Call to prepare and organise a climate camp in Germany!
1) The idea
2) How the idea emerged and how where we can go from here
3) Why organise a climate camp?
4) Communication
1. The Idea
Following the model established by the Camp for Climate Action in the UK, which was held for the second time this year, we want to initiate the process of organising a Climate-Action Camp in Germany in 2008. Just like in the UK we want to create links between the exchange of knowledge (in workshops), self-organised living (in the camp) that minimises our ecological footprint, networking and direct action.
The last two camps in the UK specifically targeted particular installations, against which direct or thematically appropriate actions were organised. Last year’s target was the UK’s largest coal-fired power station, while this year the camp drew attention to the aviation industry and the expansion of London’s Heathrow airport. Whether we should also choose such focal points in Germany should be discussed at the preparatory meetings.
2. How the idea emerged and how where we can go from here
This email and initial call emerged from this year’s Camp for Climate Action in the UK, when several German-speaking people met there who had all, independently of each other, had the idea of organising such a camp in Germany. We hope to use a first planning meeting either on the last weekend in October or the first weekend in November (26.–28.10. / 2.–4.11) somewhere in the geographical centre of Germany to decide how to go on from here. If you want to attend the meeting, go to http://www.doodle.de/yu8vxh39em9zh7s7 and enter your preferred date – we can then select the most suitable date (provided it doesn’t clash with local organisation). Both date and location should be agreed on by the end of September.
3. Why organise a Climate-Action Camp
Climate chaos is a reality. And there’s not much time left to limit the damage. Which is exactly why we can’t simply jump into knee-jerk activism that simply reproduces the causes of the problem. Rather, we need to take profound direct action, without of course excluding people. We also need grounded analyses of the fundamental structures that serve to highlight the urgent need for social transformation and can communicate information about the underlying causes to a wider audience.
Climate Change is not only an ecological problem, but also a question of the distribution of its consequences. It thus also poses social questions. This is why we need immediate and direct action. Of course, we also need to discuss many other questions, for example the following (a first rough list compiled by us in the camp):
- How can we act effectively?
— What does a carbon-neutral life look like? What kind of utopias do we need? Which alternatives can we live already now?
— Why are the media suddenly interested in the issue of climate change? Which interests are pushing this? Are these interests also our own?
— Do we trust states and businesses to save us? Or do we create our own solutions?
— How do we judge the climate change policies pursued until now by environmental NGOs? What are their effects?
— Is it possible to protect the climate in the context of the current socio-economic system? Or is there a need for radical social change?
— Who profits from climate change? And what does that mean for our actions?
A climate camp could pursue these and many other questions, inspire people to think and act politico-ecologically, it could be a space for experimentation, think-tank and a space to network further common actions. Of course, we’d first have to decide:
- What could a climate camp in Germany look like?
— How could it be organised?
— Who would join?
4. Communication
Info:
Website of the UK Camp for Climate Action:
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/
Indymedia reports:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/actions/2007/climatecamp/
Website of the UK-based Network for Climate Action
http://www.networkforclimateaction.org.uk
Reports on Indymedia Germany:
http://de.indymedia.org/2007/09/193563.shtml
For future communication sign up to our email list
http://lists.trilos.net/mailman/listinfo/klimacamp
We are also working on setting up some sort of internet-presence. Details to be decided at our first meeting.
http://www.klimacamp.org/
If you want to get in touch with us directly, let us know via the mailing list. We are from different parts of Germany (e.g. Freiburg, Berlin, Wendland region, Bremen) and can maybe travel to where you are to report back from the Camp with fotos and movies (as motivation in the run-up to the first organisational gathering).
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Camp for Climate Action 2007 video — the insider’s view
A 30 minute film of the climate camp has been edited from material shot on camp by indymedia type media activists working with the climate camp.
New photo galleries by various people from this year’s camp
And the handy compilations of news, photos, audio & video on this site:
Climate Camp Land Occupied & directions
Camp for Climate Action — all the info you need to get there with the right stuff, take action & do workshops
Camp for Climate Action up & running — workshops, eco-infrastructure, litter pick & Bicycology day out, plus assorted photos
Direct actions stations — climate camp
Police actions & (counter-)surveillance at the climate camp; FITwatch
24 hours of climate direct action (mass & affinity group actions spread like wildfire); plus video/audio clips
and news of the US climate convergences & actions on the West Coast and in the South East