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<h2><font size=5 color="#FF0000"><b>TWO articles follow<br><br>
</font>Bolivian President Evo Morales on President Obama: “I Can’t
Believe a Black President Can Hold So Much Vengeance Against an Indian
President”</b></h2><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/23/bolivian_president_evo_morales_to_president" eudora="autourl">
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/23/bolivian_president_evo_morales_to_president<br>
<br>
</a>As the World Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change in Cochabamba
closes, we speak to Bolivian President Evo Morales about the US decision
to cut off climate aid to Bolivia; narcotrafficking; the tenth
anniversary of the Water Wars in Cochabamba; the protest at the San
Cristóbal silver mine; and the contradiction between promoting the
environment and extractive industriesoil/natural gas exploration,
mining.<br><br>
On Thursday organizers of the peoples’ summit released an Agreement of
the Peoples based on working group meetings. Key proposals include the
establishment of an international tribunal to prosecute polluters,
passage of a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth,
protection for climate migrants, and the full recognition of the UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.<br><br>
<br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>We’re broadcasting from Bolivia in the town of
Tiquipaya, just outside Cochabamba. On Thursday, the World Peoples’
Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth concluded with a
major rally at the Félix Capriles Stadium in Cochabamba featuring
Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
<br><br>
Over the past three days of the summit, known here simply as “<i>La
Cumbre</i>,” seventeen working groups met to discuss various
climate-related issues, from climate debt to the dangers of carbon
trading. Last night, summit organizers released an Agreement of the
Peoples based on the working group meetings. <br><br>
Key proposals include the establishment of an international tribunal to
prosecute polluters, passage of a Universal Declaration of the Rights of
Mother Earth, protection for climate migrants, and the full recognition
of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The peoples’
summit also condemned a proposed forest program known as REDD, or
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation. <br><br>
At Thursday’s rally, Bolivian President Evo Morales called on world
leaders to adopt these proposals from the peoples’ summit. <br><br>
<ul>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] If we apply and implement all
of the conclusions of this World Conference on the Rights of Mother
Earth, Cochabamba will be a hope to the world. What the governments of
developed countries suggest is allowing the earth to warm two degrees or
more. Clearly, the proposals coming from some working groups are not
solutions, but ways to cook all of humanity.<br><br>
</ul><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Bolivian President Evo Morales, speaking before
over 15,000 people in Cochabamba’s largest soccer stadium. <br><br>
In the hours before the rally, supporters of Morales filled the sidewalks
of the city. Morales is the first indigenous president of Bolivia, and
much of his support comes from the majority indigenous population.
<br><br>
Signs of Bolivia’s vibrant indigenous culture were on full display
outside and inside the stadium. Many indigenous women wore bowler hats
and flared skirts. The sound of pan flutes and the Andean string
instrument, the charango, could be heard throughout the stadium as
several musical acts gave impromptu performances on the field. Bolivian
women and children sold empanadas and fresh juices. <br><br>
At the rally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez warned that capitalism
could lead to the destruction of the planet. <br><br>
<ul>
<b>PRESIDENT HUGO CHÁVEZ: </b>[translated] We will not submit to the
hegemony of the imperial Yankees. You can even write it down. If the
hegemony of capitalism continues on this planet, human life will one day
come to an end. For those of you who believe that’s an exaggeration, one
must remember this: the planet lived for millions of years without the
human species.<br><br>
</ul><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>This is <i>Democracy Now!</i>, democracynow.org,
the War and Peace Report. We’re broadcasting from Cochabamba. Again, you
were listening to the closing ceremony and the closing speeches at
Cochabamba’s largest soccer stadium. It took place on Earth Day. You just
heard the President Evo Morales. You also heard, as well, President
Chávez. In just a moment, we are going to be joined by President Morales.
