Climate Speech Martin Luther King

This piece is by John Gallagher of www.dancebeforewedie.com.

I dreamed . And Martin Luther was there and gave a second dream speech , but this time about the world’s end.

“Today people on our only earth are constrained by the manacles and chains of oppression and ecological tyranny.

Half of the world’s population live on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.

Declarations by intergovernmental panels falsely claim we do not have an unalienable right to exist.

Those who wield power would have us believe that their bank of greed is not responsible for the end of times, or that they have sown the seeds of our destruction.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of hope is bankrupt.

Today we will begin to call in the debt we are owed and demand the riches of freedom and the security of environmental justice.

We will remind those who misrule, of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of poverty, unwelcome control and impending apocalypse.

It would be fatal to overlook the urgency of this moment. This sweltering summer of floods and destruction by fire must naturally lead to an Autumn of legitimate discontent, if the false prophets continue to mislead.

The whirlwinds of revolt must shake the foundations of our world, lest we have no world.

But in taking up arms against all that is wrong, we must not drink from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline and without violence.

We cannot be satisfied with false promises or the glittering baubles of diversion. We must not wallow in the valley of despair, but must dream and make our dreams reality.

So even though we face the fear of there being no tomorrow, I have a dream that one day we will rise up and hold this truth to be self-evident, that all people of every hue, and belief and gender have an equal right to existence.

I have a dream that one day in our homes and on the streets and in our virtual worlds the good rich and oppressed poor will be able to sit down together as equal representatives of our human race and say enough is enough. We will take back and heal the world.

I have a dream that one day even the Boardrooms of Bankers, sweltering in the heat of greed and oppression will be transformed, because we will not fund their purchase of our future.

I have a dream that my children will one day see they have a tomorrow. A new dawn free from control by those who judge them only by their value to the pockets of masters who only care about their data, and not the content of their character.

I have a dream that one day the liars in Government and those preening officials whose stupidity knows no bounds, will be replaced with true representatives of us all. Advocates who will not care about tomorrow’s vote or preserving their position, but will instead govern for the people and our world.

I have a dream that one day our eyes will be opened and all will see that we are of this earth. That when we kill and maim and pollute and destroy the natural world, we are doing this to ourselves, for we are all just a part of this creation.

I have a dream that one day soon the veil across our eyes will be lifted and we will see the truth. We will see that a pitifully small band of mostly ageing men, pay devious souls to spread a gospel of division and misdirection so that they can live in paper palaces to the end of their days.

I have a dream that we will see that our fears are nurtured by those who fear change. And then we will refuse to be blinded to the truth of our superior numbers, our democratic uncensored linkage to each other and the power of withholding. Then with peaceful but righteous anger we will stop all this.”

Just then Elvis Presley walked by wheeling an e-bike. He stopped and in his sultry tones said “ None of you have to be lonely tonight. Just make sure that not another little baby is born in the ghetto. And listen to MLK” And with that he was gone.