"Space For Movement? Reflections from Bolivia on climate justice, social movements and the state"

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:45:58 +0000

A new booklet has recently been published, entitled "Space for Movement? Reflections from Bolivia on climate justice, social movements and the state". Collectively written from an anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian position, it will hopefully add to our understandings of the struggle for climate justice and the conflict this will create with capitalism and the state.

"In the wake of the failed COP-15 in Copenhagen last December, Bolivia’s first indigenous president called for a World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (CMPCC). Was this the necessary space for social movements to respond where governments and the UN have failed? Was it an attempt to co-opt radical demands? Following the event in Cochabamba, April 2010, this booklet reflects on the lessons from Bolivia and the role of movements in the fight for climate justice".

You can download the booklet for free, or order a hard copy for yourself, or your local infoshop or alternative library, from the website:

http://spaceformovement.wordpress.com/

As individuals we are involved with various autonomous political groups and networks including Rising Tide, No Borders, Climate Justice Action, Camp for Climate Action, Carbon Trade Watch, Somos Sur, Trapese Popular Education Collective, and EYFA.

The project started with an 'open letter' addressed to participants of the Cochabamba event, intended to provoke discussion around serious questions of capitalism, the state and climate justice. The letter ended with four key questions:

1- Do you think that the UNFCC and the COP process can be effectively used to bring about climate justice? If so, how?
2- Is climate justice possible without moving beyond capitalist relations?
3- What are the possibilities and dangers of social movements cooperating with governments and the state?
4- What does solidarity mean, and how can we work together more effectively to build the transnational struggle for climate justice? What are your views on the ‘global south’ and ‘global north’ and their relationships to struggle?

The responses to the letter received by those in the collective who attended the event are documented and discussed in the booklet, bringing a broader, global grassroots perspective to 'climate' struggles, which for many people are real existing immediate struggles to defend their land and resources against an ever-expanding capitalism that is protected and perpetuated by the state.

Download the book or order a hard-copy at: http://spaceformovement.wordpress.com

Indymedia Estrecho / Madiaq - COP

"Space For Movement? Reflections from Bolivia on climate justice, social movements and the state"