what amazonia does the world need? · what amazonia does the world need? what amazonia does the...

Rio de JaneiroMay 2008

Seminar organized by the Forum for a new World Governance

and IBASE

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Forum pour une nouvelle Gouvernance MondialeF GMn

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What Amazonia Does the World Need?

Forum for a new World Governance IBASE October 2008

Translators: Ana Guanabara (French-Portuguese) Peter Lenny (Portuguese-English) Marina Urquidi and Kimberly Bliss (French-English)Proofreading: Marina Urquidi

Picture researcher: Dominique Monteau Photos were taken by Brazilian photographers from Amazonia. Artwork: Patrick Lescure Published by Global Citizens for Sustainable Development, Bangalore, India.

[email protected]

Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/fr/deed.en_US


Rio de JaneiroMay 2008

Seminar organized by the Forum for a new World Governance

and IBASE

W h a t A m a z o n i a D o e s t h e W o r l d N e e d ?

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�Historyismarkedwithcities,regions,andterritoriesthathaveplayedaparticularlyimportantsymbolicroleasplaces inwhichthedestinyofapeople,asociety,oreven of the whole world have found themselves at a crossroads. Amazonia isdefinitely oneof these places. It is a concentrate of our essential contemporarycontradictions:thisoceanofvegetation,thisgiganticterritorythroughwhichflowsthelongestriverintheworld,this,ourplanet’slung,isbeingdevastatedbyrampantdeforestation,predatorymining,andchaoticurbanization.Carvedapartbynation-statesalong lines thatdonoteven follownatural riveror forestboundariesandcut through human-community settlements, Amazonia is broken up by bordersobstructingthenewwindsofaglobalizedworld.Itspeoplesmayhavebeenabletopreservethepotentialof their surroundingbiodiversity,butAmazoniasuffersfrom“bad”governance:itisdeprivedofacollectiveandrationalmanagementofitsresources.Worse,itisanarenaofrecurrentHumanRightsviolations,withasprimaryvictimsitspoorest,mosthumbleinhabitants.

C o n t e n t s

PresentationGustavo Marin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Introduction: WhatBrazil—andWhatAmazonia—DoestheWorldNeed?Cândido Grzybowski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Seminar ReportPatrick Piro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

I.Hereditaryflaws,urgentproblems,emergingquestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16II.Unconventionalplayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19III.Movingtowardanewcivilizationmodel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Appendices1.WhatAmazoniaarewetalkingabout? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292.InternationalAmazonia? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303.WorldSocialForum2009:Amazoniaconvenesustorenewourcommitmentforanotherworldtobepossible(FASE:FederationofOrganizationsforSocialandEducationalAssistance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Afterword:AmazoniaandWorldGovernanceArnaud Blin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Methodology and Conceptual Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

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W earelivingatacrucialmomentforhumankind.Despitethepocketsof resistance organizing within the Earth’s different societies theninterlinking from the local to the global level as coalitions and

networks, today’sworld is still dominatedby relationships, structures,processes,interests,forces,andideologies—allverypowerful,allaimingathomogeneityandexclusionofthatwhichwillnotbehomogenized,alltendingtointensifycapitalistglobalization.Thepersistingdominantformsofpowerandmodelsoftheeconomyaredestroyingthenaturalfoundationsoflife,concentratingwealthandpowerinthehandsofa fewglobalcorporations,andgeneratingevermoreexclusionandviolence.Whereareweheading?Howcanaworldofsocialjusticeandsustainabilitybeconstructed?Aworldofequalityinsocialandculturaldiversity?Ofrightsandresponsibilities,withsolidarity,fromthelocaltothegloballevel?Ofdemocraticparticipationandcitizenpower?

Itisfromthisperspective—whichis“global”andatthesametimefirmlyrootedin the local, where we can actually exercise our citizenship to the full—that Iwouldliketooffersomefoodforthought.Theideasarerough,theyareanefforttooutlineissuesforaprocessofanalysis,discussion,andcomparisonamongpartnerssharing the samevalues in the spirit thatmovesus to join in theWorldSocialForumprocess.Thereisalsoameasureofpragmatisminwhatfollows,becausewearefacingtheconcretechallengeofholdingtheWorldSocialForuminAmazoniainJanuary2009.Thisentails thinkingaboutBrazilandAmazonia fromaworldstandpoint and thinking about the world from the standpoint of Brazil and ofAmazonia,withitspeoplesandbiodiversity.

What Brazil—and What Amazonia—Does the World Need?

CândidoGrzybowski

Brazilian, sociologist. Director of IBASE, one of the most influential organizations in Brazilian civil society, founded by Betinho. Cândido is a member of the Brazilian committee that launched the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in 2001, and since that time has been one of the pillars of this important world-scale civil-society event.

YetalthoughAmazoniaconcentratesallpossibledangers,notonlyto itsinhabitantsbutalsofortheplanet’secologicalbalances,italsorepresentsaterritoryforlifeandthefuture.Thegameisnotover.Inthisdawningofthetwenty-firstcentury,itispoisedtobecomeoneofthoseessentialplaceswherehumankindwillfindthebiological,political,andculturalresourcesofanewrelationship—withthebiosphereandamongallpeoples—foundedondignityand solidarity.Amazoniacanbethefertilefieldofatrueschoolof“good”governanceifitislookedafterasacommonandvaluablegood,firstbyBrazilians(65%ofAmazonia iswithinBrazilianborders)andthepeopleoftheSouthAmericancountriessurroundingit,butalsobyalltheEarth’sinhabitants.Despitethedifficulties,Amazoniaisinfactoneoftheareaswherenewmechanismsforaresponsible,effective,andlegitimategovernancearebeinginvented.

This is why we took the initiative, together with Cândido Grzybowski,DirectorofIBASE,toorganizeinRiodeJaneiro,inMay2008,thefirstseminaroftheForumforanewWorldgovernancearoundthequestion:“WhatAmazoniadoes the world need?” The seminar was backed by the Charles Léopold MayerFoundation for the Progress of Humankind, an independent Swiss foundationdevotedtomobilizingknowledgeandexperiencestofacethemajorchallengesofourtimes.

This publication comprises three documents: the discussion paper byCândido Grzybowski, the seminar report by Patrick Piro, journalist at Politis(France),andanAfterwordwrittenbyArnaudBlin,coordinatoroftheForumforanewWorldGovernance,inwhichtheproposalsdrawnupduringtheseminararecorrelatedwithworldgovernance.

I would like to express my deep appreciation to Cândido and IBASE’sexcellentteam.TheircommitmentmadeitpossibletogatherseveralmembersofthefoundingcommitteeoftheWorldSocialForumofPortoAlegre,thefacilitatorsof thenextWorldSocialForumwhichis totakeplace inBelém,Amazonia, inJanuary2009,headsoffoundations,networks,andNGOs,aswellasresearchersfromthepowerfulBraziliancivilsociety.Thecompletelistofparticipantsisfoundattheendofthispublication.

Gustavo Marin Director, Forum for a new World Governance

Introduction


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D e q u e l l e A m a z o n i e l e m o n d e a - t - i l b e s o i n ?

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resourcesfuelsviolenceandinflamesfundamentalismever more strongly, leading in turn to ever greatermilitarization.

Inthisthree-dimensionalcrisis,“badgovernance”anditsconcomitantabsenceofconcertedregulationhavebecomemoreacute.Theformerorderofdominationcannolongermeetthechallenges,andtheneworderhas not yet emerged. This is the context in whichweneedtopositionourselves,Brazil,andAmazonia.Whatdoestheworldexpectofus?Whatcanweandshouldwedofromhereon,asactivecitizens,tomeetthiscrisisofcivilization?

II. Brazil as an emerging power: For whom?

Brazil is without a doubt a country of enormouspossibilities—buttherecanbenodisguisingthelevelsof social exclusion, the vast pockets of poverty, thedisgraceful,persistent,andmultifacetedinequality.Weareresponsibleforoneoftheworld’smostimportantnatural heritages. But destruction of those naturalresourcesisprogressingevenfasterthanoureconomic

growthrates.Ourterritoryandourpopulationplaceus in the small group of countries that are over-endowedwith resources, butwe seemunable tousethatpotentialtogenerateasustainable,fairBrazil,tocontributetobuildingthatotherworld.

Recent achievements deserve to be mentioned andacknowledgedasbasesfor“anotherdevelopment,”butwemustnotdenythattheabove-mentionedlimitationsare real. The most important and fundamental oftheseachievementsisourpoliticaldemocracy,whichthoughstillyoung,hasdemonstrateditsvitality.Wehave come a long way in institutional terms, whilerecognizing that much remains to be done. Perhapsthemostpromisingaspectisthewillingnessofbroadsectorstoparticipateintheprocess.Many,however,remain politically “invisible,” because they are notorganized or are still heavily dependent on favorsandunabletoasserttheirrights.Thefactisthatwehaveacivilsocietywithapotentialforinitiative,theexpressionofademocraticculture,andasocialfabricinterwoven with strong organizational fiber that isgrowingandgainingpoliticalstrength.

What we are lacking and where our progress hasbeenweakliesintheareaofsocialdemocracy.Lula’selection as president meant that the lower classes

I. Global “disorder”: How is the crisis of civilization to be confronted?

In this early twenty-first century, we are part of athreatened world. After three decades of ferociouseconomic and financial globalization with rampantderegulationinthenameof“thefreemarket,”twentyyearsafterthefalloftheBerlinWallandtheendofthebipolarColdWarorder,wearefacingchallengeson a planetary scale. Capitalist globalization hascompleted and radicalized the interconnectionsamong theworld’sdifferent societies in suchawaythatweareentirelydependentononeanother,be-causewhatisdoneinanygivenplacehasallsortsofconsequencesforalltheotherpeoplesandhabitatsoftheplanet.Atthesametime,neverbeforehavewebeensoawarethatthingssimplycannotgoonlikethis.Nonetheless,wedogoon...butforhowlong?

My feeling is that at the core of the crisis we arefacingisthebelief,nowridof ideologicalmasks, ina development model as an ideal for all societies,foundedonavisionoflimitlessprogress,itselfbasedon an industrial-productionist-consumerist model,whetherunder capitalismorunder socialism, right-wing or left-wing, in which neither wellbeing norsustainabilityareevenremotelyaimedat.Orshouldwe say wellbeing, yes, for the happy few at the ex-pense of everyone else, in a pattern of productionand consumption that the Earth cannot withstand,supportedbyamodelofsocietythatimplacablyleadstoconcentrationinthehandsofthefewtoexclusionofthemany,throughviolence,terror,andwar.

Nation-statesandexistingmultilateralarrangements,especially those set up in the aftermath of WorldWarII,canno longercopewithwhat ishappeningin the world. In the subsequent void, the USAand itsbellicose imperialism isona rampage likeawounded bear with great destructive power but nodirection.WiththeUNandthemultilateralfinancialorganizations (the World Bank, the InternationalMonetaryFund,andtheWorldTradeOrganization)grown weaker and in the process of losing theircapacity and legitimacy to regulate, what we arewitnessing in this “recolonization” of the world isthelawoftheeconomicallystrongest, i.e.Chinaasanemergingeconomicandnuclearpower,themajorcorporations, themselves more important than agreatmanynation-states,andtheG-8oftheleadingdeveloped nation-states, which—whether extendedornot—ismoreofaprivate“club”thanalegitimatemultilateralorganizationandtakesnoaccountofthediversity of emerging contradictions and demands

because itsmainobjective isprecisely tomakesurethecrisisiskeptalive.

Thecrisisofcivilization—whichcanbeseenintermsofchallengestoanalsoemergingcitizenryofplanetarydimensions—canbeseeninthreedimensions:

• Social inequalityTheeconomycontinuestoexpandgloballyagainstallsocieties.Inequalityandsocialexclusionarebecomingmoremarkedworldwide,betweencountries,aswellaswithineachsociety.Today,thepooroftheSouth(migrants, communities of depressed zones, ethnicminorities,etc.)havebeenmarginalizedbythesmalldevelopedNorth,with10%oftheworld’spopulationcontrolling more than 85% of its wealth. OppositethewealthyoftheNorth(ownersofland,cattleandpeople, businessmen and their “multinationalized”managers, and the political elite at their service)standstheSouthwithitspeople,destituteofwealthandpower,condemnedto liveoff thecrumbs.Thismultifacetedinequalitywithitsmultipleperversitiesgoes beyond social classes, and facing it requiresan in-depth review of conceptual and analyticalparadigms, and proposals and strategies of action.Ourglobalmixisacombinationofinequalitiesandforms of domination, the main features of whicharepatriarchism,racism,xenophobia,andthedenialofdiversity.

• Environmental crisisThis crisis is where three high-impact processesconverge:-climatechangeduetothegreenhouseeffect;-theintensiveuseanddepletionofnon-renewable,

fossil energy sources, which are the foundation ofthe industrial-productionist-consumerist model;and

-the destruction and exhaustion of our commonnaturalgoods,inparticularwater,geneticresourcesandbiodiversity,andsoilforagriculture.

• ViolenceWearethewitnessesofaproliferationofsituationswhereopenviolence,intolerance,anddifferentformsof fundamentalism are defining collective ways oflife, imposing suffering and fear, threat, and death,andthedisplacementanddeterritorializationoflargecontingentsofcivilpopulations.Wholepeoplesaretornapartbyendlessconflicts,citiesaredividedandcountriesinvaded.Inacontextofconcentrationandalimitlessquestforprofit,ofeconomicinequalityandunbalancedpower,andoftheexhaustionofnaturalresources, the dispute for control of those natural

Photo: Miguel Chikaoka


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ofBrazilhadcometopower,and it seemedthatwewere finally laying the political foundations for thehistorical task of reconstructing a fair, sustainableBrazil.Inpractice,however,therearestillonlytimidsignsofsignificantchange.TheBrazilianstate,whichismanagingourparticularformofdevelopment,hasbeen captured by powerful interests and forces, andconfrontingthelatterwillcallforresolveandmuchmorecomplexengineeringthanthatsetinmotionbythePTtowintheelectionsandkeepitselfinpower.

