Cochabamba: A Growing Hopev
October 20, 2015
Cochabamba: A Growing Hope
by Curtis FJ Doebbler
To many observers the weak Sustainable Development Goals and the hollow draft climate change treaty being considered for adoption in December in Paris do not bode well for future generatins or our planet.
Despite this pessemistic situation it must be gratifying for any observer, governmental or non-governmental, to experience the energy of even a small group of people wiling to speak truth to power. From 10 to 12 October 2015, this is what thousands of activists, a handful of government leaders, and a few academics did in Cochabamba, Bolivia at the second World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Protection of Life known as the CMPCC.
This electic group produced a declaration that calls for the people of the world to halt its over-comsumption; that demands respect of the rights of all, including Pachamanma or Mother Earth; and that makes concrete demands as to the mechanisms that we need to arrive at a sustainable way of life that is good for everyone. Many of these demands may sound like dreams to most people, but to the people meeting in Cochabamba, including three heads of States, it was a vision that can become reality if we have the will to make an effort to achieve it.
The panels, working groups, speeches by Nobel Prize winners and heads of States, accentuated by a heavy dose of music and dancing by indigenous artists, were a celebration of human potential. Unlike the frequent market mantra of capitalism and its proponents who emphasize competition, this extravaganza emphasized cooperation between peoples. During the conference that cooperation was plentiful as young people helped old, peasant and sophisticated professors debated, and Presidents danced with other Presidents and their people.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/20/cochabamba-a-growing-hope/