The alternative summit

Tuesday 9 May, late

Walking through the sliding doors into our hotel lobby half an hour ago two things hit me at once: the buzz of Spanish conversation and the smell of cigarettes. The place was full of people here for the alternative summit – Enlazando Alternativas 2 (EA2) – which starts tomorrow morning. Mexican men in cowboy hats, Peruvian women with long plaits, earnest Austrians with woolly jumpers. All talking, many reaching across to great each other - one kiss on the cheek, two, three – and laughing. There were a few half-drunk cervezas on the side tables, but mostly the energy seemed to come from the pleasure of being together, and a strong sense of solidarity.  

I was tired. A day of travelling: the 6 o’clock start; buses, planes, trains, trams. Then orientation, registrations, and preparatory meetings, all in spanish, mine rusty after three years of infrequent use. Circular conversations, difficult questions, complicated logistics. The last meeting ran over by an hour till 10pm. I had had no dinner and was facing the prospect of more work before bed. But the sights and sounds of the lobby re-energised me. So this is what it is about!

On the walk to the hotel I had been peppering my colleagues with questions. What will this alternative summit achieve? Do all the people coming here have shared objectives? Isn’t it a problem that they have little or no access to the official meeting, and therefore few chances to influence its outcome? Why do the two things run in parallel?

The answers were logical and persuasive. No, not all the participants want exactly the same thing, but they are united in wanting change. Of course being involved in the official summit would be preferable, but that’s the point: there is no space for many people’s voices and experiences in these official meetings – that’s why Enlazando Alternativas has emerged. It is about sharing experiences and giving people without a voice a chance to work out what’s most important to them and how they can work together to change it.

The people in the lobby seemed a great example of what they described. Among them were witnesses coming to testify in the tribunal on transnational corporations, organised as part of EA2. They are very simple people, many out of their hometowns for the first time, here to describe the way in which foreign companies have had an impact on their lives, from labour rights abuses to failure to provide basic services. I am hopefully going to meet with some of them tomorrow and sit in on some of the sessions.

The issues that are going to be addressed both in the EA2 and in the official summit are far from simple. Trade can boost growth, which in turn can reduce poverty. The private sector and foreign investment can play a major role in development. But both also have their flipsides, and many of the participants in EA2 are those who haven’t reaped the benefits from increasing global trade, and who in some cases have suffered as inequality has increased and exploitation has continued.

EA2 gets underway tomorrow while the official EU-LAC meeting starts on Thursday. A few days of meetings won’t solve nearly all the dilemmas facing each region, but hopefully the participants at the official summit will get a sense of what is going on down the road and allow this influence their own discussions and plans.