On November 30th and December 1st 2018, the heads of State of the 20 most important geopolitical countries of the world will meet in Argentina. They claim the objective of this meeting is to “address the major global challenges and seek to generate public policies that resolve them.” They fail to mention that it is their governments and policies which are the main culprits of the problems they now say they want to solve.
They claim they want to fight climate change, while they are responsible for 82% of all CO2 emissions worldwide.
They claim they are concerned about the future of work, while they promote labor reforms that destroy fundamental rights won over centuries of struggle, threaten workers’ organizations and encourage the creation of precarious jobs.
They claim there should be more and better education, while they promote policies of adjustment and privatization of public services to secure more spaces to generate profit for companies, to the detriment of public health and education systems.
They claim they are concerned about women empowerment and the wage gap, but their neoliberal policies in all spheres of government impoverish us and cause women and LGBTQIA+ people to face more and more violent realities.
They claim to want a sustainable food future, while promoting (transgenic) monocultures associated with technological packages and an extractivist model of production associated with a so-called “infrastructure for development”.
They claim to seek “consensus for equitable development”, while their informal and exclusive club of governments excludes the large majority of the countries of the world. “Equitable development” has nothing to do with the trade policy and investment protection that these countries promote through an increasing number of Free Trade and Investment Treaties which only give rights to corporations and destroy the possibilities of Buen Vivir (Living Well) of all the peoples in the world.
We, members of social movements, political organizations, anti-extractivists groups and organizations of workers, women, feminists, LGBTQIA+, indigenous peoples, peasants, migrants, students, firmly and resolutely reject the presence and the agenda of the “Group of Twenty” (G20). They are responsible for the global economic, social, political and environmental crisis, and their only proposal to resolve such systemic crisis is to deepen a model that excludes broad sectors of the population and destroys the environment.
We also denounce the farce of the so-called “interest groups” of the G-20, constituted by an elite, exclusive club of businessmen, women, trade unions, civil society organizations, think tanks and scientists, selected and endorsed by the government of Mauricio Macri. The democracy proposed by the G-20 is nothing more than a pantomime of participation: these meetings – presented as the pinnacle of democracy – are not actually binding. This means that the presidential summit is not obligated to accept what is decided in those meetings of society civil. That is not democracy; that is not consensus; that is not participation.
We warn that the organization of this Summit will further intensify the country’s militarization, in a context marked by the increase of social protests by unemployed people, women and indigenous people. Argentina will spend 3,000 million pesos (more than 150 million dollars) for this Summit, of which 1,100 million will be allocated to “security and defense”, that is buying weapons and “anti-riot” equipment and air defense. 1,072 million pesos will be destined exclusively for the two days of the Summit. Meanwhile, social assistance programs and schools are being closed, scientists and hospital staff are being laid off, state institutes and hundreds of companies are being closed and retirements and pensions are being cut, thus worsening the conditions of life of the Argentine population, affecting in particular the 32% that lives below the poverty line.
It should also be noted that the summit being held in Argentina is not a coincidence. The government of Mauricio Macri intends to take the lead in the offensive against the peoples throughout the South American region. Its agenda is the agenda of large companies and financial and speculative capital. Similarly, the negotiations of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) – currently proliferating in the continent – are carried out in the same vein; in full awareness these FTAs involve the surrendering of national industries and productive sectors of the countryside as well as the rupture of any alternative regional integration process. That is why the presence of the G-20 in Argentina affects the entire region and must thus be repudiated in all countries.
We therefore invite the peoples of the world to join the fight against the G20 in Argentina at the end of November of this year.
Let’s build bridges between our countries and peoples!
Long live international solidarity!
Let’s unite our creativity to put an end to a system that excludes, exploits, destroys, contaminates and kills!
Let’s raise our voices and our bodies against the governments of the G-20 and in favor of life!
WE ARE WAITING FOR YOU IN BUENOS AIRES!
For more information, suggestions of proposals and the signature of the Call: argentinamejorsintlc@gmail.com
