Posts Tagged ‘climate justice’
Rising Tide Mops up the COP – Copenhagen Climate Summit Archive Project
December 24th, 2009
Rising Tide North America is pleased to announce www.WhatIsCop15.net – an instant archive project compiling some of the incredible work of the global climate movement at and in the lead up to the 2009 UN climate summit in Copenhagen (the 15th Conference of the Parties or COP15).
Much has been said about the failure and collapse of the climate of COP15 last weekend to reach a binding agreement, and you’ll find lots of analysis at www.WhatIsCop15.net.
But the real story from the climate summit — which at best was expected expand the carbon market and entrench corporate control of climate policy — is a happy one.
It’s the massive organizing success and coming of age of the climate justice movement. 100,000 in the streets, tens of thousands in attendance at the climate justice oriented Klimaforum, and countless actions against the root causes of climate change.
Moreover, the sham of polluter-dominated climate policy political sausage making – which expelled groups like Friends of the Earth and Via Campesina from its proceedings – was revealed to millions of onlookers, as was Obama’s complicity in the whole affair.
Depressing as the state of things is, the understanding that there will be no just climate solutions without massive social change has crystallized for score of people in the past weeks: the movement of people demanding a radical shift in the existing order is growing by leaps and bounds, and we must celebrate this awakening!
www.WhatIsCop15.net compiles images, reports, videos, reflections and education resources from COP 15, to thank those who organized for climate justice in Copenhagen and to inspire those of us who weren’t there to equally monumental actions.
Whether you’ve been struggling to keep up with the news or were there in Copenhagen, we invite you to learn, enjoy, and spread the word about the online archive! We’d love it if you contributed content as well!
Tags: big business, biofuels, Canada, cap-and-trade, civil disobedience, climate justice, COP15, Copenhagen, direct action, documentation, environmental justice, government, images, indigenous issues, media, protest, REDD, Rising Tide, south america, trees and forests, UN, UNFCCC, what is cop15? | 
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Beyond Ecological Imperialism
December 21st, 2009
Alexis Rockman Disney World I, 2005, oil on wood, 72 x 84 in.
Published on Monday, December 21, 2009 by The Guardian/UK
Climate change isn't just a battle between rich and poor – it shows how an obsession with economic growth is a dead end
So the Copenhagen summit did not deliver any hope of substantive change, or even any indication that the world’s leaders are sufficiently aware of the vastness and urgency of the problem. But is that such a surprise? Nothing in the much-hyped runup to the summit suggested that the organisers and participants had genuine ambitions to change course and stop or reverse a process of clearly unsustainable growth.
Part of the problem is that the issue of climate change is increasingly portrayed as that of competing interests between countries. Thus, the summit has been interpreted variously as a fight between the "two largest culprits" – the US and China – or between a small group of developed countries and a small group of newly emerging countries (the group of four – China, India, Brazil and South Africa), or at best between rich and poor countries.
The historical legacy of past growth in the rich countries that has a current adverse impact is certainly keenly felt in the developing world. It is not just the past: current per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world are still many multiples of that in any developing country, including China. So the attempts by northern commentators to lay blame on some countries for derailing the result by pointing to this discrepancy are seen in most developing countries as further evidence of an essentially colonial outlook.
But describing this as a fight between countries misses the essential point: that the issue is really linked to an economic system – capitalism – that is crucially dependent upon rapid growth as its driving force, even if this "growth" does not deliver better lives for the people. So there is no questioning of the supposition that rich countries with declining populations must keep on growing in terms of GDP, rather than finding different ways of creating and distributing output to generate better quality of life. There is no debating of the pattern of growth in "successful" developing countries, which has in many cases come at the cost of increased inequality, greater material insecurity for a significant section of the population and massive damage to the environment.
Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Streets! (or, How I stopped lobbying and put up my dukes!)
December 20th, 2009
Which direction do you fancy?
(at risk of offense to those that worked stalwartly at ends that haven’t borne fruit-where-expected, as revealed by Copenhagen)
Global referendum on climate
December 20th, 2009
In view of the profound differences found between presidents and continents in the Copenhagen climate summit, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales proposes to conduct a referendum with the peoples of the world for an agreement that could save Mother Earth from the abuses of capitalism.
Because we have deep differences from president to president, lets ask the people and do what they say
Evo Morales Ayma President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia
Tags: abya yala, action alert, Bolivia, climate, climate justice, COP15, Copenhagen, Mother Earth, politics, UN, UNFCCC |
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Boston Climate Activists Hang 30-Foot Banner Off Harvard Bridge During U.N. Climate Conference
December 17th, 2009
Boston, MA – Activists with climate group Rising Tide hung a 30-foot banner reading, “System Change, Not Climate Change” on the Harvard Bridge (Massachusetts Ave.) spanning Boston and Cambridge this afternoon. The action comes in the final days of the United Nations Climate Talks in Copenhagen, as 115 world leaders arrive while negotiations have deadlocked. In the past week, over one thousand activists have been arrested in protests.
