Mia Mottley preaches reason to the West; calls for a National Unity Government in Haiti
Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, addressing the 78th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 19-26 September 2023)
(Screenshot from the United Nations YouTube video of Mottley’s speech)
by Dr. Piyush Mathur
In an impressive speech delivered in New York (US) on September 22 at the 78th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, urged global leaders to unite to address the issues of Climate Change, ‘development deficit’, ‘debt sustainability’, ‘reparatory justice’, and (geopolitical) democracy in order to meet the Sustainability Development Goals (STGs).
Citing Ghanian Reggae singer Rocky Dawuni’s song ‘Walls tumbling down’, she evocatively stressed the urgency of these key global challenges—especially climate justice/change—and demanded immediate action; she also criticized the nexus between the developed West and oil-and-gas global conglomerates and global corporate sector generally, which she sought to hold accountable within an action-oriented and collaborative framework.
Addressing a largely empty hall (not unusual in UN General Assembly sessions) whose audience intermittently applauded her presentation, Mottley posed the following rhetorical question: ‘How is it possible for Chevron and the European Union to access the oil and gas of Venezuela but the people of the Caribbean cannot access it at the 35% discount offered by the people of Venezuela?’
Mottley demanded ‘transparency’ and ‘moral strategic leadership’ for the sake of ‘saving the planet’. ‘The markets have to be educated as to why long-term capital is the only salvation for developing countries and ultimately for people and planet,’ she argued.
She also strongly criticized Western interventions in support of Juan Guaidó during the presidential crisis of Venezuela.
Reparatory justice, and a revelation
On a relatively contentious issue whose relevance to the Caribbean nations—qua former European colonies with a specific financial history—is unmistakably direct, Mottley urged her audience to confront the ‘failure of the developed world to accept that reparatory justice is a solemn obligation’.
Stressing the urgency of action in this matter as much as the need to keep the process for it dignified, Mottley insisted that the conversation about reparatory justice ‘cannot be a slow, slow conversation taken up when people feel like: It has to be a conversation in which equal partners discuss; it cannot be an act of charity’ for ‘those who simply feel that their conscience must be cleansed’.
She also revealed that Barbados (presumably in association with other Caribbean nations) was about to write to the European Union last year about reparations but Russia’s ‘incursion’ into Ukraine (which started on 24 February 2022) had come in the way; she now wishes to ‘resume the discussions because the development deficit caused by centuries of exploitation is now affecting our capacity to build the resilience that is necessary in our nations’.
A National Unity Government for Haiti, and an indictment of the West
Mottley’s particularly stirring appeal was regarding Haiti, whose situation has been relegated far into the background partly owing to the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war, and the simmering tensions among several different polities worldwide.
‘The world owes Haiti a resolution,’ Mottley entreated her audience, declaring that ‘a National Unity Government may well be the only bridge that can carry us to safety’.
Thanking the governments of Rwanda and Kenya for committing to providing ‘institutional support and leadership’ for Haitian police, she also bluntly told member nations of the United Nations Security Council to ‘stop using Haiti as a pawn’. As for Haiti’s domestic political factions, she offered them a packed piece of wisdom:
I say simply to those who act in the name of Haiti: There must be compromise in constituting that Government of National Unity if we are to provide the bridge, to provide the security, to stop women from being raped, stop people from being killed, stop people from being affected by cholera and other public health diseases.
Concluding remarks
In the speech, whose harsh critiques come wrapped in an inspiring futuristic outlook, Mottley explicitly presented herself as a voice of sorts for much of the Global South, picking out unreason in Western approaches. At one point in the latter half of her speech, she chastised the United States for its sanctions on Cuba: ‘That Cuba can help so many in this world and yet be the continued victim of a blockade of over 60 years—but worse than that, a designation as a state sponsor of terrorism is wrong, wrong, wrong!’
In her concluding remarks, Mottley called for global unity ‘to save the planet’, warning the world against ‘divisive games played by the powerful’. Earlier in her speech, she had also alerted the world to the dangers of Artificial Intelligence to democracy.
Mottley was awarded the 2021 Champions of the Earth Award by the UN. This speech of hers has received many positive comments on YouTube.
Rocky Dawuni, the Ghanian singer she cited toward the start of her speech, has thanked her for the citation.
References
Avio, Doreen (October 4, 2023) (Downloaded from the following URL on October 22, 2023: https://www.myjoyonline.com/its-an-honor-for-my-lyrics-to-be-used-at-the-united-nations-general-assembly-rocky-dawuni/)
Dawuni, Rocky (2010) ‘Walls Tumbling Down’ Hymns for the Rebel Soul (Downloaded from the following URL on October 22, 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDKcrpaLZ44)
United Nations (September 22, 2023) ‘Barbados - Prime Minister Addresses United Nations General Debate, 78th Session’ 78th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 19-26 September 2023) (Downloaded from the following URL on October 22, 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftHsJscUARU)