Come to Brussels from 18th to 21st November, to help build that movement!

In the run up to the UN climate negotiations in Durban, we will bring together environmentalists, trade unionists, people involved in youth, students and women’s movements, small farmers, and concerned citizens from across Europe for 3 days of actions, discussions, workshops and debate. The event builds on the event in November last year, which attracted over 250 climate justice activists, and people from social and environmental movements from around Europe.
The aim of the Assembly is to build a movement that can put forward socially just answers to the climate crisis, in solidarity with those communities in the north and south who will be the hardest hit by the impacts of climate change.
See http://www.climateassembly.org for a review of the event.

We will provide a space for environmental and social movements to come together to take action, discuss strategies and make plans for building a movement for climate justice in Europe. It will also be a space to discuss the real solutions to climate change including: the transformation of the energy system away from nuclear power and fossil fuels – towards democratically controlled renewable energy, and energy efficiency; food sovereignty; and alternatives to market based solutions to the climate crisis.

The Assembly starts with an action and social event on the Friday evening, followed on the Saturday morning by the general meeting of the Belgian movement “Climate and Social Justice” (all are welcome, although the meeting will be in Dutch and French), a series of workshops on campaigning/action techniques, and an action in Brussels city centre. On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, there will be workshops around the 3 themes: Energy production and consumption, Food Sovereignty, and Opposing carbon trading. If you would like to offer workshops on any of these themes, please get in touch.
On Saturday evening, we will have a public meeting with international speakers presenting their struggles for climate justice. The event will finish on Sunday with a panel discussion on how we build a movement in Europe during Durban and in the run-up to the Rio+20 summit in June 2012.

There will be space for groups to plan their own climate justice actions to take place on Monday 21st.

Holding the assembly one week before the start of COP17 will hopefully allow people who will also be traveling to Durban to attend the Assembly. The groups making this call are also supporting the international demonstrations on climate change, on 3rd December.

If you, or your organisation, is interested in helping to organise the Assembly, or if you have suggestions for the programme (or if you just want to stay up to date with the plans), please get in touch via:
david.heller@foeeurope.org

It’s Getting Hot In Here reports:

This morning, while 50 of their friends faced another day in jail, 45 more Americans were arrested as part of an ongoing sit-in at the White House this morning.The DC Park Police have been telling organizers of the sit-in that they were keeping the first wave of demonstrators in jail in order to deter people from taking part in the civil disobedience. In fact, the arrests have had just the opposite affect.

According to Environment News Service, a total of 162 have been arrested by now.

Read more at www.tarsandsaction.org and watch the video:

Through placing undercover officers in our movement, using mass preemptive arrest and rigging our trial, the state has deliberately attempted to silence dissenting voices. This quelling of dissent, now repeated in the young people facing prison for protesting against the attacks on public services, is fundamentally undemocratic. It is yet another example of those in power protecting their own interests.

Whether it’s E.ON Energy or News International, the government and police have a track record of colluding with big business. We need to look at the root causes of climate change, and ask why the profits of corporations such as E.ON are being prioritised over future generations, and the millions already on the front line of our changing climate. Taking action on climate change is not an act of moral righteousness, its about protecting our future. History is full of examples of ordinary people acting to defend their rights and those of others, and we need a strong movement of people doing just that.

Winning this appeal is just one small victory in the fight against the systemically political nature of policing. We stand in solidarity with all those have suffered injustice from the state or face repression for daring to take political action.”

In his judgment the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, said that the convictions had been a miscarriage of justice. The full judgment can be found here: http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgments/barkshire-others-v-r.pdf

For more information see: http://ratcliffeontrial.org/

On the 1st of June 2011 the High Court of Denmark sentenced Tannie Nyboe and Stine Gry Jonassen two months of prison and two months of suspended prison (one year of probation) for their involvement in the non-violent civil disobedient mass action Reclaim Power – Pushing for Climate Justice that took place on the 16th of December 2009 during the COP15 in Copenhagen (i.e., the 15th Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

The purpose of the action, which was mobilised by the global network Climate Justice Action (CJA), was to hold a popular assembly which challenged the legitimacy of the official COP negotiations. Protesters from outside and critical accredited participants from inside were to create a platform for the people and groups mostly affected by climate change, whose voices were (and still are) not being listened to in the official COP negotiations (See this video for a summary of the action).

Acting as Danish spokesperson for the CJA in the period leading up to the COP15, speaking with Danish media and the police about the purpose of the action and its non-violent action codex, Tannie and Stine Gry were asked to facilitate communication on the sound truck during the Reclaim Power action. This led to them being arrested and held personally responsible for the action. The main evidence used against them was that they allegedly shouted “push” from the sound truck during the demonstration, along with thousands of other protesters.

On the 25th of November 2010 the Copenhagen District Court found Tannie and Stine Gry guilty in planning and instigating violence against the police (§119), serious disturbance of public peace and order (§134a), trespassing (§264) and vandalism (§291). They received a four months suspended prison sentence with one year of probation (for more on this, see summary of first court case and a list of international media coverage).

Not satisfied with the sentence, the police decided to appeal to the High Court of Denmark. Although this resulted in the fourth charge of vandalism (§291) being dropped, the appeal also resulted in Tannie and Stine Gry receiving a stiffer sentence than before, so that they now face two months of prison and two months of suspended prison with one year of probation (The Guardian, 2 June 2011). In addition to this Tannie and Stine Gry face high court costs, possibly up to 30.000 Euros or more.

But WE ALL SHOUTED PUSH and we all pushed together for climate justice the 16th of December 2009!

In holding two individuals responsible for a whole movement’s collective decision-making and collective protests, Tannie and Stine Gry’s verdict violates and undermines fundamental principles of social movement politics. The case clearly demonstrates how societal structures in “democratic countries” like Denmark scare people from protesting and organizing politically, killing off critical voices that dare to stand forward in the media.

What we are witnessing is a violation of the freedom of speech and our right to assembly, in other words a tactic of repression aimed at silencing social movements. For people to not be afraid to speak out in the future we need to show solidarity with individuals who are targets of political repression. It is thus of fundamental importance that there is a collective response of solidarity with Tannie and Stine Gry.

We cannot change the prison sentence; Tannie and Stine Gry will pay for the action of a whole movement by having their bodies locked behind prison walls for two months minimum. However, we can do something to cover the court costs collectively, therefore the Climate Collective encourages individuals, groups, collectives and organisations that were involved in the CJA mobilisation leading up to the COP15, and/or that participated in the Reclaim Power action on the 16th of December 2009, and others that wish to show solidarity with Tannie and Stine Gry, to help covering our common court expenses.

This can be done in a variety of ways: individuals can for instance contribute with their salary earned from one day of work, groups and collectives can make support dinners or parties, more established NGOs are encouraged to donate money to the cause from their funds. These ideas are not exhaustive and activists are encouraged to think creatively and contribute in whatever ways they can and feel like.

