Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Two members of the occupy movement disrupted the final press briefing of the United Nations Rio+20 Earth Summit on
Sustainable Development, denouncing the final document as not
representative of the voices in struggle against the degradation of the
environment and oppression. Occupy Wall Street member Alexandre Carvalho and Ocupa Sampa Maryana Sant’ Ana infiltrated the media conference room P3 – 7 with no press credentials, sat close to the panelists, and waited until the brief started, at 2pm.
When one of the speakers started his address, citing the cause of
environmental degradation and the crash of the world economy wasn’t due to banks but instead to the failure of governments to take action, the two
activists took to the center of the room, grabbed two flowers that were
decorating the front of the panel, and said: “They do not represent us! We
want a real democracy! We are here to announce a new time; a time of
imagination, poetry and no ecocide! NO GENERATIONAL GENOCIDE!” when they were seized and forced out of the room by UN personnel.
The Rio+20 final document was marked by general frustration, with many
voices denouncing its lack of ambition, urgency, and real commitment to
the environment. While leaders of nation-states paid lip service to the
document, members of civil society and NGOs threatened to remove their
support to the final statement.
“Corporate take over of the UN is undermining the real solutions coming
from grassroots social movements” , said Sant’Ana. “The attempt to market
green capitalism as the solution to the world’s environmental problems is
a farce – the solution is in international solidarity, open source
technologies, and a new world consciousness.
A people’s petition and the Open Source Imperative, foundational statements, can be found here: www.occupytheearth.net
Contact: Revolutionary Games
#Occupy Wall Street – USA Email: ac3018@nyu.edu
#Ocupa Sampa – Sao Paulo Email: ocupasampa@riseup.net