While the world’s governments refused to act, 50,000 thousands trade unionists, rural workers, landless peasants and indigenous peoples demonstrated outside. They are the real hope for a mass anti-capitalist movement movement to stop environmental disaster.
Archive | Rio+20
Monbiot: Rio+20 produces 283 paragraphs of fluff
190 governments express “deep concern” about the world’s environmental crises, but don’t plan to do anything about them.
A tale of two conferences: The social and ecological crises of capitalism
In Mexico and Brazil, the capitalist elite discusses how to continue exploiting humans and the natural world in the service of profit, while cloaking their intentions in the benign language of growth, development and sustainability.
Canada, US, and Vatican unite against human rights at Rio+20
Amnesty International describes “a shameful alliance against making a commitment to human rights”
Video: Canadian youth activist opens People's Plenary in Rio
Cameron Fenton: “Without a full turn around by world leaders and their representatives Rio is set to go down in history as one of the most colossal failures on on climate change and environmental protection.”
Raul Castro at Rio+20: "The only alternative is to build more just societies""
Cuban President Raul Castro told the UN conference in Rio de Janeiro, that the rich countries cannot continue living well at the expense of the poor.
Thousands march through Rio to demand climate action from UN
Tens of thousands of protesters joined an enormous demonstration through the centre of the Rio de Janeiro, to demand economic justice and action over climate change.
Bolivian activists: This is not "The future we want"
All governments must reject this agreement and halt the negotiations process until concrete commitments are made to replace the neo-liberal model with one based on fair development in harmony with nature and the philosophy of Living Well (Vivir Bien)
Rio+20: The earth summit heads for 'epic failure'
“Abandon hope all ye who enter here” should have been written over the entrance to the Rio+20 summit.
Rio +20 has nothing to say on REDD (and not much on anything else)
If the draft text is accepted in its current form, Rio +20 will go down in history to be followed inevitably by the word failure.
Lethal ingredients in the Rio+20 mocktail
The advocates of Green Economy never acknowledge that today’s crises have been caused by dangerously polluting industries, the extractive mining sector, chemical industries or industrial agriculture, and carefully ignore the new approaches proposed by countries like Bolivia and Ecuador.
An ecosocialist statement on Rio+20
What can we expect from this so-called “Earth Summit” from a social and ecological perspective? Nothing!
Big business goes to Rio
The best thing to come out of Rio+20 could be the strengthening of social movements in opposition to one of its core ideas. The false green economy’s grand Brazilian showcase might just be the event that helps to trigger its downfall.
Kari-Oca 2 Declaration
Indigenous Peoples Global Conference on Rio+20 and Mother Earth: The “Green Economy” continues the colonialism we have faced and resisted for 520 years. We cannot allow false solutions to destroy the Earth’s balance, assassinate the seasons, unleash severe weather havoc, privatize life and threaten the very survival of humanity.
At Rio+20: Values versus prices
Patrick Bond: The Rio+20 Earth Summit under way this week in Brazil is devoted to advancing the ‘Green Economy,’ which is the environmentalism of the rich. For most people and the planet, it will be a disaster.
NO REDD+! – Decolonize the Earth and the Sky!
Declaration of the Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities on Climate Change against REDD+. “Under the Green Economy, even the rain, the beauty of a waterfall or a honey bee’s pollen will be reduced to a barcode price tag and sold to the highest bidder.”
Pablo Solon: 'Green economy' versus the rights of nature
Humanity is at the edge of a cliff. Instead of recognizing that nature is our home and that we must respect the rights of all members of Earth’s community, transnational corporations are promoting more capitalism under the misleadingname of “green economy.”
The people of the world confront the advance of capitalism: Rio +20 and beyond
La Via Campesina position paper: We oppose the commercialization of the earth, our territories, water, seeds, food, nature, and human life. We repudiate and denounce the green economy as a new mask to hide increasing levels of corporate greed and food imperialism
Rio+20: An opportunity to rekindle the movement
The official meetings in Rio will avoid concrete action … but outside those sessions, this is an important opportunity to forge essential unity between the left and serious environmentalists.
The UN's 'Green Economy' plan is a destructive illusion
Pablo Solon: Instead of applying market rules to Nature, we need to forge a new system We must change the capitalist system, not the Earth system.