He has just arrived by van. He’s coming up the stairs. So we’ll go to a
break, some of the remarkable indigenous music that has been playing
throughout the area, and then we’ll be joined by the president of
Bolivia, Evo Morales. <br><br>
[break] <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>As the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and
the Rights of Mother Earth concludes, we are joined now by Bolivian
President Evo Morales. Following the failed Copenhagen climate talks in
December, Morales issued a call to hold the peoples’ summit to give the
poor and the Global South an opportunity to strategize on fighting
climate change. President Morales joins us now for the hour. We’re here
at the Universidad del ValleUni. del Valle, it’s called herein
Tiquipaya. <br><br>
Welcome to <i>Democracy Now!</i>, President Morales. <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] Thank you very much. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>You have joined us in New York several times on
<i>Democracy Now!</i> We are very honored to be here in your country, in
Bolivia. <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] And thank you very much for
the invitation to converse, as we’ve always done. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Well, we are speaking on the day after the World
Peoples’ Conference has concluded, the day after Earth Day. What do you
feel you have accomplished? <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] First of all, we have been
surprised by the participation of all the peoples of the world. We didn’t
imagine so many people, more than 30,000 participants in sixteenor
seventeen working groups, and a declaration that provides so much
direction for life and for nature, the participation of scientists and
people responsible for different sectors and regions of the world.
<br><br>
There are two particularly important things. In Copenhagen, there was
interest in having a document approved that would cause harm to Mother
Earth. And the debate was only about the effects of the climate crisis,
not the causes. And the peoples here have debated the causes, which is
capitalismI could elaborate on thatgenetically modified crops, which
cause harm to Mother Earth and human life. <br><br>
And in addition, I am so pleased to see that there’s been such deep
interest in engaging in a dialogue with the United Nations, so that these
conclusions of the peoples of the world can be heard and respected. Not
just by the peoples who participated, they should also be heard and
respected by humankind as a whole, all of those who live on the planet.
<br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>The proposals that have come out of this conference,
this summit, can you name them and explain them, beginning with the
climate justice tribunal? <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] For example, the developed
countries should respect the Kyoto Protocol, and that means put it into
practice, the 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; and that
the global temperature increase should be a maximum one-degree
Centigrade; that a climate justice tribunal should be established, based
in Cochabambaand I say thank you very much to the social movements who
approved this proposal that it be based here; that there should continue
to be a debate or there still is a debate on having a world referendum on
climate change; that the economic resources spent on defense and wars
should be for life and for nature. <br><br>
According to information we have, we find that the developed countries
spend $1.7 trillion, supposedly for defense and international security,
but that actually means in military intervention in other countries.
Imagine, with $1.7 trillion for life and for nature, that would be so
important. And that is the right of Mother Earth, the right to regenerate
Mother Earth’s caring capacity. It’s very important. <br><br>
And I can tell you, I know and I have lived in my family, in my
community, in my <i>aillu</i>, traditional community, where we said this
year, we’ll grow chili peppers the next year, and we evaluate this among
five different or eight communities. And over that time, it is
regenerated in another place. Some time goes by, and we replant it in
different place. And so, if we rotate the crops, then there’s not a
detrimental impact on the environment. These seem like small things, but
they translate into large things internationally in terms of the world
environment. <br><br>
In Bolivia, after this event, we are going to begin with reforestation.
And the plan that we have in Bolivia, as of the first anniversary of the
Declaration of International Mother Earth Day, because last year that was
approvedbefore, it was Earth Day, and now it’s International Mother
Earth Day. So one year after that, which is now, we’re going to begin
planting. And next year, as of April 22nd, we will plant ten million
trees. What does that mean? That a Bolivian, whether it’s a child or an
older person, has to plant a plant or a tree. And we’re ten million, and
there will be ten million, without any international contribution. This
would be just an effort by Bolivians to begin to reforest our country.
<br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Can you explain what is happening to the glaciers
here in Bolivia? <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] It’s a very bitter experience.
Chacaltaya, near the city of La Paz, when I was a child, I always heard
that people would ski there. And now that I am president and living in La
Paz, there is no skiing there. And there’s just a spot of snow left.
