“a ti, a ti, a ti capitalista!”
Rachel Weil and Athena Laines – two seniors studying in the College of Arts and Sciences — represented in and around the UN Climate Summit and Klimaforum09, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Rach and Athena are back on Comm Ave. Here’s the last post from Denmark (you can also get the rundown on Rach and Athena’s search for eco-meaning on BU Today):
DAY FIVE & six
Our last day in Copenhagen was certainly one of the most action-packed. We got up early to join the ‘Reclaim Power‘ protest, aiming to join activists inside and outside the Bella Center in a people’s assembly to make faster decisions on climate change solutions. The Bella Center, it turns out, is quite far from the city center and the special ‘COP15‘ buses are for badged persons only. Well la-di-da. We finally unite with the march of a couple thousand people shouting about frustrations with the negotiations and capitalism in general (“a ti, a ti, a ti capitalista!”) Here was student activism at its finest, in the most global cause of them all. So global, in fact, that there were many different motives for the march being conveyed. But at the heart of it was this urgency for solutions to a problem not being properly addressed at these conferences.
The protest was met by the most politi (police) that I have ever seen in my life. I heard that about 75% of the Danish police force and army were in Copenhagen for the conference. As activists linked arms and tried to push through over fences and police cars, the patrol became violent and used pepper spray to deter the nonviolent demonstrators. Activist first aid teams were in place, as people came staggering over blinded by the pepper spray or hurt by other acts of brutality. About 250 people were arrested this day, and the NGOs who particpated inside the Bella Center, attempting to get out, were banished from the negotiations for the next few days. As I learned later that day from my friend Frederik, the protest lasted until after dark, but ultimately no one was able to enter the center.
While I am certainly an advocate of non-violence, this issue requires a kind of urgency that is very difficult to convey. Protests, marches, hunger strikes and photo petitions all certainly help the cause and attract new advocates; but we need a kind of demonstration that is can be furthered on a day to day basis. The basic valuation of our future existence is at stake for shorter term political and economic goals that will seem miniscule very soon to the Tuvalus and Maldives of the world. We’re down to the last straws in this conference, and even if miraculously the ‘high-level’ officials and diplomats arriving to Copenhagen in the next 24 hours decide to set a binding emissions target (or the Governator will be back), its going to come down to the people. These talks have exposed a greater public to the urgency of addressing climate change for nations already needing to make adaptations, as well as general exposure for global interest in the issue. So thank you, Copenhagen and your many pseudonyms of the last few weeks, for raising the world’s awareness and engaging a global population in one of the most consequential challenges of our time.
Rachel Weil
Day 5 and 6.December 16 and 17
My last full day in Copenhagen was packed full of stuff. We woke up early to move into a hostel for the last day before it was off to a protest at the Bella Center. It was definitely the most intense protest I have ever been to. People were there from all over the world and chanting was taking place in languages I could not understand. Although there was a few different messages being conveyed, one of the overall themes was “System Change, Not Climate Change.” This protest was about fundamentally changing the way countries interact with each other through trade, through food and through climate justice. As we approached the center, the police started to step up their presence and let us know the center was closed to us. It did not matter to the protests as they tried repeatedly on the count of 3 to push into the center to meet those NGO’s who were trying to meet us on the outside. We left after we realized the “people’s assembly” was not going to meet. I heard tear gas and pepper spray was used both on the protesters on the outside and on the NGO’s on the inside and that it lasted until the early evening without the people’s assembly meeting.
Afterwards, we headed to Klimaforum09 to listen in on a panel talk on Tibet’s struggles caused by both its occupation of China and climate change. They explained how a changing climate was changing the lives of nomads in Tibet. People that were living off the grassland for thousands of years were now forced to look elsewhere for a way of life. The last event for the night was Copenhagen’s Earth Hour. Although Earth Hour is held each year at the end of March, Copehhagen used its Hopenhagen Live stage to bring the event to the COP15 city. It was an interesting event because the lights all over the city did turn off but events continued on the stage, blaring lights and all. I wonder if the organizers thought about the obvious hypocrisy of asking everyone to turn off their lights yet they kept the lights going for the whole hour for different musical acts. Our last day in Copenhagen was powerful, and the next day we were off to catch our plane.
My trip to Copenhagen, during the most important international talks on climate change was the most amazing experience in my life. I met so many different people with many different points of views. I learned a little more about how climate change was affecting those in the 3rd world nations as well as what ordinary people were doing to curb their own emissions. The energy in the city was unlike anything I had ever felt. With talks expected to run late into the night, I would only hope world leaders would take a few minutes to learn from all those who traveled far and wide to be at a city that could serve as a turning point for the climate change movement.
Athena Laines
Saw this comment – on the BU Today site – that adds another point of view to Rach and Athena’s observations:
I also just returned from Copenhagen as an NGO observer; being in the conference was a very different experience from the Hopenhagen events and the Klimaforum, both of which I sat in on for a while. The whole scene was really interesting, especially in the Bella Center and circulating around with people like the head of the UNDP, UN Foundation, and World Food Program. From what I gathered (my group met with Al Gore on Wednesday morning as I was flying out), Al Gore is not very optimistic about the process. As of Tuesday, the ministers still hadn’t decided what form of a treaty they were negotiating at all… so basically they weren’t getting anywhere because it still hasn’t been determined whether the treaty will be one treaty or whether it will be two tracks with the Kyoto Protocol countries on one and everyone else on another. Hopefully in the coming days the heads of state will do something, but beware the results. No matter what happens by tomorrow, they will call it victory; 110 or so heads of state cannot show up and not call whatever they achieve a victory. Look carefully at the substance… it may be called a victory, but may not be at all.
We’ve also been following Rachel and Athena’s tweets. Rach and Athena are back – ask them about their travels and their search for eco-meaning.
Peace.