COPENHAGEN - November 23 - As hopes of a meaningful deal at the Copenhagen Climate Talks fade, a global protest is building against the failure of world leaders to make progress on this critical issue.

There will be an initial ‘wave’ of protests on Saturday 5th December, just before the opening of the Talks, with tens of thousands expected in London and Brussels and thousands more in Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, Paris and Berlin.

Saturday 12th December will see a huge mobilisation from all around Europe to Copenhagen, itself, where there will be a march from the Danish Parliament building to the Conference centre. See http://www.12dec09.dk/ .

On the same day there will be demonstrations and events all around the world with tens of thousands expected in ‘Walks against Warming’ all around Australia, up to 50,000 expected on the streets of New Delhi, twenty thousand at a concert in Utrecht and a host of other events from Dakar to Djakarta and from Buenos Aires to Istanbul. See www.globalclimatecampaign.org

Phil Thornhill, from the Campaign against Climate Change in the UK, said, on behalf of the Global Climate Campaign  “Every year of inaction sees us slide closer to the point where a tragedy of unprecedented scale becomes irreversible.  As politicians fail to find the collective will to overcome inertia, international rivalries, and the all pervasive power of vested interests, ordinary people all around the world will be demanding decisive action now, not later when the fate of billions could be already have been sealed and the catastrophe will have become unstoppable”.

Goksen Sahin from “Kuresel Eylem Grubu” (Global Action Group), in Turkey, said, on behalf of the Global Climate Campaign, “We need an agreement from Copenhagen which puts the needs of the planet first, not the interests of big corporations and what is convenient for politicians. This is what the grassroots movement, both on the streets of Copenhagen and around the world, will be demanding”

Notes

1. The Global Climate Campaign is a loose network of individuals, groups and organisations from all around the world which come together to organise international demonstrations on climate change, synchronised on a ‘Global Day of Action’, at the time of the annual UNFCCC Talks on climate change. There has been such a Global Day of Action on climate every year since 2005, in up to seventy countries and with hundreds of thousands involved.

 

2. Some useful links to info on the web:

Klimaforum09   Alternative conference Copenhagen

Flood for Climate Justice  Friends of the Earth International event in Copenhagen, 12th December

http://www.12dec09.dk/   Main march to Conference centre, Copenhagen, 12th December

Climate Emergency Rally’ Speakers Corner, Hyde Park will feed into “The Wave” in London, 5th December

“The Wave”, Scotland, Glasgow, 5th December

“The Wave”, Ireland, Dublin, 5th December

Action du 5 Decembre Brussels, 5th December.

Action d'Ultimatum Climatique  Paris, 5th December.

Climate Action Day  Germany, 5th December

“Beat the Heat Now !”   Utrecht, 12th December “No Maastricht on Sea” ,  Maastricht 12th December

“Klimaseilas” , Oslo, 12th December

Klimaprotest., Vienna, 12th December

100 piazze per il clima”  Italy, 12th December

Kuresel Isinmayi Durdurun 12i  Turkey, 12th December

Walk Against Warming Australia, 12th December