Please help us raise money for court expenses

With the beginning of the new trial, Climate Collective expresses once again its solidarity and support to the climate activists Stine and Tannie that are [were] facing charges in relation to the ‘Reclaim Power! Pushing for Climate Justice’ action that took place during the protests against COP15 in 2009. Stine and Tannie acted as spokespersons for the Climate Justice Action (CJA) network, communicating and explaining the Reclaim Power! action to the media. Reclaim Power was built and planned on consensus in open, international meetings that took place before and during COP15 in Copenhagen. Climate Collective finds it outrageous that two activists are made responsible for the actions of an entire movement.

(…)

It has finished today Stine and Tannie’s court case that had been appealed to the second level of court [just below supreme court]. The two CJA spokespersons have been sentenced to two months jail plus two months probation, and to pay the costs of court.

More news:

• Guardian
• Climate Collective: pre-trial post-trial
• Politiken, Danish newspaper: Danish English
• Modkraft.dk: Danish English

So far, 387 people have expressed their co-participation online, to testify that this was a non-violent mass-action: We also shouted PUSH!

In 2011 the climate science is as strong as ever – and the need for action on climate change never greater – but the political landscape is radically different. As a movement, to be relevant, we need to move with the times. Therefore the Camp for Climate Action has decided, after much discussion and reflection, to change. To that effect,

1. We will not organise a national Climate Camp in 2011.
2. We will not organise national gatherings as ‘Climate Camp’ or the Camp for Climate Action in 2011.
   This closure is intended to allow new tactics, organising methods and processes to emerge in this time of whirlwind change.  With the skills, networks and trust we have built we will launch new radical experiments to tackle the intertwined ecological, social and economic crises we face. To that effect,
3. We have created interim working groups to manage the transition.
4. There will be a major meeting in the near future.

An explanation

In 2006, 600 people camped in the shadow of Drax power station in West Yorkshire, the UK’s biggest, single source of carbon dioxide, for ten days of learning and sustainable living, culminating in a day of mass action against the power station. Our aim was to kick-start a social movement to tackle climate change. This experiment – its organisation and the form – fitted that moment and proved a success. Instead of a one-off camp we then went on to target planned infrastructure projects that showed the suicidal nature of ‘economic development’. In 2007, we made the daring and difficult decision to join the campaign against the expansion of Heathrow Airport culminating in 2,000 people camped on the site of a proposed third runway. In 2008, we opposed the building of a new coal-fired power-station at Kinsgnorth, Kent, the first in the UK for 20 years. Despite police infiltration, repression and violence, plus regular media attacks, these camps, in alliance with diverse campaigns, won. Neither looks set to be built.

As the financial crisis unfolded we moved to directly targeting the root cause of airport expansion and coal-fired power stations: our economic system. We had a hectic 2009.  When London hosted the G20 in April, the European Climate Exchange (home of EU carbon trading) had to close its doors after 4,000 people set up camp on Bishopsgate, in London’s financial centre.  Later that year we organised a camp at Blackheath overlooking the City of London, attended by over 5,000 people. There was no mass action at the camp – we separated it to be more effective – so in October 1,000 people swooped to shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, in Nottinghamshire, a major carbon emitter owned by E.ON the energy giant behind the Kingsnorth plans.  In December, many travelled on Climate Camp coaches to Copenhagen as part of our affiliation to the international direct action network Climate Justice Action, against the skewed UN negotiations known as COP 15. Despite much success, weaknesses in our organisational structures and processes were exposed within our networks.

There had been a dramatic surge in climate-related action, understanding of the root causes of the crisis, and developing truly sustainable and socially just solutions. But many worried that using the same tactic – mass squatted action camps in antagonistic locations – would become ineffectual. Yet, these camps were an inspirational experience for large numbers of people. So, again we camped, taking aim at RBS, the now publicly owned ‘Oil and Gas Bank’. For the first time we actually squatted the land of our target – RBS global headquarters near Edinburgh – a massive success. But the decision, target and form of action were being hotly debated within the movement.

As a result, we continued a process of deep reflection and in November 2010, at our national gathering in Manchester, it was decided that we needed additional time to think and strategise together about the future of Climate Camp. We therefore held a week-long ‘retreat’ type event at Monkton Wyld in Dorset to figure out what to do. Fittingly, the Manchester gathering named the event ‘Space for Change’.

Over six days, about 70 people shared their experiences and critical reflection. We should not pretend that these discussions were easy. We talked about the limitations of an organisational model built to plan one camp a year, when we now have both the will and capacity to do much more. We debated the constraints of this model, which was devised when we were much smaller in numbers. We discussed how other movements and groups have responded to changing circumstances in the past to learn from those experiences. Here is not the place to repeat the discussions: extensive minutes will follow on our website. But the premise is worth repeating: how do we best harness the energy, dynamism and commitment to fight the root causes of climate change at local, national and international levels? How do we best grow a climate justice social movement that is relevant, vibrant and successful over the next few years? What organisational structures, consistent with our desire to tackle hierarchy, will take us to a new level of participation and action?

The decision not to organise a camp, nor organise as Climate Camp or the Camp for Climate Action, will be a shock to some, and may provoke a lot of questions. We hope these decisions will give space and time for those questions to evolve into new forms of effective and inspiring action and organisation. This is no retreat from organised large-scale action on climate change, rather a freeing of our energy to organise much more effectively all year round. For local groups using the Climate Camp name, these decisions are not intended to direct them, as they have always been autonomous.

Internationally, it has been amazingly inspiring to see that climate camps have happened from Ghana to the US, France to Australia. Wherever people are, we urge them to use the organisational tools and tactics that have been popularised or developed by Climate Camp if they are useful and relevant: these were never ours to own.

What next?

To make sure that we don’t lose what we have learnt over the years, nor the capacity, relationships, networks and skills, we have created four interim working groups to help us in this transition:

1. A group to maximise the usefulness of our material resources.
2. A group to address ongoing communications plus learn from and document our experiences over the past few years.
3. A group to investigate new organisational forms, structures and tactics for possible next experiments.
4. A group to organise a meeting to share ideas about these next experiments.

The next newsletter will let everyone know how to get involved in these, with all information also posted on our website. Details of the meeting will also be made available shortly. Separately, the Climate Camp legal team will continue ongoing legal actions against the police.

Nothing lasts forever. Movements have to move. That doesn’t mean there won’t be grieving: many of us have given heart and soul to Climate Camp. But we can’t demand that society changes radically, while we ourselves do not. As everyone who has tried something daringly new knows, it can be scary and there are no guarantees of success. But that didn’t stop us before the first Climate Camp, nor did it stop the students at Millbank, nor the people of the Middle East. And it shouldn’t stop us now.

