The Global week-end at Copenhagen
(Madan Menon Thottasseri)
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Thousands of people were arrested in Copenhagen on Saturday December 12, 2009 as demonstrators consisting anarchists and left-wing activists fought running street battles with police in the Danish capital while negotiations continued at the climate summit. They marched from Christiansborg Slotsplads or Castle Square,Southward to The Bella Centre.
(Madan Menon Thottasseri)
__________________________________________________________
Thousands of people were arrested in Copenhagen on Saturday December 12, 2009 as demonstrators consisting anarchists and left-wing activists fought running street battles with police in the Danish capital while negotiations continued at the climate summit. They marched from Christiansborg Slotsplads or Castle Square,Southward to The Bella Centre.
Actually the main demonstration by the coalition of hundreds of environmental groups, human rights campaigners, climate activists, anti-capitalists and freelance protesters from many countries was mostly peaceful. In the peaceful march, a rolling sea of flags and banners swelled across the city. Most bore slogans related to global warming or urging world leaders to resolve the vast differences that still make an international treaty seems elusive as negotiations move into the second and final week.
In Saturday’s throng was 26-year-old Jemimah Maitei, dressed in traditional clothing from her native Kenya. She said she had travelled to Copenhagen to be part of a delegation representing indigenous peoples at the talks, which are overseen by U.N. She said about the impact of the climate change to her ethnic community-‘Masai’, and cited relentless droughts that had affected crops.
On a day when little progress was made in the climate talks, activists spread out on foot across the city holding banners in English reading, "There Is No Planet B," and rocking back and forth inside a long ring of fabric that constituted a human boat, complete with a sail. Many had the number 350 -- which stands for an atmospheric concentration of carbon equivalent to 350 parts per million, the more stringent climate target many scientists embrace -- sewn or printed on their hats and clothes.
Demonstrations, which unfolded in crisp temperatures under cloudless skies was not the exclusive province of climate campaigners. Groups of diverse social and political pedigree took advantage of the huge gathering to advance their agendas, too. One sign urged the overthrow of the Iranian government. Another, with the words “Earth in Need: Delete Meat,” was one of many promoting ‘vegetarianism’. People calling for a free Tibet were well represented. Another small contingent of climate skeptics and libertarians derided the United Nations summit.
A group chanted and carried banners reading “Demand Climate Justice,” “The World Wants a Real Deal" and “There is No Planet B” as they marked for miles past officers in riot gear, police dogs and the flashing lights of dozens of police vans.
Only by afternoon, when the crowd was marching southward over the canal towards the Bella Center, small bands of black-clad youths chanting anti-capitalist slogans and carrying sticks and rocks infiltrated into the peaceful crowd. These spontaneous demonstrations by bands of radical protesters resulted in police arrests.
Cobble stones were thrown through the windows of the former stock exchange building and foreign office buildings in the city even though police had resorted to large number of pre-emptive arrests under a controversial anti-hooligan law.
The fact that a lion’s share of greenhouse gases have been emitted by industrialized nations, developing countries have argued that they have a duty to help poor lands deal with the consequences of global warming, like drought, floods and tropical storms.
The demonstration when it started was very beautiful with all the colors and the music .What had begun with exuberance was seemed to simply fizzle at the end.
Many demonstrators made for the Metro trains, others decided to avoid the crush of the crowds and walk back to the city the way they came.
Suspected troublemakers were herded into a closed-off street, made to sit down and then tied up with plastic cuffs. They were then transported by buses detention locations ear marked for the purpose. As per police version, four cars were set on fire during the evening. One policeman was hurt by a stone and a Swedish man injured by a firework.
"You don't have to use that kind of violence to be heard," said Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister presiding at the United Nations talks. She condemned rioters after welcoming the main march at a candlelit vigil outside the conference centre.
One activist group accused the police for forcing the protestors to sit on the road for hours in near-freezing temperatures. The day's main demonstration - a march involving 40,000 people - remained good natured but there remain fears that a hard-core of more violent demonstrators may still be waiting until later in the week, when President Barack Obama and other world leaders will arrive, to protest.
Inside the Bella Centre, delegates at the summit gathered around flat-screen TVs, showing both the police crackdown and the peaceful rally of environmental campaigners. There is a growing fears that the summit could degenerate into an undignified global squabbling match with poor nations accusing their rich counterparts of forging a "backroom deal" at a secret dinner.
