Thru Novel Lenses! New Vision New Perspectives New Ideas New Directions For the New World! Futuring Sustainable Development in the Post Pandemic Planet From Pre School to Policy Making
The wedding folk songs and traditions taken by indentured immigrant labourers
from India during British colonialism now find a place on the UNESCO
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.The tradition was approved this month at the meeting of the
intergovernmental committee on intangible cultural heritage through an
application by Mauritius for the Bhojpuri songs and the accompanying ritual,
prayers, songs, music and dance of the Hindu Wedding Ceremony, Vivaah Samskara.
The songs, music and accompanying dances are known as Geet Gawai in Mauritius.
Similar traditions are practiced across the Indian diaspora. These are known as Lawa or Matikor in the
Caribbean with widespread practice in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname,
and the associated Caribbean diasporas in North America, Canada and Europe.
The
practices,
transposed from India through mass movement of bonded labour in the
19th century, include song, dance, music, cuisine, rituals and
communal engagement in the wedding ceremony. See video this page
In the nomination submission, Mauritius noted: “Geet-Gawai is a
pre-wedding ceremony that combines rituals, prayer, songs, music and dance. It
is performed mainly by Bhojpuri-speaking communities in Mauritius who have
Indian descent. The traditional practice takes place at the home of the bride
or groom and involves female family members and neighbours. It begins with five
married women sorting items (turmeric, rice, grass and money) in a piece of
cloth while other participants sing songs that honour Hindu gods and goddesses.
After the site has been sanctified, the mother of the bride or groom and a
drummer honour musical instruments to be played during the ceremony, such as
the dholak (a two-headed drum). Uplifting songs are then performed and everyone
joins in and dances. Geet-Gawai is an expression of community identity and
collective cultural memory. The practice also provides participants with a
sense of pride and contributes to greater social cohesion, and breaking class
and caste barriers. Knowledge about the practice and its associated skills are
transmitted from older to younger generations on an informal and formal basis.
This is done via observation and participation by families, semi-formal
teaching houses, community centres, and academies. Nowadays, the practice of
Geet-Gawai extends to public performances and men also participate.(see UNESCO ICH List )
The UNESCO Executive Board in 2014 approved a new
international indentured Indian
immigrant labour route initiative, piloted by Mauritius and unanimously supported
by all our executive board members. (See details n Flashback below)
Hindu Wedding traditions transposed, adapted and evolution from
India to the Caribbean are explored in Finding a Place, and LiTTscapes –
Landscapes of Fiction from Trinidad and Tobago. Finding a Place locates the
role of these practices in the oral traditions that fed the evolution of a
literary and journalistic sensibility while adapting to a new society while
LiTTscapes provide representations of the practices and rituals in fictional
literature.
Dr Kris Rampersad is a UNESCO certified heritage expert and has
served as Chair of the UNESCO Education Commission; co-chair of UNESCO
Executive Board Programme and External Relations Commission, and co-chair of
the Consultative Body of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intangible Cultural
Heritage as an independent cultural heritage expert.
Flashback: Trinidad and Tobago key to understanding migrations, UNESCO told
In supporting the Mauritius initiative entitled The International Indentured Labour Route Project, geared to enhance knowledge around its landing point of Indian immigration, the Aapravasi Ghat, Rampersad, Dr Kris Rampersad, the co-chair of the Programme and External Relations Commission on the 58-member UNESCO Executive Board, pointed out that the Caribbean was a critical dimension of labour migration to post slavery societies, noting that more than one million Indian and other Asians crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean and the Americas in the immediate post-emancipation period.
She said her research shows the islands may hold the key to broadening and deepening understanding pre-Columbian migrations in the Americas as it has been in the colonial and post slavery migrations from Europe, Africa and Asian in its location off the tip of South America and as the most southerly of Caribbean islands. Rampersad, a heritage educator, researcher and journalist, who has been researching and advocating for greater national and international efforts at safeguarding.
Piloted by Mauritius, the International Indentured Labour Route Project was universally supported and adopted by the UNESCO Board, along with other programmes to safeguard vulnerable heritage assets in other countries, following the negotiation of the text which came before the Programmes and External Affairs Commission.
Rampersad suggested to UNESCO that as the project unfolds, the Board also explore not only the synergies with the Slave Route project but also the potential of private-public sector and NGO partnerships within both and how they may broadening and deepening the proposed refocus on oceans and small island developing states so as “to accommodate equity and balance and the cultural diversity and heritage dimensions in the United Nations post-2015 sustainable development agenda.”The Mauritius initiative drew from a decision of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee that considered “the importance of an International Indentured Labour Route Project to complement the Slave Route Project and the General History of Africa which will be implemented in the context of the International Decade of People of African descent.” Rampersad is the UNESCO trained facilitator for the English-speaking Caribbean on the Convention for the Protection and Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2003) and served as an independent member of the consultative body of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage.. She has also been part of Commonwealth and UNESCO initiatives to recognise culture-centred development through these and other conventions that drive the cultural and creative industries sectors as the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005).
Rampersad noted that the new programme, which has already been highly commended by Africa, Asia/Pacific, European and Latin American and Caribbean delegates also presents possibilities towards heightening the dimensions of international cooperation promoted in the UNESCO conventions against trafficking in cultural property (1970), World Heritage (1972), intangible cultural expressions (2003), diversity of cultural expressions (2005) and underwater cultural heritage (2006).
Rampersad noted that the new programme, which has already been highly commended by Africa, Asia/Pacific, European and Latin American and Caribbean delegates also presents possibilities towards heightening the dimensions of international cooperation promoted in the UNESCO conventions against trafficking in cultural property (1970), World Heritage (1972), intangible cultural expressions (2003), diversity of cultural expressions (2005) and underwater cultural heritage (2006).
In an interview on the initiative, she said: “Ebola is today waving its passport of global citizenship and has more clearly brought home to us the realities of the borderless world in which we really exist. As children of both slave and silk routes, though far removed from some of our societies of origin – and I say this acknowledging the also marginalised indigenous communities of our region, we in the Caribbean have naturally existed in trans-boundary spaces with intertwined heritage that span all the continents of the world. While in some of our societies these remain vibrant and effervescent and spawning new cultures through fusions, in others they are significantly in danger of disappearing from various pressures, still unmapped, understudied, underassessed and undervalued in the contexts of our global village.
“In turn, we have also spawned other diasporas, offspring of our complex Caribbean societies, in other parts of the Americas, in Europe, in Africa and in Asia itself, that are not just parallel to but intimately intertwined with the storyline of our post slavery evolution.”
In acknowledging synergies between the Slave Route Project and the new project, the Board “recognised the need to develop professional capacity in fields as history, anthropology, archaeology and heritage towards creating an international database on indentured labour… about such a major historical event and build greater understanding and cooperation among peoples.”
The UNESCO Executive Board also lent support for a series of activities to celebrate UNESCO’s 70th anniversary; initiatives related to prioritising education and culture in the UN post 2015 development agenda, introduced new international prizes and revived some which were suspended owing to financial and other challenges.
Dr Kris Rampersad is an international diversity and inclusion stretegist and educator.To request services make contact here
Trinidad and Tobago was struck by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake just before 6 pm on December 6 2016. It was felt through Trinidad and Tobago with the epicentre recorded just off Scarborough Tobago at 5.43pm. There are so far no reports of damages. Initial reports that Trinidad and Tobago was under Tsunami Watch were withdrawn as false and the Office of Disaster Preparedness stated that no Tsunami Watch was in effect. The UWI Seismic Research Centre recorded its location at Latitude: 11.04N and Longitude: 60.70W at a depth of Depth: 29 km 16 kilometres from Scarborough Tobago; 78 kilometres from Trinidad's eastern town of Arima and 99 kilometres from Trinidad's capital city, Port of Spain. Three aftershocks were subsequently recorded: 4.3 recorded 17 km from Scaborough Tobago at 6.12 pm; 4.2 kilometers from Scaborough at 7.48 and; 4.6 at 12.244 am on December 7th 14 kilometres from Scaborough. At 10 pm December 6 Indonesia Aceh Provincewas hit by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake. Damages are still being assessed as death toll climb beyond 100. @krisramp @lolleaves @KrisRampersadTT
Seasonal
and timeless as it seems, in the context of this contemplation on Castronomics,
if only to take the edge of the dogmatic irrational hysteria that has often
accompanied considerations of Fidel Castro, I wanted to post without comment
this one of the C Monologues of a Christmas past and satire on one who may be
considered a modern-day Scrooge.
Rather than downplay the
civil liberties violations and atrocities that has dogged Castro's leadership,
its focus on the reactionary and irrational responses to his perceived lunacy
that spur his penchant for turning the mirror of his atrocities on his
detractors: revealing the system to which he ascribes and they oppose as a
carbon copy of the one he opposes and to which they subscribe.
