The current times, with the rise of the far right and genocidal wars, mark an era where the contradictions of the current system of production, distribution, and consumption demonstrate that we are in a higher stage of the already characterised civilisational crisis. However, this is not just another of Capitalism’s cyclical crises. The metabolic rupture, this irreparable breach in the natural cycle of exchange between human society and nature, challenges human beings’ ability to provide responses compatible with the acceleration of socio-environmental destruction.
We have seen that many of these responses come from projects that rely on war as a strategy, whether commercial—as we have seen since Donald Trump became president of the United States—or genocidal, as is the case with Gaza and the continued "desert campaign" project, which has its versions in different parts of the world. In all these projects, the accumulation of capital and colonialism are the conditions that make their success possible. The current war for resources and the maintenance of global hegemony has generated a global governance crisis that raises new questions and challenges. It is necessary to generate new diagnoses for this scenario, which is experiencing a more pronounced dynamic of change.
Faced with the challenge of conceiving, creating, and executing an alternative plan to the imposed project of death, marked by a subjective change that seems to accompany the Cannibal Capitalism that Fraser characterised, the International Ecosocialist Meetings play a fundamental role. If we assume that there is no future without a present and that today’s task is to create the conditions for a livable world, the proposal for an Ecosocialist Transition Program—which seeks to build an ecosocial solution to the profound environmental crisis that threatens the continuity of life forms as we know them on Earth—is a tool that allows us to imagine a future in the face of seemingly insoluble crises.
The need to move beyond an observer’s diagnosis is fundamental to thinking of ourselves as actors of transformation at a time when our worldview has been significantly attacked. In this sense, there is a before and after Gaza: the ecosocialist struggle is the struggle for life. Therefore, anyone considering an ecosocial transition program with an anti-capitalist horizon cannot ignore this dimension. Genocide and ecocide have always gone hand in hand: one is the condition for the possibility of the other and vice versa.
The commitment to an affective shift, necessary for thinking and acting in these cruel times, as Rita Segato suggests, places eco-territorialised solidarity, the internationalism of peoples, and the conception of work based on care at the center of the debate, without losing sight of urban and union struggles and the disputes for better living conditions for the working class, because resistance in these days also means knowing how to confront the precariousness of life in all its aspects.
SECOND LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ECOSOCIALIST MEETING
It is in this profoundly challenging context that the Second Latin American and Caribbean Ecosocialist Meeting will take place. To be held in Belém, Brazil, on the occasion of COP30 this is, symbolically, a response to and a rejection of the idea that the field of economics can justify or plan what we do as a society. We know that the solution to environmental collapse, at the hands of those who caused it, is illogical, contradictory, and based on false solutions and unattainable goals, as Kim Robinson so aptly illustrated in her book, The Ministry of the Future.
The criticism is old, yet it is especially necessary. Despite the fact that COP30 is being held in one of the most important countries for devising strategies to enable the advancement of eco-territorial struggles, the Brazilian government has been demonstrating a lack of commitment to the groups in struggle and a rapprochement with green colonialist projects. This is evidenced by the approval of the so-called Devastation Bill (PL da devastação, in Portuguese) —albeit with vetoes—, the announcement of the end of negotiations, with possible ratification, of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Mercosur and Lula’s enthusiastic stance on the Tropical Forest Fund for All Seasons (TFFF, for its acronym in English), which should be one of the main projects defended by the Brazilian government during COP30, and which is, as Mary Louise Malig and Pablo Solón explain in this article, an ambitious green capitalist project that seeks to correct supposed "market failures."
Along the same lines, it is worrying that the spaces critical to COP30 are proposing a direct connection with governments. The need to create autonomous spaces, such as the Counter-Summits or People’s Summits, from a perspective consistent with anti-systemic struggles, is essential and should be non-negotiable. Government interference in civil society’s self-organisation processes weakens and undermines the possibility of proposing grassroots alternatives.
Within the framework of alternative approaches and autonomous spaces for debate, the Second Ecosocialist Meeting will take place from November 8th to 11th. These dates were carefully chosen so as not to interfere with the activities of the People’s Summit, which will take place from November 12th to 16th, nor with the Earth Charter initiative, scheduled for November 7th to 8th.
Strategically, the second meeting—which is a continuation of the debates held in Buenos Aires in 2024 and also builds on the five previous meetings held in Switzerland, Spain, the Basque Country, and Portugal—seeks the convergence of ecosocialist perspectives and other anti-capitalist alternatives that have emerged in recent decades, with the aim of generating opportunities for concrete, coordinated actions to build a common horizon. To this end, the central points of the proposals of various groups that have been thinking about and building alternatives to the capitalist system’s forms of production, reproduction, consumption, distribution, organisation, and worldview and civilisation will be debated.
This will be the first meeting to be held in the Amazon region and seeks to bring together the voices of groups fighting for the demarcation of their ancestral lands and for the preservation of forests against deforestation and the environmental racism that affects racialised peoples. Additionally it will provide a critical assessment of the experiences of plurinational states and sharing the projects for territories free of fossil fuels and mining that are taking place in different parts of Latin America.
The meeting also offers in-depth and critical debate about proposed transitions without the participation of populations affected by extractivism and a characterisation of imperialism in the current political context. Projects such as the BRICS and China’s repositioning raise questions about the opportunities and threats facing the territories of the Global South. Wars, militarisation, debt, and trade and investment agreements emerge as the familiar—albeit more violent since the rise of the neo-fascist right—strategy of subordination, dependence, and control of territories, threatening the sovereignty of countries.
Continuing the debate present at all previous meetings, one of the central themes will be eco-unionism and the world of work, as well as ecofeminism and care economies from an eco-territorial perspective. Within the discussion on ecosocialist strategy, tactics toward ecosocialism, ecosocialism and power, dialogues between the North and South on the methods and content of discussion, positioning regarding the COP, among other debates such as degrowth, rights of nature, urban peripheries and urban populations, and ecosocialist democracy will be discussed.
Despite the enormous challenge of constructing this process, due primarily to the logistics and high accommodation costs in Belém, the Meeting has already confirmed its venue and has a local committee in place to organise the event’s logistics and provide support, including accommodation options, for those attending the meeting.
Registration for the event will open soon, but it is mandatory, as we have a capacity of only 350 people. The event, in keeping with its principle of autonomy, is fully funded by the organisations and individuals participating in the event, so we cannot guarantee funding for tickets and/or transportation.
Greater participation from groups and individuals from Brazil’s territories is expected; therefore, if necessary, the participation of delegations by country may be limited, with the goal of ensuring the discussions are as inclusive and diverse as possible.
Free territories and convergence for action are the goals of this meeting, bringing proposals, questions, and debates to the 7th International Ecosocialist Meeting, which will take place in Brussels in the first half of 2026.
19/09/2025
Information about the Meetings’ organisation process can be found on the inter.ecosoc Instagram page. Those who wish to sign the call can do so by filling out this form.
Translated for International Viewpoint by David Fagan.