Hugo Chavez On Socialism

From remarks made in Copenhagen:

There is a group of countries that consider themselves superior to us in the South, us in the Third World, us the underdeveloped countries, or, as a great friend Eduardo Galeano says, us, the crushed countries, as if a train ran over us in history.

In light of this, it's no surprise that there is no democracy in the world and here we are again faced with powerful evidence of global imperial dictatorship. Then two youths got up here -- fortunately the security agents were decent -- some shoving, and they collaborated, right? There are many people outside, you know? Of course, they, many people, do not fit in this room. I've read in the news that there were some arrests, some intense protests, in the streets of Copenhagen, and I salute all those people out there, most of them youth.

Of course young people are concerned, I think rightly much more than we are, for the future of the world. We have -- most of us here -- the sun on our backs, and they have to face the sun and are very worried.

One could say, Mr. President, that a spectre is haunting Copenhagen, to paraphrase Karl Marx, the great Karl Marx. A spectre is haunting the streets of Copenhagen, and I think that spectre walks silently through this room, walking around among us, through the halls, rising from below. This spectre is a terrible spectre almost nobody wants to mention: capitalism is the spectre -- almost nobody wants to mention it.

It's capitalism, the people are roaring, you can hear them out there.

I have been reading some of the slogans painted on the streets, and of those slogans of these youngsters, some of which I think I heard when I was young, and of the young woman there, I have noted two. You can hear, among others, two powerful slogans. One: Don't Change the Climate, Change the System.

And I take it on board for us. Let's not change the climate, let's change the system! And consequently we will begin to save the planet. Capitalism is a destructive development model that is putting an end to life; it threatens to put a definitive end to the human species...

And I think that's true. If the climate were one of the biggest capitalist banks, the rich governments would have saved it.

I think Obama has not arrived. He received the Nobel Peace Prize almost the same day that he sent 30,000 soldiers to kill more innocents in Afghanistan, and now he comes to stand here with the Nobel Peace Prize, the president of the United States.

But the United States has the machinery to make money, to make dollars, and has saved -- well, they believe they have saved -- the banks and the capitalist system.

Well, this is a side comment that I wanted to make previously. We were raising our hand to accompany Brazil, India, Bolivia, China, in their interesting position that Venezuela and the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance firmly share. But hey, they didn't let us speak, so do not count these minutes please, Mr. President...

The rich are destroying the planet. Do they think they can go to another when they destroy this one? Do they have plans to go to another planet? So far there is none on the horizon of the galaxy...

Well then, Mr. President, climate change is undoubtedly the most devastating environmental problem of this century. Floods, droughts, severe storms, hurricanes, melting ice caps, rise in mean sea levels, ocean acidification, and heat waves, all of that sharpens the impact of global crisis besetting us.

Current human activity exceeds the threshold of sustainability, endangering life on the planet, but also in this we are profoundly unequal.

Let's remember: the 500 million richest people, 500 million, this is seven percent, seven percent, seven percent of the world's population. This seven percent is responsible, these 500 million richest people are responsible, for 50 percent of emissions, while the poorest 50 percent accounts for only seven percent of emissions.

So it strikes me as a bit strange to put the United States and China at the same level. The United States has just -- well, it will soon reach -- 300 million people. China has nearly five times the U.S. population. The United Status consumes more than 20 million barrels of oil a day; China only reaches 5-6 million barrels a day. You can't ask the same of the United States and China...

Cease the aggressions and the wars! We the peoples of the world ask of the empires, those who try to continue dominating the world and exploiting us. No more imperial military bases or military coups! Let's build a more just and equitable economic and social order, let's eradicate poverty, let's immediately stop the high emission levels, let's stop environmental degradation and avoid the great catastrophe of climate change, let's integrate ourselves into the noble goal of everyone being more free and united...

Socialism, the other spectre Karl Marx spoke about, walks here too. Rather it is like a counter-spectre. Socialism, this is the direction, this is the path to save the planet, I don't have the least doubt. Capitalism is the road to hell, to the destruction of the world. We say this from Venezuela, which because of socialism faces threats from the U.S. empire.

From the countries that comprise ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance, we exhort -- and I want to, with respect, but from my soul, exhort in the name of many on this planet -- the governments and peoples of the Earth, paraphrasing Simón Bolívar, the Liberator: if the destructive nature of capitalism opposes us, let's fight against it and make it obey us, let's not wait idly by for the death of humanity.

History calls on us to unite and fight.

If capitalism resists, we are obliged to take up a battle against capitalism and open the way for the salvation of the human species. It's up to us, raising the banners of Christ, Muhammad, equality, love, justice, humanity, the true and most profound humanism. If we don't do it, the most wonderful creation of the universe, the human being, will disappear -- it will disappear.

This planet is billions of years old, and this planet existed for billions of years without us, the human species, i.e. it doesn't need us to exist. Now, without the Earth we will not exist, and we are destroying Pachamama as Evo says, as our indigenous brothers from South America say.

Finally, Mr. President, and to finish, let's listen to Fidel Castro, who said: "One species is in danger of extinction: humanity."

Let's listen to Rosa Luxemburg, who said: "Socialism or Barbarism."

Let's listen to Christ the Redeemer, who said: "Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, we are capable of not making this Earth the tomb of humanity. Let us make this earth a heaven, a heaven of life, of peace, of the peace of brotherhood for all humanity, for the human species.