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print versionCall to International Action
For the Economic, Political, Cultural and Environmental Sovereignty of Our Peoples
End the Impunity of Transnational Corporations Now!
The time has come to unite the hundreds of struggles, campaigns, networks, movements and organizations that are combating the different ways transnational corporations are appropriating our destinies, natural heritage and rights in every corner of the planet.
Neoliberal globalization has opened the doors for the savage exploitation of the world by the big economic powers. They have gradually taken over our lives and the planet by creating a blanket of impunity through the dismantling and systematic violation of laws and the signing of international trade and investment agreements, which award investors more rights than citizens. As a result, peoples’ rights have been systematically violated, the Earth and its resources destroyed, pillaged and contaminated, and resistance criminalized, while corporations continue committing economic and ecological crimes with total impunity. Driven by their imperative of maximizing profit, TNCs seek to pit workers from different regions against one another in what is a race to the bottom for the world’s working people.
The governance and policies of the multilateral institutions (IMF, WB, and the WTO) have long served corporate interests, while the institutions of the UN and the EU have been increasingly captured by TNCs. This is reflected in the policies shaped to satisfy the interests of capital and in these institutions’ systematic refusal to impose limits on corporations.
In most countries, governments are at the service of corporate interests and against us, the majority of peoples. Setting aside democratic principles, they usurp institutions and, with the complicity of national elites, succeed in altering laws and policies that allow them to continue plundering the wealth of nations and maintain their predatory relation to nature. In the face of mounting criticism of their operations, TNCs’ have designed tools like Corporate Social Responsibility to clean up their image, while allowing them to continue to increase their profits. Furthermore, they control major media agencies, which play a key role in ensuring the continuity of corporate hegemony.
Acting with brutality in the rich countries from which they originate, but especially in countries of the Global South – and increasingly in “emerging†countries like Brazil, India, China and Russia – major corporations are appropriating more and more of our wealth and rights. Their growing economic monopoly, political power and control over the justice system destroy our right to a decent life and dominate our peoples’ and nations’ cultural habits and consumption patterns.
Transnationals have commodified life and continue to seize our territories, forests and water and transform social and human relations. Health and education, for example, are now considered privileges of those who have money, and are no longer seen as the rights of all people. With the crisis in the U.S. and various European countries, the banks have expropriated thousands of people’s houses. In Europe, they have imposed austerity measures, which are a replica of the structural adjustment programs implemented years ago in countries in the South to deal with the so-called “external debt†. Today, we are seeing unprecedented attacks on public services, labour rights and social programs, while governments use public funds to save the market’s excesses and the financial institutions.
Transnational corporations operate globally, moving from one country to another, while applying the same recipe to generate profit at any cost. It is we, the 99%, who bear the costs. Yet, resistance is growing throughout the world. Every day, there are more communities, movements and peoples struggling against transnationals – often confronting specific companies or sectors and that have won important victories. Even so, we have not succeeded in halting the advance of corporations, as when defeated in one place, they adjust their strategies and move to another, where they confront any obstacle that rises on their path.
Therefore, to confront corporate power and the system that protects and benefits TNCs, it is urgent and necessary to give a systematic response. We must unite our experiences and our struggles, learn collectively from our victories and our failures and share our analysis and strategies for putting an end to the impunity of transnationals. The concrete struggles of our communities against a transnational corporation could be even more victorious if we are able to unite them with the efforts of other people in other countries, regions or continents.
Sharing our experience in developing ways of life that are distinct from the culture of transnational production imposed by capitalism, that now wants to disguise itself as “green†, is fundamental for building an alternative society in which we, the people, are the protagonists.
We, the undersigned, hereby invite you to join us in collectively building this process of mobilization towards a global campaign against the power of corporations and their crimes against humanity. Dismantling the transnationals’ system of power demands coordinated action at the global level: engaging in struggles in various spheres, combining mobilizations on the streets and in territories with popular education and actions in parliaments, media and international forums and organisations.
By creating a powerful movement of solidarity and action against TNCs, their apologists and promoters, we will begin to build a world free from corporate power and greed.
Dismantle Corporate Power!
End the Impunity of Transnational Corporations!
