4pm Tuesday...
Another late evening left Abby and me tucked away quietly on a couple small couches in the back corner of an office building for the past hour. We all spent last night constructing an awesome larger-than-life scroll for the US Youth Plan of Action and squaring away details of this morning’s press event. Complete with golden tassels, a hand painted seal, red ribbon, and a bit of calligraphy, the 8 x 11 foot canvas document stated the following:
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U.S. Youth Plan of Action
We, the undersigned youth of the U.S.A. denounce the U.S. delegation's opposition to binding commitments at WSSD. Outraged by the lack of U.S. support for sustainable development, we commit to the following targets in our local communities:
-Achieve at least 10% new renewable energy by 2010, and
-Meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets by 2007
While US delegates quit, US youth commit!
Endorsed By:
Signed By:
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We were confident the event was going to be solid, and, despite a few inconveniences (outlined in all of the day's web log entries), it was.
This morning we arrived at the square around eight thirty and I spent some time alone to gather my thoughts and have some breakfast before mediating the event. We took our places on the steps to have a quick run through when a crowd of police walked up claiming we had no approval Without asking us to leave, they grabbed anyone in an orange shirt and took them to the parking lot. As an officer grabbed Kristin, I noticed the skin twisting on her arm and was amazed with her calm tone.
I was not wearing an orange "clean energy" shirt. Maggie and I were dressed some-what formally because we were to speak at the event. We gathered ourselves to redirect media, give a couple quick summaries to those with video cameras, and wait for our guest, Jan Pronk. As he arrived, we walked with him to the parking lot, through a circle of police and a crowd of participants and I opened the event as I had previously planned. Noah and Maggie both spoke wonderfully well, Pronk said a few words, and the Executive Director of Greenpeace International also spoke followed by a last-minute improv speech by Bob Brown, an Australian senator. Lauren, the official US youth delegate decided to say a few words and sign as well. The event was cut short under the circumstances so other youth were not able to sign, but thank you to everyone who was there to support us !
Eventhough the higher-ups of BMW, Sandton Square, the South African Police, and perhaps even the UN, did not have their deal together, let me just say that we kicked ass. I could not have felt better in a situation such as this because I felt in solidarity with an awesome group of people.
I would also like to put out there that this was not a Greenpeace event. About a week ago, we had all US youth who were present at the conference over to our hostel to plan and there was little-- if any-- follow up. We in the GP youth delegation took the initiative to put it together in two days (and two very late nights) and we discussed at length the necessity of clarifying that we were doing so as individuals on the behalf of no organisation. Greenpeace provided us with resources, but the name was nowhere to be found in the US Youth Plan of Action or in the content of the speeches. Despite the efforts of others to point fingers at easily identifiable organisations such as Greenpeace, we participated as individual activists, and this memorable event belongs to US youth.
If you have yet to do so, please check out the action below and tell Bush what you’re doing for sustainable development while his cronies do what they can to stop progress here.
Thanks for bringing it home.
*tricia*