Wehavemadeunquestionableprogressinanumberof social-policy areas, addressing urgent matters,such as hunger, and redeeming historical socialdebts. The fact is, though, that such policies arenot strategicallydesignedandnoreventhoughtoutas structuring a new model of development and,aboveall,ofsocialdemocracy.Theyareimmediatelyneeded compensatory policies—no question aboutthat—buttheycannotbringintobeingasustainable,fair,participatorysocietyongoodtermswithallthepeoplesoftheplanet.

Wearebasicallypursuingadevelopmentmodelthatis predatory on nature, concentrates wealth, andreproduces enormous pockets of poverty. At leastdevelopment is once again on the discussion table,even though the debate is essentially confusingdevelopment with GDP growth rates. We have,nonetheless, stopped—although rather hesitantly—thedismantlingorderedbytheTenCommandmentsof the neoliberal “Washington Consensus” of the1990s.Forall its timidity, theGrowthAccelerationProgram (Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento,PAC)oftheLulagovernmentsignalsakindofnewstart—albeit only for things we are already familiarwith, such as large infrastructure projects, exportproduction,andsoon.

What is happening to Brazilian exports is a goodexample of the dilemma we are facing, that ofdeveloping while aggravating the contradictions ofthepastinsteadofchangingourcourseandoutlook.Moreover,the“success”ofourexportsandourhavingproduced a large trade surplus is seen by publicopinionandspecializedacademicandbusinesscirclesasamajorindicatorthatstrategyisontarget,becauseitispullingalongtheeconomyaswhole.Theproblemisthatwearegoingbacktobeingakindofprimary-exporteconomy,because70to80%ofourexportsarenature:soycomplex,coffee,meat,mineralsandsteel,paperpulp,andsoon.ToparaphraseEduardoGaleanoandhisfamousbookonLatinAmerica,Iwouldsaywearedilatingouralready-openveinsinordertoexporteven more of the very foundations of our own life.Andnowwehavedecidedtoincludeethanolamongourexportproducts!

Ofcourse,allthiscanbeseenfromtheotherside.Intermsofthedominantdevelopmentmodel,inaworldcontrolled by large corporations and with China’scapitalistexpansionconsumingwhateverisleftoftheplanet’snaturalresources,Brazil’soptiontoexploitthe“comparativeadvantages”ofthemomentseemslikeagooddeal.Adeal—andabigone—itcertainly is,butwhatsocialandenvironmentaldebtwillBrazilbedivinginto?Whostandstogainfromallthis?Asforthefundsfromthisexportsurplus,aretheyfinancingsocialdemocracyorratheraretheybeingcapturedinthatall-engulfinglogicthattakeseverythingitcan—eventhelion’sshareofthepublicbudget—toboostprofits?

The export question is a long way from exhaustingthecomplex issueof thedevelopmentmodel,but itdoesillustratewhatIamtryingtoarguehere.Brazilis comingup as an emergingpower inpolitical andeconomicterms,particularlyinourregion.However,I cannot see this emergence signaling progressivechangesinthestructureandprocessofrelationsthatsustaindominantglobalization.Asastrategy,itevenseemstosuggestthatwearetendingrathertowanttoformpartoftheselectgroupofcountriesthatbehaveasiftheyownedtheworld—theG-8group—thantoexpress necessary, urgent changes in the geopoliticsand organization that regulate world power so as topermittheconstructionofsustainable,fair,democraticsocietiesinsolidarity.

Itistime,onceagain,toinnovateboldly.WeneedtorecognizethenewthreatsandchallengestocitizenshipanddemocracyinBrazil,todayinacontextofgreateropenness to the world and greater interdependencegenerated by globalization and the enormous crisisspawnedbyit.ThistakesusbacktothelargequestionsfacingBrazilintheworld.Onehastoask:WhatistheBrazilthattheworldneedsandthatourcitizenry,inalliancewithworldcitizenry,canproduce?Whatstate?What sovereignty? What democracy? What socialjustice?Whattypeofsustainabilityandforwhom?Wecanonlyconstructtheseanswersfromwhatwehavelearnedinthegreatschoolofplanetarycitizenship,theWorldSocialForum.Thishereisaquestionoftakingupour responsibilitiesasBrazilianmenandwomen,butinopendialogwithotherpeoplesandsubjectsoftheworld,recognizingthathere,wedecidewhatourfuturewillbeandwealsoinfluencethefutureofallofhumankindasmanagersofourlivesandofthenaturalheritagethatsustainsthem.

III. Our commitment to another Amazonia and another Brazil, in another possible world

Boldnessofpurposeandthecouragetoweighonthehereandnowmustcometogethertomeetthechal-lengesfacingus.ThisiswhyIthinkthatthediscussioncanbecomemoreconcreteandradicalonthebasisofthechallengethattheWSFhassetitselfofbringingAmazonia into the debate over how to constructanotherworldofsocialjustice,sustainability,equalityindiversity,citizens’rightswithresponsibilitiessharedin solidarity, democratic participation, and effectivecitizenpower.InJanuary2009,wewillbemeetingatthe WSF in Belém, at the heart of Amazonia. Thechallenge is to think about the issues of the otherworld froma radicalperspective that is localandatthesametimeglobal.

Amazoniaisavastterritorysharedby9SouthAmericancountries (one—French Guiana—is in fact a vestigeof former colonial presence). Amazonia contains theplanet’s largest rainforest. Regardless of nation-stateborders,many,diversepeoplesliveinit,withtheirownways of life, cultures, and above all ways of resistingagainst thedominantprocesses. TheBrazilianpart ofAmazoniaalonehasmorethan25millioninhabitants.

Asverywellput ina thought-provokingdocumentpreparedbyFASE(FASE.“FSM 2009: A Amazônia nos convoca a renovar nosso compromisso para um outro mundo possível”. [Amazonia calls on us to renewour commitment to another possible world] Rio deJaneiro,Oct.2007):

“Giventherecklessdisappearanceofbiodiversityand the climate crisis that is already beginningto cause situations of climate injustice affectingmainly the poorest, Amazonia stands as oneof the last regions of the planet that are stillrelatively preserved. It is thus precious both formaintainingbiodiversityandforitsrole—whichis beneficial if the forest is conserved, andadverse if it is destroyed and burnt down—incontinental rainfall, as well as in continentaland world climate. In that regard, it should beseenasindispensabletohumanlifeandthereforepreservingitandguaranteeingthequalityoflifeofitspopulationsconstituteachallengenotjustforBraziliansbutalsoforthepeoplesoftheplanetasawhole.

Oneofthemost importantbattlesbetweenthewealthycountriesandthecountriesoftheSouth

isbeingwagedoverthefutureofAmazonia,inawarthatwilldecidetheburdenthatistofalloneachcountryintheinevitableallocationofthecosts of the environmental crisis and the cata-strophic changes in world climate. The mostpowerful states, which have unsustainable pat-terns of production and consumption, andenormous financial, technological, and militaryresourcesattheirdisposal,willnotabandontheirintention to control Amazonia in the name ofthecommongood.Theywillcontinuetoattemptto reproduce,at thecostofourcountries, theircurrentpatternsofexistenceandthepracticesoffive hundred years of expropriating the wealthand energy resources of the countries of SouthAmerica.”

Itisalsofundamentallyimportanttonotetheinternalnature of the colonialist process of destructive ex-pansioninAmazonia.Powerfulprivategroups(land-ownersandagribusinessindustries,miningcompanies,loggingcompanies,etc.),fromwithinthecountries—Brazil in particular—are disputing resources in theregion, expropriating lands and controlling largeparts of the territory, destroying the forest and the

biodiversity,poisoningtherivers,extractingminerals,massmurderingthelocalpopulationsandpeoples,anddestroyingtheirwaysof life—allthis inthenameofprogressanddevelopment.Amazoniaisahumanizedterritory under dire threat. However, there exists anenormous organizational fabric woven from and byadiversityof local groups.Majormovementsare re-sisting all of this and constructing alternatives. ThechallengeistoseekinspirationinAmazonia’speoples,and their movements and community organizations,inordertopointfromtheretowardanotherAmazonia

Photo: Miguel Chikaoka

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for humankind: one that entails neither predatorydestruction in the name of development, nor ex-clusionary and colonialist conservationism, such asembedded in the idea of internationalized “carbonsinks” (intended to “sequester” greenhouse-gas e-missions) financed by credits obtained by large cor-porations and industrialized countries selling their“tradablepollutionrights.”

“Amazonia is the depositary of biological andgenetic resources that are still largely unknownbut,beyondquestion,precioustohumankind;anditspeoplesholdhundredsandthousandsofyearsof knowledge about those forms of life. Theseresourcesandthatknowledgedrawthegreedofthelargecorporationsleadingtheimplacablequesttoprivatize lifeandknowledge.The indigenouspeoples and, after them, the populations rootedintheregion,teachusthatlifeisagiftandthatwe arepart of the lifeofMotherEarth.Privateappropriationoflifeisunthinkable,becauselifeismadetobeshared.Amazoniainvitesustoafirmrefusalofthemarketrationale,thetransnationalcorporations,andtheofficialinternationalbodiesat their service, and to center life’s concernson reconstructing our planet and a humankind

withnewliberatingparadigmssuchassolidarity,equality, recognition for diversity, respect fordifferences, responsibility, and care.” (FASE,ibidem .)

To meet these challenges, it is fundamental torecognize that the strengthof thisawarenessofourgreatestcommongood—PlanetEarthastheverybasisofourlife—isanimportantfactorintheexpansionoftheWSFitself.Itcomestogetherwitharenewedawarenessofhumankindinthediversityofsubjects,peoples,andcultures.Thenascentplanetarycitizenrywillthushaveanopportunitytoshareknowledgeandexperience,evaluateproposals,anddiscoverstrategiesforactionof thehumangroups living inAmazoniaand,inturn,tostrengthenthem.

However,intherangeofissuesthatIhaveoutlinedhere, it is evident that the crisis of civilization, inits three dimensions, will be at the center of thediscussions about Amazonia in another possibleworld.Afterall,theefforttoaddresstheclimatecrisisand environmental destruction necessarily bringsAmazoniaintothespotlight.Therewearefacedbyacomplexquestionofplanetaryproportionsinvolvingtheroleofnation-statesandsovereignty.Intheend,who comes first in any reengineering of power? In

termsofcitizenship, themore local, thegreaterthedecision-makingpower—and that iswhat the localpopulations are calling for. Even their relationshipwith the nation-states that share Amazonia is afundamental question. Suffice it here to rememberthe indigenous peoples and their territories, whichveryoftendonotrecognizenationalborders.

Itisnotpossible,however,beinginBrazil,tothinkabout Amazonia without thinking of the place ofBrazil itself in the world. Brazil and Amazonia areintimately connected, profoundly interdependent.WithoutAmazonia,BrazilisnotBrazil:Amazoniaisabouthalfofitsterritory.Itspeoplesarepartofthisdiverse,anddeeplyunequal,Brazil.

IV. Pointers to a way out (more than a conclusion, a place to start)

Awarethatitisnotenoughtocriticize,Iwouldliketoendbyrecallingafewpointsofdepartureforbuildingalternatives. In fact, therearemorepeople thanweimagine building alternatives for their lives in theplaceswheretheylive.Afterall,beingexcludedfromaccesstoenvironmentalandeconomicresources,notbeing recognized, and suffering the degradation oftheirsurroundingsand,atthesametime,beingabletoinventwaysofliving,ofestablishingbondsoffamilyandfriendship,offormingpartofacommunitywithsolidarity, of dreaming, praying and having fun, of“coping”—inshort,allofthiswoventogether—pointstoadynamicsofresistanceandofbuildingotherformsof collective living. The “trenches” of civil societyGramscihas spokenof are ahistorical,human fact.What is needed is to interrelate and to systematizethem,totheorizethem,toformulatepoliticalproposals

that assist groups, towns, peoples, nations, and soon, in their quest for development models—that is,for the political, cultural, economic, and technicalconditionsforfair,sustainablesocieties.Frommypointofview,enhancedbytheexperiencethat IBASE and the World Social Forum haveaffordedme,letmesingleoutsomemajorpointsfortheBraziliansituation:•absolutepriorityforsocialjustice;•democracy, grounded in the ethical principles

of equality, freedom, diversity, solidarity, andparticipationasastrategy;

•political and cultural empowerment for the“invisible”groups:thepoor,thediscriminated,andtheexcluded;

•guaranteed access and use of all natural andproducedcommongoodsforeverymanandwomanwithoutdistinction,asabasisforsustainablelife;

•adevelopmentmodelbasedonthesustainableuseofresources,withpriorityformeetingtheinternalneeds of the human groups directly involved,with maximum relocation of the economy andits political management: “producing here, toconsumehere,forthepeoplelivinghere,”orinitsmoremoderateform,companiessettinguphereinordertosellhereandmeettheneedsarisinghere.

ThesepointsareenoughtoindicatethestandpointIalreadysharewithmanyothersinBrazil,inAmazonia,andaroundtheworld.Butthereisanotherpointthatmaymakeadifference:theintentionistoconstructastrongplanetarymovementforchange,whichmeanssinking roots in each place, in each collectivity, ineachpeople.Forthis,weneedtodreamlarge,tobestrongandperseverant,andtoparticipatewithradicalattitudes, without fearing the crisis in civilizationor theworlddisorder it entails.Thisprescription isespeciallydesigned forBrazil,ouremergingcountryontheworldstage.

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Seminar Report

Patr ickPiro

What Brazil—and What Amazonia—Does the World Need?

This highly interesting question has several levels to it: since Lulacametopower,Brazil’s internationalambitionhasbeenconstantlygrowing,whethertoclaim(andtoplay)afront-runningdiplomatic

role,or,morerecently,toimagineaglobaldestinyforitselfasagrofuelandfood producer for the world, and as chief protector of Amazonia, which standsamongtoday’shighestglobalecologicalstakes.

