Invitation : 1st Call for Action Conference protesting the world climate summit in Bonn (COP23) on Saturday 20th May 2017 10.00 a.m 7.00 p.m at DGB Haus Endenicher Str. 127 Bonn
Dear all,
During our first preparational meeting in April we have come up with some ideas as well as some preliminary considerations concerning the protest against the world climate summit in Bonn which will take place from 6th November 17th of November.
This is where governmental representatives get together in order to pretend that they will discuss and actually pass measures to be taken agains climate change. Among them; The two greatest deniers of man-made climate change, the USA under Trump and Russia under Vladimir Putin. Yet also most other industrial countries, including Germany, whose government heavily promotes the use of brown coal power stations, hardly do anything to reduce CO2- emissions. Since the World Climate summit in 2015, the emission of CO2 has not been reduced – despite the various promises and celebrated decrees made during the conference.
Einladung zur 1. Aktionskonferenz gegen den Klimagipfel in Bonn (COP23)
am Samstag, 20. Mai 2017 10.00 bis 19.00 h im DGB-Haus, Endenicher Str. 127 in Bonn
Something is going very wrong with the climate of our planet.
The international negotiations concerning the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement will take place in Bonn during. 6th -17th November. However, in the immediate vicinity, is Europe’s largest CO2 source, the Rhenish brown coal fields.
Germany is the world champion of extracting the “climate killer” brown coal. Also in the direct neighborhood we can find two Belgian nuclear power stations on the brink of falling apart : Tihange and Doel which may cause an irreversible disaster any day.
Man-made climate change is an indisputable and menacing reality. Its effects are already felt today, and above all affect those people and countries that have barely caused it. Nevertheless, the federal government adapted its climate protection plan to the interests of the brown coal industry. In the White House, with Donald Trump, we have a president who considers climate change a lie, and reverses all climate protection programs that Obama has initiated.
If by 2050 global warming is not limited to a maximum of 2 degrees, safe life on earth will be impossible. Yet, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced immediately, especially in industrialized countries. In the close future, we must at least be CO2 neutral and, in the long term, we will even have to withdraw CO2 from the atmosphere again in order to return to levels significantly below 400 ppm.
We will not leave the rulers and politicians alone when they are going to assemble at the UN headquarters in Bonn, who ignore the decisions made and decreed by the majority of the United Nations, BUT we will oppose them with our many-sided protest. Against the Climate Summit, a variety of resistance is already being developed: platforms are being founded, alliances are forming locally and across the region, the first actions are already being planned.
In many political groups and organizations, the reflections on how the necessary protests and actions against the climate summit can be organized have already begun. There are differing views on how to begin: One is about putting an end to the extraction of brown coal, others focus on anti-nuclear power politics, again others concern themselves with the issues of flight and migration or about capitalism as a whole. There are ideas of a counter-summit, a major demonstration or protest, a “human chain”, actions of civil disobedience around the meeting place or the whole city.
No matter which approach the criticism for the climate summit takes, no matter which forms of action and expression are preferred, the protests can only be a success, they can only make use of one another, when they are not against each other but complement each other. Then we will witness the process to a world of fairness and solidarity. This requires above all arrangements and a lot of communication between those who oppose the summit.
We want to create a space for this communication, for joint planning and for appointments so different ideas can complement each other. For this reason, we are inviting you to a call for action conference where all activists who are interested in progressive and emancipatory summit protests are welcome. (It goes without saying that we draw a clear distinction against all fascist/right, racist, or anti-Semitic standpoints.)
If you come to Bonn on May 20, bring your ideas and questions with you, then the pictures that will go around the world in November 2017 will be quite different from what the summit leaders want.
How to get there:
Public Transport: Bonn Central Station is an ICE / IC station. All trains stop here. Opposite (slightly diagonal) the Bonn main station is the bus station. The bus lines 608, 609, 610, 611 and 843 take you to the DGB-Haus (to the Karlstraße / DGB-Haus stop). Driving time approx. 5 minutes. From the bus stop walk for 150 m in the direction of travel. The DGB-Haus is on the left side of the road.
By car: Coming from Cologne: A 565 direction Koblenz. Exit Bonn Endenich – keep to the left. DGB house is located about 500 m on the right.
Coming from A 61: At the junction.
Attac, verdi Jugend Bonn, ausgekohltCO2ohlt, Erwerbslosenforum, Die Linke Bonn, Bonner Jugendbewegung, BUND KG Bonn, DKP Bonn, Kampagne Don’t Nuke the Climate Katholische Landjugendbewegung, Bonnections, Netzwerk Friedenkooperative
