¡Viva la Pachamama!

Cochabamba-Tiquipaya-La Paz, Bolivia

I write this entry from 12,000 feet above sea-level where clouds and people share the same horizon.
I spend a lot of my time thinking about how climate change and rising sea-levels will affect low-income people of color in waterfront communities in the United States. In the communities that exist high in the sky, I'm realizing how climate change, melting glaciers, and the scarcity of water for drinking and agriculture is already devastating the people of Bolivia.

Our political economies often segregate people of color struggles around the world. My time in Cochabamba has been a testament to the urgency for the struggles of the north and south to merge, and we can because the resilient children of the global south are living and fighting for change in the north. After a week of negotiations to create declarations of the rights for climate migrants and critical interventions for the shifting eco-systems, among 16 other working groups, with my hermanos y hermanas from developing countries around the world, it is clear to me our power to work together as pueblos in solidarity.

Working toward local and global justice in belly of the beast of capitalism and imperialism is often ugly. However, the 10's of thousands of people that came together to deepen their commitments to the rights of poor people around the world and the rights of Pachamama reaffirmed another world is possible. A world where the people that have been undervalued and exploited for hundreds of years are prioritized and treated with human dignity. A world where we the children of mother earth are in harmony with her. A world that is beautifully filled with local economies managed with the careful hands of los pueblos.

I feel assured of my ability to lead and work with the communities that are most affected by the violent and toxic abuse of Pachamama. I feel assured of our resilience in the United States when capitalism fails irreparably. I feel more prepared to build a new social order with mis comañer@s around the globe as we transition out of the systems of power as we know them today.