[van-announce] Bolivia's UN rep to speak in Vancouver on climate change

[Derrick O'Keefe]

Representative of Bolivia in Vancouver to speak on climate change 



Pablo
Solon, Bolivia's representative at the United Nations and the country’s
lead spokesperson at last December’s Copenhagen climate change summit,
will be in Vancouver this coming weekend.



The small Andean
nation of Bolivia joined climate justice activists from around the
world in Copenhagen demanding urgent action to curb global warming – and to do so
equitably. “Admitting responsibility for the climate crisis without
taking necessary actions to address it is like someone burning your
house and then refusing to pay for it. Through their inaction, the
industrialized countries have continued to add fuel to the fire,”
explains Solon. 



Bolivia’s position, which was echoed by Venezuela and several other progressive governments,
brought hope to campaigners and social movements advocating an agenda
that seeks to integrate justice into global climate policy. Bolivia’s
alternative proposals include a climate justice tribunal to judge
perpetrators of climate change and a strong critique of free market
mechanisms. President Evo Morales has called for a global gathering of
climate activists in Bolivia next month. 



The main public
forum, ‘Change the system, not the climate,’ will take place Sunday,
March 7, 2pm at the Unitarian Church of Canada. (949 West 49th Ave, at
Oak St., near 49th Ave Station on Canada Line). 



“This is a
special opportunity to hear directly from one of the most important
voices in the global fight against climate change,” explains Adriana
Paz of Vancouver’s Bolivia Solidarity Committee, one of the sponsors of
the March 7 forum.



“While the B.C. government has offered only
greenwashing and the Canadian government has been an impediment to
action on climate change, Bolivia has distinguished itself by demanding
serious reduction of emissions, and pushed for an alternative
development model led by the country's indigenous majority,” added
organizer Andrea Pinochet-Escudero,
a member of the Bolivia committee and Haiti Solidarity BC.



The
forum will feature talks by Solon as well as writer and activist
Federico Fuentes, a participant in the revolutionary process in
Venezuela and writer for Venezuelanalysis.com and Green Left Weekly.
Fuentes will speak to the connections between the fight against climate
change and the wider progressive movement in Latin America. 



Pablo
Solon is also a featured guest speaker at the Interfaith Summer
Institute’s ‘Redistribution of Wealth’ conference taking place March
5-7 at the Maritime Labour Centre (see www.interfaithjustpeace.org for
more information). Federico Fuentes will be speaking at several
additional events focusing on Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution in
Victoria and Vancouver Mar. 3-7. 



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