Also, in the department of Potosí, we have another mountain, and the
miners would say [inaudible], that they would say that it was dressed in
white. It was all snow-covered. And what I’ve been told is that fifty
years from now, there will no longer be snow on Illimani, the major
mountain overlooking La Paz. This is what the experts say. These have to
do with water problems, and that is the great concern, not only of the
peasant and indigenous communities who love their Mother Earth and who
take care of it, but also of the whole population. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>President Morales, who would be brought before a
climate justice tribunal? <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] First, the developed countries
that are not respecting the Kyoto Protocol. It’s a basic document, the
Kyoto Protocol. The developed countries should responsibly implement the
provisions. We would begin with the countries that have not ratified or
adopted the Kyoto Protocol, such as the government of the United States.
And to that effect, you also have the International Court of Justice. So
this is a new organization that would grow out of this event, this world
movement for the rights of Mother Earth. This world movement for the
rights of Mother Earth should already bring an action, as I say, against
the countries that have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. And second,
those that have ratified it, but are not implementing the Kyoto Protocol.
<br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>We’re talking to President Evo Morales, the president
of Bolivia. Yesterday at the Earth Day rally, the foreign minister of
Ecuador said that the US had cut two-and-a-half million dollars to
Ecuador because they didn’t sign onto the Copenhagen Accord. He said he
would give two-and-a-half million dollars to the United States if they
signed onto the Kyoto Protocol. Bolivia, the US cut two-and-a-half
million dollars, or $3 million, because you didn’t sign onto the
Copenhagen Accord. Can you explain what happened? <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] The thing is that there’s
permanent sabotage and blackmail from the US government. I cannot believe
that a black president can have so much vengeance with an Indian
president, because our grandparents and our populations, black and
indigenous, have been excluded, marginalized, humiliated. That’s where
Obama is coming from, from that experience and that suffering. And me,
too. And so, it’s one who’s been discriminated against discriminating
against another who’s been discriminated against, one oppressed who is
oppressing another oppressed. So much blackmail, and the so much
blackmail we had experienced before, and now I’m being subject to $3
million blackmail. <br><br>
But it’s with great pride and humility that we’re now better off without
the United States. We’re better off economically. And in terms of
macroeconomic policy, we’re better off without the International Monetary
Fund. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>What was the $3 million supposed to be for, before it
was cut? <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] Of course, for social
programs, as well as environmental programs, but that’s just $3 million.
In terms of fighting drug trafficking, they have the responsibility to
make an investment, and that it’s not just a question of cooperation,
it’s a matter of an obligation on their part. Nonetheless, they have
pulled out, and we are facing drug trafficking alonesome crumb to make
it seem like something, certainly. And so, for example, I had information
that they were going to invest in the Millennium Development Account,
like $600 million, and they withdrew all of it. And so, we worked this
out with other countries. We’re talking about investment. One is not
going to raise that claim about this. We are a country of dignity.
<br><br>
But what they do is take vengeance, intimidate. And that is why my doubt
is, one who has been subjugated, one’s family has been subjugated to
discrimination, is now president; how is it possible that he can
discriminate against another movement that has been discriminated
against? It is the peoples who will hear. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Do you see a change between President Bush and
President Obama? <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] If something is changed, it’s
just the color of the president that’s changed. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>President Morales, you have often talked about the
difference between coca and cocaine. You say coca is not cocaine. For a
US audience, that is hard to understand. Please explain. <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] Cocaine is like the white hair
of our interpreter, and the coca leaf is green like the leaves that you
see on the tree outside. The coca leaf, in its natural state, is food,
it’s medicine. It is used quite a lot in rituals, as you will have seen
in the ceremonies that have taken place at this World Conference on the
Rights of Mother Earth. <br><br>
To turn coca into cocaine, many chemical agents are required, chemical
precursors, and therefore a mix of sulfuric acid and other chemicals will
turn it into a drug. But we have no culture of cocaine, but we do have a
profound culture of coca leaf. I’m very sorry that the US State
Department considers that people who consume coca leaf are drug addicts.
