Is going to the Copenhagen Summit in December 2009 going to help to build a mass movement that takes non-violent direct action on climate change in the United Kingdom? What are the dangers of spending so much time and energy organising for a summit? What would short-term success at the summit look like? And what would it cost? What projects won't go forward? Or go forward with less vigour than they otherwise would have? What happens if the most dedicated and high-profile activists are focussed on preparing for- and then heading off- to Copenhagen for two or three weeks? Alternatives? Every day while the negotiations happen, there could be a whole range of actions, from the very very non-arrestable through to the harder end of things. Different days could focus on different industries (aviation, power generation, oil industry, agriculture, transport, cement, forestry etc) and/or different countries could "adopt" different days, in a rolling programme of actions. The 15 months from September 08 to December 09 could be spent on small-scale direct actions scattered across the countries of the UK, from open and fluffy through to closed actions, with a constant focus on "December 09 and beyond". Resources could be made available on the web on paper and via social centres and friendship groups on how each was done, what worked and didn't, with a spectrum menu so people could quickly get information relevant to the type of thing that they wanted to do. The camp movement, working in conjunction with other green groups that don't (yet) share a commitment to NVDA, could create enormous political (and economic) pressure on the governments and corporations meeting in Copenhagen. Are the key questions- |
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The Big Questions
Hello cop15.
Some people might be put off by your name, as they might feel you are a member of the Police Force, which of course you are not.
COP 15 refers to the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention. This will be held in Copenhagen in Denmark in December 2009.
The same conference will be MOP 5 - the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.
The Big Questions :-
You ask "Is going to the Copenhagen Summit in December 2009 going to help to build a mass movement that takes non-violent direct action on climate change in the United Kingdom?"
There would be several ways to "go to" the Copenhagen Summit. Many people feel that if one were to go INSIDE the conference (as a member of a national delegation, a major Non Governmental Organisation NGO or as a business lobby, or some other constituency, for example, services to the conference), that that would be a compromise, that one would be compromised by being INSIDE the conference itself.
There are many who question the validity of the UNFCCC, who question the authenticity and authority of the UNFCCC, who regard the whole effort as a token gesture by the elites/rich.
Does the UNFCCC disenfranchise a large portion of humanity ? Should the UNFCCC be more democratic, more grassroots, more accessible, debatable, a process more open to participation ?
For those who feel excluded by the process, or who do not agree with the elitism of the process, going to Copenhagen will put them outside the doors of the conference, outside the fences, as an act of solidarity, perhaps, with the unwashed, underfed, impoverished billions who cannot take part.
Those poor, who are the first being seriously affected by Climate Change. Those marginalised peoples who have no voice.
Do the protesters at the fences somehow give the deeply poor and disenfranchised some kind of voice, of representation ?
Is the United Nations merely another American tool ? Is it truly functioning for the benefit of all nations ?
Personally, I am with the people on both the inside and the outside of the fences at the UNFCCC.
If Copenhagen 2009 becomes just another conference behind closed doors, then it could be insignificant in achieving progress on resolving where we all collectively go next. If there are people at the fences, then there is a newsreel in the making. Maybe unsought voices can be heard.
If I gatecrash your party, at least I get your attention.
What is Non-Violent Direct Action NVDA anyway ? Most NVDA is about the act of witness, the acts of commemorating, showing, articulating, parading, marching, reciting, singing, painting, and even these days supergluing. It is about showing up where the serious things are, and lighting candles, waving signs, collective walking, singing, sitting, getting in the way, obstructing the smooth flow of militarised, corporatised, legitimised conferences and events and headquarters and plants.
There is serious misdemeanour going on in society, in the name of progress, in the name of profit, in the name of control, and we need to bear witness to all this. Climate Change cannot be allowed to continue. If we need to draw attention to the failings of the United Nations and Big Energy, an appropriate venue would be Copenhagen.
Does the United Nations have the right, the jurisdiction, to pronounce on Climate Change policy ? Will the decisions made at Copenhagen be the right ones ? For whose benefit will these decisions be made ?
If the proposal for the Son-of-Kyoto deal is weighted to favour the wealthy over the poor, there will be reason to rattle the fence wire.
