Johannesburg 2002

"The rest of the world has to stand up to the axis of environmental evil that is the US backed by Canada and Australia" Tony Juniper Vice chairman Friends of the Earth International 29 August 2002. Spin-doctor, spin-doctor tell me a story make greed look like wisdom and theft look like glory. Tell me my government's not so uncouth as to pay men a fortune for killing the truth. Tell me my leaders accepted the cure for saving the planet and feeding the poor. Tell me we're pretty, we're kind and we're good tell me we've done the best that we could. Tell me, oh tell me and make me believe you're telling the truth with the lies that you weave. But I'll know that you're lying, they pay you lie and each year there are millions more who must die for no other reason than their bellies are empty while we have so much that it's much more than plenty. Here are some facts that might make you think. One point one billion without clean water to drink, while two point five billion must live in the stink that arises when people have no sanitation and you tell me all this deserves no lamentation. When the rich nations met at the summit in Rio they signed an agreement to let the world know of all of the good things they were planning to do but not one of these promises ever came true. The fifteen richest nations are much richer now yet all but two manage to give less somehow, and use clever statistics to make less look like more while praying that God will take care of the poor, Where is the threat to US and the US of A a land that grows richer with each passing day by cutting in half the percentage it gives and failing to act on the way that it lives, that shouts very loudly whenever there's strife but continues to cheat on both nature and life. Where is the evil when we in our affluence leave our neighbours to rot in industrial effluents that pander to us but let them pay the cost in lives that are crippled and habitats lost. When our riches were made from the sweat off their backs is it really surprising we fear more attacks. Spin doctor, witch doctor mouth full of pigswill the words that you're speaking are making us all ill you know it's all lies and lying's a vice how can we forget .... that there's always a price.