From Copenhagen to Cochabomba…
January 19, 2010 at 5:39 pm climatecaravan 4 comments
COP15 was only the first step in the battle to protect Mother Earth
At the closing sessions of COP15, on Friday afternoon December 18, a joint news conference was held with Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. They spared no criticism of the climate conference in Copenhagen and called the proceedings undemocratic. They echoed the calls from Klimaforum and various global social movements for System Change and both said that if we are to live sustainably, capitalism will have to come to an end. Chavez saluted the Climate Action Protesters who were busy out in the streets and read out some of their slogans. Evo Morales called for the most ambitious proposal so far by any head of state; on world leaders to hold temperature increases over the next century to just one degree Celsius. Morales also called on the United States and other wealthy nations to pay an ecological debt to Bolivia and other developing nations.
Subsequently, arising from the overall failure of COP15 a Peoples’ World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth’s Rights will take place on Mother Earth Day April 22, 2010 in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez closing remarks to COP15
Evo Morales: Spanish 1 | Hugo Chavez: Spanish with subtitles english 1 | 2 | 3 English, Dubbed over, Official COP15 broadcast 1 | 2 | 3
A deeper look at what alternatives Bolivia and Venezuala propose:
Speaking on Democracy Now! Bolivian President Evo Morales on Climate Debt, Capitalism, Why He Wants a Tribunal for Climate Justice and Much More (link includes full transcript of the interview)
Bolivian President Evo Morales joins us in Copenhagen to talk about the UN climate talks, capitalism, climate debt and much more. “Policies of unlimited industrialization are what destroys the environment,” Morales said. “And that irrational industrialization is capitalism.”
PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: [translated] Defense of the rights of Mother Earth (Pachamama). The earth is our life. Nature is our home, our house. Happily, the United Nations have declared a Mother Earth Day. If the mother is recognized as Mother Earth, it’s something that can’t be sold, it’s something that can’t be—it can’t be violated, something sacred. This is nature. This is planet earth. And that’s why I’ve come here, to defend the rights of Mother Earth, to defend the rights to life, to defend humanity and saving Mother Earth…
AMY GOODMAN: You spoke yesterday here at the Bella Center and said we cannot end global warming without ending capitalism. What did you mean?
PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: [translated] Capitalism is the worst enemy of humanity. Capitalism—and I’m speaking about irrational development—policies of unlimited industrialization are what destroys the environment. And that irrational industrialization is capitalism. So as long as we don’t review or revise those policies, it’s impossible to attend to humanity and life.
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Democracy Now! Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on How to Tackle Climate Change: “We Must Go from Capitalism to Socialism” (link includes full transcript of the interview)
AMY GOODMAN: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez spared no criticism of the climate conference in Copenhagen. At a joint news conference he held with the Bolivian president Evo Morales on Friday afternoon (Dec 18)—this was before President Obama announced the accord—Chavez called the proceedings undemocratic and accused world leaders of only seeking a face-saving agreement. He described President Obama as having won the “Nobel war prize” and said the world still smelled of sulfur, referring to his comments about President Bush at the United Nations last year.
AMY GOODMAN: How do you throw away capitalism?
PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ: [translated] The way they did it in Cuba. That’s the way. The same way we are doing in Venezuela: giving the power to the people and taking it away from the economic elites. You can only do that through a revolution.
And from all this…
US Climate Envoy Blames ALBA for Copenhagen Failure, Backs Sidelining UN (ALBA – Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América, or, Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America )
Bolivia rejects US blame game on Copenhagen and calls for the people to decide
Entry filed under: english, indigenous, pachamama. Tags: ALBA, bolivia, climate change, cop15, copenhagen, Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez, peoples assembly, venezuala.
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1. Tweets that mention From Copenhagen to Cochabomba… « Climatecaravan' Social & Climate Justice Caravan -- Topsy.com | January 22, 2010 at 1:42 am
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by boatsie and Cory Morningstar, climate caravan. climate caravan said: From Copenhagen to Cochabomba… http://tinyurl.com/yk99qhc #climate #cop15 #climatejustice #solidarity #protest #alba #bolivia #americalatina […]
2. Reclaim Power, that talk, that “riot”, that action, the consequences « Climatecaravan' Social & Climate Justice Caravan | January 29, 2010 at 2:33 pm
[…] and lastly, after a sound criticism of the entire undemocratic COP15 process, Bolivia have called for a Peoples’ World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth’s […]
3.
Tony Phillips | January 29, 2010 at 9:10 pm
WSFTV dot net the world social forum video website shows a speech from Solon (Bolivian negotiator) on the plans for Cochabamba: search for “FSM10: Intervencion de Pablo Solón, embajador de Bolivia ante la ONU” you will find it. On the same page you will find my translation into English — the basics of which I pasted below:
His excellency Solon begins by talking about the Copenhagen closed door negotiations, unacceptable 3:00AM impositions with options of “sixty minutes to approve” subsequently refused by Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Tuvalu (& Bolivia) leading to the weak “noted” non-agreement.
He goes on to speak to current strategy of major economies to force “the agreement” down their throats of the G77 which is still trying to negotiate as a block — Solon emphasizes the importance of unity and especially with the BASIS countries.
The “offer” he says will not work, comparing the Bolivian offer of 49% cuts for 2017/2020 with the derisory US offer of 3-4%, he describes it as not just insufficient but inadequate and going in the wrong direction (killing Kyoto on the way). He goes on to speak about various derisory offers of money and carbon market mechanisms (again unacceptable, unworkable and insufficient).
Finally he calls on social movements and talks to the proposed April meeting in Cochabamba. Solon discusses the following suggestions to meet structural problems underlying the capitalist economic system itself emphasizing the need for “very” large social pressures to drive the system change.
. rights for nature / mother earth (“La Pachamama” to the Quetcha and the Aymara) — UN universal declaration of rights.
. UN tribunal for climate justice which will have teeth for multinationals and nations if they fail to comply.
. Climate Migrant rights` — US, Europe and Japan (responsible for climate change) need to receive these migrants
. Movement for 100 million people to demonstrate across the planet — level of global action needs to be larger than ever to bring visibility to the demands from Cochabamba.
If you can’t find the video just go to WSFTV dot NET
4. Klimabevegelsen – Hva nå? « Blikk – Nyheter for aktivister | January 31, 2010 at 1:47 pm
[…] after a sound criticism of the entire undemocratic COP15 process, Bolivia have called for a Peoples’ World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth’s […]