December 17th 2009, by Hugo Chavez
Copenhagen, Kingdom of Denmark
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo
Chávez:
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, Excellencies, friends, I promise that I
will not talk more than most have spoken this afternoon. Allow me an initial
comment which I would have liked to make as part of the previous point which
was expressed by the delegations of Brazil, China, India, and Bolivia. We were
there asking to speak but it was not possible. Bolivia's representative
said, my salute of course to Comrade President Evo Morales, who is
there, President of the Republic of Bolivia.
She said among other things the following, I noted it here, she
said the text presented is not democratic, it is not inclusive.
I had hardly arrived and we were just sitting down when we heard the president
of the previous session, the minister, saying that a document came about, but
nobody knows, I've asked for the document, but we still don’t have
it, I think nobody knows of that top secret document.
Now certainly, as the Bolivian comrade said, that is not democratic, it is not
inclusive. Now, ladies and gentlemen, isn’t that just the reality of the
world?
Are we in a democratic world? Is the global system inclusive? Can we hope for
something democratic, inclusive from the current global system?
What we are experiencing on this planet is an imperial dictatorship, and from
here we continue denouncing it. Down with imperial dictatorship! And long live
the people and democracy and equality on this planet!
And what we see here is a reflection of this: Exclusion.
There is a group of countries that consider themselves superior to us in the
South, to us in the Third World, to us, the underdeveloped countries, or as a
great friend Eduardo Galeano says, we, the crushed countries, as if a train ran
over us in history.
In light of this, it’s no surprise that there is no democracy in the
world and here we are again faced with powerful evidence of global imperial
dictatorship. Then two youths got up here, fortunately the enforcement
officials were decent, some push around, and they collaborated right? There are
many people outside, you know? Of course, they do not fit in this room, they
are too many people. I've read in the news that there were some arrests,
some intense protests, there in the streets of Copenhagen, and I salute all
those people out there, most of them youth.
Of course young people are concerned, I think rightly much more than we are,
for the future of the world. We have - most of us here - the sun on our backs,
and they have to face the sun and are very worried.
One could say, Mr. President, that a spectre is haunting Copenhagen, to
paraphrase Karl Marx, the great Karl Marx, a spectre is haunting the streets of
Copenhagen, and I think that spectre walks silently through this room, walking
around among us, through the halls, out below, it rises, this spectre is a
terrible spectre almost nobody wants to mention it: Capitalism is the spectre,
almost nobody wants to mention it.
It’s capitalism, the people roar, out there, hear them.
I have been reading some of the slogans painted on the streets, and I think
those slogans of these youngsters, some of which I heard when I was young, and
of the young woman there, two of which I noted. You can hear among others, two
powerful slogans. One: Don’t change the climate, change the system.
And I take it onboard for us. Let’s not change the climate, let’s
change the system! And consequently we will begin to save the planet.
Capitalism is a destructive development model that is putting an end to life;
it threatens to put a definitive end to the human species.
And another slogan calls for reflection. It is very in tune with the banking
crisis that swept the world and still affects it, and of how the rich northern
countries gave aid to bankers and the big banks. The U.S. alone gave, well, I
lost the figure, but it is astronomical, to save the banks. They say in the
streets the following: If the climate were a bank it would have been saved
already.
And I think that's true. If the climate were one of the biggest capitalist
banks, the rich governments would have saved it.
I think Obama has not arrived. He received the Nobel Peace Prize almost the
same day that he sent 30 thousand soldiers to kill more innocents in
Afghanistan, and now he comes to stand here with the Nobel Peace Prize, the
president of the United States.
But the United States has the machinery to make money, to make dollars, and has
saved, well, they believe they have saved the banks and the
capitalist system.
Well, this is a side comment that I wanted to make previously. We were raising
our hand to accompany Brazil, India, Bolivia, China, in their interesting
position that Venezuela and the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance firmly
share. But hey, they didn’t let us speak, so do not count these minutes
please, Mr. President.
Look, over there I met, I had the pleasure of meeting this French
author Hervé Kempf. Recommending this book, I recommend it, it is
available in Spanish – there is Hervé - its also in
French, and surely in English, How the Rich are Destroying the Planet.
Hervé Kempf: How the Rich are Destroying the Planet. This is
what Christ said: it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is what our
lord Christ said.
The rich are destroying the planet. Do they think the can go to another when
they destroy this one? Do they have plans to go to another planet? So far there
is none on the horizon of the galaxy.
This book has just reached me, Ignacio Ramonet gave it to me, and he is also
around somewhere in this room. Finishing the prologue or the preamble this
phrase is very important, Kempf says the following, I’ll
read it:
“We can not reduce global material consumption if we don’t make the
powerful go down several levels, and if we don’t combat inequality. It is
necessary that to the ecological principle that is so useful at the time of
becoming conscious, ‘think globally and act locally,’ we add the
principle that the situation imposes: ‘Consume less and share
better.’”
