Reclaim Power - Fight the System

The sights and sounds from the streets of Copenhagen during the COP15 Climate Conference. As broad frustration grew with the direction of the COP15 negotiations, international networks of people’s movements, civil society groups, indigenous peoples organizations and grassroots activists united to expose the COP process as undemocratic, unjust, and inadequate to deal with the scale of the problem.

Reclaim Power Copenhagen from allan lissner on Vimeo.

More from the streets of Copenhagen here

Reclaim Power - Fight the System

As the COP 15 climate talks entered their final days and world leaders converged on Copenhagen, thousands demonstrated in the streets of Copenhagen as part of the “Reclaim Power” movement.  As broad frustration grew with 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 stage mass non-violent civil disobedience to expose the failure of the COP process. Representatives of these networks, Climate Justice Action and Climate Justice Now!, 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 march was led by representatives of impacted communities and indigenous peoples

The Reclaim Power action brought together climate activists, representatives of climate-impacted communities and Indigenous peoples from around the world for a peoples assembly that took place outside the Bella Center. The range of actions included 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 to call for Climate Justice.

The current levels of action ...

“The current levels of action to fight the suffering & injustice aren’t enough. We need to make it the primary aim of human society, & everyone’s absolute priority, to maximize well-being for everyone, instead of competing for profit. Please help fight the suffering & injustice (& help reform structures so that we can achieve this) & it will help you too. We all want the same underlying things.”

Climate Justice Now!

“I participated in this protest because climate change is already killing people in Africa. This is an emergency and we need climate justice now! We must acknowledge that we from the south are the real creditors and the governments of the North are the real debtors. They owe the world economic debt, ecological debt and climate debt and they must pay now!”

- Wahu Kaara of the Kenya Debt Relief Network.

Thousands of people braved the sub-zero temperatures determined make their voices heard.

“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.”

- Stine Gry, Climate Justice Action.

Bella Center - By Invitation Only

About 300 COP 15 delegates marched out of the Bella Center and attempted to join the protests outside, led by members of the Bolivian delegation and the Indigenous Peoples Caucus. These delegates were met with police truncheons; some were badly bruised. Hundreds more UNFCCC accredited Civil Society observers were denied access to the Bella Center all together, including the entire Friends of the Earth International delegation, who staged a sit-in in the lobby at the Bella Center– and the Indigenous Peoples Caucus, who were scheduled to meet with Bolivian President Evo Morales.

Strong Arms

“In the wake of the mass exclusions of critical civil society voices from the COP 15 process, and with the future of our planet literally hanging in the balance, we joined the mass nonviolent movement in Copenhagen to protest the unjust agenda of the rich countries who are trying to strong arm the rest of the world into accepting their agenda of allowing global warming by 2 degrees — which will literally wipe entire nations off the map.”

- Anne Peterman of Global Justice Ecology Project and Climate Justice Now! who joined the march out of the Bella Center.

I Will Not React to Your Violence

“ I think its important that people understand that these are non-violent protests, if you go to the reclaim power website, you will see a very clear statement of principles that this is an act of non-violent civil disobedience, and the organizers further state that even if they are faced with violence by the police, they will not escalate. Now I think that this is very important to understand because … there have been big debates in the activist community about whether or not to have a ‘diversity of tactics’ – there has been a very real reluctance to lay down these kind of very clear rules. In this case, the rules are down because there is a widespread understanding that the best thing that could happen to the corporations … is for the discussion about real solutions that we want to have outside the Bella Center … if it were upstaged by a very boring discussion about cops versus protesters, and broken windows, and non-violence versus violence – that is so not the discussion that we want to have.”

- Naomi Klein, Journalist, Activist and Author of “The Shock Doctrine”

Cops vs Protesters - Boring!

“We want to talk about the violence of climate change, which is on such a huge scale, I mean here at this confernce we’ve been talking about decisions made by negotiators about 1.5 versus 2 degrees and one route could lead to the additional deaths of millions of people. So the stakes are very high, and what I’ve seen is a huge commitment in the activist community to keeping the focus on the issues. … and I think that part of what’s happening here in Copenhagen is that there has been this huge rebranding effort, and it is related to what we are talking about here beause you’ve got companies like Siemens and Coka-Cola who are saying that they are trying to co-brand with the summit and show Copenhagen as this place where this decisive summit happened, and it doesn’t have room for what people want to say about what’s not working about this summit, so people are just being taken out of the picture whenever the message interrupts with that ‘Hopenhagen’ message”

- Naomi Klein continued.

The Real Violence

“The real violence is happening inside the negotiation rooms. Decisions taken there (and NOT taken there) are leading to more natural disasters, more land grabs, more evictions in the name of environement protection and more hunger and poverty. The more the talks advance, the more farmers and activists are muzzled. Some countries are excluded from the discussions through the “green room” processes, accreditations to the conference are suddenly being restricted and protestors are arrested arbitrarily.”

- La Via Campesina, International Peasant Movement

Defending Dominance

"There's a fight going on for the survival of millions of people"

“I’m writing from inside the negotiations where the mood is getting tenser by the hour. The formal sessions have been delayed at the moment as diplomats supposedly work behind the scenes to move the process forward. In rooms around the building, many developing country delegations are meeting to discuss their endgame strategy and hold strong while the pressure from rich countries continues to mount. Speeches by more heads of state — including presidents from island nations and other vulnerable countries — are scheduled to begin again in a few hours. It’s hard to contrast these pictures with the usual image of bureaucracy here inside the talks: all suits and policy papers as far as the eye can see. But under the surface, the emotions are the same. Don’t let the long-winded, even toned addresses fool you: there’s a fight going on for the survival of millions of people and many nations around the world.”

