["True decolonization means overcoming intra-regional disputes to
build lasting regional unity and sovereign integration among the
peoples of the Global South in the spirit of Bandung. That means we
must expand unilateral and coordinated Southern action."]
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HAVANA CONGRESS PLANS “UNILATERAL BUT COORDINATED ACTION” TO
SECURE TECHNOLOGICAL SOVEREIGNTY FOR THE GLOBAL SOUTH  
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January 30, 2023
Progressive International
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_ "True decolonization means overcoming intra-regional disputes to
build lasting regional unity and sovereign integration among the
peoples of the Global South in the spirit of Bandung. That means we
must expand unilateral and coordinated Southern action." _

Progressive International general coordinator David Adler speaks at
the Havana Congress on the New International Economic Order in Cuba on
January 27, 2023, (Photo: Progressive International/Twitter)

 

The Havana Congress on the New International Economic Order, organised
by the Progressive International, closed this weekend with delegates
agreeing a declaration and a commitment to advance the New
International Economic Order through “secur\[ing] science and
technology sovereignty” for the Global South, as Cuba announces a
G77 meeting on the issue later in the year.

The Congress brought together over 50 delegates - scholars, diplomats,
parliamentarians, and policymakers from 26 countries across all six
inhabited continents, including Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla. 

Following deliberations over two days on geopolitics, climate,
finance, technology and trade through panels and keynote speeches,
including from Andres Arauz, Clara Lopez and Yanis Varoufakis, the
Congress agreed to focus on science, technology and innovation in the
next 18 months. The Congress, part of the Progressive
International’s project for a New International Economic Order, is
held as Cuba assumes the presidency of the G77 bloc of 134 Global
South countries. 

The Congress agreed to advance the NIEO and support Cuba’s
presidency of the G77 bloc through developing proposals for and
coordinating with a G77 meeting on science and technology to be held
in Havana later this year. 

Speaking at the ceremony for Cuba’s ascension to the G77 presidency,
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla outlined the need for
coordinated Global South action on science and tech, arguing
“scientific-technical development is today monopolized by a club of
countries that monopolize most of the patents, technologies, research
centers, and promote the drain of talent from our countries.” The
G77 summit in Cuba will aim to, “unite, complement each other,
integrate our national capacities so as not to be relegated to future
pandemics.”

Speaking at the conclusion of the Havana Congress, The Progressive
International’s General Coordinator David Adler said, “After two
days of detailed discussions about how to transform our shared world,
delegates agreed that a key priority must be to secure science and
technology sovereignty. From pharmaceuticals, to green tech, from
digital currencies, to microchips, too much of humanity is locked out
of both benefiting from scientific advances and contributing to new
ones. We will, as today’s declaration calls for, work to build “a
planetary bloc led by the South and reinforced by the solidarities of
the North” to liberate knowledge and peoples.”

Karol Cariola, Member of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies, said, "We
cannot talk about the economic order of the world without talking
about the unrecognised labour of women that sustains it. If the women
of the world chose to stop working, even for a moment, in their homes
— the world would come to a halt. Updating the NIEO for the 21st
century means making it a feminist one."

Andres Arauz, former General Director of the Central Bank of Ecuador
and member of the Progressive International’s Council, said, "True
decolonization means overcoming intra-regional disputes to build
lasting regional unity and sovereign integration among the peoples of
the Global South in the spirit of Bandung. That means we must expand
unilateral and coordinated Southern action."

