Climate Crisis

Bogus myths of ‘defending the West’ rely on ancient, false sources of hate and conflict, President warns

‘To avert our gaze, as much of mainstream politics is doing, is a dereliction of our duty of care to our shared planet and its life forms,’ President says

President Michael D Higgins, Sabina HIggins and Nishanie Jayamaha, co-lead at the United Nations Secretariat for the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organisations, at the Dóchas climate conference. Photograph: Mark Stedman

Kevin O'Sullivan
Thu May 9 2024 - 17:55

The world is in a grave position as “the rhetoric of war is everywhere” and distracting from international co-operation on “global hunger, migration and dispossession”, President Michael D Higgins has said.

Humanity, through its “shared voice”, must be heard ever more strongly, “as with acceptance from too many institutions [and] broken and immorally quiet governments, the military industrial complex defines and destroys our lives – generating the highest profits for its investors”, he added.

Speaking in Dublin at a conference marking 50 years of the Irish association of non-governmental development organisations Dóchas, Mr Higgins said military spending reached $2,443 billion in 2023 – its highest level ever.

He said he wasn’t prone to quoting General Eisenhower, but noted 50 years ago he warned of its threat to democratic systems; that “every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed”.

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The shared commitment to principles of social responsibility and justice might sustain humanity through these challenging times, Mr Higgins said. “However, the discourse space is now governed by the politics of fear, where now stands the rhetorical commitment of so many states to responding to climate change, cohesion and sustainability.”

People were living in an era marked by multiple interacting crises – the spectre of preventable hunger on the increase, the scourge of war, rising inequality, declining cohesion, or the perilous consequences of climate change and biodiversity loss. Evidence for institutional change and political courage could be found, but also social rage, illegal lobbying and abuse of influence.

Bogus myths of defending the West were relying on ancient, false sources of hate and conflict, the President said, “as spokespersons for military alliances interchange with elected representatives and their administrator, and the recoil to war is little less than a great species failure”.

Mr Higgins added: “To ignore these crises, to avert our gaze, as much of mainstream politics is doing, is a dereliction of our duty of care to our shared planet and its life forms.”

Adapting to a changing climate would be vital to ensure food security as the crisis was disrupting food availability, reducing access to food, and impacting its quality.

Mr Higgins paid tribute to Dóchas, which “served as a vital voice of hope and solidarity, bringing together various non-governmental groups and perspectives within the international development area under a single shared network to share experience, advocate for human rights, gender equality and social justice around the world”.

Kevin O'Sullivan

Kevin O'Sullivan

Kevin O'Sullivan is Environment and Science Editor and former editor of The Irish Times

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