Reclaim the Power’s ‘COP21 and International’ working group is participating in two international networks ahead of the United Nations climate talks in December 2015 in Paris, also known as ‘COP21’.
We are also supporting an anti-fracking camp in the Basque Country and an anti-coal camp in the German Rhineland. More details below.
Keep an eye out Reclaim the Power’s facebook page for details of how you can get involved or contact info@reclaimthepower.org.uk for more details.
UN Climate Talks – COP21
‘Climat Coaltion 21’ is a network of NGOs, trade unions, church groups and civil society networks based in France that are preparing a large international mobilisation ahead of the COP21 talks in Paris in December 2015.
Website: http://coalitionclimat21.org/en
Climate Justice Action is an international anti-capitalist network of grassroots groups that support direct action against the fossil fuel and extractive industries.
Agreements so far
RTP have made the following agreements via its spokes system in April 2015.
Reclaim the Power is incorporating the COP21 mobilisation into its strategy for the 2015 year and beyond.
We recognise that the world’s negotiators are not going to produce the kind of climate agreement that we really need, largely due to the influence of corporate power, and as such it would be dangerous for us to focus our energies and expectations on achieving a meaningful climate agreement, to avoid burnout after December 2015.
Instead, Reclaim the Power will use COP21 moment as a milestone to build and empower the climate movement and provide a transformative experience for participants.
We are engaging with COP21 mobilisation with a focus on corruptive corporate power, a broken capitalist system, and positive solutions, rather than one of trying to influence negotiators to make a good agreement. We intend to do this by incorporating the following objectives that were are agreed by the international Climate Justice Action network in Spring 2015.
Objectives:
1. We need to democratise the climate discourse around COP21 and expand the focus from climate change to system change.
2. We need to emphasise the real potential of alternatives and confront the broken system of capitalism with acts of creative civil disobedience.
3. We need to celebrate unity in diversity.
4. We will work towards making Paris an empowering, galvanising experience which continues to build our movement and amplify the voices of affected communities, through and beyond 2015.
Mobilisation Dates
Reclaim the Power will mobilise a large number of people to join in mass mobilisations in London in the UK on Sunday 29th November to tie in with the international weekend of decentralised mass mobilisations at the beginning of the COP21 talks.
Reclaim the Power will mobilise a significant number of people to go to Paris for at least the second week of the COP21 (from 5 – 13 December approximately) , to participate in acts of civil disobedience against corrupt corporate power structures, and to participate in the centralised mass mobilisation on Saturday 12th December in Paris.
Reclaim the Power is considering organising an event on the weekend of 26th – 27th September 2015, around the topic of of community-led solutions to address climate change and the energy transition.
RTP has contributed to previous international mobilisation dates with a mass action camp at Didcot gas-fired power station on 29 May – 2 June 2015. For a round up of the day of action against the fossil fuel industry see this Open Democracy article.
Transport to Paris is currently being organised. More details will be posted here in the Autumn 2015. Some people will go to Paris as part of the ‘Bike Train’ being organised from Brighton. Insert URL.
A large convergence space in Paris will be available from Saturday 5th December onwards, for debates and action planning.
The Climate Games
They started in Amsterdam and they are coming to the COP21! The Climate Games will be the world’s largest non-violent civil disobedience direct action adventure game in the streets of Paris, in cyberspace and beyond.
Teams (or affinity groups) “compete” to take action in the best way possible against the designated targets, be it by occupying a coal power station, storming the HQ of of a dirty business company or by putting on an anti-coal cabaret in the streets. You decide with who, and you decide how.
Points are allocated depending on the criteria of the game, which could be Creativity, Effectiveness, Solidarity with other teams and so on. The rules have yet to be decided. But beware, there are two teams that are to be avoided: Blue Team (police and security) and Brown Team (lobbyists).
An app is being developed to take this game online. You will be able to upload photos, gives tips on where the police are, show your positioning and how far you’ve got, or feel a vibration on your device when you get too close to the authorities.
This mass participation, direct action framework provides space for a diversity of tactics. In a decentralised manner but with a common goal, all can get involved and be a piece of a this much bigger movement. Climate injustice is a dead serious problem, so we will play by our own rules to stop it!
Find out more about this year’s Climate Games in Amsterdam: http://www.climategames.nl
And stay updated with the ones coming to Paris: http://www.climategames.net
Other international camps
Frackanpada: 13 – 19 July 2015
An international anti-fracking camp in the Basque Country inside the Spanish state.
http://frackanpada.frackingez.org/
Klimacamp in the Rhineland coal fields: 7 – 17 August 2015
Check the Reclaim the Power facebook page for details of transport from the UK.