Yes, Climate Camp leaves a space. What fills that space is up to us. This is a unique opportunity to work together with others to create a more co-ordinated, dynamic and stronger movement against climate change and its root causes. Now is a chance to team up with the anti-cuts and anti-austerity movements and play a crucial role in the revolutionary times ahead. Anything but co-ordinated action is doomed to fail.

See you on the streets.

The Camp for Climate Action. Monkton Wyld, Dorset. 27 February 2011.

“When storms come, some build walls, some are thrown by the wind, others build windmills.” Lao Tzu

The report backs are separated into two series. The first was sent out last week and is now posted on the Climate Justice Action website (http://www.climate-justice-action.org/). It was a reflection on the days of November 29 to December 4^th - the official first week of COP16- plus some 1000 Cancuns actions and report backs that occurred a few days before the conference began. This is the second series of report backs that looks back on days of December 5^th-12^th. If you are interested in writing a report back or sending us information on your 1000 Cancuns action, or if you participated in a Climate Justice event in Cancun please send an email to info@climate-justice-action.org.

In solidarity with our friends and allies towards building system change not climate change.

- Climate Justice Action

4 DECEMBER

A “Counter-summit” in Cancon, France

French global justice organizations Attac, Confédération paysanne, les Amis de la Terre, and BIZI! organised a Counter-summit in the city of Cancon, located in the South West of France. Their objectives were to point out local struggles and experiences that fight against environmental and climate crisis in the areas of transportation, energy, construction and finance. It has been an opportunity to build up the movement for environmental justice, anchor it in concrete practices, and start mobilizing in view of upcoming deadlines, such as the G20 Summit planned in Nice (France) in November 2011.

More then 1,000 activists gathered in the small city of Cancon. Despite the snow and ice, participants shared thoughts, experiences, and methods of actions. Nine round tables were organized, discussing alternatives that are very concrete and achievable solutions to the causes of global warming. Solutions exist but what is missing today is the political will to implement them. The message was “we should not build electric cars or trucks running on biofuels but massively reduce their numbers through the radical development of public transportation. We should stop wasting money on suicidal projects, such as the new Notre Dame des Landes airport in Nantes.”

The fight for Climate Justice is unique in the sense that it unites global activists from the North and the South in the same crucial battles. It also allows us to share the same Climate Justice strategies. The meetings of Cancon and Cancun were a great symbol of this reality. The Cancon counter summit lasted about 8 hours, and 600 people filled the conference room remaining energetic and passionate until the end.

For more information go to: http://blog.cancon2010.org

4 DECEMBER- 9 DECEMBER

Cross Canada Peoples’ Assemblies on Climate Justice

People’s Assemblies on Climate Justice were held all across Canada between December 4^th and December 9^th. “People’s Assemblies on Climate Justice are movement-building and organizing events.  A gathering of people that will transform awareness into action through climate justice actions in your community.” Cities that took part in this cross country event were Calagary, Charlottetown, Brockville, Edmonton, Halifax, London Ontario, Peterborough, Regina, Saint John, Toronto, Saskatoon, Vancouver an regions of Delta, Richmond, Surrey, White Rock, Langley and Burnaby.

Check out all the details here: http://www.canadians.org/energy/issues/climatejustice/assembly.html

5 DECEMBER

Klimaforum 10

Into the second week of COP16, tensions have heightened between the people inside and outside of the Moon Palace- the hosting venue of the COP16. Grassroots movements and actions within the proximity of the negotiations have been shut down and activists literally bussed out of the surrounding area. Moreover, a number of prominent Climate Justice voices have had their COP16 access passes suspended such as prominent Indigenous activist Tom Goldtooth. Just as we saw at COP15 last year, COP16 is once again excluding the voices of real climate crisis solutions from the inner walls of the conference.

On the other hand, Klimaforum 10 has been a space of inclusion and democratic representation for all Climate Justice voices from the very start. It is an alternative conference that keeps track of the diplomatic negotiating processes, and in turn discusses alternatives to the extreme shortfalls of them.

Discussions have ranged from degrowth to implementing real solutions to climate change, while drum circles and meditation have also been part of the Klimaforum experience this year. HansHenrick Samuelsen, organizer of the first Klimaforum held last year at COP15 explains, “a lot of people are here without accreditation, who want to find out what climate change is all about. We really need these open spaces so people can explain what’s actually going on with the planet.”

7 DECEMBER

La Via Campesina’s “Global Day of Action for Climate Justice”

7 December, Cancun- Over 1,000 activists and farmers from far and wide gathered for La Via Campesina’s “Global Day of Action for Climate Justice” in Cancun. The protest focused on messages such as resisting the false solutions put forth by transnational corporations and states. Carbon trading, political loopholes that ignore reductions in carbon emissions, and the weak reinforcement of faulty global free markets are the cause of the climate crisis. The focus was on the people who are directly experiencing the effects of catastrophic climate change right now. Journalist Mike Burke was on scene with Democracy Now and interviewed Rogelio Alquisiras Burgos, a member of the National Union of Regional Autonomous Peasant Communities. Burgos explained that “the villagers of the world are the ones most affected by global warming. We are the most affected by the loss of our harvests. We have to deal with the effects of hurricanes, floods, droughts and with the changing climate.” Anti REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) signs, chants, and slogans were also a major focus of the demonstration. Clayton Thomas-Muller, an Indigenous Cree First Nations person and prominent Indigenous activist, stated “REDD is nothing more than a market scheme aimed at privatizing the lands of Indigenous peoples in the Global South and turning them into commodities to be bought and sold on the International Forest Carbon facility. This type of market-based mechanism will enable industrialized nations of the North, investors in the World Bank, to continue to expand the fossil fuel regime and prop up the fossil fuel based economy.

On their way to the Moon Palace, the protestors were stopped by a massive barricade that looked much more like a heavy steel wall with heavy police force behind it. However, the day of action was still a major success. Over 1,000 protestors made their voices heard, and one of Cancun’s busiest highways was shut down and occupied by a serious Climate Justice presence shouting for change.

The December 7^th day of action in Cancun was part of a number of actions in response to La Via Campesina’s “1000 Cancuns Global Day of Action for Climate Justice.” Please read our next post, which will highlight the 1000 Cancuns’ actions that occurred outside of Cancun.

For the full report and video check out: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/8/thousands_march_in_cancn_at_la

7 DECEMBER

1000 Cancuns: Global Climate Justice Actions Come Together

7 December, All Around the World- Climate Justice actions were worldwide in solidarity with La Via Campesina’s “Global Day of Action for Climate Justice” in resistance to COP16 in Cancun. Protests, events, and directs actions took place in locations all around the world, against false climate crisis solutions and the unfounded legitimacy of COP16 processes.

