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
Neither the United States nor Israel has the capacity to impose a unilateral solution in the Middle East.
Zbigniew BrzezinskiRead
Big government inevitably drives an upward distribution of wealth to those whose wealth, confidence and sophistication enable them to manipulate government.
George WillRead
These niggaz ain't thugs, the real thugs is the government._x000D_ _x000D_ Don't matter if you Independent, Democrat or Republican,_x000D_ _x000D_ Niggaz politickin' the street, get into beef,_x000D_ _x000D_ Start blastin'...now a new cat is executive chief.
Talib KweliRead
Our democracy cannot be left in the hands of those who would rather watch or participate in a train wreck than stop it.
Kimberle Williams CrenshawRead
One of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption.
Upton SinclairRead
Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion,and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure.
Abraham LincolnRead