- Make specific mention of Afro-descendants in the language of
the Summit. Not to do so serves to: A) render Afro-descendants
invisible, and B) erase possibilities of implementing change or
measuring progress. Denying them inclusion in the language is de
facto exclusion
- Incorporate race/ethnicity as a component in census and
household surveys for simile reasons described above.
- Develop appropriate mechanisms for ensuring that
Afro-descendants benefit from the Action Plan. We call for
better plan, execution and monitoring.
- Support and foster through programs and policies the creation
of independent and sustainable civil society among Black
Population. To do will require an assessment of best practices
and dialogue between Black Communities, Governments,
Organizations and other interested elements.
- Within the OAS work towards a declaration on the rights of
Afro-descendants.
- Institute educational reforms that meet high standards for
cultural/ethnic diversity
- A): Monitor and investigate the activities of the World Bank,
IDB, PAHO and UN agencies with regard to their work in poverty
alienation in Black Communities.
B): Develop a dialogue with these institutions, the OAS, and
Black Organizations to insure proper treatment of
Afro-descendants
When we talk about "realizing human
potential" we are speaking about creating self-empowered,
self-realized agents of their own change. It means that you have
some important level of control over your cultural, political and
economic space.
The mechanisms and modalities of your own
development, and the meanings which you make of your own
environment. Amarta Sen talks about development as
"instrumental rights and freedoms" i.e. political
freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency
guarantees and protective security.
Being administered to does not realize human
potential can not be met in the absence of self-esteem and
solidarity. Therefore if the instruments of socialization and polity
have been trained against a certain group – consciously or
unconsciously, it will be impossible to have development. Those
brutal and supremacist entrenched aspects of our common cultures
must be unmeshed and dealt with.
As for the multi laterals, for AA21 and others,
they represent negative examples of how to effect change: I will
provide some quick examples of these problems:
1. Ecuador:
Prodepine Project
- Create CAN, Told everyone to join or no benefits
- Relegate Black issue below control and indigenous
- Did not share information
- Funds only to their own persons
Result:
- Violence
- One person dead
- Frustration
2. Panama
Darien Project – IDB
- Not a single Black NGO used in a region 40% Black
- Few to no meetings with Blacks or Community
3. Honduras
World
Bank
- Significant controversy in the Rescate cultural Project
- Attempt to create a more pliable alternative called "Mesa
Indigena" by paroing the existing and natural organizers
process
4. U.S.A.
World Bank
- Attempts to find White Institutions as intermediaries or (interbantes)
on the Afro-Latin American issue
5. Peru
World bank
- Official Arranged meetings
- To funnel money to Blacks
6. Colombia
Plan Pacifico – IDB
- Structure used politically during the last administration
- Only source of funding other than the "Direccion de
Comunidades Negras" through which again the sort selected
it black leadership
7. IDB – World Bank
No Black-Latin-American Employees
When we complained in Chile about these (issues)
the Representative from BID and World Bank Warned Us That if
we continued our "political spaces" would be cut off. For
your information our space can not be cut off because they don’t
exist for most.