abc wien holds a cafe every 3rd sunday of the month and this month it will be held in the wagenplatz on ausstellungstrasse with the subject in discussion being the very topical theme of system change statt climate change. the following text is just a summary of the happenings of the week of 10th till 18th of december.
many great demos are left out but the indymedia danemark made great coverage of the whole actions where i recommend taking a look on the internet.
the talks that were given during the cop15 from 7th till 18th of december were drastically disrupted by 1000s of direct activists, peaceful protesters and a multitude of pissed off people who wanted their voices to be heard for once and not drowned out by the dronings on of a bunch of greedy capitalists trying to cash in on the climate crisis that they have created.
the forced fake deal that never actually took place was unknown to most of the countries delegates that were present at this great farce disguised as democracy. the deal would, if signed, be handing over even more power to the power hungry richer countries and deny the developing countries once again possibilities to develop, as in the kyoto protocol of 1997.
draconian repression
but from the first day on, heavy, almost draconian repression was met head on, with over 60 arrests on the first day. people were being held for up to 12 hours as preventative arrest. with 11 of the arrestees being medics that were threatened with deportation even before any demo had begun.
indiscriminate mass arrests begin.
the second day was started with the Flood for Climate Justice Demonstration joining up with a few other demos and formed a block of an estimated 100,000 protesters. at around 3:15 police charged this demo and cut off about 1000 people.
all in all during the course oft he day around 1000 people were arrested and handcuffed to sit on the frozen ground.
The main actions around the COP15 for the 13th December were
Hit the Production at the Harbour, and a Farmers action called by Via Campesina.
the 3rd day had an attendance of some 300 farmers crying for our planet not your business alongside another action called hit the production at the harbour. with a few more hundreds of angry protesters heading towards the harbor with a sound wagen which was disrupted and stopped by the police.
the farmers march was quieter and perhaps more succesful as it reached its end goal even though the police attempted to blockade them
today saw a total of 257 preemptive arrests.
december 14th saw many blocks all around the city protesting at various hubs of pwer responsible for the lack of climate change. also tackled today was the Danish Ministry of Defence in a no borders action where it was completely blocked in by 1500 linked together protesters.
speeches were given:
"Climate Change is an issue in terms of migration because the Global South is suffering and the borders are trying to repress them"
an after party was held in christiania for the participants to relyx after their tiresome days of constant battle with the police, but there was no rest to be had on that night. police arrived at some stage in the later evening and built barricades around the entrance to christiania. after a small scuffle of a few bottles thrown at them they retaliated with teargas and a storming of the place. numerous arrests(later estimated at 200) were made and the windows of the trauma support office were smashed. The police appear to be trying to wear down street-level opposition through constant offensive action against activists. among those arrested the majority were let out during the course of the night. Despite the successful protests of the day, where activists were able to march through the streets without mass arrests, it seems it is effectively illegal to publicly voice opposition to emissions trading, carbon markets, and other "solutions" to the problem of climate change in Copenhagen. Over 1500 people have now been detained, arrested, beaten, tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, and purposefully held in sub-zero temperatures for voicing their opposition. Despite this people remain committed to showing solidarity with the global south and taking direct action.
the 15th of December was greeted with the arrest of Tadzio Mueller after his help in the press conference in bella centre. aswell as the searching of the Candy Factory (Boljsefabrikken) where the bike block were building their bikes for the action on the morrow. there were 17 arrests and everyones details were taken along with height colour of hair style of clothing.
demos were held outside the Netto supermarket with speeches about the importance of food sovereignty and the links between climate change, agriculture and exploitation of people and at an exclusive meeting between business and government ministers organised by The Climate Group, an international lobby group who represent business interests.
december 16th was the first day of the ministerial phase of the COP15 summit that so far, had made little progress. The Reclaim Power! Action, aimed to take over the summit for this one day and to turn it into a people assembly where delegates tried to come out to talk but were threatened with arrest and assaulted with batons when they tried to join the demostration ; which had succeeded in gaining the bella centre, defying police attacks of baton charges, pepperspray and preventative arrests. again medics were also arrested, and media spokespeople were targeted once more after the arrest of Tadzio Mueller. estimates of 200-250 were arrested. Similar assemblies have already been taking place outside the UN summit for a week, as part of the Klimaforum09 people's climate summit with an estimated 25.000 people having taken part in discussions.
On Thursday 17th a large banner was unfurled in the Radhuspladsen, site of the Hopenhagen globe whilst later in the evening at 8pm activists from Climate Camp protested directly beneath Hopenhagen globe, erecting tents and chanting "Copenhagen – No Solution" – they remained there until 2am
18th december This afternoon around 1,500 people demonstrated in Copenhagen for Climate Justice and in solidarity with those arrested, demanding their release Speeches at the protest denounced the massive police repression that saw over 1800 people arrested and detained. 16 people remain in custody and some face serious charges. Street medics were also targetted for arrests during the week, with 26 instances of medics being arrested.
Ab 17 Uhr ist offen. Es gibt ein feines veganes Buffet, Kaffee und Kuchen!
Ab 19 Uhr wird der Vortrag starten!
Wagenplatz Treibstoff, 1020 Wien, Ausstellungsstrasse, U2 Messe – Ausgang Prater
http://www.treibstoff.wagenplatz.at
