12/07-08/2019: SIXTH AND SEVENTH DAY OF COP25

During the weekend we have taken advantage of the fact that we were in Madrid to get closer to another climate summit that is being held in parallel, also in the city of Madrid. The Complutense University will host from this Friday until the end of the summit the following Friday, the Social Summit. A self-managed and self-organized summit by social, cultural and environmental organizations. The Social Summit under the motto beyond COP25: the summit of the peoples has filled the multipurpose building E of the university campus, as well as the tent installed in the adjoining parking lot. The social summit is open to everyone who is curious and interested in learning about and discussing the climate situation. And it is also open to giving voice to so many restless people capable of thinking, proposing and building alternatives without having to wait for the powers that be to legislate or agree on anything.

The incessant cultural and intellectual offer is distributed among different rooms and spaces in an endless number of sessions, workshops, debates and talks. Where we can highlight the presence of organized youth gathered among others in the recently created movements such as Fridays for Future (FFF) or Extinction Rebellion (< to href="https://rebellion.earth/">XR). Greta Thunberg herself came over on Sunday to accompany her companions. The presence of La Vía Campesina, which brings together workers from the land of many countries, also stands out. On Sunday an intense debate was held on how to articulate a food future based on agroecology, importance was also given to the nomadic reality with the presence of a herd on campus. The Minga Indígena (Association of indigenous peoples for COP25) played an important role throughout the Social Summit. They have created a space where it has been possible to transmit the message of relief but also where they have shared their knowledge, making possible the twinning of towns. Bike rides to denounce the current mobility system, tree planting, direct actions against the energy oligopoly such as the toxic tour through the streets of Madrid and other actions have filled and will continue to fill both the campus and the city with activity.

From the two days in which we have enjoyed such an inspiring atmosphere and company, we have been able to gather the following reflections:

  • The indigenous population has a decisive role in defending the last virgin natural spaces. They are the ones who put their bodies and lives on the front line of battle to protect said territories. It is necessary to put on de-colonialist glasses to address the climate crisis.
  • Climate change directly affects millions of people around the world today. And its most drastic consequences fall on women, especially in the territories of the global South, but also in the enriched North. That is why it is important to put on the purple glasses of ecofeminism when we talk about climate change.
  • The peasant way as an example to follow and agroecology as the only tool to address food sovereignty and the reversal of the polluting and unethical agro-industrial system. The anti-species perspective, in addition to the environmentalist one, must also be considered when restoring the agri-food system.
  • The fight against climate change is also a class struggle. The schemes that occur between rich and poor societies, where the rich countries pollute more and the poor suffer more from the consequences, also occurs between the different economic strata of the same society. That is why the fight against climate change also has to be a fight for social justice.