Tag Archives: protests

by | 2009-12-09 · 14:21

Post #5: African Delegation Protests “Danish Text” December 9, 2009

A spontaneous march erupted yesterday by African participants inside the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen demanding an end to climate colonialism.  This was in response to the leaked “Danish text” or the “Copenhagen Agreement” which includes provisions to only limit the rise in global temperatures to two degrees.  According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change a two degree increase in the global mean temperature will cause a three or more degree increase for temperatures in Africa. Such an increase in temperature would lead to widespread devastation including predictions of a 50% reduction in crop yields in some areas, cutting food outputs in half, more than 600 million people left without adequate water supplies, and massive damage to coastlines, rural communities and cities.

Marching through the Conference Center African groups chanted: “Two degrees is suicide” “One Africa, One Degree” and “No to Climate Colonialism, No to Climate Genocide” in response to the proposal.
Additionally Indigenous Peoples from around the world condemned the leaked texts which totally excluded Indigenous Peoples’ rights on all key issues.

Comments Off on Post #5: African Delegation Protests “Danish Text” December 9, 2009

Filed under Actions / Protest, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Copenhagen/COP-15, Indigenous Peoples

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | 2009-10-29 · 15:14

GJEP’s Anne Petermann on WORT FM

October 26th--Check out Global Justice Ecology Project’s E.D., Anne Petermann, speaking about the links between forests, the REDD scheme and the upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen (CorporateHaven) on WORT’s program A Public Affair out of Madison, Wisconsin.  She is in interviewed in the second half of the show after co-author of Climate Coverup, The Crusade to Deny Global Warming, James Hogan.

To listen, please click HERE

Comments Off on GJEP’s Anne Petermann on WORT FM

Filed under Climate Change

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | 2009-10-02 · 17:04

Dennis Brutus poem ‘Gull’ (Copenhagen conference)

Below you will find a short video followed by a bio whose limited capacity could not fully capture the life of the South African activist poet Dennis Brutus.

I have included a video of him speaking on his poetry and the Copenhagen climate conference (cop-15) that is fast approaching, and in the words of Dennis Brutus “we have to get ready for the fight for the survival of the planet… and Copenhagen has to be the place where the fight begins.”

Another compelling interview with Dennis Brutus HERE

Dennis Brutus, poet, scholar and famous anti-apartheid activist, shot in the back by the white controlling regime of South Africa, who served time with Nelson Mandela at Robben Island, recently encouraged that we should all ‘Seattle Copenhagen’.

While still in South Africa, Brutus was forbidden to teach, write and publish there.. Sirens, Knuckles and Boots, his first collection of poetry, was published in Nigeria while he was in prison. The book was awarded the Mbari Poetry Prize, awarded to a black poet of distinction, but Brutus turned it down on the grounds of its racial exclusivity.[2]

After he was released, Brutus fled South Africa. In 1983, Brutus won the right to stay in the United States as a political refugee, after a protracted legal struggle. He was “unbanned” in 1990. He is the Professor Emeritus of University of Pittsburgh.[3] He has now returned to South Africa and is based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal where he often contributes to the annual Poetry Africa Festival hosted by the University. He continues to support activism against neo-liberal policies in contemporary South Africa through working with NGOs.

Comments Off on Dennis Brutus poem ‘Gull’ (Copenhagen conference)

Filed under Actions / Protest, Climate Change, Copenhagen/COP-15

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | 2009-09-28 · 14:47

Pittsburgh G-20 Recap

By Shannon Gibson

Pittsburgh, PA–A week of protests against the G20 Summit and the Pittsburgh International Coal Conference culminated today with several thousand activists marching to the beat of multiple bands and mass chants calling for the dismantlement of the G20 and reclamation of the streets for the people.

Starting outside the downtown area and taking a 4 mile route, the march included three rallies. At the mid-point rally, Jihan Gearon of the Indigenous Environmental Network (and a part of the New Voices on Climate Change tour by the Global Justice Ecology Project) echoed the crowd’s sentiments that at the G20 “Green has become the new Green”, meaning that leaders of the G20 have now tagged the current climate crisis as the basis for tomorrow’s next profit-making schemes.

Gearon along with other activists from the Global Justice Ecology Project and the Mobilization for Climate Justice spoke out and carried banners in protest of the false solutions of market-based mechanisms for rectifying climate change, such as carbon trading and carbon offsets (a major asset of the U.S.’s Waxman-Markey ACESA bill), proposed by the leaders at the G20.

As protestors marched peacefully, they were flanked by hundreds of police forces dressed in full riot gear wielding batons, tasers, pepper spray and rubber bullet guns. They were also joined by combat ready National Guard troops. While police blasted marchers the day before with sound cannons (also known as Long Range Acoustic Devices – LRADs) and tear gas/pepper spray, today’s march occurred without incident or arrest.

Earlier this week, two protest groups, Seeds of Peace and the Three Rivers Climate Convergence, filed a lawsuit asking for an emergency hearing into allegations that Pittsburgh police harassed them in the run-up to the G20. Suits may arise out of incidents that arose between police forces and students at the University of Pittsburgh late Thursday evening.

Comments Off on Pittsburgh G-20 Recap

Filed under Climate Change

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,