PACIFIC PEACE TALKS DUNEDIN NZ

Climate Action Show

CLIMATE ACTION RADIO SHOWProduced by Vivien LangfordFebruary 20th 2023PACIFIC PEACE TALKS DUNEDIN NZ "NO ONE IS FREE 'TIL EVERYONE IS FREE " Father Walter Lini- First PM VanuatuINTERVIEWS AND SPEECHES FROM THE NUCLEAR CONNECTIONS CONFERENCE AT OTAGO UNIVERSITY IN AOTEAROA NZ Speaker bios - Nuclear Connections (mailchimpsites.com) As Cyclone Gabrielle fuelled by a marine heatwave, brings more floods and damage to Auckland NZ, we watch anxiously in February 2023In November 2022, I was invited to a conference by climate activists in Otepoti Dunedin.Nuclear Connections Across Oceania (November 2022) | Te Ao O Rongomaraeroa (otago.ac.nz) I wanted to hear about climate action from Pacific people. There are three interviews and a speech but honestly most of the people found it hard to focus on climate action with the immediate problem of Fukushima waste water about to be discharged into their part of the world The Pacific. They are worried too about the militarisation of the Pacific through RIMPAC military exercises every two years which have a climate impact also. Behind this is a colonial mentality which is prepared to discount their lives and culture. The islands, which were coaling stations for steam ships are now essential fuel depots for a massive amount of trade. Some are still occupied like W.Papua or tied to the colonial powers like Tahiti. Supporting their struggles is something we can do to liberate them for climate action.Pacific Islands Forum and Japan deliver differing statements on plans to dump nuclear wastewater in ocean - ABC Pacific Report from Nic Mc Lellan February 9th 2023We Bleed Black & Red - YOUNGSOLWARA PACIFICTake Action (ourislandsourhome.com.au) Petition“My new home was a dream come true – then climate disaster struck” – Virginia, activist taking on Shell at sea - Greenpeace Aotearoa- DonateIn reality the climate action most needed is from countries like Australia, which are still profiting from the export of climate changing coal, oil and gas.N.Z Writer and Environmental Lawyer Teall Crossen had the humility to say " New Zealand is stealing from the people of the Pacific. We are stealing their land, their homes, their water and possibly we may recolonise their future".GUESTS:Hinamoeura Cross from TahitiHinamoeura CROSS is a Polynesian woman. Between 1966 and 1996, there were 193 nuclear tests in so-called French Polynesia. She refers to them as bombs as "test" hides the real meaning of what was unleashed.Since 1980, her family has been affected by thyroid cancer, first her great gradmother, grandmother, and in 1990 her aunty and her Mom. In 2000 her Aunty got a breast cancer also. In 2013, it was her turn: leukemia. In 2019, she spoke in front of the United Nations 4th Committee to denounce the nuclear legacy on her people. She shares the story of her family as an example of what thousands of Polynesian families face as a result of nuclear weapons. In June 2022, she was one of the two Polynesian invited to participate to the first Meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna, Austria. In October 2022, she was in New York to to denounce France's nuclear legacy and its failure to address the disastrous health and environmental consequences. She realises that the nuclear fact in Polynesia is inseparable from colonial history. This is why she wishes to alert the international community to what is happening in her country. SHE SPOKE TO CLIMATE ACTION RADIO ABOUT THE DIFFICULTY OF DECOLONISING ONES MIND IN ORDER TO TAKE CLIAMET ACTION Ronny Ato Buai Kareni from West PapuaRonny Kareni is a Canberra-based Free West Papua activist, musician, cultural diplomat and bilingual health educator. He graduated in diplomacy studies at the Australian National University, and a honorary fellow at the University of Wollongong West Papua Project. He is also the co-founder and collaborator of Rize of the Morning Star, a musical and cultural movement, and Pacific representative for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).RONNY SPOKE TO THE CLIMATE