Alternatives Summit

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The Alternatives Summit (Spanish: Enlazando Alternativas , translated: “ Linking alternatives ”) with the subtitle “ Latin America - Caribbean and Europe ” took place from May 10th to 14th, 2006 in Vienna (Austria). The venue was the town hall , which offered space for several thousand participants.

The conference was not officially seen as a “counter-summit”, but rather as a thematic supplement to the EU-Latin America summit of heads of state and government (May 12), but was stylized as such by many media outlets. The Venezuelan President Chávez , who gave a speech against US imperialism at an event on May 13, made a significant contribution .

The basic work of various EU-LAC projects preceding and following the alternative summit is presented, among other things, in a special issue of the Viennese daily Kurier (April 28, 2006) and a detailed working document of the Austrian Bishops' Conference , in which the South American Church and development workers participated.

Organizer and topic

The conference was organized by numerous NGOs and social organizations involved in development cooperation between Europe, Central and South America . Among the strongly represented Christian organizations, the Missio and the Austrian Dreikönigsaktion were in the lead, while the left-wing groups were also numerous but less uniform.

The conference mainly dealt with the possibilities of a more humane development of the subcontinent . Austria's bishops published a study on the social and economic background of Latin America in March (see 3rd web link). Most of the participants came from civil society in both regions.

The direct cause of the congress - whose initiatives will be continued - was a thematic addition to the Vienna EU-Latin America summit of the EU , which began on May 12, 2006. Several of the heads of state also took part in events at the alternative summit - u. a. the new Bolivian President Evo Morales and European politicians. Numerous bishops and leaders of development aid projects were among the approximately 3,000 participants.

The conference fees of the European participants (€ 5 per day) were partly used to subsidize the Latin American participants (including landless people and favela residents), and partly to benefit ongoing development projects.

Political and cultural

The Latin American cultural initiative Onda Latina ran from the end of April to the beginning of June 2006 in thematic coordination with the two summit conferences . Among other things, she brought events on literature, dance and the booming mestizo rock music .

In contrast to other alternative summits by globalization critics , the organizers did not plan any demonstrations in Vienna, and the conference itself was completely peaceful, although politically quite contradictory - among other things between the Christian and some left-wing groups. At a closing event on May 13th, President Evo Morales (Bolivia) and Hugo Chávez (Venezuela) were the most prominent, albeit polarizing, guest speakers.

The latter fought for over 2 hours against the " neoliberal and imperialist empire" of the USA, which, however, would ultimately become a "paper tiger" when the young leftists and their love for the poor rushed. According to ORF (4th web link), the ambience also spurred him on: "Spring, the full moon and the Danube in Vienna are bound to fall in love."

In questions of economic and social policy, most of the NGOs and the participants in the working groups and discussions advocated a policy of integrative solidarity . A demonstration by 13 left groups on the topic of "Solidarity with the social movements of Latin America" ​​took a somewhat different approach , but remained peaceful. The approximately 2,500 participants then camped out (Saturday afternoon) in the park next to the town hall to listen to the speakers at the alternative summit.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The EU-Latin America Summit in Vienna 2006 (PDF; 275 kB) alternativas.at. Retrieved September 25, 2010.