Hay Festival 2012: The Island President, review

For a small man from a small island state, Mohamed Nasheed has had a big impact on the world. The former President of the Maldives was instrumental in securing a global deal on climate change at the Copenhagen Summit in 2009. This film tracks his journey from freedom fighter (he was arrested 12 times in 20 years and tortured twice) battling to bring democracy to the Maldives, to climate campaigner struggling to save the whole planet from global warming. If you are in a fight, you want this man on your side. He is charismatic, brave and most of all entirely believes in what he is what he is doing. I'm not sure he know the meaning of the word compromise. Perhaps that is what did for him in the end? Despite the agreement in Copenhagen, the world has largely forgotten about the threat of rising temperatures in a global economic crisis. This means the Maldives remains under threat of annihilation from rising sea levels. Meanwhile Nasheed has had to resign his Presidency of the Maldives following a military coup. The two issues are not unconnected. As Nasheed explains, without a stable government it will be impossible for the Maldives to make their case for survival on the world stage.

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