still have to arrive colleagues who are going to add to this table but good
not to take so much time either we are going to start this night of the summit of
the peoples and welcome to all thank you very much for your presence
we also wanted to thank the platform 11 11 11 for lending and hosting us in
these locals in brussels
well we are here present because a very special event is going to take place in
July in 2023 this year that will be the summit of the European Union with the
Latin American and Caribbean countries so for this occasion we wanted to be
present today to present the summit of the peoples that will also be held in
Mexico-Brussels on July 17 and 18 and well on the occasion of this
official summit that will be given and will be developed on July 18 in
Brussels, this summit of the peoples intends to
make the aspirations of forces and political and social movements visible in
the construction of an alternative model and development of respectful relations
between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union
we have several people who are also going to present their point of view and that
we have the pleasure of welcoming from the zoom technology and we are going to start
the shot then with Mrs. Cristina Pasiabem of the workers' commissions who
is the international responsible for the workers' commissions
Cristina, can you hear me?
Hello, good afternoon, can you hear me?
Yes, perfectly
Perfect, well, first of all, I would like to thank you for the possibility of taking part in this presentation
I am going to be my baby
From the workers' commissions, we call for the massive participation in this
summit of the peoples in a parallel way to the summit of the European Union
because we are convinced that the currency must make its way to the
humanitarian parties of the European Union and Latin America that will meet
during the summit, take into account what our obligations are, I think we will be
that it is the agreement between what we have is a Europe and a Latin America
social where people are respected and the planet is respected and of course
the economic interests, commercial interests are not still imposed on the
citizenship, these agreements with the European Union must guarantee the
rights of the people and the workers in the same way that they do with
investors, we also want states where the social democracy and the
rule of law can never be undermined, where the European Union and its member states
always respect the sovereignty of the two nations and of course we have a European Union
and a Latin America where human rights are respected in all their scope, including
workers and freedom of association, for these reasons, for many more, because we are
many more than those who are fighting for more just societies and more free societies
we have to be all together in this summit, thank you very much.
Thank you very much Cristina, I think it deserves an applause too because the issue of
trade unions is extremely important for this Summit of Peoples 2023, thank you very much.
Well, now I'm going to give the floor to my colleague Rin who is going to present us
from Cubanism, the need also to have a broad platform for this occasion.
Good evening everyone, I am Rin from Cubanismo, the solidarity organization with Cuba in Belgium.
I think this summit is an excellent opportunity to praise international solidarity.
So the intention of this summit can only be to organize a small committee, but also
to have other organizations as usual, so an organization that is more and more broad.
It is therefore important that this platform is as broad as possible, in order to reach
a greater number of people and to strengthen the message of solidarity between peoples
and to spread it much more broadly.
We therefore recommend that the greatest possible number of organizations be involved.
For example, the large Belgian trade unions have an active international section in the
field of international solidarity.
By involving them, their contribution will also be much greater because they represent
a large part of the working class in Belgium.
The presence of civil society across different progressive organizations,
anti-imperialist organizations and organizations for peace would only strengthen the message
of this summit and allow it to be spread more broadly.
In addition, by building a large platform, you will also bring together more expertise
and it will be possible to work around more themes.
I think, for example, of climate, health, food security.
This will also allow to have a greater range.
This is why we want the platform of this summit to be organized as broadly as possible,
because cooperation and international solidarity will be part of the problem.
Thank you very much.
And now from Brussels, we also wanted to give the floor to Miguel Peña,
the Latin American coordinator, about the importance of also having Latin
collectives involved from the beginning.
Good afternoon everyone.
Actually, we are here as a small platform of Latin American collectives.
Our platform is called Latin American Coordinator of Solidarity in Belgium.
We have been working here in Brussels for 6 or 8 years.
It is made up of a collective from Cuba, there is a Chilean collective,
there is also a collective from Colombia, a group from Colombia,
there is a collective from Ecuador, there is the Arlat collective that works for Latin America
and there is another collective from Bolivia.
We work together and we have made a great effort to work together,
understanding that on the left today and in the field of the social world it is very difficult to group,
but we have grouped them.
We work with the principle of solidarity, the information of what happens in our countries of origin.
We also work a little on the denunciation of what happens in our countries and in our continent
and those are the principles that are moving us towards a theme.
Now, those principles are to work for our communities.
It is a community work, but it is also not exempt from other contents.
Today we try to represent the sovereignty of the peoples,
the sovereignty of the governments that work for their peoples.
That is why we have decided to work in solidarity with Cuba,
with countries that in our opinion are sovereign countries, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia,
countries that we have more affinity with,
countries that work for their economic independence and in general for their sovereignty.
Why do we say that?