Howeverinterestingandattractivethedifferentaspectsofthequestion,theseminarparticipants,almostentirelyBrazilians,decidedtodevotethemselvesexclusivelytothelatterofthem:thetwodaysofdebatesweremonopolizedbydiscussiononAmazonia.1Was this restrictionof thediscussiondue topragmatic reasons?No, in fact, fortheseparticipantsthinkinginthelongterm,itwastheresultofhavingplacedthediscussionproposalsbyorderofimportance.Itwasalsoawayofsettinganew,morepowerful,andricherfocus.Turning the debate to the question “What Amazonia does the world need?” isalsoawayof taking itoutof the strictlyBrazilian framework,which includesanumberoftasksthatwillhavetobedealtwithsoonenough:takingstockofLula’sadministration,Brazil’spolicyandresponsibilityinmanagingAmazonia,relevance

Piro is a French independent journalist who has been writing for more than twenty years on issues related to international solidarity, North-South relations, and global disequilibria, the environmental and energy crisis in particular. He is a regular contributor to the French weekly Politis, where he is in charge of the Ecology section and of following up on political ecology. He has written several books.

“An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped.”

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ofthenationallevelintheglobalecologicalcrisis,etc.“WhatAmazoniadoestheworldneed?”Byreframingthequestion,thedebatersmadeanoriginalandveryproductivementalgetaway.Amazonia is no longer a subset of territorial, political, administrative, etc.approaches.Itisametaphor,averyconcretemetaphor,ofthecurrentglobaldebatesandaconcentrateofcontemporarycontradictions:Amazonia isa zoneofmega“development”projectsthatareecologicallydeplorableandscornfulofthelocalpopulations,butalsoaterritoryofinnumerableandfantasticallydiversesustainablealternatives;itisanenormousbiodiversityreservoirandamajorclimate-regulationagentfortheplanetbutisbeingravagedanddeterioratedatanacceleratedpace;itisaterritoryalmostentirelydevoidofgovernance,butalsoabreedingplaceofgrassrootsorganizationinitiatives.Ourpresenteraisfacingachallengethatisnothinglessthanvital:thatofbuildinganewcivilizationmodel,foundedondiversity,ecologicalsustainability,andsocialjustice. It needs grounds that will rekindle imagination and Utopian thinking.Therearenotmanysuchgrounds.Amazoniaisoneofthem.

A domestic colony TheAmazonterritoryisalsoextensivelysubmittedto enormous pressure by the economic andstrategicprojectsofBrazil’scentralgovernmentanditsdevelopmentmodel.“WeareattheheartofBraziliandevelopmentmythology!”Amazoniaissubjugated,notconsideredasaterritorythatcandesign its ownprojects. It is a reservoir ofresourcestobeexploited,adomesticfrontier.

A single mindsetThere are no alternative models to the brutalproductivism currently being applied to theregion,nor for thatmatter anyplanning toolsthatcouldmakeitpossibletodrawanyupatthescaleofthebasin.Nomatter all thecontradictions, things arenottakingthedirectionofalternativemodels.“Brazilissurfingonthepororoca!”isalocalimagedescribinganeconomyengagedinfull,ac-celeratingexport-oriented productivism drawn by the agriculturalsector.The“nonproductive” landsofAmazonia

areregularlytheobjectofmore-or-lessacknowledgedlust.

Violation of Human RightsTherereignsaclimateofpermanentviolationofHumanRights,thefirstvictimsofwhicharethe indigenouspeoples.Thereisnoruleoflaw,andmilitarization of the region (this istraditional) is back on the agenda,as illustrated, for instance, by the very sharpconflicts surrounding the attribution to localindigenous communities of the lands of theRaposaSerradoSolreservation inthestateofRoraima.6 At least three incidents have madeworld news in the past few years: the murderof the seringueiro7 and environmentalist leaderChicoMendesin1988inthestateofAcre,themassacre of 19 farmers at Eldorado do Carajásin1996,and themurderof theAmericannunDorothyStangin2005,inPará.Paráisbyfarthe

I. Hereditary flaws, urgent problems, emerging questions

Amazonia is a textbook case. An exemplaryparadigmafflictedwithallthemajorhardshipsand contradictions that are the foundation ofthe dominant civilization model: neoliberalandglobalized,output-intensiveandpredatory,insensitive to social and ecological crises,scornful of the expression and aspirations oflocalpopulations,etc.

Sinceitscolonization,Amazoniahasbeensubmittedtoconstantdepredationwrappedin a culture of pioneering adventure, andmarked by the violence suffered by theequatorial biotope and dealt out to itsinhabitants by the predators. The currentAmazonianworld is only the latest avataroftheoldproductivismsagafoundedontheprivatecontrolofnaturalresources,2 “oneof theemblematicplacesofcompletionofthecapitalisticproject.”

A territory of depredation Inthisearlythirdmillennium,Amazoniaistheobjectofallkindsoflust:•forlogging,probably90%ofitillegal;

•for farmland through deforestation. Thisis being done from the scale of low-impactslashing-and-burning for family farming tomuch larger deforestation to accommodateextensive cattle breeding (Brazil is theleading world beef exporter). The foresters’pioneering tracks are being enlarged bysettlerswhoareopeningever-more trails intheirwake.

•Inthepastfewyears,breedershavealsobeenpushing farther into the forest and tearingdown its borders, and farmers have beenopeningfieldstogrowsoybeans.Thereisnowfear, despite government denial, of pressurefromotherpowerfulcandidatesforAmazonianland,whichcouldtriggeranewwaveofforestdestruction: agrofuel industrialists—whetherfor ethanol (sugar cane,which research willeventually adapt to Amazonian climate) orDieseloil(soy,palm,etc.),mining(Amazoniansubsoilisoverflowingwithsignificantmineralwealth:gold, iron,copper,manganese, etc.),or energy production (two-thirds of Brazil’shydroelectricpotentialand20%oftheplan-et’s surface freshwater are in the AmazonBasin,whereseveralpowerstationshavebeenorarebeingbuilt3).Underthebasin,therearealso quantities of oil. Finally, agrofuels haveappearedonthesceneasamorerecentstakeintheenergyissue.4

“one of the emblematic

places of completion of

the capitalistic project.”

“Brazil is surfing on the pororoca!” 5

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bloodieststateinBrazilforagrarianconflicts,andslaveworkisnotuncommonthere.Thesearenothistorical anomalies, they are the consequenceofanimmoraloutput-intensiverationale.Amazonianviolenceisalsonourishedbyband-itryandtraffickingofallkinds,startingwithdrugs.

Absence of governanceAmazonia,asabiogeographicalandhumanunit(seeAppendix1 “WhatAmazoniaarewe tal-kingabout?”)isnot“governed.”Itssovereigntyis fractioned into eight different countries(Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia,Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname) and a“colonized enclave” (as insisteduponby someBrazilians…), French Guiana. It is the objectof an international cooperation treaty signedin1978bytheeightcountriesmainlyintendedtoensurethesecurityoftheborders,whicharesubmergedinvegetation.Otherwise, Amazonia is partly occupied bysupranational populations—a number ofindigenous communities—having no concernfortheseborders.

Evenwithinthenation-states,absenceofgovern-anceofAmazonianterritoriesismanifest.In the Brazilian state of Roraima, the landconflictintheRaposaSerradoSolreservationisemblematic.Itgoesbeyondjusttheagrarianstake:itbringsupthequestionofmaintenanceof ruleof law, integrityof thebiome, statusofthenativepopulations,etc.

A very urban population and chaotic urbanization PopularimagerytendstorepresentAmazoniaasagreendesert scatteredwitha few indigenoustribes. This is very far from the true picture:even though the density of this region is thelowest in the country (about 4 inhabitants/km2), theAmazoniaBasinhasapopulationofnearly17million.Itsmainfeatures:themajorityofthispopulationisurban(about70%oftotalpopulation) and growing radically. In fact, itnearlytripledbetween1980and2000!Asaconsequence,citiesareexpandingchaot-ically and bringing about battalions of urbanproblems.

Thrust of the global ecological crisisAmazonia is the leadingbiological reservoiroftheplanet.Thebrutalexploitationofitsresources(wood, living organisms, etc.) and rampantdeforestationforfarmorcattlelandisseriouslythreatening its balance and its future survival.According to generally admitted evaluations,17%of itssurfaceareahasdisappearedsinceitbecame the object of “conquest” in the 1970s,and 17% more is considered as degraded.Protection of this gigantic biotope has beenidentified for many years as a major stakecompletely beyond the exclusive borders ofBrazil.Itsdisappearancewouldbeadisasterwithincalculableconsequences.Thespreadingglobalcrisishasbroughtanewdi-mensionintoAmazonia’senvironmentalstakes.Withentryintotheeraofclimatederegulation,thelargestforestoftheworldhasbeenplungedinto the heart of speculations: destruction ofthis“carbonsink”mightverywellcompromiseclimate stability to the point that voices arerisingtoputitunderinternationalrule.8

Addedtothatispressurefromtheoilcrisis:Brazilhas developed by forced marches the farmingof agrofuel plants (sugar cane, oil palm, etc.)to meet global demand. Despite the constantofficialdenials,thisnewland-consuming“agri-cultural frontier” could threaten Amazoniain the short run. An obvious contradiction:agrofuelsasasubstitute(foralittle)oilandtoreduceCO2emissions,buttothedetrimentoftheforest!

II. Unconventional playersExploring the typologyof theplayerscouldbeanordinarytask:whereAmazoniaisconcerned,thisisnotthecase.First, because a frequent fantasy depicts thisareaasoccupiedbybillionsof treesanda fewIndians.9

Then, because binary views (see below) caninduce a simplistic perception of the powerstrugglebetween“good”and“bad”players.Developing this “taxonomy” is therefore basicbecause it has political implications: Whomarewetalkingto?Isthereanyreasontodefine“blocs” of players so as to be able to institutealliances?Arepotentialpartnersascoherentasweimaginethemtobe?Finally,allthegroups(orjustabout),havetheirown“vision,”orprojectsforAmazonia.Thishas

producedagreatvarietyof“mapsofAmazonia,”whichrevealsthedissimilarityofthedifferentap-proaches:thelegaladministrativeAmazonia,thatofthemilitary,theenvironmentalists’Amazonianecosystem,thatofindigenousterritories,theoneofthenationaloilcompanyPetrobrás,etc.

The binary-polarization temptationAmazoniahasbeenforseveralcenturiesasourceof powerful symbolism, ranging from fantasy tooversimplification.ThishaseasilyledtoimagineAmazoniaasazoneofbinarypolarizations:“theweakvs.thestrong,”“NativeIndiansvs.Whites,”“environmentalistsvs.industrialists,”etc.In “real” Amazonia, there are in fact viableindustrialprojects(non-predatory,environment-friendly, etc.), just as there are non-market-orientedorecologicalprojectsthatshouldalsobequestioned(“fair”tradeexclusivelyorientedto the export market, based on single-cropfarming, environment-friendly farms but notapplying social standards, etc.). Amazonianrealityisalotsubtlerthanisusuallysupposed.

From the consistency of our enemies ... Through their ominous projects in Amazonia,there isaneasilydetectableconsistencyontheside of its “enemies,” which can be categorizedintoafewlargegroups:thoseexploitingbiomassresources—foresters,cattle raisers, soyand fuel-plant farmers; miners; energy operators—dams,agrofuels,etc.;financialagentsandinternationalbodiesimposingtheirvisionofthe“development”ofAmazonia—theBNDES10forinstance,whichfinances projects in Amazonia without anyapplicationofstrongcriteria,ortheInitiativeforIntegration of Regional Infrastructure in SouthAmerica(IIRSA),whichis setuptoallowrawmaterialtocrosstheAmazonianBasin;“bandits,”which is what they have to be called, amongwhich are included the large pharmaceuticallaboratoriespillagingtheresourcesofbiodiversityand native know-how, a number of electedofficials(includinggovernors),businessmen,etc.

… to the fuzzy contours of our potential alliances Whataboutablocof“positive”players?Definingitscontoursraisesanumberofproblems…“Alliedforces”caninclude:•nativepeoples,quilombolas;11P

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•seringueirosandruralworkers;•new farmers’ organizations such as Via

Campesina or FETRAF,12 etc., hailing fromother horizons but who have views of foodpolicyandfoodsovereigntythatareusefulforAmazonia;

•the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), theIndigenistMissionaryCouncil(CIMI);13

•urban and indigenous movements thathave recently appeared in Manaus, Belém,Altamira, etc., and were still unheard often years ago … indigenous districts aredevelopingwithinthecities;

•women’sgroups;•communityradios,whichareveryimportant

linksinthisimmensearea;•many small scattered and isolated organiza-

tions,etc.

But all these actors and networks are lackingarticulationamongthem.Moreover, it is sometimes hasty to induce al-liances between “groups who are buildingalternatives” against “capitalist interests.” Forexample,inthecaseoftheinfrastructureprojectsoftheRioMadeira,therearefrictionsbetweenthe Landless Farmers’ Movement (MST) andthe urban dwellers, or ribeirinhos.14 Is any col-laboration even possible with the garimperios,15

thoseforestworkerswho,thoughexploited,arealso“destroyers”?The weight of economic interests and localcustoms is such that even traditional politicalalliances need to be examined on a case-by-case basis. In Acre or Amapá, environmentaladvocates lost the latest elections, whereas inPará, the Workers Party (PT) is governing in

alliancewiththeforesters!Weshouldadd,atanotherlevel:•anumberof(small)regionalmedia;•the“bloc”ofAmazonianbordercoun-

tries governed on the left—Bolivia,Ecuador,Venezuela;

•international multilateral organiza-tions;

•the countries of the Organizationof American States (OAS), whichintervenesonHumanRightsissuesorincaseofconflictbetweencountries;

•the European Union, in its dialogwithLatinAmerica.

Emergence of native peoples ...Forthepastfewyears,theyhavebeenrecognizedinternationallyasfull-fledgedplayers.Thereisagreat variety of them. In Amazonia, there aretodaymorethan500indigenousorganizations,withtheircrisesbutalsotheirforce.

... and governmental partnersPreviously, civil society had adopted eitherconfrontationordialogwithgovernmentautho-rities. But things have become more complex.TheChávez(presidentofVenezuela)-MST-ViaCampesinaallianceisanexampleofthetypesofnewstrategythathavebeenthesubjectofmuchdiscussion, among others at the World SocialForum: Can we go as far as to make allianceswith governments? In addition, we should notlosesightofthefactthatthedifferentprojectsofthe left-winggovernmentsofLatinAmerica—Morales,Lula,Chávez, etc.—arenot identical,farfromit.

