Dear comrades and dear friends,
Four years have passed since the last Socialist International’s congress and today we have to reflect deeply on the new world scenario and our future.
Back in Paris in 1999 none of us imagined the imminent and swift changes that would have made history.
Back then the events of September 11th were just unimaginable.
Only two years later they have brutally changed the planet’s political agenda.
But the changes do not stop there.
Four years ago the Left was in power in thirteen of the fifteen nations of the European Union.
And a democratic leader – Bill Clinton – was in power at the White House.
In the last years the influence of the European left was gradually reduced. While the Republicans and the new conservatives won the elections in the United States.
And so, the right reared its head once again at the beginning of the new millennium.
The truth is that the right enforced its “point of view” on matters that I believe today are core issues of globalisation. I am not saying that the right has won.
Quite the reverse, I will shortly highlight what I feel are the current reasons why the
right’s strategy can fail.
However, I state that – in spite of important results like Lula’s popular election in Brazil – the balance of power between “us” and “them” has changed; the balance of power between the progressive parties and the right has changed and the right has got its confidence back on both sides of the Atlantic.
This means that today we must overcome two challenges.
We must tackle the unresolved problems – the problematic issues of global peace and security – but, at the same time we have to restore political and cultural clout to the socialist and progressive movement on topics with major impact on the future of peoples.
Starting from – and this is most certainly the real emergency – the fight against international terrorism. There can be no doubts on this.
The struggle against the new terrorism is primarily a moral duty, and a political responsibility for us all.
It is our moral duty because today the new terrorism is a barrier to freedom and democracy-building in many regions of the globe.
Nothing is farther from the truth than the idea that a fight using instruments of terror can help the “poor” of the world. This idea is wrong and dangerous.
The truth is that terrorism clashes with the principles of freedom, democracy, self-determination of individuals, and peaceful cohabitation of peoples.
In other words, a world under threat of terror or religious fundamentalism is inevitably a world with scant possibilities of freedom and justice.
It is a poorer world as the feeling of fear suddenly experienced by the West sparks off the tightening of barriers, self-sufficiency, and rejection of the other.
But the fight against the new terrorism is a difficult war. And it will drag on. Above all, this type of war cannot be won with weapons alone.
Armies can wipe out a regime. But, they cannot eradicate the causes of suffering for millions of human beings or eradicate ideas.
That is why the US strategy deployed after September 11th is not working.
And that is why the policy of preventive war so near to President Bush’ heart has failed. And the mistake made by the US administration was not only a question of principle - as is now clearly manifest to all that democracy and freedom cannot be exported on the wings of bombs.
The big mistake Republican USA made was to feel they could go it alone. They could lead the world from a pinnacle of power, dictating to others - all the others –US rules and enforcing their own priorities.
Nevertheless, I do not harbour any anti-American feelings.
Quite the reverse. I hold these opinions as a friend of the US and their best traditions.
I know that without America’s help we would never have regained freedom and overcome the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century.
But this does not change the fact that today we are faced with the clear failure of the strategy enacted by the US after September 11th .
This is primarily because a fight against terrorism using force not linked to political interventions has only succeeded in fuelling terrorism, instead of wiping it out. This can be easily seen from observation of the post-war scenario in Iraq – no further comments are necessary.
It is the proof that the strategy has failed.
The last U.N. Security Council Resolution can be a real turning point. The U.S. Administration seems to understand that also the most powerful country in the world needs multilateralismo, needs international community involvement. And that we have to accelerate the democratic process of Iraqi self government.
But – I believe – we have to ask for a real and serious change of strategy, not only about Iraq. The same strategy that has led to tolerate the brutal repressions in Chechnya, the violation of human rights in the Guantanamo prison camp, the military occupation of Palestine.
The point is this: a purely military vision of the fight against terrorism has not only weakened the international lawfulness, but has forced the leading democratic countries – first and foremost the US – to reject, sometime, in practice those values in the name of which we are fighting against violence and terror.
And what is even more negative is that the problem is getting worse instead of better.
On these lines, how can one be blind to the fact that Sharon’s’ aggressive policy and his desire to break off any dialogue with the Palestinians will never promote a fair peace in the Middle East?
And how can one be blind to the fact that when Sharon and one of his helicopters hit ten Palestinian civilians beside an Arab terrorist the result will only be to produce tens of new terrorists ready to revenge their dead and kill innocent Israeli victims?
And this leads to the dangerous vision of the new world order that we must combat. By defending the principles of our identity: respect of lives, the defence of value of freedom and human rights.
The truth is that there is only one way to achieve successful results in the fight against terrorism. There is only one way to promote global security and peace.
The way is called global governance, multilateralism, universal fight against poverty and existing social injustices. These are the three main goals of the left worldwide in the twenty first century.
In Europe, in the USA, in Latin America, in the Middle East.
The way to fight terrorism is to undermine the consensus that feeds it. This can be done by isolating the virus, involving the same Islamic world in the fight and doing away with the idea of war of the West against “the others” or against a new “empire of evil”.
Another strategy must be put into action – a totally different one.
A new strategy based on the three priorities that I have mentioned:
• Global governance
• Multilateral management of the crisis
• Fight against oppression and poverty.
They are not unachievable goals. But they call for a complete vision of globalisation and the problems it brings.
The point is that a shrinking world – like today’s world – draws together civilisations and cultures that were previously worlds apart.
In particular, it draws the North nearer a large part of the South.
The richest and the poorest. The answer to this problem cannot simply be the swallowing up, or cancellation of the identity of the weakest through political and military means.
Hence, global governance of the current processes means managing these differences and reducing inequalities. It means making sure that no-one – and I repeat no-one – feels his/her own identity is threatened.
This means we must fight “fear”. Rather, we must fight “two fears”.
The “fear” the rich world feels when its wealth and security are threatened.
And the “fear” of the poor world that is a prisoner of its own poverty and abandoned to its fate. This means we must build up shared idea of “security” and extend the meaning of this word beyond the borders of only our societies.
The ambitious goal is to build a real “global community” that recognises itself in a framework of shared values and principles of civilisation.
This is the real challenge of the coming years. And this is also the ground we can try our own strength and the clout of our movement on. Let’s be frank. Global governance, multilateralism and social fairness mainly depend on our determination, our creativity, and the way we face this battle.
Personally, I am convinced that the socialist movement and the progressive international left will play a major role and give key contributions of ideas and strategies in this scenario.
And that is our real mission for the future.
Thank you.
