TOWARDS AN ALTERNATIVE/251- the end of 'export-only' policies and a return to food security
based on the development of a strong agricultural sector; - the increase in government social spending;
- the development of the redistributive role of the state through
a system of progressive taxation; - the establishment of vast public works programmes serving the
interests of social justice and the environment. Examples are
urban development, renovation of existing housing, rail-based
public transport, large-scale irrigation wells, to name a few.
Such programmes need considerable labour, which should be
hired with decent contracts that respect national and interna
tional conventions on workers' rights. - the launching of literacy, vaccination and basic healthcare
campaigns, such as the kind that produced extraordinary
results in Nicaragua between 1980 and 1983 and in Cuba
during the first phase of the Revolution.
International Measures
- The modification of the terms of trade; an increase in the price
of products exported by the Third World to the world market
(which does not mean that consumers in the North will auto
matically pay higher prices); refusal to uphold the GATT/WTO
agreements; rejection of the Multilateral Agreement on
Investment (MAI); - the planned transfer of the wealth of the countries of the North
towards the countries of the South, to compensate for the age-
old exploitation to which the peoples of the South have been
subjected.
These two latter measures go hand-in-hand with the cancellation of
the Third World debt, the global implementation of a tax on interna
tional financial transactions and a drastic reduction in the
manufacture of and trade in arms. These measures can only be
carried forward by a grand intercontinental movement. They are
beyond the reach of the political institutions of one or even a number
of isolated countries.