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Istanbul Alternative Declaration*
Contact: Ozguc Orhan
INTRODUCTION
Our world is at crossroads and it cannot be claimed that we have much
time to take some critical decisions. All the human family feels the
necessity of cooperation more than ever. The UN, established right
after the World War II, its side institutions and the UN Summits whose
latest one was organized in Istanbul were all raised from the
necessity or even the urgency of this cooperation.
The ecological destruction and the accompanying social destruction,
recently have reached the great scales which require urgent measures
at the local and global levels. However, unfortunately, the methods
applied for both the diagnosis of the problems and the proposed
solution techniques are deficient in pointing to an outlet. One of the
most important reasons for this is the powerlessness of the dominant
nation- state model and UN(without democratization) which contains
deficiencies of this nation-state model in face of the urgency of the
situation.
With each passing day the crisis that humanity faces, becomes more and
more complex. The solution of the crisis lies in the transcendence of
the ineffective methods and those structures that insist on these
methods. All humanity needs a thorough change at the local and global
scales with its social, cultural, psychological, economic and
political dimensions. The impediments for this change are the power,
money and prestige fanatics holding the critical positions in existing
nation- state model. The change can be realized only by surpassing
these structures through a permanent and an effective dissident
struggle.
The foremost point in this struggle to be taken into consideration by
those pro-change forces ought to be the efforts of those people
wishing to perpetuate their interests in the existing order by
superficial reforms and co-opting the opposition. The most apparent of
these efforts during Habitat Summit, which seem good-intentioned from
the outside but in fact arise from the helplessness and craftiness,
has been the non- functional cooperation of the official structures
with the civil societal forces. The participation of NGOs in Habitat
Summit should be viewed from this perspective.
WHY ALTERNATIVE?
However the intentions are good, there needs to be always balancing
forces in places where there are power relations. The anti-democratic
structure of UN and the human rights violations of Turkey, the host
country for the Human Settlements Conference, still continue.
Alternative Habitat Platform has been organized for exposing these two
realities.
CIVIL SOCIETY & STATE
Some NGOs has claimed that it is necessary to confront the state in
the political arena to force it to relinquish the unwarranted powers
to the civil societal forces. By confining the state within its basic
functional area, it would be possible to prevent the state to encroach
upon the civil society and in turn render the it more effective and
positive. We appreciate their efforts as long as they are dedicated to
this cause.
The wary designation of the space, time and conditions of the
struggle with such an organized and even ruthless institution like
state is vitally important for the development of a healthy civil
society. The determination of all these dynamics by the state means
that the opposition is under control thus the aimed change will not be
able to be brought about.
For us, the pacifist sit-ins organized for over fifty weeks by the
families whose relatives have been missing under the custody, and
attacked fiercely by the police during Habitat give the clues of an
exact civil movement. These actions whose space, time and conditions
have been determined by ordinary people and supported by several
sectors of the society, have been successful in the sense that they
have challenged the legitimacy of the repressive system. The police
state which was disturbed by this success, has resorted to the use of
violence.
We believe that understanding the procedure used by the (Turkish)
state to co-opt the civic opposition is critical to engage in further
civil society-state discussions:
Despite the limited opposition that the NGO Forum in Habitat Summit
allowed, it would be over-optimistic to claim that it has provided or
will provide more than just the get-together of the people from
various parts of the world. We believe the necessity of such
get-togethers for a permanent struggle but we also see that the UN
Summits have begun to repeat themselves without producing effective
results. It is an obvious reality that the official representatives
participating in these summits live through an amnesia when they turn
back to their countries.
It will be a waste of time to organize new summits without discussing
the reasons for this ineffectiveness. It is imperative to transform
the UN's existing bureaucratical, hierarchical and anti-democratic
structure into a more democratic one to enable the effective
implementation of decisions. So we believe that it is necessary to
support the efforts for democratizing the UN system. Alternative
organizations taking a stand outside the UN Summits and intending to
disclose the plots behind the closed doors will contribute to this
democratization process.
During such summits some good-intentioned initiatives overlook some
realities due the heat and excitement of their struggle. Let us
explain what we mean with an example: The significance of Habitat
Summit for the Turkish state is nothing more than the foreign
exchanges that the corporations will gain if the 2004 Olympic Games
will be held in Istanbul. It is obvious that the decisions taken in
the previous summits have not been implemented and those taken in the
Habitat Summit will possibly share the same fate. Ignoring this
reality and talking about the benefits of these summits despite the
fact that it is much more advantageous to those who are responsible
for the present and future problems we have, will mean putting one's
head in the sand like an ostrich.
