Cry of the Excluded Statement

The Cry of the Excluded is a collective expression of alarm and a denunciation of social inequalities, of the concentration of wealth and income, of the politics of privatization of public services, and of the structural adjustment programs imposed by multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). As members of various social sectors in many countries, we unite our voices of indignation to build a great movement for justice, equality, and hope.

We represent workers both rural and urban, both men and women; landless peasants, indigenous peoples, and African-Americans throughout the Americas; the unemployed and the underemployed; migrant workers, youth, and children who are excluded from the fundamental right to survival with dignity. Humanity has never before possessed so many economic resources, however there has never before been as much poverty, unemployment and social inequality. The so-called G-7, a group made up of the richest countries on the planet, dominates the economic structures of the entire planet, as well as the multilateral financial organizations, financial speculation, military power and the collection of foreign debts.

Neoliberal policies and the latest stage of imperialism, known as the globalization of trade and commerce, are further increasing the inequalities between countries of the North and countries of the South. The richest population on the planet controls 86% of the wealth and income, while billions of human beings live without the minimal resources necessary for a decent life. The wealth of only 4 of the richest multimillionaires in the world is of greater value than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the 42 poorest countries, with 600 million inhabitants. In today's world close to 1.3 billion people live below the poverty line, 70% of whom are women.  Never before have there been so many poor people in Latin America. In the year 2000, data from Cepal reported the existence of 224 million Latin Americans living in poverty--36% of the population.