Rousseff slams 'failed' neoliberal doctrines

Addressing around 4,000 people in the Gigantinho gym in the city Ms Rousseff noted that the peoples of Latin America have had bitter experience of the fiscal austerity measures that the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund are currently foisting on indebted governments in the eurozone.

"We know this story - in the 1980s and '90s, faced with deep macroeconomic imbalances and political and ideological prejudices a conservative model was imposed on our country that led to stagnation, loss of democratic space and sovereignty, deepening poverty, unemployment and social exclusion.

"Today this failed model is again being proposed in Europe.

"The dissonance between the voice of the markets and the voice of the streets appears to increase more and more in developed countries."

The president noted that progressive governments that have been elected in the Americas in the wake of the austerity years are now implementing a "development model capable of linking growth and job creation, poverty eradication and reducing inequalities" - proving that "it is possible to grow, to include, to protect and to preserve.

"We are winning this battle, as shown by the 40 million Brazilians who left poverty and rose to the middle class."

Ms Rousseff said that the UN conference on sustainable development, to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June, should be an important step in the "renewal of ideas."

Bolivian diplomat and environmentalist Pablo Solon warned against relying on private-sector-led approaches to develop a greener society.

"Global capitalism and a capitalism painted green put the future of the entire planet at risk," Mr Solon said.

He argued that only a "different model of production and consumption" would prevent the "transformation of nature into a commodity and the total privatisation of the environment."

Some 20,000 trade unionists, students and indigenous and environmental activists are participating in the six-day World Social Forum, which concludes tomorrow.

foreigneditor@peoples-press.com