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Global Protests Demand Climate Justice as World Leaders Open Pivotal Paris Summit
Image Credit: Ac Dimatatac via 350.org
More than half a million people took part in rallies around the world ahead of today’s opening of the 21st United Nations Climate Change Summit in Paris, France. President Obama and more than 100 other heads of state have arrived for two weeks of negotiations aimed at reaching an accord on global warming. Sunday’s global day of action for climate justice saw protesters rally in countries including Colombia, Australia, Greece, Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines, Chile, Kenya, Canada, and Britain. Broadcasting from the Paris summit, we air some of their voices.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re broadcasting live from Paris, France on the opening day of the 21st U.N. Climate Change Summit. President Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and more than 100 heads of state from around the world have arrived to open the two weeks of negotiations aimed at reaching an accord to avert the most devastating impacts of global warming. The opening of the conference comes as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects that 2015 will be the hottest global year on record. President Obama addressed the conference just before we went to air.
PRES. BARAK OBAMA: I have come here personally as leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.
AMY GOODMAN: The historic climate summit begins two weeks after the November 13 attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people. The self-proclaimed Islamic State claimed responsibility. France remains under a three-month state of emergency, which has given the police unprecedented powers to conduct thousands of house searches and raids they say are aimed at stopping terrorism. But activists say the police have conducted indiscriminate raids in Muslim communities. Environmental activists have also had their homes raided. At least 24 climate justice activists have been placed under house arrest. All protests in France have been banned. Up to 200,000 people were expected to march in Paris on Sunday, but authorities prohibited the March from taking place. But around the world, more than half a million people took to the streets in a global Day of action calling for climate justice, including in Bogota, Colombia, Sydney, Australia, Athens, Greece, Mexico City, along the equator in Kenya and even on a glacier in southern Chile. In London, where 50,000 people rallied, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party spoke about the connection between world conflicts and the increasing scarcity of resources due to climate change.
JEREMY CORBYN: It’s always the issue, because the issue is about the world in which we live and it’s also about resources that we use. And there some aspects in the terrible conflict around the world that are related to the competition for resources. So it’s important in many ways. But I think the attendance here today on a wet November morning is absolutely brilliant, and I take my hat off, literally, to all those that have come.
AMY GOODMAN: In Brazil, protesters covered themselves with mud and laid on the ground to symbolize the River Doce, which was recently flooded by toxic chemicals when a dam burst at a massive iron mine, killing more than a dozen people and contaminating the river with mercury.
GUTO MACEDO: [translated] What happened was an environmental crime, like so many others, which the governments and world leaders perpetuate. I want them to hear us, the buried ones, that we will not put up with anymore.
AMY GOODMAN: In Manila, in the Philippines, protesters called attention to the devastating impact drastic sea level rise would have in the Philippines.
ANNA ABAD: Internationally, the Philippines has always ranked consistently at the top of climate risk indices, and that makes as vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We are already experiencing it at the present and we know that that’s the reason why we are marching here for today, to demand for climate justice.
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Thousands Defy Paris State of Emergency, Protest Ban to Sound the Alarm on Global Climate Crisis
A major rally in Paris on the eve of the U.N. climate summit was canceled after authorities banned public protests in the aftermath of this month’s Islamic State terror attacks. But on Sunday, tens of thousands of people formed a human chain stretching for blocks. After the human chain action ended, thousands of Parisians and international activists defied the French ban on protests and tried to march through the downtown streets. They were met by hundreds of riot police, who used tear gas, sound bombs and pepper spray. More than 200 protesters were arrested. Democracy Now! was live on the scene interviewing people throughout the streets.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Back in Paris, France, activists installed thousands of pairs of shoes in front of the Place de la République in downtown Paris, only blocks from where the November 13 shooting happened at the Bataclan occurred to symbolize the desire to march. Yannick, a French citizen who donated her shoes to the installation, said she felt it was important the protesters’ presence was felt.
YANNICK: [translated] I find it very moving. It is a very strong message as we do not have the right to take part in the large March which was organized, it was important our presence was felt. All of these shoes represent all of the people who are committed to do something for climate change, to do something this week when there will be a lot of debate.
AMY GOODMAN: In downtown Paris, tens of thousands of people also formed a human chain stretching down the sidewalk for blocks. Demonstrator Romain Porcheron said the chain represents solidarity.
ROMAIN PORCHERON: [translated] The idea is to show that all citizens of the world are aware and the common environmental and ecological objective is not individualist, it is about solidarity and the sharing between populations, that we are all in the same boat. That is planet Earth. If each one of us accept taking one step forward to change little habits, which then evolves into systematic change, we will be able to solve the crisis of climate change which threatens the entirety of humanity.
AMY GOODMAN: Indigenous people from the Arctic took to the Amazon took part in the human chain in Paris calling for urgent action on climate change and highlighting the disproportionate impact of global warming on frontline communities. After the human chain action ended, thousands of Parisians and international activists defied the French ban on protests and attempted to march through the streets of downtown Paris. They were met by hundreds of riot police, who used tear gas, sound bombs, pepper spray in an effort to break up the demonstration in the Place de la Rèpublique. More than 200 protesters were arrested after police with shields and riot gear stormed the monument at the Place a la Rèpublique, trampling on the flowers and candles commemorate the November 13 attacks. And forcibly removing protesters who’d linked arms around the statue to protect it. Democracy Now! was live on the scene interviewing people throughout the protests.
PROTESTER 1: I’m here because wanted to walk for the climate convention. Don’t consider the citizens’ opinion and what citizens want to do. They prefer shoot us than listen to us.