That’s absurd. It’s totally false. And that those of us who produce coca
leaf are drug traffickers and that they say that coca is cocaine, well,
that is a lie. And so, we’re engaged in a permanent battle to continue to
inform the whole world about this. But people like you, for example, know
now that coca is not cocaine. <br><br>
But in addition to that, when Bolivian tin was in its boom, it was used
by US industry. And at that time, the United States was encouraging coca
production, so that the miners, the workers, would consume coca leaf to
help them extract tin to be sent to the United States. The best producers
of coca leaf at that time were given awards. This is documented.
<br><br>
And I continue to be convinced that cocaine and drug trafficking is an
invention of the United States. And with that invention, they’ve been
able to create this war against drug trafficking. Capitalism lives from
war. Capitalism needs wars in order to sell its weaponry. So this is not
an isolated drug issue. It goes to the very interests of capitalism. And
on the pretext of fighting drugs, they establish military bases. It’s
political control and domination that they want. It’s the new
colonialism. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>President Morales, let me ask you, thoughI have been
speaking, not with your opponents, but your supporters, who are concerned
that there is a growing narcotrafficking problem here. And I’m wondering
if you feel that is the case. And you, more than anyone, understand that
anything like this could be a trigger for massive intervention. So what
will you do about this? <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] It is a problem, and we
acknowledge it. I don’t know if it’s growing, but the drug cartels and
the cocaine cartels have become so powerful, the Plurinational State of
Bolivia does not have certain instruments and technology for struggling
against the drug cartels. It is a weakness on our part. <br><br>
And the most important thing is that the peasant movement is voluntarily
reducing coca crops. Before, it was forced eradication, which violated
human rights. The disadvantage is that we don’t have radars, satellites,
and a drug trafficker is not the one who steps onwho processes the coca
leaf. They go around all around the world, and their money is in the
banks. We need to end bank secrecy, for example. Why not? So, imagine,
there’s not any real effective contribution to the anti-drug trafficking
effort. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Is there a role the US can play in combating drug
trafficking here that you think would be constructive? <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] We just need equipment and
technology. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>We’re talking to Bolivian President Evo Morales, who
rose to the presidencywas a <i>cocalero</i>, the head of the coca
growers’ union. And now I want to go back ten years. I want to go back to
the Water Wars, where you really rose in popularity and ultimately to the
presidency. Right outside this window here at the University del Valle,
we can see the mountain Tunari. That was the name used for this
mysterious company, Aguas del Tunari, that was actually the US company
Bechtel, who came to privatize the water supply. You joined with the
farmers, with the factory workers, led by Oscar Olivera, and you led a
mass movement against the privatization and pushed out Bechtel. Talk
about those moments. <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] I was born in Oruro, Orinoco,
in another department in the Altiplano, andbefore doing my obligatory
military service in 1978. In 1979, I went to the Chapare region, which is
here in the department of Cochabamba. And in 1979 and 1980, when I was
going back and forth, I would come by Tunari, and it was always covered
with snow. Most of the year it was snow-covered. Now, when there’s
snowfall, it may be covered with snow just for half a day at most. I have
experienced that. <br><br>
Now, apart from that, the first companions who rose up against the
drilling of wells was right over here in a place called La Vinto, Vinto
Chico. I remember perfectly well that the communities had mobilized and
put up roadblocks. And they said, “Evo, you have contacts with the press.
