Global Climate Reparations

This blog post was written by POWHR’s Partnership’s Manager Dan Ideozu

Last spring a friend asked me, “What can you learn about leadership in Kenya?” I had just told them I was going to be participating in a People’s Movement Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya with people from all over the world. I was surprised by this question but now that I look back on it, I think it’s an invitation to share more information about the purpose and impact of my trip.

There is a rich history of people across the world gathering in assemblies to make powerful change.  A People’s Movement Assembly (PMA) brings people together to use collective power to find solutions to a problem and take action. PMAs have been used by thousands of people across the USA since 2006 but assemblies have been used in many social movements across the world throughout history. In 1974 Black leaders in the USA met with African leaders in Tanzania for the Pan African Congress. In 1994 the Zapatista Movement in Mexico gathered to find autonomy from their oppressive government. Gulf Coast Just Transition People's Movement Assembly series in 2016 examined the intersections of climate change, economic justice and a sustainable future for South Louisiana. Last July I attended an assembly in Alabama hosted by Taproot Earth to build power and strengthen relationships between the Gulf South and Appalachia. 

I was very excited for this opportunity to travel to Kenya for a PMA. I had never been to the continent of Africa before but my father is from Ahoda, Nigeria where half of my family lives. As a Black American, I am fortunate to be able to know my tribe and where I come from as that history has been erased from so many other Black Americans. Black and Indigenous people have experienced countless injustices. Not only in the United States of America but everywhere. Not only systemic oppression but the damages caused by climate change. We have no choice but to come together and share strategies on how we can protect each other. We have to take the lead on protecting our future.

The purpose of the PMA I attended in Nairobi was for communities on the frontlines of the fight for environmental justice to make a collective definition of Global Climate Reparations. In order to find solutions to a problem you must address the people who have been affected. There were 250 participants from 40 different countries speaking 5 different languages. I met people who lived in Kenya, Appalachia, Washington D.C., Brazil, Nigeria and all over the world. Everyone was a leader in their community with experiences of fighting environmental injustice. 

There were many people from different countries in the Global South. The Global South consists of places such as Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands. The Global North consists of some places such as the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the European Union. The Gulf South and Appalachia are often the victims of environmental harms such as fossil fuel extraction and pollution. The same can be said of the Global South. Historically, the Global North has been known to colonize and extract resources in the Global South and that continues today. As countries in the Global South experience harsh conditions of climate change, they do not have as much wealth or as many resources as countries in the Global North to recover and rebuild. If we are going to fight for environmental justice, this is something we cannot ignore. This is why we came together in Nairobi, Kenya to define Global Climate Reparations.

During the PMA, we talked about what is going on in our communities, what we are struggling with and how we are fighting climate change. From those conversations we made concrete plans of what we can do in our communities to keep fighting and learning. As we made draft definitions of global climate reparations, we learned to be very intentional with our words. Words can have a new meaning in different cultures and different languages. There was no one right answer for everyone's problems and we needed everyone communicating together to really understand that. There were many different perspectives around liberation and what that looks like in our communities. Throughout the definitions we made, we were centering the liberation of Black and Indigenous people as these are people who have experienced the harsh realities of climate change and environmental injustices with less resources to rebuild than the rest of the world. People spoke from sadness, anger, love and passion for the communities. Everyone shared a willingness to be patient, vulnerable and compassionate in those conversations.

This is the living draft definition of Global Climate Reparations we all came up with:

“Climate Reparations is the restoration of healthy and balanced relationships with all that comprise a shared global ecosystem. Reparative action begins with those who benefit most from historic and current systems of oppression. It requires the abolition of debt, restitution for injustice and the establishment of accountable systems rooted in Black and Indigenous Liberation for all oppressed people and future generations.”

This largescale PMA in Nairobi last August helped me to prepare for POWHR’s first PMA last September in Newport, VA. It was perfect timing! I learned how to ask probing questions for better understanding and synthesize that information. For 250 participants in Nairobi, we had dozens of notetakers and I learned from their process. For less than 50 people in Newport, I was one of three notetakers. It was wonderful coming together with my community and hearing what people are passionate about. There were many connections made between people on how they can support one another. It was very clear from both PMAs that people everywhere care deeply about one another, their futures, work that needs to be done and this world we call home.

During my travels in Kenya, many people asked me how life is for me politically in the USA. Many people were shocked to know that Black Americans were still facing police brutality daily. I talked to many people about Sonya Massey and it was difficult to see their looks of surprise and sadness. Although police brutality is nothing new to activists in Kenya. During our PMA, Kenyan youth were actively protesting in the streets of Nairobi demanding justice from their government. Kenyan activists in Nairobi began protesting proposed tax increases in June 2024 and the protests spread all throughout Kenya. Sungu Oyoo, a writer and activist, came to talk to our assembly members about the protests in Kenya, “Nane Nane” and share his book of protest poetry, “Abolish Everything”. It was very important to take time to learn about what was happening around us. It gave us the opportunity to be rooted in where we were and to be in solidarity with the Kenyan activists that were fighting for justice.

Throughout my time in Kenya I was told “Welcome home” by so many people I lost count. I nearly cried every single time. I was immediately welcomed into kinship and community by strangers on an elevator or friends I had just made at lunch. It was very heartwarming. In the US, most people cannot pronounce my last name and I have become accustomed to that. In Nairobi, I was overjoyed for people to be able to say Ideozu and know about my ancestry without any explanation. My people are Ekpeye. My father is from Ahoada, Nigeria and although I do not know my Nigerian family very well, I am proud of my roots and grateful that I know them. My father lived in Lagos for most of my life and in 2012 he passed away. I have felt disconnected from the Nigerian side of me for a long time. So many Black Americans are disconnected from their African roots because that history has been stolen from them. Many Africans were enslaved and brought to the United States where generation after generation, their ancestry was lost. I am very fortunate. 

I brought back to my community the knowledge of communicating with patience and intentionality in my words. Many communities are fighting for justice and share the same goals, there is no one solution to all of our problems. We must work together to learn from one another and to support each other. I am very grateful to have spent time in Kenya and attended a People’s Movement Assembly. I will always be thankful for the connections I made in Kenya, the solidarity I shared, and the people who welcomed me home.

Here is Taproot’s Global Climate Reparation’s Governance Assembly Report 2024