messages of solidarity

• Follow Young Friends of the Earth's reaction to the Bonn climate talks on their blog
  

After shaking off the excess water, and with the rain still falling, Young FoEE grouped to brief for the march towards the Maritim Hotel. The idea was to form a blue block using blue bin bags to cover our clothes, and to display the numerous banners that had been created during the week. We wanted to take the message to delegates that the Flood really is coming, and pride of place was given to the Flood banner, that would eventually be hoisted up outside the Maritim during the speeches.

The Young FoEE block, with the addition of BUND Jugend, the German arm of Young Friends of the Earth Europe, numbered over 50 people in total, and with the calls for “Climate Justice Now!” appeared to be the most dominant force in the march. Organised charges by David Heller, Communications Officer for The Big Ask Campaign, where the Flood would squat and count down from 10, and then charge, banners flying, were an injection of energy, and dispelled all worries of cold and soggy feet.
 
The route weaved through the park towards the “Halls of Power”, as the choreographer had described them, and after dancing behind the samba band we charged the last portion of road up to the roadblock outside the Maritim.

We diverted towards the Tck Tck Tck stage, where speakers delivered motivating stories and chants on the theme of climate justice. With experimental chants that attempted to find rhymes with “climate justice”, we raised our voices with the hope that we would make so much noise that not only the delegates inside would hear us, but that their superiors would hear us at the end of every phone line.

Finally, Jasmine and Bjorn, two members of the Young FoEE delegation took to the stage and gave speeches, in English and German respectively, to the soaked but upbeat crowd. I made a dash inside to get the pictures online as quickly as possible, before joining the evaluation meeting.

The rain continued to fall all evening, and when we returned to the hostel late at night, after the rather raucous NGO party held in the Piano Bar at the Maritim, many campers found themselves on the receiving end of the very message they’d been carrying all day: the flood literally came, and 27 people, with tents drenched inside and out took shelter in the meeting room for the night.

With regional meetings all morning, I took the opportunity to catch up on work - monitoring the media. With no luck on the international front I resorted to rather basic monitoring methods in the local newsagent, scanning every German paper in sight. The paper that had promised to cover the event seemed to feature exclusively scantily clad women and I secretly hoped that we’d been left out.

The Young FoEE delegation left the hostel around 11am to head towards the park near the Maritim hotel, where 350.org were organising a huge aerial picture, followed by a march to the doors of the Maritim where speakers, including two members of the Young FoEE policy action group, would talk about climate justice. It promised to be an exciting day spent outside along with hundreds of fellow activists and campaigners. The only downside – it was pouring with rain.

We arrived at the site for the aerial picture and were kitted out with Green hard hats (symbolising the potential for greening the economy) and white jumpsuits that were thankfully waterproof, as it became clear on arrival that we would be spending at least 45 minutes laying in the rain. The atmosphere was nevertheless one of excitement, this time like a festival with the fun.

The exact number required to pull off the human banner turned up, 450 people would form a giant exclamation mark, with the words “Yes you can” and “tck tck tck”. German camera crews arrived, and numerous other press, and the choreographer began preparing the human banner on the ground.
After 45 minutes laying on the wet grass in the rain, thoroughly soaked, we finally got the shot that was needed, which would be spread across the web and inside the conference in the eco – the NGO newsletter.  

• Watch the video here
  

An inspiring and motivating message to the participants in Bonn that the clock is tck tck tck-ing, and that we only have 6 months left to deliver a strong and just climate deal in Copenhagen.

The hour had finally arrived for the UNFCCC football match. I still maintained that it was some sort of elaborate prank, but considered that the worst case would be an opportunity for some informal lobbying. However, I could not have been more wrong. I arrived at the meeting point and was greeted by a selection of delegates and NGO workers all kitted out in shorts and running shoes, a box of beer and a rather shiny trophy. Game on.

We shuttled down to the UNFCCC Headquarters to meet the UN Secretariat team, who had been warming up for the last half hour. Spirits were high in the NGO camp; a chance to release any pent up frustration from the talks. There was little time for tactical discussions or stretching, although this was what we all needed after a week of inactivity and sleep deprivation. We split into two teams, roughly NGO and delegates, and I found myself on the ‘Greenpeace Team’ alongside five Greenpeace delegates, including, with everyone whispering in excitement, “one from Brazil”. I campaigned to have us renamed the ‘NGO Team’, but majority ruled in the team of nine.

