- Re: XR Bolivia Archived Message
Posted by Ian M
on November 12, 2019, 8:52 am, in reply to "Re: XR Bolivia"
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Found it, seems dodgy as f* but apparently Gail Bradbrook and others swallowed it, judging from the comments (others responded with more cynicism, one saying that 'there is a whiff of Juan Guaido about this guy', another bringing up the lithium connection.) Comments & constructive critique welcome! cheers, I https://www.facebook.com/notes/leon-galindo-stenutz/boliva-our-house-is-on-fire-open-letter-to-roger-hallam-extinction-rebellion-f4f/10157916846589284/ BOLIVA: OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE - OPEN LETTER TO ROGER HALLAM, EXTINCTION REBELLION, F4F, 350.ORG AND FRIENDS Leon Galindo Stenutz·Monday, 28 October 2019·Reading time: 13 minutes Dear Roger, Glad to know you are out of prison. I have been promoting and rather unsuccessfully trying to build up the movement in Bolivia and have created the XRBolivia Facebook page and staged a number of small, direct non-violent actions inclduing dumping buckets of fresh compost and soft earth in front of Police headquarters as an invitation to dialogue (Compost tupperwares are part of my new press kit now, as i try to explain to people how nature in her wisdom transforms all that is stinky, nasty, and evil into good, life-giving soil). It is almost 5 am and the roadblocks are about to start. Bolivia may be about to slide into a dictatorship or civil war, maybe like Syria, or a slow-moving, chocking dictatorship like the one in Venezuela… Personally, I think that together millions of Bolivians, already engaged in a massive and globally historical act of civil disobedience and direct action will be disciplined and strong enough to overthrow tyranny and maybe, maybe, even wake up to the need to preserve our rainforests and our contribution to fighting back against climate change and extinction. I'd appreciate it if you could post on our page and call the attention of the entire movement, and also call on 350.org, Fridays for Futures and other networks to join the over 2 million Bolivian citizens who since Monday, Oct 21, have been shutting down the entire country, protesting the most fraudulent elections in Bolivian history. This is directly related to what could be one of the most visible cases, if not he most visible, of the direct connection between Government failure and Ecological and Societal Collapse in the world today. The ruling party, Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) tried to get itself re-elected, at any cost on 20 October, 2019 -- even though their participation in the election was unconstitutional, illegitimate, and immoral for multiple reasons, including the fact that they ignored a referendum which forbade them from running again, broke the constitutions, and more. They lost. Despite disgustingly, crudely open massive fraud, despite the misuse and abuse of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to finance a massive propaganda machine; despite the use of State-owned airplanes, helicopters, cars, mass media, funds; despite other outright acts of massive, open corruption funneling off billions of dollars in public funds to their cronies; despite forcing tens of thousands of public employees to contribute 3%, 5% or more of their salaries to reinforce their propaganda and despite forcing these same public servants to march “in favor” and “in defense” of their version of democracy in mass mobilizations that would make Hitler proud; despite all that, they still lost. What does this have to do with Extinction Rebellion, climate crisis, the Amazon, the environment, social movements, and civil disobedience and direct action? What does the fact that a South American nation that is closely aligned with some of the world's most harsh dictatorships, currently dangerously close to civil war or full-blown dictatorship have to do with the message you, Jem, Gail, George, Greta and others have been trying to get out? Everything. Bolivia is one of the most biodiverse in the world and over 1/3 of Bolivian territory contains an incredible range of biodiversity and precious ecosystems including vast wetlands, grasslands, tropical, semi-tropical, dry, and cloud rainforests and a small but important piece of the Amazon. Bolivia also has been led these past 14 years by what is ever more clearly not a government but a band of criminals who, in unholy alliances with international investors, corporations, criminal bands, and local migrant farmers, coca-producers, narco-traffickers, and others whom collectively are directly accountable for the burning down of over 5.3 million hectares -- they say an area the size of Belgium , or all of southern England -- and the death by burning and smoke of at least 2 million animals and probably well over 1 billion sentient beings, in under 7 weeks in Aug/Sep 2019. International media, including The Guardian and BBC, have covered bits and bobs of the tragedy, but most if has now all been forgotten, in less than a month, as the world just marches ahead – possibly, as you way, towards extinction. Bolivia could, should, must be a global case study and example of everything that you, Roger Hallam, and George Monbiot, and many, many other XR spokespersons from Australia to Sweden, Canada to Germany, Ecuador to South Africa and other nations have been crying out about... but which people in their bubbles in the UK, EU, USA and other saran-wrapped societies simply cannot or will not yet grasp or see. Despite this massive tragedy in the heart of the Bolivian Amazon, even here in Bolivia the vast majority of people still don't begin to even suspect, much less understand, the connection between democracy and a healthy environment, or conversely, between evil governments and the systemic breakdown of ecosystems and ensuing societal collapse. Even here in my home city of Cochabamba the majority of people still don't get it, even today, when allies of the government have in the past two days burned down at least another 