I think it is good advice that this French author Hervé Kempf gives
us.
Well then, Mr. President, climate change is undoubtedly the most devastating
environmental problem of this century. Floods, droughts, severe storms,
hurricanes, melting ice caps, rise in mean sea levels, ocean acidification and
heat waves, all of that sharpens the impact of global crisis besetting us.
Current human activity exceeds the threshold of sustainability, endangering
life on the planet, but also in this we are profoundly unequal.
I want to recall: the 500 million richest people, 500 million, this is seven
percent, seven percent, seven percent of the world’s population. This
seven percent is responsible, these 500 million richest people are responsible
for 50 percent of emissions, while the poorest 50 percent accounts for only
seven percent of emissions.
So it strikes me as a bit strange to put the United States and China at the
same level. The United States has just, well; it will soon reach 300 million
people. China has nearly five times the U.S. population. The United Status
consumes more than 20 million barrels of oil a day, China only reaches 5-6
million barrels a day, you can’t ask the same of the United States and
China.
There are issues to discuss, hopefully we the heads of states and governments
can sit down and discuss the truth, the truth about these issues.
So, Mr. President, 60 percent of the planet’s ecosystems are damaged, 20
percent of the earth's crust is degraded, we have been impassive witnesses
to deforestation, land conversion, desertification, deterioration of fresh
water systems, overexploitation of marine resources, pollution and loss of
biodiversity.
The overuse of the land exceeds by 30 percent the capacity to regenerate it.
The planet is losing what the technicians call the ability to regulate itself;
the planet is losing this. Every day more waste than can be processed is
released. The survival of our species hammers in the consciousness of humanity.
Despite the urgency, it has taken two years of negotiations for a second
commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, and we attend this event without
any real and meaningful agreement.
And indeed, on the text that comes from out of the blue, as some have called
it, Venezuela says, and the ALBA countries, the Bolivarian Alliance say that we
will not accept, since then we’ve said it, any other texts that do not
come from working groups under the Kyoto Protocol and the Convention. They are
the legitimate texts that we have been discussing so intensely over the
years.
And in these last few hours, I believe you have not slept, plus you have not
eaten, you have not slept. It does not seem logical to me to come out now with
a document from scratch, as you say.
The scientifically substantiated objective of reducing the emission of
polluting gases and achieving an agreement on long-term cooperation clearly,
today at this time, has apparently failed, for now.
What is the reason? We have no doubt.
The reason is the irresponsible attitude and lack of political will from the
most powerful nations on the planet. No one should feel offended, I recall the
great José Gervasio Artigas when he said: “With the truth, I neither
offend nor fear.” But it is actually an irresponsible attitude of
positions, of reversals, of exclusions, of elitist management of a problem that
belongs to everyone and that we can only solve together.
The political conservatism and selfishness of the largest consumers, of the
richest countries shows high insensitivity and lack of solidarity with the
poor, the hungry, and the most vulnerable to disease, to natural disasters. Mr.
President, a new and single agreement is essential, applicable to absolutely
unequal parties, according to the magnitude of their contributions and
economic, financial and technological capabilities and based on unconditional
respect for the principles contained in the Convention.
Developed countries should set binding, clear and concrete commitments for the
substantial reduction of their emissions and assume obligations of financial
and technological assistance to poor countries to cope with the destructive
dangers of climate change. In this respect, the uniqueness of island states and
least developed countries should be fully recognized.
Mr. President, climate change is not the only problem facing humanity today.
Other scourges and injustices beset us, the gap between rich and poor countries
has continued to grow, despite all the millennium goals, the Monterrey
financing summit, at all these summits as the President of Senegal said here,
revealing a great truth, there are promises and unfulfilled promises and the
world continues its destructive march.
The total income of the 500 richest individuals in the world is greater than
the income of the 416 million poorest people. The 2.8 billion people living in
poverty on less than $2 per day, representing 40 per percent of the global
population, receive only 5 percent of world income.
Today each year about 9.2 million children die before reaching their fifth year
and 99.9 percent of these deaths occur in poorer countries.
Infant mortality is 47 deaths per thousand live births, but is only 5 per
thousand in rich countries. Life expectancy on the planet is 67 years, in rich
countries it is 79, while in some poor nations is only 40 years.
Additionally, there are 1.1 billion people without access to drinking water,
2.6 billion without sanitation services, over 800 million illiterate and 1.02
billion hungry people, that’s the global scenario.
Now the cause, what is the cause?
Let’s talk about the cause, let’s not evade responsibilities, and
let’s not evade the depth of this problem. The cause, undoubtedly, I
return to the theme of this whole disastrous panorama, is the destructive
metabolic system of capital and its embodied model: Capitalism.