A very messy game

With raw herring from lunch still brewing in my stomach I took to the field. The game kicked off before we’d even nominated a keeper and 20 minutes of schoolyard football commenced. The Lesotho delegate in goal let a soft shot slip through his hands and roll across the line within five minutes, and the Brazilian tripped on the ball and twisted his ankle within seven. I had two breaks on goal and the only shot on target but failed to equalise, and after a heavy 50-50 challenge in the second half one of the Secretariat team members told me, in very un-diplomatic terms, that he’d “mess me up”. The game remained in deadlock until the end. The disgruntled Greenpeace team ‘borrowed’ the trophy and declared moral victory.

The next team took to the field, including Kuni Shimada, from the Japanese Ministry of Environment and the game quickly descended into chaos. Shimada left the field after one minute over confusion about untied shoelaces, the keeper took a goal kick from his hands, and the Secretariat scored a lot of goals.

The final match between the NGOs and delegates was a humourous affair, with further confusion for Shimada, who unsure whether to take a corner or a throw appeared to do something akin to both at the same time. A controversial penalty decision saw the Greenpeace delegates up in arms over the injustice, followed by bickering over the position of the penalty spot, until it was decided the player who would take the penalty “was a girl”, with the ref moving the spot closer. She smashed it into the top left corner.

They think it’s all over…

Further confusion broke out later when someone mistook “first substitution” for “perverse regulations” and the game finally ended in victory for Greenpeace with smiles all around. The trophy was returned to the rightful owners (UN Secretariat), and a surprisingly sincere speech about something about climate change followed. Then we all drank beer…

I took a second to reassess the situation after the detention action, and was shocked to find that it was only 10:30am. Some rushed discussions about further press work interrupted my sleepy ponderings, and then I had to dash to meet the policy group, who were badgering me to photograph their meeting with the German delegation, which I was more than happy to do.

The debate seemed lively, although I must admit I had no idea what they were talking about. I was unsure whether I found it inspiring or troubling that so many of the participants, who were clearly much younger than myself, seemed so knowledgeable about policy, and knew so many acronyms: I was still mulling over the sign outside the Maritim Hotel which appeared to point to BINGO.

After lunch and a swift media group meeting, it was time to join BUND Jugend, the German Young FoEE group, preparing a beach party outside the Maritim, with cut-out cartoons of Merkel and climate refugees. Having been refused permission to present either the cut-out figures or the accompanying film inside the Maritim, they used portable laptops to show passers-by the clip, and collected signed postcards.

• See the video for yourself
  

Discussions with Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, followed concerning the vague action policy surrounding the event, resulting in permission for the entry of Merkel and company into the Maritim.

I finally found time to collect my thoughts, and it was still only 4 pm...

The alarm seemed to be ringing before I’d even set it. The night had ended around 1am, and the plan was to have the action set up at 8am, leaving the hostel at exactly 7:22, after packing everything up and moving bags and all, along with our tents, in preparation for the night’s camping. This would be followed by another teaser around 11am, a meeting with the German delegation, a further action at 1pm, talks, talks and more talks, and the small matter of a football match. I began to question whether I could somehow disguise my youth status and sneak a couple extra hours of sleep, but to no avail. I was bundled out of bed at 6:30am sharp.

By the time I emerged from the building, the action group were already packing the van, with desks, chalk, cut-out cartoons, banners, benches and bodies. Bags were hurled into a spare room and somehow the majority of us made it for the bus with a minute to spare.

On arrival, the police had changed the venue of the action at the last minute, but it suited us: with a clear view of the Maritim Hotel the action team began to set up. First came the tables and benches, then the blackboard, then the banners. I dashed inside to hand out the last press releases to the media and returned to find a fully-fledged classroom, complete with noisy and unruly students, dominating the route towards the Maritim. The idea behind the action: it’s the end of the first week of the UNFCCC climate conference, and the leaders of industrialised nations have failed to do their homework on climate change.

I will not invest in cole

The action team were kitted out in masks depicting Merkel, Sarkozy, Obama, Aso, Van Rompuy, Brown, Reinfeldt, Rudd and Berlusconi and all dressed in uniform. The teacher, armed with a megaphone, ordered the mob to write lines on the blackboard as punishment for failing to do their homework: “I will not invest in cole, nuklear and offsetting [sic]” wrote Sarkozy, and “I must reduce my carbon emmisions [sic] by 40% by 2020” wrote Merkel. Despite the best efforts of the leaders to lay blame on their dogs or fellow classmates, and several ambitious attempts to deny any knowledge of the words “historical” or “responsibility” they ended the class with a unified chant: “Climate Justice Now! Climate Justice Now!”. Watch out for the Young FoEE video of the event, coming soon.

