[Cochabamba, April 19, 2010] On April 19, an Assembly of the Social Movements was one of the first activities on the agenda at the People’s World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The Assembly highlighted the popular focus of the conference, which was organized by the Bolivian government after the failure of governments and industries to negotiate a plan to stop climate change in Copenhagen last December.

The conference is being held from April 19 through 22 and is meant to amplify the voices of those who were not heard in Copenhagen. The Assembly of Social Movements was founded about 10 years ago within the World Social Forum process to strengthen the voice and the political agenda of social movements from all over the world.

The Assembly is important “in order to have common policies to construct an agenda of struggle, resistance and proposals,” says Fausto Torres, a member of the Association of Rural Workers in Nicaragua and the international food sovereignty movement La Via Campesina.

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Activities on Debt, Finance and Climate: Climate Change Conference, Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 19-22, 2010

Jubilee South participates in the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth that has already began in Cochabamba to debate and exchange strategies to mobilize for climate justice.

Below is a list of activities in which a delegation from Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean will be participation to present our contributions on the relation between debt, finance and climate change and to disseminate the preparatory document: Towards a Jubilee South Platform on Climate Change, Ecological Debt and Financial Sovereignty.

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Join the Peoples Conference on Climate Change live on the Internet

LAUNCH 20 APRIL

The response to the World Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth has been overwhelming. When online registrations closed on Friday 16 April, more than 15,000 people had registered from 126 countries.

However many thousands more have expressed their support and not been able to attend due to lack of financial resources or because they are not flying for environmental reasons. Most recently we have the sad news that hundreds of participants are unlikely to make it because of the volcanic eruption in
Iceland.

That is why we have been hard at work with a Bolivian team, Mayfirst collective from the US, and oneclimate.net from the UK and other groups to bring the conference live to everyone in the world who has an internet connection.

*Live webcasts of the main plenaries*
Some of the main plenaries will be broadcast live on the website with all of the sessions being recorded and archived.

*Reports from Working Groups*
Daily video reports, blogs and notes on the discussion of the 17 working groups

*Democracy Now moves to Bolivia*
The award-winning Democracy Now show has moved its entire operations to Bolivia for a week. Tune in daily to their live show embedded on the conference website.

*Radio show*
Follow the conference through a live audio feed in Spanish and English and via programming by http://www.earthcycles.net which looks to bring Indigenous elders’ point of view into the conversation.

*Virtual meetings between Bolivia and worldwide cities*
Mayfirst collective is organising virtual meetings between people in Bolivian and cities in US and elsewhere, at this point scheduled for April 20 at 7 pm Bolivian time. Please email alfredo@mayfirst.org if you would like to join.

*Twitter feed*
Will feature all the latest news from participants and conference organisers, using the hashtags #cochabamba and #cmpcc and by following https://twitter.com/boliviaun

*Have your say*
Articles and reports will be open to comments, so you can share your thoughts on the critical issues and feed into the debates and proposals being constructed in Cochabamba.

*Featuring all the voices from the summit*
The conference website will show articles and blogs from all the major international environmental networks and independent media channels following the conference. If you want your coverage to be featured, please email the RSS feed address to publish@listas.cmpcc.org.bo

(Cochabamba, April 17 2010) Peasants women and men from farmers organisations throughout the world, members of La Via Campesina, celebrate the 17th of April as the International Day of Peasant Struggle, and reaffirm their vow to intensify the mobilization for the rights of peasants everywhere. To commemorate this date, delegates representing distinct countries, beginning at 11am, in the Plaza 14th of September, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with the proposal that this date not be forgotten, and so that the struggle of peasants becomes stronger.

With delegates from throughout the world, the women and the men of La Via Campesina Bolivia commemorate the anniversary of the massacre of 19 peasants that fell struggling for access to land, in the state of Pará, Brazil in 1996. On April 17 1997, after three months of protest for the defense of Mother Earth and for the cultivation of the coca leaf in Bolivia, seven indigenous peasants, including a child and its mother, were massacred.

In Cochabamba, thousands of peasants from throughout the world are gathering at the beginning of the week to participate in the Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, invited by President Evo Morales. More than 300 members of La Via Campesina fom around the world will be participating. According to the organizers of the conference, more than 7,500 people have already registered for the conference. Additionally, about 3,000 peasants from La Via Campesina Bolivia are leaving their communities in order to defend peasant agriculture and climate justice.

Media contacts (interviews with representatives of La Via Campesina in Cochabamba)

Boaventura Monjane – Phone: (00591) 74815401; boa.monjane@viacampesina.org

Isabelle Delforge – Phone: (00591) 74306257; idelforge@viacampesina.org

Cochabamba, April 17 2010: Peasants, women and men from farmers organisations throughout the world, members of La Via Campesina, celebrate the 17th of April as the International Day of Peasant Struggle, and reaffirm their vow to intensify the mobilization for the rights of peasants everywhere. To commemorate this date, delegates representing distinct countries, beginning at 11am, in the Plaza 14th of September, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with the proposal that this date not be forgotten, and so that the struggle of peasants becomes stronger.

With delegates from throughout the world, the women and the men of La Via Campesina Bolivia commemorate the anniversary of the massacre of 19 peasants that fell struggling for access to land, in the state of Pará, Brazil in 1996. On April 17 1997, after three months of protest for the defense of Mother Earth and for the cultivation of the coca leaf in Bolivia, seven indigenous peasants, including a child and its mother, were massacred.

In Cochabamba, thousands of peasants from throughout the world are gathering at the beginning of the week to participate in the Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, invited by President Evo Morales. More than 300 members of La Via Campesina fom around the world will be participating. According to the organizers of the conference, more than 7,500 people have already registered for the conference. Additionally, about 3,000 peasants from La Via Campesina Bolivia are leaving their communities in order to defend peasant agriculture and climate justice.

Media contacts (interviews with representatives of La Via Campesina in Cochabamba)

Boaventura Monjane – Phone: (00591) 74815401; boa.monjane@viacampesina.org
Isabelle Delforge – Phone: (00591) 74306257; idelforge@viacampesina.org

Please join us for a pre-summit Climate Justice Now! encuentro

There are many people in Cochabamba now for the 10th Anniversary of the Water Wars and the Climate Change Cumbre – several of us here propose an encuentro (encounter) amongst groups, movements and people engaged in climate justice to get to know each other and our work, and plan some CJN! logistics for the summit.

Date: Sunday, April 18th
Time: 14:00 – 18:00pm
Location: Complejo Fabril, Avenida Melchor Perez, Cochabamba (first building on your right)

Proposed agenda:
Introduce CJN!
What are groups working on (here and at home) – by region
What are the issues that groups want to work on the most, priorities
Preparation of events in Mexico

From the 19th to the 22 of April,  the World Summit on Climate Change will take place in Cochabamba. You’ll find soon textes, analysis and information in this website. But first at all you can register and find information in the official website of the conference.

Texte de Pierre Khalfa, responsable du syndicat Solidaires.

http://climatjustice.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/khalfa-cochabamba.pdf