Copenhagen: Where Africa Took On Obama
The highlight of my first day at COP15 was a conversation with the extraordinary Nigerian poet and activist Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International. We talked about the fact that some of the toughest activists here still pull their punches when it comes to Obama, even as his climate team works tirelessly to do away with the Kyoto Protocol, replacing it with much weaker piecemeal targets.
If George W. Bush had pulled some of the things Obama has done here, he would have been burned in effigy on the steps of the convention center. With Obama, however, even the most timid actions are greeted as historic breakthroughs, or at least a good start.
"Everyone says: 'give Obama time,'" Bassey told me. "But when it comes to climate change, there is no more time." The best analogy, he said, is a soccer game that has gone into overtime. "It's not even injury time, it's sudden death. It's the nick of time, but there is no more extra time."
The solution for Bassey is not carbon trading or sinks but "serious emissions cuts at the source. Leave the oil in the ground, leave the coal in the hole, leave the tar sands in the land." In Nigeria, where Bassey lives, Friends of the Earth is calling for no new oil development whatsoever, though it does accept more efficient use of existing fields. If Obama isn't willing to consider those types of solutions, Bassey says, "he may as well be coming [to Copenhagen] for vacation."
Those kinds of gloves off criticisms are scarce around here. Most groups don't seem to have figured out their Obama-era strategy yet: Tough love? Gentle encouragement? Blaming Congress? Bassey likened the political discombobulation to what his own country went through when democracy finally replaced dictatorship in 1999. Suddenly they didn't know how to fight anymore, and it was all about giving the politicians time—despite the fact that the oil companies were still ravaging the Delta and violence was (and still is) spiraling out of control. Sometimes hope can be dangerous.
Speaking of hope, the Scandinavian establishment is still clearly swooning over Obama, showering him with prizes for things he hasn't done yet and renaming this city "Hopenhagen" for the duration – a not too subtle homage to Mr. Hope himself.
In sharp contrast, one of the most interesting developments here is that Africa is clearly cooling off its Obama love affair. For months the African negotiating bloc has been the toughest and most united voice in the climate talks. At a pre-conference negotiation in Barcelona, the African team walked out en masse--a protest against the paltry emissions cuts proposed by the rich world, led by the U.S.
The African bloc has plenty of dodgy actors in it, of course, and standing up on this one issue does not turn a war criminal into a hero. That said, when it comes to climate change, Africa has emerged here as the conscience of the world– and its best hope of avoiding a disastrously weak deal.
Today, while big NGOs bit their tongues, Lumumba Di-Aping, the Sudanese chairman of the G77 group of developing nations, greeted the news that rich countries will spend a mere $10-billion helping poor states cope with climate change by saying that it was "not enough to buy us coffins." And when the Danish draft of the final agreement was leaked to The Guardian--incorporating much of Washington's destructive wish list--it was the Africans who were out protesting it first.
Obama, the son of a Kenyan man, still inspires a great deal of pride among African delegates here, and rightfully so. But the louder message we are hearing is that that the continent has a great many sons and daughters and our collective failure to address the climate crisis is an immediate threat to their survival. As the African delegates chanted at the Bella Center tonight: "We will not die quietly."
Note: After my interview with him, Nnimmo Bassey reiterated some of what he said to our friends at The Uptake, who are videoblogging the conference. You can check it out here:
This story was reported for The Nation as part of the Copenhagen News Collaborative, a cooperative project of several independent news organizations. Check out the constantly updated feed here. Mother Jones’ comprehensive Copenhagen coverage is here, and our special climate change package is here.
Comments
"The solution for Bassey is
"The solution for Bassey is not carbon trading or sinks but "serious emissions cuts at the source. Leave the oil in the ground, leave the coal in the hole, leave the tar sands in the land." In Nigeria, where Bassey lives, Friends of the Earth is calling for no new oil development whatsoever, though it does accept more efficient use of existing fields. If Obama isn't willing to consider those types of solutions, Bassey says, "he may as well be coming [to Copenhagen] for vacation.""
Don't hold your breath Naomi.
Di-Aping's fighting words -- more...
Of course, Bill
We should listen to poets on this subject and ignore the science---as usual.
I would consider Barack Obama mentally challenged if he went for this---both on the face of it---the lack of credible science, and on the basis of what it would do to his personal clout as President of the United States---making him into a puppet for the UN.
Everything we know about the climate at this point says that (1) temperatures have DECREASED for over ten years despite a substantial increase in greenhouse gases; (2) icefields are declining due to lack of new snow pack, not exceptional "melting"; (3) higher daytime temperatures in Africa are accompanied by lower night temperatures---not possible with global warming due to greenhouse gases which would be present 24/7; flooding in Bangladesh, Tuvalu, etc., is normal. Half the country is Mangrove Swamp. Go figure, Mojo.
Africa Took On Obama
It is sad to say but people and governments are not going to change their ways until its too late.
There are very few Noah's willing to devote resources to building an ark when it has not started raining.
How about just a plain old-fashioned plausible science hoax?
We've seen them before. Apparently, one of Kevin Drum's friends from Yale is one of the acolytes of Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb, a pseudo-science classic from the 1970's that deserves its place on the shelf right next to Dawn of the Zombies.
We were told with all seriousness that the earth could not sustain itself in the face of the onrushing population apocalypse. By 1990 at the very latest, we would be reduced to a few mutated humans living in small remote colonies, gnawing on roots and wearing thongs made of bark.
But, here we are. Talk about inconvenient?
Has that discouraged Paul Ehrlich and his wife, even though they have lost every bet for almost forty years? No, of course, NOT. They still thump around the lecture circuit like lost dogs and preach to the dimmer members of Congress and enjoy a weird cult following of their own, mostly the lower ten percent of Yale graduates.
This whole global warming schtick is much the same kind and flavor--oh, the world is going to end! It is most certainly going to fry, fry, fry---if not in h-e-double hocky sticks, at least in the primordial fumes of man-made pollution. Oh, yes, we are going to die as a result of our sins....
No joke---the first people on this Continent were: Puritans, criminals, and Tories. They are still here among us. They still bring us their never-ending message of doom, sin, misery, conflagration, want, poverty, loyalty to the government and all the rest of it. Only now we lump them under the names "liberal" and "Democrat" and note with a sardonic twist---these people are neither "liberal" nor "Democratic"---in fact, they are distinct party downers, humorless, cruel, oppressive, and vengeful in most of the views they present.
No time for fun or tolerance, kindness, enjoyment, warmth, meaningful work, honesty, or gratitude. Nope. We have to get ready to PAY for our SINS and be loyal to the KING---that is, the federal government, and as Obama says, "sacrifice" ourselves and our standard of living, because as everyone knows, we are bad people---greedy self-indulgent sinners!
Now, if you still believe in global warming and universal "health care" after having lived through the past twenty or thirty years, I have a deal you can't refuse---a gift set of The Population Bomb, Silent Spring (another pseudo science classic responsible for 300 million malaria deaths) and An Inconvenient Truth. Give it to all the gullible people you know who want to feel bad about themselves this holiday season.
our locksmith inbarnet ie
our locksmith inbarnet ie http://www.london24hrlocksmith.co.uk/service-areas/north-london/locksmit... love that article
Post new comment
MoJo Comments: Send Us Your Feedback
We changed our spam software to better filter comments. Should you encounter any issues, please let us know.
