Final Declaration of the Assembly of Caribbean People

During five days of intense and fruitful reflection, it was reaffirmed that the Assembly is a useful place for dialogue, exchange and collective construction of initiatives and actions for the development and convergence of Caribbean struggles defending life, sovereignty and national independence, peace, sustainable development, social justice, equity and cultural identity of our peoples.

Participants at this 4th edition of the ACP refused imperialist neoliberal practices and their economic policies set out in Free Trade Treaties, EPAs, the increasing presence of trans-national corporations, privatisations, the dependence of many Caribbean economies on the economic outcome of current or former important cities, increasing financial, social, ecological debt, and others of this sort. These are all barriers to the development of small and structurally underdeveloped Caribbean economies. Hence, the resistance and struggle of these people, as well as the construction of updated and true models of integration such as ALBA and Banco del Sur have become an urgent necessity and require the most unwavering support.

The delegates and superdelegates denounced the current neoliberal model and described it as the greatest environmental predator that threatens food sovereignty of the peoples in the Caribbean, and converts the use of non-renewable energy in favour of large multinationals; thereby, threatening its short and medium-term availability, given its high demand and excessive consumption.

On another hand, they highlighted how global warming threatens the very existence of human life and the planet; which therefore, makes it a priority in demanding that industrialised countries and multinationals develop alternative and sustainable forms of energy.

The ACP made a strong appeal in defence of traditional agricultural products destined for human consumption, but are now being used as agrofuels. The text of the Final Declaration states:

“Hence, the vital need to develop our struggle defending food and energy independence, building alternative consumption models. We cannot live to consume in such an absurd and irrational way. We should live to support and to be a continuous part of life and of the planet, in harmony with nature.”

Another point for discussion on the 4th ACP agenda, was the connection with social rights: at work, for living, education, health, social and land security. These are incompatible with the neoliberal model imposed by global capitalism, whose dominating, patriarchal, racist and exclusionary model, is incorporated in economic policies that are the root cause of generalised poverty among Caribbean and Latin American people. The delegates stated, “our struggle has to focus on building a world of plain equality and social justice.”

The participants further emphasised, “we are aware that the flows of immigrants from our subregion prompts socio-economic causes associated with the conjectures of the global economy and policies pursued by the industrialised European powers and the United States. These constitute a real

looting of our educated minds, incitation of illegal human trafficking, especially of women for prostitution. In face of this, we demand a rational and balanced flow of people between these countries, under the principle that no Caribbean national is illegal in the Caribbean, and we reject the discriminatory immigration measures of these great powers. Special mention needs to be made also of our strong disapproval of the criminal Cuban Adjustment Law, being selectively applied by the United States as a method of destabilising the Cuban Revolution.”

The Final Declaration of the 4th ACP also affirmed that “we the peoples of the Caribbean have fought for centuries against domination and the cultural system imposed by colonizers and re-colonizers of all eras. We have created and built our value systems, that is built on the need of our own identity, on the rejection of transculturation that they wanted to impose on us, on the defence of the right to develop indigenous education models adjusted to our development needs.”

A key point from the reflections of the event, which was held from June 30th to July 4th, was the connection with struggles that peoples of the Caribbean face in various spheres of political, social and cultural life. According to the participants at this conference, these struggles need to be better voiced, in which wide participation of the most diverse social actors is increasingly necessary. It is equally essential to overcome the supposed barriers of linguistic diversity and social-cultural origins imposed by the huge cities and by current political hegemonies and predators of great imperialist powers.

Participants at this 4th ACP called for “a configuration of our own scene of action for the convergence of our struggles and at the same time, for work towards greater integration within the hemispheric context.”

Finally, with a tight hug, the participants reaffirmed that “in the Latin American region, acclaimed transformation processes aimed at benefiting our people and social justice are being developed with more or less depth and effectiveness. Cooperation and genuine solidarity are the focus of those who support these new integration mechanisms, which will open new horizons for social inclusion, human welfare and development. A valid result for the Caribbean in that hopeful context, to strengthen its own mechanisms and to get involved in a more active and committed participation in this new dimension of continental integration.

The Final Declaration noted: “the ideas and debates, agreements and initiatives that we have adopted on these days of knowledge, meeting and exchange, lead us to reaffirm our commitment to the struggle and defence of Diversity, Resistance, Solidarity and Alternative integration of Caribbean peoples and socialism.”

4th July 2008.