Bring the press.” And they said, “The privatization of water is harming
us.” I had some friends in the press. We brought them there. They talked
with them, and they denounced it. I was very struck by the situation. And
now I’m talking about the 1990s. I learned a great deal. <br><br>
And then this contract came with the company called Aguas del Tunari. For
the people in the city, the rate that they were going to be charged for
water was going to increase threefold, fourfold, sevenfold. That provoked
a response from the population. And the privatization of the springs, the
melting, for irrigating, for the peasant movement, all of this was a
problem. And Oscar Olivera and others came together. We all came together
in order to wage debates. There was a colleague named Fernandez, who was
among the irrigators. There was Oscar Olivera from the workers’ sector.
<br><br>
And what had most struck was that in the legislatureand at the time, I
was a legislator, in 1999, 2000I was told in the Congress that we need
to approve a $50 million loan for theand from the Andean Development
Corporation, but that was going to be for Aguas del Tunari. So I figured
that if there’s a company that is going to be awarded a project or a
contract for privatizing water, they need to invest the money. Why is it
that the government needs to lend money to the company Aguas del Tunari?
Am I making myyou get my point? In the indigenous and peasant world, in
the world of the poor, the businessperson is one who has a lot of money.
Transnational corporations are great millionaires. And a transnational,
Aguas del Tunari, was given a contract for privatizing the water. Well,
then the legislature has to approve a law to give a loan to that company?
What kind of privatization is that? Now I can make some more comments,
with all the more reason, about other transnationals. That really struck
me. There’s no investment by the company at all here. Then we found out
who were the partners of this transnational: a politician by the name of
Medina, another politician. And they put the papers together to create a
company. But there wasn’t any money, and so the Bolivian government was
supposed to lend it money. <br><br>
This and many things brought us togetherthe peasant movement, the
irrigators, the people in the city. I would say that the factory workers
of Oscar Olivera participated in this struggle very little. It was
essentially the peasants, the irrigators and the coca growers. We joined
the struggle. We didn’t have water problems in Chapare. There’s flooding
in Chapare. The issue was that it had to do with a policy of
privatization. And drinking water included the trade unions. So we said,
“This policy is going to come to Chapare, and before that happens, let’s
fight it in Cochabamba.” <br><br>
I remember that one day I felt defeated in our mobilizations here. About
a thousand of us went out, said, “Let’s go out and march.” And we went
out to march, and they began to shoot teargas at us. And the press said
they’re shooting teargas at the coca growers, who are defending water.
And then the population rose up, and there was a state of siege. It was
the last state of siege that we defeated. And since then, there’s been no
state of siege. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>So how does it feel, fromgoing from that victory,
pushing Bechtel out of the country, being a stone-throwing protester, to
becoming the president of your nation, representing the police and the
military that you were opposing at that time? <br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] Well, as president, we
continue getting the companies out of the country. Before, as a social
movement leader, now as president. We also have removed the company Aguas
del Illimani from La Paza, as president. As president, we have removed
Transredes, an oil company. So that’s not changing. These are policies
that have been defined by social movements in Bolivia, and we’ll continue
to pursue them. <br><br>
But I do want you to know, we said no more will we have companies being
the owners of our natural resources. We do need partners. For example,
some agreements that we’ve signed with some companies, the company
invests, but under the control of the owner is the Plurinational State of
Bolivia. We are owners of 60 percent of the shares, and the investor
holds 40 percent. It is legally guaranteed and constitutionally
guaranteed that they will recover their investment, but they alsowe also
guarantee the right to share in the profits. <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>We have to break for sixty seconds, but then we’re
coming back to our exclusive hour with the president of Bolivia, Evo
Morales, as we broadcast live from Cochabamba, Bolivia. Stay with us.
<br><br>
[break] <br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>You’ve just been watching and listening to the
celebratory music, the major celebrations that took place at the close of
the summit yesterday in the main soccer stadium here in Cochabamba,
Bolivia. <br><br>
This is <i>Democracy Now!</i>, democracynow.org, the War and Peace
Report. I’m Amy Goodman. And we have been broadcasting all week from the
World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth. We’re
here now in the Bolivian town of Tiquipaya, just outside of Cochabamba,
with President Evo Morales. <br><br>
You are talking about industry and the role of corporations. I’d like to
address how you deal with indigenous rights, environmental rights, and
reconcile that with corporations. Let’s go to San Cristóbal, the mine,
the protests of the last week. Please tell us what is happening there.
