[su_audio url=”http://ia601503.us.archive.org/19/items/uprising_2015_11_20/Diana_Lopez_Shawna_Foster_2015_11_20.mp3″]

Diana Lopezpicture-1737-1438541248It Takes Roots Delegates On Uprising Radio with Producer Sonali Kolhatker, November 20, 2015

GUESTS: Diana Lopez is an organizer with the Southwest Workers Union for worker rights, environmental justice and community empowerment in San Antonio, Texas and has attended several UN climate conferences;

Shawna Foster, veteran of the US National Guard where she served as a Nuclear Biological Chemical Weapons Specialist. She is currently the Board chair of Iraq Veterans Against The War. Both Akuno and Foster are members of the It Takes Roots delegation to COP21.

The French government has canceled two major climate justice marches that were organized around the upcoming Conference of Parties talks in Paris (COP21) in late November, early December. The recent ISIS attacks in Paris that resulted in 129 dead, were impetus for the announcement. Tens of thousands of activists from around the world are expected to converge between November 30th and December 13th outside the international climate conference to demand that country representatives hash out a strong agreement to curb global warming and to fund adaption efforts by developing nations.

Activist groups in the United States representing people of color, and poor and working class communities, have planned a significant presence at COP21. Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, the Climate Justice Alliance and the Indigenous Environmental Network are leading a delegation of over 75 activists called It Takes Roots.

For more information, South West Workers Union and Iraq Veterans Against The War.