Does it
remind us of any contemporary dictator or despot and the nature of reactions
and responses to the same? Capitalism, when it rears its ugliest head and
snarls its meanest to stampede over civil rights and social equity is no
different from the sceptre of communism that has disinherited and dismembered
many....and the accompanying cartoon which the cartoonist for the C Monologues
joined heads in conceptualising adequately captures that:
...and all the other dictators shouted all out in glee...
Fidel-the-Red-Cigar-Dictator, you'll go down in hisstorieeee...
Writing
his own story, crafting his own epitaph, there must be a place reserved for dictators down or up in
history’s annals.
But for
those trying to balance the sleigh to get toys to the world’s children on time,
it often seems like dodging showers of meterorites on a starry starry Christmas
eve night.
So it was
at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, then wearing then cap of spokesperson for
the civil society agenda and its perspective on the Summit theme: Securing
Our Citizens' Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and
Environmental Sustainability."
I had entered the Summit
processes in the lead up to the Special Summit of the Americas that took place
in Mexico in January 2004 through to the 4th Summit in Argentina that followed
in 2005.
Regional
civil society have always largely been in solidarity around the Cuba issue with
a clarity that governments didn't seem to understand. It was one thing to
condemn the injustices of the dictator; it was quite another to deny a place
around the negotiating table and impose sanctions that negatively affect the
lives of innocent men, women and children who are then doubly victimised by now
not just their own leader, but also the outside world.
Much of
the energies of the Summit processes became embroiled in the debate on the
denial of Cuba a place at the Summit table. Runaway though it might be, Cuba
was part of the Caribbean family in a summit being hosted by a Caribbean
nation. The illogic of denying space to Cuba was clear to those who saw the
Summit processes as an arena at which modifications of extreme positions could
be negotiated, if such Summits were to be worth the enormous volume of paper
they pilot and trees they destroy in processes in the name of peace.
But it may
not have been so clear to those who did not have what the Latinos call cajones
to dare to incur the wrath of the almighty powers that be and the threat the
then newly-appointed and well-anointed US President Barack Obama and in adherence
to the US sanctions against Cuba would not share the Summit of the Americas
arena with Castro; and that although several of the heads of governments and
states, including of the host country, benefitted from some of the advances
Cuba had made for itself in medical care, for instance.
Although somewhere
lurked much common ground and a shared desire for deepening the potential of
regional collaboration, every manner of pressure was placed on us to relent in those
minutes and hours when we were pounding at what became a wall of indifference
that set civil society on one side and governments on the other.
We put Cuba and Haiti on the agenda. We were told that Cuba was not to be even whispered around the Summit, because nobody is going to entertain any discussion relating to Cuba. And in hindsight, the Summit could have worked if the leaders had handled it differently. You cannot go through all that financial expense, come here saying “It was great meeting you all, but sorry we waiting on the IMF” and others to tell us what do to about something like the international financial crisis.Dr Kris Rampersad, Interview with Clevon Raphael, Newsday (see below)
Coordinating
the regional/Americas outreach, the national coalition, and thereafter
Commonwealth civil society outreach processes as the OAS Summit led to the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit and in the direct firing line of the
missiles hurled at messenger from both the so-called democracies as with the
dictatorships, would leave scars as it would on civil society, on the people of
the Americas. The Summit itself seemed a
farce and intense drain on resources. The 2009 Declaration was signed solely by
the Prime Minister of the host nation, now deceased, Patrick Manning. The ALBA
countries refused to sign the declaration, issuing their own called The
Declaration of Cumana, in the wake of presenting Obama with a copy of Eduardo Galeano's book, Open Veins of Latin America Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent (1973) that
sets underdevelopment in the region in the contexts of historical exploitation which
Obama must have read, given the path he has subsequently taken.
"In
these lands we are not experiencing the primitive infancy of capitalism, but
its vicious senility. Underdevelopment isn't a stage of development, but its
consequence...underdevelopment arises from external development, and continues
to feed it." (Eduardo GaleanoOpen Veins)
But our
message would land on some listening ear, though it would be almost a decade
before we would begin to hear audible sounds of its receipt.
In the
slow pace of progress in the processes of international diplomacy we had
planted a fertile seed, one that resonated with the much looked-to US leader - who
a few months later in 2005 would have bagged a Nobel Peace Prize, just for
having won a US election it seemed at the time, although in their citation is
was for "for his extraordinary efforts to
strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". Maybe
it was a prize presented in trust, in what was to come. It would take close to
a decade to germinate until the climate between the US and Cuba will begin to warm
and the ice to thaw. Obama and, not Fidel, but Fidel's successor, his brother
Raul, would signal that they would both share the arena of the Summit of
April 2015 in Panama. With that came soundings of revisiting and easing some of
the sanctions.
A year
later Barack will be jetting to Cuba on the heels of Pope Francis for the
historic first visit of a sitting US President to land on Cuban soil since
Fidel was a toddler.
The world
was moving on. Many were moving on. I too had moved on, engaged in other
dimensions of the peace building processes. But some of the missiles unleashed
almost a decade earlier in the heated moments of negotiations in the Summits in
the America were still wildly hurtling towards a targeted messenger, in another
peace building arena. Sometimes when you identify with a cause, you network
with like minds on the cause; but you also become the targets of its enemies.
In a world where knowledge and information and networking is seen as the
singular greatest threat to established tottering status quos, it seems easier
for the status quo to make targets of those in the business of increasing and empowering
citizens to use knowledge and its tools than to engage and effect reform of the
decadent processes and mechanisms.
The
weapons of mass or other destruction are sometimes planted and set on paths
of destruction that resonate eons later, even when the climate and the environment
in which they were planted had altered, modified, revised or changed hardline
positions. Many a journalist and civil and human rights activist have suffered,
been sanctioned or denied access to opportunities, mutilated, spirits broken, lost
lives, by Fidel Castro and those who cast themselves in lesser or even opposite
moulds to him, when engaging more diligently with the processes would have more
meaningful outcomes for societies and peoples and by extension governments
themselves.
As I write
this, I am penning a note to dictators and dictators to be: be careful how you
treat your writers, poets and artists, because guess who would be writing your
epitaphs; and if you destroy them all, who would be left to sing your praises.
But time
is not often on the side of those trying to Constraint Castro or the Castros to
be, or the Castros among us.
Caribbean
leaders lost a great opportunity to wrest benefits for the region during last
week’s Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain. Director of International
Affairs of the Network of NGOs and lead researcher for the Active Democracy
Network, Dr Kris Rampersad, also laments that it was an anti-people gathering.
Caribbean
leaders lost a great opportunity to wrest benefits for the region during last
week’s Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain. Director of International
Affairs of the Network of NGOs and lead researcher for the Active Democracy
Network, Dr Kris Rampersad, also laments that it was an anti-people gathering.
Q: How optimistic is your organisation that Trinidad and Tobago would
benefit anything—long-term or short-term—from the just-concluded Fifth Summit
of the Americas?
A: Well, looking at the Declaration of Port-of-Spain, it was a great
start in terms of social inclusion, fight against poverty. The problem arises
when we come to the declaration itself...
Based on what has transpired so far, do you see any tangible benefits
accruing to this country, based on the large financial outlay spent on this
three-day affair?
[At a coffee
shop at the Grand Bazaar last week]. Maybe it is too early to assess that, but
what we would have liked to see was more concrete actionable areas, like how
are they going to deal with the international financial crisis, even though
they said they were waiting on other international meetings before establishing
a position.
The Government is on the offensive against the barrage of criticism for
staging the conference at such a huge cost. Are the people being unfair in this
regard?
No, Clevon. I
don’t think so. A lot went wrong in terms of the whole implementation/execution
of the summit. Government is pitching it as a success the fact that it got 33
leaders here. We could have thrown a party and have the same number of leaders
here, and given that kind of vagueness on what we stand to benefit, the
population has a right to be concerned.
Are Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Trade and Industry Minister Mario
Browne acting prematurely in claiming its success?
[A cynical
grin]. If they see blocking off the people of Beetham, the suppressing of
people’s legitimate right to protest and emptying the streets, particularly of
the capital city, of human life as a success, one can see why they are making
that claim. What, if anything at all, substantial has come out of having them
here we are yet to see that.
Since it is difficult to pinpoint any positives for T& T, what about
the summit that impacted upon you in a very precise way?
Clevon, the
saddest moment for me was when I walked into Port-of-Spain on the weekend with
some of my friends, and the city was a virtual ghost town. I have never been to
any international conference like this one where people said that they needed
to stay away. They did not feel a part of the process… and for the reasons we
know so well. The people were virtually ostracised from the meeting, and that,
too, was responsible for its lacklustre showing.
What were you all looking for that did not emerge out of the meeting?
