Blog Archive
Mass Arrests and Standing with Africa
Posted on December 13, 2009 by Jerrieann Sullivan
SUNDAY 13th - Mass arrests
On Sunday we try to rest. Some of us need a rest more than others. At the morning meeting at the Teglholmen warehouse I find out a little more about what happened on the march. According to Danish and British newspapers the between 800 - 1000 people were arrested and detained for marching peacefully yesterday. Tomorrow the last few Young Friends of the Earth Ireland crew will arrive in Copenhagen, making our group up to eleven.
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NO Offsetting CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW!
Posted on December 12, 2009 by Jerrieann Sullivan
SATURDAY 12th - 'No-Offsetting - CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW!"
'No-Offsetting - CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW!" Nnimmo's deep powerful voice echoed across parliament square over thousands of us dressed in blue. Nnimmo Bassey is the Nigerian Chair of Friends of the Earth International, and had the perfect voice for this speech. Today we are outside. I hear that five thousand of us have flowed through the city in this 'Flood for Climate Justice'. Carlos from Mexico who organised the hardest for this moment takes the stage and leads us in a giant Mexican wave. Within an hour of the flood ending thousands more gather behind and around us in the square, lining the canal as far as the eye can see. The far away speakers tell us 100, 000 are here. We begin the 7km march on the Bella Centre about 2pm - and we are still walking hours later in the dark. At one point we passed a side street to our left filled with police vans. Just after we passed, the vans and bodies shot out in a line across the road blocking the portion of the march behind us. The march ahead tried to stay behind in solidarity - about 200 people went back to support the trapped people but eventually moved on. We hovered, getting cold, not knowing whether to go back or go on, and eventually decided to keep going.
Thousands of people walked to the UN fence today, some of us for over 9 hours altogether, in costumes, holding banners, calling for justice. I heard afterwards that Mary Robinson and Naomi Klein (again) gave rousing speeches to the crowd as they arrived. Later as we arrived we were greeted by music and sparklers and line of police vans ringing the Bella Centre.
Permanent link | Categories: climatechange
Arriving in Copenhagen
Posted on December 10, 2009 by Jerrieann Sullivan
We arrived in drizzle. Ourselves and other activists from Climate Camp Ireland stood in a clump on the pavement where our eurolines left us with a huge pile of luggage. Across the road we found the alternative people's summit, and thankfully some maps. After two nights in transit our sleepy heads found it hard to co-ordinate communal bus tickets and directions. Then came relief. A warehouse in Teglholmen. Food. Stacks of carefully prepared briefings, leaflets, guides and bust cards. Beards of familiar activist faces passing in the field kitchen. Vegan hot dishes and, despite the long queues for toilets, a great atmosphere of solidarity and anticipation.
Permanent link | Categories: climatechange
Boat building in Copenhagen
Posted on December 08, 2009 by Molly Walsh
The night train to Copenhagen is unusually late. The crowded platform in Cologne train station is dominated by interesting looking characters. There is a tall bearded man with a black stetson carrying a very battered leather briefcase. There are two scruffy punks form Belgian with very advanced cameras. There are a two people who joined my journey in London and seem to be from a UK NGO. They have long since exhausted their political discussions of what the weeks ahead will hold and are now much more animatedly discussing their cats. All these strange characters waiting for the train, myself included, are going to Copenhagen for the UN climate conference. From Monday thousands of delegates from around the world will gather at the Bella centre in an attempt to negotiate a global deal on climate. The train finally arrives at the platform and we all get on. I love night trains. Perhaps it is because we don't have any opportunities for international train travel in Ireland, perhaps its the idea of going to sleep in one country and waking up in another. Anyway I find them really exciting. There is a certain sound that night trains make that is different to the noises of other trains. The tone of the rattle seems lower and flatter, they are calm beasts that carry us sleeping to our destinations.
Permanent link | Categories: climatechange • cop
Walls do come down
Posted on November 10, 2009 by Molly Walsh
Most of the Irish papers today carried pictures of the Brandenburg gate in Berlin on their front pages. The photo is of celebrations marking the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, that day that few had dared to imagine and less had believed would happen. These pictures buoyed me as I had been feeling a little pessimistic of late.
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Policy-making 21st century style: by tweet
Posted on May 29, 2009 by Oisín Coghlan
I didn't expect the public announcement that the Government will bring in climate legislation to come via Twitter but that's what happened just before lunchtime yesterday.
Yesterday was the culmination of a month long push to get the Government to provide long promised time for a new debate of the Climate Protection Bill in the Seanad. That's the bill Ivana Bacik drafted for us to launch our climate law campaign back in 2007 and introduced in the Seanad when she became a Trinity Senator.
Permanent link | Categories: climatechange • climate law • Ivana Bacik • Eamon Ryan • Dan Boyle • Greens • Green Party
Greens flexing muscles not jumping ship
Posted on May 18, 2009 by Oisín Coghlan
I'm puzzled by the political analysis in the media since Dan Boyle called for a review of the Programme for Government last Friday. Every piece I've read concludes that the Greens are, in Stephen Collins words in today's Irish Times, "positioning themselves for a withdrawal from coalition in the not too distant future".
Permanent link | Categories: climatechange • Greens • Green Party
Mobilizar, Resistir, Transformar
Posted on January 18, 2009 by Jerrieann Sullivan
FRIDAY 18TH -' Mobilizar, Resistir, Transformar'
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Wrapping it Up
Posted on December 14, 2008 by Molly Walsh
So, it's all over. Late on Friday night the negotiations came to an end. So was progress made? Did they wrap it up?
I don't think so.
Permanent link | Categories: climatechange
Yes, Minister
Posted on December 11, 2008 by Molly Walsh
My father was an environmentalist. Long, long before sustainabilty was a marketing buzz-word, before the Green Party even had a leader, nevermind one who was a minister, I found my ideals in the vast library of books that we have in our house. They cover almost all areas of environmentalism. The big, famous ones are all there, such as Silent Spring and Small is Beautiful. One of my favourites though, was The Green Guide to Ireland. I liked it becuase it was simply written, it had cartoons, I could dip in and out of it, and I may have been a bit young for some of the more intellectual tomes that littered the shelves. As I grew up I knew that the book was getting quite outdated and I dreamed of one day updating it. I looked at the picture of the author in the back of the book and wondered what he was like.
Permanent link | Categories: climatechange