Sadly the event received less media attention than I’d hoped, despite the media team’s best efforts, although a Japanese journalist took great interest, and a local Bonn paper promised to run the story. But, importantly the delegates loved it. The event was met with unanimous positivity. Colleagues in the media team interviewed many, asking if they too had done their homework.

The action was undeniably a huge success; the only hiccup the lack of media attention – I asked myself if I too had failed to do my homework!

• Watch the video
  

At the climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, world leaders will make decisions affecting the future of our planet. They will have an historic opportunity to commit to actions that help to protect us from the disastrous consequences of dangerous climate change.

Sign Friends of the Earth International's petition to urge them to do the right thing by our climate and people all over the world.

• Sign the petition here

After leaving the press invitation in the capable hands of the media group, I was dragged out of the Maritim Hotel to document the first teaser action. Six Young FoEE-ers, armed with chalk and stickers were determined to take the message of climate justice to the citizens of Bonn.

After energetically peppering every lampost and sign in sight they decided they should probably stick to the original plan and save some resources for the centre, and we all jumped on the tram and set our sights on central Bonn.

The same enthusiasm was released upon the streets, literally, with the small team covering the central pedestrian areas with the slogans “The Flood is coming” and “Demand Climate Justice”. The reaction was mixed. Positive interest and excitement from the younger generation, and grumbles, mumbles, shuffles and general despair from the much elder. But then it is Young FoEE.

I returned to the Maritim early to finish the press release for Friday’s action and to make sure we had spokespeople for the day, and made time to sign myself up for the UNFCCC football championships. Could this be a prank? Would they really unleash a team of NGO workers onto a football field with national delegates? We’ll find out.

Young FoEE were treated to an introduction to Climate Justice Now!, with stirring talks from affected people in the Global South, and everyone took a well deserved beer after almost 12 hours non-stop activity. Thoroughly exhausted I returned to the Young FoEE camp where meetings continued long into the night, with final preparations and last minute arrangements for tomorrow.

Fingers crossed…

more climate coverage

• Read Friends of the Earth's Tom Picken address at the Bonn climate talks
• Call on world leaders to do the right thing at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen this December

In the article he talks about his introduction to human and environmental rights in the 1980's and how his goal since then has been to help strengthen and mobilize local communities to fight for their own interests. 

Nnimmo also mentions the dangers he's encountered as an activist and how he has used music and poetry to cope with his own struggles and to empower others.

• Read the full interview here

• Find out more about Environmental Rights Action

The Young FoEE day began earlier than any would have liked, especially after the late night spent banner painting in preparation for Friday, but everyone was keen to get their first look inside Hotel Maritim where the climate talks were taking place.

After final rushed meetings in the bus and tram we arrived at the rather soulless area around the hotel, and after a brief stroll along the footpath, adjacent to a motorway, 35 of us congregated in the front entrance of the hotel for the first group shot. Young FoEE had arrived, and we were hard to miss.

After passing security it was like being thrown into a sea of suits, and as my first experience at this kind of event I was relieved to find that it wasn’t as scary as I’d expected. A rather small venue, considering the importance of the talks, and a disturbing number of smiling delegates… was this a reflection on the progress of the talks? Not if the FoEI delegation were to be believed.

The atmosphere inside the hotel was a surreal cross between music festival and boardroom meeting: all the freneticism, energy and legions of sleep-deprived people that you’d find in a festival, but with all the music and fun removed.

The hotel was full of surreal juxtapositions and the rhythm strangely hypnotic: I would later find myself signing off a press release for Friday’s action with a snoring delegate on the sofa opposite, a destitute polar bear below, and calls of “Fossil of the day” echoing through the corridors.

But, to work! The Young FoEE groups split again into three, and continued from yesterday’s sessions. Action locations were scoped out, and plans refined. Policy differences were ironed out and the media potential was explored. It was clear there remains plenty of room for the Young FoEE/FoEI message.

The Seminar is a part of the Friends of the Earth International project: Capacity building and networking among environmental NGOs and youth in South Eastern Europe with FOEI experience.

The project will last for three years and is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
If you are based in the region or this is simply something you're interested then please go to the Friends of the Earth Croatia website to find out more.