Since the start
of the planning of the Summit, they said they were going to focus on
implementation. They themselves said there were more than 600 unfulfilled
mandates emanating from previous summits.
Have you all seen anything in the declaration that would tangibly benefit
Trinidad and Tobago?
It is not the
document in itself, Clevon, and that’s what we are saying; [frowning] it’s what
they do with what they say they are going to do. That is what implementation is
about, and there is nothing very specific targeting Trinidad and Tobago.
I don’t want to draw you into the political arena, but don’t you think
that a lot of this money could have been spent on more important areas of
national concern?
We said that
the Summit could have been beneficial to T& T, and I don’t know if that at
this stage we can quantify what those benefits might be. But, yes; I agree with
you that there are several other areas in which this money could have been
redirected…
I am not trying to force you to, but...[Interrupting]. You are trying,
Clevon [laughs]....from your vantage point, was this meeting a waste of
taxpayers’ money, in terms of benefiting the average citizen of T& T?
There was some
wastage. For instance, the cruise ships. We were on the Victory, which was
practically empty. I don’t know what happened on the Princess...
It was, indeed, a victory for the cruise ships’ owners, in terms of
collecting fat fees?
[Chuckling].
Well, they did declare afterwards it was a victory for them…and Mr Manning did
say last night it was $120 million for both vessels. The media focused on the
fancy vehicles, but there were other areas that needed to be focused on to make
this exercise meaningful to us.
Did the Government make any meaningful effort to involve civil society in
the actual summit?
[A quick
passing of her hand through her shoulder-length hair]. Well, this has been one
of our complaints long ago; that we do not think that the Government was
engaging us in a meaningful way. And we have people among us who have a sense
of how this conference could have been directed to our benefit. We would have
also liked to see the Caribbean leaders, not only Trinidad and Tobago, take a
stronger stand on several matters.
The Latin American leaders came with their well-defined agendas; didn’t
they?
Yes. And that
is exactly my point. The Caribbean leaders did not put forward a common agenda
for the region. Given the fact this was the first time this gathering was
taking place in the Caribbean, there were some essential areas in which we
could have gained some kind of advantages. Here was our opportunity to shine,
but this never came across during the entire summit. What a shame!
Dr, since no one, including Mr Manning or Trade and Industry Minister
Mario Brown, can give us any idea of tangibles coming to this country for
hosting this expensive adventure, don’t you agree that it was a colossal waste
of money?
[Laughs again].
Was it a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money? Clevon, [twiddling a pencil while
pausing on this question], …was it a colossal waste of money? Clevon, we keep
being optimistic that something would come out of this if the regional
governments kind of take a position and have a sense of direction. But we are
not seeing that. The US and some of the Latins came and got something. Nothing
for the Caribbean.
Finally, what did civil society get out of the conference?
We put Cuba and Haiti on the agenda. We were told that Cuba was not to be
even whispered around the Summit, because nobody is going to entertain any
discussion relating to Cuba. And in hindsight, Clevon, the Summit could have
worked if the leaders had handled it differently. You cannot go through all
that financial expense, come here saying “It was great meeting you all, but
sorry we waiting on the IMF” and others to tell us what do to about something
like the international financial crisis.
Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning signs the
final declaration of the fifth Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago, Sunday, April 19. Manning was the sole signatory. The
confab of 34 heads of government from within the hemisphere was overshadowed by
Cuba, and Hugo Chávez, who grabbed centre stage with the unexpected
presentation of a book to United States President Barack Obama that detailed
Latin America's beef with the superpower over many decades.
News reports highlighted the erection of a new wall that did not
entirely block the urban blight of Port-of-Spain, others wondered where was the
beach amid organisational glitches at the fifth Summit of the Americas.
Now civil society
groups in the Americas said Tuesday they were still awaiting the promised
action and implementation plan that was supposed to have emerged from the Fifth
Summit of the Americas and the Port-of-Spain Declaration.
Sole signatory
Trinidad's Patrick
Manning was the sole signatory to the declaration.
The Active Democracy
Network (ADN), whose membership spans 24 countries said it had expected more of
a commitment on a number of issues including poverty alleviation from the
western hemispheric leaders.
"In the areas
where we expected assigned deadlines and responsibilities, the Summit merely
adopts UN deadline of 2015 for the alleviation of poverty and achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals at a time when the UN is itself reviewing that
deadline - just five years away," said ADN spokesperson Dr Kris Rampersad.
Strategic actions
"The only
clauses that assert accountability from governments are Clause 66, which merely
'instructs' governments to meet again in 2010 on the Inter-American Program for
Sustainable Development (PIDS); Clause 90, which calls on 'the technical
secretariats of all Inter-American Ministerial Meetings to inform their
ministers and high level authorities of the mandates arising from this summit
and to initiate strategic actions, by the end of 2009, to facilitate the
implementation of our commitments."
Clause 99 instructs
ministers of finance or pertinent authorities to convene a meeting in 2010 to
address regional financial and economic issues.
But: "Will the
financial and economic crisis wait until we reach to Clause 99 and 2010?,"
said Rampersad, reeling off a series of questions on the action plan post
summit, Caribbean priorities, and solutions and projects identified for food,
energy and environmental crises.
97 new commitments
"These are
questions that remain unanswered in the Declaration. In essence, it implies
that we seem to have held a Summit to instruct all attending to commit to meet
again," said Rampersad.
The Port-of-Spain
Declaration, she said, was no different than the some 634 mandates and
commitments that governments of the region have signed on to over the last four
summits, on which some 60 per cent of the governments have taken no action.
"This Summit, in
fact, adds 97 more commitments to the 634 others, while leaving open the
questions of who is going to implement them, given the token signing of the
declaration by the Chair, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, seemingly on behalf
of the meeting," said Rampersad.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad,
November 14, 2008: (IPS) – Caribbean civil society groups say they want to have
direct input at the Fifth Summit of the Americas to be held in Trinidad and
Tobago next April, and are urging hemispheric governments to begin implementing
some of the 600 recommendations that have been agreed upon at previous summits
dating back to 1994.
“We are happy that Trinidad and Tobago is focusing on implementation at
the Apr. 17-19 summit, and we are lending our expertise to that process,” said
Dr. Kris Rampersad, director of Lobby, Advocacy, Research and Public Relations
of the Network of NGOS of Trinidad and Tobago for the Advancement of Women.
She told IPS that at a two-day Caribbean Sub Regional Civil Society Forum
held here over the weekend, delegates also agreed on the need for including civil
society representatives in government delegations — one of the commitments made
at the Quebec Summit five years ago and reiterated at the last summit in Mar de
Plata, but never implemented.
“It is time to deliver. Since Trinidad and Tobago, as host, is leading
this call for implementation, it is an ideal opportunity that our government
leads by example and start implementation from the home front, beginning at
national level,” Rampersad said.
“The Caribbean has in the past had relatively low-keyed involvement in
the summit process. Now that it is being staged in the Caribbean, it gives the
region an opportunity to redefine its roles and responsibilities within the
hemisphere,” she added.
The Summit of the Americas is held every three to four years, and brings
together the region’s 34 heads of state to discuss political, economic, social,
and security issues.
Hazel Brown, coordinator of the Trinidad-based Network of NGOs, reminded
delegates that “nothing will be handed to us — we have to take it,” and that
the purpose of the forum was to allow for the establishment of a strong
citizens’ movement in this hemisphere of which the Caribbean is a vibrant part.
The forum here was organised by the Trinidad-based NGO, the Organisation
of American States (OAS) and the Canadian-based Foundation for the Americas
(FOCAL) and held under the theme “Building Civil Society Capacity for
Participation in the Summit Process and Follow-Up”.
More than 100 NGOs and civil society groups were represented at the
forum, which discussed issues such as human prosperity, environmental
sustainability, energy security, democratic governance, and strengthening the
summit process.
OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin said that the participation
of civil society in next year’s summit “cannot be a one-off activity”.
“This engagement should be a continuous one, structured and well defined,
and even beyond the Fifth Summit of the Americas. Civil society engagement is
not a gesture, it is an obligation,” he said.
But the forum here also noted the failure of the 34 hemispheric
governments to implement many of the recommendations that had emerged from
previous summits and recalled, for example, the 2003 Quebec summit, which
produced at least 43 pages of recommendations.
“We, as part of a hemispheric group of civil society organisations — the
Active Democracy Network — monitoring implementation of the summit mandates
will launch an index of government compliance that will rank the governments
based on analyses carried out by experts throughout in terms of
implementation,” Rampersad said.
“From preliminary data, it is clear that there has been regression in
some of the areas. In others, governments have made some progress,” she said,
noting that in some cases “there has been no movement at all”.
The Active Democracy Network’s initial focus is on recommendations
involving local government reform, freedom of expression, access to information
and involvement by civil society in decision making.
