Tuvalu Survival
And so, the COP has stalled. It is only day 3, and already we have reached crisis point. Tuvalu, accompanied by fellow small island states and some small African nations, has blocked consensus, holding out for a legally binding treaty that will return atmospheric greenhouse gasses to a safe level, and would give their nations a chance of survival.
Dishearteningly, these countries were not backed up in this call by the bigger players within the G77 group of developing nations such as China, India and Saudi Arabia, who do not wish to accept the cuts to their emissions that such a deal would entail.
Immediately, passionate protests began within the Bella Centre, as activists from all over the world joined together to demonstrate their solidarity with these tiny nations and their fight for a viable future.
I must admit that my tears flowed freely reading this news, and watching these protests, for I knew that I was watching an incredible moment in history. A rare and cherished moment when human dignity takes over, and when the oppressed find the courage to say no.
These proud, beautiful nations are literally being asked to agree to oblivion, and they are saying no. For the first time, they are truly demanding justice, and are refusing to compromise.
It could not be any other way.
How could any nation on earth consent to their own demise? How could any agreement be termed ‘fair’ that allowed a group of countries to fade from existence?
The reasons that China, India, and the West give for this is that agreeing to a deal that could save the small island states would slow their economic growth.
That’s right. These nations are effectively being told by the world that to save them would be too expensive. Their homes and livelihoods, their culture dating back thousands of years, their ancestral home is just not reason enough to accept a slower-growing economy.
And they are expected to agree to this? Now what on earth would make a nation agree to the obliteration of their homeland? I wonder, what would my nation, Australia, have to be offered, to accept such a fate?
I doubt there is enough wealth on this planet to make us accept such a deal. And we are a nation made up largely of quite recent immigrants, compared with Tuvalu and the other nations in question.
So no. There will be no consensus without justice, and the fact that the big players within the G77 look willing to sacrifice the lands of their little brothers in the AOSIS just shows how far this world is from achieving justice on climate change.
Yet by their refusal to accept injustice, and by their honour and courage, these tiny nations are lighting a candle of hope for all the rest of humanity. For their demands are not only what is right and just for themselves, but are also what the planet needs, what our fellow species’ need, and what each and every nation sitting at those talks needs.
Listening to them, in other words, will save our souls. But it will also save our skins.
Today, justice and human dignity spoke out in Copenhagen. And here, far away on the other side of the world, it was deafening.
So hear it,
Repeat it,
And fight for it.
Tuvalu Survival.
The Europeean ecology movement (international green) participe in Aquitania in the support of your action. They stay a day without eating. Les candidats Europe Ecologie Aquitaine participeront le 18 décembre au jeûne organisé par l’association TACA en soutien à votre action de grêve de la faim. Avec notre solidarité écologique.
Stéphane Saubusse, Peggy Kançal (liste gironde d’Europe Ecologie), Jocelyne Pellet, Dany Neveu, au même titre que Martine Alcorta, Monique De Marco (tête de liste Aquitaine) et Marie Bové (tête de liste gironde).
By Olivier RICHARD, on Fri, 11/12/2009
“Yet by their refusal to accept injustice, and by their honor and courage, these tiny nations are lighting a candle of hope for all the rest of humanity.” Very good words! If every nation firstly think about soul and not money, our world would become better.
By Russia, on Tue, 02/02/2010