• Find out more
  

As the discussions continued in the Maritim hotel, Young foe-ers prepared for the following four days, with morning briefings going deeper into the FoEI position and the background and history of the UNFCCC.

Using “action preparation” as a very poor excuse to get out of these discussions my colleague and I jumped on a bus into central Bonn in search of chalk, paint, paper, fabric and general school materials. You ask why? All will become clear on Friday.

The afternoon saw the Young FoEE group split into three working groups: Action, Media and Policy, followed by three hours of discussion and training.

By the end, in short, the Action group came up with some wonderful ideas and concepts for actions throughout the week, with a teaser for the Flood in Copenhagen (FoEI's large mobilisation at the UN climate talks this December) on Thursday, the main action on Friday (more to be revealed), and further ‘fairytale’ actions/interventions on Saturday.

The Media group tried to define their role so as to best assist both the Action and Policy groups, to get the Young FoEE and FoEI positions across, and to get the most amount of media-coverage possible, while discussing the possibilities and potential for new-media.

And finally, from what I could observe, the Policy group got incredibly frustrated, and stuck in a quagmire of acronyms and detailed technical discussion.

Back in central Bonn, the REDD side event: “REDD traps: can we avoid them?” with the Global Forest Coalition, asked if it is possible to develop REDD policies that respect indigenous peoples’ rights, conserve and restore biodiversity, and do not undermine the climate regime.

• Find out more about Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD)
  

Tomorrow brings the Young FoEE-ers first trip to the conference centre, accreditation, the small task of preparing and implementing the Flood teaser action, a small amount of press work, and an introduction to Climate Justice from the Climate Justice Now!

Lots to do.

Arriving Tuesday afternoon in glorious weather, weighed down by sacks of wellington boots, flyers and other materials, not to mention our tents, we were greeted by fellow Young FoEE-ers in the garden outside our hostel.

We would not be entering the Maritim Hotel, the centre of the talks, until Thursday, and looked forward to two full days of training and action preparation.

We had no first-hand idea of how the talks were going yet, but the general feeling was one of optimism, although, this would soon be challenged.

The Young FoEE activities got off to a great start. The first afternoon was spent with introductions and to each other and the whole UN climate talks process known as UNFCCC.

After a brief overview of the week’s activities, the evening brought an unexpected surprise when members of the Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) delegation arrived for an evening workshop. What was meant to be an informal chat about the FoEI stance on the talks turned into very intense and motivating discussions.

Initially the FoEI delegation looked incredibly exhausted and frustrated by the UNFCCC processes, and said as much, giving all the Young foe-ers a bit of a reality check . But, the pessimism was soon swept aside by a motivating and passionate talk from Asad Rehman, Senior Campaigner for Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The core message of the talk was that the frustrating UNFCCC process should not be demotivating, but in fact the complete opposite: it should be motivation for action action action. This got us all very excited.  Talks continued until around midnight, and it became clear that there was a huge gap waiting to be filled by the Young FoEE activists in Bonn: an action-sized gap right outside the Maritim hotel. Plans are indeed afoot...

• More pictures of Young Friends of the Earth Europe in Bonn can be viewed here
• Follow their Twitter updates and more here
  

As Bangladesh's leading environmental attorney, Rizwana's legal advocacy for tighter regulations for the country's environmentally devastating ship-breaking industry in particular, makes her one of six winners of the world's largest prize for environmentalists this year.

Rizwana, who is also a member of the Friends of the Earth International Executive Committee, collected the award last night (April 20) at a ceremony in San Francisco and will be honoured on  Earth Day (April 22) at a smaller ceremony in Washington D.C.

The Goldman Environmental Prize was established in 1989 by San Francisco civic leader and philanthropist Richard N. Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda H. Goldman. It has been awarded to 133 people from 75 countries.

Prize winners are selected by an international jury from confidential nominations submitted by a worldwide network of environmental organizations and individuals.

• Watch a video of Rizwana's work
  
• Learn more about 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize winners from other regions
  
• Find out more about Friends of the Earth Bangladesh/BELA

Photo: Rizwana Hasan in San Francisco / credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

The forum, held by the World Water Council, is intended as a space for governments and industry to exchange ideas about conservation and the development of water resources. Critics, including Friends of the Earth International, argue that members are more concerned about restricting access to water and pushing a privatisation agenda.

By way of protest the People's Water Forum is holding solidarity events around the world to mark World Water Day on March 22 by declaring water a human right and a central component of the global commons.

