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Pope Francis to World Leaders at U.N. Climate Summit: "We Are at the Limits of Suicide"
Pope Francis has warned that the world is heading toward suicide if more is not done to combat climate change. His message was directed at nearly 150 heads of state gathered in Paris for the U.N. Climate Summit to finalize pledges to make voluntary greenhouse gas emission cuts. On Monday, France and India launched an international alliance to deliver solar energy to some of the planet’s poorest even as India continues to heavily promote coal power. India is expected to open a new coal plant every single month until 2020 as the country plans to double its coal production. Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the world’s wealthiest nations to help the developing world adapt to a changing climate, as smog in Beijing climbed to more than 35 times safety levels set by the World Health Organization and the country ordered thousands of factories to be temporarily shut down.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: As nearly 150 heads of state gathered here in Paris for what organizers called the largest-ever gathering of its kind, Pope Francis warned, Monday, the world is heading toward suicide if more is not done to combat climate change. The Pope made the remark aboard a plane at the end of a six-day trip to Africa.
POPE FRANCIS: [translated] We are at the limits. If I may use a strong word, I would say that we are at the limits of suicide. I’m certain that almost all of those who are in Paris at COP21 are conscious of this and want to do something.
AMY GOODMAN: Nearly 170 nations arrived here in Paris with pledges to make voluntary greenhouse gas emission cuts, but scientists say far more is needed to prevent catastrophic climate change. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the world needs to move much faster to address the crisis.
BAN KI-MOON:Paris must mark a decisive turning point. We need the world to know that we are headed toward lower emissions, climate resilient future, and there is no going back. The national climate plans submitted by more than 180 countries as of today cover close to 100 percent of global emissions. This is a very good start, but we need to go much faster, much farther if we are to limit the global temperature rise below two degrees Celsius.
AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, France and India launched an international alliance to deliver solar energy to some of the planet’s poorest. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the initiative.
NARENDRA MODI: One must turn to sun to power the future. As developing world leaps billions of people into prosperity, our hope for a sustainable planet rests on a bold global initiative. It will mean advanced countries living in a carbon space for developing countries to grow. It will create unlimited economic opportunities that will be the foundation of the new economy of the century. This is an alliance that brings together developed and developing countries.
AMY GOODMAN: While India is pushing solar energy, it’s also heavily promoting coal power. India is expected to open a new coal plant every single month until 2020 as the country plans to double its coal production. Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the world’s wealthiest nations to help the developing world adapt to a changing climate.
XI JINPING: [translated] The Paris agreement should help increase the investment and ensure the actions on climate change. Developed countries should keep their commitments to mobilizing $100 billion U.S. dollars each year by 2020, and provide the stronger financial support to developing countries afterwards. It’s also important to transfer climate-friendly technology to developing countries. The Paris agreement should help accommodate different conditions in various countries, emphasize on being practical and effective. We should respect differences, especially developing countries, in domestic policies, capacity building, and economic structure.
AMY GOODMAN: Chinese president Xi Jinping spoke in Paris as smog in Beijing climbed to more than 35 times safety levels set by the World Health Organization. China has ordered thousands of factories to be temporarily shut down.
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"The Paris Agreement Will See the Planet Burn": Former Bolivian Climate Negotiator Pablo Solón
He once sat at the same table as the world leaders gathered in Paris to hammer out a U.N. agreement on global warming. Now he stands on the outside. We speak with Pablo Solón, former chief negotiator on climate change for Bolivia, as well as the country’s former ambassador to the United Nations. "The target was: We shouldn’t go beyond an increase of two degrees Celsius," Salon says of negotiators’ failed attempts to limit an increase in global temperatures. "And now to be speaking about four or even five degrees Celsius is, to put it in other terms, to burn the planet."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We are broadcasting live from the 21st COP, that’s the
Conference of Parties, the U.N. Climate Summit. They once sat at the same table as the world leaders who gathered here in Paris to hammer out an agreement over global warming, now they stand on the outside. Today we speak to two former, negotiators. Later in the show, we’ll hear from Yeb Saño, the former chief negotiator for the Philippines. But first, we turn to Pablo Solón, he’s the former chief negotiator on climate for Bolivia as well as Bolivia’s former ambassador to the United Nations. I caught up with him on Sunday shortly after thousands of climate activists lined the streets of Paris to form a human chain after French officials canceled a major climate march.
PABLO SOLÓN: I have been in two very important summits, the one in Copenhagen and then one in Cancun. And here, what we’re going to have in Paris, is the third climate agreement. We have had two climate agreements, one was the Kyoto protocol and the other one was the Cancun agreement. The Cancun agreement is for 2012 until 2020. And now in Paris, we’re supposed to have a third agreement for 2020 until 2030.
