UNEP
Calderon
Presser
Allows No Nuclear Power Questions, Germans Everywhere
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
NEW
YORK
CITY, May 10 -- When Mexican President Felipe Calderon came to
New York days after nationwide demonstrations against his bloody war
on drugs, he did not go to the United Nations on Manhattan's East
Side, where on Tuesday the Security Council was meeting about
protection of civilians.
Rather
he came to
get an
award from the UN Environment Program, and take no questions,
at the Museum of Natural History on the West Side. He shared the
podium, and UNEP award, with Chinese businessman Zhang Yue, in a
ceremony sponsored by South Korean's LG Electronics.
Inner
City Press
tried to ask Calderon, after the questionless UNEP press conference,
about his use of nuclear power, and secondarily of dams.
But there
were no answers.
The
press was shepherded to the large hall of the
museum, where under the lit up replica whale another award winner,
Angelique Kidjo, performed with drums, guitar and bass.
Master
of
ceremonies Don Cheadle was a no-show, replaced by a representative of
the MTV music television network.
UNEP
chief Achim
Steiner chatted with fellow German UN official Franz Baumann. Another
German, Under Secretary General Angela Kane, delivered the message of
the missing Ban Ki-moon.
It
is known that
Germany would like UNEP to be replaced by a more powerful agency,
tentatively named World Environment Organization or UNEO, and
believes the UN systems environmental oversight to be subpar.
But
the UN is
giving its “premiere” environmental award to a president enamored
with nuclear power, sponsored by an electronics company.
With UN's Ban & Zuma, Calderon previously
celebrates, UNEP & protests not shown
On
the other hand,
Louis Palmer of Solar Taxi fame, with whom Inner City Press
previously spoke at the UN two years ago, was on hand to get an
“inspiration and action” award. Afterward Inner City Press asked
him if President Obama is going enough. “No,” he said, calling
the administration a disappointment.
A
Swiss
correspondent asked Palmer how he would respond to villagers and
architects who decry the installation of solar panels. This is a
crisis, Palmer answered, not a beauty contest for villages. Hear,
hear.
* * *
As
UNEP
Prepares
Award for Calderon, Drug War Protests,
LG Pollution
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
5 -- When the UN Environment Program teased its May 10
“Champions of the Earth” ceremony by saying that an unnamed “Head
of State from the Latin American region” would be given its
“flagship environmental award,” many assumed that it would be Evo
Morales of Bolivia, loud proponent of La Madre Tierra, Pachamama or
Mother Earth.
But
inquiries by
Inner City Press have found that UNEP's mystery guest will be Felipe
Calderon Hinojosa of Mexico. The New York ceremony will come days
after a protest of Calderon's drug war in Mexico. While the streets
run red with blood, quipped one skeptic, Calderon drapes himself in
green and UN blue.
UNEP's
event
is sponsored
by
South Korea based LG Group, which is charged
for
business
in China with Changzhou Hongdu Electronics Co. and heavy
metal pollution.
To
be fair,
particularly since it is Cinco de Mayo, some of Mexico's pollution
has been reduced under Calderon. Click here for
Inner City Press coverage of
Cancun.
But even on the
environment,
“critics suggest that the Mexican president and the Congress are
not doing enough to promote renewable energy. A strong effort is
important, they say, because Mexico is far behind other countries in
implementing the technologies that will make a major difference in
reducing pollution and ensuring Mexico’s energy security.”
Another
telltale
sign,
beyond Inner City Press' first hand reporting, that he
is UNEP's May 10 awardee is the announcement that he
will
appear in
Washington DC on May 11 for yet another award.
(At
the UN,
Mexico's departure from the Security Council is felt, on protection
of civilians and, as the most recent example, the unqualified celebration
of the killing of Osama bin Laden in a Presidential
Statement on May 2. Mexico might, probably would, have voted for
it,
but would probably have asked for some changes.)
In
any event, for
this event, fleeing protests in Mexico, Calderon comes to the UN in
New York. Many embattled leaders have done it. But sometimes their
sojourn at the UN has hurt rather than helped them. How will it be
for Calderon? Watch this site.
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