Category: Rest of Europe

The cli­mate cat­a­stro­phe has not hap­pened by ran­dom chance and the melt­ing glac­i­er is not its place. Our eco­nom­ic sys­tem, the way it pro­duces goods, and the way they are trans­port­ed and final­ly con­sumed is the root of cli­mate change.

We do not believe that this COP will solve the cli­mate cri­sis. The del­e­gates, NGOs and com­pa­ny rep­re­sen­ta­tives are stuck in an ide­ol­o­gy of nev­er end­ing eco­nom­ic growth and uni­ver­sal mar­ket solu­tions to all human-made prob­lems, such as eco­log­i­cal destruc­tion. Social jus­tice issues are con­se­quent­ly ignored.

On Decem­ber 13th we call for action on this eco­nom­ic sys­tem. We encour­age affin­i­ty groups to take action on tar­gets in Copen­hagen, and abroad. In the Morn­ing of Decem­ber 13th we will also shut down the har­bour of Copen­hagen through a mass action block­ade. The har­bour is a key sym­bol of the glob­al free-mar­ket econ­o­my. Here becomes vis­i­ble what is usu­al­ly hid­den: eco­log­i­cal dete­ri­o­ra­tion, eco­nom­ic and social exploita­tion, and utter injus­tice.

Since the dawn of colo­nial­ism the glob­al ship­ping indus­try has been char­ac­ter­ized by vio­lence. What was once gold pil­laged from the Incas is these days prof­it based on cheap resources and cheap labour — usu­al­ly trans­port­ed by ships. Today, con­tain­er ship­ping is one of the foun­da­tions of cap­i­tal­ism. There are hard­ly any reg­u­la­tions: fuel is not taxed, emis­sions are not sub­ject to con­trol and bor­ders are seem­ing­ly non-exis­tent for con­tain­er ships. At the same time, the nev­er end­ing need for more cheap goods is almost lim­it­less. The ‘free’ glob­al flow of goods con­tin­ues to grow — with ben­e­fits for only the few.

But where­as these flows of goods can enter the EU/ rich world freely, humans can­not. As soon as peo­ple do not have the right pass­port or enough mon­ey when enter­ing rich coun­tries, they are put in pris­ons, deport­ed and deprived of the most basic human rights. And the mil­i­tari­sa­tion of the seas is not just hap­pen­ing around the EU bor­ders. It is also used to pro­tect inter­na­tion­al ship­ping, like in Soma­lia where inter­na­tion­al fish­ing fleets have robbed Soma­li fish­er­men of the fun­da­men­tal ele­ments of their exis­tence.

Final­ly, inter­na­tion­al ship­ping is more than just a method of trans­port for the glob­al econ­o­my. It is in itself a pri­ma­ry cause of cli­mate change. Approx­i­mate­ly 5% of Glob­al Green­house Emis­sions are pro­duced by the ship­ping indus­try. Con­tain­er ship fuel is basi­cal­ly tox­ic waste left over from petrol pro­duc­tion, con­tain­ing high amounts of sul­phur and mer­cury. And like inter­na­tion­al flights, nobody is respon­si­ble for ship­ping indus­try emis­sions under the Kyoto Pro­to­col.

Cli­mate jus­tice and real social change will not come from above. Effec­tive change has to come from every­one — affect­ed, respon­si­ble, and observ­er. True change has to be orga­nized and real­ized by peo­ple all over the world — all peo­ple on the streets and in the fields. We say no to the pow­er of gov­ern­ments, com­pa­nies and so-called non-gov­ern­ment organ­i­sa­tions which are only inter­est­ed in main­tain­ing their pow­er, influ­ence and flows of cap­i­tal.

We will try to stop this mad­ness for a day. Fight­ing for cli­mate jus­tice means chang­ing our eco­nom­ic sys­tem and this needs to hap­pen here in the rich glob­al north, which reaps the most ben­e­fits from the dis­as­ter. For the free flow of peo­ple and ideas, instead of flows of goods to ben­e­fit the few.

Con­tact htp@riseup.net to get involved with plan­ning the action, or come to one of our next meet­ings: Berlin Octo­ber 3–4 & Copen­hagen Octo­ber 18.