“The 11th Hour” Unrest
As I wake up slowly and recognize my privilege as a white woman born in this part of the world, I find I cannot sit back and hold in my anger, despair and sadness for how people who look like myself have long played a strong role in how the lives of others as well as our environment are being thrown to the wayside. It struck me last Friday night as I viewed the film, “11th Hour” on climate crisis, which featured many experts whom I admire and respect, that there was no connection or felt sense of the people on the ground doing the work; it saddened me to see that celebrity and expertise was given top billing and front stage in the place of heartfelt stories and reflections from the people who know these issues best in the places that are being hit the hardest. I imagined my friends and allies, people of color, sitting in the audience and cringing from the oppressive “wisdom” of mostly white men. The voices and wisdom of people like Jason Harvey and the youth leaders of the Oakland Food Connection, or Raini Mapura and the Pitas Women Empowerment Trees group in Sabah, Malaysia were not present, and therefore the full circle of what is facing humanity today and how we all play a part in the redemption and healing of our planet home was not complete for me. Especially, as it was pointed out over and over how “we” did this (environmental crisis) to ourselves. Well, the question must be asked, who is the “we” they were talking about”, the Achuar people of the Amazon rainforest, the youth community of Watts, Los Angeles? How would it be for those inadequately represented in the film, women, youth, people of color and indigenous people to hear from these same men how sorry they are that our shared history has brought them such unfairness and distrust? And yet, for the intended audience, those who most need to hear, I could see that the film and the voices and images chosen by the producers could perhaps reach the white mainstream culture where they are. So I sit with the paradox once again in a privileged state of seeing both the value of propaganda and playing a certain game to make change in the world, but wondering at what cost, if our souls feel unnurtured, disrespected and unrestored in the shadow of the ecologically elite?
Add comment August 27th, 2007