Earth Walker
May 29th, 2001, 12:04 PM
VIGOUROUSLY OPPOSE THE ADOPTION OF AN INTER-AMERICAN
DEMOCRATIC CHARTER!
THE DECLARATION of Quebec City, adopted by the heads of
state at the Third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City on
April 22, 2001, is crisis-ridden from the outset. The Declaration
contains nothing to address the real problems facing the
peoples of the Americas. On the contrary, it is an agenda put
forward by the United States and Canada to guarantee U.S.
hegemony over the hemisphere and justify counter-revolution
against the peoples fighting to open a path to progress for
themselves in the new millennium.
It is ridiculous to suggest that there can be equality between
the United States, which produces $9.3 trillion of the wealth of
the hemisphere, and the other countries of the Americas, which
combined produce $2.7 trillion. And of that $2.7 trillion, Canada,
Mexico, and Brazil produce the lion's share. The overwhelming
problems of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment cannot be sorted out on the basis of enslaving trade agreements and democracy
clauses which do not recognize the realities of life.
In spite of tremendous behind-the-scenes "diplomacy," Canada
failed to get the endorsement of Venezuela, whose President
Hugo Chavez stuck to the principle that democracy cannot be
imposed in violation of the people's sovereign right to decide.
Many others expressed the fundamental problem which faces
the Americas: without economic and social justice, democracy is
hollow indeed. The opposition of Brazil to the FTAA was swept
under the table by not having its head of state, Fernando
Henrique Cardoso, present at the final Press Conference.
Canada used its Chairmanship of the Summit to impose the
agenda of Canada and the United States to keep Cuba out and
give the Organization of American States (OAS) a mandate to
adopt a "Inter-American Democratic Charter." This Charter is to
contain imperialist institutions and a political process as it exists
in Canada and the United States which has lost all legitimacy;
and establish the mechanisms for the OAS to intervene in any
country as the U.S. sees fit, in the name of "multiparty action in
defence of democracy."
The bottom line is that the democracy the U.S. and Canada seek
to impose on the peoples of the Americas is not in sync with the
aspirations of the peoples of the Americas. The Declaration of
Quebec City is a self-serving document which establishes the
mechanisms demanded by the U.S. imperialists to force the
peoples of the Americas to submit to their dictate. For the
American and Canadian monopolies to sell their goods, plunder
the resources of others and take over their institutions, they
need to activate their "rule of law" and armed might. This is
what the Declaration of Quebec City seeks to establish.
International relations should be democratized so as to bring
them on a par with the aspirations of the peoples everywhere.
There is a fundamental need to oppose aggression and
interventions engineered by the U.S. and supported by Canada,
through the OAS or other means.
I call on the Canadian working class and people to vigourously
oppose the so-called Inter-American Democratic Charter which
the OAS has been mandated to adopt at its General Assembly
in San Jose, Costa Rica in June. It must not pass!
DEMOCRATIC CHARTER!
THE DECLARATION of Quebec City, adopted by the heads of
state at the Third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City on
April 22, 2001, is crisis-ridden from the outset. The Declaration
contains nothing to address the real problems facing the
peoples of the Americas. On the contrary, it is an agenda put
forward by the United States and Canada to guarantee U.S.
hegemony over the hemisphere and justify counter-revolution
against the peoples fighting to open a path to progress for
themselves in the new millennium.
It is ridiculous to suggest that there can be equality between
the United States, which produces $9.3 trillion of the wealth of
the hemisphere, and the other countries of the Americas, which
combined produce $2.7 trillion. And of that $2.7 trillion, Canada,
Mexico, and Brazil produce the lion's share. The overwhelming
problems of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment cannot be sorted out on the basis of enslaving trade agreements and democracy
clauses which do not recognize the realities of life.
In spite of tremendous behind-the-scenes "diplomacy," Canada
failed to get the endorsement of Venezuela, whose President
Hugo Chavez stuck to the principle that democracy cannot be
imposed in violation of the people's sovereign right to decide.
Many others expressed the fundamental problem which faces
the Americas: without economic and social justice, democracy is
hollow indeed. The opposition of Brazil to the FTAA was swept
under the table by not having its head of state, Fernando
Henrique Cardoso, present at the final Press Conference.
Canada used its Chairmanship of the Summit to impose the
agenda of Canada and the United States to keep Cuba out and
give the Organization of American States (OAS) a mandate to
adopt a "Inter-American Democratic Charter." This Charter is to
contain imperialist institutions and a political process as it exists
in Canada and the United States which has lost all legitimacy;
and establish the mechanisms for the OAS to intervene in any
country as the U.S. sees fit, in the name of "multiparty action in
defence of democracy."
The bottom line is that the democracy the U.S. and Canada seek
to impose on the peoples of the Americas is not in sync with the
aspirations of the peoples of the Americas. The Declaration of
Quebec City is a self-serving document which establishes the
mechanisms demanded by the U.S. imperialists to force the
peoples of the Americas to submit to their dictate. For the
American and Canadian monopolies to sell their goods, plunder
the resources of others and take over their institutions, they
need to activate their "rule of law" and armed might. This is
what the Declaration of Quebec City seeks to establish.
International relations should be democratized so as to bring
them on a par with the aspirations of the peoples everywhere.
There is a fundamental need to oppose aggression and
interventions engineered by the U.S. and supported by Canada,
through the OAS or other means.
I call on the Canadian working class and people to vigourously
oppose the so-called Inter-American Democratic Charter which
the OAS has been mandated to adopt at its General Assembly
in San Jose, Costa Rica in June. It must not pass!