Amy Goodman reports from the World Peoples Climate Summit in Bolivia.

[EFerrari]

Bolivian UN Ambassador Pablo Solon on the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth

Today marks the start of the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth here in Tiquipaya. Bolivian President Evo Morales called for the gathering to give the poor and the Global South an opportunity to respond to the failed climate talks in Copenhagen. We are joined now by Pablo Solon, Bolivia’s ambassador to the United Nations. Prior to his role in the government, Solon was a social activist who worked for several years with different social organizations, indigenous movements, workers’ unions, student associations, human rights and cultural organizations in Bolivia.


http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/19/bolivian_un_ambassador_pablo_solon_on

Related today:

The Cochabamba Water Wars: Marcela Olivera Reflects on the Tenth Anniversary of the Popular Uprising Against Bechtel and the Privatization of the City’s Water Supply

Ten years ago this month, the Bolivian city of Cochabamba was at the center of an epic fight over one of the city’s most vital natural resources: its own water. The Water Wars occurred just months after the Battle of Seattle. The uprising against Bechtel on the streets of Cochabamba was seen as the embodiment of the international struggle against corporate globalization. Over the past week, water activists from around the world gathered in Cochabamba to mark the tenth anniversary of the Water Wars.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/19/the_cochabamba_water_wars_marcella_olivera

Jim Shultz on “Dignity and Defiance: Stories from Bolivia’s Challenge to Globalization”

Jim Shultz, founder of the Cochabamba-based Democracy Center, gives a snapshot of Bolivia ahead of the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth. Ten years ago, Shultz helped expose the role of Bechtel in the privatization of Cochabamba’s water supply.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/19/jim_shultz_on_dignity_and_defiance


Take names, Amy.

:kick:

[BunkerHill24]

1. Thanks..much appreciated

K&R

[femrap]

2. Goddess bless

Amy. Thank you for the info.

Wasn't it Bechtel who tried to privatize their water? And then went to court after they were ousted from the country.

Recalling from memory...I believe Bechtel opened an office in Belgium so it could sue Bolivia because the US Courts did not allow them to sue the country of Bolivia. Belgium did.

I hate Corporations.

I need to learn Spanish...Bolivia just might end up to be a nice place to live. It has water, after all!

ETA: It just doesn't seem right that the Bechtel family is in San Francisco....such a tolerant and cool city.

[EFerrari]

3. Yes, Bechtel.

The Bay Area is unfortunately dependent on a bunch of defense contractors for jobs.

[G_j]

5. The Cochabamba Declaration:

http://www.starhawk.org/activism/cochabamba-dec.html



"When a subsidiary of Bechtel took over water delivery services in Bolivia, water rates rose so high the poor were spending a major part of their income on water. The people rebelled, mounted an uprising, and won! Here is their declaration. I think it poses exactly the alternative we need to focus on in our thinking, our organizing and our actions." -- Starhawk

The Cochabamba Declaration:

Here, in this city which has been an inspiration to the world for its retaking of that right through civil action, courage and sacrifice standing as heroes and heroines against corporate, institutional and governmental abuse, and trade
agreements which destroy that right, in use of our freedom and dignity, we declare the following:

For the right to life, for the respect of nature and the uses and traditions of our ancestors and our peoples, for all time the following shall be declared as inviolable rights with regard to the uses of water given us by the earth:


1) Water belongs to the earth and all species and is sacred to life, therefore, the world's water must be conserved, reclaimed and protected for all future generations and its natural patterns respected.

2) Water is a fundamental human right and a public trust to be guarded by all levels of government, therefore, it should not be commodified, privatized or traded for commercial
purposes. These rights must be enshrined at all levels of government. In particular, an international treaty must ensure these principles are noncontrovertable.

3) Water is best protected by local communities and citizens who must be respected as equal partners with governments in the protection and regulation of water. Peoples of the earth are the only vehicle to promote earth democracy and save water.

[femrap]

6. I'm so proud of the

citizens of Bolivia. Their President, Morales, is a hero to me. He is a man of integrity and empathy.

And I love their hats. I wonder where that fashion came from.

[EFerrari]

7. I love the wool and clear bright colors of their indigenous dress.

We found several wall hangings depicting figures in traditional dress that a deceased tenant had packed away and asked permission to scan them to take a pattern before mailing them to her friend. The scan shows every stitch and am trying to reproduce one using tapestry crochet.

[femrap]

8. How cool.....

Yes, the indigenous of Bolivia are beautiful people.

Post a picture of your work if you have a chance.

I would like to visit there someday, but who knows....

[me b zola]

4. K&R

[bridgit]

9. Water? Never take your eye off the oil - Bolivia Oil and Gas Report Q2 2010

Countries covered: Bolivia

The new Bolivia Oil & Gas Report from BMI forecasts that the country will account for 0.70% of Latin American regional oil demand by 2014, while providing 0.58% of supply. Latin American regional oil use of 6.93mn barrels per day (b/d) in 2001 reached an estimated 7.78mn b/d in 2009. It should average 7.92mn b/d in 2010 and then rise to around 8.631mn b/d by 2014. Regional oil production was 10.30mn b/d in 2001, and in 2009 averaged an estimated 9.69mn b/d. It is set to rise to 10.79mn b/d by 2014. Oil exports have been slipping, because demand growth has exceeded the pace of supply expansion. In 2001, the region was exporting an average of 3.37mn b/d. This total had fallen to an estimated 1.91mn b/d in 2009 and is forecast to recover to 2.15mn b/d in 2014. The principal exporters will be Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil.

