By Way of a Friendly Introduction
A Globalization Built on Local Foundations
Pedro Casaldáliga

The theme of last year's AGENDA was globalization - the other globalization, obviously, because neither we, nor humanity in general, nor God Himself can accept the globalization that is being forced upon us by that omnipotent global market which excludes the great majority of humankind and destroys the environment.

Since we have decided to continue with this very topical theme, this year's AGENDA is dedicated to a globalization built upon local foundations. It is about the way in which, through solidarity, the sister homelands of Our America can really build the Great Homeland, thus creating, on a continent-wide basis, a globalization for the Good - the other globalization.

To reject the whole process of globalization, to reject the changes of the age through which we are living, would be to turn our backs on reality and on the future. Neither the Latin American spirit nor liberation theology, the twin sources of our approach to life and faith, would provide a justification for such an unrealistic, escapist attitude. By definition, both the Latin American spirit and liberation theology engage reality through praxis, with the hope of building a better world as the ultimate goal.

At this time, to embrace globalization, the other globalization, is the only dignified way for us, as Living Peoples, to maintain our place on the planet and to fulfil the mission that is ours.

For some time, I have been longing for an Eduardo Galeano, one of those writers who travel through the "veins" and the "memories" and the "dreams" of Our America, to write a passionate book with a title such as "The Great Homeland Told with Love". What Mario Benedetti has called this "federation of identities" cannot be reduced to written agreements, and it should never be subjected to the kind of social and cultural integration that actually weakens identities, as has been the thrust of the official assimilationist policies towards native peoples throughout our history, policies which, whether formulated by foreign powers or by Latin American governments, have always been colonialist.

Well, now I am dreaming once more. My dream is that we all, each and every one of us, will work unremittingly and with great hope, from the very centres of our lives, our struggles, and our organizations, to bring to fruition that unity of mankind,long spoken of and sung about and forged with love. Starting from this moment, without fear of being misunderstood, without yielding to naive suggestions for a change of paradigm, without losing hope, and without relinquishing the struggle, we should cry out our prophetic outrage against neoliberal globalization. Albert Camus wrote with rending truthfulness: "We feel outrage, therefore we exist." They awarded him the Nobel Prize - in order to avoid acknowledging that he was right, perhaps...

In our own hearts, in our families, in our neighbourhoods, in our provinces, in our countries, in our continent, let us, filled with a sense of outrage, denounce, rebel against, and obstruct that pseudo-democracy which allows us to vote (under strict controls) while cutting resources for health, education, basic communication, for life itself. Let us do this NOW, more than ever, imbued with the spirit of Utopia, Utopia, as necessary as our daily bread.

It is both comical and disgusting to see theoreticians and executives (the erstwhile dogmatic critics of everything resembling a socialist vision) force economic adjustment upon us with the promise that we, too, will join the ranks of the neoliberal tigers. Through unemployment, lack of sanitary provisions, and real hunger, economic adjustment policies are literally killing the larger part of our populations.

This year's AGENDA has on its title page a definition of what Our America is and should be, A Homeland of Sister Homelands. This homeland should be one in which relative size is not important. Yet, there exists within our continental home the danger of hegemony, with its corresponding abuse of power and superiority - both on the continent as a whole and within each country. In Brazil, for example, it is easy for the "Marvellous South" to look down upon the poverty-stricken northeast; and the Argentina of Buenos Aires finds it easy to assign second place to the people of the back country.

Only by struggling resolutely for an alternative continentalization, can we contribute to the bringing about of the other globalization. The Latin American integration that we need and that we are seeking is not the one that neocolonialism is forcing down our throats - through Regional Markets, through some of the more questionable decisions of the Organization of American States, and through arbitrary agreements which our presidents so frequently make with corporations and governments that are more interested in sucking our blood than loving us.

In recent years, inter-Latin American consciousness has truly grown, with a joining together in solidarity, and with the sharing of a common dream of Our One Latin America- an America that was nurtured by the respective visions of Bolívar, Martí, Che, Mariátegui, and Neruda. Surprisingly, through the irony of history, which , from the earth of the poor to the heavens of the God of Life, ultimately vindicates the conquered, we find ourselves even having to thank the military dictatorships whose violent actions strengthened the bonds between our respective countries of shared blood and shed blood.

But now we have to do, as well as to dream. Shunning pragmatism does not mean shunning programmes. Every day, in our social organizations and in our communities of faith, we have to work harder to combine political thinking, ethical thinking, and Utopian thinking. We must link tomorrow's Utopia to today's practice, the greatest love to the ordinary gesture, the beautiful routine of daily faithfulness to the eschatological hope for the Kingdom.

To act with all the pedagogical tools that Our People know how to use so well. To accomplish more in the way of alternatives: in land reform (emulating the Brazilian Landless People's Movement); in popular health promotion and education; and to expand the scope and methods of the Popular Movement - which has so often been able to correct and complement the narrower vision and practice of political parties and trade unions (institutions which, though undoubtedly indispensable, are always potentially in need of reform).

By establishing a socially-constructive, participatory democracy and a spirit of egalitarianism throughout our continent, we, as many Sister Homelands forming One Homeland, will build that Universal Homeland, the other globalization which was, from the beginning, God's plan for the future - a plan not for liberalism, but for true liberation.