At the moment, the countries of South America formally have sovereignty, but little real autonomy: they depend on international markets to sell their basic products, lending institutions define their economic policies and foreign stockmarkets fix the prices of primary commodities. To gain real autonomy against the empire and to be viable, the countries of Latin America have no choice but to coordinate between themselves, develop supranational laws, increase economic production, and establish a common political authority which deals with and resolves controversies.

To reaffirm and exercise South American sovereignty is the first step for any real project of integration. In the 20th Century, options for sovereignty are limited for small countries, who are left with two choices: to construct with their equals larger spaces then their size can hope to exercise sovereignty or to remain as obedients vassals to the United States.

The recovery of sovereignty depends on the integration of countries in a Community of South American Nations with social participation and independent of organisations such as the IMF, World Bank, World Trade Organisation and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Some investigators such as Eduardo Gudynas, from the Latin American Centre for Social Ecology  (CLAES) in Uruguay believe that the recuperation of autonomy of nations undermined by neoliberalism is a necessary step for effective regional coordination(politics, production and macroeconomy) which strengthens the negotiating capacity at international level.

But if Latin America wants to articulate itself economically within the region, it needs to consider other types of productive relations which addresses Latin America´s dependence on exports of primary materials. It is obvious that these type of integration will not be possible if big countries impose their conditions on small ones, if the logic of relations does not go beyond the commercial, if trade and production is not reorientated to regional needs looking for complementarity and chains of production, and if it does not define common policies, at least in agriculture and energy.

It involves changing the idea of the Nation State. In a new ideal scheme of integration, from a judicial point of view, the State continues to be a sovereign entity, but transfers certain attributes to institutions of integration. This partial denial of sovereign policy would surely provoke a fierce political fight at a moment where nationalisms are tending to grow.

The governments of the region can see that the differences in different trade regimes such as Mercosur, CAN and CARICOM are preventing in the short term and perhaps even in the medium term, the possiblity of creating an homogenous trade zone, based on the same principles and rules that took place in Europe.

But this does not stop the countries of the continent looking to make a broader articulation, economically and in terms of production and to consolidate forms of cooperation. In a period of “reaffirming the Nation State after many years of threats to national sovereignty, it is crucial to think of integration as a strategic project” emphasises the Official Summit.

Social and Labour Rights.

The aims of an alternative integration must be to guarantee life, the well-being of the population, social, cultural and economic rights, the redistribution of wealth and solidarity between peoples, as opposed to an FTAA which tries to merchandise all aspects of life for the benefit of multinational companies.

Regional integration must be based on a different socio-economic model whcih is aimed at 1. increasing the formal labour market and creating a regional convergence upwards for minimum wages and labour rights; 2. Making public social security universal; 3. Strengthening the right to trade unions and collective negotiation; 4. Adopting measures against discrimination in the labour market and 5. Overcoming the existing sexual division of labour which penalises women.  With this model, the emigration of our peoples can be stopped and help establish a foundation of rights for emigrant workers which matches international conventions.

It is necessary to create formal mechanisms of participation and consultation with society at all regional, sub-regional, and national levels in order to make government actions transparent, especially those that involve policies of political and economic integration in the Continent.

Communication is a key factor in articulating the reengagement and fraternity of the involved nations. One of the fundamental bases of the CSN must be the right to democratic communication, which implies agreeing a specific strategy of cooperation in areas of information, communication, culture and knowledge as well as strengthening regional networks of public communication and prioritising the interconnection of telecommunication networks.

Educational Coordination

Education is a pillar for any regional integration project. All the countries of the Community of South American Nations must commit to reforming educational systems with a  view to guaranteeing universal, public, free and high quality education, to cooperate at scientific and technical levels and to erradicate illiteracy. To promote an interculturality and to recognise cultural diversity implies full incorporation of native languages in the education of indigenous peoples.

Physical Integration

It is crucial that South America is integrated physically with roads, energy and communication networks in order to facilitate contact between peoples and countries, and not in order to increase the looting of natural resources. But this means demanding that governments redesign projects like IIRSA (Integration of South American Regional Infrastructure) formulated to complement FTAA. Physical integration must create internal poles of integral development, in harmony with the environment, respectful of the rights of communities and without generating unsustainable indebtedness.

Financial Integration

Financial integration of South America must allow the region to overcome its vulnerability and dependence, related to the IMF, World Bank, IADB and other lending institutions. The countries involved can create a Reserve Fund, a South Solidarity Bank, substituting the use of the dollar in intra-regional transactions and building a new financial system. This will require a revision of the functioning of CAF, FONPLATA and other regional financial mechanisms.
To stop being victims of illegitimate debt contracted in the past, the countries of America must submit the International Financial Institutions, their lending policies and the debts themselves to external audits, and put on trial those who unscrupulously indebted the nations of the South

Social movements in the region don´t want new mechanisms of solidarity financing in the Community to be used to maintain old relationships of domination and control between countries of the region, by for example creating and selling bonds and other types of new debt whose aim is to sustain the payment of illegitimate and illegal debts.