For example, regional leaders committed in the Quebec Plan of Action to
strengthen local government systems by making them more autonomous and active
agents of political and administrative decentralisation.
“Instead, even despite the national consultations, in Trinidad and
Tobago, for example, we are seeing evidence of reducing the powers of local
government and increasing control by central government,” Rampersad said.
At the summit in Quebec, the participating governments had also agreed to
promote mechanisms to facilitate citizen participation in political life, and
provide the resources to do so, including information, training and technical
support and financial resources.
Rampersad believes that with the summit being held in the Caribbean for
the first time ever, regional countries, and more specifically the Trinidad and
Tobago government, should use the opportunity to set an example.
“Here is a very good place to start. We have measurable data of where
implementation can be improved. We must go beyond the rhetoric and act on it,”
she added.
Arthur Gray, advisor to the National Coordinator of the Fifth Summit
Secretariat, said that the summit, apart from the historic significance of
being held in a small island developing state, provides an opportunity for the
Caribbean to shape a hemispheric agenda “that addresses the issues and themes
that are of direct relevance to our region even as it lays the foundations of a
new structure of Inter-American relations that is in consonance with the urgent
realities of our time.”
The delegates at the just concluded Caribbean Civil Society Forum say
they want it to become the core of a network of Caribbean civil society
organisations (CSO) that will work to advance CSO involvement in the summit
process, sharing expertise and experiences.
In addition, they have also pledged to form national umbrella CSOs to
lobby their governments to hold national consultations that would feed into the
regional compilation of civil society recommendations.
Rampersad said that the forum also agreed that “there be meaningful and
effective spaces for civil society interface with Government at the summit and
to dialogue on recommendations for the Summit plan of action”..
http://spiceislander.com/?p=793
Civil
groups question absence of Summit action plan
PORT OF SPAIN,
Trinidad, April 22, 2009 – Civil Society groups are still awaiting the
promised action and implementation plan that was supposed to have emerged from
the Fifth Summit of the Americas and the Port of Spain Declaration.
The Active
Democracy Network – comprising civil society organisations of 24 countries of
the Organisation of American States, including the Network of NGOs of Trinidad
and Tobago for the Advancement of Women – is questioning why no action plan was
created, particularly in light of the global economic crisis.
“In the areas where
we expected assigned deadlines and responsibilities the Summit merely adopts UN
deadline of 2015 for the alleviation of poverty and achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals at a time when the UN is itself reviewing that
deadline – just five years away,” lamented the spokesperson for both networks,
Dr Kris Rampersad.
She added that the
Declaration of Port of Spain, adopted even after some member countries refused
to support it, did not outline any priorities for the Caribbean or provide any
solutions or projects to address the financial crisis, the energy crisis, or
the environmental and climate crises.
“In essence, it
implies that we seem to have held a Summit to instruct all attending to commit
to meet again,” said Dr Rampersad.
To support his
point, he highlighted clause 66 of the declaration which instructs governments
to meet again in 2010 on the Inter-American Program for Sustainable Development
(PIDS); clause 90 which calls on “the technical secretariats of all
inter-American Ministerial Meetings to inform their Ministers and high level
authorities of the mandates arising from this Summit and to initiate strategic
actions, by the end of 2009, to facilitate the implementation of our
commitments”; and clause 99 which instructs Ministers of Finance or
pertinent authorities to convene a meeting in 2010 to address regional
financial and economic issues’.
“Will the financial
and economic crisis wait until we reach to clause 99 and 2010. Where is the
action plan?” Dr Rampersad questioned.
She added that
while the civil society groups are encouraged that the Summit reaffirms
commitments that governments include civil society in policy action and
decision, and strengthens its resolve to promote human rights, fundamental
freedoms, women’s rights and social inclusion, “it is clear that this
Declaration is no different than the some 634 mandates and commitments that
Governments of the region have signed on to over the last four Summits, with
record of minimal follow-up”.
Dr Rampersad said
an assessment by the Active Democracy Network launched during the pre-Summit
forum showed almost 60 per cent of the governments not implementing Summit
decisions.
“This Summit in
fact adds 97 more commitments to the 634 others, while leaving open the
questions of who is going to implement them, given the token signing of the
declaration by the Chair, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, seemingly on behalf
of the meeting,” she said.
Dr Rampersad said
the declaration raises questions on what level of consensus was achieved and
“how binding could these commitments be made given their vagueness and lack of
applicability to the most pressing of today’s realities”.
The Active
Democracy Network’s review and Index of government’s performance and the work
of other organisations give specific recommendations on areas for immediate
action and implementation.
The spokesman
insisted that governments do not have to reinvent the wheel to find solutions
to the regions problems, but instead use new action-oriented approaches to
alleviate them.
Manning opens people's summit; T& T gets poor scores on
implementing summit mandates
Trinidad & Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning formally
opened the Fifth Summit of the Americas on board the cruise ship, Caribbean
Victory, which is docked in Port-of-Spain. But the high profile guests,
including U.S. President Barack Obama, are yet to arrive for the two-day
conference, which begins on Friday.
“I welcome you to the Fifth Summit of the Americas,” he told
hundreds of guests from civil society and public life.
He thanked the groups for helping people, noting that they play
a critical role in the development of a people and society. “The effects of
civil society’s work have often been lost to those of us who toil in other
vineyards,” he said.
Manning said governments must not govern in their own interests
but in the interests of the people, adding that a nation is judged on how it
treats its least fortunate citizens. In that context, he said, civil society
has the potential to make nations great.
“This my dear friends is a People’s Summit. In the end it will
be the people who benefit....Your deliberations will go a considerable way to
improving the lives of the people in the hemisphere.”
While Manning is sounding upbeat ahead of the summit, an
implementation index to be released Thursday shows that Trinidad and Tobago
performed poorly on implementing mandates from the last four Summits of the
Americas.
The index shows Trinidad and Tobago at 0.09 on Freedom of
Expression, 0.08 in Access to Information, 0.04 Decentralisation and Local
Government, 0.18 for Citizen Participation and 0.02 on gender perspectives.
Dr Kris Rampersad , International Relations Director of
the Network of Non Governmental
Organisations (NGOs) said these scores have been developed by the Active Democracy Network, grading 24
countries in the region with respect to keeping their pledge to implement
measures agreed at previous summits.
Rampersad said Trinidad and Tobago has done virtually nothing in
these areas.
Hazel Brown, president of the Network of NGOs, said one reason
why Governments have not implemented the mandates from previous Summits is
because of a lack of information. "They agree to things and they sign
things and nobody knows," she told reporters.
"One of the proposals that we are making is that when you
go and you sign things on our behalf in our name when you come back please tell
us," she said.
"We have insisted that what this summit must be about is to
look at those 634 mandates that were made in the last four summits and
determine what the priorities are and how together citizens and Government we
will ensure for the benefit of ourselves and our children the implementation of
those mandates. Those things cannot be implemented without this kind of cross
sectoral collaboration between all of us as citizens."
Brown noted that the Jamaican government has said it is willing
to work with the civil society representatives to see how they can improve
their performance.
The Coalition of
Civil Society Organisations for the Summit of the Americas believes that the
Summit can be an effective vehicle in making change throughout the
region.
However, Dr Kris
Rampersad International Relation Director of the Net Work of NGO's and the
representative of the hemispheric Active Democracy Network explained in a
telephone interview that this can only be accomplished if the leaders attending
the Summit are aware of the real issues that are affecting the people they
serve and actively work to institute the decisions that they come to after the
Summit is over.
The Civil Society
Organisation she said is determined to do its part to ensuring this and will
facilitate the former of the two by hosting a meeting on Tuesday at the
University of the West Indies, St Augustine, in an attempt to bring together
all sectors of civil society to give them a voice.
"A lot of
people feel left out of what is taking place as it relates to the Summit so we
are trying to create an avenue, through this meeting on Tuesday, to allow for
the input from the public so that the issues being discussed won't just come
from the heads of State but from the people in a majority."
"Our view is
that the Summit can be beneficial but it depends on what the leaders take from
it and the follow up on the decisions taken during the Summit when they get
back to their countries."
She added that in
the past a lot of what was discussed and eventually decided upon at the
previous Summits never materialised because there was no follow up to the
discussions.
"Our position
is that at this Summit they need to focus on specific actionable points and
tied to that timeline and assigned responsibility for various Governments so
that everyone knows who is responsible for carrying out what action," she
said. Tuesday's meeting she said is open to all members of the public
including trade unions, community groups, religious organisations and other
NGO's. Its agenda is focused on the Global/ Hemispheric Economic Crisis:
Implications for civil society and proposed policy Initiatives, Civil Society
Appraisal and Institutionalising Civil Society Participation in Democratic
Governance and Matters Relating to the Agenda and Civil Society Management of
and Participation in the three civil society fora.
