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We Need 1,000 Cochabambas
Getting the Message from the UNFCCC: “Just Go Home.” . . . and ORGANIZE!
Months before civil society boarded planes or hopped on buses and bikes destined for Cancun (yes, we met up with a small contingent of cyclists arriving from West Virginia) — it was clear that we weren’t really very welcome.
Far too few of us were even approved as credentialed NGO observers. The Moon Palace conference site was miles and miles away from the city center, and those without credentials were left out in the Cancun sun. When La Via Campesina attempted to set up their gathering site nearby, the permits were denied.
For anyone who might have thought we could ingratiate ourselves upon arrival with a heartfelt message from the people of planet Earth, those notions were quickly set straight: We were eschewed, ignored, stopped, searched, silenced, kicked out, barricaded, and banned.
Despite Bolivia’s introduction to the UNFCCC of the People’s Accord that emerged from 35,000 people gathered in Cochabamba earlier this year, it mysteriously disappeared from the negotiating table in Cancun. Police detained caravans of campesinos and internationals en route carrying messages from communities across Mexico who themselves could not come to Cancun. When some 20 caravans finally converged for a spiritual ceremony at the ancient Mayan temple of Chichen Itza two hours west of Cancun, they were turned away at the gates. Intense police barricades stopped the civil society march miles from the official space or the public eye. Those who dared to enter the Moon Palace to publicly opposed the market-based mechanism of the carbon trading scheme REDD were silenced, hauled away and some had their credentials revoked.
OK we get it. Go home already.
Last year’s talks in Copenhagen made it clear that the official United Nations FCCC process is based not on the root causes of environmental exploitation—but ‘market fixes’ to the same corporate-led economic model and ‘endless-more’ value system that have driven us to the cliff’s edge. In Cancun it has become clear that even the modest goals set forth in Kyoto can’t stand against the juggernaut of economic growth at all costs.
There were voices of reason at the table. Bolivia’s UN Ambassador and negotiator to the talks, Pablo Salon, in taking seriously the People’s Accord and Rights of Nature Declaration that came out of the Cochabamba World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth is being called an agitator stalling progress within the official negotiations.
Yesterday, Bolivian President Evo Morales spoke eloquently about the need for a radically new path forward: “In past decades, the United Nations approved human rights, then civil rights, economic and political rights, and finally a few years ago indigenous rights. In this new century, it is time to debate and discuss rights of Mother Earth. These include the right to regenerate biocapacity, the right to life without contamination.”
But the Bolivians who came to the negotiations to represent social movements and to seriously address the failure of the market to protect the planet have been isolated, sidelined and ridiculed along with the rest of us who stand outside. As Bolivia’s official statement from this morning pronounces “History will be the judge of what has happened in Cancun.”
Many came to bring the message of Cochabamba to Cancun. But where do we go from here if the lessons of Copenhagen and Cancun are that our leaders are deaf to the cries of the planet?
The UNFCCC may have it right—we should just go home. It is time to deliver the message of Cochabamba to the people who are capable of creating change, of creating 1,000 Cochabambas.
Last month with the help of Global Exchange partners the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Pittsburgh, PA became the first major U.S. city to ban natural gas drilling while elevating community decision-making and the rights of nature over corporate “rights.” They join over 125 communities who are also taking local control of their destinies, refusing to become sacrifice zones for the good of the market and the destruction of the environment.
Along with CELDF, Global Exchange is working with dozens of communities here at home to do the same thing, from Mt. Shasta CA to Big Sur to Santa Monica. Buffalo New York. New Mexico. Maine. Washington State. Ecuador. Bolivia. In all of these places, a new set of rules is being put into place.
If we want to be heard at the UN, then we need to go home and build the revolution of change in the places where we live. That is what Global Exchange came to Cancun for — to link arms with our friends on the outside toward building a real movement for rights—for nature and for our communities.
Global Exchange, the Council of Canadians and Fundacion Pachamama‘s new report for Cancun, “Does Nature have Rights? Transforming Grassroots Organizing to Protect People and the Planet” explores the grassroots movement for the rights of nature taking root. The way forward is in our own backyards.
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15 Comments so far
Show AllThe United Nations big wigs should be welcoming these people backing action on climate change with open arms.
AD
Despite some extreme snow events and harsh winter conditions in the northern United States, our climate continues showing how the overall, global increases in temperature are contributing to this instability which is causing social, economic, and environental chaos on a massive scale. But the corporate influence is swaying the sheep into believing that climate change is a hoax and some left-wing, "socialist" plot. Therein lies the real shame-the ignorance.
