Published December 3, 2010
by iris_author
Shaking Up the Financial District:
Celebrating Community Sovereignty and Environmental Justice in Toronto
Think climate change is a problem?
Think tar sands are unacceptable?
...Tired of false solutions and undemocratic policy from government and
industry?
JOIN US: Dec. 7th at NATHAN PHILLIPS SQUARE, 4pm
***Please bring pots and pans for making noise and please dress up creatively to
help rock the party!***
In opposition to the False Solutions promoted through the Copenhagen Accord, La
Via Campesina, a global movement of peasant farmers, has called for 1000
Cancuns, an international day of solidarity actions on December 7th in support
of the social movements in the global south who are converging on Cancun to
fight for climate and environmental justice.
This summer we took to the streets of Toronto as part of ongoing struggle for
economic and migrant justice, gender justice, environmental justice, indigenous
sovereignty, and justice for our communities. By coming together as one diverse
but united group, we showed how strong we can be. As the puppets of global
capital were cowering behind security fences and hired thugs, the real power
was in the streets... it was ours.
Now the same brokers of the global financial system are gathering in Cancun to
continue negotiations for the next international climate treaty. Instead of
working through the consensus process of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, the large industrial countries have created their
own side-agreement called the Copenhagen Accord and are now bullying everyone
they can to submit to a deal which will be the doom of us all.
Canada sabotaged climate negotiations in Copenhagen while building the most
destructive project on earth, the tar sands gigaproject. This year, the
government of Canada undemocratically killed Bill C-311, the Climate
Accountability Act, voted down Bill C-300 - an act to hold Canadian mining
companies to account for human and environmental rights violations and signed
an empty UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by excluding the
right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Government and industry are digging
up our country and the planet while ignoring the global climate crisis.
Fighting for climate and environmental justice means standing together to say we
will not allow indigenous people to be forced off their land through carbon
market forest deals, we will not allow the lives and health of poor people to
be endangered while social programs are slashed, we will not let farmers have
their crops threatened by unpredictable weather patterns and corporate control,
will not allow forced migration of the inhabitants of small island and low-lying
nations as their homelands drown under rising seas, we will not let our most
valuable resources, be it clean water or sacred homelands go up for sale,and we
will not let those in power to silence our fight for the justice for people and
the planet, we call upon our allies to join us as we march on the financial
district to MAKE SOME NOISE and remind them just who owns the streets in
Toronto.
In Sol,
Environmental Justice TorontoSee more
Posted in: Events
