"Shout of the Excluded"

["Harry Veeder" <veed0001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Shout of the Excluded

from: http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/main.html

On 12 October, millions of people across Latin America will stage a variety
of peaceful demonstrations known as the Latin American 'Shout of the
Excluded'. The call for debt cancellation will be one of the key demands of
the movement . The date has been chosen specifically to coincide with the
commemoration date of the `discovery' of the American continent.

The 12th October is supposed to celebrate the `meeting' of two cultures: the
European and the Native American. However, for the majority of people on the
continent the meeting signified the conquest of one over the other, slavery
and the continuing dominance of Latin America by a small minority. The Shout
of the Excluded was conceived as a means to give a voice to the vast
majority of Latin American people who have been subjugated and excluded from
participating in the development of Latin America.

The movement's demand for debt cancellation has resulted from the popular
conviction that a large proportion of government spending should not go
towards external debt payments when resources could be better spent on
fundamental necessities, such as health, education, housing and employment.
In its demands for economic justice, the movement also calls for fairer
distribution of wealth and land, greater emphasis on social policies and a
reduction in levels of corruption.

The 'Shout of the Excluded' is more than just a one day protest and its
importance lies not just in the activities of this day in particular, but
more the process and manner or preparation and participation before and
after the event.

The movement began in Brazil in 1995 where the focal day of protest is 7
September, the country's independence day. Every year it has grown in size
so that this year, in Brazil alone, more than one million people are
expected to take part. Starting in just a handful of cities, activities now
take place in more than 1,000 cities and municipalities across the country.
This overwhelming success has encouraged a number of other Latin American
countries, for the first time, to organise their own activities this year.
These countries include Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Chile, Costa Rica and Panama. Co-ordinated by diverse groups, but
principally church organisations, the Shout of the Excluded aims its
criticism at the current international finance system which pays scant
regard for the well-being of the population.

There is a heavy emphasis on allowing the `excluded' to lead the activities.
Consequently, neither politicians nor union leaders, despite their support
for the cause, are allowed to make speeches. Instead, the demonstrators are
encouraged to develop their own means of expression. This has included
creating a common symbolic gesture of protest. Past symbols have included
keys, to represent education as the key to life, and a red card (in soccer
mad Brazil) to symbolise a rejection of an economic orthodoxy that puts the
'free market' above people. With the extension of the Movement to the rest
of Latin America, participants are being encouraged to develop their own
symbols. Despite the underlying serious nature of the protests, the
demonstration will also be an opportunity for people to display the immense
cultural diversity that exists in Latin America that has, more than
anything, given this region a sense of identity.

The Brazilian experience of the 'Shout of the Excluded' has already shown
its potential to send a powerful message to political and business leaders
on the continent. For the first three years of the movement, the media
covered the issue with increasing interest. However, according to Father
Luis Bassegio, one of the leading co-ordinators of the movement, the
spectacular growth in popular participation led the press and television to
mute their coverage of the events in order to play down its developing
influence. However, the extension of demonstrations to Latin America has
shown that far from losing momentum, the 'Shout of the Excluded' is set to
become a vigorous Pan-American force.

The concept of the `shout' (or grito in Spanish and Portuguese) has been a
recurring symbol for the search for independence in Latin America. For
example, in 1810 the Grito de Dolores in Mexico was a cry for independence
to end subjugation to Spanish rule. Less than forty years later, the Grito
de Yara in Cuba sowed the seeds of that country's independence movement,
calling among other things for an end to slavery and to the exclusion of
Cubans from government employment. The parallels with contemporary Latin
America are clear although nowadays it is an economic system which has
become the oppressor instead of a specific colonial ruler. Within this
context, it is the debt commitments of these countries that keep Latin
America's excluded tied down to poverty and only a lifting of the weight of
this burden is likely to lead to a more inclusive future.