The divide in the summit between wealthy, developing and poor nations was laid bare with news that ministers from a select group of 40 countries were dining together away from the summit venue. The meal, held behind closed doors at an undisclosed location, was viewed as a last-ditch attempt to cobble together a politically acceptable deal after a week of discussions marred by in-fighting, and "greener than thou" posturing over who is most to blame for global warming. Ministers are desperate to have a document ready when heads of state arrive for the final stages of the two-week conference on Thursday.
Leading them will be the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has fashioned himself as a global champion in the battle against climate change, and who is arriving ahead of other top statesmen in a bid to stamp his authority on the meeting.
But so far officials from 194 countries have failed to make any substantive agreements on even the most basic goals.
Arguments are still raging over targets and deadlines for limiting global temperature rise, as well as the extent to which rich nations should fund green projects for poor ones, and whether emerging economic superpowers like China should balance green considerations against much-needed development.
Washington and Beijing have also traded insults over whether China should fund its own green measures or receive handouts financed largely by the West.
With signs of an irreconcilable split growing between the large and powerful and the small and poor, last night's dinner, attended by countries including Britain, the US, China and India – was viewed as an attempt by mostly bigger, better-off nations to strike a deal in private.
"A lot of the deals are done in back rooms but there has to be transparency at the same time," said Keith Allott, of the World Wildlife Fund, which claims smaller nations are being left out of the process.
Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, attempted to paint a brighter picture of the conference, insisting he was optimistic of a deal by the time heads of state arrived. This remains difficult in process terms because we have 100 and something leaders arriving on Thursday and we have to get to an agreement by the time they leave," he said
"The world is doing what it has never done before, which is trying to peak emissions and see them fall. It is not a done deal, it remains in the balance."
Gordon Brown plans to travel to Copenhagen on Tuesday evening, a day earlier than planned, in an attempt to help "seal the deal". Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister was expected to hold one-to-one meetings with key figures including Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary-General. He will attend a formal dinner on Thursday and an all-day session on Friday before returning to Britain that night. A source said: "He remains concerned that the commitment for a deal is still short of what is required."
A productive meeting at Copenhagen is widely seen as being crucial to the credibility of the global campaign on climate change. But the first week saw slow progress. Rich and poor repeatedly clashed over the need to reduce greenhouse gases, with Africa and the small island states threatening to walk out unless the developed nations committed to deeper cuts.
Many of the exchanges were bad-tempered, souring an event that aspires to be a vehicle for better global co-operation. He Yafei, China's vice minister of foreign affairs, said he was "shocked" at US climate change negotiator Todd Stern's assertion that Beijing did not need any American money. "It's not just about the US and China, it's the whole international community," he said, insisting that climate change was historically the fault of the West. "The US is a developed country and China is part of the developing countries. To tackle global climate change we need to work together."
Suspected troublemakers were herded into a closed-off street, made to sit down and then tied up with plastic cuffs. They were then transported by buses detention locations ear marked for the purpose. As per police version, four cars were set on fire during the evening. One policeman was hurt by a stone and a Swedish man injured by a firework.
"You don't have to use that kind of violence to be heard," said Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister presiding at the United Nations talks. She condemned rioters after welcoming the main march at a candlelit vigil outside the conference centre.
One activist group accused the police for forcing the protestors to sit on the road for hours in near-freezing temperatures. The day's main demonstration - a march involving 40,000 people - remained good natured but there remain fears that a hard-core of more violent demonstrators may still be waiting until later in the week, when President Barack Obama and other world leaders will arrive, to protest.
Inside the Bella Centre, delegates at the summit gathered around flat-screen TVs, showing both the police crackdown and the peaceful rally of environmental campaigners. There is a growing fears that the summit could degenerate into an undignified global squabbling match with poor nations accusing their rich counterparts of forging a "backroom deal" at a secret dinner.
The divide in the summit between wealthy, developing and poor nations was laid bare with news that ministers from a select group of 40 countries were dining together away from the summit venue. The meal, held behind closed doors at an undisclosed location, was viewed as a last-ditch attempt to cobble together a politically acceptable deal after a week of discussions marred by in-fighting, and "greener than thou" posturing over who is most to blame for global warming. Ministers are desperate to have a document ready when heads of state arrive for the final stages of the two-week conference on Thursday.
Leading them will be the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has fashioned himself as a global champion in the battle against climate change, and who is arriving ahead of other top statesmen in a bid to stamp his authority on the meeting.
But so far officials from 194 countries have failed to make any substantive agreements on even the most basic goals.