100 or more hectares and maybe another 20% of our only significant local Andean dry forest, bringing the total area burned in the Parque Tunari to around 40% area burned by local "farmers" wishing to invade and use the only forest in the entire mountain range for unsustainable farming, heavily damaging the major local forest and related aquifers. Even though this has happened under the very noses of the local corrupt Governor and Mayor and right in the midst of massive social protests, and even though every day, since Tuesday, tens of thousands of citizens have been literally blocking every major and minor bridge, road, plaza, and street in this metro-area of over 1.6 million people, while the smoke and fire has raged for over 36 hours, even with this evidence in our very noses and eyes, the vast majority of people still don't seem to even begin to understand the profound message that XR is trying to put out into the world. It's as if we are living under a spell. Or maybe ignorance is just too deep. Or people are too scared, or dumb, or insensitive to other living beings. I don't know. I don´t get it. There is a small and growing environmental movement and network of activists and organizations, but nowhere near the critical mass for action, and almost no one is paying any attention to my efforts to get XR going in Bolivia. Maybe i´m just very ineffective or something. Even though many public employees, seeming including many in the Police and Armed Forces seem to be as fed up with this government as I and probably at least 60 to 70% of the country are there seems to still be no meaningful understanding, let alone structural change, public policy, wide-spread social awareness, or even less, institutional capacity to do anything meaningful to preserve our vast forests, rivers, and ecosystems. The fires this year alone have destroyed at least 10% of the entire rainforest that has been around for thousands of years. At a time when many other countries are scrambling to plant trees, Bolivians, with full endorsement and bastard political support and public policy are happily burning down and clearing millions of acres of rainforest every year to export ever more ethanol, transgenic beef and gliphosphate-drenched soy, sugarcane, and other mass-produced mono-culture chunks of living beings to China and other global markets. No matter how big Bolivia is and how beautiful, precious, and vast our ecosystems are, the world seems to be so entrenched in a model of resource exploitation that at times I despair and feel there may be no hope, with or without democracy. As mentioned to you in a private message Roger, I was really hesitant to publish this open letter to you through Facebook as it may be endangering my life (and that of hundreds, maybe even thousands of others who are also protesting very loudly against biocide, ecocide, ethnocide, corruption, fraud, the total destruction of the institutional and democratic orders, the breakdown of the rule of law and of human rights. These past few days all of these dangers have become even more real, gravely exacerbated by direct threats by the now illegitimate President, his immediate staff, and their shock troops including hordes of coca-growers, slash-burn migrant farmers, and others who are threating to unleash a horrendous storm of repression, civil war, and maybe even genocide. The rule of law is gone. We are potentially on the edge of war today, tomorrow, this week. My girlfriend in Sweden doesn´t want to talk to me until I can think more clearly about our relationship and my priorities, as I have been so distracted since we met over 2 years ago fighting for democracy, human rights, the environment… I get it. I do understand and empathize with her. It´s hard to explain to people far away that the “new normal” is tens of thousands of men, women, children of all ages blocking street corners, bridges, and highways in every corner of every major city in your country. It´s hard to explain to others living in calm, bustling Australian, North-American or European cities today (including Sweden, one of the home-bases of a global environmental movement), how it feels to live in a country that has literally been on fire, with over 5 million hectares and millions of animals smoked and burned to death in under 7 weeks. Greta THurnberg is not exaggerating. Since our one planet is our one “Big Home”, many of its rooms are literally on fire. Apparently around 87% of the Chiquitania, the “Casa Grande” or literally “Big Home” of the Chiquitano nation was burned to a crisp in under two months. What would you do if that happened to your neighbors or relatives? We in Bolivia are now enveloped in the smoke of massive fraud, corruption, and crime. And perhaps today, maybe this week (I pray not) we may be enveloped in a fire of bullets and the threat of an all-out civil war. I do think democracy and peace will prevail and am doing my part for this to happen, and yet there are sufficient reasons for real concern. I’m sad. Somewhat confused. And yet pretty much decided that after 20+ years of trying to fight for democracy, peace, the environment, and social justice, it might just be time to leave this country again for good… if I can… Even if the (so far) peaceful protests and civil disobedience of probably well over 2 million people on the streets do enable us a nation to make a relatively peaceful transition back towards a more stable democracy and a relatively more environmentally-friendly social order the challenges are still so daunting. Even in a best-case scenario, assuming I do stay (or not), no one dies, and the country does transition relatively peacefully back towards the rule of law and a more robust democratic order, I seriously wonder how much will change, especially regarding environmental priorities -- given how deeply entrenched in the international Mercantilistic, ransack-all-natural-resources-profit-over-all-else-model we are stuck in as a highly resource-rich nation, and one of the most biodiverse countries in the world… … There is a small chance I