[Peace-discuss] Fw: [socialistdiscussion] WORLD SOCIAL FORUM:

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "farooq tariq " <farooqtariq at hotmail.com>
To: <socialistdiscussion at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 4:18 AM
Subject: [socialistdiscussion]  WORLD SOCIAL FORUM:  Presidents for Feminist 
Socialism


WORLD SOCIAL FORUM:
 Presidents for Feminist Socialism

 By Mario Osava

 BELÉM, Brazil, Jan 30 (IPS) -

 "True socialism is feminist," and is already being built, said Venezuelan 
President Hugo Chávez, standing next to three other South American 
presidents, all of them men, at a dialogue that took place Thursday at the 
World Social Forum (WSF)."

 A new world is being born. Utopia is here in South America," continued 
Chávez, in a speech in which he repeatedly mentioned Fidel Castro as the 
precursor of the wave of leftwing presidents elected in the region in the 
past few years, and of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our 
America (ALBA).

 The presidents were speaking at the Dialogue on Popular Integration of Our 
America, Organized by Via Campesina, an international network of rural 
movements and groups. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, however, 
highlighted a number of differences between "21st century socialism," a 
vision he shares with the Venezuelan president, and "traditional socialism".

 One of these is "gender justice", to end discrimination against women, 
which the Ecuadorean state is promoting by, for example, paying equal wages 
to men and women government employees. "Ethnic equality", or a society that 
is inclusive of indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants, and 
"intergenerational equity" are other differences, he said.

 But the most general criticism levelled by Correa at "classical socialism" 
is that it "failed to question the development" model promoted by 
capitalism, and merely proposed "fairer means of achieving it", while 
accepting the goals of raising productivity and consumption. If China were 
to reach the same level of "development" as industrialised nations, the 
planet would be incapable of meeting the material demand, he argued.

 Today a different kind of development must be pursued, one which preserves 
nature, biodiversity and cultural diversity, he said. Twenty-first century 
socialism "is already in place", recognizing the supreme value of human 
work, defending life and the "social value" of ecosystems like "the Amazon 
rainforest, one of the planet's lungs".

 Countries of the Amazon region, unlike industrial nations which destroyed 
their forests, have conserved an environment that has "enormous value, but 
is without price", he said. Leaving oil reserves untapped, as Ecuador is 
trying to do, is a sacrifice on behalf of humanity that "should be 
compensated with at least half the income that might accrue to us" from 
exploiting the oil, he added. In the face of global climate change, 
alternative development is today "a necessity recognized even by technology 
experts", Correa said.

 "An alternative model already exists" in Latin America, and will be able to 
make great progress by means of regional integration, which already has 
financial instruments like the Bank of the South and a possible 
institutional framework in the Organisation of Latin American and Caribbean 
States, approved in principle at the regional summit in Salvador, Brazil, in 
December 2008, he said. Changes within the region, reflected in the presence 
of the four presidents regarded as being the most leftwing at Belem, owe a 
great deal to the WSF, the "assembly of humanity" which began meeting 
annually in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in 2001, the 
presidents agreed.

 "Paraguay changed because of your social movements' voices of hope," said 
Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, who took office in August 2008. He said 
he had participated in previous WSF gatherings as a Catholic bishop. 
Peppering his speech with anti-imperialist slogans, Bolivian President Evo 
Morales condemned foreign military bases on Latin American soil, the result 
of "American interventionism," he said.

 Chávez filled his speech with jokes and anecdotes, and garnered plenty of 
applause when he declared himself "a feminist", particularly from women 
participants who chanted "Just you wait, imperialist, Latin America will all 
be feminist!"

 Nearly 1,200 people participated in the Via Campesina dialogue, which was 
in effect organised by the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) of Brazil, 
a member organisation. Representatives of other social groups were invited. 
But only two women were seated at the table up front, together with eight 
men.

 Magdalena León, of the Latin American Network of Women Transforming the 
Economy, said that financial and food sovereignty, as well as in other areas 
like communications, are essential dimensions of ALBA and that small 
farmers, many of them producing at subsistence level, are the foundation of 
the "other economy" that is being built. ALBA is the brainchild of Chávez, 
and is made up of Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, Nicaragua and 
Venezuela.
 The absence of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at a gathering 
of so many South American presidents "is a matter of concern because he is 
the host", and a sign of "lack of interest in integration", Pedro 
Quimbiamba, leader of Ecuador's National Federation of Peasant, Indigenous 
and Black Organisations (FENOCIN), told IPS.

 The socialism championed by the four presidents attending the WSF, who 
support ALBA (although Ecuador and Paraguay have not yet officially joined), 
may be the reason for Lula's decision, said María Gualán, a grassroots 
organiser for FENOCIN. Electing more women presidents in the countries of 
the region "is a matter of time", Gualán told IPS, rationalising the 
predominance of male leaders as a delay in overcoming "machista" culture.

 For Ecuador to have an indigenous president, like Bolivia, will also take 
time, but "it will happen some day", said the FENOCIN activists, both of 
whom are indigenous people.

 On a different issue, President Lugo of Paraguay said "we will not rest in 
peace, and our soul will not rest, until we attain that goal", meaning a 
better price and "free availability" of energy produced by the Itaipú 
hydroelectric power station, which Paraguay sells to Brazil. Itaipú is 
shared by the two countries on conditions agreed in "a treaty signed during 
the dictatorships" in 1973, he said. Revising these conditions was one of 
the main planks of Lugo's electoral campaign last year. Paraguay wants to 
"recover its dignity" and be "treated as an equal", in fulfilment of a 
Guaraní prophecy, the president said.

 There is no reason for the dispute, according to the Brazilian government 
and the Brazilian administrators of Itaipú, because the price is fair and 
the agreement is greatly to the benefit of Paraguay. The construction of the 
gigantic Itaipú dam and hydroelectric station on the Paraná River, a border 
between the two countries, was financed by Brazil.

 For Paraguay, "A better deal than Itaipú could only be another Itaipú," 
Nelton Friedrich, the Brazilian head of coordination and environmental 
affairs at Itaipú Binacional, the company that runs the power plant, told 
IPS. Paraguay earns 700 million dollars a year without having invested a 
single dollar. Brazil bore the cost of the works, and at one point the 
foreign debt incurred for the construction of Itaipú represented 20 percent 
of the total Brazilian national debt, Friedrich said. Furthermore, in the 
first few years of its operation, when Brazilian demand was too low to 
absorb a large proportion of the energy generated by the plant, the 
Brazilian government obliged electricity distribution companies to buy and 
pay for electricity from Itaipú, thus benefiting Paraguay, he said.

 Itaipú Binacional's debt now stands at 18 billion dollars, and is falling. 
In 2023, when the treaty expires, the debt will be liquidated. Paraguay will 
receive half of the power station, whose market value today is 60 billion 
dollars, and will be able to sell the electricity to whomever it wants, he 
concluded.

 At present, Paraguay only consumes five percent of the electricity 
generated, and is obliged by the terms of the treaty to sell Brazil all the 
rest of its share of the energy at predetermined rates.

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