The global solidarity was strong and loud. Events included Climate Justice assemblies, conferences and seminars, alternative summits and people’s negotiating processes. Actions ranged from demonstrations, rallies and occupying spaces and busy roads to direct actions of entering buildings, spraying Climate Justice slogans and banner dropping.

The updated number of 1000 Cancuns actions is rising quickly. Actions took place Montevideo in Uruguay. Buenos Aires, Porto Alegre, Sao Paulo in Argentina. San Salvador in El Salvador. Mexico City, Chispas, Cancun, and Techamac in Mexico. Tegucigalpa in Honduras. Province RI, Albuquerque NM, Bay Area CA, Mari Rose CA, San Antonio TX, Los Angles CA, New York NY, Chicago IL, Louisville KY, Washinton DC, Florida, Boston M Michigan in the United States of America. Toronto, Cam Victoria, London ON, Calgary, Charlottetown, Brockville, Edmonton, Halifax, Peterborough, Regina, Saint John, Saskatoon, Victoria, Windsor, Langley, Burnaby, and Vancouver in Canada. Delhi, Bangalore, and Delhi in India. Jakarta in Indonesia. Brussels in Belgium. Barcelona in Spain. Cancon and Saone in France. Samsun and Gerze in Turkey. Estocolmo, Uppsala, and Osterfarnebo in Sweden. Hasatil and Dili in Timor Leste. Seoul in Korea. Bangkok in Thailand. Quezon City in the Philippines. Hsin-Chu in Northern Taiwan. Caracas and Barquismento in Venezuela. Quito in Ecuador. Brixton in South London England. Berlin and Bonn in Germany. Nampula in Mozamique. Johannesburg in South Africa. Other countries that held an event or action were Chile, Costa Rica, and Nepal.

For a list of the updated actions and descriptions please go to: http://www.viacampesina.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=971:list-of-events-organized-for-thousand-of-cancuns-around-the-world&catid=50:thousands-of-cancun-for-climate-justice&Itemid=195

8 DECEMBER

Remembering our Enormous Successes while Building the Climate Justice Movement

To no ones surprise, anti democratic methods are being used to silence the voices of civil society at this year’s COP16 in Cancun. Prominent representatives of Climate Justice organizations have been locked out from the conference, while videos have surfaced of activists being physically removed from open protest zones, and photographers being brutally handled and beaten by official UN guards.

After the extreme failure of the COP15, COP16 was expected to be a conference where nothing could be solved. Even though at times the battle seems bigger than us, we must pay attention to the progress we have made and what we have achieved. The Climate Justice comrades who did decide to go to Cancun have fought hard to have their voices heard. Other communities have organized and mobilized at home as a symbol of people’s change without the negotiating processes of the UNFCC.

In the fight for Climate Justice we have succeeded in starting to change the way we think about our climate today. The discussion of systematic change and the rights of Mother Earth are now part of the foundation of real Climate Justice discourse. We are engaging in a continual flow of direct actions on a global level. Just in the last three months we have seen 40-50 Rising Tides activists in Australia successfully shut down the largest coal plant in the world. In November 4000 anti nuclear activists attached themselves to train tracks delaying a nuclear train from getting to it’s destination in Germany. The action raised important global awareness about the event and danger of nuclear waste. In Dannenberg 50 000 partook in a largest peaceful protest against nuclear shipments. Over 42 direct actions were held around the world for Oct12th-Oct16th the “Global Week of Action for Climate Justice.” Direct actions ranged from “stopping Total” oil factory in Le Havre France, to blockades in the Philippines by the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice Movement (PMCJ). In the last two weeks we have seen high levels of resistance to the false solutions of COP16 in Cancun, and a strong global response to Le Via Campensina’s December 7^th “Global Day of Action for Climate Justice.” These are just a few examples from the last few months, and this level of mobilising for Climate Justice has been happening for much longer.

In times of crisis it is easy to forgot about our achievements. The organisation and information website Grassroots Solutions for Climate Justice North America calls La Via Campesina’s 1000 Cancuns, “Growing the Roots of Climate Justice.” This quotation can help us remember that Climate Justice mobilisations are in the process of building a strong foundation to a growing and powerful movement. A movement that empowers and unites us under the banner of “system change not climate change.” Recently Nnimmo Bassey received a Right Livelihood Award for his work in the flight for the climate justice. The closing lines of his speech went as follows:

“ I salute the courage of all those who toe this path for the resolution of conflicts. I salute the suffering

communities and peoples resisting destructive extraction. It is their courage that sustains our

struggle. In solidarity we march ahead and will not give up.”

12 DECEMBER

‘Climate capitalism’ won at Cancun – everyone else loses

It will be a challenge to maintain pressure against REDD and the carbon markets, but by November 2011 it should be clear that neither will deliver the goods. Hence, as versed by Friends of the Earth International chair and Niger Delta activist Nnimmo Bassey, a winner of the Right Livelihood Award this year:

The outside will be the right side in Durban
What has been left undone
Will properly be done
Peoples’ sovereignty
Mass movement convergence
Something to look forward to!

By Patrick Bond
Cross-posted from LINKS

December 12, 2010 – http://links.org.au/node/2041 The December 11 closure of the 16th Conference of the Parties – COP16 global climate summit – in balmy Cancun was portrayed by most participants and mainstream journalists as a victory, a “step forward”. Bragged US State Department lead negotiator Todd Stern, “Ideas that were first of all, skeletal last year, and not approved, are now approved and elaborated.”

After elite despondency when the Copenhagen Accord was signed December 18, 2009, by five governments behind the scenes, resulting in universal criticism, there is now a modicum of optimism for the next meeting of heads of state and ministers, in a steamy Durban summer a year from now. But this hope relies upon a revival of market-based climate strategies that, in reality, are failing everywhere they have been tried.

The elites’ positive spin is based on reaching an international consensus (though Bolivia dissented) and establishing instruments to manage the climate crisis using capitalist techniques. Cancun’s defenders argue that the last-hours agreements include acknowledgements that emissions cuts must keep world temperature increases below 2°C, with consideration to be given to lowering the target to 1.5°C.

Negotiators also endorsed greater transparency about emissions, a Green Climate Fund led by the World Bank, introduction of forest-related investments, transfers of technology for renewable energy, capacity building and a strategy for reaching legally binding protocols in future. According to UN climate official Christiana Figueres, formerly a leading carbon trader, “Cancun has done its job. Nations have shown they can work together under a common roof, to reach consensus on a common cause.”

Status quo or step back?

But look soberly at what was needed to reverse current warming and what was actually delivered. Negotiators in Cancun’s luxury Moon Palace hotel complex failed by any reasonable measure. As Bolivia’s President Evo Morales complained, “It’s easy for people in an air-conditioned room to continue with the policies of destruction of Mother Earth. We need instead to put ourselves in the shoes of families in Bolivia and worldwide who lack water and food and suffer misery and hunger. People here in Cancun have no idea what it is like to be a victim of climate change.”

