Last night I was very fortunate to meet someone who is a real hero and a dogged campaigner - a person who is really on the front line when it comes to the struggle to save our planet. His name is Cristian Dominguez and he is the National Secretary of Environment and Resources of CSUTCB (Confederacion Sindical Unica de Trabajodores Campesinos de Bolivia) United Confederation of Peasant Workers of Bolivia. Cristian is on a tour of Europe and is paricipating in the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen from Dec 7th to 18th. He is part of the Bolivian delegation and comes to the summit with real hopes of getting an agreement and bypassing China and the US if necessary. He is particularly seeking the support of European climate activists and Greens.
Cristian goes along with the view of the Bolivian government that strict controls on climate change are necessary in Bolivia but also supports the need for a global agreement. He also survived a recent massacre in Pando, Bolivia, where mercenaries at the command of a Right wing politician, who is a candidate for the Vice Presidency in Bolivia in the elections there next month, killed many Amazonian peasants, including women and children.
After meeting a group of us from the Green Party Trade Union Group and the International Coordinator, Cristian came and addressed a meeting of the London Green Party and asked for our support at Copenhagen and afterwards. We promised him our full support and solidarity. Cristian mentioned in his speech "those who have no voice. The animals and insects of the Amazon and the Nature of which we are the protectors." He also spoke of the attempts to kill or silence him and his people, who stood in the way of greedy landowners and corporations.
Meeting someone like Cristian is inspiring, for whom protecting the environment is not a lifestyle choice but a matter of life and death. We all owe him and his people a debt of gratitude and can only hope that their voices will be heard above the hubbub of lobbyists and interest groups at Copenhagen.
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