La Via Campesina states: The climate talks ended up in a failure due to the selfish approach of governments who have turned the climate disaster into a business opportunity.
Meanwhile, the streets and halls of Copenhagen saw unprecedented mobilizations of social movements and very diverse organizations from around the world demanding climate justice and proposing ways to achieve it. Many activists were arrested by the Danish police during the peaceful protests, and some of them are still in jail.
Those climate prisoners were defending people’s voice that could not be heard in the Bella Center where the conference was taking place.
Even though they were expressing their opinions in a democratic country, they were arrested and imprisoned. We strongly demand the Danish authorities to immediately release ALL climate prisoners and drop all charges against them, Danish people and foreigners alike.
The very large and active climate justice movement remains was with them during the protest and will keep campaigning until they are free.
We also urge the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) to ask the Danish authorities to free the prisoners and guarantee freedom of expression and right of dissent during the Climate conferences.
TAKE ACTION
Send the message above from Via Campesina to:
1- the Embassy of Denmark in Canada
ottamb@um.dk
2- the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
um@um.dk
3- the Danish Parliament
folketinget@ft.dk
4- Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC
secretariat@unfccc.int
GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS ALSO BEING HELD
Four Greenpeace activists from the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland are also still being held following their arrest in Copenhagen.
They were able to make their way into the dinner for the Heads of State, immediately prior to the crucial final day of the Copenhagen climate summit. They unfurled banners reading, ‘Politicians Talk, Leaders Act’.
To respond to a Facebook petition calling for their release, please go to http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/greenpeaceusa_blog/2009/12/21/let_them_go.
WEB-LINKS
For more on La Via Campesina: International Peasant Movement, please go to http://viacampesina.org/main_en/.
There is more on the Greenpeace activists at http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/12/23-1.
And you can read more about the Council of Canadians climate justice campaign at www.canadians.org/climatejustice.
