Tuvalu Calls Out US in Emotional Plea (At Copenhagen Climate Change Conference)

[Turborama]

Source: Treehugger

Tuvalu is turning into the little island nation that could just be the game changer in these talks. After a couple of days spent digging in their heels on the legal form of a potential deal, and then making headlines again yesterday with the release of the AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States) draft text, Tuvalu open this morning's plenary meeting of the resumed COP with an impassioned plea, which many observers immediately called the signature moment of the talks thus far.

In an earnest, emotional address, lead negotiator Ian Fry called out the United States Senate and President Obama directly. To paraphrase:

I understand that we are waiting for the US senate. It seems the fate of the world lies in the hands of a few U.S. Senators. It is (difficult) that we are waiting for one country to decide before the international community can move forward. President Obama was currently in Sweden accepting a Nobel Prize, whether rightly or wrongly. For him to honor his Nobel Prize, he should address the greatest threat to humanity, climate change, and the greatest threat to human security, climate change.

He defended his obstructive position over the past few days of the talks, during which he has stood firmly in the way of consensus, demanding that the legally-binding nature of a deal be discussed in open sessions, not closed door backrooms. Fry urged that the entire population of Tuvalu lives within 2 meters of sea level, that their very existence as a nation is at stake, and that he isn't trying to embarrass anyone, cause trouble, or make a show, but merely serve the people of Tuvalu and protect their future. With tears in his eyes, Fry closed saying:

I woke this morning, and I was crying, and that's not easy for a grown man to admit. The fate of my country rests in your hands.

Read more: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/tuvalu-calls-out-united-states-emotional-plea.php

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Think Progress have added the video and full transcript to their site which I've posted here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x412664

(Note to mods, I tried to get an MSM source for this but Treehugger seemed to be the only one available.)

[FreakinDJ]

1. Please please send us the money for Carbon Credits

we need it to build a casino

[PaulaFarrell]

5. WTF?

you're an idiot

[KamaAina]

14. In one of the most remote locations on Earth?!

:dunce:

[Auggie]

2. "It seems the fate of the world lies in the hands of a few U.S. Senators..."

who are owned by multi-national corporations that have been raping the earth for decades.

[dysfunctional press]

7. then the world is DEFINITELY fucked.

[peacetalksforall]

9. Yes, 'in the Senate' means 'in the hands of corporations'. It's too bad we ALL can't come

out and tell it like it is. The barons - and their institutions - councils - corporations - secret societies hold our fate and they only want three things - all the money, all the control, and all our obedience and submission.

We thought we were moving forward as humans and we blinkedd and couldn't fccus or believe what was going on before our eyes.

Bought and sold humanity by the most greedy and agressive among us. During the Bush administration, I accused Republicans of being recklessly arrogant with all their crimes against the world.

What has changed? I'm trying to find the answer.

Thrity five years ago I was told that there wasn't any difference between Republicans and Democrats and I couldn't believe it. \

There is little attempt these days to keep up the delusion.

But this leader of Tuvalu didn't really place the blame where it really lies when he said = Senate. It is the barons and ceo's and stockholders - they haven't made enough money yet - and they despise dependency on a central system. We're at the center, but it's worldwide. All the mostly Anglo countries lead the way.

[eleny]

3. Perhaps this link to The Australian will help

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/emotional-temperatures-rising-as-expectations-fall/story-e6frg6xf-1225810005827

[Turborama]

11. Thank-you for the link

That's an excellent article which gives some more depth to what's been going on but because I've only just got back online I've missed the chance to add it to the OP.

Thanks again.

[madfloridian]

4. Here is a great BBC article on Tuvalu

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7203313.stm

And there is a documentary at Sundance which was excellent.

[madfloridian]

6. The Sundance movie is called "Before the Flood"

http://www.sundancechannel.com/films/500255851

"The tiny, flat Pacific island nation of Tuvalu was once the third poorest country in the world. However, during the dot-com boom of the 1990s, Tuvalu sold its domain name — ".tv"— for $50 million, an event that was a mixed blessing for the island's 10,000 inhabitants. Now, as ocean waters rise due to global warming, Tuvalu may have the dubious distinction of being the first country to sink beneath the waves. Paul Lindsay's amusing and sad documentary visits Tuvalu as the residents come to terms with their impending fate and the world's apathy."

[WriteDown]

8. Didn't know the US Senate controlled China. I thought...

it was the other way around.

[Vidar]

10. Unfortunately, Obama & his beloved corporations will let them drown.

[jaksavage]

12. I lived there

from 1979 til 1981
It was a dream world.
Now that world is shattered and the nation will be scattered to the wind.
Alofa Tuvalu

[Kablooie]

13. Just look at how sensitive the US was to the Bikini islanders, and you have the US position.