Now, the Paris agreement is going to be as bad as the Cancun agreement. Why? Because in reality, we’re not here to negotiate the emission cuts of any country. The way negotiations are is each country says, I’m going to do this, and that’s it. So the U.S. says, we’re going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 25 percent to 28 percent by 2025, and that is their pledge. That is not under discussion. So already, all of the countries have presented their pledges until the first of October. So we already know the result of Paris.
There is an official document from the UNFCCC that says, OK, after receiving the contribution of emission cuts of all of the countries, where are we now? And that official document says, we are going to be, around, increasing the temperature between 2.7 to 3.9 degrees Celsius. So that is a almost twice what we had to limit because the target was we shouldn’t go beyond an increase of two degrees Celsius.
And now to be speaking about four degrees or five degrees Celsius is, to put it in other terms, to burn the planet. So the Paris agreement is an agreement that will see the planet burn. I think this is a really bad agreement. And we are here in the show to try to sell the world a good outcome that is going to kill humans and life as we know it.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re standing, actually, on Sunday, the day before the U.N. summit opens, the day where hundreds of thousands of people were supposed to march, but the march was canceled after the terror attacks of November 13. Your thoughts on the environmental activists agreeing to no marching?
PABLO SOLÓN: Well, I think that there should have been a march. No? I think that the terrorist attacks are being used to undermine the climate mobilization and are going to be used in order to have a bad agreement. It remembers me a little bit like the ministerial of the WTO, the World Trade Organization, Doha, after 9/11. Before that, we had Seattle. Seattle was the moment where the anti-globalization movement came out very strongly, but then came 9/11 and then this was used to, hey, you have to agree on this agreement — which is a very bad agreement, the one we have now in the Doha round, until now. And the same thing is happening here. The attacks are being used to say, OK, don’t do mobilizations and we want to have that agreement ready before the end of the COP next week.
AMY GOODMAN: One of the people in the human chain said they still are protecting the 130 world leaders who are coming. They didn’t tell them, cancel your visit, it’s too difficult here, we have to deal in the aftermath of the terror attacks, so they say they’ll protect the world leaders but not civil society. They prevent them from expressing their views.
PABLO SOLÓN: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you have many public spaces where thousands of people gather here in Paris, and they don’t have any protection. So to say you cannot have this March but at the same time you can go to public spaces were you also don’t have any kind of protection, so it’s really to undermine the free voice of the people. My guess is they are using fear in order to hide what they’re doing. So we have a very bad, combination here in Paris.
One of the key things, for example, that is not being discussed at the negotiations at all is to put a limit to fossil fuel extractions. So this is — there is not one single leader, one single country that has put text to be negotiated that says you have to leave 80 percent of fossil fuels under the ground. And if you don’t leave fossil fuels under the ground, how are you going to limit greenhouse gas emissions that come mainly from fossil fuel extraction? So you don’t have the real key topics being discussed. And on the other hand, you have an ambiance of fear being created in order that the at the end you say, OK, this is the best we can do, let’s accept it, it was fine.
AMY GOODMAN: So what is happening in Bolivia? I mean, in the midst of all of these official U.N. summits from Cancun to Copenhagen, Doha, Durban, Peru, Poland, there was the People’s Summit on Pachamama, on the rights of the earth that was held in Bolivia, led by the President, Evo Morales. What is happening there today?
PABLO SOLÓN: Well, just a couple of months ago, we had the second Tiquipaya. It didn’t have so much coverage from the media. It was organized by the government, and very few climate activists from the world came. And the issue is that in Bolivia, we see more and more a contradiction between what the government says and what the government does. So one of the big discussions that we had with Evo Morales during the summit now was that he said we cannot be park rangers. No? Guarda bosques we say in Spanish, for the capitalist countries of the North.
And from our point of view, we have to preserve forests because forests are the lungs of Mother Earth. We cannot imagine a world without forests. And so the rules, the laws that are being pushed forward in Bolivia are going to increase deforestation. So that is why, for example, here during these days, we’re going to have a big event on zero deforestation until 2020 in all countries. Because there is an schizophrenia in the U.N., in the sustainable development goals, all countries have agreed that by 2020, they have to halt deforestation. But in the UNFCCC, those countries are still going to continue deforestation beyond 2020, and like my country, they say they’re going to deforest three million acres until 2030. So these are the contradictions between the scores and what is being done in the practice.
AMY GOODMAN: So in Bolivia, what is the issue around mineral and fossil fuel extraction? What is President Morales doing?
PABLO SOLÓN: The issue is that — well, I thought that when the price of oil went down, then the government was going to react and say, OK, we have to move away from gas extraction in five, ten years. But instead, what they said is, if the prices have fall half, now we have to export twice. So they are searching for even more gas. So they are searching for even more gas and more oil. So we are becoming more addict to fossil fuels than before when we should be already beginning to think how we’re going to phase out of fossil fuels. So this is another critical issue in the case of Bolivia.