The miners have shut down the area. They’re calling on Sumitomo, the
Japanese company, to give them reparations, stop polluting the water. I
think 6,000 liters of water a second are used. What is the government
doing? What are you doing, President Morales?<br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] First, that is a concession
that is legally guaranteed and armored by the previous governments. It’s
the legacy of the neoliberal governments. But in addition, the people in
the area know that the company has negotiated with them. They’ve created
a foundation to give money to community members and the experience that
is that such kinds of agreements, blackmail or prebends, are not a
solution. Those are not eternal. And that those who are culpable are the
leaders of the communities who agreed to enter into agreements with the
company. There’s also a political component. When the right lost in the
municipal elections, the next day, they began to wage conflicts. So
there’s an internal issue there. <br><br>
If we want to resolve the issue of San Cristóbal, we need to change a
law, a law on mining. And certainly, that is going to be subject to an
in-depth review, the concession contract itself. But yesterday, the day
before yesterday, the conflict has ended. They lifted that, and we
explained the truths. But sometimes these kinds of conflicts are used
politically at the local level.<br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>The State Department has issued a warning that people
shouldn’t travel in that area, the US State Department.<br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] You always hear campaigns of
that sort from the US State Department. It’s just one part of the highway
that’s been blocked. But, as I say, that was lifted two days ago. And
then I was informed that some tourists were kept from going through, but
the community members, in a responsible way, had the tourists come
through. You can see that this is a satanization by the United States
State Department. And we say, in a humanitarian sense, they have a right
to be there, even though they’ve politicized it. <br><br>
But they don’t realize that those responsible for those agreements are
not only the previous governments, but also the leaders ofthe previous
leaders of those communities. So there was this agreement between the
state and the leaders of the community. I know about it. I was there
talking with them. They accepted that there be a foundation that would
invest, I’m not sure how many millions in the community. <br><br>
That also doesn‘t mean that we’re trying to deflect responsibility. It is
our responsibility to seek solutions. And I was saying a moment ago that
we need tothat there are contracts that are armored, and we need to
figure out how to change them.<br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Let’s go to the bigger issue. Bolivian economy is
based on 20 percent, 30 percent on extractive industries like silver,
zinc. You are really getting into lithium now. Bolivia has the world’s
majority reserves in lithium, an incredible alternative energy source for
batteries, for electric cars. How do you reconcile the extractive
industries with the environment, Pachamama, the indigenous word for
Mother Earth, with indigenous rights?<br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] We need in-depth studies on
this. If we want to defend Mother Earth and the rights of Mother Earth,
any project for industrializing natural resources has to respect the
regeneration of bio-capabilities. Like with some minerals, for example,
non-renewable minerals, it will be difficult. So the internal debate is
what to do about this, because Bolivia, before, lived from tin, as a
colonial state. Now we live off of gas and oil. Our economic resources
come fundamentally from oil and gas, and mining is in second place. To
what extent can the industrialization of these resources allow for
respect for Mother Earth? <br><br>
As of this conference, and going forward, everything has to change. But
when they tell us that lithium could be an alternative energy source, I
was asking, what about the brine, and in what time can it be regenerated?
Some tell me fifty years, some tell me 100 years. I would be happy if it
were fifty years, because we have there these salt flats of 10,000 square
kilometers. And if you take a broader look, it’s 16,000 square
kilometers. It’s immense. So we’re going forward. And if that happens,
then we’ll be satisfied, in terms of having a replacement for the energy
sources that cause so much harm to Mother Earth.<br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>These are the issues that have been raised by mesa
18, the group that was not included in the summit, the issues ofeven
someone on the stage in your opening ceremony, Faith Gemmill from North
Alaska, said, “Keep the coal in the hole, keep the oil in the ground.”