Whose side are environmentalists on? Towhat sidedothey lean?Socialmovementsspontaneouslyconsiderthemwithamesureofsuspicion:-Internationalgroups,usuallyofAnglo-Saxonculture, play an important role within thiscategory—purely Brazilian environmentalistorganizations are lacking in weight. Bringingtheirnature-conservationobjectivesfromabroad,they are easily accused of neo-colonialism,and not just by reactionary fazendeiros .16 Thisis the case forGreenpeace,whichhasmade aspectacularappearanceontheAmazonianstagethesepastfewyearsandobtainedsomeresults.-Theyareoftencriticized forexcluding socialquestions from their concerns—“except whenit’saboutfundraising”—butalsofordefendingsometimes ambiguous positions. Or even forengagingincontradictorycooperationwithlargecorporations,withwhichtheyhavenegotiatedenvironmental progress but disregarding otheraspects of the problems, as was the case withsoy-crop-certification projects. For instance,The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is financedbyBungeandCargill!17“Beware,inAmazoniathere are organizations producing dialog, butwithnoambitionforchange...”Nonetheless, in Brazil, environmentalists are“friends of the Indians” much more than theyareinotherregions.- Opposition is growing clearer and stronger

between social-environmental movements (se-ringueiros, indigenouspeoples,etc.)attemptingtoholdupthetwoendsofpressingnecessities,socioeconomicandecological,andthe“market”environmentalists,whodonotnecessarilyrejectthemechanismsofneoliberaleconomytoreachtheirnature-conservationgoals. - Meanwhile, the escalating dangers and theinertiaofdecisionmakersareproducing,inthissphere,aneverstrongerfeelingofemergency.

An ambiguous internationalization Is it positive? Negative? Taking stock on thisquestionisdifficult.Sofar,sincecolonialtimes,the penetration of international players hasmostly been unfavorable to Amazonia, on thesideofdestruction.New international players, however, fromcivil society (NGOs, social movements, sci-entists, etc.) or even governmental ones, arecontributing today to stopping this trend.Internationalpressurecanhelptofindsolutions

and financial resources, to encouragesolidarity (with certain forms of fairtrade, among others), to draw mediaattention,etc.

The missing playersWhere are the political parties andthe unions? Absent! “They haveno plan for Amazonia!” Despite thesocial inequalities of which Indians and otherunderprivileged populations are victims, theyhavenotactuallytakenuptheAmazoniaissueasapoliticalobjectorsomethingtofightfor.Thisisnotsurprising:historically,the“enlight-ened vanguard” have advocated a model of“progress” thathaspatently failed inthisarea.Their absence is also a sign of the currentcrisis of this typeof agent, especiallywith theemergenceofnewsocialmovements.

“Beware, in Amazonia there

are organizations producing

dialog, but with no ambition for

change ...”

“Despair is taking hold of the ecological movement!”

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Elements of strategies for players •Firstof all, theopposition forceagainst the

ultra-dominantblocofdestroyersneedstobemadestronger.

•Internationalalliancesneedtobefacilitatedand to include the reinforcement of localplayers.

•Supportshouldbegiventobringingindigenouscommunities and social movements closertogether.

•Thestrategicroleofcommunityradiosneedstoberecognizedandmadestronger.

III. Moving toward a new civilization model

“Sofar,wehavemostlybuiltresistanceanddugtrenches.Today,weneedtobuildalternatives.”There has been practically no work done onthe futureofAmazonia: this is a rathermind-bogglingobservation.Inthe1980s,theleftwinginBrazilrefusedtotakeontheAmazonianissue:thebuzzwordwas,“Notocolonization,yestoagrarianreform.”Butvoilà,thepredatorymodelhascompletelyfailed,andecologicalcollapseislooming.Nonetheless, thefewmainprinciplesthathavebeenset—protectionofthebiotope,restorationoftheruleoflaw,sustainabilityoftheeconomy,controlled urbanization, etc.—are not a foun-dation for a model. Can the capitalistic modelpossibly coexist with its material basis inAmazonia? “We are pointedly lacking inaudacity!”Istherenot,now,apressinginvitation

to reinvent the relationship betweenhuman beings and nature? WhatAmazonianeeds isnothing less thanaradicalbreak—acivilizingvision!—thatcanserveaslaboratoryfortheplanet.

Emergency vs. Utopia? Utopia is an answer to the marketrationale.Wehavetohavethecourageto start from an overall critique ofcapitalism, with the ambition tobring out new collective subjectsthat integrate the diversity that is socharacteristicofAmazonia.Ifwefailto

dothis,theriskisthatcivilsocietywillcontinuetobefragmentedintosmallpocketsofisolatedandnon-viablesolutions.

Yet pragmatism, in the name of ecologicalemergency, threatens to impose, without anydiscussion,anorderofprioritiesonUtopia.Willit soon be necessary to place the fight againstclimateupheavalatthetopofallpriorities,tothepointofacceptingthattheforestbeturnedintoacarbon-sinksanctuary?More important, perhaps, than climate, is the“pragmatic agenda” of fighting deforestation: in40years,17to34%oftherainforesthasalreadydisappearedorbeendamaged.Thereisadefiniteemergencytoimplementactionsthatwillmakeadifferenceintheshortrun,within10to20years.

Getting rid of “developmentism” and its avatars Productivism, the basis of the predatorysystem,isattherootofAmazoniandifficulties.Attacking it involves questioning its formerrepresentationsandthevocabularyattachedtoit:“civilizingmodel,”“development,”etc.“Development” has however changed: it isnow called “sustainable development,” andcorporationstodayareallopeninga“sustainabledevelopment” division. The concept intendsto reconcile productivism with environmentalconservationandtheinterestsofthepopulations.Butthisgenerouslabelcoversforacontentthat

isextremelyfuzzytosaytheleast.“Sustainabledevelopment”hasbecomea largeumbrella fortheworstandthebest.Initsname,Amazoniahasthusbecomealab-oratory of ecological deception, a field whereplayersplayat“greenwashing”andclothebarelylessominousactivitieswith“green”rags.The methods range from adopting a fewgadget-like “ecologically and socially certified”measures,such“certification”beingallthemorewelcome in the predatory companies that thelatter are generally party to their definition,andthatthemeasuresarenotbindingandthecompaniesnotusuallysubjectedtoindependentauditingontheirapplication.The basically virtuous concept of “commongood” is also the subjectof a formofmanipu-lationthathastobeexposed:itmeans“agoodmanaged by the population in the name ofhumankind,”andnot“thegoodofall,”asarguedby thepharmaceutical industry,which intendsto have free access, without any counterpartand for its exclusiveprofit, to this reservoirofbiodiversity—asortofgreenneocolonialism.Among the most hateful “green marketing”manipulatorsstandthebigsoyindustrialists.Inreturnforafewpledges,theyareattemptingtogivethisagribusinessathincoatofrespectabilitywithoutmodifyinganiotaof its fundamentals:export-oriented single-crop farming, whichconstantlyaggravatesthedeforestationprocess,contaminatessoilandwater,harassesindigenouscommunities,etc.A few less cynical companies are changing,attemptingforinstancetosettlelandconflicts,etc.Othersfinally,attheotherendofthespectrum,suchas theBrazilianethicalcosmeticscompa-ny Natura, are doing things like signingcollaboration contracts with the indigenouscommunities.The avatars of the old models definitely haveto be dismantled: otherwise, we might simplycontinue to promote an export-orientedeconomicmodelforAmazonia,oraccepthavingitturnedintoagreen-fuelfactory.“Wecannolonger speak of development without puttingtheenvironmentatitscore.”Orweshouldevenconsider “de-development,” as suggested by“degrowth”advocates,whoseideascouldbetheinspirationfornewguidelinesforAmazonia.

The diversity of alternatives: the blueprint of a model? Amazonia is a threatened but notdamaged territory, quite the contrary: itfeatures a great diversity of alternativeexperiences—solidarity economy, agro-ecology, sustainable forest exploitation,selling environmental services (as Bolsa Floresta18does),etc.—andviablepractices,urban zones included. “Amazonia is aterritoryofsolutions,”avastlaboratoryfor“bio-sustainableandsocialexperiments.”- But they are scattered. It is an invisibleAmazonia.Howcanthisembryoofanalternativebemadevisible,howcantheseexperiencesbeofbenefittoall?Moreover,theirscalebeingsmall,theyareboundtolosethebattleiftheyarenotintegrated into the construction of more globalalternatives.-Amazonianorganizationshavenotmademuchprogressinbuildingplatformsofalternativeinitia-tives,whichmustberootedinthisabundanceofexistingexperiences.-Canweimagine“an”alternativemodel?Thisisatraptobeavoided:Amazonia,withitspopulationsanditshistory,isdiversebynature.Whatneedstobeinventedisanintegrativeproject,anetworkoflocal,articulatedandinterwovenalternatives,amany-facetedmodelreflectingthismultiplicity.Integration must be faced as a project with noperspectiveforhomogenization.

Indigenous lessons The ethnic issue, in Brazil, is taking on aparticularly important dimension, becauseindigenous peoples are defending projectsfor their future (which is not the case in allcountries).Theyhavealottoteachus.Among other things, they offer envi-ronmentalservicestotheworldandtheyhavedemonstratedthattheyarebettermanagersthanthecolonizers.“Wekeeprepeatingthattheyhavethesolutions!Whatarewedoingaboutit?”

It all stems from the landThe land question plays a central role in theAmazonianissueandcouldorganizethewaytoseeksolutionsandnewmodels.Land is at the center of the predatory model:forest exploitation, mining, agriculture, etc.Thereisawidepaletteofillegalmeanstoacquire

“Amazonia is one of the places where the debate on post-capitalism is being most strongly expressed.”

“We have to invent an

alchemy between audacity and

obsessive pragmatism …”

“Amazonia is a territory of solutions.”

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landinBrazil.Onepractice,called“grilagem,”isaplagueforAmazonia.19But demand for land is also what seringueiros,smallholders, indigenous communities, etc.haveincommon.Everyland-relatedconflictthusoftenfeaturesacondensedversionofallAmazonianproblems:absenceof governance, illegal practices, socialinjustice, economic precariousness, environ-mentalhavoc,etc.

Nonetheless, nearly half of the surfaceareaofAmazoniaispublicland!Thisisevenoneoftheremarkablesingularitiesoftheterritory.Inparticular,thelandsoftheIndiansandthequilombolas,naturalreserves,etc.,areplacedbylaw“outsideof the capitalist realm”! The processthrough which indigenous territorieswere delimited have even contributedstrongly to the conservation of theforest.Thisreality,eventhoughitiscontradict-

ory, constitutes a legal basis, therefore a trueassetthatcanbereliedontodrawupalternativeperspectives.Theycouldbearticulatedaroundtheconstruc-tion project of a “land of territories”—onthe basis of their resources (water, energy,agriculture, internalorganization,etc.), andasa place for the determination of the players’strategy,rootedinthehistoryandcultureofthepopulations.“Capitalism,ontheotherhand,hasnoterritory.Whenthere isnothing left to rob, itgoesandpractices predation elsewhere, moving withgreat speed.” The territory criteria could thusconstitute abasis fordiscussionwith the local

players to lay the foundations of aninnovativeproject.Itwillhave to relyon“more inclusive”forms than the simple demarcation ofreserves or reservations, while takinginto account the existence of a mosaicof differentiated uses, landscapes, andaccesses. How, then, can a soft ex-ploitationofresources,biodiversitycon-servation(ecologicalcorridors,etc.),theneed for roads, etc.bemade tocohabitwithmanagingtheterritoryasaformofcollectiveproperty?

From autarky to internationalization (by way of Brazil …) Autarky? No one (at least, not any more) isstill arguing that this variant of self-withdrawalcouldbeasolutionforAmazonia.First,becausedisconnection from the rest of the country hasalready encouraged many blunders—brutalviolence, predation, absence of law, etc. Then,becausethenatureandthesizeofthestakesforwhichAmazoniaisatthecorecallsforthinking,solutions, and commitments that go beyondits basin. “Amazonia is not just the problem ofAmazonians.”Itisthereforelegitimatetoconsiderthisissueas“international.”Buthowcanitbeapproached?- The instruments of conventional diplomacy,inthehandsofstates,haveshowntheirlimits:it is therefore also necessary to imagine andinvent the proper institutional framework todeal with the international dimension of thissingular area. This runs straight up againstnational sensitivities. Resistance to change isverystrong,andnoneofthecountriesinwhichthebasinisincludedhasanyinterestinlettinggoofitssovereigntyoverAmazonia.- What position is there for Brazil, which isparticularly sensitive about its sovereignty? Thecountry possesses close to 60% of Amazoniansurface area and an even greater share of itsresources, is practically hegemonic and cannotbe avoided as a key player. President Lula, inparticular, has taken an inflexible stand on thequestion:“AmazoniaisBrazilian”(seeAppendix2). Whatever happens, the country will have aprimary responsibility in managing this worldheritage.Whataboutitswillingnesstoplayaglobalrole—attheSecurityCouncil,inthediplomaticarena,attheWorldTradeOrganization?- It is thereforenecessary todoseriousworkonarticulating the “local” and the “global.” Whatshould be the measure of subsidiarity betweenthetwo?Howfarshouldregionalintegrationbepushed?- Is the international dimension of Amazonialimited to the “climate” dimension? If theansweris“yes,”Amazoniarunstheriskofbeingforcedtotakeonthefunctionofcarbonsinkfortheplanet.

Governance and democracyThe frequency of situations of illegality andalmost total impunity for infringements andcrimes is so much a part of the Amazonian

context that new ways of working have to befoundandimplemented.Therearehubsofconsensusregardingtheweightrepresentedbytheabsenceofgovernance.Similarly,democracyasitisexercisedtodayhasbeenchallenged.Thereisaveryhighdemandfor participation of the populations in thedetermination of their fate. Democracy as astrategy…“Thecaravanispartoftheprocess.”