Most of us are militants of our country
and we have also known what it means to fight for independence
and every time a Latin American country wants to fight for independence,
there are imperialist countries that oppose it.
Well, to finish, every time we want to make an independence of our countries,
the United States is there to block us.
Well, every time we want to make an independence of our countries,
the United States is there to block those countries, those projects of society.
Many times the European Union is also present to block those processes.
The United States, with a direct blockade,
the European Union, many times through disenfranchised projects,
many times through benevolence, also comes to try to block the projects of independence.
In this aspect, we would like to be present at this event to show our voice against those insolvencies,
which in our opinion are insolvencies as imperialist countries,
that we do not oppose because we are a social movement
and we want them to let us be independent countries,
independent social movements without any insolvency.
That is why we want to be present at this summit.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Miguel.
Well, now from the Sao Paulo Forum we have Alejandro Rusconi.
Alejandro?
Yes, good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Well, right now from Argentina I want to send a greeting from the Sao Paulo Forum
to the call for this summit of the peoples that is going to be held in Brussels,
together with what is the social SELAC,
which was held its first meeting here in Argentina,
parallel to the summit of the SELAC that was held last January.
From the forum, as you all know, this organization of political parties of Latin America and the Caribbean
that has its origin in the 90s,
with the meeting that gave the starting point between Commander Fidel Castro
and today President Lula da Silva,
and that this institution has remained,
which includes all the political parties of Latin America and the Caribbean,
left, progressive and popular,
we at this time, at this stage,
where here in Latin America and the Caribbean a new wave of leftist and progressive government has been ratified,
with a desire for social, environmental justice,
the recovery and deepening of democracy,
as we have shown in our document at the last meeting in Bogotá,
that we fight for the sovereignty and autonomy of the peoples,
and today, in this framework of change,
which takes place with great challenge on the world stage,
and with the elements of an emerging democratic multipolarity,
which is in full development,
and we must also take into account the revival of the struggle of workers,
women and youth in different countries of Europe and the United States,
and they show us this,
also fighting against unemployment, against wages,
against inflation, against the provisional reform,
in the case of what is happening in France at the moment,
in the civil process, in social issues,
they once again show us the failure of neoliberalism on a planetary scale.
Based on this, we thank this call
and we want to be part of it,
together with all the social movements and workers
who are going to participate in Brussels,
and we believe that in this political context
we have to challenge the broadest unity in the diversity that exists.
We have to overcome all the differences
and we must not forget that we are in a context,
in a context with a war, an unwanted war for all of us,
and as we say from the São Paulo Forum,
we raise that statement that was made on January 29, 2014,
the declaration of the CELAP in Cuba,
where Latin America and the Caribbean were declared as a zone of peace,
we also fight so that we can declare it as a planetary zone,
a zone of peace, in the next meeting that we have in Brussels.
From the São Paulo Forum, a greeting and a hug for all of you,
it is a pleasure to share this path of struggle with all of you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Alejandro.
Well, without transition, David, from the Progressive International,
I'm going to give you the floor. Thank you very much, David.
Nothing, thank you.
For us, it is an honor to participate in this summit with the diversity of forces,
well, I mean friends, colleagues and colleagues from all over the world.
We have been fighting for the celebration and commemoration
of what was called and what must go again,
the new international economic order.
In the city, as Alejandro said, in the transition to a democratic, healthy, sovereign plurality,
the need to strengthen with the forces of the South a shared vision of what is called,
what is the sovereign development of the 21st century.
Obviously, it has its echo of the 70s,
and we had the honor of throwing a congress on the Havana airport
with the colleagues who are there.
And for us it is an essential step,
as it was a very important part of the struggle
towards the new international economic order in the 70s,
to open a space for what was called the North-South dialogue.
We have to reopen that, reconsider, rewrite that relationship
and the institutions that govern that relationship.
Because there is more and more tension, more brutality, more domination,
in the relationship between Europe and the United States,
that Atlantic axis, in the natural resources, the external debt,
in the sanctions that oppress the peoples of the South.
We have submitted a proposal for that summit of the peoples
that is called, instead of the North-South dialogue, the South-South dialogue,
because obviously it is time for the South to decide
what the terms of that dialogue will be.
So that is our ambition, in parallel with the SELAC summit in Europe,
to call on diverse forces, thinkers, academics, diplomats, politicians,
and start a dialogue there in Brussels that can accompany us
in several other spaces that handle the forces as part of that coalition
of the summit of the peoples in Brussels.
Because we are getting closer and closer to that 50-year anniversary
of the new international economic order, its establishment in the UNO,
and we want to celebrate that anniversary not as a date in the past,
nor as a tragic but inspiring story, but a tradition that we re-indicate,
that we recover, and that we renew for the current circumstances,
which requires that unity of the South, which requires a lot of creativity,
and as my colleague Andrés Arauz said in the Noé Congress in Havana,
it requires action, united, but coordinated, between the peoples, the forces,
between Latin America, Africa, South Asia, etc.
