Community | December 16, 2009 | 20 comments

Copenhagen: UN threatens to kick civil society groups out of climate negotiations

source: http://blogs.current.com/green/2009/12/16/breaking-youth-stage-sit-inside-the-bella-center-p...

leahl

http://blogs.current.com/green/2009/12/16/breaking-youth-stage-sit-in...

This piece was originally titled: Protesters experience violence outside; Youth stage sit-in
http://blogs.current.com/green/2009/12/16/breaking-youth-stage-sit-inside-the-be...

Protesters inside the Bella center are staging a sit in and live-blogging at It’s Getting Hot in Here.

Their latest entry read:

Young people from all over the world are staging a sit-in at Bella Center until we get a Fair, Ambitious, and Binding climate treaty and reading the names of all 11 million signers of the TckTckTck petition. Sen. Kerry just shook each of their hands. Some were just dragged away.

Press Release from the organizers of the action:
(Copenhagen – Denmark) – At 5:00 p.m., more than 50 international youth staged a sit in at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to demand that world leaders produce a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate treaty. While sitting in a main corridor of the conference centre, the youth read off the names of 11 million of the world’s citizens who support the need for a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement to come out of Copenhagen.

“We’re not leaving until we get a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty,” said Ann Wang, a youth delegate from China. “We need such a treaty to help ensure the survival of millions of the world’s most vulnerable citizens whose lives and cultures are threatened by the effects of climate change.”

“As heads of state and world leaders arrive here in Copenhagen, we want them to know that we’re going to be watching and acting to ensure they deliver us a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal,” said Germany’s Julia Grauvogel.

These young people were not alone in their demands. “We are supported by 11 million citizens of this planet who want their leaders to deliver a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate treaty,” said Josh Solnick of the United Kingdom.

While sitting in solidarity, separate groups of youth simultaneously read off names from the list of 11 million people who signed an online petition demanding a that world leaders produce a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal in Copenhagen.
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Green,   Art and Style,   1 more
  2. tags:
    Copenhagen,  cop 15
  3.     
    |

20 comments // Copenhagen: UN threatens to kick civil society groups out of climate negotiations // Video

  • valida
  • debdebdeb
    • 0
      debdebdeb  

    • Poeple disdussing there are old morons... They'll be all dead before any of the consequences of global warming will hit them. What's the point ? They have no reason to fight to save the planet they will leave soon - God bless this day.
      USA = money addicts sucking Shell, BP and Co. big enlarged dick
      Chinese governement = half-retarded, half-stalinist idiots

    • 3 years ago
  • darinK
    • 0
      darinK  
    • debdebdeb:

      Thanks for the generalization of all Americans and Chinese. Here's mine:debdebdeb=spongelike brain which sucks up all b.s. without merit. Cows are dumb cows are ugly- EAT A COW!

    • 3 years ago
  • debdebdeb
  • zeropiate
    • 0
      zeropiate  

    • In a world of nightmarish mediocrity the only thing done will be collective bureaucratic ass kissing. The geopolitical equivalent to the phrase, "I believe you have my stapler."

    • 3 years ago
  • ibrake4rappers13
  • darinK
    • 0
      darinK  

    • Nice quote from the chinese delegate in the protest. I think ana wang might want to organize some protests in china. Good luck. How did a chinese delegate end up in the protest? China & the US are the two major blockers of any treaty. The UN is worthless to the common good, it's corrupt and self-serving. I hope the U.S. will pull out of the treaty and the UN.

    • 3 years ago
  • CalgarC
  • leahl
    • 0
      leahl  

    • Latest update: (from Rachel Barge, Program Manager, Business Council on Climate Change)

      "The sit-in participants didn't want to jeopardize the standing of the entire civil society sector (especially the 300 civil society representatives who have been promised by the UN to get in tomorrow), so they just left the center peacefully.

      They should be regaled as heros - they took the UN's blackmail in order to give the world eyes and a voice inside Bella tomorrow."

