Published April 29, 2010
by iris_author
From the Western media, you may not have known that a historic climate change conference was held last week in Bolivia. Hard on the heels of the failure in Copenhagen, Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, proposed the people's conference as a counterpoint to the pessimism and big power politics in Denmark.
Over 30,000 people attended the conference and met in 17 + 1 working groups to hash out a people's agreement. Along with a proposed universal declaration for the rights of Mother Earth, enormous energy and spirit is being unleashed in the Global South to bear on the existential threats facing the human species, something to keep in mind in the complacent North that is sleepwalking through the unfolding disaster.
And despite the predictable and almost deliberate media blackout, it is again the South that is taking the lead, and amongst them, the poorest of the poor. Since taking power in 2005, Morales has been in the forefront of calling for the defense of Mother Earth, or Pachamama as she is known in the Andes. His thoughts on the matter are encapsulated in a LA Times op-ed that appeared following the conference.
Bolivia's situation is particularly parlous, as the glaciers that supply the parched country most of its water have been in full retreat. The country is also one of the poorest in the hemisphere, having been plundered mercilessly by conquistadors, dictators, and neoliberal governments for much of its history. Morales has made major strides in the five years of his administration, yet still the contradictions and difficulties of balancing extractive industries that supply much of the government's revenue with the government's environmental advocacy remains.
For more insight, see Naomi Klein's article, "An New Climate Movement" and the conference's Spanish language site.
Posted in: Blogs | Turning Up the Heat