So we are very excited to take many friends and colleagues there to Brussels.
Obviously, I personally will be there, and I am very excited to share that space with you,
on those dates, and I hope to share a beer together.
But it will be an important date in this dialogue about the North,
and that we open again that dialogue that will accompany us in the future.
Thank you very much for the words and the invitation to be here today.
Thank you very much, David.
Well, now we also have the colleagues from Cuba, from the Cuban chapter of the social movements,
with the European coordinator of ICAP.
Good afternoon, colleagues. Can you hear us?
Yes, perfectly. Good afternoon to all our friends who are here with us.
It is really a pleasure to be part of the Cuban Institute of Social Movements,
which is part of the Cuban chapter of social movements.
And the first thing I want to thank you for is the invitation to be part of this platform,
which we consider very important in the current times.
First of all, we want to thank the Cuban Institute of Social Movements,
which is an important platform to organize this dialogue.
Excuse me, colleagues, can you hear me?
Can you maybe come closer?
Is it better now?
Yes, now it is better.
Ok, well, we started by sending greetings from ICAP,
which is part of the Cuban chapter of social movements,
thanking you for taking us into account from the beginning to be part of this platform,
which we consider very important, all the joint work that we can do from now on.
We really don't have much time, but we are sure that with the effort,
and the commitment of all those present here and others who will continue to join us,
we will achieve that this wide and diverse summit
is really the expression of the needs and wills of our people.
Of course, we confirm the interest of being part of the platform,
of supporting all the organizations that are part of the Cuban chapter,
and those with which ICAP maintains relations in several countries in Europe and Latin America as well.
We know that there are many well-educated and well-consolidated Latin American communities
there in Brussels and in neighboring countries,
to support the organization of the event.
In the next few days we will be announcing our participation proposal,
which we are currently forming on this side.
We do not doubt at all the success that the summit will have.
It will really develop in parallel with that of the heads of state and government,
CELAC and the European Union.
We will work so that the main difficulties that our peoples of Latin America,
the Caribbean and Europe face are made visible through the actions that are proposed.
Cuba, of course, is willing to participate in a solidarity way,
after giving our experiences, especially in the face of the common global challenges that we have.
We are convinced that more concrete actions are needed to reverse the growth of poverty,
the lack of access to medical assistance, education, inequality, inequalities.
All this characterizes our peoples, always the most vulnerable.
Therefore, we also reject the policies of sanctions against countries and peoples,
and in that sense you know that we are an example,
because we have the support of all of you, but we would like, and we know that it will be achieved,
that in this popular event, the claim for the cessation of the sanctions policy
or the imperial policy of blocking the United States against Cuba
is made visible in an important space.
It is really the main violation of the human rights of our peoples.
And we would also like, and we know that it will be achieved,
the claim for the cessation or the elimination of Cuba from the spurious list of countries
that are considered terrorism, in which we have been placed and ratified
first by the Trump government and recently ratified once again by Biden.
These are two of our flags that we will fly in that space of common struggle,
and for which we know that we have the respect of all those present there.
We will also carry, as the representative of the São Paulo Forum said,
the importance that we will produce to this 2014 declaration signed here in Havana
by the heads of state and government at the moment,
in which it is important, in the face of the threat to peace that threatens the world,
the threat that the United States presents,
the threat of the 204 clauses in the UN,
we are saying that we will carry out this declaration also as a person of peace,
Excuse me, can you come closer to the microphone?
It's the connection.
It's the connection?
Yes, you can continue, comrade.
Continue, please, the connection is being lost, continue.
Now you can't hear anything.
It's the connection.
It seems that the microphone is disconnected because when...
No, I had a connection problem.
Yes.
Can you connect again with the microphone, please?
No, it doesn't come out anymore.
No, I can't hear.
Okay.
Well,
excuse me, well,
I think that the main message came from what we have heard.
Thank you very much, comrade, from Cuba.
We, from Brussels, send you the warmest greetings.
Well, now I'm going to give the floor to Manu Pineda,
who is a member of the European Parliament and also from, well,
I'm not going to explain, but from the left-wing group.
Thank you, Paula.
Well, good afternoon to all of you.
It's a pleasure to be here with you and to see the room full of people.
And to see that there are colleagues,
that there are colleagues who connect from a distance.
We have, in mid-July, here...
We are going to face two ways of seeing the world.
We are going to face a subordinated European Union,
in its foreign policy,
to the United States,
which is a decadent empire,
but which refuses to accept that it has lost its hegemony in the world
and that, like any wounded beast,
it still has a lot of capacity to hurt.