Arguments are still raging over targets and deadlines for limiting global temperature rise, as well as the extent to which rich nations should fund green projects for poor ones, and whether emerging economic superpowers like China should balance green considerations against much-needed development.
Washington and Beijing have also traded insults over whether China should fund its own green measures or receive handouts financed largely by the West.
With signs of an irreconcilable split growing between the large and powerful and the small and poor, last night's dinner, attended by countries including Britain, the US, China and India – was viewed as an attempt by mostly bigger, better-off nations to strike a deal in private.
"A lot of the deals are done in back rooms but there has to be transparency at the same time," said Keith Allott, of the World Wildlife Fund, which claims smaller nations are being left out of the process.
Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, attempted to paint a brighter picture of the conference, insisting he was optimistic of a deal by the time heads of state arrived. This remains difficult in process terms because we have 100 and something leaders arriving on Thursday and we have to get to an agreement by the time they leave," he said
"The world is doing what it has never done before, which is trying to peak emissions and see them fall. It is not a done deal, it remains in the balance."
Gordon Brown plans to travel to Copenhagen on Tuesday evening, a day earlier than planned, in an attempt to help "seal the deal". Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister was expected to hold one-to-one meetings with key figures including Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary-General. He will attend a formal dinner on Thursday and an all-day session on Friday before returning to Britain that night. A source said: "He remains concerned that the commitment for a deal is still short of what is required."
A productive meeting at Copenhagen is widely seen as being crucial to the credibility of the global campaign on climate change. But the first week saw slow progress. Rich and poor repeatedly clashed over the need to reduce greenhouse gases, with Africa and the small island states threatening to walk out unless the developed nations committed to deeper cuts.
Many of the exchanges were bad-tempered, souring an event that aspires to be a vehicle for better global co-operation. He Yafei, China's vice minister of foreign affairs, said he was "shocked" at US climate change negotiator Todd Stern's assertion that Beijing did not need any American money. "It's not just about the US and China, it's the whole international community," he said, insisting that climate change was historically the fault of the West. "The US is a developed country and China is part of the developing countries. To tackle global climate change we need to work together."
China's chief climate negotiator, Su Wei, told reporters Saturday that his country was simply sticking to the Bali Action Plan that negotiators agreed to in 2007, calling it "quite clear."
Ian Fry, the representative of the tiny Pacific island of Tuvalu, has also claimed that even the more vulnerable countries' intended target to restrict global warming to a rise of 1.5C will leave his island underwater because of rising sea levels.
However, the G8 and major developing economies believe it is realistically impossible to restrict temperature rises to less than 2C. They have also accused developing nations of demanding more "go green" cash than they actually need.
After seven days' negotiating there is so far only a draft agreement on the table. The framework for a possible "Copenhagen Protocol" talks about cuts for developed nations of between 25 and 45 per cent by 2020, and calls on rich nations to pay their poorer cousins to reduce their emissions. But blanks remain in what negotiators term the "square brackets" – where officials must eventually insert precise figures and dates.
Ian Fry, the representative of the tiny Pacific island of Tuvalu, has also claimed that even the more vulnerable countries' intended target to restrict global warming to a rise of 1.5C will leave his island underwater because of rising sea levels.
However, the G8 and major developing economies believe it is realistically impossible to restrict temperature rises to less than 2C. They have also accused developing nations of demanding more "go green" cash than they actually need.
After seven days' negotiating there is so far only a draft agreement on the table. The framework for a possible "Copenhagen Protocol" talks about cuts for developed nations of between 25 and 45 per cent by 2020, and calls on rich nations to pay their poorer cousins to reduce their emissions. But blanks remain in what negotiators term the "square brackets" – where officials must eventually insert precise figures and dates.
There is also the question of making the agreement enforceable in law. Britain has already suggested that a further summit will be necessary in six months' time to address the issue.
Conference delegates took the day off on Sunday December 13, 2009, enjoyed sights of Copenhagen, although environment ministers and their top negotiators met informally at the Danish Foreign Ministry and at hotels around the city to reach agreeable financing terms and emissions targets under a new deal. An agreement is likely to include a green tax on the shipping industry.
Scattered protests continued on Sunday too, but climate activists in Copenhagen were largely quiet after a day of mass demonstrations resulted in nearly 1,000 arrests. Danish police had arrested about 230 people by midday Sunday, most in an illegal protest in the northern part of the city. The Bella Center, where negotiations have been going on to craft a global strategy to combat global warming was closed for the day.
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