OFFICIAL DECLARATION
In the Istanbul Declaration it is mentioned that full and equal
participation of men and women and effective participation of youth in
political, economic and social life. Considering the fact that the
official meetings have not been open to the public it is inevitable to
suspect the legitimacy of the decisions.
The two main themes of the summit were "adequate shelter for all" and
"sustainable human settlements in an urbanizing world". It is apparent
that the principle of adequate and healthy shelter for all cannot be
implemented in a context where the industrial urbanization is seen as
an ideal and the decisions taken, depend on the ever-growing economic
model. When this kind of an economic model is taken as a pre-condition
for the implementation of the decisions in the Habitat Agenda, it
appears that the decisions have nothing to do with 'sustainability'.
So nothing will change.
PERSPECTIVES & PROPOSALS
Healthy human settlements is possible only through a holistic approach
which transcends the mind-body duality and takes the human body as a
part of its natural, cultural, social, economic and political
environment. "The human settlements crisis has been greatly
exacerbated by a persistent expansion of the rights of money and the
institutions of money to the disregard or exclusion of the inalienable
rights of people."(1)
Existing power relations will not permit the realization of the
following goals for a more liveable world:
HUMAN SETTLEMENTS & SHELTER
Stereotyped citizens whose creativity and initiative have been curbed
are not close to creating an urban culture where the scopes of those
cities are not appropriate for face-to-face or neighborhood and
relative relationships. Even for the issues concerning the daily life,
the decisions are taken at the national level. Participation in this
kind of decision-making process is futile because the global financial
institutions are determinant on the national central bodies. In many
cases even the nation-states cannot make decisions with their own
will; IMF and the World Bank make these decisions according to the
needs of international capital.
We need to form an alternative way of living to surpass the values of
an industrial society. To do this we want cities which are:
An approach that deals with the shelter problem within the framework
of 'free' market economy is nothing but to postpone the solution of
the problem. It is to be understood that mass housing projects that
isolate people by reducing their social and cultural relations is not
a solution at all. Also housing which perpetuates class divisions and
relegates the 'poor class' to 'low-income housing' will not solve
crime and stop class-warfare within cities.
For the realization of creating healthy environments in the cities,
it is not possible to solve the problems like air, water and land
pollution, traffic, lack of clean water, solid and liquid wastes
within the framework of ever-growing model which has resulted in
out-of-control patterns of development making our megacities
unhealthy.
Our first step is to immediately stop capitalist development, provide
emergency and temporary shelter to all who need it. The next step is
to enter into a transition phase by acknowledging that our existing
cities are unable to create healthy human communities and ecosystems.
The transition period will move us from one epoch to the next, from
the age of megacities powered by fossil-fuels and nuclear energy
governed by cruelty, greed and war, to the Solar Age of Arcology
(ecological architecture) where the principles of love, peace, and
altruism guide humanity to build new human settlements. The
transitional period will liberate us from the profit motive so that
people are free to follow their dreams within the context of building
ecological cities.
TRANSPORTATION & TRAFFIC
It is imperative that the dependence of populous settlements on roads
and cars be reduced. The automotive industry's gulping the fertile
land and areas which should be reserved for human use be stopped.
The traffic problem cannot be solved by building more roads, bridges
or parking lots; instead automobile-free settlements should be
created. In the present age, the settlements are shaped according to
commercial concerns instead of human needs.
The worship of automobiles in the cities result in the usurpation of
the rights of pedestrians and cyclists to travel freely. As a solution
to the ecological destruction that the automotive industry has caused,
the environment-friendly automobiles(one of the myths of green
capitalism) are no better than their environmental-hostile relatives
when the amount of energy, raw material and the human power they
require, is taken into consideration.
"SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT"
The concept of 'Sustainable Development' which was proposed by
Northern Countries during Rio Summit depend on the 'Polluter Pays'
principle. With some agreements on 'Climate' or 'Biological Diversity'
it has been tried to form a basis of this concept. During World
Climate Summit in Berlin the measure of reducing the CFC pollutants at
20% level has not received a positive response from the Northern
Countries. Even the signatory countries have tried to postpone the
sanctions. For the sake of protecting the trans-national biological
diversity, on the one hand the bio-cultures have been plundered and on
the other the pesticides and the herbicides banned in the developed
countries destroy the fertility of soils in Third World Countries.The
'Polluter Pays' principle means that whoever has the money has the
right of polluting. With the enforcement of this principle even in the
democratic countries neither the detection of responsibles for
ecocides is possible nor the standards of penalties are certain.