    • 3 years ago
  • artemis6
  • JanforGore
  • leahl
    • 0
      leahl  
    • Image

    • This just came in from Richard Graves (@richardgraves on twitter):

      My fellow bloggers,

      I have just been through one of the most intense days of my life. While I have been following the chaos and disruption of the Copenhagen Climate talks, I have watched my friends get bludgeoned by the Danish police for trying to access a conference they were accredited for, watched senior environmental staff (the policy wonks and lawyers even) get radicalized at the extreme efforts that governments and the UN are taking to shut them out of the process and be dragged off by security.

      Finally, a group of youth climate activists, the ones that have founded organizations, are valedictorians, and recipients of fulbrights and truman scholarships, stage a sit-in at the United Nation climate conference, inside the highly guarded and secured conference center, a few hundred yards from where world 'leaders' were speaking. They refused to leave until a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty, what civil society and over a hundred developing nations are calling for, is signed here. They sat and read off the names of the over 11.3 million people that have signed the petition for one. More info: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-graves/breaking-young-leaders-st_b_394480....

      For that, two of them were dragged away by force, but the sheer media attention kept the rest of them safe. In fact, they got some unexpected shows of support, including by Senator Kerry, who came out and shook their hands. They have been liveblogging at ItsGettingHotinHere.org and setup a live stream, here. Liveblogging here: http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2009/12/16/live-blog-youth-activists-refuse-to-le...
      Video: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/powershift-in-copenhagen

      However, the UN threatened to kick out every single member of civil society (including most bloggers) for the rest of the process if they refused to leave and if they stayed until they were arrested and dragged out.

      I am just astounded and outraged at the lengths that governments and the UN are taking to shut us out. Does anybody have any ideas on how to act on this or raise some hell?

      I am spitting mad,
      Richard

    • 3 years ago
  • pjacobs51
    • 0
      pjacobs51  
    • leahl:

      I would suggest going to The Fresh Air Center run by Tcktcktck, at least it's safe for the bloggers.

      They have several speakers there too, like Naomi Klein, who Greenpeace talked with right before she went on stage, in the video above.

    • 3 years ago
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  

    • I have not heard an update since 10 a.m. (Mountain Time -- United States), but NPR was reporting at that time that if anything the negotiations thus far have only identified more areas of disagreement -- no sign of consensus on substantive issues. Has anybody heard anything to the contrary?

    • 3 years ago
  • leahl
  • pjacobs51
  • pjacobs51
    • 0
      pjacobs51  

    • Here's what it looked like out side as the march took place.

      The idea behind the march is to meet delegates who were walking out from the Bella Center, the location of the United Nation's Climate Change Conference (COP15), and host a people's assembly outside. The peaceful march, an act of civil disobedience, turned violent when police attacked protestors pushing to get over the Bella Center fence to meet with delegates from the walk out.

    • 3 years ago
  • leahl
    • 0
      leahl  
    • Image

    • This was just posted on http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/ where they are live blogging the sit in.

      We just began our seventh hour here in the Bella Centre, sitting-in until world leaders achieve a fair, ambitious, and binding treaty. The past few hours have been incredibly positive as party members, NGO members, and UN observers have come by to meet us and ensure our well being by offering us food, water, and blankets. Members of party delegations have walked by giving us a thumbs up, and several climate A-listers have walked by to shake our hands and congratulate us on our bravery.

      We have been approached by media from all over the world…let us take you all through the discussions we have been having over the past few hours:

      How long are you planning on being here?

      Until we reach a fair, ambitious, and legally-binding treaty. The security has said that if we plan on staying, then they will see us in the morning. Hopefully, we will not have to wait too much longer.

      Do you think that it can happen?

      It can and it must happen. Heads of state and heads of government are going to be coming together to discuss climate change, so this is the space to achieve the fair, ambitious, and legally-binding treaty we are asking for. There are many countries that are very capable of reducing their emissions and they need to, and they can. They just need to get here and show the political will to reduce emissions, to safeguard people’s lives and livelihoods, and to show that the UN can come to an agreement.

    • 3 years ago
  • pjacobs51
    • 0
      pjacobs51  
    • leahl:

      I would suggest he go the The Fresh Air Center run by Tcktcktck, at least it is safe for the bloggers. And there are a lot of speakers there like Naomi Klein. Here's an interview from Greenpeace right before she went on stage.

    • 3 years ago
  • dainjdc

top videos