Counter-Summitry: La Via Campesina, the People's Summit, and Rio+20

Counter-summits are important arenas of global environmental politics. Drawing upon Death’s analysis of summitry as a form of environmentality, the forum argues that these alternative venues are defined by counter-summitry, a set of practices that are performative, enact legitimacy, and communicate norms of responsible conduct. This forum analyzes counter-summitry at the People’s Summit in Rio de Janeiro, held in opposition to the UNDP’s 2012 Rio+20 summit. I explore the actions of La Via Campesina—one of the larger participating movements at the People’s Summit—analyzing this movement’s mobilizations at Rio+20 and the People’s Summit’s final outcome document. These function as a form of counter-summitry, influencing the production of environmental subjects. I conclude with several questions to help direct debate concerning the relationship between counter-summitry and global environmental politics.