The only organism in nature that closely resembles humankinds need for continous growth at all costs is the cancer cell, or maybe some forms of parasite.....except in our case, we will not kill the host, the host will kill us.
In a couple thousand years, the earth will again be a pristine wilderness, minus humans.
I once heard an ecology professor say that if you want to save the Earth, grand ideas and political acumen not withstanding, the best thing you can do is save some money and buy some land and take care of it. I thought yes, but... a good thing to do, not only protecting the land, but in what it teaches about being part of something greater.
To the uber-rich you are just 1,000 cucarachas.
mujeriego
I think you'll find that very wealthy people seek to be exempt from the regulations and taxes they impose on the middle classes on behalf of the poor they studiously avoid. And that they have little interest in seeing initialization of the issues they give lip service to.
There aren't many nations in the world that welcome protesters these days if ever.
We keep trying to organize a large meeting of protest and convention but we are never welcome.
These folks might have spent a good part of their income and savings to go to Mexico and be virtually kicked out. This happens time and time again and what they were going to tell each other they already knew, just like we all know the message reading it on the internet without spending money for passports and plane tickets which pollute the air anyway.
Conventional thinking or "lets have a convention" is for the rich and powerful who have the government on their side before the trouble starts.
Chicago in 68 sent the tone and message and it hasn't changed, only much worse.
The method of organizing for the needs of the Poor and the Earth need to be realistic and effective to welcome the participation of poor folks instead of privileged upper middle class activists who can afford to travel the globe to be abused and ignored.
I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Stop worrying about CO2, which is fairly unregulatable, and focus on getting rid of subsidies for coal, gas, oil and nuclear and promoting a revenue neutral btu tax, possibly Al Gore's best idea. That right there is opening up a two front war they are not yet prepared to fight. A carbon tax gives nuclear a free ride. Cap and Trade was developed by Henry "Hank" Paulson when he was at Goldman Sachs, enough said. Other methods, which sound a bit better still involve enormous regulatory structure, ripe for corruption (see: Dept of Homeland Security, FDA, USDA, EPA)
Focus on the goal, not the method: understand the transition phase because that is an unknow that always scares people. By the way, removing subsidies of fossil fuels will also promote public transportation.
Excellent comment!!!!!
If I could give this comment a rating, I would give it an excellent one. I would add that the way our system is setup, the big talkers, money churners, and stupid celebrities get to make a living preaching like hell about CO2 emissions while those of us turning to small but important alternatives get cast off as "do nothings" or blaming us as "part of the problem".
P.S.: Anyone who calls your comment "against global warming" should get a brain surgery.
Thanks, Jennifer. It's sad but true that people get caught up in being right rather than solving problems.
Wow, what a mix of opinions. Democracy truly is messy. One resounding sentiment is clear. WE don't like the way things are going. How do WE get THEM (the minority) who owns and controls almost everything to do what we want them to do. The article says WE NEED 1000 COCHABAMBA. This gathering did not consist of your typical "privileged upper middle class activists who can afford to travel the globe to be abused and ignored" as Tim Glover may assume. These are concerned global citizens, whose lives, not livelihoods, are at stake as corporations come in to extract resources from their land. It is not merely a lifestyle choice for them. Given the expanding crisis, neither is it an option for us.
It is interesting that a conference held on the premise of concerned for all the citizens of the Earth, none of our concerns were ever heard. Whose interest is really being discussed here? It has turned into a parlor game played by the powerful factions. At the end of the day, nothing has really changed.
All the peoples of the Earth must now see our common cause, and with one voice tell our world governments what we the people want. This discussion is good, if it empowers us, unites us and leads us to joyful action. Joyful, because we have rediscovered our humanity and connection to the Earth.
Waste of time. Fashion statement. Not enough people onboard to bring about change.
We will not have enough people onboard to challenge the status quo until the people understand the issues. The people will not understand the issues until the media tells the truth. The media will not tell the truth until we abolish MEDIA CONTROL.
PUT THE HORSE BEFORE THE CARRIAGE: STOP MEDIA CONTROL!!!
my mother always said that ten well-meaning people can't stop one determined bad guy.
a tiny group of people, well-organized, well-funded, and aggressive, will defeat the rest of the people
issue after issue
unless the tiny group is crushed for good.
how? stop participating. boycott. how about a "corporate product / service free holiday"?