We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit.
David SuzukiRead
Too often, governments are quick to use excessive force and even pervert the course of justice to keep oil and gas flowing, forests logged, wild rivers dammed and minerals extracted. As the Global Witness study reveals, citizens are often killed, too - especially if they're poor and indigenous.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Governments sometimes prioritize resource extraction over justice, leading to violence against marginalized communities.
The quote by David Suzuki highlights the troubling tendency of governments to prioritize the exploitation of natural resources, such as oil, gas, and minerals, often at the expense of justice and human rights. It points out how this overreach can result in violence against vulnerable populations, particularly indigenous and impoverished communities, who often bear the brunt of such policies, illustrating a systemic issue where profit is placed above human life and dignity.
Themes
GovernmentJusticeResource ExtractionViolenceIndigenous Rights
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental protection, one might quote this to emphasize the need for justice.
More from David Suzuki
All quotes →As parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts we need to start getting out into nature with the young people in our lives. Families play a key role in getting kids outside.
David SuzukiRead
One of the joys of being a grandparent is getting to see the world again through the eyes of a child.
David SuzukiRead
The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and many more problems are through healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.
David SuzukiRead
Do you know how much land is under ice, rock and snow? Do you know why 90 percent of us live within 100 kilometres of the U.S. border? We have this idea we're a vast country. But the reality is that a lot of it, a huge amount, is uninhabitable.
David SuzukiRead
We no longer see the world as a single entity. We've moved to cities and we think the economy is what gives us our life, that if the economy is strong we can afford garbage collection and sewage disposal and fresh food and water and electricity. We go through life thinking that money is the key to having whatever we want, without regard to what it does to the rest of the world.
David SuzukiRead
Similar quotes
Of what does politics consist except the making of imperfect decisions, many of them unjust and quite a few of them deadly?
Lewis H. LaphamRead
Obama is making a choice now that will lead to the deaths of many thousands of civilians in Afghanistan by American hands. By ordinary standards of presidents, he is a decent man. But those standards aren't good enough. He's in a position either to kill or not to kill, and he's made the decision to kill.
Daniel EllsbergRead
People seem to know about May Day everywhere except where it began, here in the United States of America. That's because those in power have done everything they can to erase its real meaning.
Noam ChomskyRead
Despite the present, temporary interests that Israel has in common with France and Britain, you ought not to forget that the strength of Israel and her future are bound up with the United States.
Dwight D. EisenhowerRead
There seems to be an increasing awareness of something we Americans have known for some time - that the ten most dangerous words in the English language are "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
Ronald ReaganRead
The next time you hear me attacked as a socialist - like tomorrow - remember this: I don't believe that government should take over the grocery store down the street or control the means of production. But I believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal.
Bernie SandersRead