Zero deforestation? “Theforeststandingisworthmorethattheforestcutdown,”isoneofthemainenvironmentalists’slogans for Amazonia. What about the “zero

deforestation” proposal, spearheaded by anorganizationlikeGreenpeace?A purely environmentalist answer to theAmazonianquestion—prioritytoprotectionoftheforest,tomakingitasanctuary,orevento

placing it under international tutelage(as demanded by US environmentalistgroups)—relegatesallsocialprojectstothe margins. The dissensions burstingoutaroundallnewAmazonianprojectsareoftentheexpressionoftheconflictbetween a short-term improvementin people’s living conditions and gen-erating long-term damages. What doyoutelllocalpopulationsclamoringfor“development”andimmediatejobs?Conversely,ananswerthatputsexcessivepriorityonsocialcriteria—employment,production, etc.—is bound to backfire as theecologicalcrisisimposesitsagenda.Wemuststay

ontrackandnoteludethetrueenvironmentalquestion: any laissez-faire will have dramaticconsequences.“2008is20yearsaftertheadoptionofthenewBrazilian Constitution and after the murder of

“We keep repeating that they have the

solutions! What are we doing

about it?”

“Its conquest should be the pedestal of a common agenda for all progressive players.”

“Amazonia is not just the problem of

Amazonians.”

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urban areas or to also make a complete breakthereandmoveinsteadtowardthediversificationofeconomicallysustainablealternatives?

A wanting awarenessHow much political awareness is there in Brazilandelsewhereintheworldregardingthelevelandcomplexityof the stakes involved inAmazonia?Thereisverylittle.“AttheWorldSocialForuminBelém,whereAmazoniashouldbethecentraltheme, itwillbenecessary toexplainvigorouslythatit isnotabouttreesandboats!”20Discourseand arguments need to be developed for themedia and public opinion (urban in particular),especiallytoclearupmythsandwrongideas:forinstance,whoknowsthat70%ofthewoodthatisillegallyexploitedinAmazoniaisconsumed…inBrazil?21

There is a big awareness-raising job todo, even in Amazonia. “When youngpeopletherespeakoftheirregion,theyare not always aware of ‘being part’ ofit!” Places of dialog with the outsideworldneedtobeopenedlocally.

It is therefore imperative to focus oninformingthepublicandondisseminatingtheelementsofthedebateasbroadlyaspossible.Afewguidelines:•launchacampaignforthe“visualiza-

tion”ofthepredatorymodelatworkinAmazonia;

•develop“educationalmethods”onthecomplexityofAmazonia.

Chico Mendes.” The 1988 BrazilianConstitution states, for the first time,that “everyone has the right to anecologically balanced environment”andprovideslegislatorswithsignificantmeans to enforce this statement.The constitution also recognizes the“collective rights” of the indigenouspopulations over the land they haveoccupiedhistorically.

AsfortheactionofChicoMendes,itmarksthebirthoftheconceptof“socio-environmentalism”in Brazil. Twenty years later, this approachis being increasingly questioned by “pure”environmentalists. The debate between these

two conflicting positions must be put on thetableandworkedout.“Itisimperativetomakeheadwayinovercomingthistension!”Istheideaof“zerodeforestation”aviablelead?Itcertainlydeservestobeexaminedbecauseitisanewalternativeanditcouldleadtoothers.Ifthe“standingforest”isgivenatrueeconomicrole, theproposal isnot necessarily antisocial,it can be consistent with the needs of thepopulations. “The conditions are innovativeenoughtowarrantintegratingradicalecologicalconceptsinsolutionseeking.”Afewleads:•Make progress on the idea of a platform:

workontheanswer to theecologicalemer-gencyand theconsiderationof socialneedssimultaneously and together, with a viewto establishing a form of governance inAmazonia. “Together, let us lay the foun-dationsofasocio-environmentalblocfightingagainstdespair.”

•Defend“zero”deforestationfortheareasthatare still intact, and draw up an alternativeeconomicmodelforthepopulationsalreadylivinginthedevastatedzones.

•The socio-environmental certification ofprojects is a means to stabilize them in theregion. But it is imperative to increase thequalityandcredibilityoftheselabels:Whattypesofproject?Whocertifies?Accordingtowhatcriteria?etc.

What about the cities? Theurbanquestioncanseemintrusive in thisdiscussion, a sort of corollary to Amazonianpredation.Yetitcannotbeignored:themajorityof the population of the region lives in urbanagglomerations.Wehavetoavoidpolarizingtheforest-citiesissueintoadichotomyandworkoninternalizingthequestionofurbanzonesintheAmazonianissue.Once the extremism of the project consistingin turning theAmazonBasin intoa sanctuaryhasbeenexcluded,woulditbebettertosetupsustainable“industries”inthealreadydamaged

“It is imperative to make headway

in overcoming this tension!”

“The conditions are innovative enough to warrant integrating radical ecological concepts in solution seeking.”

“At the World Social Forum in Belém, where Amazonia should be the central theme, it will be necessary to explain vigorously that it is not about trees and boats!”

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NOTES

1 Other than a very few explicitly mentioned exceptions, the“Amazonia”inreferencehereistheBrazilianAmazonia.Takingthislinguistic liberty, so to speak, was part of the debate, as shown inwhatfollows.

2Cinnamon,theEldoradoquest,forestry,rubbertrees,etc:thishasallbeenwelldocumented,amongothersbyJeanSoublininHistoire de l’Amazonie,VoyageursPayot,2000,orinRêves d’Amazonie,coll.,Hoëbeke,2005.

3AmongothersintheframeworkoftheComplexoMadeira,ontheRioMadeira,themainaffluentoftheAmazon.

4 Energy plants are farmed in the framework of the Projeto doDistritoFlorestaldoCarajás.

5AwavethatbuildsupattheoutletoftheAmazonwhenitmeetstheincomingtide(atidalbore).

6 This is a territory of nearly 1.7 million hectares at the bordersof Venezuela and Guyana, duly registered as indigenous territoryandtherefore legallyreservedfortheexclusiveusufructofthefivepeoplesthathave“always” livedthereandwhosetotalpopulationtodayiscloseto20,000.RaposaSerradoSolisnonethelessoccupiedbyricegrowerswhorefusetoleave(eventhoughtheywillbegivencompensation).Thereareviolence,militaryintervention,etc.,andaboveall, legalproceedingstodisputetheattribution“of somuchland to a few natives,” the rural potentates’ recurrent argumentto dismantle one of the most original provisions of the BrazilianConstitution of 1988, which has undertaken a process of landattributionasindigenousterritory(eventhoughthisistotakemanyyears…).CancellingtheofficialattributionofRaposaSerradoSolasindigenousterritorycouldsetadisastrousprecedentfortheIndiancommunities.

7Seringueirosareforestworkersinchargeofextractingrubberfromthetrees,or“rubbertappers.”ChicoMendesmilitatedforarespectfulexploitationofforestresources,in“extractivereserves”maintainedinsuchawayastonotdestroythebalanceoftheecosystems.

8Thisreferstoecosystemmechanisms(growthofforests,absorptionby oceans, etc.) than can “sequester” carbon dioxide (CO2), themaingreenhousegasresponsibleforglobalwarming,andremoveitfromtheatmosphere.

9BrazilianPortugueseuseswithoutanynegativeconnotationbothIndígena (indigenous)andÍndio(Indian,differentfromIndiano,citizenofIndia)todesignatethe“firstpopulations”ofthecontinent.

10BNDES:Banconacionaldedesenvolvimentoeconômicoesocial.ThisfederalBraziliandevelopmentbank,thevocationofwhichistofinancemajorinfrastructureprojects,hassignificantresources.

11QuilombolasaredescendantsofAfricanslaveswhoescapedfromcolonial farmsand founded independentvillages,calledquilombos.TheBrazilianconstitutionof1988grantsquilombolasrightsontheirlands,asitdoestoindigenouspopulations.

12ViaCampesinaisthemaininternationalcoordinationoffarmers’andruralmovements;FETRAF(federationofworkersinthefamily-farming sector) is a movement with growing influence againstagribusiness,mainlyactiveinthesouthofBrazil.

13CPT(ComissãoPastoraldaTerra)isakeyhistoricplayerinthedefenseofruralworkers’rights.ItisabodyoftheBrazilianEpiscopalCommission (CNBB), to which the CIMI (Conselho indigenistamissionário)isalsoconnected,fightingfortheautonomyofIndiansandthedefinitionofalternativeprojectsforthem.

14Literally:residents.Thesearepopulationslivingintheimmediatevicinityofrivers,whicharetheirmainsourceoflivelihood—throughfishing—withtheirunavoidableroadsandpaths.

Photo: Pierre Pouliquin

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15Unskilledworkersmininggenerallyforgold,inoftendeplorableconditions.

16Ownersofafazenda,ausuallylarge-scalefarm.

17 TNC is one of the most important US nature-conservationorganizations;BungeandCargill:twoofthemajorUSmultinationalcorporationscontrollingthesoymarketinBrazil.

18TheBolsa Floresta,calledForestConservationGrantinEnglish,is an original initiative of the state of Amazonas: it sells, on theinternationalmarketforvoluntarytradingofCO2emissions,“carboncredits”generatedby forest-conservationactions.ThegovernmentofAmazonasconsidersthatitispossibletosetupafundoftheorderof1billiondollarswithinfiveyears.The“credits”willcome from(verified)non-deforestationcommitmentsbyfamiliesofribeirinhos,who will be then be given a monthly grant of 50 reals (about 30dollars),thesameamountgivenbytheBolsa família(FamilyGrant)institutedbyLulatofightagainsthunger.Anotherpartofthefundswillbeinvestedinstructuralmeasurestoreorienteconomicactivitiestomakethemmoreenvironment-friendly.

19 Grilagem is a practice that consists in forging documents toappropriate land illegally (forged documents, forged signatures,pressureonsmallfarmers,complicityofthelandregistries,etc.).Ina2005report,GreenpeacewasevenalarmedbyanextremelyjuicymarketontheInternet(severalhundredmillioneurosofpotentialtransactions) involving fields of up to 2.3 million hectares inAmazonianstates!Manyoftheofferspointedoutthattheproperty“didnothave”dulyregistereddocumentsatthelandregistry…Anexample:oneadoffered900,000hectares for sale in the townshipof Canutama (Amazonas), i.e. 30% of its territory, which in factbelongs,for97%ofit,totheBrazilianstate!

20TheWorldSocialForumwillbeheldinBelémfromJanuary27toFebruary1,2009.

21ThereiscurrentlyinBrazilacalltoboycottillegalwood,beefmeat,andsoyfromdeforestedlandinAmazonia.

How many different Amazonias are there, de-pendingonthepointsofviewandtheinterestsat stake? Approaches are highly formattedby the views of the interested players. As aconsequence,thenumberson“Amazonia”candifferconsiderably,becausetheAmazoniabeingreferredtoisnotalwaysspecified.TheAmazonianbiotope, for instance, has no administrativeexistence:Whatisitspopulation?Itisthereforedifficulttodefinethedemographicreality of this area, as shown by what follows.Thishaspoliticalconsequences.Moreover, forbudgetary reasons, the Brazilian institute ofgeographyandstatistics,IGBE,simplifiesinitspractice the population census of Amazonianruralpopulation,whichitperformsonthebasisofestimations.

Legal AmazoniaForstrategicandplanningpurposes,theBraziliangovernment defined in 1953, under militarydictatorship, an “Amazônia legal” includingthe following states:Acre,Amapá,Amazonas,Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, andTocantins,aswellasaportionoftheMaranhãoand five townships in the Goiás. The setwas ascribed infrastructure and developmentprojects.Thetotalareacovers5.2millionkm2and59%ofthenationalterritory,andaccountsforabout21millioninhabitants.

North region The five “regions” of Brazil are administrativedivisions,eachincludingseveralstatesroughlycorresponding to “natural” regions of thecountry;theyserveasabasisforIGBEstatistics.Thus, the “Região Norte” (3 on the map)—Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia,RoraimaandTocantins,3,851,560km2,45.2%of the national territory, about 14.6 millioninhabitants—more or less covers the BrazilianpartoftheAmazonBasin(whichcovers49.3%ofthecountry).

The Amazonian biotope Amazonia, as a biogeographical region, is ahuge sedimentary basin characterized by itsforest cover (within the yellow border on themap)andatropicalequatorialclimate.Surfacearea:thefiguresvaryfrom6.3to7.5millionkm2(dependingonwhetherthehydrographicbasin,theecosystems,theinitialforestcover,etc.areconsidered),60to65%ofwhichareinBrazilianterritory.Benefittingfromannualaveragetemperaturesofbetween 24 and 26° Celsius and from rainfallupto3,000mmayear,thebasinencloses20%ofthefreshwaterflowingonthesurfaceoftheplanet, and its ecosystems (the Amazonianbiotope is not uniform) constitute the mostimportantreservoirofterrestrialbiodiversityoftheplanet.About 17% of the forest surface has alreadydisappearedin40years,and17%isconsideredasverydamaged.

Appendix 1

What Amazonia are we talking about?


Photo: Janduari Simões

The limits of geographical Amazonia

Source: NASA, WWF, Pfly.


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In 2000, Cristovam Buarque told a story thathas since become famous. During a debateorganized in a US university, the futureBrazilian minister of education, at the time amilitantofthemostradicalwingoftheWorkersParty (the PT, President Lula’s party), waschallenged by a student: What did he thinkof the idea (advocated in particular by USenvironmentalist groups)ofplacingAmazoniaunder international tutelage in the name oftheinterestrepresentedforhumankindbythisbiotopeandoftheglobalstakesitsignified—anenormous reservoir of biodiversity and forestresources, a climate-regulation nucleus, etc. “Iamexpectingananswerfromthehumanist,nottheBrazilian,”specifiedthestudent.Cristovam Buarque’s long, biting reply spedaround theworld through the Internet, to thedelightofhiscompatriotsbutalsoofenviron-mentalistsfighting imperialismasmuchas thedeteriorationoftheforest.22Insubstance,agreedthe political man, why not “internationalize”Amazonia, which Brazil is having trouble

preventing from disappearing into smoke? Butthen, he developed, should also come undersupranationalgovernanceorbemadeavailableto humankind in order to escape theinconsistency of irresponsible local entities, awhole cohort of global “common goods”: oilresources,butalsoallfinancialcapitalandthenuclear stockpiles of the rich countries—thepowerofwhichtodestroypeoplegoesbeyondthat of forest operators by far—all the world’smuseums, which shelter incalculable wealthproducedbyhumangenius,andevenchildren,the heritage of the human species. And asultimateconclusion:“Asahumanist,Iaccepttodefendtheinternationalizationoftheworld.SolongastheworldtreatsmeasaBrazilian,IwillfightsothatourAmazonianRegionwillbeours.Onlyours.”