In terms of natural gas, the region in 2009 consumed an estimated 200.6bn cubic metres (bcm), with demand of 263.9bcm targeted for 2014, representing 31.6% growth. Production of an estimated 216.8bcm in 2009 should reach 293.0bcm in 2014, and implies 29.1bcm of net exports the end of the period. Bolivia’s share of gas consumption in 2009 was an estimated 1.30%, while its share of production was 6.89%. By 2014, its share of gas consumption is forecast to be 1.20%, with the country accounting for 6.81% of supply.

http://www.marketresearch.com/product/display.asp?productid=2618543&g=1

Sadly, while we're talking about water however, the matter is much larger than the TV/radio or political personalities of today with people, otherwise, willfully existing behind the curve, or when they refuse to acknowledge the existence of it then its into the way-back machine we go: Dateline - January 28, 2005

The Politics of Water in Bolivia By Jim Shultz

January 28, 2005

Etched deeply into the granite walls just inside the entrance of the World Bank headquarters in Washington are the words, "Our dream, a world free of poverty." Earlier this month in Bolivia, the citizens of South America's poorest country sent the bank a message once again that the poor aren't too keen on the part of that dream that involves handing their water over to foreign corporations.

On January 10 the citizens of El Alto took to the streets en masse to demand that their water system, privatized in 1997 under World Bank pressure, be returned to public hands. Three days later Bolivia's president issued a decree canceling the water concession, led by the French water giant Suez, and an arm of the World Bank itself. The El Alto water revolt follows, by five years exactly, the now famous revolt against water privatization in Cochabamba, in which a company controlled by the Bechtel Corporation was ousted from the country.

Together, these two revolts over water should send an important message to officials at the World Bank, if they are willing to hear it.

The people of Bolivia did not choose to privatize their public water systems. That choice was forced on them, as it has been in many poor nations around the world, when the World Bank made privatization an explicit condition of aid in the mid-1990s.Poor countries such as Bolivia, which rely heavily on foreign assistance for survival, are not in much of a position to say no to such pressures.

World Bank water officials claim all the best intentions when they make the push for water privatization. The bank has argued that poor governments are often too plagued by local corruption and too ill equipped to run public water systems efficiently. Handing water over to foreign corporations, the bank has said, opens the door to needed investment and skilled management.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050214/shultz

Bush Family Purchases 100,000 Acre Ranch in Paraguay?

As calls for his impeachment grow louder, coupled with possible war crimes trials to begin next year, President George W. Bush may be thinking that South America would make a fine place to retire.

At least two sources now report that Bush has purchased an isolated 100,000 acre ranch in Acuifero Guarani, Paraguay - a favored escape route for convicted Nazi war criminals following WWII.

Prensa Latina reports:

An Argentine official regarded the intention of the George W. Bush family to settle on the Acuifero Guarani (Paraguay) as surprising, besides being a bad signal for the governments of the region. Luis D Elia, undersecretary for the Social Habitat in the Argentine Federal Planning Ministry, issued a memo partially reproduced by digital INFOBAE.com, in which he spoke of the purchase by Bush of a 98,842-acre farm in northern Paraguay, between Brazil and Bolivia.

Another rumored land deal involves the the U.S. military and Paraguay.

Five hundred U.S. troops arrived in Paraguay with planes, weapons, and ammunition in July 2005, shortly after the Paraguayan Senate granted U.S. troops immunity from national and International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction. Neighboring countries and human rights organizations are concerned that the massive air base at Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay is potential real estate for the U.S. military.

The timing of the U.S. military operation into Paraguay and the Bush family’s land acquisition in Paraguay cannot be an accident.

http://fromtheleft.wordpress.com/2006/11/29/bush-family-purchases-100000-acres-in-paraguay

There is sometimes no substitute for listening to voices & paying attentions to people you'd rather not - that's how you see them coming cause they've come to beat you to your own punch sometimes years later cause that's the way they think; they think longterm

[EFerrari]

10. New stories from the summit today the press corpse will never tell you:

Bolivian Indigenous Activist: We Must Respect Mother Earth, Our Pachamama


On Monday, the top US climate negotiator, Todd Stern, admitted that a binding agreement on curbing greenhouse gas emissions may not even be possible at the next UN climate summit scheduled for December in Cancun. Stern’s comments came after the US took part in the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in Washington. While the United States and other nations met behind closed doors on Monday, a very different climate summit began here in Bolivia: the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth. We begin today’s show with Peregrina Kusse Viza, a member of the Bolivian indigenous group CONAMAQ.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/20/one

As Protests Mount Against San Cristóbal Silver Mine, Bolivia Looks to Extract Massive Lithium Reserves, But at What Cost?



