0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000
A number of protests are being held today at the climate change conference

0:00:04.130,0:00:07.000
to protest the failure of world leaders

0:00:07.007,0:00:10.337
to agree to immediately agree to a deal of binding emissions cuts.

0:00:10.372,0:00:17.724
Earlier today, Anjali Appadurai, a student at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine,

0:00:17.759,0:00:20.142
addressed the conference on behalf of youth delegates.

0:00:20.177,0:00:27.359
I’d now like to give the floor to Miss Anjali Appadurai with College of the Atlantic,

0:00:27.394,0:00:31.551
who will speak on behalf of youth non-governmental organizations.

0:00:31.586,0:00:34.183
Miss Appadurai, you have the floor.

0:00:34.218,0:00:38.001
I speak for more than half the world’s population.

0:00:38.036,0:00:40.850
We are the silent majority.

0:00:40.885,0:00:43.059
You’ve given us a seat in this hall,

0:00:43.094,0:00:45.493
but our interests are not on the table.

0:00:45.528,0:00:48.086
What does it take to get a stake in this game?

0:00:48.121,0:00:51.167
Lobbyists? Corporate influence? Money?

0:00:51.202,0:00:54.023
You’ve been negotiating all my life.

0:00:54.058,0:00:56.797
In that time, you’ve failed to meet pledges,

0:00:56.832,0:00:59.447
you’ve missed targets, and you’ve broken promises.

0:00:59.482,0:01:01.592
But you’ve heard this all before.

0:01:01.627,0:01:06.354
We’re in Africa, home to communities on the front line of climate change.

0:01:06.389,0:01:10.851
The world’s poorest countries need funding for adaptation now.

0:01:10.886,0:01:16.878
The Horn of Africa and those nearby in KwaMashu needed it yesterday.

0:01:16.913,0:01:21.207
But as 2012 dawns, our Green Climate Fund remains empty.

0:01:21.242,0:01:24.201
The International Energy Agency tells us

0:01:24.503,0:01:29.314
we have five years until the window to avoid irreversible climate change closes.

0:01:29.793,0:01:33.480
The science tells us that we have five years maximum.

0:01:33.515,0:01:36.944
You’re saying, "Give us 10."

0:01:37.001,0:01:40.834
The most stark betrayal of your generation’s responsibility to ours

0:01:40.869,0:01:43.762
is that you call this "ambition."

0:01:43.797,0:01:46.809
Where is the courage in these rooms?

0:01:46.844,0:01:50.490
Now is not the time for incremental action.

0:01:50.525,0:01:54.277
In the long run, these will be seen as the defining moments of an era

0:01:54.312,0:01:57.851
in which narrow self-interest prevailed

0:01:57.886,0:02:01.353
over science, reason and common compassion.

0:02:01.388,0:02:04.450
There is real ambition in this room,

0:02:04.485,0:02:09.091
but it’s been dismissed as radical, deemed not politically possible.

0:02:09.126,0:02:12.147
Stand with Africa.

0:02:12.182,0:02:15.061
Long-term thinking is not radical.

0:02:15.096,0:02:18.590
What’s radical is to completely alter the planet’s climate,

0:02:18.625,0:02:20.465
to betray the future of my generation,

0:02:20.500,0:02:24.530
and to condemn millions to death by climate change.

0:02:24.565,0:02:29.937
What’s radical is to write off the fact that change is within our reach.

0:02:29.972,0:02:35.002
2011 was the year in which the silent majority found their voice,

0:02:35.037,0:02:37.139
the year when the bottom shook the top.

0:02:37.174,0:02:41.012
2011 was the year when the radical became reality.

0:02:41.047,0:02:45.045
Common, but differentiated, and historical responsibility are not up for debate.

0:02:45.080,0:02:50.407
Respect the foundational principles of this convention.

0:02:50.442,0:02:53.776
Respect the integral values of humanity.

0:02:53.811,0:02:56.681
Respect the future of your descendants.

0:02:56.716,0:02:58.338
Mandela said,

0:02:58.373,0:03:01.404
"It always seems impossible, until it’s done."

0:03:01.439,0:03:06.038
So, distinguished delegates and governments around the world,

0:03:06.073,0:03:09.198
governments of the developed world:

0:03:09.233,0:03:11.670
Deep cuts now !

0:03:11.705,0:03:13.158
Get it done !

0:03:19.243,0:03:20.790
Mic check!

0:03:20.054,0:03:24.000
Equity now!

0:03:26.000,0:03:29.128
Equity now!

0:03:30.202,0:03:34.000
You’ve run out of excuses!

0:03:34.500,0:03:37.500
We’re running out of time!

0:03:38.000,0:03:40.000
Get it done!

0:03:41.000,0:03:45.000
Get it done!

0:03:57.525,0:04:00.132
Thank you, Miss Appadurai,

0:04:00.167,0:04:05.107
who was speaking on behalf of half of the world’s population,

0:04:05.142,0:04:08.497
I think she said at the beginning.

0:04:10.000,0:04:14.770
And on a purely personal note,

0:04:14.805,0:04:19.789
I wonder why we let not speak half of the world’s population

0:04:19.824,0:04:24.180
first in this conference, but only last.

0:04:30.693,0:04:36.638
That was a speech by Anjali Appadurai here in Durban at the U.N. climate change talks.

0:04:36.673,0:04:41.192
Just after her speech, as you heard, she led a mic check from the stage,

0:04:41.227,0:04:46.112
a move inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests around the world.

0:04:46.147,0:04:52.408
This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report.

0:04:52.443,0:04:56.064
I’m Amy Goodman, as we broadcast live from Durban, South Africa. Back in a moment.