A European Union that is willing to support all the warlike,
militaristic, warrior initiatives of the United States,
which is not only throwing firewood at the fire of war
that the U.N. and NATO are carrying out against Russia
on the Ukrainian board,
but which surprises us with statements like those of yesterday,
of the high representative Borrell,
asking the member states to send fleets to Taiwan,
adding to the American provocation to China.
And on the other hand,
we have a CELAC,
some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean,
very majoritarianly progressive,
very majoritarian,
who are going to defend their sovereignty
and who are betting on a multipolar world,
a world of peace, a world of respect for the sovereignty of the peoples.
We are seeing how the map of Latin America and the Caribbean is turning red,
while the map of Europe is not only full of governments
that are not defending the interests of their people,
but are sacrificing them,
they are deciding to commit suicide to the peoples of the member states of the European Union
and the European economy,
putting it at the service of the U.S.,
of that arms industry,
of that American energy industry
that is destroying our planet,
of that primary industry that is selling seeds,
grain, fertilizers,
at a price of gold,
because we decided to sanction Russia,
but not for Putin to pay anything,
but to benefit the United States
and that our people are the ones who get impoverished.
That is what we are going to see here,
and there are going to be temptations,
decisions are being made
so that the way to defend the harmonies of the Latin American peoples is not made visible,
that the appearance is that everyone is dancing to the music played by the United States,
and we have the obligation to show that there is another way to do politics,
that there is a way to do politics for their peoples,
a way to defend their sovereignty,
to put the natural resources of the peoples at the service of the peoples,
and not at the service of the great North American nations.
That there are ways for the peoples to decide to have governments that defend them,
progressive governments,
and not as is happening in Europe,
which is advancing here,
we no longer aspire to have progressive governments,
we aspire to stop the advance of fascism.
We already have a prime minister in Italy who is Mussolini,
we already have in Finland the second force,
Finland, which seems to be the cradle of social democracy,
Finland, Sweden, Denmark,
we already have the far right spreading its metastasis throughout Europe,
and they are going to try that this is not seen,
and it falls on us the responsibility that it is seen,
it falls on us, on the peoples,
we, the peoples,
who have the responsibility to mobilize,
in a summit that is not necessarily that alternative,
I would rather say a complementary summit to the European Union-CELAC summit,
in which it is seen that there is another way to do politics.
Therefore, without going much further into this,
I do want to tell you,
to the different peoples of the European Union,
that you mobilize, that you organize,
as yesterday, for example, in the Spanish state,
the chapter of the platform for the Summit of the Peoples was constituted,
within the Spanish state, in Madrid,
that will have activities that strengthen this Summit of the Peoples,
and that in the end will participate in the activities of July 7 and 18 here in Brussels.
We make a call for this to be replicated in all states where possible,
that platforms of support are created for this,
the national chapters, the regional chapters,
the chapters that are appropriate,
but that we make the voice of the peoples turn off the voice of the weapons
and the voice of the lackeys of the empire.
We insist, act, do not stay looking,
do not stay passive, organize yourselves,
and we are waiting for you here, all of you, in mid-July.
A big hug and we will continue to fight until victory.
Thank you very much, Manu.
Well, as the colleagues said,
this summit is about promoting the debate on issues of global relevance
as an alternative to the imposed vision from the centers of traditional powers,
as Manu said.
Also, this summit gives us the opportunity to start the launch with social movements,
unions, solidarity groups, immigrant communities,
NGOs, personalities and political forces
through the establishment of concrete and effective alliances and collaborations.
This is how we want this summit.
To continue, we are going to give the floor to Maite Mola.
Maite?
Maite is responsible for international relations at the PIE
and she is also the initiator of the European Forum of the Left Forces.
Thank you, Maite.
OK, that's enough...
Thank you so much, Paola.
I am so excited to be part of the European Forum of the Left Forces.
This is the first time we have attended such a meeting between the often-crossed millenials
Thank you so much, Paola.
I am very excited.
For me, what we are doing today is not an ordinary thing.
It is to meet the forces of Latin America and Europe.
I am looking at Miguel and I am excited to see him.
I see all the people with whom I have always worked.
I think we have a wonderful opportunity.
Of course, the European Left Party is not essential or anything like that.
But it is true that we have worked for a long time.
I see here people with whom we have worked for a long time.
I think you have defined it very well.
We have to do an infinite amount of work to make this summit great.
We have to make sure that the political parties, in this case the European Left Party, are humble.
We have to make sure that the protagonists are the organizations.
I think we have to give a lot of support to all the Belgian organizations and to all the organizations of Latin America.
You have been working with us for a long time.
Thank you.
We will be here as always.
Miguel, Paola, to the order.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Maite.
Well, we are almost finishing.