For Immediate Release: Climate Justice Action & Climate Justice Now!
December 15, 2009
Global Alliances Announce they will Protest 15 Years of Failed Climate Negotiations
with Mass Non-Violent Civil Disobedience
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!
“Africans from inside the Bella Centre are proud to be reaching out and standing
with our brothers and sisters outside. We stand with them against a deal that will
kill Africa. President Obama cannot come here and sign the death warrant of
literally millions of Africans. Instead, he should come and march with us, listen to
us, and commit to a just, long-term deal that stops climate change and keeps our
people alive,” said Mithika Mwenda of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).
“We have no more time to waste. If governments won’t solve the problem then its
time for our diverse people’s movements to unite and reclaim the power to shape our
future. We are beginning this process with the people’s assembly. We will join
together all the voices that have been excluded—both within the process and outside
of it. We will be both non-violent and confrontational. We will not let fences and
physical barriers stand in our way, and we call upon the police to respect our
right to make our voices heard. This is a global emergency. What are you willing to
do to insure our children’s future?” said Stine Gry, a representative of Climate
Justice Action.
The Reclaim Power action will bring together climate activists, representatives of
climate-impacted communities and Indigenous Peoples from around the world for the
Peoples’ Assembly that will take place on Wednesday, 16 December. The range of
actions will include not only participants in the COP process walking out of the
talks but also thousands of people who have been excluded from the talks making
their way into the grounds of the Bella Center.