AMY GOODMAN: What about nuclear power?
PABLO SOLÓN: Well, nuclear power is also — because we — another problem because we say, OK, let’s look for another kind of alternatives. And then the government has said, nuclear power. And we are absolutely against because it’s dangerous for nature, for the people. And in our Constitution, there is a ban to any kind of nuclear waste. So if there is any kind of nuclear plant in Bolivia, according to our Constitution, the waste of that nuclear plant cannot be deposit inside Bolivian territory. So it’s something very complicated, but even though there is a lot of pressure from civil society, the government has done an agreement with Russia and they are planning to begin with a center of nuclear investigation and they are going to invest $300 million just as a first step. And this is something that really is against everything we have fought for.
AMY GOODMAN: What is the scale of the size of the nuclear plant that is planned for Bolivia?
PABLO SOLÓN: That is another thing, because the government doesn’t speak very frankly about what is the final goal. They are holding 20 hectares, now they are saying 40 hectares. It’s going to be a plan that will go beyond 1000, 2000 megawatts. I don’t know. And you can’t find that information. That is also something that it should never happen, because if you have a plan like that, you have to share in a very transparent way what you want to do and you have to consult the people. That is not happening.
AMY GOODMAN: How has the Yasuni struggle in nearby in Ecuador, impacted nearby Bolivia, or just talk about the significance of that. And for people who’ve never heard of Yasuni, what was the trajectory of this extremely diverse place that seems so deeply threatened now?
PABLO SOLÓN: Well, between the Yasuni in Ecuador and the different national parks that we have in Bolivia, there are many connections, because, the problem is that, you can find probably oil or gas in these national parks like Yasuni, like Tipnis in Bolivia and others. And indigenous people that live there say, hey, we don’t want you to destroy our home. We don’t want you to destroy the biodiversity here in this these different national parks.
At the beginning, the proposal of Ecuador was, OK, we’re not going to dig, we’re not going to extract the fossil fuels. But then they said, oh, because international community is not going to give us a grant that is big enough to cover what we’re not going to extract —
AMY GOODMAN: To pay for it not to be developed or drilled. That was the idea that Correa, the President put out.
PABLO SOLÓN: Exactly. So they have received the money. And instead of digging, they do whatever they have to do with that money that they have received. But now President Correa has said we’re going to dig anyway because that money is insufficient, and this has created a whole protest inside Ecuador. It is the same case in Bolivia. And we’re all saying, come on, you’re going to do this in order to get fossil fuels.
How much does it cost to deforest one hectare? What is the cost of losing that biodiversity? It — it’s huge. So why are we going to destroy forests, national park, to find something that we are ready know is killing us? Because climate change is mainly due to fossil fuels that are being burned. So instead of going this way, we should begin to learn and live with the forest. There are many ways where we can get resources with the forest without affecting the forest. So, I think that in the case of Bolivia and Ecuador, the struggle against climate change is the struggle against deforestation. You have the combination of oil extraction plus deforestation as the most greatest challenges of climate activists in our countries.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Pablo Solón. He’s the former chief negotiator on climate change for Bolivia as well as Bolivia’s former ambassador to the United Nations. I spoke to him Sunday in the streets of Paris where he joined the human chain and then the protest at the Place de la République. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. When we come back, we come back, we go to yet another chief climate negotiator who’s now taken his cause to the streets. Stay with us.
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Filipino Climate Artist on COP 21: If World Leaders Really Cared, Agreement Would Not Take 20 Years
In 2013, Yeb Saño’s brother A.G. Saño was in the city of Tacloban, which was leveled by Typhoon Haiyan. A.G. Saño, a street artist, didn’t have credentials to enter the highly fortified U.N. climate summit, but Democracy Now! interviewed him offsite. "We painted murals that depict pilgrims walking around the world and leading towards Paris," he said of the 900-mile journey to the climate summit. "And each one of those murals had a mythical figure, like a fairy godmother looking over nature, or Mother Nature herself looking over the world, and pilgrims walking on the earth towards the Eiffel Tower. It is a message that says, we’re willing to travel the world, we’re Filipinos, victims of the disastrous effects of climate change, but we’re willing to walk the world, even to go through snow, even if we have not seen snow before, just to get the message across."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Yeb Saño’s brother, A.G. Saño, was in the city of Tacloban, which was leveled by typhoon Haiyan. Since A.G. doesn’t have credentials to enter this highly fortified U.N. Climate Summit, early this morning we talked to A.G. off grounds. He is a street artist who’d been a landscape architect. And together with his brother, Yeb Saño, the former chief climate negotiator, has been on this peace — People’s Pilgrimage. He has been creating murals as part of the People’s Pilgrimage across Europe. So I started by asking him to describe those days back in 2013, in Tacloban, the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan.