List of Sign-Ons:
INTERNATIONAL
International Articulation of those Affected by Vale
Bench Marks Foundation
Bi-regional Europe-Latin America y the Caribbean Enlazando Alternativas Network
CADTM International
Corporate Accountability International
Friends of the Earth International
La Via Campesina
OIDHACO
Transnational Institute – TNI
World Forum for Alternatives
World March of Women
World Rainforest Movement
REGIONAL
African Uranium Alliance, Africa
Amigos de la Tierra América Latina y el Caribe – ATALC
CADTM – AYNA, Americas
Campaña Justicia Climática, Americas
Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indigenas – CAOI, Andean region
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Economic Justice Network of FOCCISA, South Africa
Focus on the Global South, India/Thailand/Philippines
Hemispheric Social Alliance, Americas
Jubileo Sur Americas
Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos – PIDDHH, Americas
Red Latinoamericana sobre Deuda, Desarrollo y Derechos – LATINDADD, Americas
Red Vida
Third World Network Africa
Transnational Migrant Platform – Europe
NATIONAL
ACSUR-Las Segovias, Spain
Action from Ireland – AFRI, Ireland
Alianza Mexicana por la Autodeterminación de los Pueblos – AMAP
All India Forum of Forest Movement – AIFFM, India
Alliance of Progressive Labour, Philippines
Alternative Information Development Center – AIDC, South Africa
Arlac, Belgium
ATTAC Argentina
ATTAC Austria
ATTAC France
ATTAC Spain
ATTAC Vlaanderen
Beyond Copenhagen, India
Biowatch South Africa
Both ENDS, The Netherlands
Censat Agua Viva – Amigos de la Tierra Colombia
Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos “Segundo Montes Mozo S.J.†(CSMM), Ecuador
Centro de Investigación y Documentación Chile-América Latina – FDCL, Germany
Centro de Investigaciones e Información en Desarrollo (CIID), Guatemala
Co.lectiu RETS, Spain
Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo – CCAJAR, Colombia
Colectivo de Mujeres Hondureñas – CODEMUH, Honduras
Colibri, Germany
Comision Interclesial de Justicia y Paz, Colombia
Comité pour le respect des droits humains “Daniel Gillardâ€
Commission for Filipino Migrant Workers – International Office, Philippines
Common Frontiers, Canada
Cristianos de Base, Spain
CSAAWU
EcoDoc Africa
Ecologistas en Accion, Spain
¿EconomÃa Verde? ¡Futuro Imposible! – Alianza por una alternativa ecológica, social y urgente al capitalismo, Spain
Enginyeria sense Fronteras, Catalonia
Entrepueblos, Spain
Environmental Monitoring Group, South Africa
FASE, Brazil
FOE Scotland
France Amérique Latine – FAL, France
Fresh Eyes- People to People Travel
Friends of the Earth Finland
Friends of the Landless, Finland
Fundación Solon, Bolivia
Fundación de Investigaciones Sociales y polÃticas – FISYP, Argentina
Global Economy Project
Grassroots Global Justice, USA
Grassroots International, USA
Groundwork, Friends of the Earth South Africa
Hegoa, Instituto de Estudios sobre el Desarrollo y la Cooperación Internacional del PaÃs Vasco, Basque Country
India FDI Watch, India
Indian Social Action Forum – INSAF, India
Instituto de Ciencias Alejandro Lipschutz – ICAL, Chile
Instituto Eqüit – Gênero, Economia e Cidadania Global, Brasil
Instituto Latinoamericano para una sociedad y un derecho alternativo – ILSA, Colombia
Janpahal, India
Koalisi Anti Utang (KAU)/ Anti Debt Colition, Indonesia
Labour Research Service – LRS, South Africa
Mahlathini Organics, South Africa
Milieu Defensie – Friends of the Earth, Netherlands
MiningWatch, Canada
Movimiento Rios Vivos, Colombia
Movimiento Social Nicaragüense – Otro Mundo Es Posible, Nicaragua
Multiwatch, Switzerland
National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF), Bangladesh
North East Peoples Alliance, India
Observatório de la Deuda en la Globalización – ODG, Spain
Observatorio de Multinacionales en America Latina – OMAL, Spain
Observatorio Petrolero Sur (OPSur), Argentina
PACS – Instituto PolÃticas Alternativas para o Cone Sul, Brazil
Palenke del Alto Cauca – PCN, Colombia
Partido de la Rifondazione Comunista/Izquierda Europea, Italia
Pax Romana, Switzerland
Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement – PRRM, Philippines
Plataforma DHESC, Brazil
Plataforma Rural – Alianza por un Mundo Rural Vivo, Spain
Polaris Institute, Canada
REBRIP – Brazilian Network for the Integration of the Peoples, Brazil
Recalca, Colombia
Red Mexicana de Acción frente al Libre Comercio – RMALC, Mexico
Red Nacional Genero y EconomÃa Mujeres para el Diálogo, AC, Mexico
Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos, Brazil
RETS – Col·lectiu de Respostes a les Transnacionals, Catalunya
SEATINI, Zimbabwe
SETEM, Catalonia
SIEMBRA, AC, Mexico
Sindicato de Trabajadoras de la Enseñanza de Euskalherria – STEE-EILAS, Basque Country
Soldepaz Pachakuti, Spain
Solidaridad Suecia -America Latina – SAL / Latinamerikagrupperna, Sweden
SOMO – Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, Netherlands
South African and Allied Workers Union – SATAWU, South Africa
South African Water Caucus – SAWC, South Africa
South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy
South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, South Africa
Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior – SACOM, Hong Kong, China
Sustaining the Wild Coast (SWC)
Terra de Direitos, Brazil
ToxicsWatch Alliance – TWA, India
Trust for Community Outreach and Education – TSOE, South Africa
Unidad Ecologica Salvadoreña – UNES, El Salvador
Veterinarios sin Fronteras, Spain
War on Want, England
Xingu Vivo para Sempre, Brazil