What is your response to that, to stop the extractions?<br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] You want me to tell you the
truth about working group 18? That’s a business of the NGOs and the
foundations. The indigenous brothers and sisters had never before had an
indigenous working group within the seventeen. But since it’s a question
of justifying investments by the NGOs, then they set up working group 18.
<br><br>
Now, the internal debate. Those foundations, NGOs, said, “Amazon, no
oil.” So they’re telling me that I should shut down oil wells and gas
wells. So what is Bolivia going to live off of? So let’s be realistic.
But since these foundations and NGOs justify using some of the indigenous
brothers and sistersI don’t blame my indigenous brothers and sisters.
They use the leaders to justify their good salaries and their own way of
life. <br><br>
I heard yesterdaylast night I was with the people from Via Campesina up
until 2:00 a.m. You know Via Campesina. I’m one of the founders. And they
tell me, “Don’t build roads.” And another one says, “Don’t build dams.”
The day before yesterday, when I was just back here, I announced that
we’re going to build a road from Oruro to a place near here. That is the
most widely applauded project by the grassroots people, because the
people who need to be able to have access. If we look just out here, in
Alto, every day they’re asking for small-scale dams. So NGOs and some
leaders say, no, when they’re not interpreting the needs of their
grassroots. That is the truth. And for this reason, it was like a
confrontation Via Campesina<br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>We just have thirty seconds. Your hope for this
summit?<br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] I wanted to explainI don’t
want to feel that there’s not freedom of expression, in terms of
addressing your concern. But I do want you to know, that is the truth,
and that last night, with Via Campesina, we had those confrontations. So
they ended upthey stopped talking about the dams, about the roads. Now
I’m an enemy of thermoelectric plants, for example, but not hydroelectric
plants.<br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Five Seconds.<br><br>
<b>PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: </b>[translated] Well, then, thank you very
much.<br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Thank you very much. We’ve been speaking with
Bolivian President Evo Morales. And that concludes our exclusive week
here in Cochabamba, Bolivia at the Worlds Peoples’ Summit on Climate
Change and Rights <br><br>
</font><h2><b>******************************<br>
A New Climate Movement in Bolivia</b></h2><font size=3>By Naomi Klein -
April 21st, 2010 <br>
<a href="http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2010/04/new-climate-movement-bolivia" eudora="autourl">
http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2010/04/new-climate-movement-bolivia<br>
<br>
</a><i>Cochabamba, Bolivia</i> <br><br>
It was 11 am and Evo Morales had turned a football stadium into a giant
classroom, marshaling an array of props: paper plates, plastic cups,
disposable raincoats, handcrafted gourds, wooden plates and multicolored
ponchos. All came into play to make his main point: to fight climate
change, "we need to recover the values of the indigenous
people." <br><br>
Yet wealthy countries have little interest in learning these lessons and
are instead pushing through a plan that at its best would raise average
global temperatures 2 degrees Celsius. "That would mean the melting
of the Andean and Himalayan glaciers," Morales told the thousands
gathered in the stadium, part of the
<a href="http://pwccc.wordpress.com/">World People's Conference on
Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth</a>. What he didn't have to
say is that the Bolivian people, no matter how sustainably they choose to
live, have no power to save their glaciers. <br><br>
Bolivia's climate summit has had moments of joy, levity and absurdity.
