Climate March | “We’re not drowning, we’re fighting!”

From Conway to Glasgow via Mount Royal, tens of thousands of people around the world gathered on Saturday, ending the first week of COP26 work, demanding greater climate justice.

Leila Dussault
Press

Coralie Laplande
Press

In Glasgow, under the onslaught of wind and rain, about 100,000 people gathered on Saturday and formed a joyous procession to the sound of pack pipes and drums. The march was led by a delegation from the Mohawk community of Kahnwak, south of Montreal. The demonstration took place even on the 26th^e Climate conference.

“It is very obvious that the tribal people have the answers, they, [les leaders], To begin to listen and think [en ayant à l’esprit] Seven generations ago, there was no immediate need, ”Karakwinda, 23, told the English-language newspaper Defender.

“We are here to put the voices of the tribes at the forefront of the climate crisis,” said Ohhondchagat, a 26-year-old convoy member.

Ugandan activist Vanessa Nugget summarized Agency France-Press’ climate injustice, recalling that Africa was responsible for only 3% of greenhouse gas emissions. In Uganda, however, he denounced that global warming is already causing drought, flooding and landslides.

“Let’s globalize the struggle! Globalize Hope! Echoed and described in the form of question and answer in the meeting Washington Post. In her speech, Kathy Jetnil-Gijner, a poet and activist from the Marshall Islands, an island state threatened by rising sea levels, said, “I tell you, we will survive the climate crisis. We are not drowning, we are fighting. ”

Active or diplomatic?

At the end of the day on Saturday, young identity activist Greta Dunberg said on Twitter that the march sent a strong signal to leaders gathered in COP26. “Our so-called ‘leaders’ will not lead – this is what leadership is like,” he tweeted. The previous day, COP26 had said it had failed.

However, experts said Washington Post The talks at the UN Climate Summit had a real impact on climate forecasts. During the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, the United Nations predicted that the Earth’s temperature would reach 4 ° C by 2100. Today, these forecasts are 2.7 C, which is even more devastating and far from the target. 1.5 ° C is set in the Paris Agreement.

Gatherings took place on Saturday in several countries around the world: the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Belgium, the Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia and the Netherlands.

“I want to live”

Under clear skies in Montreal, more than 300 protesters formed a human chain at the foot of Mount Royal on Saturday, with green ribbons in hand and calling on governments to do more in the fight against climate change.

Organized by members of the Inter-Union Climate Network (RIC), the event seeks to remind Canada that the greenhouse gas cuts set out in the Paris Climate Agreement will “miss the target”.

“We are halfway to COP26 […] There are 190 world leaders pointing fingers at each other and speaking well. But what we are asking for is action, ”said Anne Dionne, vice president of the Centrale des Unions du Québec and spokeswoman for the RIC.

Stéphanie Cloutier attended the rally with her two daughters. The teacher and union representative said she was concerned about the future of her children and students.

Participating in the mobilization, Alexandre Boulevard, vice president of the New Democrats for Rosemond, said Justin Trudeau’s liberals had no intention of making a “serious turn”. According to Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokesman for the Québec solidaire, meetings in recent years have led the Legault government to talk about the environment, unlike the last election campaign, The Canadian Press reported.

The effects of climate change are being felt in the classroom, said Catherine Beauvois-Saint-Pierre, chair of the Alliance des Professors de Montreal. “When we talk about a heat wave at the beginning of the school year, a heat wave at the end of the year, we’ve been watching this for years,” he said.

The motivation for Jonathan Provost’s involvement in the environmental cause is simple. “I want to live,” he said immediately Press. “If we don’t do that, no one is going to do that. Not particularly powerful,” he continued.

“True democracy takes place in the streets, not in parliament,” said his friend Liam McMahon. “We cannot allow politicians to deal with this,” he concluded.