Street Action!

Photos from the 31 October 2009 Halloween March / Dia de los Muertos Marcha on City Hall in Santa Rosa. These are various people wearing the California Driver License Mask. The march was aimed at supporting Sonoma County as a County of Refuge that can stop law enforcement from racial profiling. We marched in support of keeping families united and to prevent the deportation of our youth by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.).

Learn more about the local Committee for Immigrant Rights, Sonoma County.

"Danish Text"

Sculpture by Jens Galschiot

Ocean Acidity Levels, projected animation

A friend, Danielle Liu, in Copenhagen sent this link which I will include part of here. It's one man's witnessing of an ad-hoc meeting in which Lumumba Di-Aping of Sudan, chief negotiator of the G77 bloc.

Requests were made by organisers to turn off all microphones so as not to record what was going to be said, although Di-Aping made a point of turning his on, saying half-jokingly “they are probably listening anyway".

He did not start his speech immediately. Instead he sat silently, tears rolling down his face. He put his head in his hands and said “We have been asked to sign a suicide pact.” The room was frozen into silence, shocked by the sight of a powerful negotiator, an African elder if you like, exhibiting such strong emotion. He apologised to the audience, but said that in his part of Sudan it was “better to stand and cry than to walk away.”

Once he had composed himself, Di-Aping launched into an eloquent and direct attack on the apparent subversion of the climate negotiation process by certain developing countries, the leaked so-called “Danish” agreement that has become the talk of the conference. ...

Speaking in measured tones, Di-Aping first attacked the 2 degrees C warming maximum that most rich countries currently consider acceptable. Referring continuously to science, in particular parts of the latest IPCC report (which he referenced by page and section) he said that 2 degrees C globally meant 3.5 degrees C for much of Africa. He called global warming of 2 degrees C “certain death for Africa”, a type of “climate fascism” imposed on Africa by high carbon emitters. He said Africa was being asked to sign on to an agreement that would allow this warming in exchange for $10 billion, and that Africa was also being asked to “celebrate” this deal. ...

This was nothing less than a colonisation of the sky, he said. “$10 billion is not enough to buy us coffins”.

Obama, he said, would probably be brought to Copenhagen to ’sanctify’ this deal. “What is Obama going to tell his daughters? That their [Kenyan] relatives’ lives are not worth anything? It is unfortunate that after 500 years-plus of interaction with the West we [Africans] are still considered ‘disposables’ “. “My good friends… we’ve got to get together and fight the fight.”

Climate Summit & Kilmaforum

INTERCONNECTIVITY.

Note:

Mohamed Nasheed, the president of the island nation of Maldives: “We want to ask you to consider carbon neutrality yourselves. In my mind, a bloc of carbon neutral developing nations could change the outcome of Copenhagen. At the moment, every country arrives at the negotiations seeking to keep their own emissions as high as possible and never to make commitments unless someone else does first. This is the logic of a madhouse, a recipe for collective suicide.” (more)

Agreed.

FAB

Fair

Ambitious

Binding

Dedication, Commitment, Email Me

If you're also a puppeteer, I'm especially pleased to share with you the photos that follow. In creating a puppet suitcase sometimes one might feel silly, alone, lonely, or framed-as-aimless. It's ok, but... For these reasons, networking with other puppeteers is a lifeline. Bolstering our potential impact, let us unite with all while questioning, What do we have to give?

Onward musicians! bicyclists! activists! builders that demand sustainable building test sites! drawers! sewers! painters! print makers! mechanics! those who consider A Pattern Language! tree grafters! trailer remodelers! teachers! learners! non-consumers and makers of all sorts!

Gratefully yours,
Jenine