|
Trouble
brewing in Davos
and Porto Alegre
BY
JOAQUIN ORAMAS
THE threat of
U.S. military aggression against Iraq and the situation in
Venezuela provoked by a pro-U.S. opposition are the main
focuses of attention for thousands of participants at the
World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and the World
Economic Forum, Davos. In a clash of interests, both meetings
are taking place on January 23-28.
Tens of
thousands of party leaders, non-governmental organizations
(NGO’s) and other sectors are meeting in the Brazilian city,
matched by an equal number of businesspeople representing the
huge corporations taking part at the other meeting in the
Swiss mountain tourist resort. All of them will be analyzing
the international economic situation from their own point of
view, but through a fundamental prism: Will there be war in
the Middle East in the next few weeks? How can we deal with a
situation originating with an increase in oil prices, given
the consequences of the Bush administration’ threats against
that Arab country and the opposition’s destabilizing
campaign aimed at the Venezuelan government?
This time, the
Davos and Porto Alegre camps will be in agreement that the
acute crisis in the world economy was dangerously increasing
even before the destruction of the Twin Towers.
Capitalists
gathered in the Swiss ski resort will not be able to disguise
that reality after the collapse
of the Argentine economy, the U.S. Federal reserve’s
consecutive and unheard of series of 11 cuts in interest rate,
and the alarming situation facing Japan, where the economy has
been stagnant for the last few years.
These will not
be the only topics at the two forums, but the dangers that war
and oil bring with them are so grave and universal that the
negative consequences for everyone mean that the problems must
be thoroughly analyzed.
Because if the
great capitalist bloc is going to be discussing markets and
investments in Davos, then it cannot avoid the damage to and
loss of confidence in investments and other factors that enter
into such negotiations.
In the conclave
of the powerful, the United States will reiterate its official
refusal to reduce its strategic oil reserves (600 million
barrels) vis-à-vis the crisis in the supply of that resource
and high prices. But that will not halt the lack of
confidence.
Meanwhile, at
the Brazilian forum, voices demanding measures enabling
millions of people to receive the food they lack are becoming
even louder.
Currently,
hunger and poverty - the main enemies of Latin America and the
Caribbean - are the consequences of erroneous national
policies, successive international economic crises and U.S.
restrictions on agricultural exports. These problems figure
among the main causes of poverty for 65% of the region’s 516
million inhabitants, causing extreme poverty for 38% and
malnutrition for 11%.
But this data,
contained in a report from last June’s World Food Summit,
excludes increased hunger in Latin America, a continent that
over the last few years has been punished by earthquakes,
hurricanes, drought and the level of its respective
governments’ political and administrative corruption.
Haiti, where 62%
of the population is suffering from hunger, must also be added
to the list of countries experiencing serious economic
problems. In Colombia and Peru, hunger affects one out of
every four persons; in Mexico, 40 million out of a total
population of 100,000 inhabitants suffer some degree of
malnutrition in infancy.
The Latin
American and Caribbean continent is no longer the main
recipient for international aid. The end of 2002 saw the fifth
year of low growth rate in the region, with a fall in GDP
production to 0.1%; high inflation; and 9.1% unemployment: 50%
of the workforce had no steady jobs.
Nor are there
any sustainable regional or governmental projects to confront
this scourge. The only exception is Brazilian President Lula
da Silva’s Zero Hunger Program, the first measure taken by
his government after his January 1 investiture.
Lula’s plan is
a completely new idea in Latin America; it is an attempt not
only to overcome hunger in Brazil, but also inaugurates
sustainable programs with a view to creating employment and
areas of production benefiting the poor.
The goal of the
Zero Hunger Program is for those 22 million Brazilians
affected by poverty to eat three meals per day within the next
four years; a number that the independent Brazilian Forum for
Food Security intends to double, equaling 16% of the
country’s inhabitants.
Twenty-one lines
of action combining structural policies such as agrarian
reform and extending social provision to illegal workers have
been developed, plus other specific and local plans including
distributing food coupons and increasing snacks for school
pupils.
The Brazilian
leader is the only president attending both important
international events in Porto Alegre and Davos, and he plans
to inaugurate the former. Some 100,000 participants are
expected, comprising trade union leaders, representatives from
ethnic groups, NGO’s, political parties, and others.
The Porto Alegre
forum is to discuss the situation created by the region’s
poverty, advances in the battle against neoliberal
globalization, development of environmental awareness and
protest against the U.S. war campaign under the pretext of
combating terror.
An essential
aspect of the Brazilian agenda is the problems resulting from
the region’s poverty. The topic has been suggested by
different international organizations such as the World Food
Program (WFP), which confirmed in 2002 that some 72 million
Latin American and Caribbean citizens are in extreme need of
foodstuffs and suffering from hunger, a situation that is set
to worsen this year.
Among the
important issues that analysts consider priorities is the
threat of hunger affecting more than 200 million of the
region’s inhabitants who are vulnerable to the announced
worsening of the economy or to fresh natural disasters.
According to
World Food Summit reports, Central America’s hungry
population has grown from 17% to 19% over the last ten years;
Caribbean figures show a rise of 26% to 28%. In the last 10
years, some 200 Central American children died of starvation,
and over eight million people are affected in the poorest and
most arid areas of the Isthmus.
Paradoxically,
Latin America and the Caribbean contain 25% of the world’s
cultivatable land, 23% of its livestock and around 30% of
potable water reserves, according to UN Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO) experts.
Via sustainable
development, these resources could be used to obtain food for
all the region’s inhabitants and provide hard currency and
sources for developing other economic sectors, adds the FAO.
Argentina, for
example, produces enough food for 300 million - 12 times the
country’s population. However, hunger is chronic in the
poorest communities and, after the December 21 debacle, things
are becoming worse and moving into other social strata.
The nation’s
state-run National Statistics and Census Institute (Indec)
indicates that more than 52% of the 37 million Argentines are
poor and 26% are extremely poor, that is to say do not have
the minimum income needed to survive.
The most
dramatic cases are found in the infant population. Indec data
from 2001 indicates that every year, 11,000 under-ones die in
Argentina. But 6,000 of these deaths are preventable - they
are linked to poverty-induced diseases such as malnutrition
and diarrhea.
The situation
can only be compared with the consequences of a “war or
natural disaster” despite the fact that neither situation is
occurring in any of the region’s countries, pointed out
Pablo Vincur, UN Development Program (UNDP) advisor.
The profound
Argentine crisis has affected its neighbor Uruguay. Although
the latter nation is an excellent food producer, there are
currently severe problems of hunger in its infant population,
60% of whom live in poor homes.
Analysts reveal
that Uruguayan food centers sponsored by non-governmental and
religious groups and subsidized by international organizations
have quadrupled in the last six year. That makes it certain
that Porto Alegre will also be the venue for denunciations
from the NGO’s of the nation once dubbed the Switzerland of
the Americas and now another victim of neoliberalism.
|