22 It was published in the Brazilian daily O Globo onOctober10,2000, andcanbe readatwww.cristovam.org.br . In English, at http://1drop.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/internationalization-of-the-world-cristovam-buarque/

Appendix 2

International Amazonia?

Appendix 3

World Social Forum 200�: Amazonia convenes us to renew our commitment so that another world is possible

FASE (Federation of organizations for socialpromotionandeducation)October2007“The World Social Forum is an open meetingplaceforreflectivethinking,democraticdebateofideas,formulationofproposals,freeexchangeof experiences and interlinking for effectiveaction, by groups and movements of civilsocietythatareopposedtoneoliberalismandtodominationoftheworldbycapitalandanyformof imperialism, andare committed tobuildinga planetary society directed towards fruitfulrelationships among Mankind and between itandtheEarth.”23TohavechosenAmazoniaasthevenuefortheWSFin2009isworthyoftheWSFCharterofPrinciples.FASE—solidarity and education—which hasbeen present in Brazilian Amazonia for morethan40years, iscertainthat theWSFwillberewardingforthebasin’sinhabitantsandforallthoseinvolvedinthequestforprojectsforthepresentandthefutureoftheregion.Moreover,itisconvincedthatallthosewhowillparticipatein theprocess leadingto theWSFin2009,aswell as in themeeting itself,will leaveBelémwitharenewedunderstandingofthenecessaryalternatives for the world and stronger forbuilding it,becausewebelieve thatAmazoniahassomethingtotelltheworldandtheWSF.Thefightforasustainable,sociallyresponsible,anddemocraticAmazoniacanalreadyrelyontheforcesofavastensembleofsocialmovements,organizations, cooperatives, and civil-societyorganizations. Just in Brazil, we can mentionthe following: Coordenação das OrganizaçõesIndígenasdaAmazôniaBrasileira—coordinationof the indigenous organizations of BrazilianAmazonia (COIAB); Grupo de Trabalho

Amazônico—group of Amazonian workers(GTA);ConselhoNacionaldosSeringueiros—national rubber tappers union (CNS);Federações de Trabalhadores e Trabalhadorasna Agricultura—farm workers’ federation(FETAG); Federações de Trabalhadores eTrabalhadorasnaAgriculturaFamiliar—family-farmworkers’federation(FETRAS);MovimentoNacionaldosPescadores—nationalfishworkers’movement(MONAPE);ViaCampesina(withthe MST—landless persons’ movement—andthe CPT—pastoral land commission, amongothers);MovimentoInterestadualQuebradeirasde Coco Babaçu—interstate movement ofBabaçu coconut breakers; urban grassrootsmovements, women’s movements, movementsofdescendantsofrunawayslaves,NGOs,socialpastorals,etc.Practicallyalloftheseorganizationsare federated into networks and forums, i.e.,Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia—na-tional articulation of agro-ecology (ANA-Amazônia), Fórum da Amazônia Oriental—eastern Amazonia forum (FAOR), Fórum daAmazônia Ocidental—western Amazonia for-um (FAOC), Fórum Mato-grossense de MeioAmbiente e Desenvolvimento—forum for theenvironmentandthedevelopmentoftheMatoGrosso (FORMAD), Fórum de Mulheres daAmazônia Paraense—forum of the women oftheParáAmazonia,FórumNacionaldeReformaUrbana—national forum for urban reform(FNRU),regionalforumsofsolidarityeconomy,the Brazilian NGO association (ABONG-Amazônia). All of these forces show not onlytheir greatdiversity, plurality, andvitality, butalso their capacity for dialog, for uniting, andfor setting up future alternatives by wageringon socio-environmental justice, considering

Indigenous reservationsEcological conservation zones (federation)Ecological conservation zones (state)

Source: Ibama, Funai, Embrapa

The spread of Amazonia’s agricultural frontier Main protected zones in Amazonia

Source: IGBE

Thebrownzoneshavebetween10and50inhabitantsperkm²,atleast.


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theaspirationsofevery sector,andreinforcingacommonvisionanddestiny.This multiplicity of organizations reflects avery diverse population and territory; zonesof complete conservation, national forests,areas intended for sustainable use, forestryand marine reserves, indigenous land, humansettlements, colonization areas, land of des-cendants of runaway slaves, sustainable-man-agement forest zones, properties acquired along time ago by residents and miners, fieldsacquired by smallholders who migrated inthe past decades alongside lakes, rivers andtributaries,metropolitanregions,smallandme-dium-sized cities, urban agglomerations builtaroundlargecompanies,claimstakers’cities,ri-parian communities, agricultural villages. Thepopulation of Amazonia—women, men, andchildren, in particular indigenous peoples andancestral populations (descendants of runawayslaves, riparian populations, and traditionalfishworkers,rubbertappers,chestnutandforest-essence gatherers, Babaçu coconut breakers,etc.)—represents an enormous cultural wealthandaninestimableheritageforBrazil.Itshouldnot be seen as reminiscences of the past; onthe contrary, the populations have constantlyadaptedand,iftheyaregrantedtheappropriatemeans, they will be able to play a crucial roleinaprojectforAmazonia.NeithercantheybedissociatedfromthecitiesinAmazonia.Mostcitydwellersarestillveryclosetotheirsurroundingenvironmentandverysensitivetoit.Facingtheacceleratedreductionofbiodiversityandtheclimatecrisis,whichisalreadybringingabout climate-related situations of injusticeespecially affecting those who have the leastresources, Amazonia remains one of the lastregions in the world that is still relativelypreserved. It is all the more valuable for themaintenanceof biodiversity, aswell as for thepositiveinfluenceitcanexerciseoncontinentalrainfall andon theclimateat the scaleof thecontinent and the world, provided that theforest is conserved—but it will be a negativeinfluence if it is destroyed and burnt. In thissense,itmustbeseenasindispensabletohumanlife,suchthatitspreservationaswellasthatofthequalityoflifeofitspopulationsconstituteachallengethatnotonlyBraziliansbutalsotherestofworld’spopulationsneedtotakeup.Oneofthemostimportantbattlesbetweenrichcountries and countries of the South is beingplayed out around the destiny of Amazonia, awar thatwill alsodetermine the responsibilityfalling on every country in the unavoidable

distribution of the costs of the environmentalcrisis and of the catastrophic global climatechanges. The most powerful states, with theirproductionandconsumption standards,whichare anything but sustainable, have enormousfinancial, technological,andmilitary resourcesand they will not easily give up control overAmazonia, this in the name of the commongood.Theyareattemptingtoreproduce,tothedetrimentofourcountries,theiruntenablefive-century-oldstandardsofexistenceandpracticesaimingtodespoilthecountriesofSouthAmericaoftheirwealthandenergyresources.However,asmuchthecountries thatmakeuptheAmazonBasinastheirindigenouspeoples,theirtraditionalpopulations,andallthosewhohave lived in the region for scores, hundreds,or thousands of years, all of them refuse anyoutsideinterferenceinAmazonia.Resistanceoftheindigenouspeoplesandtheautochthonouspopulations is based on the conviction thatso far, they are the ones who have taken careof the forest and its biodiversity, and thatwithout them, if they were to be excludedand marginalized, the forest, the bush, andthe waters would eventually disappear orbecome impoverished. They remind us thatthesepeoples,withlifestylesthatdevelopmentideologyhasjudgedasoutdatedorworthyofthepast,haveavoiceinourfuture.Theychallengethesenseofthisdevelopmentandquestionthemeaning of wealth and that of poverty. Withtheir great diversity, their multiple ways ofmanaging natural resources and their variouswaysofconsideringthefuture,themultiplicityand creativeness of the alternatives they aredrawingupandhavealreadyimplemented,theyaretellingusthatthefuturedoesnotdependononlyone,falteringformofdevelopment,butonmultipleformsoflifeandsociety.In the name of development, progress, andemployment,theAmazonBasinisatthemercyof destructive fury. Roads, ducts, electric-energy conveyers are being planned or arealready crossing the region to take the wealthofourterritoriesintotheglobalmarkets.Weareattending the construction, at an acceleratedpace,ofhydroelectricdams,theexploitationofoil and gas, ore, wood, other forest and waterproducts,andtheexpansionofcattlebreedingandsoyfarmsandothercommoditiesintendedforagrofuel(sugarcane,palm,andeucalyptus),aswellasofagribusiness,thesteelindustry,andaluminumfactories.Theideabeingimposedisthattheminorityshouldbesacrificedinthenameof general progress, and that the environment

mustnothinderdevelopment.Worseyet,thosewho, all too eager to keep their markets, aredestroying the environment, biodiversity, andsocio-diversity all at the same time, puttinginto difficulty the sustainability of the localpeoplesandpopulations,arealsoclaimingtobechampionsofsustainabledevelopmentviamegapropagandaadvertising.Amazoniaisinvitingustounmaskthisdevelopmentideology.The Amazon Basin is in the process of beinginvadedby the IIRSAprogram—Initiative forIntegrationofRegionalInfrastructureinSouthAmerica—implemented by the governmentsof the region and multilateral banks. For thisprogram, Amazonia is both an obstacle toroutingproductsandcommoditiestowardAsia,NorthAmerica,andEuropeviathePacific,theCaribbean, or the Atlantic, and a depositoryandproducerofcommoditiesandrawmaterial.As a result, our soils, our forests, our waters,the suffering and blood of our peoples andour populations are the subjects of export.Amazonianswouldalsolikeenergy,waterways,androadsforthemselves.Theywouldalsoliketohaveaccesstothematerialpossessionsthatwillintegratethemintotoday’sworld,andthatall the peoples of the world should have thesamerights.Theyknowthatforthistohappen,it is indispensable for them to have mineralsand industries. Yet what challenges them isthefactthattheirwealthgoesawaytomakeaminorityricherandtoperpetuateanunhealthyproductionandconsumptionmodel.The economic players present in the region,directly or indirectly, are showing that inter-nationalcapitalisofteninthehandsofpeopleand national economic sectors maintaining amentalityofconqueringadventurersand slavedrivers. In the forest and in the damaged ordeforested zones, violence is rampant—landstolenandburnt,evictions,discriminationandracism,restrictionoffreedom,slavery,murders,ethnocide...andthevictimsofthisviolenceare

persons,communities,andpeoples.Howcanwenot understand that behind the developmentideal that industrial civilization so enjoyspromising us, the same colonial and class warofmanycenturiesisbeingreproduced?OurlifeexperienceinAmazoniateachesusthatwewillmakenoprogressontheroadtopeace, totherespectofHumanRightsandofequality,untilwe know how to build within our societies aprojectforthefuturethatisdifferentthantheonetheycall“development.”Amazonia is the depository of biological andgenetic resources, still largely unknown butbeyonddoubtvaluableforhumankind;itspeo-ples are the possessors of centennial and mil-lennialknowledgeonthislife.Theseresourcesandthisknowledgearethecauseofthecupidityofthebigcompaniesstandingatthefrontofthestage with their implacable quest for theprivatizationoflivingorganismsandofknowl-edge. The indigenous peoples, and after themthe population rooted in the region, teach usthat life is a gift and that we are part of thenourishingEarth.Privateappropriationoflifeisinconceivable, since it is made to be shared.Amazonia calls on us to refuse with vigor therationale of the market, and of multinationalcorporations and the official international or-ganizations at their service, and to focus ourconcerns on the reconstruction of the planet,humankind,andnewlibertarianparadigmssuchassolidarity,equality,therecognitionofdiver-sity, respect of differences, responsibility, theneedtotakecare.FASEconsidersthattheWSF2009inAmazoniawillbeahistoricopportunityto bring new blood to struggles, visions, andprojectsforthefuture,toallthosewhobelievethat another world is possible… and that thecurrentconflictsandperspectivesinAmazoniaaretheexpressionandthesummaryofthegreatchallengesforthisotherworld.

23WSFCharterofPrinciples,2001


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W henwelaunchedtheForumforanewWorldGovernanceprojectinlate2007withGustavoMarin,itwasestablished

from our first meeting, in Coubron near Paris,thataprojectsuchasthiscouldnotclaimanylegitimacyunlessitwasbattledoutonthefieldoftheconcreteproblemsthat,fromthelocaltotheglobal—followingthewell-knownexpression—arethefabricof“worldgovernance.”Amongthedozenorsokeyregionsthatweidentified,Brazilclearlystoodatthetopofthelist,becauseofthe

country’simportance,itsvitality,itscapacitytorethinksocialorganization,thefactthatitmakesup a large part of Amazonia, and also becauseBraziliswheretheWorldSocialForum(WSF)was born. It was more than logical, therefore,that our long, worldwide journey should starthere, with our friends from IBASE (BrazilianInstitute of Social and Economic Analyses),a key WSF player. The seminar, finally called“WhatAmazoniaDoes theWorldNeed?”,wasoriginally focused on Brazil (as suggested by

Amazonia and World Governance

ArnaudBl in

its first title, “What Brazil Does the WorldNeed?”). Itbecamequicklyapparent,however,that the theme of Amazonia presented, evenmore thanBrazil, special appeal forourdebateon world governance. It was therefore on thissubjectthatwemetfortwodaysinthespringof2008withIBASEandthirtyorsorepresentativesof civil society closely involved with theAmazonianissue.

In their respective texts, Cândido Grzybowskiand Patrick Piro provided us with remarkableanalyses of the issues and debates that fueledthe seminar. I will not, therefore, claim to addanything here to a discussion that they masterinfinitely better than I do. Nevertheless, asthe seminar isalsopartofa largerproject, it isimportanttodetermineinwhatwaysBrazilandAmazonia are connected to world governance.Thiswillbethesubjectofthisafterword.