IMF and World Bank are responsible for the economic and ecological
exploitation in the Third World Countries, esp. under the veil of
'Structural Adjustment Policies'. Likewise despite the Habitat II
Summit organized for the objective of sustainable human settlements,
the millions of people living in South in abject poverty won't be the
concern of the rich countries who are mainly responsible for the
hunger, poverty and unhealthy living conditions in the South.
The anthropocentric settlement policies that have been broken off
with nature are the causes for the miserable situation the humanity
face. The wounds of our earth cannot be healed through destructive
developmental policies and centralized government, based on possessive
and domineering attitudes but through ecological life models that are
in harmony with nature.
ECONOMIC MODEL
It is obvious that all efforts put forth in these areas will fail
eventually if the irrationality of the ever-growing economic model is
not admitted. Economic 'development' and 'underdevelopment' are the
two sides of the same coin. It is not rational to talk about the
development of poor countries within a model in which the rich
permanently needs the existence of poor to keep their wealth.
Therefore the expression of 'developing countries' is a deception.
It should be admitted that it is a waste of time to participate in
the UN Summits without questioning the capitalist model which depends
on the assumption that everyone can be rich with adequate work and
sees poverty as a moral weakness or an incompetence by isolating it
from its political, economic and social context. The fact that our
earth's resources are finite should be the fundamental principle of
all economic activities. The advertisements and consumption campaigns
which overlook this reality and link the well-being of human beings to
consumerism should be abolished.
Taking the current population growth into consideration it will be
easily seen that within this economic model which needs unemployed
people for cheap labor, unemployment cannot be solved by creating more
job opportunities. This economic model which causes people to migrate
into cities should be abandoned.
The monopolization of agricultural land in rural areas should be
prevented and land reform should be implemented. Land ownership should
be excluded from the concept of private property and dealt with within
the framework of common heritage of humanity for the equitable
provision of needs of all.
Before proposing the welfare state model of Western societies as a
solution for the 'developing countries' the fact that social security
systems--one of the building blocks of this model--depend on the
exploitation of poor people in 'Third World' countries and limited
resources of our earth, should also be taken into consideration.
For more secure and sustainable settlements the humans must live
without worrying about their future. To realize this, we need local
economy models that require intermediate level technology which can be
kept under human control and depends upon the principles of self-help
and mutual cooperation. Especially women should be empowered to be
economically secure. Therefore it is urgent to take into consideration
the importance of the unpaid household women labor in economic life.
In a self-dependent model, economically independent people will be
able to acquire their political freedom and then other freedoms as
well to fulfill themselves by using their talents.
ARTIFICIAL SEPARATIONS
Any policy that fuels ethnic, religious and national differences is
unacceptable. Considering the history of humanity on earth it will be
apparent that since the nation-statehood dominates a very slight piece
of it therefore the status quo is not historically determined. The
fact that the concept of the nation-state is human-made therefore
might be buried in the depths of history, should not be ignored.
The national borders are artificial, so despite the differences of
language, belief systems and traditions the 5.5 billion people living
on this earth is the one human family sharing the same fate.
Considering the reality that power structure always turns those
differences into issues of conflict to maintain their privileges and
interests in the status quo, we should all struggle towards one world
and one human family.
RIGHTS & FREEDOMS
Inspecting the rights and freedoms gained throughout history from the
perspective of power structure, it can be easily seen that their
acceptance is mainly due to the perpetuation of the existence and
legitimacy of the ruling class. In the national, regional or
international documents of human rights and freedoms the guarantees
are generally inadequate.
In cases of violations there is no judicial organ to bring a case
before. In the documents where there is a judicial organ, the rights
and freedoms have limitations, e.g. Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
What is more important is that states either do not ratify the
documents which make arrangements for well-developed freedoms or do
not accept some of the objectionable parts while ratifying the rest.
Those rights and freedoms which are written into the documents are not
(able to be) enforced.
