The Voices of Those to be Drowned

September 24, 2014

Statement by Ms. Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Civil Society Representative from the Marshall Islands at the opening of the United Nations Climate Summit 2014.

Posted by greenman3610
Filed in Crock of the Week

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10 Responses to “The Voices of Those to be Drowned”

dumboldguy Says:

September 24, 2014 at 9:54 pm
Well-written speech and excellent delivery. Very moving.

It’s too bad that the ~70,000 Marshall Islanders have been assaulted first by atomic weapons testing and now by rising sea level, to say nothing of the machinations of Jack Abramoff and his local henchmen (quite a story there—many of their politicians apparently would fit right in with the worst Chicago has ever produced).

Although the RMI makes a good “poster child” for the fight against AGW and rising sea level, IMO it’s too late for them and they are going to be among the first to pay the price for AGW. We will then see signs at rallies saying “Remember the Marchall Islands” (until they are supplanted by “Remember South Florida” signs).

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redskylite Says:

September 24, 2014 at 10:12 pm
Excellent speech and poem, a very worthy representative of civil society, remember English is not her native language (Ebon is the native spoken language in the Marshall Islands), as it was not for many of the youngsters in the other competition to select the next generation representatives to the New York UN summit. There are no formal political parties in the Marshalls, so I hope I do not read that she is part of a militant socialist/left wing plot. (Weren’t those the guys who went to Spain to fight in the Spanish civil war, watched over by a young Earnest Hemingway ?). Also remember many countries do not enjoy such as generous GDP so shoes and shopping may not be the main topic in teenagers minds universally.

I remember when I was 13 I held the U.N in great esteem and awe and would have been honoured to win such a competition, our minds are more innocent at that age and we see things in a less cluttered way.

Some good has come out from the event and some progress has been made:

http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2014/09/all-the-significant-announcements-from-the-un-climate-summit-and-whether-they-were-new/

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- redskylite Says:
  
  September 24, 2014 at 10:17 pm
  Although Nelson Mandela’s widow spoke very bluntly
  
  http://www.rtcc.org/2014/09/24/un-climate-summit-mandelas-widow-says-leaders-lack-courage/
  
  Reply
omnologos Says:

September 25, 2014 at 4:28 am
She appears to have been chosen not as your average Mashaller but as author of the Tell Them poem written three years ago. I cannot find any other reference to climate change in her blog, apart from mentions of Tell Them that has had quite a large success.

She is well travelled and was once part of Youthspeaks Hawaii, so there is no problem with English there.

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- omnologos Says:
  
  September 25, 2014 at 4:38 am
  The blog mentions how Ms Jetnil-Kijiner started an environmentalist group with her cousins. Their focus was initially on rubbish, but at some point 350.org got involved.
  
  I guess climate change is a means to a different end. Also she is adamant she doesn’t do well with science, rather poetry.
  
  Reply
- redskylite Says:
  
  September 25, 2014 at 5:19 am
  I never said she had a problem with English, she is a gifted young lady, the poem you highlighted is indeed inspirational:
  
  I prepared the package
  for my friends in the states
  the dangling earrings woven
  into half moons black pearls glinting
  like an eye in a storm of tight spirals
  the baskets
  sturdy, also woven
  brown cowry shells shiny
  intricate mandalas
  shaped by calloused fingers
  Inside the basket
  a message:
  Wear these earrings
  to parties
  to your classes and meetings
  to the grocery store, the corner store
  and while riding the bus
  Store jewelry, incense, copper coins
  and curling letters like this one
  in this basket
  and when others ask you
  where you got this
  you tell them
  they’re from the Marshall Islands
  show them where it is on a map
  tell them we are a proud people
  toasted dark brown as the carved ribs
  of a tree stump
  tell them we are descendents
  of the finest navigators in the world
  tell them our islands were dropped
  from a basket
  carried by a giant
  tell them we are the hollow hulls
  of canoes as fast as the wind
  slicing through the pacific sea
  we are wood shavings
  and drying pandanus leaves
  and sticky bwiros at kemems
  tell them we are sweet harmonies
  of grandmothers mothers aunties and sisters
  songs late into night
  tell them we are whispered prayers
  the breath of God
  a crown of fushia flowers encircling
  aunty mary’s white sea foam hair
  tell them we are styrofoam cups of koolaid red
  waiting patiently for the ilomij
  tell them we are papaya golden sunsets bleeding
  into a glittering open sea
  we are skies uncluttered
  majestic in their sweeping landscape
  we are the ocean
  terrifying and regal in its power
  tell them we are dusty rubber slippers
  swiped
  from concrete doorsteps
  we are the ripped seams
  and the broken door handles of taxis
  we are sweaty hands shaking another sweaty hand in heat
  tell them
  we are days
  and nights hotter
  than anything you can imagine
  tell them we are little girls with braids
  cartwheeling beneath the rain
  we are shards of broken beer bottles
  burrowed beneath fine white sand
  we are children flinging
  like rubber bands
  across a road clogged with chugging cars
  tell them
  we only have one road
  and after all this
  tell them about the water
  how we have seen it rising
  flooding across our cemeteries
  gushing over the sea walls
  and crashing against our homes
  tell them what it’s like
  to see the entire ocean__level___with the land
  tell them
  we are afraid
  tell them we don’t know
  of the politics
  or the science
  but tell them we see
  what is in our own backyard
  tell them that some of us
  are old fishermen who believe that God
  made us a promise
  some of us
  are more skeptical of God
  but most importantly tell them
  we don’t want to leave
  we’ve never wanted to leave
  and that we
  are nothing without our islands.
  
  She is obliviously proud to be from the Marshall Islands and still you try and portray some sinister connection, I truly think you need help, you sad little man.
  
  Reply
  - redskylite Says:
    
    September 25, 2014 at 6:12 am
    hasty spell checker approve – please read obviously not obliviously
    
    Reply
    - omnologos Says:
      
      September 25, 2014 at 6:35 am
      Thanks for the oblivious pun 🙂
      
      I have never said ‘sinister’ I just explained why she was called in, what her connection to climate change is, and that at the UN as usual it’s mostly a show..
      
      Reply
      - dumboldguy Says:
        
        September 25, 2014 at 6:54 am
        More out-of-touch-with-reality attention seeking from the sad little man. Go away, Omno—-I haven’t had breakfast yet and you’re ruining my appetite.
  - dumboldguy Says:
    
    September 25, 2014 at 6:49 am
    A beautiful poem, and it reminds one of the writings of Native Americans and indigenous peoples everywhere as “modern” society and the greedy white man overwhelmed them. Read Touch the Earth by McLuhan.
    
    I strongly second “I truly think you need help, you sad little man”, with one small change. I don’t “think” Omno needs help, I KNOW it. He is so wrapped up in himself and his attention seeking that he cannot help but come up with his “sinister little plots” and other dead-end thoughts.
    
    Reply