Mann’s organization, the Labor/Community Strategy Center, came to Paris with an aggressive tactical plan. We wanted to bring four major demands in front of President Obama and the United States at UNFCCC.
The United States must cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent of 1990 levels by 2025 — starting now!
The United States must contribute $10 billion a year into the United Nations Green Climate Fund — starting now!
The United States must Bring Back 100,000 Black internally displaced residents to New Orleans — with jobs, housing, and medical benefits — starting now!
The United States must end the federal Department of Defense 1033 Program that gives military grade weapons to local and state police forces including school police.
Mann explains that Third World nations have been calling on the Global North to pay “loss and damages,” as they are the most responsible for the climate crisis and should be first to pay reparations to the most impacted communities, particularly the nations of Africa, Asia, Latin America and island states.
But John Kerry, who once spoke out against U.S. war crimes in Vietnam, threatened a U.S. walk-out if there was any language in the text about loss and damages. The Obama administration’s victory exceeded these reprehensible objectives. The final document states, that “any discussion of loss and damages does not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation.”