“The United Nations process has systematically failed the world’s marginalized countries and consistently excludes those that would dare support and fight on behalf of those countries,” said David Bukett of Rising Tide. “We need system change to create a world which is truly just and sustainable to solve the climate crisis.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: action, civil disobedience, climate, climate justice, COP15, Copenhagen, protest, US |
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Countering Critics of a Cap-and-Trade Critique
December 16th, 2009
By Bond, Patrick
Patrick Bond’s ZSpace Page
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Eight million people viewed Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff video since December 2007, and her new nine-minute Story of Cap and Trade (http://www.zcommunications.org/zvideo/3310) received 400,000 hits in the two weeks after its December 1 launch.
The film, produced by Free Range Studios, was developed in collaboration with the Durban Group for Climate Justice and Climate Justice Now! networks, which joined Climate Justice Action and other networks to put tens of thousands of activists on the streets of Copenhagen, London and dozens of other cities in recent days, demanding large emissions cuts, the payment of ecological debt to climate victims, and the decommissioning of carbon markets.
But critics abound, so what trends can we discern from the sometimes venomous feedback to Story of Cap and Trade, and what do these tell us about US and global climate politics? Consider three categories:
- libertarian climate change denialists;
- Big Green groups and other carbon trading supporters; and
- self-interested green capitalists.
To start, rightwing extremists are easiest to dismiss because they deny that climate change is a product of human/economic activity – but there’s a schizophrenic double agenda. For although they’re pro-business, libertarians like Fox tv’s Glenn Beck oppose market-based cap-and-trade schemes.
The most dangerous, Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, denies ‘that we’re going to pass a cap-and-trade or we’re going to do something on emissions reduction,’ as he told the rightwing NewsMax agency on Sunday.
Australian climate denialists now control the official opposition party, having overthrown its leader last month due to his cap-and-trade endorsement, in the process halting the state’s proposed emissions trading scheme (http://agmates.ning.com/forum/topics/canberra-protest-rally-live?commentId=3535428%3AComment%3A9579).
Those of us fighting carbon markets certainly *don’t* want alliances with cretins like Inhofe or intrepid videoblogger Lee Doran. After a clumsy rebuttal to The Story of Stuff, Doran offered another zany video-attack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWjGZNDEH-A), in which he first agrees with the demolition of cap-and-trade, but then replies to Annie’s charge that rich-world overconsumption victimizes those least responsible for global warming:
Annie: ‘Did you know that in the next century, because of the changing climate, whole island nations could end up underwater?’
Lee: ‘Yes, and islands will emerge from the water too, it’s part of the natural cycle of the planet.’ (minute 6)
Enough said about flat-earth libertarian ideologues.
In the second group we find both pro-market ‘green’ ideologues Read the rest of this entry »
NAACP Climate Justice Initiative Copenhagen Blog
December 15th, 2009
https://climatejusticeinitiative.wordpress.com
So much to share, but I will try to keep it brief!
This morning we started the day in front of the Canadian Embassy demonstrating against the proliferation of tar sands operations. This action was led by the Indigenous Environmental Network. In brief, “Tar Sands” refer to “bitumen”/petroleum heavy sands which are mined to extract oil. These tar sands in Canada are on lands where the indigenous people have not given permission for extraction and furthermore, the process of extraction and transport is one that is hazardous to the environment as well as using copious amounts of water, a precious and diminishing resource. Sharon Lungo of the Ruckus Society and part of the Indigenous Environmental Network delegation, explains more.
Courtesy of Alan Lissner at www.alanlissner.net
Tags: action, blog, Canada, climate, climate justice, COP15, Copenhagen, direct action, environmental justice, fossil of the day, indigenous issues, media, NAACP, politics, protest, REDD, tar sands, UN, UNFCCC |
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UK Guardian: High-profile activist’s arrest fuels fears of police crackdown in Copenhagen
December 15th, 2009
Climate Justice Action spokesman to face charges, as Danish police prepare for mass protests at Copenhagen’s Bella centre
Tadzio Mueller, a spokesman for the umbrella group Climate Justice Action (CJA), was arrested today by plainclothes police as he left the Bella centre, where the official climate talks are taking place. The police are holding him at the Retorvej detention centre, and he will be charged in court tomorrow morning. The police refused to say what charges will be brought.
