As the old saying goes, with crisis comes opportunity, and that certainly was the mentality of the corporate lobbyists that descended in droves on the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. In fact, the largest nongovernmental organization there was the International Emissions Trading Association, a front group representing 170 companies and hosting 66 events. Sadly, many government officials and even some nonprofit groups have fallen for this sleight of hand, mistaking an old-style protection racket for newfound corporate responsibility.

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(at risk of offense to those that worked stalwartly at ends that haven’t borne fruit-where-expected, as revealed by Copenhagen)

The failure of Copenhagen’s COP15 climate talks may be that much-needed dose of what could embolden and broaden the climate movement here in the States: a sobering piece of disillusionment to fan the flames, and an alarm to bring folks who placed too many eggs in a basket of lobbying out from the meeting halls and into the streets. Our “leaders” have not listened, they have abandoned even the pretense of morality.

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The most striking thing to me – sitting on the left side of the pond from Copenhagen – is that with some exceptions it appears that the veil of legitimacy of the climate policy making process of the US-dominated UNFCCC (which climate justice activists have criticized for year) is finally falling away…which leaves the question: “what now”?

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The citizens who had occupied Stephen Harper’s constituency office to demand aggressive action on climate change are calling for the Prime Minister’s resignation. Prime Minister Harper has refused to fulfill Canada’s obligations to reduce climate pollution and support vulnerable communities so citizens are demanding that he resign.

“We hoped the Prime Minister would recognize the will of Canadians and the veracity of climate science and publicly announce the intention to establish a legally binding target,” said Joel Woodhouse, currently at the Prime Minister’s Calgary constituency office. “He continues to play games with the lives of potential climate refugees around the world so we see no other option but to ask for his resignation.” “Prime Minister Harper is sabotaging efforts to solve the world’s climate crisis. Around the world Canada is being called a corrupt petro-state, is widely considered the worst blocker of negotiations, and is now even seeing calls for Canada to be banned from the Commonwealth” said Woodhouse. “As Canadians, we find this embarrassing.”

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(Note: Other material about that climate justice sit-in is posted here)

(Calgary, AB) – At 10:00 this morning, twenty citizens occupied Stephen Harper’s constituency office to offer the ultimatum of taking aggressive action on climate change before the end of the Copenhagen conference or resign as the Prime Minister of Canada. This is the eighth peaceful sit-in since November 23 when seven Albertans were arrested after demanding that Jim Prentice commit Canada to a fair, ambitious and binding treaty in advance of the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen.

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(Note: Other material about that climate justice sit-in is posted here)

“Organize a Solidarity Sit in For Climate Justice. Now is the time.”

Demands for Climate Justice have erupted with an exciting energy on every stage of COP15 – thousands of marchers approached the Bella Center, hundreds of delegates walked in an attempt to join the People’s Assembly, and as I write dozens of youth are sitting in to demand a fair, ambitious, and binding deal from the COP15 process.

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Today, 100 COP-15 delegates – mostly from NGOs, but led by two members of the Bolivian government delegation, and with dozens of members of organizations from the Global South and Indigenous groups – marched out of the Copenhagen climate talks and tried to join the People’s Assembly at the Reclaim Power protest outside, only to be blocked and severely beaten by Danish police (who were working closely together with UN security).

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“A noisy swarm of indigenous solidarity activists made noise in the financial heart of Canada to demand climate justice, indigenous rights, and an end to Tar Sands.”

Over the past week, the Danish capital has welcomed delegates, corporate lobbyists, and representatives of mainstream, moderate NGOs with open arms; however, they’ve shown a somewhat uglier face towards activists advocating climate justice.

Yesterday, a massive, peaceful protest of 100,000 people – the largest demonstration for climate justice in world history – was met with a heavy-handed response by the Danish police. Thousands of riot police swarmed the march route, blocked off streets surrounding large groups of protestors, and arrested almost 1,000 people. Arrestees were cuffed and forced to sit in rows for hours, as the temperatures dipped below freezing; numerous people urinated on themselves after being denied use of toilets. Despite the mood of severe frustration with the state of climate talks that pervaded the march, there were only a few reports of property destruction and minor skirmishes with police (which the media have hugely played up) – however, the police swept up masses of people, including NGO delegates and independent journalists, with little focus on determining who had actually broken the law. As one British protestor, Georgy Forshall, put it: “Two of my friends are in there. The police said demonstrators had been throwing stones, but my friends were in a cow costume, they wouldn’t have been able to throw stones.”

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