World governanceFirst, what is “world governance,” whichthe public generally associates either withthe United Nations, or with a supranationalgovernment?Puttingitsimplyandbeyondaca-demic definitions, it could be said that worldgovernance is nothing more and nothing lessthanthecollectivemanagementofourplanet,initspoliticalandeconomicaspects,butalsoinitssocial,human,andenvironmentalones.

Thefactthatwenowtalkaboutworldgovernanceand no longer exclusively of “internationalrelations”showstheepistemologicalpathtrav-eledinajustfewyears,whichhassignificantlymodified the vision we have of our place inan environment that has suddenly becomeconsiderablybroader.Globalization isfirst andforemost a fantastic explosion of the spacewithin which individuals and communitiesmoveabout.Formanycenturies,thisspacewascombined with the narrow framework of thenation-state,thelatterencompassing,inquasi-hermeticfrontiers,thephysicalandmentalfieldoftheindividual.

The modern state is a political constructionwith its economic, social, and cultural speci-ficitieswherethe“national”aspecttakesprec-edenceovereverythingelse.Untilveryrecently,thatistosayuntilthelatetwentiethcentury,all

ofhumankind’sproblemswereseenthroughtheprismofthestate,theonlybodyapttoresolveproblemswithinacountry,aswellasproblemsamongcountries.Avarietyofworld-governanceregimeshavebeenestablishedoverthecenturiesand continents, none of which, however, haseversucceededinresolvingoneofthesimpler(in theory) and more arduous (in practice) ofproblems: war. Although human beings dotranscendtheirownspace,theyonlydosoforpetty nationalistic and bellicose reasons:conquering the moon is a direct byproduct oftheColdWarsymbolizedbythespectacular,butin a sense pathetic, unfurling of the UnitedStatesbanneronlunarsoil.Inanotherdomain,the considerable breakthroughs in physicalscience accomplished at the beginning of thetwentiethcenturythatledtodecomposingtheatomalsoled,tragically,tothenuclearbomb,toHiroshima and Nagasaki. As for the greatideological, universalistic momentum of anineteenth century attempting to free itselffromitstightironcollar,itled,miserably,totheSiberiangulags.

Historically, the resolution of “international”issueshasalwaysbeenaccomplishedthroughthestate.TheemergenceoftheWestinthesixteenthcenturyputanendtothehegemonyofthegreatempires that had dominated geopolitical spacefor thousands of years. After a trial and errorperiod,Europemanagedtoestablishasystemintheseventeenthcenturythatreliedonpoliticalhegemony (of the countries belonging to thesystem), on the absolute respect of nationalsovereignty (of the members of the system),and on the balance of (major) powers. It isthis systemthatallowedEuropeans tocolonizea good part of the planet while imposing, forbetter or for worse, their model of political,economic,andsocialorganization.TheUnitedNations Organization is, in some ways, a con-tinuation of this system even if “collectivesecurity”hasreplacedthebalanceofpowersandallmemberstatesaretheoreticallyequalintheeyes of (international) law. Moreover, the UNis, above all, a conglomerate of states (192 in2008).Althoughitiswaning,itisnotdoingsoininstitutionalterms,butratherbecauseitdoesnothingmorethanexpressthewill,orabsenceofwill,ofitsmemberstates.AfterWorldWarII,the Cold War upheld a new interstate systemthat,likeitspredecessors,manifesteditselfviathegameofbalancingthemajorpowers,themselvesusing alliances of interests to establish theirhegemonyandtocontaintheenemy.

Coordinator, Forum for a new World

Governance. Specializing in international relations

and history of conflicts, he is the author of

numerous books including A History of

Terrorism, from Antiquity to Al-Qaeda, University of

California Press, 2007.

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Afterword


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Four events came together that considerablymodified the grand chessboard: the crumblingof the USSR, the globalization of its effects,awareness of threats to the environment, andthe democratization of the geopolitical world,which favored, among others, the emergenceofaglobalcivilsociety.Thesemajoreventsormovementscametogetherandled,attheturnof the century, to a historical breakdown, thefullsignificanceofwhichisstilldifficultforustounderstand.Today’sgreatdifficulty is todefinethenew rulesof a game thathas changedbutthatcontinuestoseetheformerleadingpowersoccupyingcenterstage.

Thefirstconsequenceofthisshift isaflagrantinability to apprehend and resolve the issueswithwhichwearenowfaced,issuesconsiderablydifferent from those that had previously keptusbusyandwere summedupbymanytobeawar-peacedichotomy.Tocomplicateourvision,already quite muddled by the new reality, aseries of events have dominated the mediathesepastyears,preventingus fromprojectingourselvestowardafuturethat,infact,isalreadyhere. The Islamist attacks, the war on Iraq,more recently the raid of Russian troops inGeorgia,arealleventsthat, importantastheymay be, historically belong to the world ofyesteryear.AllareaconsequenceofColdWarconfrontations; all obey the laws that reactedto traditional power struggles in the past. Yetif theworld is tochange, it is imperative thatnew modi operandi be established. If in thepastwetalkedof“regimes”orof international“systems,” then the new “world governance”candonodifferentlythantooperateintheformofnetworksandpartnershipsamongplayers:thelegitimacyofthisconstructionfindsitssourceintheactive,all-aroundpromotionofcitizenshipand democracy, the relevance of establishedinstitutional agencies, and the articulation ofscalesofgovernanceallowingthisarchitecturetoworkandtoaddressthevastrangeofissuesthatwillconfrontusinthefuture.

It is thus in thisperspective thatwe launchedthe Forum for a new World Governance,aimingnotonlytoidentifynewwaysofglobalgovernanceandtheplayersparticipating in it,butalsooftofindthemeanstomakethemwork.Atfirstglance,Brazilseemedtousaparticularlyfavorablegroundforaninitialdebateonworldgovernance because of the complexity thatcharacterizesthiscountryandbecausetoday,inspiteofthecriticismthatcanbedirectedatits

government,thecountryisseekinginnovativesolutions to issues that are affecting a shiftingsociety,onethatreflectstheworldsocietythatistakingfullshapeinthetwenty-firstcenturyand,asemphasizedbyCândidoGrzybowski,needstograpplewitha“crisisofcivilization.”

The emergence of BrazilIn this new context and in this effervescentworld, therolethatBrazilneedstoplayseemsall the more important. By its size, economicvitality,complexity,andgeographicalposition,Brazil conforms to the new physical norms ofemerging states,which, following theexampleof China and India, are of a continentalscale. Although we know that the “clash ofcivilizations” is fiction—or at least an anach-ronism—the world of tomorrow will probablybe redrawn as a realignment of the majorgeostrategic regions.Brazil,acontinental stateor almost, corresponds to the new model.ContrarytoChina,Brazilhasaccomplishednotonlyaneconomicmodernization,butapoliticalandsocialoneaswell.Comparatively,itistheonly country of this size—Chile is anothertextbook case, but with more modest physicalproportions and great social homogeneity—tohaveaccomplishedsomuchinsomanyareas.

Even so, Brazilian growth has not occurredwithout side effects, effects that are added tothemalfunctioninginheritedfromthepast—forexample,blatantsocialandeconomicinequalitiesor even the inheritance of colonialism—andmake Brazil one of the microcosms of post-industrialmodernization.Infact,today’sgreatestthreats, and possibly tomorrow’s as well, arehighlighted and exacerbated in contemporaryBrazil,whetherintheareaofchronicinsecurityandalltheevilsrelatedtorapidurbanization,inthatofenvironmentalthreats,orinthedifficultyin reducing the gap between rich and poor, oreven between underdeveloped and industrialregions.

For the post-Cold War image of the world,Brazil is seeking its placewithin aplanet thatischangingasquicklyasthecountryitself.Theacademic debates on geopolitical paradigms—with, for example, a revived interest inrealpolitik—or geoeconomic paradigms—withdiscussions on the dependence theory, on theneoliberalortheThirdWaymodel,etc.—that

havetakenplaceinthepastfewyearsinBrazilsymbolize this quest for a world vision thatwouldmakeitpossibletoforeseeBrazil’splaceinthenewworld.

Brazil’sroleisjustasinterestingingeopoliticalterms, especially in view of the comparativeregression that has been hitting the UnitedStates for a few years now—a regression that,without necessarily signifying the “end of theEmpire,” affects a certain number of areas, asmuchpoliticalones(HumanRightsandlibertiesinjeopardy;theelectoralcrisisin2000),associal(healthcareandwelfare crisis, themeritocracyandsocial-promotionsystembeingchallenged,anumberofsocialentitlementsbeingchallengedor rejected), economic (housing crisis, debt),andevenscientificones(withemergingpowerstakingarelativeleadintherealmofscience).More visible, although more easily reversible,US foreign policy since George W. Bush’selectionin2000hasprovendisastrous,strikingaseriousblowtotheinternationalcredibilityoftheUnitedStates,includinginLatinAmericawhereWashington’s reputationwasalready farfromirreproachable…

Brazil’s intrinsic progression, the growingprestigeandnotorietyitwonwiththeaccessionof a formerunionactivist to thepresidency—however much we might reprove Lula’spolitical implementation—have contributedto considerably modifying the geostrategicconfiguration of the American continent and,consequently, of the planet as a whole. As aresult, Brazil is gaining power and definitivelyimposing itselfas theprivilegedpartnerof theUnited States in South America, a partnerthatcanhenceforthservetooffsettheGiantofthe North (contrary to Venezuela) and is alsothe key element the United States absolutelyneeds if it wishes to continue to weigh uponthecontinent’sdestiny,oreventocountertheregional “interference” of increasingly activeelementssuchasChina.

More important still, Brazil presents to theworldadifferentmodel—notablydifferentfromthe US model—also appreciably attractive,especially from a comparative point of view.As a “Southern” country, although having acolonial past that in some ways calls to mindthatoftheUnitedStates,Brazilhastheincom-parable advantage of being disassociated inspirit from the Northern countries and othernations that, in thenearordistantpast,have

manifested an imperialistic approach. In aworldwhereEurope,theUnitedStates,China,Iran,the“Islamicworld,”andevenIndiahave,for various reasons, limited powers of globalattraction, Brazil imparts qualities that lend aparticularforcetoitsmodel.

Thus, as much from a practical as a symbolicpoint of view—and in this area the image ofthe successful ethnic Brazilian melting pot isa strong, arresting one since its theorizationand popularization by Gilberto Freyre—Braziltodayoffersanattractiveexample,preciselyata timewhen theplanet is in searchofmodelscombining modernization, integration, socialandenvironmentalprotection,andalsoqualityof life. The fact that Brazil is also confrontedby a whole series of difficult issues makes thismodel all themorehuman,whileour faith inthe ideal of progress is not as strong as it was

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at the time of the Enlightenment or duringtheGoldenAgeof socialistic ideologies.And,contrary to the French and American modelsof the eighteenth and nineteenth centuriesandtotheCommunistmodelsofthetwentiethcentury, today’s quest for a “universal” modelrejectsthenotionofahegemonicmodel.Inthissense,Brazilispossiblythemodelthattheworldneedstoday.

Amazonia, the world’s laboratory?Itisbyhistoricalchance,followingthefamoustreaty of Tordesillas that saw the popes dividethe yet-to-be-explored American continentbetween the two Iberian powers, that Brazil,afterPortugal,inheritedthe“lung”oftheplanet,Amazonia, a name that evokes the legendaryfemalewarriorsofGreekmythologywhomthefirst conquistadors believed to have seen onthe banks of the great river. In every respect,Amazoniaisanexampleofexcessiveness,moresoeventhanBrazil.

This may be the reason why the focus of thisseminar, initially on the country of Brazil,gradually shifted to become a debate onAmazonia where Brazil, in the end, moved tothebackground.

Whenallissaidanddone,infixingourfocusonBrazilinthebeginning,inawaywewereguiltyof perceiving the world in the anachronousmannerofprivilegingastateoranationratherthana societyor a territory. It isobvious thatAmazonian set of problems goes beyond theBrazilianframework.Itisricher,moreinteresting,and even more complex because it calls uponanothermentalrealmandothermodioperandithanthosetowhichweareaccustomed.And,asPatrickPirosuggests,“therehasbeenpracticallynoworkdoneonthefutureofAmazonia.”Thefactsspeakforthemselves,buttheyallowustotakeafreshtheoreticalstartbecause,onceagainaccording to Piro, Amazonia is one of thoseplaces where the debate on post-capitalism ismoststronglyexpressed.

Post-capitalism, “post-nation-state”: we knowthat the world is changing. Nevertheless, twoissues crop up. First, historical breaks are butpartial:residuesofthepasthavesurvivedtoformanenduringsubstratumattheformationofour“civilizational plates.” When there is a break,

themethodsofthepastremainwell-rootedforawhile,andwearerequiredtolivewiththisheavybaggage, which, moreover, is indispensableas it prevents our preexisting structures fromcrumbling in one fell swoop: break is notrevolution.Moreover, it is excessivelydifficulttospeculateaboutthefuture,which,ontopofitall,isglobal.Thesumoflocalsolutionsdoesnotconstituteaglobalsolution.Althoughweneedconcrete solutions, we also need to develop acoherentviewonthenewformsofgovernance.Concrete solutions hailing from Amazoniathatcanbeappliedtoothercontextscanhelpus todevelop thisview,butwemust take thisfurther.Theroleofplayers isessential. Inthisperspective, it isnotexcessive tocall tomindcertainelementsofthestrategieselaboratedinthecourseoftheseminar:•topromoteasystemofchecksandbalances

that will offset the ultra-dominant bloc ofdestroyers;

•to promote international alliances whilereinforcinglocalplayers;

•to help bring indigenous communities andsocialmovementstogether.

Wesee that thisapproachcanalsobeappliedinaglobaldimension,basedonanumberofkeyprinciples of democratic governance, startingwiththeprincipleofchecksandbalances,whichis what the Founding Fathers of the UnitedStates made the cornerstone of their politicalsystem. The importance of the principle ofchecksandbalancescannotbeoverestimatedintoday’sageofglobalization,andwecouldnoteinpassing that its lessonshavebeen forgottenbytheUSleadersofthelasttenyears.Checksand balances, however, are difficult to set upin closed political systems and even morecomplicated to implement in open systems,i.e.thosethatdonothaveaviablegovernanceregime, such as Amazonia and the world as awhole.Itiseasiertosetupsystemsofalliance,butsuchsystemshavealimitedscope.Wealsoobservethatatthestatelevel,governmentsareslaves to the demands of economic predators,whose interests, of course, run counter to thegeneral interest, despite the insistent rhetoricof “economic growth” expected to serve thehappinessofallhumankind.

