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<font size=4><b>The Moment Of Truth<br><br>
</font><font size=3>By Fidel Castro<br><br>
</b>18 December, 2009<br>
<b>
<a href="http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/ing/f171209i.html">
Cuba.cu</a><br><br>
<a href="http://countercurrents.org/castro181209.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://countercurrents.org/castro181209.htm<br><br>
</a></b>The news from the Danish capital gives a picture of chaos. After
planning a conference with about 40 thousand people in attendance, the
hosts find it impossible to honor their promise. Evo, the first of the
two presidents of ALBA-member countries to arrive, stated some truths
derived from the millennium-old culture of his people.<br><br>
According to press agencies he said that he had received a mandate from
the Bolivian people to oppose any agreement that does not meet the
expectations. He explained that climate change is not the cause but the
effect, and that we all have an obligation to defend the rights of Mother
Earth vis-à-vis a capitalist development model; to defend the culture of
life vis-à-vis the culture of death. He also addressed the climate debt
that the rich countries should pay to the poor countries and the return
of the atmospheric space taken from the latter.<br><br>
He considered ridiculous the annual figure of 10 billion USD offered
until the year 2012 while the yearly needs amount to hundreds of
billions. At the same time, he accused the United States of spending
trillions to export terrorism to Iraq and Afghanistan and to set up
military bases in Latin America.<br><br>
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela addressed the
Summit on the 16th, at 8:40 a.m. Cuban time. He made a brilliant speech
that was much applauded. His phrases were remarkable.<br><br>
He challenged a document proposed to the Summit by the Danish minister
chairing the conference. He said:<br><br>
“…this text has come out of the blue; we shall not accept any text that
has not been produced by the working groups, I mean, the legitimate texts
that have been the subject of negotiations for the past two
years.”<br><br>
“There is a group of nations that feel above us in the South, in the
Third World…”<br><br>
“…it’s not a surprise, there is no democracy, we are facing a
dictatorship.”<br><br>
“…I was reading some slogans painted in the streets by the youths… one
read: ‘don’t change the climate, change the system,’ and another: “if the
climate had been a bank it would have been bailed out.’”<br><br>
“Obama […] received the Nobel Peace Prize the same day he sent 30
thousand troops to kill innocent people in Afghanistan.”<br><br>
“I support the view of the representatives of Brazil, Bolivia and China,
I only wanted to express my support […] but I was not given the
floor…”<br><br>
“The rich are destroying the planet, could it be they are planning to
move to another when this one is destroyed?”<br><br>
“…there is no doubt that climate change is the most devastating
environmental issue of this century.”<br><br>
“…the United States’ population is barely 300 million; China’s is almost
five times that. The United States’ oil consumption exceeds 20 million
barrels a day; China’s is hardly 5 or 6 million barrels a day. Thus, the
same cannot be asked from the United States and from China.”<br><br>
“…the reduction of unfriendly gas emissions and the acceptance of a
long-term agreement on cooperation […] seem to have failed, for now. Why?
[…] the irresponsible attitude and the lack of political will of the most
powerful nations on Earth.”<br><br>
“…the gap between the rich and the poor countries has continued to widen
despite all of the summits and the unfulfilled promises, and the world
continues its destructive march.”<br><br>
“…the total income of the wealthiest 500 persons in the world is higher
than the income of the 416 million poorest persons.”<br><br>
“Infant mortality amounts to 47 per 1000 live births, but in the rich
countries it is only 5/1000.”<br><br>
“…how much longer can we let millions of children die from curable
diseases?”<br><br>
“Actually, 2.6 billion have no access to health services.”<br><br>
“The Brazilian author Leornardo Boff has written: ‘The strongest survive
on the ashes of the weakest.’”<br><br>
“Jean Jacob Rousseau said that ‘Between the strong and the weak freedom
oppresses.’ That’s why the empire talks of freedom; freedom to oppress,
to invade, to kill, to annihilate and to exploit: that’s their freedom.
And then Rousseau added the saving phrase: ‘Only the Law can make us
free.’”<br><br>
“How much longer are we going to tolerate armed conflicts that massacre
millions of innocent people so that the powerful can grab the resources
of others?<br><br>
“Nearly two centuries back a universal liberator, Simon Bolivar, said:
‘If nature opposes, we shall fight it and force it to obey.’”<br><br>
“This planet lived for billions of years without us, without human
beings; it doesn’t need us to exist, but we can’t live without
Earth…”<br><br>
Evo addressed the conference in the morning of today, Thursday. His
speech will also be treasured.<br><br>
He very candidly opened his remarks by saying: “I wish to say how upset
we are over the lack of organization and the delays in this international
gathering…”<br><br>
His basic ideas were the following:<br><br>
“When we ask what is it with the hosts, […] we are told it’s the United
Nations; when we ask what is it with the United Nations, they say it’s
Denmark, so we don’t know who is the disorganizer of this international
meeting…”<br><br>
“…I’m amazed because only the effects and not the causes of climate
change are being discussed.”<br><br>
“If we fail to identify where the destruction of the environment comes
from […] we will never be able to solve this problem…”<br><br>
“…two cultures are antagonizing: the culture of life and the culture of
death; the culture of death is capitalism, which the indigenous peoples
identify with those who want to live better at the expense of
others.”<br><br>
“…exploiting others, plundering their natural resources, assaulting
Mother Earth, privatizing basic services…”<br><br>
“…living well is living in solidarity, in equality, in complementation,
in reciprocity…”<br><br>
“When it comes to climate change, these two ways of life, these two
cultures of life are antagonizing, and if we don’t decide which is the
best way of life, we will not be able to solve it, because we have
problems with life: luxury and consumerism hurt society, and sometimes in
this kind of international meeting we avoid telling the truth.”<br><br>
