Radical Democracy and Climate Justice - the missing debate of COP30
Radical Democracy and Climate Justice - the missing debate of COP30
Join us in this crucial pre-COP30 discussion. This half-day session seeks to create a space of reflection about the failures of official climate negotiations by spotlighting the real, grassroots pathways out of the climate crisis—namely, forms of direct self-governance, autonomy, and constructive alternatives practiced by Indigenous peoples, radical alternatives and local communities worldwide. We come together to discuss how these movements are intimately connected to food sovereignty, solidarity economies, social justice, and the rights of nature. Come to contribute your ideas for integrating radical democracy and climate justice.
Logistics
- Date: November 12th
- Time: 9 am – 1 pm
- Venue: Seminario Mar Nossa Sra Da Assunção (Diocese De Ponta De Pedras R. Leopoldo Teixeira, 1368 - Centro, Ananindeua - PA, 67030-025, Brazil)
Introduction
As the world struggles with multiple intersecting crises of ecological and climate collapse, inequality, wars and genocide, authoritarianism, and the erasure of millions of species, Indigenous peoples, local communities and collectives of various kinds are resisting as also creating constructive alternatives. Many of these are rooted in the assertion of grassroots decision-making, forms of direct self-governance and autonomy that challenge not only authoritarianism and dictatorships but also western liberal notions and practices of electoral democracy, and the centrality of the nation-state.
Simultaneously these initiatives of radical democracy are intimately connected to many other radical alternatives: food and energy sovereignty, commons and solidarity economies, gender and social justice, knowledge diversity and commons, people-and-nature centred technologies, localized self-reliance, biocultural regionalism and the rights of nature, and many more. These are the real, grounded pathways that challenge the roots of global crises - capitalism, patriarchy, colonialism, racism, anthropocentrism, and so on. These are also the real pathways out of the climate crisis, but are not at the heart of the official negotiations of the climate COPs (which partly explains the failure of 29 COPs to make any dent in the crisis!).
The Global TapestryThe weaving of networks of Alternatives of AlternativesAre activities and initiatives, concepts, worldviews, or action proposals by collectives, groups, organizations, communities, or social movements challenging and replacing the dominant system that perpetuates inequality, exploitation, and unsustainabiity. In the GTA we focus primarily on what we call "radical or transformative alternatives", which we define as initiatives that are attempting to break with the dominant system and take paths towards direct and radical forms of political and economic democracy, localised self-reliance, social justice and equity, cultural and knowledge diversity, and ecological resilience. Their locus is neither the State nor the capitalist economy. They are advancing in the process of dismantling most forms of hierarchies, assuming the principles of sufficiency, autonomy, non-violence, justice and equality, solidarity, and the caring of life and the Earth. They do this in an integral way, not limited to a single aspect of life. Although such initiatives may have some kind of link with capitalist markets and the State, they prioritize their autonomy to avoid significant dependency on them and tend to reduce, as much as possible, any relationship with them. (GTAGlobal Tapestry of Alternatives) has a long-term vision for promoting radical democracy, rooted in its practice and conceptualization by communities. As a first step, it organized (with other groups) a global confluence of such communities in February 2025, in South Africa. As part of this journey, it intends to continue convening physical and online dialogues and collaborative exercises, generation of inspiring stories, consolidation of diverse knowledge and worldviews, and other activities. A Declaration on Radical Democracy, Autonomy and Self-determination that was framed in South Africa, will form one of the connecting threads for such global alliances.
GTA proposes to organize some related events at COP30 in Brazil, during and outside of the People’s Summit. This includes a half-day session in collaboration with the above-mentioned groups.
For more details about our perspective, we suggest to read the "Declaration on Autonomy, Radical Democracy and Self Determination"
Agenda
- Welcome ceremony and sharing by local Indigenous organisations from the State of Para
- Sharing each collaborating organisation’s work on Radical Democracy and Climate Justice (as defined above); including brief report of GTA’s global confluence and Declaration on Radical Democracy and Autonomy
- Sharing by other participants, esp. Indigenous people/local community organisations, re. their work on the theme
- Ideas for inputs to People’s Summit, and (if appropriate) to official COP
- Ideas for further collaboration