"This being
the first time that the Summit is being held in the Caribbean it is an
opportunity for the Caribbean to establish a higher profile on the hemispheric
agenda."
"Many times we
are just grouped together with Latin America but Caribbean issues and needs are
many times very different to the needs of Latin America," she added.
The Caribbean
Civil Society will meet in Trinidad and Tobago to discuss the agenda of the
upcoming Heads of Government Summit of the Organisation of American States.
"It is an opportunity for regional organisations to place on the agenda
exactly what they expect of their governments when they meet in Summit in April
2009 on the theme Securing Our Citizens' Future by Promoting Human Prosperity,
Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability", Director of Lobby,
Advocacy, Research and Public Relations at the Network of NGOs of Trinidad and
Tobago for the Advancement of Women, Dr Kris Rampersad explained. The Caribbean
Civil Society Forum will take place from 8 am on October 30 and 31, 2008 in
Port of Spain. It is being hosted by the Network, the Canadian Foundation for
the Americas (FOCAL) with the support of the Summits of the Americas
Secretariat and the Department of International Affairs of the Organization of
American States. The Network has set up a civil society secretariat to supply
citizens with relevant information on the Summit. "If Caribbean citizens
are concerned that the issues which are important to the region are not
receiving adequate political attention, this is the opportunity to make those
concerns heard," said Rampersad, adding that the sessions will be largely
open to the public.
Said Rampersad:
"The Forum will mobilise the diverse range of expertise and activism of
CSOs for more meaningful participation in the summit process and to recognize
their role in spurring their governments to confront contemporary issues facing
the Hemisphere. It is critical for Caribbean civil society to know and
understanding this OAS decision making machinery in order to influence the
development of public policy, programs and government practices that can
improve their lives through implementation of Summit mandates. The Forum will
discuss and compile recommendations to be presented to the Summit
Implementation Review Group (SIRG), which will shape the Draft Declaration of
Commitment and the hemispheric agenda at the Fifth Summit. Following on the
practice established at the four previous Summits, this Forum is also designed
to provide impetus for Caribbean civil society, as members of the host region
of the Summit, to take a leadership role in the lead-up process to the Summit.
"We envision
the Forum will begin the process of developing a strong network of Caribbean
civil society organisations at local and regional levels that can collaborate
with CSOs in other regions of the Americas for the Summit," said
Rampersad. "These partnerships and collaborations are critical to build
capacity to participate in the OAS process, as well as other important
initiatives within the Americas."
Based on the
themes, sessions will be held on the topics: Human Prosperity, Environmental
Sustainability, Energy Security, Democratic Governance, and Strengthening the
Summits Process, the Forum will:
Draft recommendations
from CSOs on themes of the Fifth Summit to be presented to the Summit
Implementation Review Group (SIRG).
Highlight models of
successful CSO participation in implementing and monitoring past Summit
mandates in the Caribbean.
Raise awareness among
CSOs of the Fifth Summit themes and the draft Declaration of Commitments.
Assess and improve the
capacity of CSOs to partner on advancing Fifth Summit commitments to foster
human prosperity, democratic governance, energy security and environmental
sustainability in the Caribbean.
(Kris Rampersad - Sunday, October 5, 2008,
05:26:50 p.m.) It would be useful if we can look at this from our regional
home-grown perspective rather than from and with all the imported approaches
that we are being spoon-fed and adopting wholesale - with evident disastrous
effect...(The reasons why are we in the current crisis!!!) Brazil’s is a great
model to follow - combining as it does political will with mechanisms to
support home grown methods and technologies…Will post more on this before end
of the week.
T& T did
not fare well in adopting previous summit mandate
Trinidad and Tobago
has received very poor scores on a performance index on the implementation of
mandates from the last four Summits of the Americas.
CAMILLE
BETHEL
Trinidad
and Tobago has received very poor scores on a performance index on the
implementation of mandates from the last four Summits of the Americas.
The
index which will be launched tomorrow shows Trinidad and Tobago with extremely
low scores of 0.09 on the issue of Freedom of Expression, 0.08 in the area of
Access to Information, 0.04 in the area of Decentralisation and Local
Government, 0.18 for Citizen Participation and 0.02 on gender perspectives.
Dr
Kris Rampersad , International Relations Director of the Network of Non
Governmental Organisations (NGOs) said these scores on the index - a score pad
developed by the Active Democracy Network on the performance of implementation
for 24 countries in the region with respect to the extent governments have
implemented the things they promised - shows that this Government has done
virtually nothing in these areas.
Hazel
Brown, president of the Network of NGOs, said it was not enough for them to say
that the Government was not doing this or they hadn't done that: "So we
are able to say for specific things what they have done and use those results
of the index to encourage some improvement in the situation with regards to
implementation."
She
added that one of the reasons Governments have not implemented the mandates
agreed upon at the previous Summits was because people don't know what they
agree on when they go to these conferences.
"They
agree to things and they sign things and nobody knows."
"One
of the proposals that we are making is that when you go and you sign things on
our behalf in our name when you come back please tell us," she said.
Brown
added that multi-sectoral collaboration and partnership is also very important
for the implementation of the summit mandates.
"We
have insisted that what this summit must be about is to look at those 634
mandates that were made in the last four summits and determine what the
priorities are and how together citizens and Government we will ensure for the
benefit of ourselves and our children the implementation of those mandates.
Those things cannot be implemented without this kind of cross sectorial
collaboration between all of us as citizens."
Brown
pointed out that the Government of Jamaica has expressed its willingness to
work with the civil society representatives to see what the score pad says
about them so that they can improve their performance.
Read more here:
http://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article1932261.html#storylink=cpy
...Imbalanced attention to key drivers:
culture, gender and rural development
Despite its very clear identification of Commonwealth challenges, and its
theme Partnering for a More Equitable and Sustainable Future, the CHOGM concept
paper gives unequal focus to its three key words, ‘partnering, equitable, and
sustainable.’
Despite its very clear identification of Commonwealth challenges, and its
theme Partnering for a More Equitable and Sustainable Future, the CHOGM concept
paper gives unequal focus to its three key words, ‘partnering, equitable, and
sustainable.’
The paper is heavily slanted to climate change, almost to the oblivion of
all else, and even that is skewed to the perspective that all the world’s
ensuing problems will arise from the climate change phenomenon. This
constitutes a business-as-usual, plaster-on-the-sore approach that holds the
symptoms for the cause.
It ignores the reality that anticipated challenges from changing climate
patterns are really manifestations of the continued imposition of culturally
alien financial and other systems on many of the world’s communities,
unbalanced economic development, neglect of the contributions of women and
girls, and inequitable investments in the largely rural-based agricultural
sectors in favour of close-to-the-nose urban sectors.
The paper’s approach is analogous to the get-rich-quick models that
spiraled the financial crisis in the first instance; the failures that have
arisen from focus on economic security at the expense of food security; and the
disrespect for home-grown, culturally evolved modes of coping with life’s
challenge that have excluded large segments of the world’s peoples from an
equal share of development — spring-factors that will exacerbate the impacts of
climate change, not the other way around!
The concept can certainly benefit from strengthened emphasis on the need
for integrated and multi/cross sectoral approaches that promote balance and
equity and that recognise different notions and cultures of development that
can add enormously to solutions for the current crises of finance, food
security, water and land management, soil conservation, rising temperatures and
ocean levels.
As it treats with climate change, there is need in the concept for
dedicated attention through paragraphs that:
1. recognise that peoples’ cultures are central and pivotal to
development around which all else orbits if there is to be widespread buy-in-to
the Millennium Development Goals;
2. account for the conditions of and contributions of two-thirds of the
Commonwealth—who are women and children—as key starting points (not endpoints)
to reversing the horrifying imbalances of poverty, malnourishment, child and
maternal mortality that will be aided and alleviated through - not token - but
revisionist priority positioning of agriculture, food security and rural in the
Commonwealth and others’ development agendas.
This would go a long way to help right the lopsided vision in the
concept, clouded as it is by climate change as the looming tsunami bearing down
on the world, by sharpening its focus on the real subjects of the MDGs: the
neglected communities that huddle on tsunami-endangered coastlines, farmers who
are squeezed onto precarious hillside to produce the world’s food as concrete
encroach on prime agriculture lands and the plight of the disadvantaged,
including women and children.
2. Dr Kris Rampersad, a T& T based media,
cultural and literary development consultant and international relations
director of the Network of NGOS of Trinidad and Tobago for the Advancement of
Women, reviews the Concept Paper for the Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting (CHOGM) in the context of status of the global development agenda.
The Declaration of Cumaná
by ALBA Member Countries from ALBA,
Cumaná, Venezuela
We, the Heads of State and Government of
Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela, member countries of
ALBA, consider that the Draft Declaration of the 5th Summit of the Americas is
insufficient and unacceptable for the following reasons:
- The Declaration does not provide answers to
the Global Economic Crisis, even though this crisis constitutes the greatest
challenge faced by humanity in the last decades and is the most serious threat
of the current times to the welfare of our peoples.
