Copenhagen Climate Summit: Hidden Agenda

Actually, the agenda wasn't hidden. It was right out in the open, proclaimed by banners and protesters. But it was hidden from the American people by the news media which refused to report it.

E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., is a scientist who attended the Conference of the Parties (COP-15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen. He witnessed a very different picture from what was conveyed by American press and television coverage. Here are some of his observations:

“We were a small group (about 30 or 40 of us) in the midst of a roiling sea of protesters (almost all on the 'other side'), probably twenty thousand or so, in downtown Copenhagen, waving signs, shouting slogans, etc. The biggest groups seemed to be the Communist Party (yes, their signs said that), the International Socialist Youth Movement, the Radical Climate Activists, and Greenpeace, and one of the most widespread slogans was 'System change! Not climate change!'--the meaning of which was, get rid of capitalism and usher in communism to save the world!

“One thing I’ve learned: being in the middle of a seething mass of angry protesters is not conducive to prolonged, rational, or civil conversation between those who disagree. Tried it. Doesn’t work.

“Another thing I’ve learned: It doesn’t take many questions about the scientific facts related to fears of man-made global warming to reach the end of most marchers’ knowledge. Here they are, having traveled (many of them) halfway ‘round the world (with horrendous carbon footprints!), and if you ask, 'How much warming can be calculated to come from doubling CO2 content in the atmosphere?' they stare at you blankly and say, 'Huh?' I confess I tried a good many such questions on a good many of them. I suppose I’m one of those hope-springs-eternal types. But I never did find anyone--anyone--who could answer any such questions. Ah, well.

“What seems to be staying front and center in the whole process is the goal of a major redistribution of wealth from developed to developing countries, and to facilitate that the creation of a global mega-bureaucracy that takes us one step closer to global government.“

“I’ve heard precious little discussion of temperatures or science here in Copenhagen but plenty of politics and money. Both in the streets (thousands carrying red flags of the Communist Party, complete with hammer and sickle, and flags of the International Socialists) and in the conference itself, these have been common.“

Dr. Beisner is not alone in such observations. David Rothbard wrote: “It was truly shocking to arrive at a climate action rally in Copenhagen and literally see a sea of red flags and banners with hammers and sickles...it is interesting to see that many communists believe the green agenda is the best path toward socialist policies.” In a previous blog posting (“Global Warming, Global Myth” http://www.amlibpub.com/liberty_blog_archive/2008_11_01_archive.html), I pointed out a similar view by Patrick Moore, a co-founder and director of Greenpeace, who resigned because of its “trend toward abandoning scientific objectivity in favor of political agendas.” After the failure of communism, he says, there was little support for collectivist ideology. In his view, a “reason environmentalism emerged was because world communism failed, the [Berlin] wall came down, and a lot of peaceniks and political activists moved into the environmental movement bringing their neo-Marxism with them and learned to use green language in a very clever way to cloak agendas that actually have more to do with anti-capitalism and anti-globalism than they do with ecology or science.”

Rothbard noted that some marchers wore hats saying, “Save the Planet. Scrap Capitalism.” One marcher said, “We fight for a socialist society and a socialist program for the climate. I believe in international solidarity in socialism. That’s the way forward.”

If there was any doubt about the delegates sharing the same views as the tens of thousands of protesters, it was eliminated by the official delegates response to the tirade by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Dr. Beisner wrote: "Chavez, who exceeded his five-minute time allotment by 20 minutes ...told the crowd that the process here was 'not democratic, it is not inclusive, but isn’t that the reality of our world, the world is really an imperial dictatorship ...down with imperial dictatorships.' The crowd applauded vigorously. Then he said there was 'a silent and terrible ghost in the room'--capitalism. The crowd applauded even more vigorously.

"But when he concluded, 'our revolution seeks to help all people .... socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell ....Let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us,' the crowd of official delegates--no doubt sober, unbiased, evenhanded, objective public servants all--gave him a standing ovation.

"And that—not science—is what's driving the demand for a global climate treaty."

Dr. Beisner is national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance, which endeavors to counter climate scaremongering with scientific facts and demonstrate that proposed policies to regulate carbon dioxide would not only be ineffective, uneconomic and destructive of human rights and capitalism but impose the greatest hardships on the world's poorest people. (www.cornwallalliance.com)