Energy Integration

Energy integration depends on the strengthening of state hydrocarbons companies, the nationalisation of these strategic resources and the redistribution of the rent and profits in order to finance new networks of renewable energy. We propose sharing regional energy resources in order to guarantee the wellbeing of people and future generations, and to stop the enriching of multinationals and local oligarchs.

We reject inviable megaprojects from a financial and environmental point of view funded by the World Bank and IADB, because this will again mortgage the future of South America to foreign creditors. We need to know the social, ecological and socio-economic impacts in order to evaluate whether these projects justify the investment of so-much capital when there are other decentralised alternatives for generating renewable energy.

Sustainable energy development aims to change the existing model based on the use of fossil fuels for other sources which use renewable, clean and low-impact energy sources; which respect the rights of communities, which combats excessive consumption, and promotes equitable and full access to energy for all inhabitants of the continent.

Trade

The trade treaties such as the FTAs signed with por Chile, Colombia and Perú must be overturned and replaced with just trade and aid treaties which do not compromise sovereignty or the possibility of implementing policies on industrialisation, biodiversity, state purchases, natural resources, drinking water, education, medicine and health.

Two decades of free trade show that it is necessary to construct another structure for trade in the region. Trade can be an important tool for development only if it is regulated, the contrary perpetuates and widens assymetries between companies and countries, strengthens the strongest at the cost of the weakest, limits sovereignty and deepens dependence and subordination of countries and peoples.

Trade is not an end in itself, but rather a form of linking important productive chains in the region, maximising the existing complementarities between diverse national economies, and integrating a powerful regional market of consumption, as a priority above other proposals that try above all to export.

Assymetries

Social differences and asymetries could be reduced between nations by creating a compensation fund which finances projects in the popular, solidarity-based economy in less developed countries not defined by large national or transnational capital. This fund could add to a tax on financial transactions of multinational companies that operate in South America and with part of the international monetary reserves deposited in the US.

Agriculture.

An integral agrarian reform in the region would democratise land ownership, prioritising family, social and cooperative ownership, and guaranteeing the right to work land. The CSN must be a natural space for consolidating food sovereignty, that is, the right that all peoples have to independently produce their own healthy and high quality food. Seeds are the patrimony of humanity and must not be subject to patents by multinationals.

Water

The states of the South American Nations must advance towards the creation of a Convention on Water with the aim of protecting the resource from privatisation and mercantilization and supporting the International Agreement on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights. The Community must recognise water resources as a human right.
CSN must commit countries to: 1 Reversing the dismantling of state services and strengthening efficient public water and sanitation systems which are transparent and controlled by society. 2 Promoting the effective participation of communities in taking decisions over development projects which involve water in each territory, recovering their visions, uses and traditions in the planning and sustainable management of natural resources.

CSN, and especially countries of MERCOSUR, must free themselves from the interference of the World Bank in designing policies for the Guarani Aguifer, because it is against the sovereignty of peoples and is not transparent.

We propose creating spaces of information and discussion related to the use of territories and subterranean lands that make up the Guarani Aguifer System, with the participation of social organisations which share the GAS, which is binding on public authorities. The principal task is to monitor and defend the resource as a shared common good.

Indigenous Peoples

It is impossible to conceive of regional integration without the protagonism of the indigenous nations and peoples who transcend republican borders. The indigenous peoples and communities are those who are directly and principally affected by the actions of multinationals, whose indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources creates poverty, migration, contamination and marginalisation.

Militarisation

CSN must face up to the debate on the arming and militarisation for which our territories are a focus, with the installation of military bases and plans for control such as Plan Colombia. If States don´t cooperate, the social movements must exercise its sovereignty and struggle against impunity and state violence in order to strengthen democracy.

Coca.

The de-penalisation of the coca leaf in South America and its industrialisation with beneficial ends is a crucial step to achieving the withdrawal of the coca leaf from the list of penalised substances by the United Nations in 2008.

Another model for development

We must change the model of development for South American which is designed for exports and not internal development for the benefit of people. Enough of exporting mainly primary commodities (hydrocarbons and minerals) and some agro-industrial products!

South American integration means complementarity in production in order to create jobs, an integrated productive development, strengthening interregional trade and substituting imports of goods produced in the region.

Migration

Every day in South America, millions of people feel forced to emigrate as a consequence of neoliberal policies.  Emigrants are not just a workforce, they are people and not commodities, who have labour, social, cultural, economic, civil and political rights which allows them to develop themselves and to fully exercise their citizenship. We reject policies which criminalise immigrants and treat migration as a security issue.

CSN must develop policies which guarantee citizenship to emigrants. We propose specific measures: 1 The signing and ratification of the International Convention for the Rights of Emigrant Workes and their Families, UN 1990, Convention 143 of ILO and Convention 49 against the Traffic in Humans. 2 Wide and General Amnesty for all immigrants from countries within CSN, allowing free circulation and citizenship. This will allow emigrants to have labour, retirement, social, political and economic rights existing in each country.

In the short term, countries must establish laws of immigration that are just, solidarity-based and welcoming, that are not based on an old doctrine of national security, and which cover all emigrants regardless of the legal situation they are in.

Latin America