For Life, Environment & Justice

By Colin Rajah, reporting from Cancun, Mexico
December 6th, 2010

The international farmers' movement, La Via Campesina (LVC) began its Global Forum for Life, Environment and Social Justice this past weekend with a dynamic march through downtown Cancun and a series of plenaries denouncing the carbon markets that governments are trying to legitimize in their negotiations at COP 16 (see previous post.)

[Left: LVC caravans arrive into Cancun]

Its unique, welcoming and fun-filled camp is juxtaposed against the seriousness and sense of urgency felt in its actions, plenaries and other discussions.

[Right: LVC camp]

NNIRR was fortunate to be invited to present on a plenary at the forum this evening on migration.

[Left: Haitian participants sing before migration panel]

Alongside speakers from the Farmworkers Association of Florida, the Border Agricultural Workers Project (BAWP) and the Mouvement Paysan de Papaye (Peasant Movement of Papaya) from Haiti, the forces displacing communities and the critical conditions facing migrants were raised. In particular, we highlighted how the dominant capitalist economic agenda has concentrated wealth in a few elites, while exposing communities (especially rural and peasant ones) to exploitation and criminalization.

[Right: NNIRR's Colin Rajah, Carlos Marentes Sr. and other Migration panelists during LVC's Global Forum for Life, Environment, Justice. Photo credit: Sharon Lungo.]

Carlos Marentes Sr. from BAWP, a member of NNIRR and LVC, stated how climate change caused by global socio-economic and political policies are displacing communities, and denounced immigration enforcement by the same polluting governments who then criminalize the very communities they have displaced. In particular, Carlos named the US-Mexico Border wall installed by the US as a form of containing and controlling migrants. He then committed to continue working in collaboration with NNIRR and our other members to build an international grassroots movement to challenge these.

[Left: Climate Justice banner at LVC camp]

Tomorrow, we join LVC in their very anticipated day of action when thousands will march up to the Moon Palace, site of the COP 16, where like-minded government and civil society allies will come out to join us in symbolic solidarity. It is hard to anticipate the police and military response, but to say it will be intense, is an understatement. This only underscores the vast chasm between the government negotiations and current text of the climate convention, and the mass people's movements.

On Wednesday, we will also be speaking on a panel on climate, migration and militarization at the Espacio Mexico or Esmex. Reports from all these will be forthcoming.

[Right: Corn sculpture outside Esmex forum]

In the meantime, enjoy a short clip from Bolivian farmers and musicians at the LVC camp spontaneously engaging forum participants in dance:



Viva Campesinos, Viva Migrantes!

CJ from the USA

By Colin Rajah, reporting from Cancun, Mexico
December 3rd, 2010







For faithful readers of Migrant Diaries, we apologize for the long silence. Most of our recent postings have been deposited on NNIRR's other blog Immigrant Rights News. We'll also be transitioning to a newer, better blog in the coming months with the anticipated launch of our brand-spankin' new website in the new year. Stay tuned.

But for nostalgia's sake, this coming week we'll be posting the last few posts on Migrant Diaries before its retired. And this time, we're coming from Cancun, Mexico where the UNFCCC (United Framework Convention on Climate Change) and its Conference of the Parties (COP) is having its 16th conference, popularly known as "COP 16".

NNIRR is part of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ) and Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) delegation of grassroots groups from the US participating in events in and around the COP 16. We're also a part of a larger strategic alliance of grassroots and allied organizations from North America actively engaged in organizing for Climate Justice, called the Grassroots Solutions for Climate Justice - North America or as some of us prefer to call it "CJ in the USA." Checkout the Press Release from our delegation about grassroots folks bringing climate justice solutions to Cancun.

Cop 16 runs from November 30 - December 10, 2010. Our broader delegation is engaged in an "inside-outside" strategy with trying to negotiate in key spaces within the COP as well as organizing various actions to highlight pressing issues, while engaging in the various alternative and civil society spaces outside the COP to exert strong pressure on it. (For a taste of the actions so far, checkout GJEP's Photo Essay 1 and Photo Essay 2.)

NNIRR's primary approach to COP 16 is to highlight our deepening analysis around the intersections of climate and migration, and more importantly around climate justice and migrant rights. A lot of dissonance has been surrounding the whole buzz around "climate refugees" or "environmental migrants". While these have good intentions to provide more rights for migrants impacted by climate change, they might actually seek to direct more militarization efforts against impacted communities, artificially create a hierarchy of oppressions among migrants, and misdirect attention away from the real culprit of socio-economic injustice. More on that to come.

For now, suffice to say that the first week at the COP has been an an interesting array of mixed feelings. These range from discouragement at the lack of political action within the COP especially from the primary polluting countries like the US, to excitement about the possibilities to meet and develop new allies especially those dedicated to migrant rights like the Bolivian delegation, to inspiration from other US grassroots allies who are taking creative actions such as the IEN delegation and members of our delegation who have been part of the La Via Campesina caravans.

We'll be posting more about all of these in the coming week. For now, have a look at our paper written with noted academic on migration, Stephen Castles, on Environmental Degradation, Climate Change, Migration and Development. And enjoy reading the last few postings from Migrant Diaries!