For Bolivia’s UN ambassador Pablo Solon, Cancun “does not represent a step forward, it is a step backwards”, because the non-binding commitments made to reduce emissions by around 15 per cent by 2020 simply cannot stabilise temperature at the “level which is sustainable for human life and the life of the planet”.

Even greater anger was expressed by civil society activists, including by Meena Raman of the Malaysia-based Third World Network: “The mitigation paradigm has changed from one which is legally binding – the Kyoto Protocol with an aggregate target which is system based, science based – to one which is voluntary, a pledge-and-review system.”

As El Salvadoran Friends of the Earth leader Ricardo Navarro lamented, “What is being discussed at the Moon does not reflect what happens on Earth. The outcome is a Cancunhagen that we reject.”

Most specialists agree that even if the unambitious Copenhagen and Cancun promises are kept (a big if), the result will be a cataclysmic 4-5°C rise in world temperature over this century, and if they are not, 7°C is likely. Even with a rise of 2°C, scientists generally agree that small islands will sink, Andean and Himalayan glaciers will melt, coastal areas – such as much of Bangladesh and many port cities – will drown and Africa will dry out – or in some places flood – so much that nine of ten peasants will not survive.

The politicians and officials have been warned of this often enough by climate scientists, but are beholden to powerful business interests that have lined up to either promote climate denialism, or to generate national-versus-national negotiating blocs destined to fail in their race to gain most emission rights. As a result, in spite of a band-aid set of agreements, the distance between negotiators and the masses of people and the planet grew larger not smaller over the last two weeks.

Wikileaking climate bribery

To illustrate, smaller governments were “bullied, hustled around, lured with petty bribes, called names and coerced into accepting the games of the rich and emerging-rich nations”, says Soumya Dutta of the South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy. “Many debt-ridden small African nations are seeing the money that they might get through the scheming designs of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), and have capitulated under the attack of this REDD brigade. It’s a win-win situation, both for the rich nations, as well as for the rich of the poor nations. The real poor are a burden in any case, to be kept at arms length – if not further.”

Bribing those Third World governments which in 2009 were the most vocal critics of Northern climate posturing at Copenhagen became common knowledge thanks to Wikileaks disclosures of US State Department cables from February 2010. On February 11, for example, European Union climate action commissioner Connie Hedegaard told Washington that the Alliance of Small Island States “‘could be our best allies’, given their need for financing”.

A few months earlier the Maldives had helped lead the campaign against low emissions targets such as those set in the Copenhagen Accord. But its leaders reversed course, apparently because of a US$50 million aid package arranged by US deputy climate change envoy Jonathan Pershing. According to a February 23 cable, Pershing met the Maldives’ US ambassador, Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed, who told him that if “tangible assistance” were given to his country, then other affected countries would realise “the advantages to be gained by compliance” with Washington’s climate agenda.

The promised money is, however, in doubt. Hedegaard also noted with concern that some of the $30 billion in pledged North-South climate-related aid from 2010-2012 – for example from Tokyo and London, she said – would come in the form of loan guarantees, not grants. Pershing was not opposed to this practice, because “donors have to balance the political need to provide real financing with the practical constraints of tight budgets”.

Even while observing Washington’s tendency to break financial promises, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the leading African head of state on climate, was also unveiled by WikiLeaks as a convert to the Copenhagen Accord. This appeared to be the outcome of pressure applied by the US State Department, according to a February 2 cable, with Zenawi asking for more North-South resources in return.

REDD as wedge

Besides Bolivia’s leadership, the world’s best hope for contestation of these power relationships rests with civil society activism. Along with La Via Campesina network of peasant organisations, which attracted a Mexico-wide caravan and staged a militant march that nearly reached the airport access road on the morning of December 7 as heads of state flew into Cancun, the most visible poor peoples’ representatives were from the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN). On December 8, IEN spokesperson Tom Goldtooth was denied entry to the UN forum due to his high-profile role in non-violent protests.

According to Goldtooth, Cancun’s “betrayal” is “the consequence of an ongoing US diplomatic offensive of backroom deals, arm twisting and bribery that targeted nations in opposition to the Copenhagen Accord”. For Goldtooth, an ardent opponent of REDD, “such strategies have already proved fruitless and have been shown to violate human and Indigenous rights. The agreements implicitly promote carbon markets, offsets, unproven technologies, and land grabs – anything but a commitment to real emissions reductions. Language ‘noting’ rights is exclusively in the context of market mechanisms, while failing to guarantee safeguards for the rights of peoples and communities, women and youth.”

The founder of watchdog NGO REDD-Monitor, Chris Lang, argues that attempts to reform the system failed because, first, “protecting intact natural forest and restoring degraded natural forest is not a ‘core objective’ of the REDD deal agreed in Cancun. We still don’t have a sensible definition of forests that would exclude industrial tree plantations, to give the most obvious example of how protecting intact natural forest isn’t in there – also ‘sustainable management of forests’ is in there, which translates as logging.”

Second, says Lang, “The rights and interests of indigenous peoples and forest communities are not protected in the Cancun REDD deal – they are demoted to an annex, with a note that ‘safeguards’ should be ‘promoted and supported’. That could mean anything governments want it to mean.”
During the Cancun negotiations, positioning on REDD came to signal whether climate activists were pro- or anti-capitalist, although a difficult in-between area was staked out by Greenpeace and the International Forum on Globalisation, both, confusingly, advocated a non-market REDD arrangement (as if the balance of forces would allow such). But they and their allies lost, and as Friends of the Earth chapters in Latin America and the Caribbean explained, “The new texts continue seeing forests as mere carbon reservoirs (sinks) and are geared towards emissions trading.”

In the same way, the Green Fund was promoted by World Bank president Robert Zoellick, whose highest-profile speech to a side conference promised to extend the REDD commodification principle to broader sectors of agriculture and even charismatic animals like tigers, in alliance with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. On December 8, protests demanded that the World Bank be evicted from climate financing, in part because under Zoellick the institution’s annual fossil fuel investments rose from $1.6 billion to $6.3 billion, and in part because the World Bank promotes export-led growth, resource extraction, energy privatisation and carbon markets with unshaken neoliberal dogma.

According to Grace Garcia from Friends of the Earth Costa Rica, “Only a gang of lunatics would think it is a good idea to invite the World Bank to receive climate funds, with their longstanding track record of financing the world’s dirtiest projects and imposition of death-sentencing conditionalities on our peoples.”

