Feature: Two summits in Los Angeles -- ordinary Americans speak out

LOS ANGELES, June 12 (Xinhua) -- "I would say that the summit overall has to be characterized as a failure," 22-year-old Kenji Granberry told Xinhua when commenting on the ninth Summit of the Americas that concluded on Friday.

"Because it was designed to bring people together, but Mr. President (Joe Biden) hosting the event don't trust them and don't give them the opportunity to actually share their voices," said the young African American, an Angelino who was wearing a black mask, adding "that's not how democracy works."

He called the absence of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, as well as some of the Central American nations, as a "kind of boycott against the event."

Granberry's opinion was shared by many local people, who questioned the so-called achievement of an exclusionary summit.

Kayo Elie, a 31-year-old salesman living in San Diego, California, told Xinhua on Saturday, "I don't think that this summit can achieve any things that they set out to achieve without including every member of the American continent. With (what) they have done, there's no way (they) can succeed after this summit."

U.S. President Joe Biden skipped the traditional closing press conference on Friday, though, according to Politico, and First Lady Jill Biden said every leader came up to Biden at the sidelines of the summit to say good words about the U.S. president and their cooperation.

"I think, since the pandemic, everything has shown the world that America is truly an empire in decline, our relationship even in our Hemisphere is ridging, the control we used to have over South America has diminished. The people are waking up and seeing that not just in South America and North America, but hopefully and soon all over the world," Elie noted.

For more Americans, what the White House held can only be called a "Summit of some Americas" or "Summit of Exclusion." They wanted a fair discussion covering more extensive topics that Americans feel really concerned about.

Therefore, while Biden hosted his controversial Summit of the Americas in the Los Angeles Convention Center this week, another summit, the People's Summit for Democracy, convened just down the street in the same city to present a different view of the region and the world's possible future.

The People's Summit covered key issues impacting the world that were not adequately addressed at Biden's summit. Those included women's and minority rights, unfair socio-political systems, systematic white supremacy, patriarchal control, adequate food and housing, deficits in health systems that limit access to healthcare for those with low income, unfettered capitalism and the U.S. global hegemony.

"We need a new paradigm of global sustainability," Cindy Weisner, executive director of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance told Xinhua.

Delegations from the United States, Brazil, Haiti, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Ghana, and South Africa participated in the People's Summit for Democracy, the organizer said, adding it was supported by over 225 organizations, trade unions, social movements and cultural groups.

"We will build bridges across historic divides through dialogue and exchange, connect struggles that for too long have been isolated, and uplift the voices of all those excluded from Patagonia to California," said a press release from the People's Summit for Democracy.

"Poverty," "equality" and "racism" were keywords mentioned by many attendees in panels of the People's Summit, who agreed that the United States should first resolve domestic problems before intervening in other countries' affairs.

"Equality and a sustainable global future for all peoples is impossible when a handful of countries and their corporate partners control the global monetary systems, global resources, weaponry and communications, and advanced science and technology," a financial advisor Sue Chen told Xinhua, suggesting higher taxes on wealth, inheritance, capital gains and income.

An activist from Trenton, New Jersey, noted on condition of anonymity that American people need to disarm the war machine of the military-industrial complex, saying it "sucks trillions of dollars out of the global economy" and "we (can) use that money to fund socially-beneficial programs, sustainable production and renewable energy."

"We need to hope and radically re-image everything," said Weisner, leader of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance. "We don't just want equality -- we want a different world."