The Future We Want is Another Future

This post is also available in: Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil)

by Gustavo Marin, Forum for a New World Governance, Citizens’ Assembly of the Southern Cone.

It is clear that civil society must raise its own voice and not just seek to influence the official UN document. After Copenhagen, Cancun and Durban, it has been confirmed repeatedly that the official UN documents cannot be expected to reflect the urgent tasks facing the greatest challenges afflicting the life and the planet in this new 21st century.

Beyond the willingness of some heads of state and officials of intergovernmental bodies, the central problem with organizations like the UN is precisely that they bring together heads of state, and as it has also been noted, the State, though in some countries it may be a necessary institution that attempts to regulate some market mechanisms, or allow a certain distribution to alleviate the plight of the poorest, or try to protect working sectors, is at the same time an institution that is destined to be overtaken by new institutions capable of enhancing the democratic energies of citizens and peoples. Twenty years have passed since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. The world has changed profoundly, quickly, and the challenges not only remain but have become more urgent.

We, citizens and peoples, have a historic opportunity to speak and present another vision of the future, radically different from the proposal in the official UN document. The Future that We Want is Another Future. Another Future is urgent, possible, feasible, which is already underway through the struggles of the Indignados, of Occupy Wall Street, of the Chilean students, of the Arab peoples, in the thousands and millions of citizens organized in the networks of solidarity economy, in the organizations of women, of native peoples, in the social networks of a participatory Internet, in universities and research centers with innovative intellectuals, in the actors of progressive parties, in some responsible governments, in some officials that from the same UN agencies seek to support policies to solve the big problems we are facing.

So we need to change the agenda. Instead of following the official agenda, we citizens have to put priorities where they belong. For this, the Thematic Social Forum of Porto Alegre, in the coming days, from 24 to 29 January, and the Peoples’ Summit during Rio+20 are two key moments where we should leave the imprint of that other future we want.

The four theme axes of the Forum of Porto Alegre give us a very appropriate framework to change the agenda.

For this, the first axis is that of the ethical and philosophical foundations. It is not just to regulate climate change, or to boost an economy called green, or hope to eradicate poverty, setting up a new institution or a Council for Sustainable Development. We know beforehand that it is not only insufficient, and most likely governments will not agree, but also this is leading us towards a dead end. Instead of trying to regulate the climate or economic change, the issue is to change the model of civilization. Humanity has entered a phase of historical transition where the challenge to build new pluralistic and democratic civilizations, in harmony with Mother Earth, is the priority task. This is not an idealistic question. It is a vital task for the sustainability of life and the planet. Therefore, the ethical and philosophical foundations are the first main theme of the Forum of Porto Alegre.

The second axis is that of human rights, territories, the defense of Mother Earth. This axis is also essential because it seeks to root the new agenda that we have to propose in the territories, those that are called to play a central role in the new economies and the new social organizations in this century. The states and companies will continue to play an important role, but the articulated territories, from local to global, will be the ones that will constitute the backbone of the future world, which we are already building on our experiences of solidarity economy, agro-ecological agriculture, community neighborhoods, educational networks …

The third axis is that of a new economy, of common goods, and of the necessary economic transition that must be implemented. We already know that the discourse of the green economy that the UN document promotes is not only an ideological ruse, but it is also impossible to realize in the framework of a capitalist model that, although dressed up in green, will continue to deepen social inequalities and leading to new crises. The new economy that the world needs should promote culture and economy of care, enable food security, fight against patriarchal domination, promote equity in gender relations, a fair division and distribution of socially useful work, a new economy focused on common goods.

It takes once and for all to deal with the tyranny of the financial and speculative capital. This requires implementing global taxes designed to change the redistributive model. These taxes should encourage the preservation of global public goods. Some of the taxes that should be implemented as soon as possible are the tax on international financial transactions and taxes on activities affecting the environment and preservation of biodiversity. However, nothing is gained of imposing new global taxes if the resources obtained will be handled by the banks themselves… or the IMF! It is necessary to create a new body, a sort of World Economic and Social Fund consisting of a large collective that does not depend on the most powerful governments, but an extended group of governments, workers, social organizations and businessmen responsible for the allocation of funds defined with transparency.

At the same time, it is necessary to organize a new monetary system articulating multiple currencies and strengthening the pillars of sustainable and democratic solidarity-based exchange.

With this perspective, we must shift from the unlimited predator growth to a “differentiated de-growth” and “organic growth”. Basically, the substantial issue is to enable the transition to a biocivilization for the sustainability of life and the planet, doing everything urgently necessary to implement an effective strategy for decarbonization, prioritizing the massive expansion of renewable energies. And since the change of the energy matrices is a slow process with technological, cultural and institutional inertia, sustainability can only be successful if this technological effort is simultaneously accompanied by a gradual but profound change of lifestyle, especially in industrialized and newly industrialized countries, also enabling energy savings and efficiency.

Clearly, these changes in the economic and technological spheres require new institutions. Therefore, the fourth thematic axis of the Forum of Porto Alegre is that of governance, the architecture of power, of democracy. The ethical foundations, the best social, economic, technological projects, the most promising experiences may become impotent without a profound change in the architecture of power. And at this point, it is clearly not just about creating a new agency, or Council, or institution for sustainable development. For years, in the face of a problem, the UN system responds by creating a new institution or agency. Millennium Goals are raised, and now the UN document speaks of proposing Sustainable Development Goals. And in some years, 2015 or 2020, a new international conference will find that the goals have not been met and the agency or Council did not have the budgeted funds.

A new social and political contract for the sustainability of life and the planet is urgently needed. However, the logic of competition and blocks can raise insurmountable obstacles. Against this uncertain scenario, we, the civil society organizations, networks and social movements, have a responsibility to pose and carry forward proposals to address these challenges. Building a new governance is not just an institutional issue. Any governance proposal and design will depend on the action and mobilization of large majorities of individuals, actors, movements and peoples. This is the decisive question. Therefore, we must rethink the architecture of governance integrating it in the context of a biocivilization for the sustainability of life and the planet. The architecture of a fair citizen solidarity governance must be based on sound ethical and philosophical pillars. It should also be supported on, and conversely enable, a new economy oriented by social and environmental justice.

All axes are inter-related. This also implies the recognition of the different knowledge present in all continents, in every people, without requiring that a single one be the indisputable reference. The foundations of a new governance should be developed with critical and democratic spirit.

The Peoples’ Summit that we are preparing, and that we will strengthen during the Forum of Porto Alegre is a promising space and opportunity. The Peoples’ Summit deserves an autonomous document of its own, developed jointly by our various organizations, networks, alliances, movements that are driving this Summit. The four thematic axes of the Forum of Porto Alegre can help us lay the pillars on which to build the platform of the peoples for the other future that we want.