SECURITY
It ought to be clearly expressed that the concept of security that is
often used in the international documents is nothing to do with more
strict security measures or more security forces. The expenditures for
the employment of more policemen or the modernization of security
forces; the rule of the appointed over the elected; the ignored police
repression by the elected; the limitations in the anti-democratic laws
on the freedoms of thought and expression are unacceptable.
For the sake of security, the captivity of political prisoners and
the others in the prisons cannot be argued to be a shelter model.
Crime and violence can only be solved by a new concept of an
'egalitarian ecocity' designed to allow everyone access to basic human
needs as well as give them opportunities to develop their personal
skills, talents, and genius for the benefit of saving humanity.
ENERGY
Energy production and consumption do not only concern states and
utilities, but also all individuals affected directly or indirectly by
this process. Consuming the limited energy resources of the planet in
the coal-thermal and nuclear plants by making huge investments cannot
be justified.
It is irrational to victimize individuals by taking decisions from the
top, through:
The primary element of a rational energy policy is energy efficiency.
It is possible that all kinds of equipment and systems that we use
today could be produced to be about 50% more efficient thus cutting
down the energy need by half.
Mega projects built to energize the urban sprawl will put nature under
pressure even with the most harmless of all resources. Renewable
energy resources will be used in designs integrating more than one
resource, in small scale and in harmony with local characteristics.
Now, Demand Side Management, i.e., to have the consumer to do more
work with less energy through measures and decisions taken, is at
stake.
Individual energy production should be promoted to minimize the
transmission losses over the long lines. Programs should be prepared
for the use of efficiency and renewables.
MILITARISM
The production, trade and transfer of weapons should be considered as
a crime against humanity. Put aside the waste of limited human,
natural and financial resources, the amount of scourge, suffering,
inequality, poverty, social and political violence that have been
afflicted upon our earth and humanity by the weapon industry is
incalculable.
The wide scale defense industry intended to be established (in Turkey)
through the cooperation of university, private sector and the army is
trying to be legitimized by the discourse of national interests and
outside enemies.
Many educational institutions, the media, toys and video games are
directing the society (esp. the children) to use violence and see the
violence as natural. This trend should be stopped and education in
schools, in the media and games should be created to promote peace and
creativity.
FORCED EVICTIONS & WEAPON TRANSFERS
The war that has been going on for 12 years has caused the death of
over 20.000 people, the destruction of over 2000 villages and forced
evictions of millions of Kurds; besides the economic burden of this
war has exacerbated the poor living conditions of millions of people
in Turkey. The weapon imports especially from USA or EU countries, the
expenditures in the name of developing defense industry, in short the
war investments have exhausted nature and the possibilities of living
a life in dignity. While more than 50% of the GNP has been spent for
armament and weapon transfers, the money spent on services like
health, education and housing do not exceed 1-2%. Considering these
facts, there is no validity or credibility of the decisions made at
the official Habitat.
We demand,
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
The scourge of wars is apparent today. The concept of the abolition of
obligatory military conscription has been instrumental in anti-war
campaigns, especially with the legal recognition of it in some
countries after 60's. The mass war resisters movement was first born
in England during World War I with 2000 citizens openly declaring that
they would not go to war. These conscientious objectors had later
established the War Resisters International. In the late 30 years the
anti-war campaigns have begun to bear their fruits: in many of the
West European countries and USA the military service is no longer
obligatory.
In Turkey, especially due to the war we are living through, the voice
of the conscientious objectors have begun to be heard more and more
among the anti-war and peace struggle. About 20 people have declared
to the public that they would not join the army.
Whatever its reason and whatever army it is, we object to the
compulsory military service and demand the legal recognition of
conscientious objection as a human right in all countries.
WOMEN & CHILDREN
Present social system has been shaped at the disadvantage of women and
children especially. Whatever its source, the traditions and the norms
that foster the submission of women to men and subject the children to
the indoctrination of the elderly are unacceptable. Indoctrinating
children to want the rewards of every day life in capitalist cities
such as home ownership and cars should be seen as part of the pattern
of destruction.
Women need equal access to the means of power in society so that
there will be a 'balance of power'. To accomplish this means that
domestic work, the traditional unpaid work of women, must be either
organized in a collective manner or automated in order to allow women
the time and energy to pursue education and work which is socially and
creatively necessary for the survival of the human species. The
subjection of women starts at home and will only be solved by the
liberation of women from domestic servitude within the home. In order
to do this, we must envision a social architecture within the setting
of an ecocity which makes quality upbringing of children its first
priority.