Havana Declaration on the New International Economic Order

The Havana Congress,

_Recalling_ the role of the Cuban Revolution in the struggle to unite
the Southern nations of the world, and the spirit of the 1966 Havana
Tricontinental Conference that convened peoples from Asia, Africa and
Latin America to chart a path to collective liberation in the face of
severe global crises and sustained imperial subjugation;

_Hearing_ the echoes of that history today, as crises of hunger,
disease, and war once again overwhelm the world, compounded by a
rapidly changing climate and the droughts, floods, and hurricanes that
not only threaten to inflame conflicts between peoples, but also risk
the extinction of humanity at large;

_Celebrating_ the legacy of the anti-colonial struggle, and the
victories won by combining a program of sovereign development at home,
solidarity for national liberation abroad, and a strong Southern bloc
to force concessions to its interests, culminating in the adoption of
the UN Declaration on the Establishment of a New International
Economic Order (NIEO);

_Acknowledging_ that the project of decolonization remains
incomplete, disrupted by concerted attacks on the unity of the South
in the form of wars, coups, sanctions, structural adjustment, and the
false promise that sovereign development might be won through
integration into a hierarchical world system;

_Emphasizing_ that the result has been the sustained divergence
between North and South, characterized by the same dynamics that
defined the international economic order five decades prior: the
extraction of natural resources, the enclosure of ‘intellectual
property’, the plunder of structural adjustment, and the exclusion
of the multilateral system.

_Recognizing_ that despite these setbacks, the flame of Southern
resistance did not die; that the pursuit of sovereign development has
yielded unprecedented achievements — from mass literacy and
universal healthcare, to poverty alleviation and medical innovation
— that enable a renewed campaign of Southern cooperation today;

_Stressing_ that this potential for Southern unity is perceived as a
threat to Northern powers, which seek once again to preserve their
position in the hierarchy of the world system through mechanisms of
economic exclusion, political coercion, and military aggression.

_Seizing_ the opportunity of the present historical juncture, when
the crisis of the existing world system can either entrench
inequalities or embolden the call to reclaim Southern protagonism in
the construction of a new world order based on justice, equity and
peace;

The Havana Congress calls to:

* _Renew the Non-Aligned Movement:_ In the face of increasing
geopolitical tensions born from a decisive shift in the global balance
of power, the Congress calls to resist the siren song of the new Cold
War and to renew the project of non-alignment, grounded in the
principles of sovereignty, peace, and cooperation articulated at the
1955 Bandung Conference, 1961 Non-Aligned Conference, 1966
Tricontinental Conference, and beyond.
* _Renovate the NIEO:_ To accompany the renewed non-aligned
movement, the Congress calls to renovate the vision for a New
International Economic Order fit for the 21st century; a vision that
must draw inspiration from the original Declaration, but also account
for the key issues — from digital technology to environmental
breakdown — that define the present conditions for sovereign
development; and to enshrine this vision in a new UN Declaration on
the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
* _Assert Southern Power:_ The Congress recognizes that economic
liberation will not be granted, but must be seized. As the original
call for a New International Economic Order was won through the
exercise of collective power in the coordinated production of
petroleum, so our vision today can only be realized through the
collective action of the South and the formation of new and
alternative institutions to share critical technology, tackle
sovereign debt, drive development finance, face future pandemics
together, as well as coordinate positions on international climate
action and the protection of national sovereignty over the extraction
of natural resources.
* _Accompany Cuba in the G77:_ The Congress recognizes the critical
opportunity afforded by Cuba’s presidency of the Group of 77 plus
China to lead the South out of the present crisis and channel the
lessons of its Revolution toward concrete proposals and ambitious
initiatives to transform the broader international system.
* _Build a Planetary Bloc:_ The Congress calls on all peoples and
nations of the world to join in this struggle to definitively achieve
the New International Economic Order; to build a planetary bloc led by
the South and reinforced by the solidarities of the North, whose
peoples recognize their obligation to resist the crimes committed in
their names; and to bring the spirit of this Havana Congress into the
communities that we call home.

_More information about the Havana Congress can be found
here: [link removed]

_More information about the Progressive International’s New
International Economic Order project can be found
here: [link removed]

_Full text of Cuba Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla’s
speech:_

_https://misiones.cubaminrex.cu/en/articulo/speech-minister-foreign-affairs-cuba-bruno-rodriguez-parrilla-handover-ceremony-presidency_

* Global South
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* Non-Aligned Movement
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* Cuba
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* Progressive International
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