latin America within the "new world order". Debt repayment 
rather than development is given priority, and consumerist individualism 
is encouraged at the expense of social solidarity. The restructuring 
of the labour force that has resulted from the internationalization 
of capital has given rise to a functional labour force (one that is 
flexible, low paid, unevenly or weakly unionized, unemployed, with 
fewer employment and social security rights).  The increasing income 
gap has brought some countries to the relative income levels of a 
hundred years ago.  Solidarismo and company unions, which have become 
an integral part of capital and the neoliberal state, have decreased 
labour bargaining power.   The extreme marginalization of women in 
the labour market has led to their marginalization and exclusion in 
their own trade unions, forcing women back to the home, on the streets 
or into the informal sector of the economy.   
     This avalanche that is trying to overwhelm labour requires the solidarity 
and structural unity of the popular forces linked in new alliances 
of a pluralist and hegemonic kind.  The necessity for our own project, 
in opposition to the alien project that is being imposed on us, also 
requires that we pose afresh the national question and revive the 
so called alternative popular nationalism.  The recovery of the internal 
market and its articulation with the external market must be shaped 
by the logic of the majority and not by the logic of transnational 
capital.   

What future for Latin America?

     The national question and the future of the whole Latin American continent 
have therefore become inextricably linked.   In opposition to the 
neoliberal perspective, many alternative proposals were put forward 
by the trade unions and peasant organizations, by the popular movement 
of shantytown dwellers, women and youth, by the indigenous organizations 
and by ecological and religious groups. 
     The Sao Paulo Forum, and the Working Seminar in particular, have provided 
an excellent opportunity to bring together and systematize all these 
different proposals. The aim is to provide an in-depth analysis of 
the common problems of the continent to create new strategies appropriate 
to an international situation where current conditions do not favour 
the popular sectors.   
     The development of such strategies is seen as a particularly important 
and urgent task for several reasons. First of all, there will be 18 
elections in Latin American countries between 1992 and 1996, and the 
left could find itself in government in several countries, while in 
other will undoubtedly play a major electoral role. Secondly, in 1993-94 
there will be further rounds of negotiations with member countries 
of the Paris Club to reschedule debt repayments, as well as related 
negotiations with international financial institutions to arrange 
new finances to service the debt. By 1994-95 most Latin American countries 
will be suspending their repayments and the neoliberal model will 
begin to crumble, primarily because of the explosive social tensions 
neoliberalism creates together with a narrowing, or downright closure, 
of democratic channels -another inevitable concomitant of this model. The 
participants of the Working Seminar predict that, by 1994- 95, there 
will also be a deepening of the economic, political and social crisis 
in USA-Latin American relations. There are also signs of internal 
crisis in the USA and it is likely that, in the near future, Europe 
and Japan will take on a major international role in direct competition 
in Latin America with the USA at the commercial, financial, technological 
and cultural levels.    
     All of these factors could open up new political spaces and opportunities 
for the progressive forces of Latin America, who could present themselves 
as a genuine political alternative capable of negotiating different 
North-South relations. The popular movements and political parties 
of the region must organize themselves at the supranational level, 
interchange organizational experiences and construct common strategies 
for action. It is becoming increasingly urgent to articulate national 
with subregional alternative proposals such as that of the Mexican 
PRD to set in motion a Continental Trade and Development Treaty; the 
appeal by trade unions and NGOs of the Southern Cone to start a movement 
for the integration of the people of this subregion; the alternative 
plans for the integration of organizations in the Andean region, in 
Central America and the Caribbean; and the network of trade unions, 
church groups, consumer organizations and NGOs in Mexico, USA and 
Canada.

This an article of "Venceremos!" (October 1992), the bimonthly newsletter
published by the FMLN Representation in the UK. To subscribe, send eight sterling
pounds to:

ELSSOC
C/o THE RED ROSE CLUB,
129 Seven Sisters Road
London N7 7QG,
United Kingdom
Tel: (071) 272 45 80
Fax: (071) 272 54 76

You can also send a donation to contribute to the organisation of the Conference
"North/South" relations" that will take place in Europe next June 1993.

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HOW  THE  SAO  PAULO  FORUM   WORKS
THE WORKING GROUP: 
Is the coordinator and steering committee, elected every year after 
a wide consultation between the members of the Forum. It works by 
consensus.

MEMBERS: 

All the movements and political parties from Latin America and the 
Caribbean that adhere and support the Forum resolutions; they also 
have to contribute to the unity of the Continent's peoples.

OBSERVERS: 

The Forum has a policy of not extending invitations. A political organisation 
can participate, nevertheless, in a constructive way with respect 
to the discussions and objectives of the Forum. Participation is also 
open to individuals and organisations that show interest in the region.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FORUM: 

More information about the next preparatory meetings in Europe, Mexico, 
USA, Canada, El Salvador and Cuba (The next Forum the 23-26 July 1993), 
can be given by the host political party. The working group will make 
the necessary consultations. A meeting about North/South relations 
will be organised by the Salvadorean FMLN, The Nicarguan FSLN and the Brazilian
PT in Europe, probably on June 1993.

You  can  also write to the FMLN Representation  in  the 
UK for further  information.
** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **
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