In the case of the Peoples' Summit the authorities want to wash our brains. An alliance between the North and South Renato Martins explains the social costs of Brazil's adherence to the neoliberal model and argues that only through hemispheric solidarity can an alternative model be forged Renato Martins, the representative of the Brazilian Network for the integration of the Peoples at the Peoples' Summit, hopes that an alliance of organisations in the North and South will be able to cut through the establishment logic and propose a real development model. He also underlines the fact that for many years, relations between the North and South have been imprisoned by the cold war logic, the southern countries perceiving the North as an imperialistic anti-communist entity while the North saw the South as a regionin a continuous state of potential chaos. Today we replace these difficult relations with collective efforts for the development of tangible, progressive and democratic propositions. It is a strategic alliance of importance, he adds, a constructive alternative to the present globalisation model can only be initiated with an international perspective.
Brazilian society lives with difficulty under the weight of neoliberalism.
Brazil has urbanised and modernised. This is what wild development with no concern for the social costs has brought us over the last 50 years. The Brazilian Network rejects the FTAA, fearing that this agreement will only consolidate this development model which has lead to exclusion. The FTAA is not a free-trade agreement. It is an agreement that will permit the financial sectors not only to exploit commerce, industry and services, but society and the State as well.