Unfortunately, however, some Indigenous people’s groups and Third World NGOs do buy into REDD, and well-funded Northern allies such as the market-oriented Environmental Defense Fund have been using divide-and-conquer tactics to widen the gaps. The danger this presents is extreme, because the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) strategy set in place by Al Gore in 1997 – when he mistakenly (and self-interestedly) promised that the US would endorse the Kyoto Protocol if carbon trading was central to the deal – may well continue to fracture climate advocacy.

REDD is one of several blackmail tactics from the global North, by which small sums are paid for projects such as tree planting or forest conservation management. In some cases, as well as through CDMs such as methane extraction from landfills, these projects result in displacement of local residents or, in the case of Durban’s main CDM, the ongoing operation of a vast, environmentally racist dump in the black neighbourhood of Bisasar Road, instead of its closure. Then the Northern corporations that buy the emissions credits can continue business as usual without making the major changes needed to solve the crisis.

Climate debt and command and control

Many critics of REDD and other CDMs, including Evo Morales, put the idea of climate debt at the core of a replacement financing framework. They therefore demand that the carbon markets be decommissioned, because their fatal flaws include rising levels of corruption, periodic chaotic volatility and extremely low prices that are inadequate to attract investment capital into renewable energy and more efficient transport. Such investments minimally would cost the equivalent of €50/tonne of carbon, but the European Union’s emissions trading scheme fell from €30/tonne in 2008 to less than €10/tonne last year, and now hovers around €15/tonne. This makes it much cheaper for business to keep polluting than to restructure.

Having spent an afternoon at Cancun debating these points with the world’s leading carbon traders, I’m more convinced that the markets need to be closed so we can advance much more effective, efficient command-and-control systems. Rebutting, Henry Derwent, head of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), claimed that markets ended acid rain damage by sulfur dioxide emissions. Yet in Europe during the early 1990s, state regulation was much more effective. Likewise, command and control worked well in the ozone hole emergency, when CFCs were banned by the Montreal Protocol starting in 1996.

The US Environmental Protection Agency now has command-and-control power over Greenhouse gas emissions, and its top administrator, Lisa Jackson, can alert around 10,000 major CO2 point sources that they must start cutting back immediately. But without more protest against the agency, as pioneered by West Virginians demanding a halt to mountain-top coal removal, Jackson has said that she will only begin this process in 2013 (after US President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign). On the bright side, IETA’s lead Washington official, David Hunter, confirmed to me that the US carbon markets were in the doldrums because of the Senate’s failure to pass cap-and-trade legislation this year. Thank goodness for Washington gridlock.

However, Washington’s big green groups have admitted that they pumped $300 million of foundation money into advocacy for congressional carbon trading, in spite of Climate Justice Now! members’ campaigning against this approach. Critiques have included the film The story of cap and trade(www.storyofstuff.org), which over the past year has had three quarters of a million views. The vast waste of money corresponded to a resource drought at the base.

In October, three well-resourced environmental groups – 350.org, Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace – concluded that more direct action would be needed. It’s happening already, of course. Two dozen US groups, including IEN, Grassroots Global Justice and Movement Generation, argued in an October 23 open letter that “Frontline communities, using grassroots, network-based and actions-led strategies around the country have had considerable success fighting climate-polluting industries in recent years, with far less resources than the large environmental groups in Washington, D.C. These initiatives have prevented a massive amount of new industrial carbon from coming on board.”

Climate Justice instead of climate capitalism

But by all accounts, one reason the climate-capitalist fantasy moved ahead at Cancun so decisively was the fragmented nature of this kind of resistance. Crucial ideological and geographical divides were evident within Mexico’s progressive forces, a problem which must be avoided in the coming period as the healing of divisions over market-related strategies proceeds. Grassroots activists are unimpressed by Cancun’s last-gasp attempt at climate-capitalist revivalism.

Indeed, the limited prospects for elite environmental management of this crisis confirm how badly a coherent alternative is needed.

Fortunately, the Peoples’ Agreement of Cochabamba emerged in April from a consultative meeting that drew 35,000 mainly civil society activists. The Cochabamba conference call includes:

· 50 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2017;

· stabilising temperature rises to 1°C and 300 parts per million;

· acknowledging the climate debt owed by developed countries;

· full respect for human rights and the inherent rights of Indigenous people;

· a universal declaration of rights of Mother Earth to ensure harmony with nature;

· establishment of an International Court of Climate Justice;

· rejection of carbon markets and commodification of nature and forests through REDD;

· promotion of measures that change the consumption patterns of developed countries;

· end of intellectual property rights for technologies useful for mitigating climate change; and

· payment of 6 per cent of developed countries’ GDP to addressing climate change.

The analysis behind these demands has been worked out over the past few years. But now the challenge for Climate Justice movements across the world is to not only continue – and dramatically ratchet up – vibrant grassroots activism against major fossil fuel emissions and extraction sites, ranging from Alberta’s tar sands to the Ecuadoran Amazon, to San Francisco refineries to the Niger Delta, to West Virginia mountains to the Australian and South African coalfields. In addition, if Cancun revives financial markets for the purposes of Northern manipulation of the climate debate, then Goldtooth’s warning is more urgent: “Industrialised nations, big business and unethical companies like Goldman Sachs will profit handsomely from the Cancun Agreements while our people die.”

Durban will offer the next big showdown between unworkable capitalist strategies on the one hand, and the interests of the masses of people and the planet’s environment. The latter have witnessed long histories of eco-social mobilisation, such as the 2001 World Conference Against Racism which attracted a protest of 15,000 against Zionism and the UN’s failure to put reparations for slavery, colonialism and apartheid on the agenda.

It will be a challenge to maintain pressure against REDD and the carbon markets, but by November 2011 it should be clear that neither will deliver the goods. Hence, as versed by Friends of the Earth International chair and Niger Delta activist Nnimmo Bassey, a winner of the Right Livelihood Award this year:

The outside will be the right side in Durban
What has been left undone
Will properly be done
Peoples’ sovereignty
Mass movement convergence
Something to look forward to!

[Patrick Bond is based at the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal – http://ccs.ukzn.ac.za – and is on sabbatical at Cal-Berkeley Department of Geography. He co-edited the 2009 book Climate Change, Carbon Trading and Civil Society, published by UKZN Press.]

The report backs are separated into two series. This is the first. It is a reflection on the days of November 29 to December ^4th - the official first week of COP16- plus some 1000 Cancuns actions and report backs that occurred a few days before the conference began. The second series of report backs will be sent out at the end of week two of the conference and will still include some report backs from week I. If you are interested in writing a report back or sending us information on your 1000 Cancuns action, or if you’re participating in a climate justice event in Cancun please send an email to info@climate-justice-action.org.

