“Green” economy
Illustration: Anna Loveday-Brown
This June in Rio de Janeiro the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20 will be held, marking two decades since the Earth Summit. The “green” economy will be the main theme of discussion and debates at the Rio+20 summit, this concept represents a way of transforming the environmental crisis into a tool for capital accumulation – considering that in current times the capitalist system regards markets as the primary medium for responding to the global environmental crisis, and the green economy marks an attempt to make this system appear “sustainable”. The current edition of the Nyéléni newsletter opens and invites discussion on the green economy, adding various elements to the debate and providing alternatives. What is certainly clear is that international capital is organizing to appropriate territories, to transform nature into another form of merchandise, all the while increasing exploitation and privatization. The “green” economy elevates the principles of commerce and profit above any form
of social consideration, above even the reproduction of life itself. Our challenge is to continue building on our mobilization capacities in our territories, based on solidarity, internationalism and the integration of peoples to convert our struggles in realities.
Our principle tasks are to globalize hope, and to globalize resistance.
CLOC-VIA CAMPESINA
