Is environmental leadership and ecological wisdom to come from
Indigenous peoples? Setting aside the romanticism of such things as the
fake Chief Seattle speech, various writers (e.g., Wade Davis, David
Suzuki) have suggested this in the past. Are leaders in Latin America
with strong indigenous roots translating this wisdom into action?
Ecosocialism? A report on the conference can be found at:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/rashi290410.html
<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/rashi290410.html>
This seems to me to be much more hopeful than the mild reformism we see
from political leaders in Canada, the US, and the EU.
While Hugo Chavez is apparently a doctrinaire socialist, other
participants seem to be proposing something new and different.
"For example, recalling Rosa Luxemburg's famous slogan, "socialism or
barbarism," Alvaro Garcia Linera (Bolivia's VP) added that today we
could say, "Mother Earth or barbarism.""
"Evo Morales (Bolivia's president) urged social movements to take the
lead in bringing about popular revolutions to safeguard the earth and
ensure human rights. "Capitalism is the number one enemy of mankind. It
merchandises everything, it seeks continual expansion. The system needs
to be changed.""
John Scull
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