We will hear what Kyoto2 will look like well before the conference itself, and some people will go to Copenhagen to complain regardless of what the proposed deal looks like.
Neither you nor I can tell people not to go to Copenhagen. Some people will go, even if this seems like a waste of energy to you or I.
The media and reporting that is generated by Copenhagen, by the activists as well as the conference participants, will help with Climate Change policy awareness in the UK, and could sway policy itself.
Going to Copenhagen will not stop people acting effectively in the UK, unless they abandon something to go to Denmark.
As for the concept of a "mass movement", you are joking, aren't you ? It's always the same, really small group of people who get involved in any Climate Change direct action.
We're small, but we're irritating. And we all have different views on what Non-Violent actually means.
Copenhagen or bust?
Hello Jo,
thank you for your reply. I have just taken several bits from it.
"If we need to draw attention to the failings of the United Nations and Big Energy, an appropriate venue would be Copenhagen."
There are other venues too- ones that 'normal people' are more able to get to, with the added advantage that instead of just saying "they're bad" then in towns and villages and cities across the world, we could be saying "they're bad, they're irrelevant, WE are going to have to reduce emissions now, here."
Yes, we need to continue to draw attention to the failings of the UN and Big Energy, certainly.
Does the United Nations have the right, the jurisdiction, to pronounce on Climate Change policy ?
Well, it's probably less un-democratic than lots of other venues. And some bits of the UNFCCC agreement from Rio are good, no? It's the classic problem of "legitimate but not effective" versus "effective but not legitimate" (though on Climate Change I struggle to think what would be effective...
Will the decisions made at Copenhagen be the right ones ?
I don't think so.
For whose benefit will these decisions be made ?
Rich people with guns.
If the proposal for the Son-of-Kyoto deal is weighted to favour the wealthy over the poor, there will be reason to rattle the fence wire.
Instead of literally rattling the fence wire, why not spend time and energy actually shutting down climate criminals, locally, so those mythical normal people can get involved.
We will hear what Kyoto2 will look like well before the conference itself, and some people will go to Copenhagen to complain regardless of what the proposed deal looks like.
Yes. We will know most of the outline by middle of 2009.
Neither you nor I can tell people not to go to Copenhagen. Some people will go, even if this seems like a waste of energy to you or I.
Neither you nor I can, that's right. But we can be part of a debate about how 'the movement' uses its limited time.
The media and reporting that is generated by Copenhagen, by the activists as well as the conference participants, will help with Climate Change policy awareness in the UK, and could sway policy itself.
I really really don't believe that. Either there will be no violence, which will be the story "Danish police relieved that blah blah" or else there WILL be violence and the Oxfams and Friends of the Earths etc will be forced into some torturous condemnation. I don't see how thirty seconds of footage of black bloc will "sway climate change policy awareness" in any way, certainly not like local actions all around the country spread over two weeks would, preceded and followed up with public meetings, q and a in schools, workplaces etc etc.
Going to Copenhagen will not stop people acting effectively in the UK, unless they abandon something to go to Denmark.
I think they will. I think it will have a 'black hole' effect on rhetoric and action next year. I am probably wrong.
As for the concept of a "mass movement", you are joking, aren't you ? It's always the same, really small group of people who get involved in any Climate Change direct action.
Well, thank you for being one of the few willing to say the emporer has no clothes. But if the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then if we want a mass movement (and do we?) then shouldn't "we" be trying to stop doing the same thing? Wasn't the whole point of things like climate camp to get away from going to the summits of the rich?
Thanks
Cop 15 (who is not a cop. But then, if I was, I would deny it wouldn't !?)
Interesting
This article is really interesting and couldn't help but say that there would be several ways to "go to" the Copenhagen Summit. Many people feel that if one were to go inside the conference as delegates or NGOs or even as a business lobby, or some other constituency. But there is serious misdemeanour going on in society, progress wise, profit wise and we need to bear witness to all this. Climate Change cannot be allowed to continue. If we need to draw attention to the failings of the United Nations and Big Energy, an appropriate venue would be Copenhagen. The media and reporting that is generated by Copenhagen, by the activists as well as the conference participants, will help with Climate Change policy awareness in the UK, and could sway policy itself. Well, this is just me. Bu at least, people are alramed by this.
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Submitted by: Alarm