- Jamie Henn, itsgettinghotinhere.org

Systematic Sabotage

“Even before the farce in Copenhagen began it was looking like it might be too late to prevent two or more degrees of global warming. The nation states, pursuing their own interests, have each been passing the parcel of responsibility since they decided to take action in 1992. We have now lost 17 precious years, possibly the only years in which climate breakdown could have been prevented. This has not happened by accident: it is the result of a systematic campaign of sabotage by certain states, driven and promoted by the energy industries. This idiocy has been aided and abetted by the nations characterised, until now, as the good guys: those that have made firm commitments, only to invalidate them with loopholes, false accounting and outsourcing. In all cases immediate self-interest has trumped the long-term welfare of humankind. Corporate profits and political expediency have proved more urgent considerations than either the natural world or human civilisation. Our political systems are incapable of discharging the main function of government: to protect us from each other.”

- George Monbiot, for the Guardian

Lacking Sensitivity

“I think the countries that can really make a difference have not really got sensitive enough to the plight of the poorest of the poor. I think that’s a harsh reality which we have no choice but to accept. And I hope that will change. … You know, climate change and acting to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases would affect every sector of the economy. And there’s a certain inertia over there. There’s a certain vested interest that almost sees that as an enemy of business as usual.  So I’m not surprised. I mean, this is something that we should have anticipated. People are not going to give up their so-called benefits. They’re not going to give up the profits that they are making from what they are doing business on. And it’s inevitable that you’ll get this kind of resistance. But I think truth will triumph, and science will triumph.”

- Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Pachauri and the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

The Enemy is Profit

Part II Coming Soon ….

More photos from Copenhagen:

Copenhagen Climate Protest – Dec12

From Athabasca to Copenhagen

The protest was led by the Indigenous Environmental Network.

Speakers: Mother & daughter Susan and Eriel Deranger from the Athabasca Chipewan First Nation, just downriver from the Tar Sands oil projects in Alberta, Canada.

Clayton Thomas-Muller, of the Indigenous Action Network, led the protestors' chants of "Shut down the Tar Sands!"

Clayton Thomas-Muller, of the Indigenous Action Network, led the protestors' chants of "Shut down the Tar Sands!"

Implement Indigenous Peoples Rights!

Harper: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Implement Indigenous Peoples Rights!

Clayton Thomas-Muller embraces Maude Barlow, of the Council of the Canadians, at the end of the rally.

The Indigenous Environmental Network delivered a welcoming basket for Prime Minister Steven Harper containing, among other things, copies of several treaties broken by the Canadian government, a copy of the Kyoto Protocol, and a copy of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

A mask of Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper hangs on the street outside the Canadian Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Besides these photos, I also video recorded the speeches made by the speakers at the protest.  Some of the speakers included Francois Paulette of Fort Smith First Nation, Naomi Kline Canadian author of “No Logo” and “The Shock Doctrine”, Eriel Deranger of Rainforest Action Network, Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians, and others.  I will get the videos posted as soon as I can.

Organizers estimated that there may have been as many as 100,000 people taking part in the march; police estimates put the figure at 40,000. So the actual number was probably somewhere in between.

Another World is Possible - Another World is Coming - Another World is Reality

Tens of thousands of people joined the march

Let the Rich Pay

Nature doesn't Compromise

350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide—measured in "Parts Per Million" in our atmosphere. 350 PPM—it's the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change (see 350.org).

Act the F*ck Now

Time for Climate Justice

Stop Global Warming! Outside the Danish Parliament building.

Bla Bla Bla ... Act Now!

Barack Obama (USA), Steven Harper (Canada), and other world leaders taking orders from the corporate puppet master.

Global South Youth

Canadian Tar Sands - World's Biggest Climate Crime

Riot police protecting McDonald's. While the mood of protest was festive and peaceful, police found reason to arrest 968 protestors, which predictably stole most of the headlines. Police claimed they made the arrests after rocks were thrown and a fire cracker was set off. Witnesses have claimed that the police rounded up people indiscriminately. The 968 arrested were tied up and forced to sit on the street in the cold for three to four hours before being bussed away. The prisoners were denied repeated requests to go to the bathroom and many of them peed in their pants as they were sitting there waiting. By morning, most of the prisoners have been released and only four are now facing charges.

We Want to Stay Here Longer. Please Be Vegan!

There is No Planet B

The march ended outside the Bella Centre, where the UNFCCC Climate Conference is being held. People lit candles and the evening ended with a candle light vigil, lighting "candles of hope to stand in solemn solidarity with the citizens of the nations whose very survival is threatened by the climate crisis."

Candles of Hope

Act Now!

Change the Future

Running Out of Time

System Change Not Climate Change

Climate Change Kills. Act Now. Save Lives.

Save Santa

Freedom to Pollute

Candle of Hope

More photos from Copenhagen:

Reclaiming Power in Copenhagen Part I

From Athabasca to Copenhagen

Recommended Reading:

“Climate Change: Leaders of the Rich World are Enacting a Giant Fraud” by Johann Hari for GlobalResearch.ca

“Against Copenhagen: Why we need to ‘lose’ at this week’s climate summit if we are to win the fight against global warming.” - By Michael M’Gonigle for The Tyee

“Playing For Keeps: Would We Listen to Nature if Our Lives Depended On it?” by Derrick Jensen for The Onion

“Expectations and Realities in Copenhagen” by Wangari Maathai