Children need to be given the freedom to follow their natural
inclinations and not have to pursue education for the purpose of
'making a living'. All arrangements that prevent the equal and
effective participation of women in social, economic and political
life and the educational system that kills the creativity of children
should be abolished.
EDUCATION
Educational institutions are the places that reproduce the still
existing problems of social inequality, sexism, racism, nationalism,
militarism, violence and the consumerism in our societies. The
educational institutions and its tools cannot be manipulated to raise
qualified work power for the market or to impose a certain ideology
and a belief system.
The educational system should be restructured with non-commercial
considerations where cooperation rather than competition among
students is fostered; a place where the participation of people from
every age with their free will and the equality of opportunity is
secured.
UNIVERSITY
The universities are currently in a situation where the social
inequality is reproduced and mediocrity is promoted while the radical
theory and creativity is excluded. The submission of university
students and teachers to this reality is ethically unacceptable. The
essential mission of university should be the free provision of the
needed knowledge for the just and equitable solution of the present
social problems.
Knowledge is a social rather than an individual product. The
university system is molded according to the needs of the military and
the private sector; the universities are transforming into commercial
centers for teaching how to earn more money and deceive people; the
knowledge is capitalized and taken out of the reach of those societal
sectors that need it most.
The autonomy of the universities from the state and the private sector
should be supported; the universities should no longer be the
institutions that distribute the passports for a more economically
privileged life; free and equal attendance of people to the
universities regardless of age or other differences should be
secured.The decision- making mechanism in the universities should be
under the common and equal control of students, teachers and workers.
THE LIVING RIGHTS OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES
The idea in the Official Declaration that rural-to-urban migration can
be minimized by extending infrastructure, public service and
employment opportunities to rural areas does not sound reasonable and
convincing in a model where urbanization is encouraged. Instead it
would be wiser to restitute communal rights over the local
resources.The right of economic self-determination should not be
usurped either by free enterprise or the nation-state which sees the
lands and its resources as its own property.
Exposing local and indigenous people to unhealthy living conditions
or dislocating them due to the (private sector or state origin)
developmental projects such as dams, power plants, bridges and
industrial plants (which are all required for the functioning of ever-
growing economic model) is inadmissible.
COMMON HERITAGE
In this context all peoples and communities have the right of
determining their own economic priorities and allocating local
resources for their own needs. This right should be kept within the
limits set by the duty for stewarding and equitably sharing the
planetary life giving resources.
"Current trade agreements give the economic rights of global
corporations precedence over the rights to livelihood and self-
determination of living people and communities."(2) The unruly
transactions of MNCs in poor countries which impose Western
consumption patterns on the local people should be forthwith stopped.
"It should be recognized that the earth is the common heritage of all
and that all people have natural and equal rights to the land of the
planet; WE THEREFORE DECLARE THAT THE EARTH IS THE BIRTHRIGHT OF ALL
PEOPLE."(3)
"The existing system has opened the most dangerous chasm in human
history between an affluent, overconsuming minority and an
impoverished majority of humankind in the South and also,
increasingly, in the North. No nation so dramatically divided has ever
remained stable; no frontier or force can withstand the despair and
resentment that a failed system is now actively generating."(4)
The dominant 'free' market economy is a myth and the state planned
economy cannot give an adequate answer to the current crisis. These
economy policies are depleting the natural resources of our earth
rapidly to the advantage of a minority and the disadvantage of the
rest and thus ignoring the rights of other living things, the
disadvantaged and the future generations.
Despite all these the reasons for the perpetuation of these policies
are, the desire of the privileged to perpetuate their interests, the
deprivation of the masses of the freedom required to get out of the
system thus their dependency to the status quo and the inefficiency of
those people who struggle for change.
* Edited by the groups that have come together under the name of
Alternative Habitat Platform and held Alternative Habitat activities
during Habitat Summit. Although it seems that some of the issues in
the declaration are specific to Turkey, the host country to Habitat II
Summit, we believe that in different appearances and at different
levels these issues also concern other "developing" and the
"developed" countries.
NOTES
(1),(2) Money vs. Life: Conflicting Rights, David C. Korten
http://www.earthrights.net/iahg.html
email: orhano@boun.edu.tr
LAST WORD
(3) Alanna Hartzok, Financing Planet Management
(4) The Copenhagen Alternative Declaration, People-Centered Development Forum