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<font size=3><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>MESSAGE TO THE
SUMMMIT ON MOTHER EARTH </b></font><font size=3> <br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>Eduardo
Galeano</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br>
</font><h2><font size=3><b> <br>
“Human rights and the rights of nature are two names for the same
dignity”<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Regretably, I will not
be able to be with you. A branch hit my tire and it keeps me from
traveling.</b></font></h2><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>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.<br><br>
And because I am with you without being there, at least I can send you
these words.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
I hope we are capable of moving ahead with the two initiatives of
<i>compañero</i> 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 <i>"for sale"</i>
sign on the riches of our Earth.<br><br>
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.
<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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<i> "International
Community,"</i> that club of bankers and war mongers, proves that
both definitions are correct.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>
<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>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.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>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.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>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.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>There are voices of the
past that speak to the
future.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>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.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>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.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>
<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>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.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>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.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>
<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>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.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>From Montevideo,
Uruguay, </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>embraces fly.
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br><br>
<i>______________________________________________</i> <br><br>
<i>* 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.</i> <br><br>
<br>
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