[News] Galeano: Message to the Summit on Mother Earth
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Apr 22 10:09:10 EDT 2010
MESSAGE TO THE SUMMMIT ON MOTHER EARTH
Eduardo Galeano
Human rights and the rights of nature are two names for the same dignity
Regretably, I will not be able to be with you. A
branch hit my tire and it keeps me from traveling.
But I would like to join your gathering, our
gathering, in some way, because I have little
choice but to do the very little that I can and
not the very much that I would like to do.
And because I am with you without being there, at
least I can send you these words.
I want to tell you that hopefully we will do
everything possible, as well as the impossible,
so that the Summit of The Mother Earth be a step
towards the collective expression of the peoples
who do not dictate world politics, but who suffer from it.
I hope we are capable of moving ahead with the
two initiatives of compañero Evo, The World Court
of Climatic Justice and the World Referendum,
against the world system of power founded on war
and waste, which does not respect human life and
puts a "for sale" sign on the riches of our Earth.
I hope we are capable of talking less and doing
more. Grave damage has been done to us, and is
still being done now; by the inflation of words
that in Latin America is doing more damage than financial inflation.
Also, and above all, we are fed up with the
hypocrisy of the rich countries that are leaving
us without a planet while they give pompous
speeches to cover up the rape they have committed.
There are those who say that hypocrisy is the tax
vice pays to virtue. Others say that hypocrisy is
the only proof of the existence of the infinite.
And the speech-making of the so called
"International Community," that club of bankers
and war mongers, proves that both definitions are correct.
I want to celebrate, on the contrary, the
strength of the truth that radiates from the
words and silences born of the human communion
with nature. And it is not by chance that this
Summit of Mother Earth is taking place in
Bolivia, this nation of nations that is
rediscovering herself after two centuries of living lies.
Bolivia just celebrated the tenth anniversary of
the people's victory in the war over water, when
the people of Cochabamba were able to defeat the
all too powerful company from California, which
owned the water, thanks to a government that
claimed to be Bolivian but was too generous with other people's goods.
That war over the water is one of the battles
this land is fighting in defense of her natural
resources, that is: in defense of her identity with nature.
There are voices of the past that speak to the future.
Bolivia is one of the nations of our continent
where the indigenous cultures have been able to
survive, and those voices now resound stronger
than ever, in spite of the long periods of persecution and rejection.
The whole world, stunned as it is, walking like a
blind man into a firefight, will have to listen
to those voices. They teach us that we, the
little humans, are part of nature, relatives of
all who have legs, feet, wings or roots. The
European conquest condemned for idolatry the
indigenous who lived that communion, and because
the people believed in it, they were whipped, beheaded or burned alive.
Since the times of the European Renaissance,
nature has been turned in merchandise, or an
obstacle to human progress. And up to the
present, that rift between us and nature has
persisted, to such an extent that there still are
people of good will who are moved at seeing poor
nature, so mistreated, so hurt, but still they see her from the outside.
The Indigenous cultures see nature from within.
Seeing her... I see myself. What I do against
her, I do against myself. I find myself in her,
my legs are also the path that they walk.
Let us celebrate then, this Summit of Mother
Earth. And let us hope that the deaf hear: human
rights and the rights of nature are two names for the same dignity.
From Montevideo, Uruguay, embraces fly.
______________________________________________
* The World Conference of The People on Climatic
Change and The Rights of Mother Earth, convoked
by Bolivian President Evo Morales, is happening in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
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