Kick the polluters out of the COP*
av Nnimmo Bassey
Yesterday the world celebrated 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
In the Niger Delta we have endured 60 years of gross oil pollution, gas flares and human rights abuses
Today the world has 12 years to right the wrongs.
Shell and their cohorts must be held to account
Today what do we say?
Kick the polluters out of the COP
Every oil well has been a crime scene
Every gas furnace has been a crime scene
Pumping tons of carbon into the atmosphere
Causing extreme sicknesses in communities
Cutting life expectancy to a mere 41 years
Today what do we say?
Kick the polluters out of the COP
The oil rigs are nothing but gallows
They’ve hung our heroes
They’ve strung our mothers
They suffocate our waters
They pollute our lands
They choke our babies
We are refugees in our own land
Today what do we say?
Kick the polluters out of the COP
Today oil, gas and coal companies populate the corridors and negotiation halls of COP24
They have the guts to claim to write false solutions into the weak Paris Agreement
To entrench their misdeeds
They are proud to claim they are writing even the PA Rule Book
Today what do we say?
Kick the polluters out of the COP
They block nations from welcoming the IPCC Special Report
With a mere 12 years to avert total climate chaos
Oil and gas companies see 12 years of opportunities to steal and kill
To pollute our environment,
To kill our peoples
To kill our future
To pile up dollars coated in blood
How wicked can polluters get?
Today what do we say?
Kick the polluters out of the COP
Shameful to have these polluters foul up the COP
Time for real climate solutions:
Keep the oil in the ground
Keep the coal in the hole
Keep it all in the ground
No fracking in our seas and lands
Today what do we say?
Kick the polluters out of the COP
11 December 2018 av Nnimmo Bassey
At COP24
Dedicated to all the environmental defenders whose lives have been cut short by the activities of fossil fuels companies
* Note: COP stands for Conference of Parties
