La Via Campesina had started its mobilizations on November 28th, with three caravans that left San Luis Potosí, Guadalajara and Acapulco, in a joint effort with the National Assembly of Environmentally Affected People, the National Liberation Movement and the Mexican Union of Electricians. Other caravans –from Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guatemala- joined these three and they all arrived together to Cancun on December 3rd. The following day, they started the Global Forum for Life, Social and Environmental Justice.

The movement carried out several activities, fora and mobilizations, and on December 7th, thousands of people marched to the place where the UN official negotiations were taking place in Cancun; this march was reproduced in 37 countries in the framework of the “Thousands of Cancuns” call raised by the peasant movement.

“Current models of consumption, production and trade have caused massive environmental destruction. Indigenous peoples and peasant farmers, men and women, are the main victims. So our mobilization to Cancun, and in Cancun, sought to tell the world that we need a change in economic and development paradigms”, read La Via Campesina´s statement, “We must go beyond the anthropocentric model. We must rebuild the cosmovision of our peoples, based on a holistic view of the relationship between the cosmos, Mother Earth, the air, the water and all living beings. Human beings do not own nature, but rather form part of all that lives.”

That´s why La Via denounces that the governments remain indifferent to climate change, and debate speculative financial schemes, new “green” economies and the privatization of the commons, instead of discussing ways to solve climate change, and in addition false solutions such as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), CDM (Clean Development Mechanisms), nuclear energy and geoengineering represent a dangerous threat.

La Via Campesina also denounces the “ imposition of industrial agriculture through the implementation of genetically modified products and landgrabs that go against food sovereignty”, and highlights the exclusion of peasant and indigenous peoples in discussions on key issues, and they denounce “the expulsion of members of our organizations from the official talks of the COP 16 due to their opposition to government proposals that promote a system of depredation that threatens to exterminate the Mother Earth and humanity.”

Finally, the movement denounced the efforts of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization to facilitate the entry of huge transnational corporations, and the impacts of Free Trade Agreements with the United States and the European Union considered by them as “trade and investment treaties that open the doors of our countries to transnational companies to take control of our natural resources.”

Meanwhile, the movement demands food sovereignty as the real solution, they call to rebuild the relationship with Mother Earth and to resume what was established in the Peoples´ Agreement of Cochabamba.

Also, La Via Campesina calls for “assuming collective responsibility for Mother Earth, changing patterns of development and economic structures, and breaking down the power of transnational companies”, and it “recognizes governments like Bolivia, Tuvalu and others that have had the courage to resist the imposition of governments of the North and transnational corporations. We call on other governments to join the people’s resistance against climate crisis.”

The movement also calls to stop pollution and hold the people responsible for environmental crimes accountable, and asks social movements and organizations to defend Mother Earth. La Via also demands that biodiversity protection, food sovereignty and water management policies be “based on the experience and the full participation of the communities themselves.”

Lastly, La Via Campesina demands a worldwide consultation with people to decide the policies and global actions needed against the climate crisis.

“Today, right now, we call on humanity to act immediately to rebuild the life of all of nature, applying the concept of “life in balance””, states the movement, and they add: “This is why, from the four corners of the planet, we stand up to say: No more harm to our Mother Earth! No more destruction of the planet! No more evictions from our territories! No more murder of the sons and daughters of the Mother Earth! No more criminalization of our struggles! No to the Copenhagen agreement. Yes to the principles of Cochabamba.”

Photo: Real World Radio