Mia Mottley

Mia Mottley in 2019

Mia Mottley (born 1 October 1965) is a Barbadian politician. She is currently the 8th and current Prime Minister of Barbados since 25 May 2018.

Quotes

• In a family, children leave and go and set up their own households and that does not in any way affect the relationship between the family.
  • Mia Mottley (2020) cited in: "Barbados PM Mia Mottley's message for Australia as her country prepares to remove Queen Elizabeth as head of state" in ABC News, 17 September 2020.

• Our people humanized the violent, inhumane slave plantation society that the British colonialists had established, (but) we are still faced with the insidious nature of a culture that is intended to dehumanize black people wherever black or blackness is found, and our parliaments therefore, while we shall be in the vanguard of removing all laws of discrimination, it is the mental emancipation that shall forever always matter.
  • Mia Mottley (2021) cited in: "Mia Mottley: Barbados’ first female leader on a mission to transform island" in The Guardian, 3 December 2021.

• To ask us (Barbados) to continue carrying the battle against the backdrop of the (COVID-19) pandemic and not having contributed to the crisis to greenhouse gases is really unacceptable. We can't fight the pandemic or climate crisis from a national perspective. All of us have to cooperate globally, or we're not going to win this battle.
  • Mia Mottley (2021) cited in: "Prime Minister of Barbados discusses ongoing global climate crisis with Emory community" in The Emory Wheel, 9 December 2021.
• “We know how to run fast in one set of circumstances when it suits one set of people but yet we run very slow when it matters to billions of people and their access to livelihood,” [1]
• “We are committed to resume the battle of saving people and the planet,” [2]
• “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision is merely passing time. But vision with action can change the world. [3]
• ” The best leaders not only create their vision, but also inspire others toward action.” [4]
• “We are waiting for urgent global, moral, strategic leadership,” said Ms. Mottley. “If we don’t control this fire, it will burn us all down.” [5]
• “If I use the speech prepared for me to deliver today, it would be a repetition– s repetition of what you’ve heard from others, and also from me”. [6]
• “If we can find the will to send people to the moon and solve male baldness, we can solve simple problems like letting our people eat”.[7]
• “Our world stands at a fork in the road; one no less significant than when the United Nations was formed in 1945. But then the majority of countries here did not exist, we exist now. The difference is we want to exist a 100 years from now,” [8]
• "The conspiracy of silence has diminished the horror of what our people faced," [9]
• "I want to salute the King for having the courage to recognise this is a conversation that the time has come to have," [10]
• "The world needs to share the burden," [11]
• "The world needs us to rise up and change our behaviour." [12]
• “An international order that is not inclusive, or strongly rooted in fairness and moral legitimacy will fail to halt and reverse climate change,” [13]
• “even if for many we are invisible, we are not dispensable.” [14]
• “Because it is the right thing to do - not just politically but morally,” [15]
• “We are trespassing on ground that is best left in our history and not our future. And to this, we add the insidious threats of terrorism and, now, the existential threat of climate change,” [16]
• “Just as we find it abhorrent today to contemplate, far less support, removing freedom and choice from other human beings, so must we also recognize that true freedom also requires changing the structural imbalances in power and wealth,” [17]
• “What will it take for us to get the mighty of the world to protect us against the existential threat to our survival?” [18]
• “But we who are invisible do not have the luxury of time because we are busy trying to survive,” [19]
• “If it matters enough, we can choose to end climate change. Our only limits are the limits to our imagination. We achieve what we put our resources behind.” [20]
• the world must claim ground, secure it and move forward. “We need collective partnerships. We need new voices to inspire and to influence.” [21]
• “Let us choose to end climate change. We will achieve it. Human ingenuity will enable us to do so. But we cannot wait. Let us bring it forward.” [22]
• "We do not want that dreaded death sentence, and we have come here today to say, 'Try harder,' " [23]
• "If our existence is to mean anything, then we must act in the interest of all of our people who are dependent on us," [24]
• "And if we don't, we will allow the path of greed and selfishness to sow the seeds of our common destruction," [25]
• “Trust and inclusion are indivisible… We need a New Internationalism, a truly inclusive United Nations and international system.” [26]
• “Our people are watching, and our people are taking note,” [27]
• “Are we really going to leave Scotland without the commitment to ambition that is sorely needed to save lives and to save our planet? Or are we so blinded and hardened that we can no longer appreciate the cries of humanity?”[28]
• “Alongside new capital, innovative instruments, partnerships and new ways of working together are critical if we are to overcome the challenges posed by climate, pandemics and debt. These new, integrated, initiatives announced today are embodiment of what can come out of new cooperative ways of working together.” [29]