We look at why Bolivian miners have staged a major protest at the San Cristóbal mine, one of the world’s largest silver mines. We speak to journalist Jean Friedman-Rudovsky about the protest and about lithium, one of the most important new energy sources. Bolivia’s lithium reserves are estimated to be the largest in the world.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/20/two

Pat Mooney on the Dangers of Geoengineering and Manipulating the Planet to Combat Climate Change



Supporters of geoengineering have proposed radical ways to alter the planet to decrease the level of greenhouse gas emissions. Proposals include creating artificial volcanoes to pollute the atmosphere with sulfur particles, fertilizing the oceans and placing sun-deflecting aluminum foil in the sky. But opposition is growing to geoengineering. Here at the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change in Bolivia, the ETC Group is launching an international campaign against geoengineering experiments. We speak with the group’s founder, Pat Mooney, a Right Livelihood Award winner.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/20/four

Actress Q’orianka Kilcher on Climate Change Activism: Public Figures and Celebrities “Have a Responsibility to Help Give a Voice to the Voiceless”



Thousands of indigenous groups, grassroots activists and environmentalists began streaming into the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth in Tiquipaya, Bolivia on Monday. Among them was the award-winning young Hollywood actress Q’orianka Kilcher. “I really believe, and love, the saying ‘there comes a time when silence is betrayal,’” Kilcher says. “As public figures and as celebrities, we have a responsibility to be able to help give a voice to the voiceless.”

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/20/three

:kick:

[Mika]

11. Kick

:dem:

[Judi Lynn]

12. More from Amy: Cochabamba, the Water Wars and Climate Change

Cochabamba, the Water Wars and Climate Change
Posted on Apr 20, 2010
By Amy Goodman

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia—Here in this small Andean nation of 10 million people, the glaciers are melting, threatening the water supply of the largest urban area in the country, El Alto and La Paz, with 3.5 million people living at altitudes over 10,000 feet. I flew from El Alto International, the world’s highest commercial airport, to the city of Cochabamba.

Bolivian President Evo Morales calls Cochabamba the heart of Bolivia. It was here, 10 years ago this month, that, as one observer put it, “the first rebellion of the 21st century” took place. In what was dubbed the Water Wars, people from around Bolivia converged on Cochabamba to overturn the privatization of the public water system. As Jim Shultz, founder of the Cochabamba-based Democracy Center, told me, “People like a good David-and-Goliath story, and the water revolt is David not just beating one Goliath, but three. We call them the three Bs: Bechtel, Banzer and the Bank.” The World Bank, Shultz explained, coerced the Bolivian government, under President Hugo Banzer, who had ruled as a dictator in the 1970s, to privatize Cochabamba’s water system. The multinational corporation Bechtel, the sole bidder, took control of the public water system.

On Sunday, I walked around the Plaza Principal, in central Cochabamba, with Marcela Olivera, who was out on the streets 10 years ago. I asked her about the movement’s original banner, hanging for the anniversary, that reads, in Spanish, “El agua es nuestra, carajo!”—“The water is ours, damn it!” Bechtel was jacking up water rates. The first to notice were the farmers, dependent on irrigation. They appealed for support from the urban factory workers. Oscar Olivera, Marcela’s brother, was their leader. He proclaimed, at one of their rallies, “If the government doesn’t want the water company to leave the country, the people will throw them out.”

Marcela recounted: “On the 4th of February, we called the people to a mobilization here. We call it ‘la toma de la plaza,’ the takeover of the plaza. It was going to be the meeting of the people from the fields, meeting the people from the city, all getting together here at one time…. The government said that that wasn’t going to be allowed to happen. Several days before this was going to happen, they sent policemen in cars and on motorcycles that were surrounding the city, trying to scare the people. And the actual day of the mobilization, they didn’t let the people walk even 10 meters, and they started to shoot them with gases.” The city was shut down by the coalition of farmers, factory workers and coca growers, known as cocaleros. Unrest and strikes spread to other cities. During a military crackdown and state of emergency declared by then-President Banzer, 17-year-old Victor Hugo Daza was shot in the face and killed. Amid public furor, Bechtel fled the city, and its contract with the Bolivian government was canceled.

More:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/cochabamba_the_water_wars_and_climate_change_20100420/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Truthdig%2FReports+Truthdig+%7C+Reports

[EFerrari]

13. Thanks, Judi Lynn. We may as well keep this thread active

until Amy finishes her excellent coverage.

:kick:

[flamingdem]

14. Agree and thanks for posting this nt

[EFerrari]

15. Why Is the US Cutting Off Climate Aid to the Poorest Country in South America?–

The Obama administration has confirmed it’s denying climate aid to at least two countries that refused to sign onto last year’s Copenhagen environmental accord. The State Department has canceled funding of $3 million to Bolivia and $2.5 million to Ecuador. The funding was canceled at a time when Bolivia is losing its glaciers and suffering mass drought due to climate change. Bolivia’s lead climate negotiator Angélica Navarro calls on the developed world to pay a climate debt to poor nations suffering the impact of climate change.



http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/21/why_is_the_united_states_cutting