In solidarity with our friends and allies towards building system change not climate change,

- Climate Justice Action

24 NOVEMBER

La Via Campesina’s call out for 1000 Cancuns is being heard around the world. Here is the direct link to the list of updated global actions planned around 1000 Cancuns:

http://www.viacampesina.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=971:list-of-events-organized-for-thousand-of-cancuns-around-the-world&catid=50:thousands-of-cancun-for-climate-justice&Itemid=195

26 NOVEMBER

Moving “Beyond Parts Per Million”

26 November 2010, Montreal – Just a few days before the start of the COP16 in Cancun, Climate Justice Montreal and Climate Justice Co-op, released the first edition of Beyond Parts Per Million: Voices from the Frontlines. The title of the publication recognizes the environmental crisis is “beyond” climate crisis solutions proposed by scientific numbers of carbon parts, statistics and false economic global market solutions.  Page three of the publication explains the “need for a paradigm shift within the climate movement…a shift that recognizes that climate change is the result of a system based on infinite growth, on a finite planet… a shift towards building a movement that can shut down destructive industries and replace them with strong communities.” The image shown on the cover of the publication is a silhouette of a plant intersected with a wrench. It is a powerful visual that seems to imply the intersection between social justice and environmental struggles. The image also suggests the commitment and hard work put forth by climate and social justice communities and activists who tirelessly strive towards the objective of ‘fixing’ the social and environmental destruction of the climate crisis and those who have imposed it.

Appropriately the sixteen pages of content do the same. Ranging from topics such as chemical industry cities, to indigenous struggles, to climate justice and gender, Beyond Parts Per Million tells global stories of “frontline communities” who are directly affected by the environmental destruction. That solutions are not only “beyond” science and failing structures of economy, but are also about waking up to the reality of contaminated water, rising cancer rates, gendered violence, complete destructions of ecosystems and life cycles, and a long list of environmental catastrophes that are destroying communities and decent living conditions. As the last line of page 3 reads, “In short we need a shift that realizes that the protection of life, land and culture will require solutions that are not considered politically feasible, and that means moving beyond polar bears and parts per million.”

Check out and download a copy of the entire publication here: http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/climate-justice-montreal-releases-beyond-parts-million-voices-frontlines-climate-justice/525

European Assembly for Climate Justice Kicks off with Strong Critical Mass Spraying “System Change not Climate Change” in front of EU Buildings

26 November 2010, Brussels- The European Assembly for Climate Justice in Brussels kicked off with an energized critical mass of about 120 riders. The route consisted of Brussels busiest streets. The riders were successful in occupying a high traffic road, where a stop was made to shout loudly in front of the Council of the European Union building. Activists chanted climate slogans, drummed and shouted for climate justice to an audience attending an event inside. Afterwards a spontaneous action took place where the words  “system change not climate change” were sprayed on the road that exists between two European Union buildings, so all who roam within the buildings could see the message. Even though it was a cold and frosty night, the group’s energy remained high and climate justice messages were heard. To end the evening activists reconvened where the ride began, still loud and ready to take action.  A final message of “system change not climate change” was again sprayed in hot pink and blue in front of the European Assembly against the verbal resistance of security and police.

29 NOVEMBER

Diálogo Climático: An Open Space for Climate Justice Discussion and Solidarity in Cancun

The Diálogo Climático is an alternative COP16/Cancun space for all individuals and movements who are involved in the struggle of climate justice. The space was created to enable diversity of climate justice groups to share thoughts, methods of actions, mobilize and debate.

The website states “Although not all social movements and networks are part of this confluence/space, it was agreed that we would continue looking for unity (in Mexico and at the international level), proposing that the different social movements that will be organizing parallel activities join in the December 7th mobilisation and elaborate a common declaration. We also propose that we strengthen our efforts through mutual support, in terms of promoting activities, doing joint press work, coordinating as much as possible our debates and panels and respecting the role and autonomy of each space.”

So far discussions within the space have ranged from women and the environment, debates on system change not climate change, mobilizing direct actions and discussions on Copenhagen to Cochabamba and moving forward with the People’s agreement.

After the arrival of the La Via Campesina Caravans on December 3^rd and 4^th, a “Climate Justice Forum” will be held in the space from December 5^th-10^th, while talks and mobilizing is occurring right now for a potential Global Day of action which would take place on December 7^th.

For more information go to http://www.dialogoclimatico.org/.

Direct Action Against the International Emissions Trading Association in Brussels

29 November 2010 Brussels- The weekend was not over for direct action activists after three days of workshops and a “Sing for the Climate” march on Sunday that was part of the European Assembly for Climate Justice. On the first day of Cancun COP16 talks, a group of activist walked into and occupyied the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) building in Brussels. IETA is known for its business approach of advertising and investing in false solutions to the climate crisis such as faulty international carbon markets. Carbon trading and offsetting allows companies to continue exploiting the environment and communities without cutting emissions.  The target of the action was to disturb the prominent carbon trading lobby groups within IETA. The direct action successfully blocked a functioning workday within the building making their message of “Our Climate is not for sale!” and “Carbon Trading is a false solution” heard. Jana Timmerman who took part in the action said that “ ‘Carbon trading is a false solution to the climate crisis. Relying on carbon trading means big profits for the polluting industries, while they continue business as usual. Lobby groups such as IETA are promoting carbon trading in the interest of their big business members. We need real action to transform the way in which we produce and consume, in order to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.’ ”

For more information check out http://www.angrymermaid.org/ieta

30 NOVEMBER

Red Road Cancun: Indigenous Voices Broadcasting from COP 16

The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) has sent a delegation of Indigenous peoples to the COP16 in Cancun. This Indigenous presence has organized a series of outlets for COP16 news, information, discussion and action that can be found at http://redroadcancun.com/ .

The red road cancun live radio and live stream is among these excellent sources of real climate justice advocacy and information. The show streams live for one hour a day. It is a newscast made from Indigenous observations, thoughts and real on the ground experiences happening in Cancun right now. The show ranges from discussions on the destruction of the Tar Sands, to quieted marginalized climate justice voices, to interviews with Indigenous activists. Even though the Indigenous community is in Cancun to put pressure on the negotiating process occurring behind the doors of the conference, red road cancun does not stray away from the real climate crisis solutions that will not be solved by COP16. During November 30^th’s broadcast, Kandi Mosett of the Indigenous Environmental Network said “we’re here to create change, to create a paradigm shift” while prominent Indigenous activist Tom Goldtooth explained “what we’re doing here is to lift up the contradictions, and also lift up the importance for industrialized society. The importance of the world to revaluate, what its relationship is to the sacredness of mother earth. So there has to be a new paradigm in thinking as far as looking at the root causes of what is causing climate change. “

The website also hosts updated COP16 information such as written articles that range from BP’s exploitation of Indigenous land and the “four principles of climate justice”. The last post explained Indigenous activists traveling for three hours in high traffic zones in order to access the convention center, while government officials are tucked away in $300 dollar/night hotel rooms in inaccessible locations outside of the city surrounded by a heavy police presence.

