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On
Saturday, Dec. 12, 100,000 demonstrated in the streets of Copenhagen outside the COP 15 summit
demanding urgent action against global warming—more than double the
numbers that organizers had predicted or even dared expect. While of
course a high percentage of demonstrators came from Denmark itself and from neighboring
countries Sweden and Germany (where there is somewhat of
a tradition of mobilizing for each other’s events), this was a truly
international demonstration.
One
of the biggest delegations from outside Denmark was the 850-strong special
train organized by the Belgian group, Climate Social Justice. It
brought activists not only from Belgium but from France and Britain too, in an epic journey
that took more than 12 hours each way but facilitated a broader
participation—and more international discussion—than would otherwise
have been possible.
While
the delegations from the countries from the global South were
necessarily smaller than those from Europe, their presence was warmly
welcomed. The popular slogan of “Climate justice now!” was clearly seen
by most protesters as meaning the leaders of the rich countries needed
to listen to the demands of the global South—and was also seen as one
of the essential demands of the day.
Indeed,
the radicality of the slogans that dominated
a mobilization that involved most of the large non-governmental
organizations as well as more radical sections of the climate justice
movement was noteworthy. The dominant placards on the march were those
distributed by Greenpeace—though they didn’t carry that organization’s
logo or reflect their politics! The organization conducted an unusual
experiment and asked people to suggest slogans via their website and
then produced the most popular. These included: “Nature does not compromise,”
“There is no planet B,” “Bla Bla Bla … Act now,”
“Change the politics, not the climate” and “Climate justice now.”
Political
parties, trade unions, and peasants organizations were also present in
this colorful, radical, and truly internationalist demonstration
through the bitterly cold streets of Copenhagen to the fortress of the Bella Center, where the summit itself
was taking place. If the majority of the official negotiators seemed to
have no answers to the threat of climate chaos, those on the streets
had many.
The
repression of protesters by the police has become a big issue. During
Saturday’s march, almost 1000 demonstrators were encircled by the
police and prevented from moving. Many had to wait up to five hours
seated directly on the tarmac—hands on the back—before being taken to
the detention center. All but a few of those arrested were released
without charge within few hours.
Actions by a small group of “Black Block” supporters
was used
by the police as justification for their action. At the former Stock
Exchange and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stones and firecrackers
were thrown. But the police intervention happened almost 1 km. further
along the route of the demonstration, making it completely arbitrary
who was in fact detained. In the run-up to the summit, the Danish
parliament had hastily approved the “Scoundrels Act,” a package of new
laws that include the right for the police to hold people for 12 hours
(it was previously six) in preventive arrest without the right to
appear before a judge.
The
COP15 also became the occasion for the convergence of many thousands of
grassroots activists to debate the challenges and solutions to global
warming. The main center for the debates was the Peoples Climate
Summit.
A
common declaration was agreed upon (see www.kilaforum09.org).
In the same way as the slogans of the demonstration, the declaration
also poses a radical approach to climate change, as shown by its title
System Change—Not Climate Change. It points toward the need for “a just
and sustainable transition of our societies to a form that will ensure
the rights of life and dignity of all peoples and deliver a more
fertile planet and more fulfilling lives to future generations.” It
takes a stance against market mechanisms such as carbon trading and
offsetting and for at least a 40% reduction in emissions by the
developed countries by 2020.
Inside
the Bella Center, Hugo Chavez from Venezuela echoed much of what has
been raised by the activists and saluted them for being on the streets.
“If the climate were a bank, they would have
bailed it out already” was one of his most pertinent comments, in a
long and powerful speech that drew applause from many who heard it. The
Bolivian delegation also made a strong and powerful intervention from
the inside.
But
it is what happened on Dec. 12 that sums up the real step change for
the movement for climate justice. That mobilization itself was of
course preceded by significant demonstrations in many individual cities
and countries across the globe
as the summit began on Dec. 5. But certainly the number of
demonstrators on the streets of Copenhagen is a proof positive that it
is possible to develop mass mobilizations on the issue of global
warming.
Given
that it was the largest demonstration on any question in Denmark for
more than 20 years, it will undoubtedly give a massive boost to what
has been up until now a relatively weak movement on the question of
climate change in that country. Other demonstrations on this question
have only involved a few hundred people.
But
beyond this, at an international level it shows that there is a new
movement being born and radicalized across the globe.
Naomi
Klein, in an article for The Nation on Dec. 12 entitled
“Copenhagen: Seattle Grows Up,” makes many comparisons between the
movement for climate justice and the battles against free trade
symbolized by Seattle and what came after. But she also makes the
crucial point that what weakened that movement was that while it was
clear what it was against it was less sure what it was for. She is
right. Climate justice activists are clear—there is an alternative and
we are determined to build it!
*This
article is excerpted from International Viewpoint (IV) magazine. Terry
Conway is an IV editor and a leading member of Socialist Resistance,
British section of the Fourth International. Thomas Eisler is a leader of SAP, Danish section of the
Fourth International.
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