A.G. SAÑO: If I would have to give details about my experience, it would take eight hours because that’s how long the horrors that we experienced in Tacloban, um — and if I would have to sum it in two words, it is about helplessness and hopelessness, and devastated would be the perfect way to describe what I saw. When I got out of the building in which I sheltered, which is one block away from Labay [sp] in the downtown area of Tacloban.
AMY GOODMAN: And describe what you saw.
A.G. SAÑO: I’d like to describe first what was happening during the typhoon. I was imagining the eye of the storm was already passing through — or passing by Tacloban. It was the time when the building, which is an old building, was shaking really hard. It was like a two hour earthquake. And people in the building were just crying and shouting and screaming and just waiting for the building to collapse. And at that moment, I was praying not for the Lord to save me, but to allow my family to find my body because I was already resigned to the idea that it would collapse and I would die right there. And in my mind, I was thinking, maybe at that very moment hundreds, if not thousands, of people are dying because of the strong wind and the storm surge that came.
So when I got out of the hotel after the storm, I already saw dead bodies right there in front of the building. And I tried to go to the capital to find help, but they wouldn’t reach the capital because of the fallen trees, fallen posts, cars on top of each other. Trucks on top of other cars. And, literally, there dead bodies were scattered all over. So I decided to find City Hall instead, but, it was the same thing. And after about three blocks, I saw some firefighters picking up dead bodies and I ended up helping out for that day. And the next day, I just decided to volunteer in the cadaver retrieval. So I did that for the next four days.
AMY GOODMAN: Where?
A.G. SAÑO: In the city. In Tacloban city.
AMY GOODMAN: And what did you do? You were picking up bodies?
A.G. SAÑO: Yes, we were picking up dead bodies, putting them on the truck. And we brought them to the grounds in front of the City Hall. It was the immediate, temporary space for the dead bodies. Because we had to get them out of the streets because they were piling up really fast.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the murals that you have been painting from Rome to Paris along the way?
A.G. SAÑO: We had — we’ve had the chance of painting about six murals since we started walking in Rome until we got to Paris. We painted murals that depicts pilgrims walking around the world and leading towards Paris. And almost each one of those murals had a mythical figure like a fairy godmother looking over nature or Mother Nature herself looking over the world, and there are pilgrims walking on the earth towards the Eiffel Tower. It’s a message that says, we’re willing to travel the world, we’re Filipinos, we’re victims of the disastrous effects of climate change, but we’re willing to walk the world, even to go through snow, even if we have not seen snow before, just to get the message across.
AMY GOODMAN: Has it changed you, this journey?
A.G. SAÑO: It has. It has. But one thing I realize is that this journey would bring me back to Tacloban, bring back the memories of Typhoon Haiyan. I wasn’t really prepared for that, but kept on coming. Images of the dead would constantly flash through my mind as if they were talking to me and asking me for something.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you consider yourself a climate refugee.
A.G. SAÑO: I probably would. I probably would. But then, I would rather consider myself as an activist that is willing to go out there and willing to take myself out of the Philippines just to, just to bring the voices of those victims who doesn’t have the chance or the opportunity to send their voices out the Philippines.
AMY GOODMAN: If you could go into the climate summit, what would you say?
A.G. SAÑO: Well, to be brutally honest, I don’t really care about what is happening in the COP. Because, if the world leaders really cared, it won’t take 20 years. It won’t take 20 years. They’ve been talking since the 1990’s, but what’s really happening? I am a person who would rather believe in the bottom-up process, where you can make change below. Like the people we met along the way from Rome to Paris, that’s where it begins, on the ground, in the grassroots. And it will go up — go up and up in different levels if it’s — it presents a successful opportunity. But then world leaders are only less than 200 in this world, but there are billions of other people who may the willing to listen and may be willing to change.
AMY GOODMAN: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A.G. SAÑO: Well, I came here to bring the voice of my dead friend. I would like to — I’d just like to tell the world the name of my friend. His name is Agit Sustento. Climate change is as real as Agit Sustento. I was with him the night before, and the last thing that I told him was to take care of himself and his family because that’s the strongest typhoon in recorded history that we’re about to face, and that was the last time that I ever talked to him. He lost his wife, his little boy, his mom and dad. His boy and his dad — dad’s bodies were never found. And my promise to him is that I’ll tell the world about his name. His name is Agit Sustento, and he will never get to see the sun rise again.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s A.G. Saño, brother of former Philippines chief climate negotiator, Yeb Saño, who’s joining us here at the U.N. Climate Summit. Actually, Yeb, your brother A.G., was supposed to sleep over at his best friend’s house that night.
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: That is right. That is right. And it was probably providential, and he didn’t want to burden the family with an extra guest that night, so he ended up sleeping elsewhere. And the whole family perished during the storm.
