Alternatives International

International Environmental Day of Action

Juan Camilo Velásquez-Buriticá — 2012-07-01T22:31:00Z

On June 20th around 50,000 people took to the streets in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in anticipation for the ineffective outcome of the Rio+20 Summit. Additional protests sprang up in various countries as people demanded immediate solutions to the earth's environmental decay before the Rio+20 Summit began. On this day of action, people that have grown up listening to tales of unfulfilled goals made at environmental summits looked for an alternative to the failed notion of ‘green capitalism'. They were looking to radically transform the world order and the way we approach our environment.

The demonstrations on June 20th are part of an intensification of environmental demands that began several decades ago. One of the first warnings of the pervasive effects global warming was voiced as early as 1988 at the World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere in Toronto. At this conference, scientists and politicians recommended reducing carbon dioxide emissions 20 per cent by 2005. At the time of the conference, the CO2 level in the atmosphere was at around 355 parts per million (ppm). By 2005 the rate was at around 386ppm and by the time the Rio+20 Summit started it had risen to 396ppm. This conference remains a testament to the many empty promises made at similar gatherings.

The failure of the Rio+20 summit to truly address the issues at hand is not an isolated case. My generation, the same generation that was born when the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the first Rio Summit, was held twenty years ago, has grown up in a world where the International Community is an expert in crafting ceremonial yet empty conferences, agreements and treaties.

Our governments, the UN, and various environmental NGOs have not been able to save humanity from its own destruction mainly because they have not dared to see beyond the status quo. World leaders have tried to stop climate change and alleviate environmental pressures following the capitalist agenda that stands in direct contradiction with the environmental agenda. The capitalist society in which we live not only prides itself in individualism and over-consumption as moral compasses. It takes these values as the very essence of its existence. As such, resolutions written at summits like Rio+20 never attempt to challenge these two components of a depleting society. There has been no substantial alleviation to our environmental ailments because our leaders systematically overlook individualism and over-consumption, and in turn the capitalist agenda, as the root cause of the earth's environmental problem.

It is under this framework that our generation has been instilled to learn and use more and more buzzwords with less and less meaning. “Sustainability”, “green”, and “eco-friendly”, are amongst the many concepts that continue to portray green capitalism as a viable option when it is not. Saving the planet requires more than adopting a few so-called green policies ; it calls for a complete overhaul of the way in which we consume, and how we interact with our natural resources and each other.

As a first measure, affluent societies and nations have a duty to curtail their consumption habits ; the extent of over-consumption has reached unprecedented levels and it has started to directly infringe upon the well-being of less fortunate people. People in richer nations are consuming at the expense of their less fortunate counterparts. Thus the current disproportionate use of resources is not only important for the environmental struggle ; it is also directly tied to the struggle for social and economic justice. Of similar importance is the end to natural resource commodification, a phenomenon by which our natural resources are becoming privatized, making it harder for society to manage them ethically. When nature is privately owned it becomes impossible to control its depletion – and we leave the future of the environment in the hands of a small group.

For this reason, we need communal action as a second measure. The pervasive individualism entrenched in capitalism does not allow for compromise in the use of our resources. We live in a time where the only solution to the earth's environmental problems is to think and act collectively, but our self-centered instincts work against aligning humanity's common interests. A real solution involves a drastic transformation of our legal and economic institutions, thus fixing skewed incentives brought about by over-consumption and extreme individualism.

When the fact that an environmental summit like Rio+20 has failed is no longer “big” news, we know our efforts for environmental conservation have hit a low. But we cannot afford to become cynical and give up any hope at rescuing the environment ; it is our duty to look for alternatives to green capitalism. On June 20th we took small steps towards doing so. The Rio+20 People's Summit is an example of people reclaiming hope for environmental preservation. The People's summit grew as a space to foster alternative solutions to the crisis as it hosted a wide range of groups, including anti-capitalist, indigenous and rural workers' groups. But the People's summit was also a channel to express discontent at our leaders' failure to eliminate poverty and protect biodiversity. And this is why the organizers worked to establish June 20th as the International Environmental Day of Action.