ACTION SHOW ABOUT THE 3CR RADIO PROGRAMME "VOICES OF WEST PAPUA" ABOUT THE NEED FOR WEST PAPUA TO BE FREE SO THE CLIMATE ACTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION SO SORELY NEEDED BY ALL OF US CAN BE STARTED. HE QUOTED FATHER WALYER LINI FROM VANUATU" nO ONE IS FREE UNTIL ALL OF US ARE FREE" WHICH WAS ECHOED THROUGH THE CONFERENCE AT OTAGO UNIVERSITY IN DUNEDIN /OTEPOTI NZ Joy Lehuanani Enomoto from Hawai'iJoy Lehuanani Enomoto is a mixed Kānaka Maoli scholar, community organizer and visual artist,. She currently lives in Honolulu, Oʻahu and is the executive director for Hawaiʻi Peace and Justice, which focuses on demilitarizing and de-occupying Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.WE HEAR PART OF HER SPEACH ABOUT RIMPAC MILITARY EXERCISES WHICH HUGELY IMPACT THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND DEVASTATE CORAL REEFS TURTLES AND OCEAN LIFE.Her scholarship has been featured in several publications including Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs, Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawaiʻi, Routledge Postcolonial Handbook & PostModern Culture Journal. Her artwork engages issues currently affecting the peoples of the Pacific and has been featured in the exhibitions “Inundation: Art & Climate Change in the Pacific”(2020) Mere Tuilau from FijiI am Mere Tuilau, an anti-nuclear advocate, human rights defender, facilitator and youth leader from Fiji. I believe in the value of a people-centered approach to weave our struggles together on self-determination, socio-economic, climate change resistance and nuclear justice. In 2017, my role expanded to coordinating and strengthening the Youngsolwara Pacific movement — a regional movement made up of Pacific students, artists, poets, writers, academics and activists, who are passionate in safe-guarding our Oceans and self-determination. In 2022, I initiated the forming of the Pacific Youth for TPNW and led the conversation on our collective implementation paper at the 1st Meeting of State Parties’ in Vienna. I am also involved with Youth for TPNW and Reverse the Trend Pacific.As stewards of the vast Pacific Ocean, I believe that we are called to safeguard, guide and determine our destiny, as well as to navigate our narratives until we the people of Oceania are fully free.. Mere contributed to the “Pacific voices” session and “Stopping the wastewater discharge at TEPCO's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant” panel. She spoke to CLIMATE ACTION RADIO about climate activism in the Pacific. Read her poem here"The elephant in the room Diplomacy….Diplomacy? Swallowing my mixed em(Ocean),I stood up and saidExcuse me, I need some air.With thoughts rushing,Anger rizing,Feet rushing,Soul hurting,Face blushing,Heartbeat accelerating,I burst into tears on my way through the hallwaysand into the bathroom to hide myself…..in the name of “diplomacy” What is relationship without principles?Without it’’s values?What is history without evidence ?What are humans without feelings ?What is hurt without its wound?What are lessons without learning?What are we, without each other? How can we look at Britain, France and U.S in the eye and have historical amnesia?Or how can the devils empire look at us in the eye and say "For the Good of Mankind" ? Thoughts of my ancestors crying,Mother screaming in the delivery roomSisters dyingFathers blindBrothers displacedMy family in crisisMy emOcean drowning “Diplomacy” Not him, not her, not them, but us.US who carries the weight,the burden of proof,To prove the suffering,the biggest aggression of our lives. “Diplomacy” Where our tears and sacrifices are being politicizedWhere Love is being testedWhere hearing is being testedWhere humanity is being tested “Diplomacy” Hear us in our rawest self.Hear us to hear our ancestors cry freelyHear us to let our generation live freelya future where we can dream freelyNa numa noqu Waitui. We look back to look forwardWe look back to pauseWe look back to set sailThe Ocean creates livesThe Ocean hubs livesAnd the Ocean is liveProtect our waitui.