AMY GOODMAN: As we wrap up, you’re feeling, as you sit and relive that, as you come from this peace pil— this People’s Pilgrimage for Climate Justice, going from a climate leader, diplomat, to a climate justice activist, your thoughts as you sit here fasting, seeing your colleagues, your former colleagues, pass you by?
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: Well, climate change is something that many people probably don’t understand, and they must understand, especially the leaders gathered here, that it is a very serious issue. In fact, it is the defining issue of our generation and future generations will measure us. They will measure is by how we respond to this crisis.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you feel you are more powerful as an insider or outsider?
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: I don’t really think about the power that I hold, I just think about what I can do as a person. How I can express an act of kindness and love to others so that we can have a better world.
AMY GOODMAN: Yeb Saño, thank’s so much for being with us. That does it for this broadcast. Yeb Saño has just walked more than 900 miles from Rome to Paris as part of the People’s Pilgrimage for Climate Action. That does it for Democracy Now!
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"The Fossil Fuel Era Must Draw to a Close": A Message from the Marshall Islands to the World
One of the most passionate speeches of the opening day of the U.N. climate change conference in Paris was delivered by Marshall Islands President Christopher Loeak. Thousands of residents from the Marshall Islands have already fled the Pacific island state, becoming climate change refugees because of rising sea levels. Loeak urged world leaders to end the fossil fuel era. “For us, COP 21 must be a turning point in history,” Loeak says, “and one that gives us hope.”
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: One of the most passionate speeches of the opening day of the U.N. climate change conference here in Paris was delivered by the Marshall Islands President Christopher Loeak. Thousands of residents from the Marshall Islands have already fled the Pacific Island state, becoming climate change refugees. Loeak urged world leaders to end the fossil fuel era.
PRES. CHRISTOPHER LOEAK: Everything I know and everyone I love is in the hands of all of us gathered here today. The climate we have known over many centuries has, in the matter of three short decades, changed dramatically before our very eyes. We are already limping from climate disaster to climate disaster, and we know there is worse to come. For us, COP21 must be a turning point in history and one that give us hope. Our Paris agreement must set a path for the safe climate future we all strive for. We all know, and much acknowledge, that the targets on the table now are not enough to limit warming to below 1.5 degrees, although, they are a start in the right direction. Therefore, if it is to deliver the end we all seek, the Paris Agreement must be designed for ambition.
It must send a message to the world that if we are to win the battle against climate change, the fossil fuel era must draw to a close to be replaced by clean, green energy future, free of the carbon pollution that is harming our health, stunting our growth, and suffocating our planet. It must set a rhythm for our action that sees us ratcheting our national targets every five years. And it must assure countries as vulnerable as mine that the world’s helping hand will be there when climate change, unfortunately and unavoidably, unleashes its devastating impacts.
AMY GOODMAN: Marshall Islands President Christopher Loeak speaking here in Paris at the U.N. Climate Summit. When we come back, we’ll speak with two climate negotiators who have taken their struggle to the streets. Stay with us.
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Philippines’ Former Climate Negotiator Yeb Saño’s 900 Mile Pilgrimage to Paris Summit Ends with Fast
Yeb Saño, the former lead climate negotiator for the Philippines, has just walked more than 900 miles from Rome to Paris as part of a People’s Pilgrimage for climate action. He was the top Philippines climate negotiator in 2013 when Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest cyclones in recorded history, devastated the Philippines, killing thousands of people. The devastation coincided with the 2013 United Nations climate change summit in Warsaw, Poland, where Saño made headlines with an emotional plea for action on climate change. The following year, as yet another deadly storm battered the Philippines, Saño was unexpectedly absent from the U.N. climate summit in Lima, Peru. He had been pulled from the delegation at the last minute, leading to speculation he had been targeted for his outspokenness amid pressure from wealthier countries like the United States. This year, Saño is back at the United Nations climate summit – not as a negotiator, but as an activist fasting for the climate along with thousands of other people around the world.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to another former climate negotiator who has taken his fight for climate justice to the streets. Yeb Saño, the former lead climate negotiator for the Philippines, has just walked more than 900 miles from Rome to Paris as part of a People’s Pilgrimage for Climate Action. Saño was the top Philippines climate negotiator in 2013 when Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest cyclones in recorded history, devastated the Philippines, killing thousands of people. The devastation coincided with the 2013 United Nations Climate Summit in Warsaw, Poland, where Yeb Saño made headlines with an emotional plea for action on climate change.
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: Typhoons such as Haiyan and its impacts represent a sobering reminder to the international community that we cannot afford to delay climate action. Warsaw must deliver on enhancing ambition and should muster the political will to address climate change and build that important bridge towards Peru and Paris. It might be said that it must be poetic justice that the Typhoon Haiyan was so big that its diameter spanned the distance between Warsaw and Paris.
