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Protests in Copenhagen over excluded Peoples and NGOs |
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16 Dec 2009, 11:06 AM
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An array of civil society, delegates and negotiating parties representing a global alliance of both north and south civil society groups, people's movements, indigenous representatives and even some governments have begun a dramatic protest today disrupting the inside of the Bella Center, which is hosting the Copenhagen Climate Talks. Hundreds of representatives gathered in the central hall this morning and loudly marched out of the Bella Center in protest.
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The march is headed out to join the thousands of people who have been excluded outside and participate in the Peoples' Assembly which is a centerpiece of today's Reclaim Power action. Yesterday, Dr. Tadzio Mueller of Berlin, an accredited NGO observer at the COP 15 was arrested without provocation by three plain clothed police outisde the Bella Center. His arrest took place shortly after a press conference where he and other representatives of civil society announced nonviolent protests planned for today.
Danish police also raided a Climate Justice Action convergence space where activists were repairing bicycles to showcase fossil fuel alternatives, and arrested another 20 people outside of the official NGO summit "Klimaforum."
"The Danish police are clearly taking their cues from the Connie Hedegard and the Annex One posse who are trying to strong arm the world into accepting their agenda and silencing the thousands of people who have come to Copenhagen to demand action for climate justice," said Dorothy Guerro, Senior Associate with Focus on the Global South, a founding organization of the Climate Justice Now Network. "First they shut the public out of the climate negotiations, then they shut out 80% of NGOs who have been accredited to attend, and now they are jailing people who challenge the undemocratic nature of the climate negotiations, while the future of life on earth literally hangs in the balance. "
"I wish I could say that I was surprised at this outrageous behavior, but I am not," stated Anne Petermann, Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project, the group that hosted the press conference. "The UN Climate Convention has become increasingly unjust and repressive. The Danish Government, which is hosting the talks is making back room deals with the U.S. and other Northern countries to sabotage any possibility of an effective and just climate agreement. It stands to reason that they would deploy their security and police forces to crush any dissent--especially if it is designed to build an effective international climate justice movement," she continued.
"The lives of billions of people are literally on the line here at COP 15, but these negotiations have been focused on propping up the interests of elite countries and corporations rather than addressing the fossil fuel economy that threatens our collective survival," stated Kevin Smith, of Climate Justice Action. "It is for this reason that we are gathering for the Reclaim Power protest and Peoples Plenary that will happen tomorrow at the UN Climate COP."
"The surgical removal of non governmental organizations underscores the lack of democracy inherent in these negotiations." said Professor Micheal Dorsey, a member of the Climate Justice Now! Network. "The United Nations process has systematically failed the world's marginalized countries and consistently excludes those that would dare support and fighton behalf of those countries. The only way to avoid catastrophic climate change is fully supporting and including peoples movements like the very ones illegitimately removed from this process."
Today we are seeing thousands of people joining together to fight for climate justice," said Natalie Swift, a spokeperson with Climate Justice Action. "We need systems change to create a world which is truly just and sustainable and solve the climate crisis."
Credits:: The tiny island of Tuvalu is slowing disappearing beneath the Pacific as sea level rises.
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