Kevin Smith, an organiser for activist group Climate Camp, said: “It’s unbelievable that in a supposed democracy, undercover police are silencing spokespeople that are criticising the climate talks. How far are the Danish authorities prepared to go to stop tomorrow’s protest from going ahead?”
Mueller’s arrest comes on the eve of a Reclaim Power action that aims to “disrupt the sessions and open a space inside the UN area to hold a people’s assembly” from 10am tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry »
Copenhagen Spoof Shames Canada; Climate Debt No Joke
December 15th, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Press conference: 1pm CET, Frederiksholms Kanal 4, Copenhagen
Contact: Margaret Matembe, margaret.matembe@enviro-canada.ca, +45-23960186
Coverage: Click here, or click throughout press release for specific links
Videos:
Canadian announcement (hi-res download)
Ugandan response (hi-res download)
Canadian retraction (hi-res download)
Climate debt agents take responsibility (hi-res download)
More dream announcements coming soon! Come make your own or stay tuned at good-cop15.org.
Copenhagen Spoof Shames Canada; Climate Debt No Joke
African, Danish and Canadian youth join the Yes Men to demand climate justice and skewer Canadian climate policy
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – “Canada is ‘red-faced’!” (Globe and Mail) “Copenhagen spoof shames Canada!” (Guardian)
“Hoax slices through Canadian spin on warming!” (The Toronto Star) “A childish prank!” (Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada)
What at first looked like the flip-flop of the century has been revealed as a sophisticated ruse by a coalition of African, North American, and European activists. The purpose: to highlight the most powerful nations’ obstruction of meaningful progress in Copenhagen, to push for just climate debt reparations, and to call out Canada in particular for its terrible climate policy.
The elaborate intercontinental operation was spearheaded by a group of concerned Canadian citizens, the “Climate Debt Agents” fromActionAid, and The Yes Men. It involved the creation of a best-case scenario in which Canadian government representatives unleashed a bold new initiative to curb emissions and spearhead a “Climate Debt Mechanism” for the developing world.
The ruse started at 2:00 PM Monday, when journalists around the world were surprised to receive a press release from “Environment Canada” (enviro-canada.com, a copy of ec.gc.ca) that claimed Canada wasreversing its position on climate change.
In the release, Canada’s Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, waxed lyrical. “Canada is taking the long view on the world economy,” said Prentice. “Nobody benefits from a world in peril. Contributing to the development of other nations and taking full responsibilities for our emissions is simple Canadian good sense.” Read the rest of this entry »
Global Alliances Announce Mass Non-Violent Civil Disobedience
December 15th, 2009
Civil Society Groups Inside and Outside The COP Process Issue Call to Unite in “Peoples’ Assembly” to Demand Real Solutions to the Climate Crisis
Copenhagen, Denmark As broad frustration grows with rich country and corporate influence over the content and direction of the climate negotiations, two international networks of people’s movements, civil society groups, Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations and grassroots activists united to announce a mass non-violent civil disobedience to expose the failure of the COP process.
Representatives of the networks, Climate Justice Action and Climate Justice Now!, have declared that given the urgency of the climate crisis it is time for dramatic action to expose the COP process as undemocratic, unjust and inadequate to deal with the scale of the problem. The action called for Wednesday December 16th will involve groups of activists simultaneously descending on the Conference centre from different starting points. At noon, they will join up with the mass of people walking out of the climate talks, to hold the ‘Peoples’ Assembly’, a participatory platform of marginalized voices and real solutions to climate change.
“Over the last 15 years, the COP process has been corrupted by corporate money and the refusal of the rich countries of the world to take responsibility for the problems they have created. At a very fundamental level, we need to talk about how we leave fossil fuels in the ground, but no one is talking about that inside the talks in Copenhagen,” said Ivonne Yanez of Accion Ecologica, which is a part of Climate Justice Now! Read the Call to Action
Call to Action – Reclaim Power!
On the 16th of December, at the start of the high-level “ministerial” phase of the two-week summit, we, the movements for global justice, will take over the conference for one day and transform it into a Peoples Assembly.
Our goal is to disrupt the sessions and open a space inside the UN area to hold the Assembly. The assembly will give a voice to those who are not being heard, it will be an opportunity to change the agenda, to discuss the real solutions, to send a clear message to the world calling for climate justice. Read the rest of this entry »
Activists target carbon traders’ gathering in city center Copenhagen
December 14th, 2009
December 14, COP15 – Activists staged a protest against the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), who today had their Annual General Meeting in the Copenhagen city center.
Monks selling carbon credits
60 Activists from around Europe and abroad brought the message to IETA members: “CO2-traders = Climate criminals”. Three ‘monks’ offered carbon credits as absolution for carbon sins to IETA members going in, and to the public. An IETA businessmen invited one person to go inside and have a ‘dialogue’ with IETA members, which the action group refused.
