Friday 6 November 2009

Copenhagen: mass protests planned

by Simon Butler Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in climate action protests in the Danish capital of Copenhagen during the United Nations-sponsored climate talks in December. The biggest action will be a six-kilometre march under the slogan “People First — Planet First”. More than 115 organisations have endorsed the protests, which will demand the richest countries “take the urgent and resolute action needed to prevent the catastrophic destabilisation of the global climate”. It will take place on December 12, midway through the Copenhagen conference. Organisers have called for the date to be a global day of protest. The protest call to action says: “We demand that those industrialised countries that have emitted most greenhouse gases take responsibility for climate change mitigation by immediately reducing their own emissions while investing in a clean energy revolution in the developing world. “Developed countries must take their fair share of the responsibility in paying for the adaptive measures that have to be taken, especially by low-emitting countries with limited economic resources. “Climate change will hit the poorest first, and hit them hardest. All those who have the economic means to act therefore must do so urgently and decisively.” A range of other protest events are also planned to coincide with the Copenhagen talks. Climate Justice Action, an international activist network, announced it will organise a mass action to shut down Copenhagen Harbour on December 13. Spokesperson Tadzio Mueller said: “The UN climate talks will not solve the climate crisis. We are no closer to reducing greenhouse gas emissions than we were when international negotiations began 15 years ago: emissions are rising faster than ever, while carbon trading allows climate criminals to pollute and profit.” The network will also organise a People’s Climate Justice summit on December 16. In an October 18 statement, Climate Justice Action said it opposed the false, market-based solutions that are likely to come out of Copenhagen. Instead, it called for a safe climate policy that includes: leaving fossil fuels in the ground; reasserting peoples’ and community control over production; and recognising the ecological and climate debt owed to the peoples of the global South and making reparations. For more details of protests planned during the Copenhagen climate talks, visit www.12dec09.dk/en and www.climate-justice-action.org. From: International News, Green Left Weekly issue #815 28 October 2009.

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