Yet underneath it all, you can feel the emotion that provoked this
gathering: rage against helplessness. <br><br>
It's little wonder. Bolivia is in the midst of a dramatic political
transformation, one that has nationalized key industries and elevated the
voices of indigenous peoples as never before. But when it comes to
Bolivia's most pressing, existential crisisthe fact that its glaciers
are melting at an alarming rate, threatening the water supply in two
major citiesBolivians are powerless to do anything to change their fate
on their own. <br><br>
That's because the actions causing the melting are taking place not in
Bolivia but on the highways and in the industrial zones of heavily
industrialized countries. In Copenhagen, leaders of endangered nations
like Bolivia and Tuvalu argued passionately for the kind of deep
emissions cuts that could avert catastrophe. They were politely told that
the political will in the North just wasn't there. More than that, the
United States made clear that it didn't need small countries like Bolivia
to be part of a climate solution. It would negotiate a deal with other
heavy emitters behind closed doors, and the rest of the world would be
informed of the results and invited to sign on, which is precisely what
happened with the Copenhagen Accord. When Bolivia and Ecuador refused to
rubber-stamp the accord, the US government
<a href="http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/04/bolivia_ecuador_denied_climate_funds.html">
cut their climate aid</a> by $3 million and $2.5 million, respectively.
<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9TuMrvrknh-ZXwqmZ2N-48kff3wD9F14CP81">
"It's not a free-rider process,"</a> explained US climate
negotiator Jonathan Pershing. (Anyone wondering why activists from the
global South reject the idea of "climate aid" and are instead
demanding repayment of "climate debts" has their answer here.)
Pershing's message was chilling: if you are poor, you don't have the
right to prioritize your own survival. <br><br>
When Morales invited "social movements and Mother Earth's
defenders...scientists, academics, lawyers and governments" to come
to Cochabamba for a new kind of climate summit, it was a revolt against
this experience of helplessness, an attempt to build a base of power
behind the right to survive. <br><br>
The Bolivian government got the ball rolling by proposing
<a href="http://pwccc.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/call/#more-12">four big
ideas</a>: that nature should be granted rights that protect ecosystems
from annihilation (a "Universal Declaration of Mother Earth
Rights"); that those who violate those rights and other
international environmental agreements should face legal consequences (a
"Climate Justice Tribunal"); that poor countries should receive
various forms of compensation for a crisis they are facing but had little
role in creating ("Climate Debt"); and that there should be a
mechanism for people around the world to express their views on these
topics ("World People's Referendum on Climate Change").
<br><br>
The next stage was to invite global civil society to hash out the
details. Seventeen working groups were struck, and after weeks of online
discussion, they met for a week in Cochabamba with the goal of presenting
their final recommendations at the summit's end. The process is
fascinating but far from perfect (for instance,
<a href="http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/">as Jim Shultz of the
Democracy Center pointed out</a>, the working group on the referendum
apparently spent more time arguing about adding a question on abolishing
capitalism than on discussing how in the world you run a global
referendum). Yet Bolivia's enthusiastic commitment to participatory
democracy may well prove the summit's most important contribution.
<br><br>
That's because, after the Copenhagen debacle, an exceedingly dangerous
talking point went viral: the real culprit of the breakdown was democracy
itself. The UN process, giving equal votes to 192 countries, was simply
too unwieldybetter to find the solutions in small groups. Even trusted
environmental voices like
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock-climate-change">
James Lovelock fell prey</a>: "I have a feeling that climate change
may be an issue as severe as a war," he told the <i>Guardian</i>
recently. "It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a
while." But in reality, it is such small groupingslike the
invitation-only club that rammed through the Copenhagen Accordthat have
caused us to lose ground, weakening already inadequate existing
agreements. By contrast, the climate change policy brought to Copenhagen
by Bolivia was drafted by social movements through a participatory
process, and the end result was the most transformative and radical
vision so far. <br><br>
With the Cochabamba summit, Bolivia is trying to take what it has
accomplished at the national level and globalize it, inviting the world
to participate in drafting a joint climate agenda ahead of the next UN
climate gathering, in Cancún.
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/18/bolivia-climate-change-talks-cochabamba">
In the words of Bolivia's ambassador to the UN</a>, Pablo Solón,
"The only thing that can save mankind from a tragedy is the exercise
of global democracy." <br><br>
If he is right, the Bolivian process might save not just our warming
planet but our failing democracies as well. Not a bad deal at all.
<br><br>
<br><br>
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