National Plesbiscite on the FTAA and Alcântra

JUBILEE SOUTH/BRAZIL

NATIONAL PLEBISCITE ON THE FTAA AND ALCÂNTARA

DECLARATION

We, organizations of Brazilian civil society that make up the Jubilee South/Brazil Campaign, organized a National Plebiscite with the objective of informing, hearing and debating with the population in regards to the acceptance or not of the proposal of the U.S. to implant a Free Trade Area of the Americas - FTAA.

Three questions were submitted to popular vote:

1. Should the Brazilian government sign the FTAA accord?
2. Should the Brazilian government continue participating in the FTAA negotiations?
3. Should the Brazilian government turn over part of our territory - the Base in Alcântara - for military control of the U.S.?

The three questions refer to the constitutional theme of Brazilian sovereignty. The FTAA is an accord that will be more powerful than the constitutions of signatory countries. For this, the participation in the negotiations represents an unconstitutional practice. The Base in Alcântara is part of a strategy of the U.S. to implant military Bases throughout the continent. Taken together, these strategies make up a project of economic, political and military control of the hemisphere by the power that wants to be the new empire of the world.

The National Plebiscite on the FTAA and Alcântara was held in all twenty-seven states of the federation, in almost 4,000 cities and involved more than 150,000 volunteers from hundreds of popular organizations, rural and urban social movements, churches, unions, federations, student organizations, women?s movements, professional associations, NGOs and political parties. Since the beginning of the year, innumerous public debates were held throughout the country. Through them we informed the population about the proposals of the FTAA and Alcântara and invited citizens to freely manifest their opinion in the Plebiscite, held during the Patriot Week, September 1-7. On the last day of voting we celebrated the Cry of the Excluded.

These were the results of the National Plebiscite on the FTAA and Alcântara:

Total Number of Votes - 10.149.542
Total Number of voting locations - 41.758

Question 1 - Should the Brazilian government sign the FTAA accord?
Yes - 113.643 (1,12%)
No - 9.979.964 (98,33%)
Blank - 32.291 (0,32%)
Null - 23.738 (0,23%)

Question 2- Should the Brazilian government continue participating in the FTAA negotiations?
Yes - 341.593 (3,37%)
No - 9.737.190 (95,94%)
Blank - 47.470 (0,47%)
Null - 23.289 (0,23%)

Question 3 - Should the Brazilian government turn over part of our territory
- the Base in Alcântara - for military control of the U.S.?
Yes - 66.219 (0,65%)
No - 10.006.740 (98,59%)
Blank - 1.100 (0,01%)
Null - 21.547 (0,21%)

-> The results indicate that Brazilian citizens clearly and firmly reject
-> The signing of the FTAA accord by the Brazilian government
-> The participation of the Brazilian government in the FTAA negotiations and
-> The turning over of the Base in Alcântara by the Brazilian government for military control of the U.S.

The numbers of the National Plebiscite reveal the profound aspiration of the Brazilian society for the construction of a truly free and sovereign nation, where the people are owners of their own destiny. A nation where there is no social exclusion, nor injustice, nor hunger, nor misery. A nation capable of promoting another integration based on the respect of cultural diversity and sovereignty of member countries, on equal commercial relations and solidarity between peoples. Brazilian society rejects the proposal of the U.S. for economic, commercial and military recolonization, and aspires for its own national development project.

This is not the first time that we express our citizenship in this manner. In the year 2000, the same constellation of social forces, articulated by the Jubilee South/Brazil Campaign, organized a Plebiscite on the External Debt. Then, more than 6 million voters expressed their desire to free the nation from the burden of the external and internal debts and the adjustments imposed by the IMF, which also make the construction of a national development project impossible.

Brazilian citizens have shown a level of maturity and political interest, always willing to participate when asked, always showing their desire for a present and future of liberty, dignity and justice. In contrary to what many so called elites have said, the Brazilian people are interested in and want to participate in the important debates and decisions regarding our present and future as a nation.

The Plebiscite shows the Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers of Brazil, the U.S. government and the transnational corporations that the Brazilian people will not give up in forging their destiny. It reaffirms to the peoples of the Americas that participate in the Continental Campaign against the FTAA, that the Brazilian people will not stop struggling, always and in all places, for a nation and continent free from colonial exploitation and injustice; for a nation and continent in which there is space for all citizens with dignity and rights.

The results of the National Plebiscite on the FTAA and Alcântara are a clear affirmation that it is possible to construct a world without the domination of one nation over the other; in which the economy serves the people; in which the relations between people and nations are based on equality and respect for differences; a world, indeed, in which there is space for all worlds, all cultures, all the aspirations of all the people.

The National Plebiscite is the beginning of a campaign with goals of pulling Brazil out of the negotiations of the FTAA, stopping its implantation in Brazil and the continent and maintaining the Base in Alcântara under national control. That the Three Powers hear this outcry! That society continue educating and informing itself and mobilizing to construct a free, just, sovereign and united America.

The Continental and National campaigns against the FTAA and the victorious initiative of the National Plebiscite on the FTAA and Alcântara continue the struggles for the independence of our country and our continent and inherit the historic grandness and the values of justice and equality of these struggles.