Social Forum of the Americas rejects REDD. Oh, and capitalism

From 11-15 August 2010, the fourth Social Forum of the Americas took place in Asuncion, in Paraguay. The forum started with a march through the city, with about five thousand people taking part. Viá Campesina organised a campground for the rural communities from Paraguay who made up about half of those present. About three hundred workshops took place and at the end the Social Forum produced a Declaration.

The Declaration is posted below (also available in Spanish and French). It explicitly rejects REDD, “market environmental”, “green capitalism” and carbon markets:

Natural resources protection has become popular organizations and social movements struggle agenda against devouring capitalism. A common front is being reinforced against nature destruction and “market environmentalism” and “green capitalism” are false solutions such as carbon markets, biofuels, GMOs and geoengineering which are promoted from principal power centers because of climate change.

We denounce Northern geopolitical countries governments rather than confront serious climate change impacts they are seeking to evade responsibility and to develop new carbon market mechanisms to make more profit, such as “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation” (REDD), which promotes forests commercialization and privatization and loss of sovereignty over territories. We reject such arrangements.

You may have noticed that there’s more than a hint of an anti-capitalist tone to the Declaration. For those of you who are not sure why on earth anyone would want to criticise capitalism, here’s a short 11 minute presentation titled “The Crises of Capitalism” by David Harvey (with cartoons by RSA Animate):

The points that Harvey makes are very relevant to the REDD debate. Harvey starts with the recent global economic crisis, but points out that such crises are an inherent part of capitalism. “Capitalism never solves its crises problems. It moves them around geographically,” Harvey says. A better description of REDD might be difficult to find. The rich countries have emitted too much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere and now don’t want to reduce those emissions because their economies are dependent on them. The capitalist solution? Pay someone else to reduce emissions somewhere else (through the clean development mechanism or REDD, for example) and, almost as an aside, create a whole new commodity to trade and from which to profit. And then carry on as if climate change wasn’t happening. (In the full version of his presentation, available here, Harvey mentions, in passing, carbon trading which he describes as “a ridiculous kind of concept”. Carbon markets are, he explains, an example of a “fictitious market” created as a means of absorbing surplus capital that can’t be absorbed by real production.)

What I particularly like about Harvey’s presentation is the way he ends it. He doesn’t attempt to provide a “solution” but argues that what we need is a debate and a discussion. I feel the same way about REDD.

Social Movements Assembly Declaration
The IV Americas Social Forum
Asuncion, August 15, 2010
Our America is coming!
Nane Amérika TeeOnemongu’ Ehína!

Social movements present at the IV Americas Social Forum, in Asuncion, Paraguay, we reaffirm our solidarity and commitment to Paraguayan people to the urgent need for progress in their process to sovereignty recovery over its territory, goods common, energy resources, land reform and democratization.

We are in a continent where in recent decades there has been a reunion between social movements and indigenous movements, which from their ancestral knowledge and historical memory radically question the capitalist system. In recent years, there were renewed social struggles led to the neoliberal governments departure and emerge of governments that have implemented positive reforms such as economy vital sectors nationalization and constitutional redefinition.

But right forces on the continent are trying to stop any changes process. They operate from their political, economic, mass media, judiciary places which adds a new imperialism offensive – even military – supporting them. Since last Americas Social Forum held in Guatemala in 2008 we witnessed the Honduras’ coup, the U.S. military presence increased throughout the Americas. Military bases installation agreements proliferate, the Fourth Fleet is operating in our seas. This is a systematic effort to destabilize democracy in the continent social movements are increasingly suppressed and criminalized.

We denounce the illegitimacy of the de facto president of Honduras Porfirio Lobo, at the same time we recognize its people’s resistance and support their struggle for constitutional re-foundation to establish a true democracy.

We support the Haitian people’s struggle they do not need a military intervention and economic occupation to rebuild. On the contrary, we demand that the country’s sovereignty be respected and other countries to make a joint cooperation in the fields of health, education, agriculture and those that are required. We demand the unconditional cancellation of debt and reject illegitimate debt new process.

Free trade continues in all its variants. This is the central feature of the European Union strategy, the other neo-colonial power that operates in Latin America and Caribbean. The International Financial Institutions are implementing these strategies – World Bank, International Monetary Fund, regional ‘development’ banks and private banking groups – they are creating new and huge debts with direct impacts to people and nature.

All these threats are linked to an excluding and predatory single primary export development model that impact on many territories that expelled populations to uproot and migration. The current systemic crisis shows capitalist model depletion – and its power centers: banks, TNCs and G8 governments. Today it attempts to draw the whole world to a limit and to a visible nuclear war threat by the U.S.

Natural resources protection has become popular organizations and social movements struggle agenda against devouring capitalism. A common front is being reinforced against nature destruction and “market environmentalism” and “green capitalism” are false solutions such as carbon markets, biofuels, GMOs and geoengineering which are promoted from principal power centers because of climate change.

We denounce Northern geopolitical countries governments rather than confront serious climate change impacts they are seeking to evade responsibility and to develop new carbon market mechanisms to make more profit, such as “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation” (REDD), which promotes forests commercialization and privatization and loss of sovereignty over territories. We reject such arrangements.

We demand these countries to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions and to create an International Court of Climate Justice. We reaffirm the Cochabamba Agreement proposals from the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which recognize that real solutions are climate justice, food sovereignty, land recovery and agrarian reform, peasant agriculture and integration and solidarity among peoples against global warming.

Social movements are facing a historical opportunity to develop initiatives at international level. Our people struggles will allow us to move towards the ybymarane’y (land without evil) and realize the tekoporá (good living). We are committed to reinforcing our fight for our people, food, and energy sovereignty and women sovereignty over their bodies and their lives, and sexual diversity recognition.

We build alternatives that are based on anti-capitalism, anti-patriarchalism, anti-colonialism and anti-racist diverse perspectives, while we go in search of a new paradigm focused on equality, good living, sovereignty and integration based on solidarity principle among peoples.

Asuncion, Paraguay, August 15, 2010