And it seems she has an understudy from New Zealand: a young woman named India Logan-Riley, who claims to speak for indigenous communities.
Logan-Riley, who is described as Maori, is part of the official programme in Glasgow. In her address at the opening ceremony she used highly emotive rhetoric reminiscent of Thunberg. “Six years ago I spoke these stories into this space and every year since I have repeated the same words – wildfires, sea level rise, wildfires, suffering, sea level rise, biodiversity loss, sea level rise.
“This is an invitation to you, this COP: learn our histories, listen to our stories, honour our knowledge and get in line or get out of the way.”
Setting aside the fact that she borrowed her punchline from Dylan’s The Times They Are a-Changin’ – “Your old road is rapidly agein’/Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand” (though without the old-fashioned courtesy of Dylan’s “please”) – her speech was notable for its overweening sense of entitlement and self-importance. Logan-Riley is certain she knows the answers and assumes the right to be heard, although where and how she got her mandate isn’t clear.
This is something she has in common with the disturbingly manic Thunberg, who makes no attempt to conceal her contempt for the politicians in Glasgow. “They have led us nowhere,” she told her besotted followers. “Change is not going to come from inside there. That is not leadership – this is leadership.
“We’re sick and tired of it and we’re going to make the change whether they like it or not,” she raged, before leading her disciples in a chant of “No more blah blah blah.”
Later, looking immensely pleased with herself and bathing in the uncritical admiration of her fans, she sang “You can shove your climate crisis up your arse” to the tune of Coming ‘Round the Mountain.
But here’s the thing about people like Thunberg and Logan-Riley. They can afford to be contemptuous and disdainful of those in power, safe in the knowledge that they don’t have to come up with practicable solutions to the challenge of climate change.
Thunberg and Logan-Riley can posture, moralise, ridicule and pontificate for all they’re worth, knowing they don’t have to bear any personal consequences for decisions made (or not made, as the case may be).
No one elected them and they’re not accountable to anyone. At the end of COP-26 they can walk away and start planning their next attention-seeking stunts. This is the crucial defining difference between the noisy, know-it-all activists and the politicians, who have countries to worry about and voters to answer to.
I doubt that the thought of collapsing economies and massive social dislocation keeps Thunberg awake at night, assuming that it even occurs to her. But these are factors politicians must weigh in deciding how far to go in countering climate change. Thunberg, on the other hand, just wants action, regardless of the human cost.
For all their glib talk and showboating, the politicians she disparages have to live with the consequences of whatever they decide. In that vital respect they are the moral superiors of Thunberg and her moronic followers. It’s a shame the fawning media coverage doesn’t reflect that.
Karl du Fresne, a freelance journalist, is the former editor of The Dominion newspaper. He blogs at karldufresne.blogspot.co.nz.
4 comments:
What about Logan- Rileys obviously non - Maori ancestors? Where do they come in? Where do these people get such radical and obviously erroneous views and then spout them to a world wide audience?
Anyone supposedly representing New Zealand on the world stage should be thoroughly vetted before they leave our shores. The other alternative is to have an overseas media representative available to counter this destructive narrative that these people spout.
Our country seems to have gone downhill rapidly in a very short time. We do not have to be world leaders with climate change. We aren't really of any great significance on the world stage as anyone who has travelled overseas finds out.
Our woke media just love young women standing up and spouting forth on climate issues, in fact on any issue...never mind most of what comes out of their mouths is plain wrong and, dare I say, misinformation.
Worse than that though, governments actually listen to them, or pretend to which is just as bad. They have no real world experience or qualifications but they are zealous and that trumps everything these days.
Sad but very true. Mind you, these young ladies spouting forth on climate issues are actually puppets in hands of other powers sunbathing in the lights of popularity. What a shame, but under this governemnt and our PM highly predictable, to have a representative of New Zealand among them.
Dee M there seems to be a trend with theses people, who have english /irish etc ancestory combined with a touch of maori become bitter and twisted ,this new one on the block Logan-Riley has the same hand movements as Ardern, please no more!
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