Environmentalist groups have adopted the language of the failed Occupy movement in order to complain about UN inaction over what they say is an impending environmental catastrophe. Protesters even went so far as to tear up the approved text in a special ceremony.
The Vatican blocked language in the UN preliminary text for the Rio+20 environmental summit, titled “The Future We Want,” which called for universal access to “reproductive health services.” The deleted language (in bold) read: "We emphasize that sustainable development must be inclusive and people-centered, benefiting and involving all people, including youth and children. We recognize that gender equality and women’s empowerment [, including through access to reproductive health services – US; G77, Holy See delete] are important for sustainable development and our common future."
In a petition titled “The Future We Don’t Want,” one thousand NGOs (non-governmental organizations), institutions, and individuals decried the altered language of the UN text, complaining that “governments are unable and unwilling to reaffirm the commitments on fundamental principles they made it Rio in 1992.” The groups even parroted the language of the Occupy Movement, declaring: “We urge our fellow 99% citizens of the world to stand up for the future we really want, and not this one, imposed by a few: the 1% negotiators and their elite constituencies.”
The use of the 99% language by these groups is curious, considering the self-destruction of the Occupy Movement. It is also spurious – if 99% of the world really wanted “reproductive health” advances, than how could any small, elite group block the wishes of the world?
It is difficult to see what environmentalist activists are complaining about. In the final version of the preliminary text for the Rio+20 conference, the UN called for “working towards universal access” to “family planning” and “gender equality,” declaring in paragraph 146: “We will work actively to ensure that health systems provide the necessary information and health services addressing the sexual and reproductive health of women, including working towards universal access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable modern methods of family planning, as this is essential for women's health and advancing gender equality.”
Apparently, one thousand groups want to emulate the hysteria and the failures of the Occupy movement.