IETA is the biggest industry lobby group present at the COP15 negotiations, bringing in 486 lobbyists. Their aim is the creation of a global market for greenhouse gas emissions, including the use of highly controversial offsetting projects through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). However, current carbon trading schemes like the ETS have proven not to reduce emissions, but largely generate profits for these companies. Offsetting and the CDM have been severely criticised because it allows rich countries to avoid making emissions cuts at home. There is strong evidence that many CDM projects are creating serious social and environmental problems in developing countries. Read the rest of this entry »
Copenhagen police accused of violating human rights at UN climate summit
December 12th, 2009
Posted on 12th December 2009 by CJA:
Danish police have indiscriminately arrested hundreds of climate justice activists during a climate change protest made up of 100,000 people that took place today in Copenhagen. Questions have been raised about the fact that the arrests occurred in a different time and place to where some trouble had momentarily flared earlier in the day. Journalists have been restricted from reporting at the site of the arrests since 1800hrs.
It’s estimated that 100 people are still being held on the road in extremely cold weather, cuffed and forced into seated positions in lines (1). They have expressed severe physical discomfort and have no access to water, medical attention or toilet facilities since 1530hrs. Many activists are reported to have urinated themselves while detained on the ground.
An estimated 200 have been removed from the site and taken away in coaches. Several people are reported to have fainted around 1945hrs.
Helga Matthiassen, who was detained for an hour before being released due to an injury she had recently sustained, said, “Of course we’re angry – people all over the world are angry about being lied to by governments who are making a corporate deal at the climate talks, and now when we try to protest against this on the streets we are randomly held by police.
“Not only have we been denied the right to protest, but our basic human rights have also been ignored in this ludicrous, staged police exercise. It seems Danish Police have a new motto: why just criminalise protesters, when you can dehumanise them too?” (2)
- http://twitpic.com/t7dts
- See Helga interviewed on TV2 News, 2015 broadcast
http://news.tv2.dk/?channel
100,000 Protest at COP15, Police Make Mass Arrests (video)
December 12th, 2009
[the below is from Indymedia Denmark: http://indymedia.dk/ ]
Saturday 12th began with the NOAH Flood for Climate Justice Demonstration which started at 10am and marched, danced and waved to Højbro Plads [photo report]. The 12dec Demo started at Christiansborg Slotsplads / Parliament Square [google route map], including a CJA group, and it was soon clear that it was massive, with estimates quickly reaching 100,000 protestors. This was also part of a Global Day of Action on climate change. People were also meeting at Hojbro Plads in the same area for another action in the city.
Police Make Indiscriminate Mass Arrests
At around 3.15pm the police charged into the march near to where the CJA System Change not Climate Change group had joined the march, as well as people from the Ntac called demonstration. They cut off hundreds of people including many who were marching as part of Libertarian Socialist bloc [Pics 1> 2 | report | video]. By 5pm several hundred had been handcuffed and made to sit on the floor, where they remain in the cold for hours. The police’s press office reports that those arrested today are between 700-900 people – See AerialTwitpic.
Indigenous Peoples Lead Massive Demonstration in Copenhagen
December 12th, 2009
On COP 15′s Official “Indigenous Peoples Day”
Indigenous Peoples Lead Massive Demonstration in Copenhagen
“1.5 Degrees is Genocide”
“Indigenous rights and knowledge are foundational for addressing
climate change”
Photos and Video: Coming soon at http://pitch.pe/37787
Copenhagen, Denmark – Indigenous Peoples from across North America and
their allies from around the world who have gathered for COP 15 will
lead an unprecedented demonstration for just climate policy in
Copenhagen today. Saturday’s protests coincide with the official COP
15 “Indigenous Peoples Day” events, and so the six-kilometer march
from Christiansborg Slotsplads to the Bella Center will be led by a
contingent of delegations of Indigenous Peoples, including the
official Bolivian Delegation.
THOUSANDS TO RALLY IN COPENHAGEN DEMANDING SYSTEM CHANGE
December 12th, 2009
First Week Of Climate Talks A Predictable Failure
At the end of the first week of the climate talks at Copenhagen,
thousands of activists from the Climate Justice Action and Climate
Justice Now! networks are joining the climate march under the banner
of ‘System Change Not Climate Change’ to denounce the climate
negotiations as a predictable failure. The protesters are demanding
radical changes in economic and political systems in order to address
the climate crisis.
The coming together of the Climate Justice Action and Climate Justice
Now! is an unprecedented coalition of social movements, NGOs and
grassroots climate activists from around the world to demand
alternatives to the failed market solutions being pushed by
governments and big business.