• Find out more about this alternative forum at The People's Water Forum
• Real World Radio will be reporting on the forum and the protests
  
• Read the Water Forum blog from our affiliate the Corporate European Observatory

No to neoliberal illusions, yes to people's solutions!

For centuries, productivity and industrial capitalism have been destroying our cultures, exploiting our labor and poisoning our environment.

Now, with the climate crisis, the Earth is saying "enough"!

Once again, the people who created the problem are telling us that they also have the solutions: carbon trading, so-called "clean coal", more nuclear power, agrofuels, even a "green new deal". But these are not real solutions, they are neoliberal illusions. It is time to move beyond these illusions.

Real solutions to the climate crisis are being built by those who have always protected the Earth and by those who fight every day to defend their environment and living conditions. We need to globalize these solutions.

For us, the struggles for climate justice and social justice are one and the same. It is the struggle for territories, land, forests and water, for agrarian and urban reform, food and energy sovereignty, for women's and worker's rights. It is the fight for equality and justice for indigenous peoples, for peoples of the global South, for the redistribution of wealth
and for the recognition of the historical ecological debt owed by the North.

Against the disembodied, market-driven interests of the global elite and the dominant development model based on never-ending growth and consumption, the climate justice movement will reclaim the commons, and put social and economic realities at the heart of our struggle against climate change.

We call on everyone -  workers, farmers, fishermen, students, youth, women, indigenous peoples, and all concerned humans from the South and the North - to join in this common struggle to build the real solutions to the climate crisis for the future of our planet, our societies, and our cultures. Together, we are building a movement for climate justice.

We support the mobilizations against the G20 summit and on the global crisis from March 28th to April 4th, and the April 17th mobilization of La Via Campesina.

We support the call for an International Day of Action in Defense of Mother Earth and Indigenous Rights on October 12th, 2009.

We call for mobilization and action everywhere leading up to, during and beyond the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, especially on the Global Day of Action on December 12th, 2009.

In all of our work, we will expose the false solutions, raise the voices of the South, defend human rights, and strengthen our solidarity in the fight for climate justice. If we make the right choices, we can build a better world for everyone.

This year's photo competition will gather photos from around the world on the theme of “Biodiversity Lost, Biodiversity Preserved”. The best shots will be featured in a series of materials we will launch in conjunction with the 2010 UN International Year of Biodiversity, including a calendar and an international photo exhibition. 

Find out how you can take part in the competition and view last year's winners

Friends of the Earth International are at the event and will be reporting back with media releases, blogs, audio reports and photographs.

Watch this space for all the updates.

• Listen to our audio reports on Real World Radio

• Read the Friends of the Earth US blog written by Health and Environment Campaigner Ian Illuminato.
  

To the poet of the olives
Mahmoud Darwish (1942 -2008)
and for the children of Palestine.

Killing or war!
said the wise owl,
while waking up from its millenary dreams.
Killing!! Said the hawk,
while showing its sinister claws ...
Killing is the slogan!
Cried the Coryphaeus of death.

While the owl,
settled on my eyes,
I could not open
my tightly closed eyelids
due to the gruesome scene
of the Palestine massacre.

Who can sleep
and keep silence,
if this unpunished killing
hurts the heart
of humanity?

In the labyrinth of infamy,
missiles and bombs
killing the children,
torture the life of dreams
and strangle the heart of the mothers

Such land in Gaza
my throat is tightened,
pain tores
my silence.

I shouted and shouted with solidarity courage:
Where is the humanity of the
United Nations?
Brother, sister!:
The children,
the olive trees and the winds of the desert have died!

I heard the voice of the poet of the olives:
The "Birds are dying in Galilee"
And the joy is "withered in the borders."

I am skin and heart of all colors.
My soul embraces the planet
with the song of the lark
and the subtle flight of the hummingbird.

I love humanity,
without holocausts:
Africa, Asia, Australia, Latin America,

Without the Nazi genocide against Jews and Gypsies,
without martyrdom in Palestine.

I love freedom:
freedom of the olives,
freedom without walls
freedom of the water.
Freedom of the stories
in "a thousand and one nights."

I Dream of the poet of the olive trees:
with no occupied territories,
without financial crisis and hunger
due to the business of weapons, or
oil wars;
due to gold and emeralds.

My dreams want to shake
the conscience of the people
and overcome with love and rebellion
the hunter of the planet.
I dream of the freedom of Palestine, and
Honduras, my occupied homeland.
A free Homeland!
Homeland for all mankind!