People reaffirm sovereignty and denounce corporate power in plenaries for themes 1 and 2 of the People’s Summit
On the morning of this Wednesday (November 13), the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) was the stage for another moment of intense popular mobilization during the People’s Summit. In two spaces, with hundreds of participants, the plenary sessions of Themes 1 and 2 brought together representatives of organizations, movements, and peoples from all over the world around central themes of the struggle for climate justice, sovereignty, and historical reparation.
The plenary sessions included opening ceremonies, readings of summaries produced in study groups, speeches from the debate panels and the traditional “people’s queue”, which provided space for reports and denunciations coming from the affected territories.
Theme 1: Living Territories and Food Sovereignty
In the Solidarity Tent, the debate topic for Theme 1, “Living Territories and Maritime Territories, Popular and Food Sovereignty,” reinforced that there is no just energy transition without guaranteeing the rights of the peoples of the land, waters, and forests. Discussions pointed out that protecting territories is protecting life, biodiversity, and the future for the next generations.
Among the main demands are land regularization, recognition of the collective rights of traditional peoples and communities, and the strengthening of agroecology as a path to food sovereignty and Good Living (Buen Vivir). Culture, popular communication, and intercultural education were also reaffirmed as essential dimensions of resistance and preservation of ways of life.
According to Maria Gonçalves, from MAB’s national coordination, who participated in the preparatory debate groups for the theme, the fight for climate justice begins in the territories.
“When MAB fights for respect for productive and cultural diversities, denouncing the advance of large capitalist enterprises, we are building a counter-proposal to this development model. Our experiences of food sovereignty, with the use of socio-enviro technologies such as cisterns and biodigesters, are concrete responses to the climate crisis. By defending living territories and food sovereignty, we reaffirm that those who face the climate crisis are the people, not the market,” she states.
Theme 2: Historical Reparation and Confronting Corporate Power
In a space the the “gym of resistance, the plenary session of Theme 2, “Historical Reparation, Combating Environmental Racism, False Solutions, and Corporate Power,” highlighted the violations caused by large corporations, the impacts of agribusiness and mining, and the need for accountability and full reparation for affected populations.
Among the central themes were the Global Campaign for the Dismantling of Corporate Power and the Sovereignty of Peoples, and the construction of a Binding International Treaty on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights, currently under discussion at the UN. Moisés Borges, from the national coordination of MAB, emphasized that corporations have captured global decision-making spaces, transforming international organizations into instruments of their interests.
“The corporate capture of the UN and the COPs means that these spaces, which should be for debate with society, are already dominated by companies from the start. They violate human rights and capture state power—executive, legislative, and judicial. This is what we see in Mariana, Brumadinho, and Belo Monte. Profit is placed above life,” concluded Moisés.
According to Moisés, confronting this structure must be built in a clearly articulated manner between peoples and territories: “The struggle is territorial and global. Vale, which is based in Brazil, is also in Mozambique and Asia. We need common strategies to confront this reality. Therefore, the Global Campaign and the Binding Treaty are fundamental tools to guarantee the right of affected populations to say no and receive full reparation.”
The other members of the panel discussion reaffirmed the international dimension of climate injustice. They denounced practices of environmental racism, industrial dumping, and the commodification of nature that directly affect rural and traditional communities across various continents.
Rudo Angela, from South Africa and a member of the International Movement of People Affected by Dams, Climate Crisis and Socio-environmental Crimes (MAR), stated: “In Africa, we have environmental racism expressed in dumping practices, mining, and industrial pollution. These activities affect the most marginalized communities, and in this context, rural populations are the most discriminated against. In the Niger Delta, there are oil spills and gas exploration that destroy ecosystems and ways of life, where local communities are affected without just reparation.”
For Jesús Vázquez, from Puerto Rico, and a representative of Via Campesina, “The world is on fire, and this fire was not started by the people. The governments and transnational corporations of the global North created this crisis, and no one will come to help us. Only the people help the people.”
The synthesis of the plenary sessions points to the same horizon: the peoples of the world resist the advance of capital over nature, and reaffirm their sovereignty as a path to climate justice and well-being.
