Trade to Climate Caravan: Protest and Action between WTO in Geneva and COP15 in Copenhagen
November 8th, 2009
****TRADE TO CLIMATE CARAVAN***
Protest and Action around and between
7th WTO in Geneva and COP15 in Copenhagen
Two important summits take place at the end of 2009 in Europe: the 7th conference of ministers of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva and the UN climate summit in Copenhagen (COP15). With a week between them, 60 activists from the global South will travel across Europe through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Denmark. They will draw attention to the consequences neoliberal globalization and climate change have on their lives and show how to fight against them. Together with local activists, they look for alternatives to free trade and the privatisation of resources, and unite the North and South in their fights for another world.
*To join us on: a 12-day caravan with representatives of popular movements worldwide. The caravan starts with 5 days of action in Geneva during the WTO Ministerial to decry the WTO's blocking of real solutions to climate change: the return of small-scale farming, food sovereignty as well as decentralised energy sovereignty, guaranteeing the rights of forest peoples against the forces of deforestation, and the suspension of the intellectual property rights for renewable and climate change mitigation technology for developing countries. *On December 3 the caravans depart Geneva for a 5-day trip across Europe to speak and protest on the links between trade liberalization and climate change through cities such as Paris, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin and Hamburg. *On December 9 the caravan arrive in Copenhagen in time for the Conference on Ecological Debt, and caravaners join other activities during the Copenhagen Climate Talks, including OWINFS proposed workshops on Trade and Climate Change, the thematic action days of the CJA-network and the mass-action Reclaim Power - Push for Climate Justice. *If you want to come*: Please contact the Caravan Planning Group IMMEDIATELY at havaria@gmx.de In solidarity, The Caravan Planning Group -------------- More information on the From Trade to Climate Caravan: ***1) The Caravan*** The idea of a Trade and Climate Caravan came up at the last preparation meeting of the network Climate Justice Action (CJA) in Copenhagen in June this year. Many groups that are active in the network Climate Justice Now!(CJN), as well as the anti-free trade campaign “Our World is Not for Saleâ€(OWINFS), support the Caravan. A European preparatory group has started to spread invitations and has invited the international networks to send representatives of grassroots social movements . ***2) Why link Trade and Climate?*** A critical analysis of the official preparation process towards COP15 shows that the climate talks are all about trade and investment: trading of emission certificates, offsets causing landgrabs due to the spread of agrofuel-monoculture, “clean technology†investments like hydroelectric mega-dams that lead to massive displacement, and so on. At the same time, the WTO “free†trade agenda not only encourages these disastrous “solutionsâ€, it also blocks many urgently needed real solutions: the return of small-scale farming (which produces massively less greenhouse gases than agrobusiness), food sovereignty as well as decentralised energy sovereignty, guaranteeing the rights of forest peoples against the forces of deforestation, and the suspension of the intellectual property rights of renewable and climate change mitigation technology for developing countries. The link between a new round of WTO trade talks and the COP15-climate negotiations strategically shows two things: a) in the name of climate protection and emission reduction the global elite is intending to push the WTO process further towards intensifying trade in environmental services, emissions and offset-markets and investments in green technology, huge energy projects, and natural habitats; b) the ruling elite means to use the environmental cover of the UN-climate talks to continue business as usual: extending the hold of the transnational monopolies on the vital resources of agriculture, forests and energy, guaranteeing their profits through state subsidies, plundering the resources of the Global South to continue Northern excess consumption and waste and above all, avoid the inevitable questioning of the current model of production, overconsumption and profit. The From Trade to Climate Caravan invites you to participate in public events, demonstrations and non-violent direct actions in Geneva and on the route to Copenhagen to strengthen an alternative agenda for social change and climate justice. Because a powerful presence of the world-wide grassroots resistance at both of these summits is vital for the visibility of resistance against the green-washing of this catastrophic and oppressive system, to force real change!
Tags: