System change, not climate change!
On Saturday the 12th of December, tens of thousands of people will march in Copenhagen to demand real and effective action on climate change. Many are still hoping, against hope, that the ‘world leaders’ gathered inside the summit will be able to deliver a good deal for planet and people. But we already know that the talks will not solve the climate crisis. We are no closer to reducing greenhouse gas emissions than we were when international negotiations began fifteen years ago: emissions are rising faster than ever, while carbon trading allows climate criminals to pollute and profit. Faced with the profound crisis of our civilisation, and the destructive impacts of the climate crisis on already marginalised communities, all we get is a political circus playing to the interests of corporations.
In response to this madness, a global movement for climate justice has emerged to reclaim power over our future. We cannot trust those who created the problem in the first place, and who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo while tinkering around the edges, to deliver what we know to be necessary. We cannot trust the market with our future, nor put our faith in unsafe, unproven and unsustainable technologies. Contrary to those who put their faith in a “green capitalism”, we know that it is impossible to have infinite growth on a finite planet. Instead of trying to fix a destructive system, we should be:
- leaving fossil fuels in the ground
- reasserting peoples’ and community control over production
- relocalising food production
- massively reducing overconsumption, particularly in the North
- recognising the ecological and climate debt owed to the peoples of the South and making reparations
- respecting indigenous and forest peoples’ rights
The only way to make this happen is if we stop waiting for someone else, somewhere else to fix the problems we face – we need to take power into our hands and build a powerful global movement that can fight for and realise climate justice: for a world in which solutions to the climate crisis are not paid for by those who have done the least to cause it; for a world where one person’s good life does not mean someone else’s exploitation; for a world with more time for pleasure, more solidarity, more real, human development; for a bright future beyond capitalism.
Join the bloc at 13:00 on Christiansborg Slotsplads (Parliament Square) in Central Copenhagen to call for
SYSTEM CHANGE, NOT CLIMATE CHANGE!
The future is bright, if we make it so: to light up the darkness, bring lights, wear bright colours, bring glitter. Gather at the three trucks carrying the bloc’s banners.
