“Lead or get out of the way:” Revolt in Bali
By
Max J. Castro
An
amazing thing happened on the way to yet another attempt by the Bush
administration to torpedo an international agreement on climate
change.
The
world said: “No!” Then the world said: “Hell no!”
It
happened in Bali, Indonesia, site of a gathering of 186 nations and
11,000 people under the banner of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC). 
They were there to try to hammer out a new
agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol set to expire in 2012.
Except
for one delegation: U.S. representatives …
By
Max J. Castro Read Spanish Version
majcastro@gmail.com
An
amazing thing happened on the way to yet another attempt by the Bush
administration to torpedo an international agreement on climate
change.
The
world said: “No!” Then the world said: “Hell no!”
It
happened in Bali, Indonesia, site of a gathering of 186 nations and
11,000 people under the banner of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC). They were there to try to hammer out a new
agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol set to expire in 2012.
Except
for one delegation: U.S. representatives evidently had been sent to
Bali to deploy the usual Bush administration obstructionism and
double-talk while claiming with a straight face the most earnest
desire to join the rest of the international community in the fight
against global warming.
This
time the world, developing and developed countries alike, did not buy
it. Instead, they stood up almost in unison and gave the United
States a resounding rebuke. The Europeans signaled their disapproval
by threatening to pull out of parallel climate change discussions
orchestrated by the United States involving the “major economies.”
Third World delegates were more direct. The representative of Papua
New Guinea all but told the United States to go hell.
For
seven years, the Bush administration has sent the world a clear and
consistent message on global warming. That message, in the words of
New York
Times
columnist Thomas Friedman is: “Get lost. We only care about
ourselves.”
This
message of supreme and crude selfishness also was the U.S. message to
the gathering in Bali. But this time it produced a tsunami of outrage
and derision, stunning a completely isolated U.S. delegation and
causing a tactical retreat.
It
happened when, after succeeding in watering down the final resolution
to exclude any binding obligation to reduce greenhouse gases, U.S.
representatives put up a last-minute roadblock that would derail
approval of the compromise resolution agreed to by other states.
"We
are not prepared to accept this formulation,” Undersecretary of
State Paula J. Dobriansky, leader of the U.S. delegation, said.
Then
all hell broke loose because by this time the representatives of 186
nations, meeting for almost two weeks in Bali, had had enough of the
U.S.’ “our way or the highway” approach. They booed and hissed
the Americans. They told U.S. government officials, loudly and in no
uncertain terms, exactly what they thought of their country’s
posture. They refused to be bullied. They rebelled.
Below
are verbatim excerpts of the AP account:
BALI, Indonesia – In a
hushed conference hall, as envoys from 186 nations looked on, the
world’s lone superpower took a tongue-lashing from its most
powerless, nation after poor nation assailing the U.S. "no"
on the document at hand. Then the delegate from Papua New Guinea
leaned into his microphone.
"We seek your leadership,"
Kevin Conrad told the Americans. "But if for some reason you are
not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of
the way."
The U.N. climate conference exploded with
applause…
America’s isolation was
complete. No one spoke in support. And Dobriansky capitulated,
withdrawing the U.S. objection, to general applause.
Thus
it was that at the last minute, when it became clear that the United
States was utterly alone and would be solely blamed for the failure
of the Bali talks, the U.S. relented and the American representative
announced that it would “join the consensus.” For one moment,
with no place to hide and no more excuses, the Bush administration
and the United States were forced, kicking and screaming, to join the
rest of humanity.
The
reality is that the consensus the United States agreed to at Bali is
a mere promise to keep talking. In exchange for that possibly empty
promise, the U.S. delegation engineered the defeat of efforts,
supported by the Europeans, to obligate rich nations to reduce their
emissions of greenhouse gases.
What
it all means is that George W. Bush manages to run out the clock and
hand his successor one more difficult problem that his
administration’s actions — or, in this case, its insistence on
inaction — helped aggravate.
Yet
it is possible to draw another lesson from the rebellion in Bali.
Hans Verolme of the World Wildlife Fund (quoted by AP) said:
"We
have learned a historical lesson: If you expose to the world the
dealings of the United States, they will ultimately back down."
