WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 A number of protests are being held today at the climate change conference 00:00:04.130 --> 00:00:07.000 to protest the failure of world leaders 00:00:07.007 --> 00:00:10.337 to agree to immediately agree to a deal of binding emissions cuts. 00:00:10.372 --> 00:00:17.724 Earlier today, Anjali Appadurai, a student at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, 00:00:17.759 --> 00:00:20.142 addressed the conference on behalf of youth delegates. 00:00:20.177 --> 00:00:27.359 I’d now like to give the floor to Miss Anjali Appadurai with College of the Atlantic, 00:00:27.394 --> 00:00:31.551 who will speak on behalf of youth non-governmental organizations. 00:00:31.586 --> 00:00:34.183 Miss Appadurai, you have the floor. 00:00:34.218 --> 00:00:38.001 I speak for more than half the world’s population. 00:00:38.036 --> 00:00:40.850 We are the silent majority. 00:00:40.885 --> 00:00:43.059 You’ve given us a seat in this hall, 00:00:43.094 --> 00:00:45.493 but our interests are not on the table. 00:00:45.528 --> 00:00:48.086 What does it take to get a stake in this game? 00:00:48.121 --> 00:00:51.167 Lobbyists? Corporate influence? Money? 00:00:51.202 --> 00:00:54.023 You’ve been negotiating all my life. 00:00:54.058 --> 00:00:56.797 In that time, you’ve failed to meet pledges, 00:00:56.832 --> 00:00:59.447 you’ve missed targets, and you’ve broken promises. 00:00:59.482 --> 00:01:01.592 But you’ve heard this all before. 00:01:01.627 --> 00:01:06.354 We’re in Africa, home to communities on the front line of climate change. 00:01:06.389 --> 00:01:10.851 The world’s poorest countries need funding for adaptation now. 00:01:10.886 --> 00:01:16.878 The Horn of Africa and those nearby in KwaMashu needed it yesterday. 00:01:16.913 --> 00:01:21.207 But as 2012 dawns, our Green Climate Fund remains empty. 00:01:21.242 --> 00:01:24.201 The International Energy Agency tells us 00:01:24.503 --> 00:01:29.314 we have five years until the window to avoid irreversible climate change closes. 00:01:29.793 --> 00:01:33.480 The science tells us that we have five years maximum. 00:01:33.515 --> 00:01:36.944 You’re saying, "Give us 10." 00:01:37.001 --> 00:01:40.834 The most stark betrayal of your generation’s responsibility to ours 00:01:40.869 --> 00:01:43.762 is that you call this "ambition." 00:01:43.797 --> 00:01:46.809 Where is the courage in these rooms? 00:01:46.844 --> 00:01:50.490 Now is not the time for incremental action. 00:01:50.525 --> 00:01:54.277 In the long run, these will be seen as the defining moments of an era 00:01:54.312 --> 00:01:57.851 in which narrow self-interest prevailed 00:01:57.886 --> 00:02:01.353 over science, reason and common compassion. 00:02:01.388 --> 00:02:04.450 There is real ambition in this room, 00:02:04.485 --> 00:02:09.091 but it’s been dismissed as radical, deemed not politically possible. 00:02:09.126 --> 00:02:12.147 Stand with Africa. 00:02:12.182 --> 00:02:15.061 Long-term thinking is not radical. 00:02:15.096 --> 00:02:18.590 What’s radical is to completely alter the planet’s climate, 00:02:18.625 --> 00:02:20.465 to betray the future of my generation, 00:02:20.500 --> 00:02:24.530 and to condemn millions to death by climate change. 00:02:24.565 --> 00:02:29.937 What’s radical is to write off the fact that change is within our reach. 00:02:29.972 --> 00:02:35.002 2011 was the year in which the silent majority found their voice, 00:02:35.037 --> 00:02:37.139 the year when the bottom shook the top. 00:02:37.174 --> 00:02:41.012 2011 was the year when the radical became reality. 00:02:41.047 --> 00:02:45.045 Common, but differentiated, and historical responsibility are not up for debate. 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:50.407 Respect the foundational principles of this convention. 00:02:50.442 --> 00:02:53.776 Respect the integral values of humanity. 00:02:53.811 --> 00:02:56.681 Respect the future of your descendants. 00:02:56.716 --> 00:02:58.338 Mandela said, 00:02:58.373 --> 00:03:01.404 "It always seems impossible, until it’s done." 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:06.038 So, distinguished delegates and governments around the world, 00:03:06.073 --> 00:03:09.198 governments of the developed world: 00:03:09.233 --> 00:03:11.670 Deep cuts now ! 00:03:11.705 --> 00:03:13.158 Get it done ! 00:03:19.243 --> 00:03:20.790 Mic check! 00:03:20.054 --> 00:03:24.000 Equity now! 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:29.128 Equity now! 00:03:30.202 --> 00:03:34.000 You’ve run out of excuses! 00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:37.500 We’re running out of time! 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:40.000 Get it done! 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:45.000 Get it done! 00:03:57.525 --> 00:04:00.132 Thank you, Miss Appadurai, 00:04:00.167 --> 00:04:05.107 who was speaking on behalf of half of the world’s population, 00:04:05.142 --> 00:04:08.497 I think she said at the beginning. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.770 And on a purely personal note, 00:04:14.805 --> 00:04:19.789 I wonder why we let not speak half of the world’s population 00:04:19.824 --> 00:04:24.180 first in this conference, but only last. 00:04:30.693 --> 00:04:36.638 That was a speech by Anjali Appadurai here in Durban at the U.N. climate change talks. 00:04:36.673 --> 00:04:41.192 Just after her speech, as you heard, she led a mic check from the stage, 00:04:41.227 --> 00:04:46.112 a move inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests around the world. 00:04:46.147 --> 00:04:52.408 This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. 00:04:52.443 --> 00:04:56.064 I’m Amy Goodman, as we broadcast live from Durban, South Africa. Back in a moment.