RedCeltic
3rd April 2002, 02:07
[La Voz de Aztlan said that On March 22, 2002 the United States delegates
to the International Conference on Financing for Development in
Monterrey, Mexico, following instructions from the Bush White House,
left their seats at the beginning of this speech by Fidel Castro. Had
they stayed, this is what they would have heard.]
----------
Not everyone here will share my thoughts. Still, I will respectfully say
what I think.
The existing world economic order constitutes a system of plundering and
exploitation like no other in history. Thus, the peoples believe less
and less in statements and promises.
The prestige of the international financial institutions rates less than
zero.
The world economy is today a huge casino. Recent analyses indicate that
for every dollar that goes into trade, over one hundred end up in
speculative operations completely disconnected from the real economy.
As a result of this economic order, over 75 percent of the world
population lives in underdevelopment, and extreme poverty has already
reached 1.2 billion people in the Third World. So, far from narrowing
the gap is widening.
The revenue of the richest nations that in 1960 was 37 times larger than
that of the poorest is now 74 times larger. The situation has reached
such extremes that the assets of the three wealthiest persons in the
world amount to the GDP of the 48 poorest countries combined.
The number of people actually starving was 826 million in the year 2001.
There are at the moment 854 million illiterate adults while 325 million
children do not attend school. There are 2 billion people who have no
access to low cost medications and 2.4 billion lack the basic sanitation
conditions. No less than 1 1 million children under the age of 5 perish
every year from preventable causes while half a million go blind for
lack of vitamin A.
The life span of the population in the developed world is 30 years
higher than that of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa. A true
genocide!
The poor countries should not be blamed for this tragedy. They neither
conquered nor plundered entire continents for centuries; they did not
establish colonialism, or re-established slavery, and, modern
imperialism is not of their making. Actually, they have been its
victims. Therefore, the main responsibility for financing their
development lies with those states that, for obvious historical reasons,
enjoy today the benefits of those atrocities.
The rich world should condone their foreign debt and grant them fresh
soft credits to finance their development. The traditional offers of
assistance, always scant and often ridiculous, are either inadequate or
unfulfilled.
For a true and sustainable economic and social development to take place
much more is required than is usually admitted. Measures as those
suggested by the late James Tobin to curtail the irrepressible flow of
currency speculation --albeit it was not his idea to foster
development-- would perhaps be the only ones capable of generating
enough funds, which in the hands of the UN agencies and not of awful
institutions like the IMF, could supply direct development assistance
with a democratic participation of all countries and without the need to
sacrifice the independence and sovereignty of the peoples.
The Consensus draft, which the masters of the world are imposing on this
conference, intends that we accept humiliating, conditioned and
interfering alms.
Everything created since Bretton Woods until today should be
reconsidered. A farsighted vision was then missing, thus, the privileges
and interests of the most powerful prevailed. In the face of the deep
present crisis, a still worse future is offered where the economic,
social and ecologic tragedy of an increasingly ungovernable world would
never be resolved and where the number of the poor and the starving
would grow higher, as if a large part of humanity were doomed.
It is high time for statesmen and politicians to calmly reflect on this.
The belief that a social and economic order that has proven to be
unsustainable can be forcibly imposed is really senseless.
As I have said before, the ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in
the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the
illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry but they cannot kill
ignorance, illnesses, poverty or hunger.
It should definitely be said: "Farewell to arms." Something must be done
to save Humanity! A better world is possible!
to the International Conference on Financing for Development in
Monterrey, Mexico, following instructions from the Bush White House,
left their seats at the beginning of this speech by Fidel Castro. Had
they stayed, this is what they would have heard.]
----------
Not everyone here will share my thoughts. Still, I will respectfully say
what I think.
The existing world economic order constitutes a system of plundering and
exploitation like no other in history. Thus, the peoples believe less
and less in statements and promises.
The prestige of the international financial institutions rates less than
zero.
The world economy is today a huge casino. Recent analyses indicate that
for every dollar that goes into trade, over one hundred end up in
speculative operations completely disconnected from the real economy.
As a result of this economic order, over 75 percent of the world
population lives in underdevelopment, and extreme poverty has already
reached 1.2 billion people in the Third World. So, far from narrowing
the gap is widening.
The revenue of the richest nations that in 1960 was 37 times larger than
that of the poorest is now 74 times larger. The situation has reached
such extremes that the assets of the three wealthiest persons in the
world amount to the GDP of the 48 poorest countries combined.
The number of people actually starving was 826 million in the year 2001.
There are at the moment 854 million illiterate adults while 325 million
children do not attend school. There are 2 billion people who have no
access to low cost medications and 2.4 billion lack the basic sanitation
conditions. No less than 1 1 million children under the age of 5 perish
every year from preventable causes while half a million go blind for
lack of vitamin A.
The life span of the population in the developed world is 30 years
higher than that of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa. A true
genocide!
The poor countries should not be blamed for this tragedy. They neither
conquered nor plundered entire continents for centuries; they did not
establish colonialism, or re-established slavery, and, modern
imperialism is not of their making. Actually, they have been its
victims. Therefore, the main responsibility for financing their
development lies with those states that, for obvious historical reasons,
enjoy today the benefits of those atrocities.
The rich world should condone their foreign debt and grant them fresh
soft credits to finance their development. The traditional offers of
assistance, always scant and often ridiculous, are either inadequate or
unfulfilled.
For a true and sustainable economic and social development to take place
much more is required than is usually admitted. Measures as those
suggested by the late James Tobin to curtail the irrepressible flow of
currency speculation --albeit it was not his idea to foster
development-- would perhaps be the only ones capable of generating
enough funds, which in the hands of the UN agencies and not of awful
institutions like the IMF, could supply direct development assistance
with a democratic participation of all countries and without the need to
sacrifice the independence and sovereignty of the peoples.
The Consensus draft, which the masters of the world are imposing on this
conference, intends that we accept humiliating, conditioned and
interfering alms.
Everything created since Bretton Woods until today should be
reconsidered. A farsighted vision was then missing, thus, the privileges
and interests of the most powerful prevailed. In the face of the deep
present crisis, a still worse future is offered where the economic,
social and ecologic tragedy of an increasingly ungovernable world would
never be resolved and where the number of the poor and the starving
would grow higher, as if a large part of humanity were doomed.
It is high time for statesmen and politicians to calmly reflect on this.
The belief that a social and economic order that has proven to be
unsustainable can be forcibly imposed is really senseless.
As I have said before, the ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in
the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the
illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry but they cannot kill
ignorance, illnesses, poverty or hunger.
It should definitely be said: "Farewell to arms." Something must be done
to save Humanity! A better world is possible!