Feb
British Council spending millions recruiting 100,000 “international climate champions”
A big WTF is the only proper response to this revelation by Chris Booker at the Telegraph.
In recent years, however, on the initiative of Lord Kinnock when he was its chairman, the British Council has been hijacked to promote the need for action on climate change. In answer to a Freedom of Information request, we can now see some of the curious ways in which the British Council has been spending our money.
More than £3.5 million has gone on recruiting a worldwide network of young “climate activists” in over 70 countries to engage in climate change propaganda – what Marxists used to call agitprop – and to pressure their politicians to join the worldwide struggle. Under a programme called Challenge Europe, £1.1 million has been paid out to fund young “climate advocates” in 17 countries across Europe, including Britain itself. But £2.5 million has been spent on a more ambitious project to recruit a global network of 100,000 activists in 60 countries across the world, led by 1,300 young “International Climate Champions”, to participate in “international peer networks, both in person and online, to share ideas, projects and experiences”.
Of this sum, £303,093.24 went to China; £71,262.91 to Brazil; £53,006.25 to Japan; £70,132.88 to India (including £11,000 to Dr Pachauri’s Teri institute); £77,507.89 to oil-rich Qatar; and £50,000 to the US. There was £120,000 for a dozen different countries in Africa, including £14,000 to fund climate champions in starving Zimbabwe.
As we said, WTF?
Possibly related posts:
I’ve been pondering the paradigm we’re discovering on the financial side of AGW. The iron triangle of advocacy groups, legislators, and money is a well-known and sucessful investing model. What isn’t well known is the massive financial stake particular people and organizations have in the low-carbon economy. This is a timely story for the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and others to investigate now. People understand the money.
Climate “change”is,
Big money
Big government
Big taxes
Big pro££its
Big LIES
…. and still they’re losing the argument.
As they say, money can’t buy everything, and it can’t make a lie true.
Don’t hold your breath that he Climategate investigation will be anything but a whitewash. However, that’s hardly going to add credibility to the affair.
“what Marxists used to call agitprop” (above)
and what Nazis used to call Hitler Jugend
Someone should do a freedom of information request and get the names of all the people they’ve paid and publish it.
I wish Booker wouldn’t say “what Marxists used to call agitprop”, as though he somehow thinks we’ve moved on from there.
These people are Marxists and this is agitprop.
Many of the same people, too… just a different “system” to worship.
Rick Bradford,
That is so true. When the Berlin wall and communism fell, they moved to other groups and kidnapped other issues of public concern. Environment groups, the ozon alarm, and now the biggest scam of all, the climate. Just look how professional and clever they are, infesting media and key pressure groups, even science and politics. They operate like virus, and right now, it looks that the only effective immune system left is the bloggosphere. May God be with us!
I am surprised that the British Council is being used for climate change activism. I had held the Council in high regard for its promotion of the English language and culture, witnessing its good work in Brazil in particular. However it seems that it has been hijacked for other agenda, a fate which no doubt overtook the IPCC many years ago.
On a legal note, where does the British Council stand regarding the scope of its allowed activities? If they have been changed, then I was certainly not aware of it. If the scope has been allowed to secretly creep, then can this evident misuse of its funds be ceased by recourse to legal action?
Ed