- The Declaration unfairly excludes Cuba,
without mentioning the consensus in the region condemning the blockade and
isolation to which the people and the government of Cuba have incessantly been
exposed in a criminal manner.
For this reason, we, the member countries of
ALBA believe that there is no consensus for the adoption of this draft
declaration because of the reasons above stated, and accordingly, we propose to
hold a thorough debate on the following topics:
1. Capitalism is leading humanity and the planet
to extinction. What we are experiencing is a global economic crisis of a
systemic and structural nature, not another cyclic crisis. Those who think that
with a taxpayer money injection and some regulatory measures this crisis will
end are wrong. The financial system is in crisis because it trades bonds with
six times the real value of the assets and services produced and rendered in
the world, this is not a "system regulation failure", but a
integrating part of the capitalist system that speculates with all assets and
values with a view to obtain the maximum profit possible. Until now, the
economic crisis has generated over 100 million additional hungry persons and
has slashed over 50 million jobs, and these figures show an upward trend.
2. Capitalism has caused the environmental
crisis, by submitting the necessary conditions for life in the planet, to the
predominance of market and profit. Each year we consume one third more of what
the planet is able to regenerate. With this squandering binge of the capitalist
system, we are going to need two planets Earth by the year 2030.
3. The global economic crisis, climate change,
the food crisis and the energy crisis are the result of the decay of
capitalism, which threatens to end life and the planet. To avert this outcome,
it is necessary to develop and model an alternative to the capitalist system. A
system based on:
- solidarity and complementarity, not
competition;
- a system in harmony with our mother earth and
not plundering of human resources;
- a system of cultural diversity and not
cultural destruction and imposition of cultural values and lifestyles alien to
the realities of our countries;
- a system of peace based on social justice and
not on imperialist policies and wars;
- in summary, a system that recovers the human
condition of our societies and peoples and does not reduce them to mere
consumers or merchandise.
4. As a concrete expression of the new reality
of the continent, we, Caribbean and Latin American countries, have commenced to
build our own institutionalization, an institutionalization that is based on a
common history dating back to our independence revolution and constitutes a
concrete tool for deepening the social, economic and cultural transformation
processes that will consolidate our full sovereignty. ALBA-TCP, Petrocaribe or
UNASUR, mentioning merely the most recently created, are solidarity-based
mechanisms of unity created in the midst of such transformations with the
obvious intention of boosting the efforts of our peoples to attain their own
freedom. To face the serious effects of the global economic crisis, we, the
ALBA-TCP countries, have adopted innovative and transforming measures that seek
real alternatives to the inadequate international economic order, not to boost
their failed institutions. Thus, we have implemented a Regional Clearance
Unitary System, the SUCRE, which includes a Common Unit of Account, a Clearance
Chamber and a Single Reserve System. Similarly, we have encouraged the
constitution of grand-national companies to satisfy the essential needs of our
peoples and establish fair and complementary trade mechanisms that leave behind
the absurd logic of unbridled competition.
5. We question the G20 for having tripled the
resources of the International Monetary Fund when the real need is to establish
a new world economic order that includes the full transformation of the IMF,
the World Bank and the WTO, entities that have contributed to this global
economic crisis with their neoliberal policies.
6. The solutions to the global economic crisis
and the definition of a new international financial scheme should be adopted
with the participation of the 192 countries that will meet in the United
Nations Conference on the International Financial Crisis to be held on June 1-3
to propose the creation of a new international economic order.
7. As for climate change, developed countries
are in an environmental debt to the world because they are responsible for 70%
of historical carbon emissions into the atmosphere since 1750. Developed
countries should pay off their debt to humankind and the planet; they should
provide significant resources to a fund so that developing countries can embark
upon a growth model which does not repeat the serious impacts of the capitalist
industrialization.
8. Solutions to the energy, food and climate
change crises should be comprehensive and interdependent. We cannot solve a
problem by creating new ones in fundamental areas for life. For instance, the
widespread use of agricultural fuels has an adverse effect on food prices and
the use of essential resources, such as water, land and forests.
9. We condemn the discrimination against
migrants in any of its forms. Migration is a human right, not a crime.
Therefore, we request the United States government an urgent reform of its
migration policies in order to stop deportations and massive raids and allow
for reunion of families. We further demand the removal of the wall that
separates and divides us, instead of uniting us. In this regard, we petition
for the abrogation of the Law of Cuban Adjustment and removal of the
discriminatory, selective Dry Feet, Wet Feet policy that has claimed human
losses. Bankers who stole the money and resources from our countries are the
true responsible, not migrant workers. Human rights should come first,
particularly human rights of the underprivileged, downtrodden sectors in our
society, that is, migrants without identity papers. Free movement of people and
human rights for everybody, regardless of their migration status, are a must
for integration. Brain drain is a way of plundering skilled human resources
exercised by rich countries.
10. Basic education, health, water, energy and
telecommunications services should be declared human rights and cannot be
subject to private deal or marketed by the World Trade Organization. These
services are and should be essentially public utilities of universal access.
11. We wish a world where all, big and small,
countries have the same rights and where there is no empire. We advocate
non-intervention. There is the need to strengthen, as the only legitimate means
for discussion and assessment of bilateral and multilateral agendas in the
hemisphere, the foundations for mutual respect between states and governments,
based on the principle of non-interference of a state in the internal affairs
of another state, and inviolability of sovereignty and self-determination of
the peoples. We request the new Government of the United States, the arrival of
which has given rise to some expectations in the hemisphere and the world, to
finish the longstanding and dire tradition of interventionism and aggression
that has characterized the actions of the US governments throughout history,
and particularly intensified during the Administration of President George W.
Bush. By the same token, we request the new Government of the United States to
abandon interventionist practices, such as cover-up operations, parallel
diplomacy, media wars aimed at disturbing states and governments, and funding
of destabilizing groups. Building on a world where varied economic, political,
social and cultural approaches are acknowledged and respected is of the
essence.
12. With regard to the US blockade against Cuba
and the exclusion of the latter from the Summit of the Americas, we, the member
states of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America, reassert
the Declaration adopted by all Latin American and Caribbean countries last
December 16, 2008, on the need to end the economic, trade and financial
blockade imposed by the Government of the United States of America on Cuba,
including the implementation of the so-called Helms-Burton Act. The declaration
sets forth in its fundamental paragraphs the following:
"CONSIDERING the resolutions approved by
the United Nations General Assembly on the need to finish the economic, trade
and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba, and the statements
on such blockade, which have been approved in numerous international meetings.
"WE AFFIRM that the application of
unilateral, coercive measures affecting the wellbeing of peoples and hindering
integration processes is unacceptable when defending free exchange and the
transparent practice of international trade.
"WE STRONGLY REPEL the enforcement of laws
and measures contrary to International Law, such as the Helms-Burton Act, and
we urge the Government of the United States of America to finish such
enforcement.
"WE REQUEST the Government of the United
States of America to comply with the provisions set forth in 17 successive
resolutions approved by the United Nations General Assembly and put an end to
the economic, trade and financial blockade on Cuba."
Additionally, we consider that the attempts at
imposing the isolation of Cuba have failed, as nowadays Cuba forms an integral
part of the Latin American and Caribbean region; it is a member of the Rio
Group and other hemispheric organizations and mechanisms, which develops a
policy of cooperation, in solidarity with the countries in the hemisphere;
which promotes full integration of Latin American and Caribbean peoples.
Therefore, there is no reason whatsoever to justify its exclusion from the
mechanism of the Summit of the Americas.
13. Developed countries have spent at least USD
8 billion to rescue a collapsing financial structure. They are the same that
fail to allocate the small sums of money to attain the Millennium Goals or 0.7%
of the GDP for the Official Development Assistance. Never before the hypocrisy
of the wording of rich countries had been so apparent. Cooperation should be
established without conditions and fit in the agendas of recipient countries by
making arrangements easier; providing access to the resources, and prioritizing
social inclusion issues.
14. The legitimate struggle against drug
trafficking and organized crime, and any other form of the so-called "new
threats" must not be used as an excuse to undertake actions of
interference and intervention against our countries.
15. We are firmly convinced that the change,
where everybody repose hope, can come only from organization, mobilization and
unity of our peoples.
As the Liberator wisely said:
Unity of our peoples is not a mere illusion
of men, but an inexorable decree of destiny.— Simón BolÃvar President Obama's Opening Statement at the
Fifth Summit of the Americas
- 04/17/09
Text
Good evening. I am honored to join you here
today, and I want to thank Prime Minister Manning, the people of Trinidad and
Tobago for their generosity in hosting the Fifth Summit of the Americas. And I
want to extend my greetings to all the heads of state, many of who I am meeting
for the first time. All of us are extraordinarily excited to have this
opportunity to visit this wonderful country -- and as somebody who grew up on
an island, I can tell you I feel right at home. (Applause.)
