The Serious Obama

Reflections by Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
September 22, 2009

NOTE: Here Fidel presents the principal political points Obama made yesterday at the conference, in detail, and they are printed in the principal newspapers of the island. Such documents often are read on Cuban radio and television. AFTER presenting what the President of the United States had to say, accurately and in detail, Fidel makes essential observations and draws conclusions. He's really trying to reach a range of audiences, domestically and internationally, with this calm, rhetoric-free approach.

It is unusual for adversaries to speak of one another in the way which Fidel Castro speaks of Barack Obama here. He sets a positive example for political behavior everywhere, in my opinion.

Walter Lippmann
CubaNews
Los Angeles, California

Bolivarian President Hugo Chavez really made a clever remark when he referred to the “riddle of the two Obamas.”

The serious Obama spoke today. Recently, I recognized two positive features in his behavior: his attempt to make healthcare available to the 47 million Americans who don’t have access to it, and his concern for climate change.

What I said yesterday about the imminent threat to the human species could sound pessimistic but it is not far from reality. The views of many Heads of State on the ignored and neglected issue of climate change are still unknown.

As the representative of the country hosting the United Nations High Level Meeting on the subject, Obama was the first to express his opinion.

What did he say? I’ll refer to the substance of his remarks.

- He said that he recognizes that the threat on the planet is serious and growing.

- That history will pass judgment on the response to this environmental challenge.

- That there is no nation, big or small, that can avoid the impact of climate change.

- That there is a daily increase of the high tides lashing against the coastlines while more intensive storms and floods are threatening our continents.

- That the security and stability of every nation are in danger.

- That climate has been placed at the top of the international agenda, from China to Brazil, from India to Mexico, Africa and Europe.

- That these can be significant steps if we are all united.

-That we understand the seriousness of the situation and are determined to act on it.

-That we were not there to celebrate any progress.

- That much remains to be done.

- That it will not be an easy job.

- That the most difficult part of the road is ahead of us.

- That this is happening at a time when to many the priority is to revitalize their economies.

- That we all have doubts about the climate challenge.

-That difficulties and doubts are no excuse to act.

- That each of us should do his share so that our economies can grow without endangering the planet.

- That we should turn Copenhagen into a significant step forward in the climate debate.

- That we should not allow for old divisions to jeopardize the united quest for solutions.

- That the developed nations have caused most of the damage and should thus take responsibility for it.

- That we shall not overcome this challenge unless we are united.

- That we know that these nations, particularly the most vulnerable, do not have the same resources to combat climate change.

- That the future is not a choice between economic growth and a clean planet because survival depends on both.

- That it is our responsibility to provide technical and financial assistance to these nations.

- That we are seeking an agreement that would enhance the quality of life of the peoples without disturbing the planet.

- That we know that the future depends on a global commitment.

- But that it is a long and tough road and we have no time to make the journey.

The problem now is that everything he has said contradicts what the United States has been doing for over 150 years, especially from the moment --at the end of World War II-- when it imposed to the world the Bretton Woods accord and became the master of the world economy.

The hundreds of military bases set up in scores of countries in every continent; their aircraft carriers and Navy fleets; their thousands of nuclear weapons; their wars of conquest; their military-industrial complex and their arms trade are incompatible with the survival of our species. Likewise, the consumer societies are incompatible with the idea of economic growth and a clean planet. The unlimited waste of non-renewable natural resources, --especially oil and gas accumulated throughout hundreds of millions of years and depleted in barely two centuries at the current rate of consumption—has been the major cause of climate change. Even if the unfriendly emissions of the industrialized nations were reduced, which would be commendable, it is a reality that 5.2 billion people on planet Earth, that is, three-fourth of the population live in countries that are still in various stages of development and will therefore demand an enormous input of coal, oil, natural gas and other non-renewable resources that, according to the consumption patterns created by the capitalist economies, are incompatible with the objective of saving the human species.

It would not be fair to blame the serious Obama for the abovementioned riddle of what has happened until today, but it would not be fair either to have the other Obama make us believe that humanity could be preserved under the prevailing rules of the world economy.

The President of the United States has conceded that the developed nations have caused most of the damage and should take responsibility for it. It was certainly a brave gesture.

It would also be fair to concede that no other President of the United States would have had the courage to say what he has said.

Bolivia: Evo Morales speaks on International Mother Earth Day

Media-Newswire.com
April 24, 2009

The primary cause of the twenty-first century should be the recognition of the rights of Mother Earth, Bolivian President Evo Morales Ayma declared hours after the General Assembly passed a resolution designating 22 April as “International Mother Earth Day”.

“If we want to safeguard mankind, then we need to safeguard the planet,” he said, stressing that social movements, regular citizens and presidents the world over needed to understand and support the rights of Mother Earth. “That is the next major task of the United Nations”.

