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      religion-online The Other Davos: Globalization of Resistances and Struggles by Francois Houtart and Francois Polet 
  Published by
Christava Sahitya Samithi (CSS), Thiruvalla, Kerela, India, November 2000. This material was
prepared for Religion Online by Ted & Winnie Brock. 
 Forward
 Introduction: The Period of InequalitiesIn a world where the future of humanity is directed by the logic of
unbridled capital based on its own priorities, which are in turn based on the
principle of maximum profit in the short term, individuals and people are
subjected to the demands of several large global players.
 Chapter 1: A Few Figures From the U.N., by François HoutartThe main function of economy is to
contribute to the blossoming of all the people by ensuring material well-being
and dignity. It is the reason why we consider it necessary to question the
contemporary capitalist system. Never has humanity disposed of so many
resources and technical means for resolving the problems of survival and well
being.
 Chapter 2. History and Lessons of Neo-liberalism, by Perry AndersonThe origin of what can
be defined as neo-liberalism, as distinct from strict classic liberalism of the
past century, is examined.  Some lessons
can be learned for use by the left.
 Chapter 3:  The World Strategy of Capitalism, by Samir AminProfit for capital is guaranteed at the
price of stagnation and growing inequality among the small minorities. This is
a system that fatally engenders poverty, unemployment, and exclusion, often on
a continental scale. Faced with these plans to pursue liberal globalisation,
which does not concern the people at all, we must independently develop our own
proposals for alternatives, based on social struggle which only the victims of
the system can lead.
 Chapter 4: Constructing Another Globalisation (Part I), by Christophe Aguiton, Riccardo Petrella and Charles-Andé UdryThe
International Economic Forum met every year for almost twenty years at Davos,
Switzerland, to re-orient the world economy according to the interests of
capital. They have expropriated life, and the right of the poor to basic
living. Their priorities do not take account of the living conditions, needs,
aspirations and capabilities of some 5 billion human beings, but are exclusively
concerned with the interests of the social groups which own the property and
control decision-making regarding the allocation of the planet’s resources.
 Chapter 5. The Broken Springs of Growth, by François Chesnais and Dominique PlihonThe financial markets have their own
time-frame which is not that of the value-creation process and less still
creation itself, with the slow-downs, or, worse, the interruptions in the
returns process. It seems that the operators have no memory of past crises and
do not even know, even through vague bookish memories, what happened in 1929
and in the 1930s and thus find themselves totally defenceless.
 Chapter 6: The New Debt Crisis, by Eric ToussaintThe all-powerful multilateral institutions are
not concerned about the satisfaction of human and social needs. Keeping poor
countries in extreme poverty and using the debt of the poor countries as a
means of exerting blackmail is an out-an-out contravention of human rights.
 Chapter 1: A Strategy for the New Times, by Christophe AguitonOver nearly 20 years, neo-liberalism has
continued to score points, but now the wind is changing, and it is our
responsibility to make this change as visible as possible and to make it the
focal point of a counter-offensive. The counter-offensive must be developed on
practical and concrete issues, and also on the larger field of social
alternatives to the disaster of neo-conservative counter-reforms.
 Chapter 2: Alternatives to the Neo-Liberal ModelA critique of the model of society
imposed on us, a model whose sole vision is of a merchant society,
individualist and socially unjust and, above all, cynical. Some alternatives to
some of the models for society are suggested.
 Chapter 3: Beyond Neoliberalism, by Perry AndersonA discussion of the options given by
neoliberalism and goals beyond: Values; Property; Democracy. The dangers of
false deregulation and the degradation of democracy. A plea in favor of a
globalization of the social struggles.
 Chapter 4: The Globalization of Social Struggles, by Samir AminThere is a need
for the social struggles to be globalized, for a reorganisation of the economic
systems, for new ways of commercial interdependence and for monetary and
financial interdependence.
 Chapter 5:  Constructing Another Globalisation (Part II), by Riccardo Petrella, Christophe Aguiton, Charles-André UdryThrough the
struggles they are engaged in, the expropriated people of the world are
creating a definition of a new anthropology for global life in the 21st
century. . It is imperative that we define a new generation of public
patrimonial rights covering goods and services considered indispensable for
survival and the fair and efficient functioning of society and the earth’s
ecosystem.
 Chapter 6:  Taking Back the Future of Our World, by ATTACIn the name of a transformation of the
world depicted as a natural law, citizens and their representatives find their
decision-making power contested. Such a humiliating proof of impotence
encourages the growth of anti-democratic parties. It is urgent to block this
process by creating new instruments of regulation and control, at the national,
continental, and international levels.
 Chapter 7: Debt Cancellation (continued), by Eric ToussaintIt is imperative that we impose a tax on
international financial transactions. We should urgently instigate an inquiry
into the resources held abroad by the rich citizens of the Third World countries.
 Expropriated wealth should be returned
to the people.
 Chapter 1: The Globalization of Resistances and StrugglesThere are several objectives of the
“Other Davos:” 1. To hear the voices protesting the structural injustices of
the current economic system; 2. To raise awareness that we can plan the future
differently, laying down networks, sharing information and expressing solidarity
of action.
 Chapter 2: The Other Davos in ActionTranscriptions of video recordings
concerning the “Other Devos” made by Frank Millo and Victor Cohen-Hadria,
during the meetings in Zurich and Davos, Switzerland, held on January 28-29,
1999, with statements and responses made to journalists during a press
conference in Davos, January 30, 1999.
 Chapter 3: The Platform of The Other DavosAgainst the oppression and arrogance of
the powerful, the outlines of a new world are being drawn. In this world,
citizens and workers will decide on the distribution of wealth and the
organization of work.
 Chapter 4: Report of the MeetingThe World Economic Forum met in Davos at the end of January
and simultaneously some sixty people met in Zürich (from 27th to 31st January
1999), called together by a number of interested organizations. The result was
a critique of the current world economic order along with proposed
alternatives.
 Conclusion: It is Time to Reclaim the March of HistoryStrengthening and democratizing regional and
international institutions is a realistic imperative. It is a condition for
progress in international law and the indispensable regulation of economic,
social and political relations at the global level, particularly in the fields
of financial capital, taxation, migration, information and disarmament.
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