Check out the red road cancun website at http://redroadcancun.com/

2 DECEMBER

Statement by the CLOC-Via Campesina on the Climate Summit in Cancun

2 December, Cancun- La Via Campesina released the “Statement by the CLOC-Via Campesina on the Climate Summit in Cancun” proposal in support of “Thousands of Cancuns for Climate Justice.” The proposal states:“…we affirm that the Peoples’ Accord emitted at the Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, held in Cochabamba, Bolivia, is one of the most interesting proposals…As CLOC / Via Campesina we believe that the capitalist model based on the exploitation of natural resources, with the idea of unlimited progress, is primarily responsible for the environmental disaster that we are now experiencing.”

The current market economy has proven to be incapable of providing basic human rights such as water, but also hinders the means to a safe, healthy livelihood by limiting the development of food sovereignty and paralyzing the process of effective and significant reductions of carbon emissions. The natural disasters which wipeout communities and displace populations, and the future of a livable planet for all are a result of today’s global market economy. In turn the proposal offers 9 statements of steps towards real climate crisis solutions.

Check out all 9 steps and the entire article here: http://www.viacampesina.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=983:statement-by-the-cloc-via-campesina-on-the-climate-summit-in-cancun-&catid=48:-climate-change-and-agrofuels&Itemid=75

3 DECEMBER

Indigenous Peoples Action on the Steps of COP16 Conference

3 December, Cancun- About 30 indigenous delegates held a peaceful demonstration in front of the COP16 conference center on the 5^th day of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Cancun. The delegates called for the end of their exclusion from the COP16 negotiating process by chanting slogans and singing native indigenous songs while wearing traditional dress.

Delegates from 192 Nations are currently attending COP16. Even though Indigenous communities strive to continue the structure of their ancient nations within today’s newly defined boarders, not one Indigenous delegate has been invited or permitted to join the 192 delegates in negotiating processes. The climate justice community and the people inside the conference understand that Indigenous communities are among the peoples most affected by the climate crisis. This Indigenous demonstration was also a response to the disturbing and unacceptable discussion of some States wishing to take out the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the UN Declaration negotiation text. This group of Indigenous delegates made their message clear by holding up banners in Spanish and English that read “Respect Indigenous Peoples Rights.

For the entire story on this demonstration go to http://redroadcancun.com/?p=1263

La Via Campesina Caravans Arrive in Cancun

3 December, Cancun- La Via Campesina has organized a total of six caravans that are a “series of mobilisations that seek to publicize the grave conditions of social and environmental deterioration found in the cities, communities and towns of Mexico, due to the privatization of public goods, the impunity with which industries operate with respect to environmental regulations and to the violation of the social and labor laws of the citizens.”

On November 28^th, the first three Caravans left and travelled through San Luis Potosi, Guadalajara, Acapulco and then Mexico City before reaching their final destination of Cancun on December 3^rd.

The Caravans have focused on topics such as contaminated water and watersheds, soil erosion, and the contamination of food within Mexico. Each Caravan represents a different climate crisis. The first three Caravans focused on the rejection of Canadian mining, the death of the Lerma Santiago River and resistance against the hydroelectric Dam la Parota.

Now that the Caravans have reached Mexico La Via Campesina has released an ambitious and confident agenda for the start of the second week of the conference:

• Dec. 4, 10.00am: Press conference: Arrival of caravans and program of La Via Campesina in Cancun. Start of the World Alternative Forum “For Life and Environmental and Social Justice.” Where: Camp.
• Dec. 5, 10.00am. Presentation of Report: “Overview of the Social and Environmental Devastation in Mexico.” Where: Camp.
• Dec. 6, 10.00am. Press conference: “Announcement of the massive rally in Cancun and world mobilisation of the «THOUSANDS CANCUN.» Where: Camp.
• Dec. 6, 6pm. Press conference: “”Announcement of the massive rally in Cancun and world mobilisation of the «THOUSANDS CANCUN.» Where: Moon Palace
• Dec. 9. “Meeting of the Bolivian President, Evo Morales, with members of the camp.” Place and time to be confirmed ( Found: http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=984:the-international-caravan-of-la-via-campesina-advances-for-cancun&catid=48:-climate-change-and-agrofuels&Itemid=75 )

To check out the details of La Via Campesina’s Caravan mobilisation go to: http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=984:the-international-caravan-of-la-via-campesina-advances-for-cancun&catid=48:-climate-change-and-agrofuels&Itemid=75

4 DECEMBER

Hundreds gather for People’s Assembly on Climate Justice in Toronto

Activists, Organizers, Neighbourhood Participants discuss community response to the Climate Crisis

Toronto – On Saturday December 4^th, the Global Climate Campaign’s International Day of Climate Action, hundreds of activists, community organizers and neighbourhood participants gathered for the second Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice at Sidney Smith Hall, on the University of Toronto campus.

“The People’s Assembly on Climate Justice is a people’s  alternative to the corrupt and illegitimate solutions which are being pushed through the United Nations,” says Julien Lalonde, a community organizer with Toronto Bolivia Solidarity and a core facilitator at the Assembly.  “By using channels of collective dialogue and community empowerment we are working together  to become a movement that understands the fundamental interconnectedness of our struggles for social, economic and environmental justice.”

Building on the horizontal process established during the Reclaim Power People’s Assembly in Copenhagen last December, the Toronto Assembly was an ambitious all day affair. Using a combination of breakouts and plenaries, participants discussed movement building, building alternative spaces, accountability to front-line communities, economic reform, offgrid energy solutions, and much more, in response to the initial framing question asking what we can do together to create a stronger movement for Climate Justice.  In the afternoon seven People’s Council’s were created to begin formulating responses to topics identified by the Assembly as priority issues.

“Through a horizontal people’s process, the Assembly seeks to create a space where we can work together to share experience, knowledge, and resources in order to build a local response to a global crisis,” says Brett Rhyno of Environmental Justice Toronto, who participated in the original Reclaim Power People’s Assembly. “The challenge of the climate crisis can only be met with a coordinated response that will bring forth our power in numbers.”

As the Canadian government works to obstruct progress in Cancun by opposing a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol and at home by killing the Climate Change Accountability Act, the need is clear for communities to step up and start building their own solutions. The goal of the People’s Assembly is to generate new possibilities and new hopes in order to bridge the gap from separately operating groups, communities, and individuals, to converge into one diverse, united movement.

The Toronto People’s Assembly is in solidarity with La Via Campesina’s call for 1000 Cancuns and, after successfully bringing the People’s Assembly model to Canada in advance of the G20, it collaborated with the Council of Canadians to produce a national call for People’s Assemblies which has resulted in fourteen People’s Assemblies happening across the country during the UN negotiations in Cancun.

For more information on the People’s Assembly go here http://torontopeoplesassembly.wordpress.com/