Speaking at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, he said previous centuries had witnessed a permanent ongoing battle for human rights. With those human rights now secured, it was time to fight for those of the planet, including the right to life, the right to regeneration of the planet’s biodiversity, the right to a clean life free of pollution, and the right to harmony and balance among and between all things.

“Mother Earth cannot be a piece of merchandise”, he argued, stressing that it was necessary to correct humanity’s historic mistake of buying and selling the planet. Human beings could not exist without Mother Earth, but changes in climate and the environment were already beginning to threaten that existence in some places. In the Andes, mountain peaks were losing their white snow-caps, lakes were drying up, and fish were disappearing from the Orinoco.

In light of the damage traditional power plants caused to the environment and the fact that gas and oil deposits are limited, he said his Government would be reconsidering its energy policy. It would explore developing clean energy sources, especially its numerous natural opportunities for hydroelectric energy, but investment would also be needed.

He was also working to defend equality, democracy and the rule of law in Bolivia, he said. Moreover, he intended to defend himself as Bolivia’s constitutionally-elected President and head of a Government that had, for the first time in the Republic’s 180-year history, been elected four times in a row with over 50 per cent of the vote.

Bolivia was also moving towards the approval of a new Constitution, which was supported by some 70 per cent of the population, he said. “This is a process of great transformation and change. Unfortunately, the neoliberal groups which still exist in some regions have attempted to take over the palace, but did not succeed”.

President Morales was joined by Paul Oquist, Senior Adviser to the President of the General Assembly, who outlined the run-up to the high-level General Assembly meeting on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development, scheduled for 1 to 3 June in New York. Informal consultations had already begun, with Member States submitting proposals for the meeting’s outcome document. Those deliberations would continue until 4 May, when the President of the General Assembly would issue a draft document that would then be subject to intergovernmental negotiations ahead of the high-level meeting.

The high-level conference would, he said, allow the “G-192” of the United Nations “to give voice and participation to all the world’s countries on the most important issue of our decade and perhaps our century”. It was intended to be a forum that was legal, representative and credible, since it would take into account the interests of all those affected by the crisis.

Echoing that statement, Mr. Morales said he was looking forward to the meeting, which would be an opportunity for everyone to be heard and the economic problem collectively resolved. “We all need to shoulder the responsibility for resolving the financial crisis.”

In response to a question on whether the United States stimulus plan was good enough to bring it out of the economic doldrums, he said that the crisis of capitalism could not be solved merely by injecting money. “You cannot issue more and more money unless you increase the means of production and the real economy of countries”, he stressed, underlining how even the G-20 [Group of Twenty] disagreed on how to turn national economies, as well as the global economy, around.

To a number of questions about the global financial architecture, he pointed out that France and Germany had questioned the bureaucracy of the International Monetary Fund and he welcomed proposals by Brazil and Argentina for its radical reform. He further welcomed ongoing changes within the World Bank, which had previously urged him to privatize a number of Bolivia’s industries, to no avail.

He went on to say that the response to the financial crisis had to be more than just the provision of money by the same institutions that had contributed to its cause, such as the International Monetary Fund. In fact, a revolution within the Fund was needed, with its bureaucrats thinking about the big picture rather than “lining their own pockets”.

Asked when his Government would provide more information on what it had described as a plot to assassinate him and two other high-level members last week, he said the investigation was ongoing. [Three men were killed and two others jailed by Bolivian police last week in the eastern city of Santa Cruz.] But, it was his hope that the Bolivian justice system would pursue the case to its end.

Asked about Government efforts to end cases where the working conditions of servants among some wealthy landowners seemed tantamount to slavery, as well as initiatives to redistribute land to the poor, he said a great deal of education was needed to end such conditions. The Government hoped to do more than institute agrarian reform. Indeed, the four components of its initiatives were just redistribution of land; mechanization; increased production of organic and biological products; and just and fair trade. It was also focusing on credit for micro-enterprise.

Responding to a question about recent educational reforms, such as the right of indigenous people to be instructed in their own languages, he said those new types of universities sought to repair the damage of the last 500 years. But, radical change –- as seen in the case of the new Constitution -- was needed. He hoped that those universities would teach young patriotic students who were committed to their country and would eventually work for it, rather than participating in a “brain drain”.

Asked about his recent hunger strike, he noted that such methods had previously been against the military dictatorship, but were now being used against the neoliberal model. Those who subscribed to that model were frightened of democracy, because they knew they would not win.

John Bellamy Foster : Capitalism and Climate Change

Capitalism and Climate Change
John Bellamy Foster
at Climate Change | Social Change Conference
Sydney
April 2008

A talk by Marxist ecologist and Monthly Review editor John Bellamy Foster at the Climate Change | Social Change conference organised by Green Left Weekly in Sydney April 11-13, 2008. For DVD of this and other feature talks (or mp3 audio CD) write to: climatechange.socialchange@gmail.com

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5