Greens Say Earth Summit 'Hijacked' By US

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 9/04/02 | Marc Morano

[kattracks]

Johannesburg (CNSNews.com) - The Earth summit appeared headed for the compost pile on Tuesday as environmentalists, led by Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), held their noses and declared the conference had been "hijacked" by the United States. "Betrayal," they cried.

Richard Navarro, chaiman of FoOEI, stated that instead of "protecting the environment and fighting poverty and social destruction," the summit was "hijacked by free market ideology, by a backward-looking, insular and ignorant U.S...."

FoEI lamented that the summit failed to stop the "tide of damage caused by the neoliberal economic ideology..." Navarro also blamed "global corporations that help keep reactionary politicians in limousines."

There were only two "new and specific targets" in the summit's Program of Implementation, according to FoEI. The two targets were related to sanitation and marine protection.

'Radical Environmental Action'

But Navarro remained defiant, vowing the summit's failure would only make FoEI "more determined to fight for the radical environmental action the world needs."

"See you all in Mexico!" added Navarro, a reference to the upcoming Cancun World Trade Conference.

'A Missed Opportunity'

A coalition of three environmental groups, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and Oxfam International, issued a statement saying the "summit will go down in history as a missed opportunity..."

Steve Sawyer of Greenpeace summed up the disappointment, saying, "After a year of debate, the [Earth Summit's] energy section does not represent a single step forward. The 'Plan of Action' is not much of a plan and it contains almost no action."

Antonio Hill of Oxfam said, "Whether it's lost opportunities for cleaner, healthier household energy sources, or increased risk of vulnerability to global climate change, the poor come out losing on every count."

'Strong Guys Style'

Michael Strauss of Earth Media, a consortium of environmental groups here, told CNSNews.com that the U.S. derailed the European Union (EU) negotiators from achieving progress at the summit.

"The EU [negotiators] are much more cautious and bureaucratic, while the Americans are executive-style, corporate, strong-guys style, and the Europeans very often don't understand what that is until it hits them and it's too late," Strauss said.

According to Strauss, the U.S. actions at the summit have been "pretty embarrassing to most moderate Americans."

He predicted that Secretary of State Colin Powell will "make a strong statement to make some right-wing Americans feel good" during his address to the summit on Wednesday.

'Bashing America'

Tom Kilgannon, executive director of the Freedom Alliance, a group concerned about U.S. sovereignty issues, told CNSNews.com that the summit was just "another example of the UN coddling dictators, bashing America and putting forth policies that don't make sense."

"I always expect stupidity from the UN," Kilgannon added.

Reacting to the Greens' dissatisfaction with the summit, Kilgannon said, "You can't satisfy them. The U.S. has come under a lot of criticism at this conference and we put forward hundreds of millions of dollars to help the poor around the world, especially in Africa, and these people just aren't satisfied."

"There is no end to their bitterness," he added.

Pandas or People?

The Sustainable Development Network, a free market coalition, was pleased with the summit's trade agenda.

The network "congratulated governments at the [Earth summit] for ignoring [environmentalists] who wanted the world's leaders to rewrite the WTO's trade reform agenda."

Barun Mitra, a member of the network said, "Developing countries have consistently emphasized the importance of trade liberalization for achieving sustainable development. They want the WTO to succeed."

"By contrast, the [environmentalists] care more about pandas than people," Mitra added.

See Related Stories:
Jerry Brown to World's Poor: Let Them Eat Cake?
Earth Summit Participants Fail to Support Pollution 'Offset' Fund
Greens Say Earth Summit 'Fallen Dramatically Short'
Earth Summit Protesters March Against 'Sustainable-Poverty'
Greens Call US 'Biggest Block' to Progress at Earth Summit
Earth Summit Seen As 'Gathering to Attack Wealth'
Green Group Includes US In 'Axis of Environmental Evil'
Environmentalist Laments Introduction of Electricity (26 Aug. 2002)

E-mail a news tip to Marc Morano.

Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.

[xJones]

There's something quaint about spitting all over someone while demanding their money and their country....

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

Spot on. Someone really ought to tell these overfed pan handlers that considering the sorry state of their countries and countrymen their time could be better spent sorting out their own problems rather than getting gout at US taxpayer expense.

I can't help but think that if they all lived in America and we lived in Africa they would create the same problems whilst Africa thrived.

[listenhillary]

I've been thinking the same thing again and again.

There's something quaint about spitting all over someone while demanding their money and their country....

There's something quaint about spitting all over someone while demanding their money and their country....

[xJones]

I can't help but think that if they all lived in America and we lived in Africa they would create the same problems whilst Africa thrived.

Well, the climate couldn't be any worse than in Texas, we put up with everything. :)

I almost got heat stroke today.

[xJones]

"Quaint" was not the word(s) I in in mind, but there are forum rules.

[xJones]

One of these days I will learn to preview.

There are forum rules and I couldn't say what I was really thinking.

[dixiechick2000]

Well, "spitting" wasn't exactly the word I was thinking of, either.
Pesky forum rules...
;o)