Porto Alegre Manifesto
Encyclopedia
The Porto Alegre Manifesto is a proposal for social change produced at the 2005 World Social Forum. It outlines "twelve... proposals, which [its authors] believe, together, give sense and direction to the construction of another, different world." The authors argue that "if they would be implemented, it would allow citizens to take back their own future. We therefore want to submit these fundamentals points to the scrutiny of actors and social movements of all countries." These proposals are divided into Economic Measures, Peace and Justice, and Democracy.
for southern countries.
2. Implement international tax on financial transactions, i.e., Tobin tax
.
3. Dismantle all tax haven
s and corporate haven
s (described as "paradises").
4. Universal right to employment, social protection and pensions.
5. Promote fair trade
and reject all free trade
agreements and World Trade Organization
laws, emphasizing the importance of education, health, social services and cultural rights
over commercial rights.
6. Guarantee of food security
to all countries by promoting rural, peasant agriculture
.
7. Outlaw patenting of knowledge on living things and privatization
of "common goods for humanity", i.e., water.
to fight discrimination
, sexism
, xenophobia
, antisemitism and racism
and fully recognize the political, cultural and economic rights of indigenous peoples.
9. Take steps to end environmental destruction and the greenhouse effect
using alternative development
models.
10. Dismantle all foreign military bases and the removal of troops from all countries except those under the explicit mandate of the United Nations
.
, guarantee the autonomy of journalists, and favor alternative media
.
12. Reform international institutions based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and incorporate the World Bank
, International Monetary Fund
and WTO into the United Nations.
, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
, Eduardo Galeano
, José Saramago
, François Houtart
, Boaventura de Sousa Santos
, Armand Mattelart
, Roberto Savio, Riccardo Petrella, Ignacio Ramonet
, Bernard Cassen
, Samir Amin
, Atilio Boron, Samuel Ruiz Garcia, Tariq Ali
, Frei Betto
, Emir Sader, Walden Bello
, and Immanuel Wallerstein
.
Economic measures
1. Debt cancellationDebt relief
Debt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations. From antiquity through the 19th century, it refers to domestic debts, in particular agricultural debts and freeing of debt slaves...
for southern countries.
2. Implement international tax on financial transactions, i.e., Tobin tax
Tobin tax
A Tobin tax, suggested by Nobel Laureate economist James Tobin, was originally defined as a tax on all spot conversions of one currency into another...
.
3. Dismantle all tax haven
Tax haven
A tax haven is a state or a country or territory where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all while offering due process, good governance and a low corruption rate....
s and corporate haven
Corporate haven
A corporate haven is a jurisdiction with laws friendly to corporationsthereby encouraging them to choose that jurisdiction as a legal domicile.- History :...
s (described as "paradises").
4. Universal right to employment, social protection and pensions.
5. Promote fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
and reject all free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
agreements and World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
laws, emphasizing the importance of education, health, social services and cultural rights
Cultural rights
The cultural rights movement has provoked attention to protect the rights of groups of people, or their culture, in similar fashion to the manner in which the human rights movement has brought attention to the needs of individuals throughout the world....
over commercial rights.
6. Guarantee of food security
Food security
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
to all countries by promoting rural, peasant agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
.
7. Outlaw patenting of knowledge on living things and privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
of "common goods for humanity", i.e., water.
Peace and justice
8. Use public policiesPublic policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
to fight discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
, sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
, xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
, antisemitism and racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and fully recognize the political, cultural and economic rights of indigenous peoples.
9. Take steps to end environmental destruction and the greenhouse effect
Greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface, energy is transferred to the surface and the lower atmosphere...
using alternative development
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
models.
10. Dismantle all foreign military bases and the removal of troops from all countries except those under the explicit mandate of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
Democracy
11. Guarantee the right to information and the right to inform through legislation that would end concentration of media ownershipConcentration of media ownership
Concentration of media ownership refers to a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media...
, guarantee the autonomy of journalists, and favor alternative media
Alternative media
Alternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
.
12. Reform international institutions based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
and incorporate the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
and WTO into the United Nations.
Signatories
The signatures of the manifesto (so-called "Group of Nineteen") are Aminata TraoréAminata Traoré
Aminata Dramane Traoré is a Malian author, politician, and political activist. She served as the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Mali from 1997 to 2000 and is a former coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme...
, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel is an Argentine sculptor, architect and pacifist. He was the recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize.-Biography:Pérez Esquivel was born in Buenos Aires to a Spanish fisherman who emigrated to Argentina...
, Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Hughes Galeano is a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist. His best known works are Memoria del fuego and Las venas abiertas de América Latina which have been translated into twenty languages and transcend orthodox genres: combining fiction, journalism, political analysis, and...
, José Saramago
José Saramago
José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...
, François Houtart
François Houtart
François Houtart is a Belgian marxist sociologist and Catholic priest.He studied philosophy and theology at the seminary of Mechelen and became a priest in 1949. He earned a masters degree in political and social sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven . He earned a degree at the...
, Boaventura de Sousa Santos
Boaventura de Sousa Santos
Boaventura de Sousa Santos is a Professor of Sociology at the School of Economics, University of Coimbra. De Sousa Santos has taught in various universities including Yale, Wisconsin-Madison Law School and University of Warwick...
, Armand Mattelart
Armand Mattelart
Armand Mattelart is a Belgian sociologist and well known as a Leftist French scholar. His work deals with media, culture and communication, specially in their historical and international dimensions....
, Roberto Savio, Riccardo Petrella, Ignacio Ramonet
Ignacio Ramonet
Ignacio Ramonet is a Spanish journalist and writer.He was the editor-in-chief of Le Monde diplomatique from 1991 until March 2008....
, Bernard Cassen
Bernard Cassen
Bernard Cassen is a founder of ATTAC and director general of Le Monde diplomatique newspaper, from 1973 to January 2008.-References:**...
, Samir Amin
Samir Amin
Samir Amin is an Egyptian economist. He currently lives in Dakar, Senegal.- Biography :Samir Amin was born in Cairo, the son of an Egyptian father and a French mother . He spent his childhood and youth in Port Said; there he attended a French High School, leaving in 1947 with a Baccalauréat...
, Atilio Boron, Samuel Ruiz Garcia, Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
, Frei Betto
Frei Betto
Carlos Alberto Libânio Christo, O.P., better known as Frei Betto is a Brazilian writer, political activist, liberation theologist and Dominican friar. He was imprisoned for four years by the military dictatorship for smuggling people out of Brazil...
, Emir Sader, Walden Bello
Walden Bello
Walden Bello is a Filipino author, academic, and political analyst. He is a professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines Diliman, as well as executive director of Focus on the Global South...
, and Immanuel Wallerstein
Immanuel Wallerstein
Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein is a US sociologist, historical social scientist, and world-systems analyst...
.