Developing systems of checks and balancesis therefore as vital to the future of globalgovernanceasitisforAmazonia.Whatchecksandbalances?Thestandardlistiseasytodrawup: an effective legal system, well-adapted

legislation,strongertradeunions,agreaterrolefor civil society, etc. Their implementation ismoredifficult.Whoimplements?Withwhom?How? With what means? Once again, statesplayanambiguousroleinthisarea.EvenwithsomeonelikeLula,wecanseethatgovernmentsgetboggeddownintheirownpoliticalrationalesand,whenallissaidanddone,thattheyhaveextremelylittleelbowroom.Thepriorityofstatesis to protect citizens and communities againstpredators of course, but in the long run, alsoagainst themselves.At the scaleofAmazonia,wecanseehowdifficultitistoaccomplishthisfirst,essentialtask.Forexample,thelandissue,whichcrystallizesallthefailingsofAmazoniangovernance, could be the very symbol of thenegligenceofpublicauthorities.

Atthemacropoliticalscale,the9“Amazonian”countries’ difficulty in designing a commonstrategy for Amazonia shows how difficult itwillbe for200states toagreeonthe futureoftheplanet.Paradoxically,althoughthestate isan essential element of governance, it is alsoan obstacle to good governance. Checks and

balancesfirstneedtobedevelopedtolimittherole of the state and at the same time help ittocarryoutitstasksproperly.Onthefield,thesuccessivepoliciesthathavefraughtAmazonia’srecent history with failures have heightenedmutual suspicion. Here again, mentalities willneedtoevolve.

One thing is certain, however: “internation-alization” of Amazonia seems, at least in themedium term, nonviable, even unacceptable.Amazonia,likeallotherworldterritories(oceansexcepted),“belongs”toninedifferentstates,forbetterorforworse,andoutside“contributions”to it have essentially been of the order ofpredation.Notwithstanding,andwithoutover-riding the national-sovereignty prerogativesof Brazil, Peru, and the other Amazoniancountries,itisimperativethattheinternationalcommunity support the Amazonian project,financially as well as technically, and evenmorally, by becoming more involved in thevarious projects and initiatives undertaken bythegovernments—bothlocalandnational—bythe communities, and by both nonprofit and

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nongovernmentalorganizations.Activesupportcantakeonmanydifferentformsandcouldatsomepointbecoordinatedbyaninternationalumbrellaagencysetupforthispurpose,whetherwithintheUNsystemornot.Beyondtraditionalprojects,apolicyaimingatarticulatingnetworksandinitiativesconstitutesa priority, and an agency of this kind couldvery well be put in charge of implementingit.All the same, theways inwhich support isaffordedhastotakenationalprideintoaccount.Ifsupportisproperlyorganized,itcanincreaseand improve government involvement. Hereagain, and to limit the inevitable perverseeffects,itisimportanttogivealotofthoughttohowsupportisimplementedandtocoordinateeffortswithgovernments,aswellas,aboveall,withlocallyestablishedorganizations.Weknowhow much NGOs and international agenciescancomplicateasituationthattheyarebasicallyassumedtoimprove.

Amazonia is many things. From a world-gov-ernanceperspective,itisinawayanenormouslaboratory. Among other things, Amazoniaenablesadetailedexaminationofthenegativeeffectsofproductivismandofthedifferentformsofenvironmentalpackagingitcanhidebehind,including“sustainabledevelopment.”Gallopingurbanization, Human Rights violations, themany different types of conflicts (14 differenttypes of conflicts have been identified withinthe hundreds of cases observed in Amazonia),protectionof indigenouspopulationsandtheiractiveparticipation in localgovernance: theseare among the many Amazonian challengesalso affecting the planet as a whole, not tomention the environment. The hosts of localinitiatives, including among the indigenouspopulations, are however what may be mostinteresting in Amazonia in that they testifyto the real, concrete possibility of a differentform of organization that combines a healthylocal economy, good social cohesion, and atrue model of sustainable development—thistimenotdisguisedassomethingelse.AllofthismakesAmazonia“aterritoryofsolutions.”

More generally speaking, the Amazonianissue helps to raise a number of fundamentalquestions on the future of humankind, thefirst—major—issuebeingthatofsocial justice.Inotherwords,howdowebuildanewmodelofcivilizationthatpromotessocialjustice?Howdowesetupanewsocialarchitecturethatallowsus to live together? Thinkers like John Rawls

haveclearedthephilosophicalfieldbyofferingnewtheoriesofsocialjustice.Publicopinionisbeginning to follow suit by putting forth newdemands in this area. The hardest is yet tocome:settingupsystemsthatprotecttheweakand levelout themoreflagrant economicandsocialdifferences.Socialjusticeisnotrestrictedto borders, however, and here again, a worlddivided into nations is in itself an injusticebecausejustbeingborninoneplaceratherthaninanotherdeterminesindividuals’fatesastheyarenotfreetomoveaboutastheylike,eveniftheyhavethemeanstodoso,anddonothaveaccesstothesameresourcesastheirneighborsontheothersideoftheborder.Amazoniaanditsextranationaldimensioncanopenupanumberofinterestingfieldssincethenotionofbordersis,bythenatureofthings,muchmoreflexibleherethanelsewhere.

The Amazonian case puts another enduringnotion of the history of civilizations back onthefloor:privateproperty.Thedifferentcrisesshaking up the Amazonian people force us torethinktheconceptof“privateproperty”andtointroduce,orre-introduce,otherconceptssuchas “peoples’ territory” or even “life territory”withouthaving to resort, aswehave formerly,to a Marxist interpretation of history andprivate property, which can be problematic.Once again, what needs to be rethought isthe collectivemanagementof territories in itsmany dimensions. Private property, like socialinjustice,mayverywellnotberootedinnature:thisisanideatheindustrializedworldwillhaveahardtimeinternalizingsinceitchallengestheveryfundamentalsoftheliberalsystem.

Amazoniaallowsustoreflectonanotheremerg-ingconcept,the“responsibilitytoprotect.”Thisconcept(whichfollowsuponthefamous“rightofhumanitarianintervention”thatinthe1990sthrewintotheringanothernotionsetinstone,the“indivisibilityofnationalsovereignty”)hasbeen used so far to try to protect populationsendangered by civil wars. “Responsibility toprotect”couldalsoextendtotheprotectionofpeoplesweakenedbyeconomicpredation.Whynot,then,enlargetheperspectivetoencompassresponsibility to protect the environment?How?Hereagain,howtoimplementthistypeofactionremainsextremelyfuzzy,allthemoresothatwearefacingpowerfulinterestgroupsandplayers who do not, in any way, wish to havetheiractionsfettered.

Otherwise, in Amazonia as in the world as awhole,itisimportanttomakeacleardistinctionbetween that which should be done and thatwhichcanbedone.Thisdistinction is in factnot unrelated to the differentiation betweenshort- andmedium-term strategies on theonehand,andlong-termstrategiesontheother.Itmay be vital to not be afraid of developing aUtopianview for the futureofAmazonia,andoftheplanet,butitisjustasimportanttodefinestrategiesthatallowustoaddresstheimmediatereality.Webelievethatthisrequiresthreetypesof very concrete approaches, which are thosein fact that served as a structural base for the

proposalsresultingfromourseminar:systemizingwhatalreadyexistsandhasalreadybeendone;articulating and building alliances at the local,regional,andplanetarylevels;andcommunicatinganddisseminatingthisinformation.

Withoutgoingintodetailshereonthesethreeapproaches, the WSF can serve as catalyst todevelop this three-pronged strategybyputtinganumberofconcreteproposalsonthefloorforthefutureofAmazonia.Thestakesarehigh:thefutureofAmazoniacouldforeshadow,andevendetermine,thefutureoftherestoftheworld.


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Theseminardeliberatelymovedawayfromtheclassicconferenceformatthatfeaturesanumberoflecturesofvaryinglengthsgivenbyspeakersselectedbytheorganizerstoanassembly,possiblyendingwithaquestion-and-answerperiod.

A month before the seminar, two documentsdescribingtheissuesweresenttoalltheexpectedparticipants.Theprogramwaspresentedthedaybeforetheopeningofthetwo-dayseminar,whichdiscussedthe followingquestions(Patrick Piro’s seminar report takes up the same three questions):

I.Amazonia:Hereditaryflaws,urgentprob-lems,emergingquestions

II.TheplayersandtheirstrategiesIII.Movingtowardanewcivilizationmodel

There were no long lectures nor experts’presentationsduring the seminar.Eachsessionwas opened by one or two facilitators whovolunteered from among the participantsthemselves.Thengroupsmadeupoffiveorsixpersonssittingclosetooneanotherwereformedwithintheroom.Aftera15-minutediscussionfor the purposes of identifying the essentialquestions,themainlinesofthedebate,andtheproposals,thegroupsopeneduptocontinueaspartofaplenarysession.

Onemember fromeachgroup“pasted”onthewalltheideasorconceptsresultingfromthefirstdiscussion.Oncetheideasofallthegroupsweredisplayed on the wall, there was a 30-minutebreak, during which the facilitators preparedan introduction to the plenary session on thebasis of a new conceptual map, reorganizedaroundthreeor four ideasaimingtoprovideasomewhatarticulatedoverviewofthecollectivethinking,andalsohighlightingthepointsthatseemedunclearorcontradictory.

Discussion,oftenenlivenedbydivergingviews,continued for about two hours with shortcontributionsfromeveryparticipant.Twonotetakersrecordedthediscussions.

Followingarethreeconceptualmaps.Theyarenottheexactcopiesofthemapspastedonthewallduringtheseminar;theiraimistoshowthewealthofideasthatwereproduced.Itshouldbepossibletoidentifyinthemtheideas,proposals,and concepts developed in the seminar reportand in the other documents included in thispublication.

The first map groups the concepts around thethree questions programmed and discussedduringtheseminar:thestakes,theplayers,andproposals for a new civilization model. Thesecondispresentedintermsofafewgovernanceprinciples:legitimacy,citizenship,therelevanceof institutional arrangements, partnerships,and the articulation of scales of governance.Thethirddisplaystheconceptsintermsofthedifferentfieldsofgovernance:politics,ecology,economy and society, peace and security, andethics-science-education-communication.

At first sight, the conceptual maps may seemstrange because, unlike written texts, they arenotmeanttobereadfromlefttorightandfromthetopdown.Amapcanbereadincircles,thereading can cut across terms that are closelyassociated or distant from one another. Thisenables relating concepts with one another,which facilitates a cross-cutting analysis. Theconceptual maps can thus be offered as asupplementtothemeetingreport.

During the seminar, the formof themapswasdeterminedbythepiecesofpaperpastedonthewall. The maps presented in this publicationwereproducedbyusing theDesmodosoftwaredevelopedbyExemole(www.desmodo.net)andtheir layout was authored by Natalia Massa,Web designer for the Forum for a new WorldGovernance([email protected]).

Methodology and Conceptual Mapping


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First and last name Institution e-Mail

Aldalice Otterloo UNIPOP ABONG [email protected]

André Zabludowski FSM – Rio de Janeiro [email protected]

Antonio Martins ATTAC [email protected]

Arnaud Blin Forum for a new World Governance [email protected]

Aurélio Vianna Fundaçao FORD [email protected]

Camila Moreno CPDA Terra de Direitos [email protected]

Custódio Dumas Social Watch (Mozambique) [email protected]

Daltro Paiva APACC [email protected]

Demba Moussa Dembele AFS [email protected]

Fatima Mello FASE [email protected]

Francisco Whitaker CBJP [email protected]

Gustavo Marin Forum for a new World Governance - FPH [email protected]

Ivônio Barros Nunes [email protected]

Jean-Pierre Leroy FASE [email protected]

José Corrêa ATTAC [email protected]

Kinda Mohamadiel Arab NGO Network for Development [email protected]

Luiz Novoa ATTAC Fórum Indep. Popular Madeira [email protected]

Marcelo Furtado Greenpeace [email protected]

Maria Glória Figueiredo Souza FSM - Rio Ação da Cidadania

Ação da Cidadania [email protected]

Nelson Delgado CPDA [email protected]

Patrick Piro Politis (France) [email protected]

Salete Valesan IFP [email protected]

Thomas Fatheuer Fondation H. BÖLL [email protected]

Participants

Cândido Grzybowski [email protected]

Dulce Pandolfi [email protected]

Nahyda Franca [email protected]

Moema Miranda [email protected]

Carlos Tautz [email protected]

Luciana Badin [email protected]

Manoela Roland [email protected]

Luciano Cerqueira [email protected]

Athayde Motta [email protected]

Fernanda Carvalho [email protected]

Rogério Jordão [email protected]

IBASE team:

AlthoughAmazoniaisaconcentrateofallpossibledangers,notonlytoits inhabitantsbutalsofortheplanet’secologicalbalances, italsorepresentsaterritoryforlifeandthefuture.Thegameisnotover.Inthisdawningofthetwenty-firstcentury,itispoisedtobecomeoneofthoseessentialplaceswherehumankindwillfindthebiological,poli-tical,andculturalresourcesofanewworldgovernanceandofanewrelationshipwiththebiosphereandamongallpeoples,foundedondi-gnityandsolidarity.

Here is thechallenge: toplaceAmazonia in thedebateonbuildinganotherworld,aworldofsocialandlastingjustice,ofequalityanddi-versity,ofcitizens’rightstosharedresponsibilities.

ReportoftheseminarorganizedbytheForumforanewWorldGover-nanceandIBASEinRiodeJaneiro,inMay2008,withbackingfromtheCharlesLéopoldMayerFoundation.

F WGnForum for a new World Governance

Forum pour une nouvelle Gouvernance MondialeF GMn

Foro por una nueva Gobernanza MundialF GMn

www.world-governance.org/ www.ibase.br


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