This text was initially published on the occasion of Manufacturing of Rights a pluridisciplinary colloquium in Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, 2015.

CASE #3

Date: 2009
Location: Sudan

In 2009, a new era of violence is announced. Climate forums like COP are part of an attempt by the world’s most developed nations to legitimize the colonization of the sky, inaugurating a new age of economic warfare waged through the atmosphere and against some of the most vulnerable people on earth. This case brings together four pieces of evidence, two videos and two documents in order to raise a series of questions about anthropocenic violence and the forums that legitimize it.

1–The Danish text is the draft of a potential agreement established between the most developed nations in which a commitment is made to a 2-degree global average temperature increase. As many scientists have agreed, this would mean a catastrophic 3.5-degree increase in many parts of the African landmass, leading to widespread desertification, exacerbating existing conflicts and eventually, to annual mortality rates estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.

2–The International Criminal Court Arrest Warrant for Omar al-Bashir issued from The Hague by the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo alleging that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir systematically attempted to eradicate the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit people of Darfur. The charges in the warrant include war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

3–The Sky, Sea and Earth Climate simulation of aerosol dispersion, sea surface temperature and atmospheric carbon removal by plants. Using visualizations from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA] this video composes a link between aerosol dispersion in the northern hemisphere, its effect on sea surface temperatures and their impact on the timing and intensity of the African monsoon.

4–The Climate Dissident Camera phone video footage of Lumumba Di- Aping press conference during the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) in 2009. As lead negotiator for the G77 representing 132 of the poorest nations on Earth, Di-Aping denounced the “Danish proposal” tabled during COP15 for “colonizing the sky,” condemning millions in Africa to “certain death” and “climate genocide.”

Drawing on recent scientific research that shows a correlation between aerosol emission in the northern hemisphere and desertification in the Sahel, it makes visible a new geopolitical cartography that ties together distant fates, linking industrialization in the North to deprivation in the South. In this context, can we begin to think about forums like COP as crime scenes? What will be the role of a forensic climatology in reconnecting the causes of environmental violence to their effects? Most importantly, what difference will this reconnec- tion make within spaces of political conflict and their negotiation?