chavez

This declaration appeared nowhere in the mainstream media but it is an important statement of an alternative direction to the desperate attempts to save the failing system of corporate capitalism.  There is almost no debate of these issues north of Mexico but we need to learn from the reinvention of a real social economy and deep democracy in many Latin American countries.  This is statement is a good summary of the values underlying this reinvention.  Here is an excerpt

The solution will not be found in continuing to convert everything – including life itself - into mere commodities. Instead, the solution must be one that puts ‘Living Well’ for all people above the profits of a few. It is not a question of resolving a financial crisis, but rather overcoming all of the dimensions of the crisis - which include the food, climate and energy crises. This requires guaranteeing the people’s food sovereignty, putting an end to the pillaging of the South’s natural resources, paying the ecological debt that is owed to the South and developing sustainable energy strategies.

 Full statement below

Latin American leaders will meet with Barack Obama on Friday in a summit of the Americas that will no doubt signify the shift in the balance of powers between the United States and Latin America, which has been taking place over the last decade. In January, another historic summit took place when four of these Presidents, Hugo Chavez, Brazil's Lula, Evo Morales and Rafael Correa of Equador addressed the World Social Forum in Brazil expressing their solidarity with the very movements who opposed the Summit of Americas in Quebec City in 2001.