Mr. President in Doha, we ask, if not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where? But here in Warsaw, we may very well ask the same four trite questions. What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness. Mr. President, we can stop this madness right here in Warsaw.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Yeb Saño, speaking as the lead climate negotiator for the Philippines in 2013 at the U.N. Climate Summit in Warsaw. The following year, as yet another deadly storm battered the Philippines, Yeb Saño was unexpectedly absent from the U.N. Climate Summit in Lima, Peru, shocking many. He had been pulled from the delegation at the last minute, leading to speculation he had been targeted for his outspokenness amidst pressure from wealthier countries, like the United States. At the time, he tweeted out, "They can silence my mouth. But they cannot silence my soul."
Well, this year in 2015, Yeb Saño is back at the U.N. climate summit, but not as the chief negotiator or any of the negotiators for the Philippines, but as an activist. Today, he’s fasting for the climate along with thousands of others around the world. Just before our broadcast, Yeb and about 20 other people gathered around a table set with empty plates to symbolize their fast for climate justice. Yeb Saño has just finished his nearly 60-day pilgrimage across Europe, walking with his brother, A.G. Saño, who survived the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan in the hard-hit city of Tacloban. We’ll hear from A.G. later in the show, but right now, Yeb Saño, it’s great to have you with us and to see you again in a slightly different capacity wearing very different clothes from the suits I’m used to seeing you in, to a T-shirt. What does your T-shirt say?
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: Well, my T-shirt, right now, it says, "I fast for the climate," as we, in fact, fast, today, it’s the first of the month and the culmination of 365 days since the fasters started fasting in Lima one year ago.
AMY GOODMAN: So, can you talk about this change? Talk about what happened in Lima, why we didn’t see you there.
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: Well, quite frankly, until today, until this very day, I have not received any information. Nobody has talked to me about why I was taken out of the delegation in Lima. And so that is something I remain speculative of until today.
AMY GOODMAN: But you were planning to go to the airport and get on a plane to Lima?
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: That’s right. I had a plane ticket. And I needed a piece of paper signed being a government employee, I needed a paper sign for me to get on the plane before I leave.
AMY GOODMAN: So you just went on a 60-day pilgrimage from Italy to Paris, from shaking hands with the Pope. Can you talk about the significance of what the Pope has said about climate change, how it has inspired you, and why you’re doing this work on the streets now?
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: The Pope has been very outspoken on the climate issue, and I think he’s been more courageous than many of us. He is, in a very straight forward way, pinpointed the problem of climate change and linked it to social justice and economic injustice. So that is truly inspiring for us. And we wanted to carry his message, literally, from Rome to Paris and that’s why we embarked on this special journey of over 900 miles for 60 days walking through Italy, Switzerland, and France until we reached here in Paris.
AMY GOODMAN: And what is the message you’re bringing?
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: The message, primarily, is that — the message is the messenger. We wanted to tell the whole world that by walking, we become instruments of climate justice as well as we connect with people and communities along the way. As we have also gained inspiration from Pope Francis, he has also been the classic case of the messenger being the message. So that is also important in this journey. But, what we want to tell the world leaders here in Paris, that, please, don’t disappoint the world. The whole world is watching. This is the last chance for giving them. If Paris fails, I think people should take it as a signal that world leaders will continue to fail.
AMY GOODMAN: What would success look like, Yeb Saño, you who’ve been on the inside, been at the core of the negotiations now on the outside?
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: We are speaking about the most serious threat that humanity has ever faced. And we deserve no less than an agreement that would avert the climate crisis. There is some parameters around that that talks about temperature thresholds like two degrees or even 1.5 degrees or the carbon budget, if we talk about figures and numbers. But what all of that translates into is a massive transformation of the global economy. We cannot continue to rely on the global — current global economic order if we are to make the world safer against climate change.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, when you spoke in Warsaw so powerfully, at the time, did you know if your brother was dead or alive as Haiyan hit the Philippines?
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: When I was delivering that speech, I already had word from my family that A.G. had sent out a Facebook message that he was alive already. At that time and that was comforting to me. That gave me a lot of strength.
AMY GOODMAN: So I want to turn to your brother. Yeb Saño’s brother, A.G. Saño, was in the city of Tacloban, which was leveled by typhoon Haiyan. Since A.G. doesn’t have credentials to enter this highly fortified U.N. Climate Summit, early this morning we talked to A.G. off grounds. He is a street artist who’d been a landscape architect. And together with his brother, Yeb Saño, the former chief climate negotiator, has been on this peace — People’s Pilgrimage. He has been creating murals as part of the People’s Pilgrimage across Europe.
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France: Protest Remains Banned; Police Conduct More than 2,000 Raids
We’re broadcasting live from Paris, France, diplomats, heads of states and climate negotiators are beginning the second day of negotiations for the 21st United Nations Climate Change Summit. Monday, nearly 150 heads of state gathered here in Paris for what organizers called the largest-ever gathering of its kind. Outside the COP21 facilities, protests continued to be banned across France. French President François Hollande has condemned the protests over the weekend, calling it "scandalous" that they would protest at the Place de la Republique, even though Democracy Now! original video footage shows the police, not the protesters, were the ones to trample on the flowers and candles commemorating the November 13 attacks.