We are constantly told to use social media and the Internet to raise awareness about the earth's environmental degradation. However, we must step back and look beyond awareness for the sake of awareness and realize that it is time to take action. Our governments tell us to use the economic and legal channels within the capitalist system to save the planet. However, it is time to drastically change the environmental discourse and seek alternatives outside of the established economic and social order. As this generation is handed down the responsibility of leading the world in the coming years, it is up to us to decide if we are committed to saving this planet or if we want to stick to the empty promise method our current leaders have perfected.

The Struggle in Bahrain Continues

Juan Camilo Velásquez-Buriticá — 2012-06-02T02:05:18Z

On May 28, Nabeel Rajab, one of the Bahraini uprising's most prominent leaders, was released on bail after nearly a month of imprisonment. Rajab, who is also the head of the Bahraini Centre for Human Rights, was arrested on May 5 by Bahraini authorities as he landed in Manama, the country's capital. Charges against him include taking part in illegal assembly and using social media to insult the government's security forces.

The activist is still facing a travel ban, and a trial concerning the illegal demonstration charges has been scheduled for mid-June. His arrest, however, has cast a light on the state of the Bahraini uprising, which started on February 14, 2011 but has since received little attention. The movement, led by Shiite leaders like Rajab, demands equality for Shiites, greater political freedom, and, in some instances, even calls for an end to the country's monarchy.

Western media coverage of the Bahraini rebellions has been sporadic at best, and often factually inaccurate.

In an interview a few days before his arrest, Rajab told Wikileaks's Julian Assange that he has been constantly harassed by Bahraini authorities.

“I was just detained for almost half a day, and then before that I was beaten up in the street, few months ago I was kidnapped from my home by masked security […] and taken to another place after being blindfolded and handcuffed, and I was tortured,” said Rajab.

Before meeting with Assange, Rajab tweeted about the upcoming interview. Soon after, police officers surrounded his house and told his family that Rajab was due to meet the public prosecutor.

Rajab has come to represent the Bahraini revolution as a whole. The movement—like Rajab—is constantly detained and repressed, but never quite defeated. And in spite of continuous intimidation, Rajab—like the revolution—continues to persevere in its struggle for political freedom.

Although the revolutions of Libya, Tunisia and Egypt have toppled their respective governments, the movement in Bahrain is still fighting an uphill battle. As the total death toll nears a hundred, media coverage has not been as profound as the coverage seen in other Arab nations, and awareness of the issue continues to be scarce.

“[The] revolution is still working and did not yet achieve anything, but the revolution is still in a process, still continuing after a year, many people were killed, in terms of percentage much more than people lost in Tunisia or Egypt,” Rajab said to Assange.

Saudi Arabia has directly intervened by sending troops in March 2011, but Western nations and the international press are complicit as well, argues Rajab.
Rajab cites what he perceives to be a double standard from the United States and many European nations. These states, he says, are influenced heavily by Saudi Arabia due to the weapon and oil trades. Rajab pointed to the importance these countries place on these interests rather the human rights of Bahraini citizens.

“For example the same Unites States, who asked Russians not to sell arms for Syria, they are selling arms to Bahrain,” said Rajab.

Rajab also stated that in spite of Al Jazeera's insightful coverage in other Arab nations, the Arabic version of the news station has been completely silent when it comes to Bahrain and has, in fact, taken the government's side in many instances.

“A democracy in Bahrain is going to have an impact on Qatar, it's gonna have an impact on Saudi Arabia the Al Arabiya TV channel,” said Rajab.

Tight domestic constraints have also made access difficult for journalists and NGOs. In March 2012, Amnesty International cancelled its fact-finding visit to Bahrain as a result of a 5-day time limit imposed by the government.

In spite of this secrecy, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on UN member states to “scrutinise Bahrain's deplorable human rights record.” As the country approached its universal periodic review on May 21, Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at HRW said in a statement that “the universal periodic review should focus on Bahrain's routine suppression of basic political rights like freedom of association as well as the grave human rights violations committed in the brutal 2011 crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.”

French ambassador to the UN in Geneva Nicolas Niemtchinov highlighted Rajab's case during the review of Bahrain's human rights records.

“France condemns the arbitrary arrests and ongoing charges against defenders of human rights, trade unionists and campaigners for simply expressing their opinions,” said Niemtchinow.

Following his release, Rajab has vowed to continue in his struggle for rights and his defense of the oppressed. The activist is willing to “pay the cost of the revolution”, he says, and sacrifice his well-being in order to ensure the continuance of what has been the most silenced, but not silent, revolution in the Arab world.