might end up in jail myself (or worse) in the coming days so though I was tempted to abstain from publishing this post and related information on the Extinction Rebellion – Bolivia Facebook page (XRBolivia), your courage and that of millions of other citizens mobilizing in hundreds of cities around the world gives me more energy to speak up. It would be truly wonderful if you, Jem Bendell, George Monbiot, Skeen Ratthor, Rupert Read, Gail Bradbrook, Simon Bramwell, and other XR spokespersons took note of the environmental, political, and social disaster happening in Bolivia right now, and reach out to your whole movement as well as to Greta Thurnberg and other Fridays for Futures leaders as well as Bill McKibben and other 350.org leaders. Will Smith and Leo DiCaprio have already commented. Perhaps we can avoid civil war, a brutal dictatorship, and using Bolivia as an example, help prevent the deforestation of millions of additional hectares of Amazon rainforest if we call on as many people in all these and other global networks including Conservation International (Erin Beasley), WWF, The Pachamama Alliances (Bill and Lynn Twist), Green Peace, Audobon, Yale School of Forestry (Alark Saxena, Alder Kelleman), Sierra Club, Green Cross, Red Cross, Amnesty International (Thor Halverson, Javier el Haage), Human Rights Foundation, Global Challenge Foundation (Maja Groff, Augusto Claros Lopez), United Nations, US Peace Institute, Nexus (Rachel, Jonah) and many others around the world to follow what has and is happening in Bolivia, in the CHIQUITANIA, TIPNIS, TARIQUIA, OTUQUIS, NOEL KEMPFF, MADIDI, and other precious national parks and indigenous reserves. I’ve written several posts and notes on YouTube and Twitter, trying to connect with George, Gail, Jem, and others including the XR/UK Legal Team among others but don’t seem to have been able to connect. Maybe if enough animals, trees, and humans die millions of others will finally start to wake up and realize that we are facing a very real threat and that climate change and climate chaos, biodiversity loss, and other phenomena related to ecological breakdown are all dangerously and directly connected to the breakdown of the rule of law, of democracy, of fundamental human rights and freedoms, of abundance, prosperity, and the right to life itself -- all conquests that have, like precious ecosystems and vast, beautiful species, taken not centuries, but thousands to millions of years, to evolve to this point. Maybe if Bolivia and the Amazon burn more, before they are all gone, enough of a critical mass will wake up and we can still revert species extinction and runaway climate change. If the current Bolivian government, possibly one of the most openly unconscious, ignorant, abusive, corrupt, and criminal governments in the world, does continue on the path it has been taking these past years and pushes the whole country over the brink in the next hours or days, all hell could break loose The situation here today is dire. The ruling medusa-like neo-socialist, neo-liberal hybrid that this illegitimate government has become has formed alliances with a global criminal mafia that probably traffics in everything from human organs, rare and endangered species, precious timber, gold, and tropical rainforests to arms, mercenaries, and the very votes and basic freedoms that keep the social order and civilization (in Bolivia) together… The now illegitimate, illegal, and increasingly dictatorial and in-sane President of the nation and his immediate tribe are sending clear signals they will not take a single step back. To do so would be political suicide and now may signify not only jail, but potentially death for them. I personally still want to believe in, and hope to have the moral, physical, and psychological strength to continue to practice conscious, ethical, peaceful direct action with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Bolivians who will be on the streets today blockading tens of thousands of streets as we try to rescue our democracy (and hopefully our environment and biodiversity too). A daunting and scary task for those of us who come from families that have survived threats of kidnapping, bombs, and assassination attempts. Even more daunting for those of us who have studied geopolitics, international affairs (in my case at SAIS), given that the current (illegitimate, unconstitutional) head of this country has formed alliances with Xi Jingping, Putin, Erdogan, Maduro, Ortega, and other dictators and their cronies in China, Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, Nicaragua, as well as Iran, Belarus, and several African nations. Apparently they are even working closely with Hezbollah, other terrorist organizations, and a dense network of networks of global criminal organizations. I truly hope peace prevails. If I do decide to stay in Bolivia (i´m not sure I could even leave at this point) or if I end up in jail, disappearing, beaten, tortured or shot in the coming days or weeks, I simply hope that my efforts, and that of many of my fellow citizens, to do something for social and environmental justice and for peace, freedom, and democracy, help motivate others around the world to take on, accelerate, and deepen their efforts and that of their fellow citizens to fight for similar causes in their own communities, ecosystems, and nations as you and your XR colleagues are doing. Roger, I’m glad you are out of prison. Keep up the good fight and share my letter with the UK Police and Armed Forces. Perhaps it will help enough of them to understand the connection between climate, environment, the prevailing international commercial and political order, and what happens when the rule of law begins to fall apart as a consequence of a highly unstable, unjust, and chaotic system. I hope to one day shake your hand and maybe even give you a hug in person. Abrazo! Leon Galindo Stenutz .... #XRPRICIPLE4 “We openly challenge ourselves and this toxic system, leaving our comfort zones to take action for change.” ..................... XR Video |