François Hollande: "This is why these protests are not authorized. We knew there would be troublemakers, who by the way have nothing to do with climate activists, or those who want the conference to succeed, and who are there only to create problems. That’s why there were put under house arrest. And it’s doubly unfortunate, I’d even say scandalous, Place de la Republique, where there are all these flowers and also candles placed in memory of those who were killed by the bullets of terrorists."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manuel Valls has confirmed police have raided more than 2,000 homes since France declared a three-month state of emergency following the attacks on November 13.
Baltimore: Trial Opens Against Officers in Death of Freddie Gray
In Baltimore, the trial has opened for the first of six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, an African American man who died from injuries sustained in police custody on April 19. His family and attorney say his voice box was crushed and his spine was "80 percent severed at his neck." A preliminary autopsy report showed Gray died of a spinal injury. Video shot by a bystander shows Gray screaming in apparent agony as police drag him to a van. On Monday, jury selection began for the trial of Officer William Porter. Porter, who is African American, is charged with manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse chanting: "All night, all day, we’re going to fight for Freddie Gray."
Chicago: Officer Indicted for Murder of Laquan McDonald Freed on Bond
Meanwhile, in Chicago, a white police officer who is charged with murdering 17-year-old Laquan McDonald has been freed on bond. On Monday, officer Jason Van Dyke posted $150,000 bond and was released from jail as he awaits trial on first-degree murder charges. He was indicted last week, hours before police finally released video footage of him shooting McDonald 16 times more than a year ago. Police had claimed Laquan McDonald lunged at Officer Van Dyke with a small knife, but the video shows the teenager posing no threat and walking away from the officers at a distance. There have been daily protests in Chicago since the release of the video. On Monday, NAACP President Cornell Williams Brooks was among those arrested while protesting the 13-month delay in releasing the video and charging the officer for the shooting.
Putin Says Turkey Downed Russian Plane to Protect Oil Interests
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Turkey of downing a Russian warplane last week because it wanted to protect the flow of oil from ISIL-controlled territories in Iraq and Syria. Turkey said it shot down the plane on November 24 after warning the Russian pilots they were in Turkish airspace. But Russia says the plane did not stray from Syrian airspace. Turkey has long been accused of permitting ISIL to export hundreds of millions of dollars of oil into Turkey, where it is sold on the black market. Speaking at the U.N. global climate conference in Paris Monday, Putin said Turkey’s motives were to protect this oil flow.
Vladimir Putin: "We have just now received additional information, confirmed, unfortunately, that from the place of the oil production, which is controlled by ISIL and other terrorist organizations, that oil in huge quantities, on an industrial scale, is being supplied to the territory of Turkey. And we have every reason to believe that the decision on whether to shoot down our plane was dictated by the desire to ensure the safety of these oil supply routes to Turkish territory."
British PM David Cameron Pushes Parliament to Approve Bombing Syria
British Prime Minister David Cameron has said there is "no military solution" to the threat of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, even as Cameron pushes parliament to approve his plan to begin bombing ISIS in Syria. France, Australia, Canada, Turkey and other U.S. allies have all joined the U.S.-led bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria over the past year. British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn is opposed to the plan, but said he would permit a "free vote," meaning that he wouldn’t instruct lawmakers from his Labour Party how to vote. Over the weekend, thousands rallied across Britain over the weekend against the plan. Speaking Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron implored lawmakers to approve the bombing in Wednesday’s vote.
David Cameron: "Well I believe there’s growing support across parliament for the compelling case there is to answer the call from our allies, to act against ISIL (Islamic State) in Syria and in Iraq. But let’s be clear, there is no military solution to this issue; the action we are taking is part of a broader strategy, a political strategy, a diplomatic strategy, a humanitarian strategy, and in the end, the answer to what is happening in Iraq and in Syria is the same."
In 2013, the British parliament rejected Cameron’s proposal to begin bombing Syria in efforts to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Saudi Arabia: 50 People, Including Activists, Slated for Mass Execution
Amnesty International is warning that, in Saudi Arabia, fifty people including pro-democracy activists and a prominent Palestinian poet are facing an imminent mass execution. Among those facing execution is Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was arrested at the age of 17 and convicted of encouraging protests during the Arab Spring. Al-Nimr is the nephew of a prominent cleric who has also received a death sentence following pro-democracy protests. In October, Ali al-Nimr’s mother, Nusra al-Ahmed, condemned her son’s sentence in an interview with the Guardian.
