Dissent!18 januari 2008 – 16:28

It has come to our attention that the struggle between multinational corporations and free people across the world is reaching a crucial phase. Today we are witnessing an unprecedented growth of power of transnational corporations. Following this evolution, the destruction of the environment and the enslavement of people in the capitalist system is taking place on a scale never seen before.

But in in the silence of the night, the voices of the oppressed are growing stronger and stronger as well. Soon the whispers in the shadows will outnumber the laughter of the powerful who are denying billions of living beings every right to live freely and in solidarity. The rattling of the money in their pockets can’t last forever while more and more people are making a fist. Our cries for justice will flood the streets which will be ours again. For the time being, this is still a dream. At the moment we live in the darkness of the night, but singing our song of resistance the day will once return.

Our eyes are open! We can’t and we won’t stand idly by while the world is being transformed into the playground of megacorporations. We will do what we can to expose the filthy war transnational capital is waging on people all over the world. It is our duty, living in the heart of Babylon, to strike at the beast from within. We call upon all the people who are still free in their minds and their hearts, to join us in our attack on the symbols of the corporate takeover.

The 26th of January will be the first time the World Social Forum will take place in the form of decentralized actions all over the world. We wish to embrace this opportunity for people from different backgrounds, with different strategies, to get to know each other again on the field of social action. In Belgium, we are witnessing the rebirth of a diverse and powerful movement, as people from different backgrounds call for a radical gathering in Brussels. We will be there next to the Belgian Social Forum. Not against them, nor really with them. Because our struggle may be one struggle, but our road is a different one. We reclaim the true spirit of the movement which emerged before in Seattle, in Prague, in Genua and again last year in Heiligendamm. A struggle fought in a diversity of tactics, which is sorely needed against the multi-headed monster we face. We belong to a Movement of movements. A movement that comes and goes by, but never truly disappears. A movement that exists all over the world. From the Zapatistas demanding self-determinition, to the Argentinian workers who took control over their abandoned factories, to Indian farmers fighting genetically manipulated crops, to indigenous people fighting for our vulnerable ecosystem on which their way of living depends. We struggle in solidarity with them and with many others. Not just to ask for change, but to demand it. Not just to change this world a bit here and a bit there, but to reshape it fundamentally and in a radical way!

That’s why we would like to join in their effort by expressing our solidarity in the worldwide struggle for global justice, using for this purpose the hallmarks of People's Global Action as a guideline:

1. A very clear rejection of capitalism, imperialism and feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive globalization.

2.We reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination including, but not limited to, patriarchy, racism and religious fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace the full dignity of all human beings.

3. A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organisations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker.

4. A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for social movements' struggles, advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples' rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism.

5. An organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and autonomy.

We wish to invite all who endorse these principles to take part in the gathering. We will meet with the rest of the movement at the back of the stock market (Bourse), symbol of transnational exploitation, at 13h00.

Come prepared, stay flexible, stay alert.
Come as you are, dress up, be in disguise. (black is beautiful)
Come with your love, with your rage.
Come knowing that another world is not only possible, but necessary.
‘Cause it’s now or never...

Even if they cannot see us. We are everywhere!

See you on the barricades,
Some Dissent(ing)! People.