It's appropriate and important that we hold this
summit in the Caribbean. The energy, the dynamism, the diversity of the
Caribbean people inspires us all, and are such an important part of what we
share in common as a hemisphere.
I think everybody recognizes that we come
together at a critical moment for the people of the Americas. Our well-being
has been set back by a historic economic crisis. Our safety is endangered by a
broad range of threats. But this peril can be eclipsed by the promise of a new
prosperity and personal security and the protection of liberty and justice for
all the people of our hemisphere. That's the future that we can build together,
but only if we move forward with a new sense of partnership.
All of us must now renew the common stake that
we have in one another. I know that promises of partnership have gone
unfulfilled in the past, and that trust has to be earned over time. While the
United States has done much to promote peace and prosperity in the hemisphere,
we have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms.
But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. (Applause.) There is no
senior partner and junior partner in our relations; there is simply engagement
based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values. So I'm here to
launch a new chapter of engagement that will be sustained throughout my
administration. (Applause.)
To move forward, we cannot let ourselves be
prisoners of past disagreements. I am very grateful that President Ortega --
(applause) -- I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things
that happened when I was three months old. (Laughter.) Too often, an
opportunity to build a fresh partnership of the Americas has been undermined by
stale debates. And we've heard all these arguments before, these debates that
would have us make a false choice between rigid, state-run economies or
unbridled and unregulated capitalism; between blame for right-wing
paramilitaries or left-wing insurgents; between sticking to inflexible policies
with regard to Cuba or denying the full human rights that are owed to the Cuban
people.
I didn't come here to debate the past -- I came
here to deal with the future. (Applause.) I believe, as some of our previous
speakers have stated, that we must learn from history, but we can't be trapped
by it. As neighbors, we have a responsibility to each other and to our
citizens. And by working together, we can take important steps forward to
advance prosperity and security and liberty. That is the 21st century agenda
that we come together to enact. That's the new direction that we can pursue.
Before we move forward for our shared
discussions over this weekend, I'd like to put forward several areas where the
United States is committed already to strengthening collective action on behalf
of our shared goals.
First, we must come together on behalf of our
common prosperity. That's what we've already begun to do. Our unprecedented
actions to stimulate growth and restart the flow of credit will help create
jobs and prosperity within our borders and within yours. We joined with our G20
partners to set aside over a trillion dollars for countries going through
difficult times, recognizing that we have to provide assistance to those countries
that are most vulnerable. We will work with you to ensure that the
Inter-American Development Bank can take the necessary steps to increase its
current levels of lending and to carefully study the needs for recapitalization
in the future. And we recognize that we have a special responsibility, as one
of the world's financial centers, to work with partners around the globe to
reform a failed regulatory system -- so that we can prevent the kinds of
financial abuses that led to this current crisis from ever happening again, and
achieve an economic expansion not just in the United States but all across the
hemisphere that is built not on bubbles, but on sustainable economic growth.
We're also committed to combating inequality and
creating prosperity from the bottom up. This is something that I've spoken
about in the United States, and it's something that I believe applies across
the region. I've asked Congress for $448 million in immediate assistance for
those who have been hit hardest by the crisis beyond our borders. And today,
I'm pleased to announce a new Microfinance Growth Fund for the hemisphere that
can restart the lending that can power businesses and entrepreneurs in each and
every country that's represented here. This is not charity. (Applause.) Let me
be clear: This is not charity. Together, we can create a broader foundation of
prosperity that builds new markets and powers new growth for all peoples in the
hemisphere, because our economies are intertwined.
Next, we can strengthen the foundation of our
prosperity and our security and our environment through a new partnership on
energy. Our hemisphere is blessed with bountiful resources, and we are all
endangered by climate change. Now we must come together to find new ways to
produce and use energy so that we can create jobs and protect our planet.
So today, I'm proposing the creation of a new
Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas that can forge progress to a
more secure and sustainable future. It's a partnership that will harness the vision
and determination of countries like Mexico and Brazil that have already done
outstanding work in this area to promote renewable energy and reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. Each country will bring its own unique resources and needs, so
we will ensure that each country can maximize its strengths as we promote
efficiency and improve our infrastructure, share technologies, support
investments in renewable sources of energy. And in doing so, we can create the
jobs of the future, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and make this hemisphere a
model for cooperation.
The dangers of climate change are part of a
broad range of threats to our citizens, so the third area where we must work
together is to advance our common security.
Today, too many people in the Americas live in
fear. We must not tolerate violence and insecurity, no matter where it comes
from. Children must be safe to play in the street, and families should never
face the pain of a kidnapping. Policemen must be more powerful than kingpins,
and judges must advance the rule of law. Illegal guns must not flow freely into
criminal hands, and illegal drugs must not destroy lives and distort our
economy.
Yesterday, President Caldera of Mexico and I
renewed our commitment to combat the dangers posed by drug cartels. Today, I
want to announce a new initiative to invest $30 million to strengthen
cooperation on security in the Caribbean. And I have directed key members of my
Cabinet to build and sustain relations with their counterparts in the
hemisphere to constantly adjust our tactics, to build upon best practices, and
develop new modes of cooperation -- because the United States is a friend of
every nation and person who seeks a future of security and dignity.
And let me add that I recognize that the problem
will not simply be solved by law enforcement if we're not also dealing with our
responsibilities in the United States. And that's why we will take aggressive
action to reduce our demand for drugs, and to stop the flow of guns and bulk
cash south across our borders. (Applause.) And that's why I'm making it a
priority to ratify the Illicit Trafficking in Firearms Convention as another
tool that we can use to prevent this from happening. And I also am mindful of
the statement that's been made earlier, that unless we provide opportunity for
an education and for jobs and a career for the young people in the region, then
too many will end up being attracted to the drug trade. And so we cannot
separate out dealing with the drug issue on the interdiction side and the law
enforcement side from the need for critical development in our communities.
Finally, we know that true security only comes
with liberty and justice. Those are bedrock values of the Inter-American
charter. Generations of our people have worked and fought and sacrificed for
them. And it is our responsibility to advance them in our time.
So together, we have to stand up against any
force that separates any of our people from that story of liberty -- whether
it's crushing poverty or corrosive corruption; social exclusion or persistent
racism or discrimination. Here in this room, and on this dais, we see the
diversity of the Americas. Every one of our nations has a right to follow its
own path. But we all have a responsibility to see that the people of the
Americans [sic] have the ability to pursue their own dreams in democratic
societies.
There's been several remarks directed at the
issue of the relationship between the United States and Cuba, so let me address
this. The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba. I know that there is a
longer -- (applause) -- I know there's a longer journey that must be traveled
to overcome decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take
toward a new day. I've already changed a Cuba policy that I believe has failed
to advance liberty or opportunity for the Cuban people. We will now allow Cuban
Americans to visit the islands whenever they choose and provide resources to
their families -- the same way that so many people in my country send money
back to their families in your countries to pay for everyday needs.
Over the past two years, I've indicated, and I
repeat today, that I'm prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban
government on a wide range of issues -- from drugs, migration, and economic
issues, to human rights, free speech, and democratic reform. Now, let me be
clear, I'm not interested in talking just for the sake of talking. But I do
believe that we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction.
As has already been noted, and I think my
presence here indicates, the United States has changed over time. (Applause.)
It has not always been easy, but it has changed. And so I think it's important
to remind my fellow leaders that it's not just the United States that has to
change. All of us have responsibilities to look towards the future. (Applause.)
I think it's important to recognize, given
historic suspicions, that the United States' policy should not be interference
in other countries, but that also means that we can't blame the United States
for every problem that arises in the hemisphere. That's part of the bargain.
(Applause.) That's part of the change that has to take place. That's the old
way, and we need a new way.
The United States will be willing to acknowledge
past errors where those errors have been made. We will be partners in helping
to alleviate poverty. But the American people have to get some positive
reinforcement if they are to be engaged in the efforts to lift other countries
out of the poverty that they're experiencing.
Every nation has been on its own journey. Here
in Trinidad and Tobago, we must respect those differences while celebrating
those things that we share in common. Our nations were all colonized by empires
and achieved our own liberation. Our people reflect the extraordinary diversity
of human beings, and our shared values reflect a common humanity -- the
universal desire to leave our children a world that is more prosperous and
peaceful than the one that we inherited.
So as we gather here, let us remember that our
success must be measured by the ability of people to live their dreams. That's
a goal that cannot be encompassed with any one policy or communique. It's not a
matter of abstractions or ideological debates. It's a question of whether or not
we are in a concrete way making the lives of our citizens better. It's
reflected in the hopes of our children, in the strength of our democratic
institutions, and our faith in the future.
