March 29, 2023
The Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity -REDH- in unison with the social, political and cultural initiatives that advocate for a sovereign Latin America and Caribbean, repudiates the intrusion of neocolonial proposals that project to take the region back to the notion of ‘Ibero-America’, a geopolitical invention of the 16th century, whose incursion was repelled with the independence of two centuries ago.
While the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean show their determination to turn on the lights of the future with their own thinking in order to have a future, political actors such as the “Madrid Forum” seek to resurrect from the past a framework of nineteenth-century arguments, to articulate a historical anachronism called ‘Iberosphere’, which not only updates the colonialist aspirations that the Spanish kingdom has nurtured since the sixteenth century but also seeks to position the racist, classist, sexist and homophobic dissonances that characterize it.
The REDH warns about the recurrent presence of these political actors of the extreme right in the region (Latin American Forum for Freedom, Uruguay 3-2023 ; Conference of Conservative Political Action, Mexico 11- 2022 and others), draws attention to a historical trajectory of genocides, disappearances, massacres, dictatorships and tutelary governments that are the legacy of these groups and, therefore, calls on our peoples to maintain an active vigilance on the multiple actions of interference that these sectors promote.
We express our solidarity with the Peruvian people, whose country under a de facto regime will host the “Madrid Forum” in Lima, convened by a group of aspiring dictators, neo-fascists and ultra-right-wingers, who manipulate the concepts of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, while flaunting their true aspirations: to suffocate sovereign regional integration projects; to demolish progressivism; and to annihilate democratic political bodies such as the Sao Paulo Forum or the Puebla Group.
We reiterate our call to build a world of peace, based on sovereignty and as an alternative to capitalism that depredates nature, exploits human beings, belittles native peoples and denies diverse cultures, a model of a new colonialism that the Madrid Forum in Lima intends to ratify.
For a world of solidarity and alternative to capitalism: No to neo-fascism! No to the Madrid Forum in Lima!
Network in Defense of Humanity – Cuba
Patria Grande, March 28, 2023