Nusra al-Ahmed: "No sane human being would rule against a child of 17 years old using such a sentence. And why? He didn’t shed any blood. He didn’t steal any property. No one could accept a ruling that is so savage. It’s savage, disgusting. A judge should be in the position of a father. He should be more merciful than the attorney general."
Also facing execution in Saudi Arabia is Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh, a member of the arts collective “Edge of Arabia.” He has been sentenced to death on charges of "apostasy" for making allegedly blasphemous statements during a discussion group and in a book of his poetry.
Philippines: U.S. Marine Convicted of Killing Transgender Filipina Woman
In the Philippines, a court has found a U.S. Marine guilty of killing a transgender woman and has sentenced him to six to 12 years in jail. U.S. Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton was convicted for the 2014 murder of 26-year-old Jennifer Laude, who was found dead in a hotel room near a former U.S. naval base that still frequently hosts U.S. ships. Pemberton had been charged with murder, but he was convicted of the lesser offense of homicide. The case has strained relations between the U.S. and the Philippines, with some Filipino lawmakers calling for changes to the rules permitting US military forces in the country, which is a former U.S. colony. Pemberton will be temporarily held in a Filipino prison until the Philippines and U.S. government agree on where he should serve his sentence.
Burkina Faso Elects New President, Following 2014 Ouster of Longtime Leader
In Burkina Faso, former prime minister Roch Marc Kabore has won the presidential election, becoming the West African nation’s first new leader in decades. Kabore served as prime minister under the longtime former president Blaise Compaore, who was ousted in a popular uprising in 2014 after 27 years in power. Kabore split with the longtime president early last year and formed an opposition party. Kabore’s election comes after a brief coup attempt in September by the presidential guard, which was loyal to the former president.
Israeli Soldiers Kill Two Palestinians Who Allegedly Tried to Carry Out Stabbing Attacks
In the Occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers have shot and killed two Palestinians whom Israeli authorities have said were attempting to carrying out stabbing attacks. Israeli Authorities say soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man who was allegedly attempting to stab people at an intersection in the Jewish-only Etzion settlement in the West Bank. Hours later, authorities say soldiers shot dead a Palestinian woman who was allegedly attempting to stab military members outside an Israeli checkpoint near the West Bank city of Tulkarem. Since October, Israeli forces have killed nearly 100 Palestinians, while Palestinian attacks have killed 19 Israelis in the same time period.
New York: Fmr. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Convicted of Corruption
In New York, former New York State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver has been convicted of fraud, extortion, money laundering and other charges of corruption. A Democrat, Silver had been New York Assembly speaker for over two decades and he was one of the state’s most powerful politicians. On Monday, a federal jury convicted him of abusing his office to rake in more than $4 million in illegal bribes and kickbacks. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 130 years in prison, although he is expected to face significantly less time. Silver remains released on bond.
Hunger Strikes Spread in Detention Centers Across United States
Hunger strikes are spreading across U.S. detention centers. On November 26, more than 100 asylum seekers at three separate facilities launched a hunger strike to demand their immediate release, and an end to all deportations and detentions. This week, more than two dozen more asylum-seekers joined the growing hunger strike, which is now active at detention centers in Aurora, Colorado; Pearsall, Texas; Gadsden, Alabama; and three California detention centers in Adelanto, Orange and San Diego. Hunger strikers report retaliation by authorities, including being placed in solitary confinement and being transferred to other facilities. One reported being painfully catheterized. To see our interviews with Amalia Leal and Francisca Morales Macías, two women who say they were transferred to a mostly male detention center in retaliation for going on hunger strike, you can go to democracynow.org.
Pittsburgh: Muslim Cab Driver Shot by Man Ranting About ISIS
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling on the Justice Department to investigate the shooting of a Muslim taxi driver in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a possible hate crime. According to the driver, who has not released his name, on November 26, he picked up a passenger outside a casino, who asked him if he was a "Pakistani guy." The driver responded saying "No, I’m from Morocco. But I’m an American guy." The driver says the passenger then began to rant about ISIS, to which the driver responded that he was against ISIS. The man also satirized the prophet Mohammad. When the driver arrived at the man’s destination, the passenger asked for him to wait, saying he’d forgotten his wallet inside. He returned with a rifle and allegedly shot the man in the back through the cab window. Alia Schindler of the Council on American Islamic Relations in Pittsburgh called on the Justice Department to investigate.
Alia Schindler: "With the growing number of attacks against the American Muslim community, federal officials need to make the statement that these types of attacks are not acceptable, whether they’re against the American Muslim community, or any minority group.
Ithaca College Students Cast Vote of "No Confidence" Against College President
And at Ithaca College in upstate New York, students voted overwhelmingly to cast a vote of no confidence against college president Tom Rochon, who has faced increasing calls to resign amid protests against racism on campus. The protesters accuse Rochon of responding inadequately to racist incidents, including one where an African American alum was repeatedly called a "savage" by two white male fellow alumni.
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