“…in our way of life being truthful is sacred, and that is not being
observed here.”<br><br>
“…in our Constitution it reads ama sua, ama llulla, ama quella, which
means don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t be weak.”<br><br>
“…Mother Earth or Nature exist and will exist without the human being,
but human beings can’t live without planet Earth, therefore, we have the
obligation to defend the right of Mother Earth.”<br><br>
“…I applaud the United Nations because finally this year it has
established the International Day of Mother Earth.”<br><br>
“…our mother is sacred, our mother is our life; a mother cannot be
rented, cannot be sold or assaulted, a mother must be
respected.”<br><br>
“We have profound differences with the Western model, and that is under
discussion at this moment.”<br><br>
“We are in Europe now, and you know that many Bolivian families, many
Latin American families come to Europe, why do they come here? They come
to improve their living conditions. In Bolivia, they could be earning 100
or 200 dollars a month, but that family or that person comes here to care
for a European grandmother or grandfather, and he earns 1,000 Euros a
month.”<br><br>
“Such are the asymmetries we have from one continent to another, and it
is our obligation to discuss the ways to achieve a certain balance, […]
cutting down the deep asymmetries between families, between countries
and, especially, between continents.”<br><br>
“When […] our brothers and sisters come here to survive or improve their
living conditions they are expelled, with those papers known as
expatriation documents […] but when a long time ago the European
grandfathers arrived in Latin America, they were not expelled. My
families, my brothers and sisters are not coming here to own mines, nor
are they landowners with thousands of hectares of land. In the past, no
passports or visas were needed to get to Abya Yala, that is, to the
Americas.”<br><br>
“…if the rights of Mother Earth are not recognized, it will be useless to
speak of 10 billions or 100 billions, which is an offense to
humanity.”<br><br>
“…the wealthy nations should welcome all the immigrants affected by
climate change instead of forcing them to return to their countries as
they are doing now…”<br><br>
“…our obligation is to save all of humanity and not half of
humanity.”<br><br>
“…the FTAA, Free Trade Area of the Americas, […] is not a Free Trade Area
of the Americas, but a free colonization area of the Americas…”<br><br>
Evo suggested the following questions, among others, for a worldwide
referendum on climate change:<br><br>
“..Do you agree to restore a harmonious relationship with Nature
recognizing the rights of Mother Earth...?”<br><br>
“…Do you agree to change this excessively consumerist and wasting model,
that is, the capitalist system...?”<br><br>
“…Do you agree that the developed countries should reduce and reabsorb
their greenhouse effect gas emissions…?”<br><br>
“…Do you agree on transferring everything that is currently being spent
in wars to create a budget higher than the defense budget to tackle the
problem of climate change..?.”<br><br>
As it is widely known, the UN Agreement on Climate Change was signed in
Kyoto in 1997. This instrument bound 38 industrial nations to cut down
their greenhouse effect gas emissions to a certain percentage in
comparison with those of 1990. The European Union countries committed to
an 8% as of 2005, the year when most of the signatories had already
ratified it. George W. Bush, then President of the United States, --the
largest greenhouse effect gas producer country which is responsible for
one-fourth of such emissionshad rejected the agreement since the midst
of 2001.<br><br>
The other UN members continued their efforts. The research centers
proceeded with their work. It is evident by now that a major catastrophe
is threatening our species. Perhaps the worst could be that the blind
selfishness of a privileged wealthy minority tries to bring the burden of
the necessary sacrifices to weigh heavily on the overwhelming majority of
the inhabitants of the planet.<br><br>
That contradiction can be perceived in Copenhagen where thousands of
people are standing firm by their views.<br><br>
The Danish police are resorting to brutal methods to crush resistance;
many protesters are being preventively arrested. I spoke over the phone
with our Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, who was at a solidarity rally
in Copenhagen with Chavez, Evo, Lazo and other representatives of ALBA. I
asked him who those people were that the Danish police suppressed with
such hate, twisting their arms and beating their backs repeatedly. He
said they were Danish citizens and people from other European nations as
well as members of the social movements who were demanding from the
Summit a real solution now to deal with climate change. He also told me
that debates in the Summit would continue at midnight. It was already
night in Copenhagen as I spoke with him. The time difference is six
hours.<br><br>
Our comrades have reported from the Danish capital that a worse situation
is expected tomorrow, Thursday. At 10 in the morning, the UN Summit will
be adjourned for two hours as the Danish Head of Government meets with 20
Heads of Government he has invited to talk “global problems” with Obama.
That’s what they have called the meeting whose objective it is to impose
an agreement on climate change.<br><br>
Even though all of the official delegations will take part, only “the
invitees” will be allowed to offer their views. Of course, neither Chavez
nor Evo are counted among those entitled to express their opinions. The
idea is to give an opportunity to the Nobel Laureate to read a previously
elaborated speech, after the decision has been made in that meeting to
postpone the agreement until the end of next year in Mexico City. The
social movements will not be allowed to attend. After that show, the
“Summit” will resume its works in the plenary hall until its inglorious
closing.<br><br>
Since television has carried the images, the world has seen the fascist
methods used against the people in Copenhagen. The protesters, most of
them young people, have won the solidarity of the peoples.<br><br>
Despite the maneuvers and deception of the leaders of the empire, their
moment of truth is drawing closer. Their own allies are losing confidence
in them. In Mexico, the same as in Copenhagen or elsewhere in the world,
they will be met by the growing resistance of the peoples that have not
renounced the hope to survive.<br><br>
Fidel Castro Ruz<br>
December 17, 2009<br>
6:46 p.m. <br><br>
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