Monday, November 29, 2010

Red Road Cancun: Indigenous Voices Live from Cancun

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo: Ben Powless, Mohawk/IEN

(NOV 29, 2010) The Indigenous Environmental Network is broadcasting live from the Cancun Climate Summit. Red Road Cancun, http://www.redroadcancun.com/, webcast by Earthcycles, offers the world the voices of Indigenous Peoples.

These are the voices that polluting corporations and governments do not want to be heard. As profiteers push for carbon market scams and seizures of land and water rights, IEN is providing an online platform for Indigenous voices to halt threats to Indian lands, water and forests.

At the Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in April, more than 35,000 people gathered at the invitation of President Evo Morales. The majority were Indigenous Peoples. There were 17 working groups which produced declarations, culminating in the Peoples Agreement. It calls for new standards for greenhouse emissions and recognition of the rights of Mother Earth. The Peoples Agreement upholds the rights of Indigenous Peoples and states that corporations and governments are to be held accountable in court for pollution.

Ofelia Rivas, O’odham, was cochair of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Cochabamba. Rivas, from the US/Mexico border region, is an independent grassroots Indigenous delegate. Rivas is among those taking the Declarations of the People from Cochabamba to Cancun.

Rivas will also be carrying another document, "In Defense of Water," from the National Indigenous Congress which met on the Yaquis' Vicam Pueblo, Sonora, Mexico, in November. Yaquis are among those whose water rights are under attack by the government of Mexico.

In Defense of Water begins with: “Water, our Mother and Father, is that which gives us life, along with the Earth, Fire, and Air. It is the foundation of our lives and of the existence of everything that is born and that is alive; and it is not something that you can buy and sell in the way that capitalism destroys our Mother Earth.”

In Cancun, Indigenous Peoples and campesinas are also arriving by caravans from throughout Mexico, with protests and marches planned for Mexico City and Cancun.

IEN said world leaders will again meet for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16 & CMP 6) to discuss climate change and collaborate on finding answers for many multi-level questions on how to deal with mitigation, restoration, and prevention of further damage.

The Red Road Cancun webcast will include the stories of Native Americans suffering from coal mines and power plants. IEN will share stories of communities standing up to threats from industries who want their forests to "offset" their pollution.

“We will be highlighting stories from communities that are taking real and effective action to address the climate crisis. Communities that are protecting their forests from being logged; that are shutting down polluting industries in their own back yard, or that are creating small-scale renewable energy projects,” IEN said.

Red Road Cancan will webcast noon to 1 pm CST, and recast at 5 pm CST daily, Nov. 29—Dec. 10, 2010.
http://www.redroadcancun.com/

Watch live streaming video from abyayalanexus at livestream.com

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