It will take time. Nothing is going to happen
overnight. But I pledge to you that the United States will be there as a friend
and a partner, because our futures are inextricably bound to the future of the
people of the entire hemisphere. And we are committed to shaping that future
through engagement that is strong and sustained, that is meaningful, that is
successful, and that is based on mutual respect and equality.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Statement by Chair of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, Patrick Manning
Statement by the Chairman of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, the
Honourable Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and
Tobago Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago April 19, 2009 Statement by the
Chairman of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, the Honourable Patrick Manning,
Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain, Trinidad
and Tobago April 19, 2009 As Chair of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, I must
say how very pleased I was with the manner in which the deliberations
progressed yesterday in the Plenary Sessions and again this morning at the
Leaders’ Retreat. Since taking over the leadership of the Summits of the
Americas Process, Trinidad and Tobago has called, consistently, for greater
cooperation, integration and solidarity among our nations as the primary
vehicle for ensuring peace, security and prosperity for all the peoples of the
Americas. This Summit has been a historic event for us here in Trinidad and
Tobago and for the wider CARICOM Region and has exceeded by far all our
expectations. The Port of Spain Summit was characterized by mutual respect and
an eagerness and genuine desire to work together on solutions to the many
challenges facing the Hemisphere. Several leaders expressed the view that Port
of Spain marks a turning point for inter-American relations and for building a
stronger community of nations. Latin America and the Caribbean are now at a
different crossroad in their relations with each other and with the United
States of America. With the changing political landscape, the terms of
engagement have changed and occasioned by an altogether different posture that
is based on mutual respect and equality among partners. The leaders of the
Hemisphere agreed that we now have a real opportunity to put interAmerican
relations on a completely new footing which sees all countries, big or small,
developed or developing as equal partners. Such relations must be built on the
basis of new vision and a people-centred development strategy. The
deliberations over the past day and half centred on the three main pillars of
Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain - human prosperity, energy security
and environmental sustainability. The discussions also focused on the
re-integration of Cuba into the inter-American system, and on developing
relevant responses to the current global financial crisis. Reintegration of
Cuba in the Inter-American System Several Presidents and Prime Ministers called
for an end to the exclusion of Cuba from the Summit process and the inter-American
system. There was a clear consensus that the reintegration of Cuba in the
inter-American relations is an essential step toward the building of a more
cohesive and integrated Americas. The very open and conciliatory stance of
President Obama and other leaders at the Summit has heightened optimism for the
full engagement of Cuba in Hemispheric affairs in the not too distant future.
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago looks forward to the day when Cuba is
fully embraced into the folds of the inter-American family. Global Financial
Crisis At the time of this Fifth Summit, the world economy is facing a severe
financial crisis, which has led to a wide-spread global economic slump.
Economic statistics released by the International Monetary Fund in January 2009
indicate that the world economy grew by just 0.5 per cent in 2008 but is
expected to record negative growth for the first time in 60 years, in 2009.
While the economies of the Western Hemisphere fared much better in 2008 growing
on average by 4.8 per cent, economic growth is expected to slow sharply in 2009
to around 1.0 per cent. The countries of the Americas now face higher than
expected declines in the price and volume of exports, restrictions in access to
trade financing, difficulties in accessing other kinds of external finance and
reduced remittances from migrant workers. The current economic slump has
depressed commodity prices, constrained the growth of investment, weakened
labour markets and lowered business and consumer confidence. They are also not
immune from the negative social consequences of the current global crisis which
is threatening to derail the hard-won gains achieved over the past two decades.
The social consequences are likely to be quite significant. Many people are
losing their jobs and are being forced back into poverty. The impact on the
smaller economies has been even more pronounced. A protracted crisis will
create severe economic and social hardships in these vulnerable economies and
can derail them from the path of sustainable development that they have been
working so assiduously to achieve. In the context of the current economic
downturn, ensuring sustainable development for all the peoples of the Americas
requires a renewed focus on the commitments made in the Doha Declaration; the
Millennium Declaration; the Monterrey Consensus and the 2005 Global Summit.
Many countries have unveiled various measures to mitigate the impact of the
crisis and maintain macroeconomic stability including fiscal stimulus plans,
tax cuts, liquidity support for financial markets and interest rate reductions.
However, the extent of the fiscal support needs to be carefully managed so as
not to limit fiscal space going forward. Greater harmonization of monetary and
fiscal policy is now essential. Notwithstanding individual efforts, the crisis
requires a concerted and coordinated global response. Unilateral action alone
will likely be ineffective. There is a need for greater economic and commercial
ties among the countries of the Americas; and the restoration of credit flows
to finance international trade and arrest any abrupt decline in exports.
Developed countries also have an important role to play in addressing the
weaknesses in their financial systems, in order to restore trust in the
markets. The decision at the recently concluded London Summit to make $1.1
trillion in new resources available through the International Financial
Institutions to restore credit, encourage trade and support employment and
growth in the global economy is a step in the right direction. This package
must be implemented as soon as possible. While the allocation of resources to
the IMF is a positive step, it is but a basic one. Priority must also be given
to reviewing of capital requirements of the other multilateral institutions and
to supporting their various liquidity enhancement initiatives. The
Inter-American Development Bank and other financial institutions must use their
respective competitive advantages and financial resources in order to more
aggressively fulfill their mandates on poverty reduction and sustainable
development. Leaders placed the recapitalization of the Inter-American
Development Bank high on the agenda for immediate action. The recognition of
the human dimension of the crisis and the possibility of including
environmental consideration in the fiscal stimulus plans show that the leaders
at the G20 London Summit, in spite of the pressing short term demands have not
forgotten the long-term consequences. It is a positive signal that, in the
midst of the economic turmoil, the commitment to face the challenge of climate
change and its irreversible consequences is reaffirmed. Each government has an
important role to play in what is now an interdependent global financial and
economic system and robust and effective regulatory structures must be
implemented to enhance the stability of national and regional financial
systems. There must also be greater involvement by emerging and smaller
countries in the Western Hemisphere in the overhaul of global regulatory structures,
markets and systems with a view to forestalling future financial crises. Small
countries have a legitimate interest in the responsible, transparent, yet
competitive export of international services. Stimulus efforts, as far as
possible, must support sustainable economic growth and development in order to
promote human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability
Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain The Declaration of Commitment of
Port of Spain, which was the document negotiated over the last six months by 34
countries, outlines measures to be taken at the technical level towards the
goal of securing our citizens’ future. The Declaration makes broad reference to
the financial crisis and as such, does not address, in any detail, the specific
implementation measures. The issue of the economic crisis must be dealt with
very carefully and therefore, Ministers of Finance of the Western Hemisphere,
who will meet in Chile in July, will be directed to examine the crisis in
greater detail, taking into account the outcomes of the London G20 meeting, and
to clearly define practical measures to be taken by all countries. During the
Leaders’ Retreat an agreement was reached that the Chair of the Fifth Summit of
the Americas would sign the declaration as having been adopted by all Heads of
State and Government attending the Summit. While there were reservations by
some countries on particular aspects of the Declaration, the Leaders wanted to
send a strong signal of solidarity and cooperation. The collective view was
that the Fifth Summit was a tremendous success, pervaded by a unique spirit of
openness and goodwill, and that it heralds the beginning of a new era in
inter-American relations Haiti In the same spirit of cooperation, the Leaders reiterated
their commitment to supporting Haiti and agreed that the issue of funding for
development programmes would be addressed at the OAS General Assembly in San
Pedro Sula, Honduras in June.
The wedding folk songs and traditions taken by indentured immigrant labourers
from India during British colonialism now find a place on the UNESCO
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.The tradition was approved this month at the meeting of the
intergovernmental committee on intangible cultural heritage through an
application by Mauritius for the Bhojpuri songs and the accompanying ritual,
prayers, songs, music and dance of the Hindu Wedding Ceremony, Vivaah Samskara.
The songs, music and accompanying dances are known as Geet Gawai in Mauritius.
Similar traditions are practiced across the Indian diaspora. These are known as Lawa or Matikor in the
Caribbean with widespread practice in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname,
and the associated Caribbean diasporas in North America, Canada and Europe. 
The Mauritius initiative drew from a decision of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee that considered “the importance of an International Indentured Labour Route Project to complement the Slave Route Project and the General History of Africa which will be implemented in the context of the International Decade of People of African descent.” 
Rampersad noted that the new programme, which has already been highly commended by Africa, Asia/Pacific, European and Latin American and Caribbean delegates also presents possibilities towards heightening the dimensions of international cooperation promoted in the UNESCO conventions against trafficking in cultural property (1970), World Heritage (1972), intangible cultural expressions (2003), diversity of cultural expressions (2005) and underwater cultural heritage (2006).