Here’s a quote that I want to read briefly, from that great liberation
theologian Leonardo Boff, as we know a Brazilian, our American. Leonardo Boff
says on this subject as follows:
“What is the cause? Ah, the cause is the dream of seeking happiness
through material accumulation and of endless progress, using for this science
and technology with which they can exploit without limits all the resources of
the earth.”
And he cites here Charles Darwin and his “natural selection”, the
survival of the fittest, but we know that the strongest survive over the ashes
of the weakest.
Jean Jacques Rousseau, we must always remember, said that between the strong
and the weak, freedom is oppressed. That’s why the Empire speaks of
freedom; it’s the freedom to oppress, to invade, to kill, to annihilate,
and to exploit. That is their freedom, and Rousseau adds this saving phrase:
“Only the law liberates.”
There are countries that are hoping that no document comes out of here
precisely because they do not want a law, do not want a standard, because the
absence of these norms allows them to play at their exploitative freedom, their
crushing freedom.
We must make an effort and pressure here and in the streets, so that a
commitment comes out of here, a document that commits the most powerful
countries on earth.
Well, Mr. President, Leonardo Boff asks... Have you met Boff? I do not know
whether Leonardo might come, I met him recently in Paraguay, we’ve always
read him.
Can a finite earth support an infinite project? The thesis of capitalism,
infinite development, is a destructive pattern, let’s face it.
Then Boff asks us, what might we expect from Copenhagen? At least this simple
confession: We can not continue like this. And a simple proposition:
Let’s change course. Let's do it, but without cynicism, without lies,
without double agendas, no documents out of the blue, with the truth out in the
open.
How long, we ask from Venezuela, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, how long
are we going to allow such injustices and inequalities? How long are we going
to tolerate the current international economic order and prevailing market
mechanisms? How long are we going to allow huge epidemics like HIV/AIDS to
ravage entire populations? How long are we going to allow the hungry to not eat
or to be able to feed their own children? How long are we going to allow
millions of children to die from curable diseases? How long will we allow armed
conflicts to massacre millions of innocent human beings in order for the
powerful to seize the resources of other peoples?
Cease the aggressions and the wars! We the peoples of the world ask of the
empires, to those who try to continue dominating the world and exploiting
us.
No more imperial military bases or military coups! Let’s build a more
just and equitable economic and social order, let’s eradicate poverty,
let’s immediately stop the high emission levels, let’s stop
environmental degradation and avoid the great catastrophe of climate change,
let’s integrate ourselves into the noble goal of everyone being more free
and united.
Mr. President, almost two centuries ago, a universal Venezuelan, a liberator of
nations and precursor of consciences left to posterity a full-willed maxim:
“If nature opposes us, let’s fight against it and make it obey
us.” That was Simón Bolívar, the Liberator.
From Bolivarian Venezuela, where a day like today some ten years ago, ten years
exactly, we experienced the biggest climate tragedy in our history (the Vargas
tragedy it is called), from this Venezuela whose revolution tries to win
justice for all people, we say it is only possible through the path of
socialism!
Socialism, the other spectre Karl Marx spoke about, which walks here too,
rather it is like a counter-spectre. Socialism, this is the direction, this is
the path to save the planet, I don’t have the least doubt.
Capitalism is the road to hell, to the destruction of the world. We say this
from Venezuela, which because of socialism faces threats from the U.S.
Empire.
From the countries that comprise ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance, we call, and I
want to, with respect, but from my soul, call in the name of many on this
planet, we say to governments and peoples of the Earth, to paraphrase
Simón Bolívar, the Liberator: If the destructive nature of capitalism
opposes us, let’s fight against it and make it obey us, let’s not
wait idly by for the death of humanity.
History calls on us to unite and to fight.
If capitalism resists, we are obliged to take up a battle against capitalism
and open the way for the salvation of the human species. It’s up to us,
raising the banners of Christ, Mohammed, equality, love, justice,
humanity, the true and most profound humanism. If we don’t
do it, the most wonderful creation of the universe, the human being, will
disappear, it will disappear.
This planet is billions of years old, and this planet existed for billions of
years without us, the human species, i.e. it doesn’t need us to exist.
Now, without the Earth we will not exist, and we are destroying Pachamama as
Evo says, as our indigenous brothers from South America say.
Finally, Mr. President, and to finish, let’s listen to Fidel Castro when
he said: “One species is in danger of extinction: Humanity.”
Let’s listen to Rosa Luxemburg when she said: “Socialism or
Barbarism.”
Let us listen to Christ the Redeemer when he said: “Blessed are the poor
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, we are capable of not making this Earth
the tomb of humanity. Let us make this earth a heaven, a heaven of life, of
peace, peace and brotherhood for all humanity, for the human species.
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much and enjoy your
meal.
Translated by Kiraz Janicke for Venezuelanalysis.com
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5013
