On October 12th, the date of the "discovery" of our continent, I
participated in the Cry of the Excluded of the Americas in New York.
This US city was chosen for being the headquarters of the United Nations
(UN); a international focal point for news; and the setting for the March
of Undocumented Immigrants on the 14th and the World Women's March on the
17th.

A commission of representatives from the three regions of the hemisphere,
headed by the Argentinian and Nobel Peace Laureat Adolfo Pérez, was
received at the UN by Gillan Martin Sorensen, assistant to the Secretary
General and Chief of the International Relations Department. From
Brazil, Gilmar Mauro, director of the Landless Workers' Movement (MST),
and myself were present. Koffi Annan was obliged to be absent for an
emergency trip to the Middle East, due to the Israeli-Arabic conflict.

At the entrance to the UN building, a exhibition of photos by Sebatiao
Salgado showed the face of the world's poor children, which facilitated
our dialogue with Mr. Sorensen. We exposed to him the nefarious effects
of the IMF's and World Bank's policies in our countries, and insisted
that the UN should not turn into a plaything in the hands of US foreign
policy.

The great scandal of the end of this century and of this millenium is the
multitudes who live in a situation of want. According to the IBRD, 1.2
billion people survive on a monthly income of less than $30 US, and
another 2.8 billion on less than $60. In Latin America, there are 224
million poor people, and 90 million extremely poor people. In Brazil, 32
million extremely poor and 54.1 million poor.

We have arrived at the Moon, but not at social justice. We have
telescopes capable of revealing the intimate secrets of the universe, but
we can't see the needs and rights of our fellow man right under our nose.
We clone living beings, but don't save malnourished children from dying.
We photograph sub-atomic particles, but ignore the most profound anguish
of the human heart.

A new phenomenon is making itself known on the global scene, as evidenced
in the demonstrations in New York, Prague, Washington, DC, and Seattle:
movements of solidarity with the condemned of the earth. The clamor for
justice no longer comes only from the ideological, factionalized left.
It echoes innumerable social movements, which, together with NGOs and
churches, loan their strength and their voice to those who lack one or
the other. They have ethics as their ideology; solidarity as their
political affiliation; the right of all to the essential goods of life as
their dream; and as their proposal, condemnation of those responsible for
global inequality, and the construction of a loving civilization.

The world is no longer divided between capitalism and socialism, but
between neoliberal egotism, centered on the premise of profit, and the
compassion of those who fight for an economy of solidarity. Both coexist
in the same countries. Advances in communications technology favor the
linkages of those networks committed to the victory of an alternative
model for society. The character of the post-capitalist era is being
designed through the effort to put an end to social exclusion,
redistribute income, protect the environment, prioritize infinite goods,
such as ethics and spirituality, and not overestimate the value of finite
goods.

The new militants of solidarity do not only want fairer economic
structures, such as access to the world market for poor countries'
products. They want more: spiritual goods. In contrast to the old left,
they are both spiritual and enthusiastic (which etymologically signifies
"full of the Spirit of God"). Like a modern St. Francis, they feel
themselves to be brothers and sisters of Gaia and of Africa, of the
peasants of Latin America and the indigenous people of Lapland, of the
Kurds and of the Iraqis. Their thinking is not guided by the manichaeism
of US foreign policy, which blockades Cuba, annexes Puerto Rico to its
territories, intervenes in Colombia, and turns a blind eye when Israeli
troops occupy Arab territories. It is guided instead by the right of all
to the greatest gift of God: life.

The fall of real socialism in Europe coincides with a surge in virtual
socialism on the Internet. It shatters the monopoly of the news agencies
which echo the version put forth by the lords of the land. For instance,
the deception which the US tried to put across in 1992, claiming that the
missiles launched against Iraq only destroyed buildings. We now know
that at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, lost
their life in this war which, to our eyes, was never more than a video
game.

The Cry of the Excluded of the Americas is the hemisphere-wide outgrowth
of the Cry of the Excluded, initiated in Brazil in 1995 by the National
Council of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB) and by social movements. And it is
apparent that even in the heart of the empire, such as New York, there
are many people and movements
who are disillusioned with this societal model that reduces liberty to a
choice between various brands of beer or models of car. They want more.
They want the freedom to modify, not the vain silhouettes of their
bodies, but the profile of a humanity which enters the Third Millenium
dragging a mass of hungry, unemployed, and oppressed behind it.

Next January, these militants of hope have an encounter planned at the
World Social Forum, in Porto Alegre.