The following statement is submitted by the American Friends Service
Committee, Center for Community Action, Center for Integrating Research and
Action, Center of Concern, Delmarva Community Alliance, Fuerza Unida,
Inmigrantes Latinos en Accion, and Sociologists for Women in Society and
reflects the concerns expressed in our two workshops at the social forum.

We must challenge the domination of the white, western, rational selfish
individual man as the key economic actor in pursuit of his own desires
through the market. We must reframe the economic actor as one with other
types of motivation like altruism, empathy for others, love and compassion,
the pursuit of art and beauty for its own sake, reciprocity and care. One
way to do this is to refuse, resist, and reject the commodification of those
things that are necessary for the maintenance of human life, including food,
water and care. For example, the pending FTAs which have a
disproportionately negative effect on women, particularly poor and working
women in the U.S. and developing countries should be rejected.

Work in the informal economy must be recognized and fairly valued. The U.S.
cannot continue to support a persistent, invisible underclass of exploited
workers (eg. Domestic workers, landscapers, construction workers and
janitorial workers). All workers deserve fair wages and legal protection of
employment contracts (verbal and written), including criminal penalties for
those employers and recruiters defrauding or withholding wages from any
worker, documented or undocumented.

Progressive movements must call on our governments to support, and advance
independently of government initiatives, alternatives to corporate-driven
capitalism. As a society, we must invest in rebuilding local economies and
local food systems. We must change the existing pattern of production and
consumption and relocalize the economy to advance the direct exchange
between producer and consumer.