PROTESTER 2: We’re here at Rèpublique where demonstrators in the hundreds, it’s hard to say how many, have gathered. The police response has been teargas and these sound bomb canisters that they’re dispersing into the crowd.
SHEILA: I’m Sheila. I’m from Oakland, and I’m here because it’s supposed to be the most important climate negotiation of all time. I was an environmental studies student and they just constantly talked about COP21. And if something didn’t happen this year, if a negotiation wasn’t made that was binding, then we would see drastic effects of climate change that would be a reversible.
JEN: We are in the Place de la Rèpublic in Paris. It’s demonstrating after the climate demonstration. And so now we gather to focus on also state of emergency, and plus climate change, and actually the cops are just launching gas bombs on us.
PROTESTER 3: We are just right on the right — in front of the statue. And the statue is important for us. More important today because there are many candles on the statue and we want to protect it. I’m not much in demonstration and uh — but this time, when I understood that the French state, the French government used the law, they began attacking the left activists. And it’s just incredible that so many people in France don’t understand what is happening. Everything that is going to switch from fighting against terrorism to a fight against citizens.
PROTESTER 4: We’re not the ones causing the problem. The French state and the European states and the North American states are causing the problem, and we’re the ones suffering from it.
INTERVIEWER: If the COP’s opening tomorrow, what is your message on climate change?
PROTESTER 5: Our message is that the answer resides in everybody, in our lifestyles, in the way we live, and we have to change the way we live. We have to stop commercial relationships with some countries. We have to stop our consumption of oil and our consumption of nuclear, and that goes with — that goes with the change of our lifestyle.
PROTESTER 1: The only problem with security is that policemen are attacking us. That is an absence of security. There are no terrorists here. There are no terrorists.
PROTESTER 5: Yeah, that’s the state of —
PROTESTER 1: There are the terrorists. They are shooting us.
PROTESTER 6: What I’m doing here is clear. I don’t — I protest against the emergency state, which is a parody of protection for the citizens and is transform into repression against the citizens.
PROTESTER 4: As you can see they’ve blocked off every entrance around Rèpublique. They won’t let us go anywhere.
PROTESTER 6: Several friends of us have been arrested.
PROTESTER 4: We can’t give too much information, but repression in our circle has been quite extensive.
JEN: My name is Jen. I live in Paris, and I’m a militant for environment. I have no hope in events like COP, because, you know, they have partners like AF, like Bic, like Ikea, like Cafro, which are — like L’Orèal — which are enormous polluters, no? Air France is like planes everywhere. Bic is disposable stuff. Ikea, it’s planned obsolescence. I have a panel which is written, right to demonstrate because, here in Paris, today, we’re not supposed to demonstrate, we don’t have the right. The march has been forbidden. But still we are here. And we make some noise.
PROTESTER 7: The government shouldn’t be using fear to stop us to protest what we believe in. Cop21 has been scheduled for very long time, even before the attacks they decided to increase security at the borders. This isn’t about terrorism. I’m here to fight fear and the use of fear.
AMY GOODMAN: More than 200 people were arrested. French President François Hollande condemned the clashes between protesters and police as "scandalous" and blamed the protesters for trampling on the monument, even though video footage shows the police smashing the glass candles and trampling on the flowers. Activists said that actions and demonstrations would continue throughout the summit. Special thanks to Sam Alcoff, Laura Gottesdiener and John Hamilton for that report. We’re going to go to break. When we come back, we’ll hear from indigenous activist Tom Goldtooth and his son Dallas, of the 1491s, bestselling author Naomi Klein, French farmer José Bové and more. Stay with us.
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Indigenous Climate Activists: Paris "Police State" is the Reality Frontline Communities Live With
Democracy Now! catches up with Dallas Goldtooth of the comedy group the 1491s, and his father Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of Indigenous Environmental Network, at The Place to B, a Paris hostel that serves as the center for independent journalists covering COP21. Tom Goldtooth recently won the Gandhi Peace Award. "If you look at the scenario we’re facing right now in Paris, you have a heightened police state, you have unreasonable bureaucracy, limited resources," Dallas says.
"This is our element as frontline communities. This is the world we exist in."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Oh, and I see in one of these meeting rooms, Tom Goldtooth, who is a long time indigenous leader from the United States. His son Dallas Goldtooth and many others; familiar faces at these COPs as it goes from one generation to another. Let’s go inside. There was supposed to be a massive march on Sunday. But it was canceled because of the Paris attacks. Tom Goldtooth, your thoughts on this?
TOM GOLDTOOTH: Well, definitely, as people of our big delegation here from Indigenous Environment Network, GGJ and the CJA, Climate Justice Alliance, Grass Roots for Global Justice, you know, we stand in solidarity with the people starting from, you know, Beirut, from here, you know, a lot of people — we met a lot of people here. And some people got hurt here, too, so we come here with prayer.
But, you know, the reaction is just really not surprising to me because I’ve been one of those fighters for social justice and environmental justice. But the reaction and how they’re treating local communities here, they’re really targeting certain communities that are — they considered left side. And I think that’s wrong. And the other issue here is just the banning of the civil society. I mean, part of democracy is that the people who are disenfranchised, the people on the front lines of these struggles of climate justice, energy justice, food sovereignty and all of the related issues, you know, why are they being called out here? And why are — why is that voice being shut down?
AMY GOODMAN: Dallas, you grew up in this movement. How does climate change affect you, your community?
DALLAS GOLDTOOTH: Well, the thing is that most folks think we are here just to talk about climate and it’s not necessarily — it’s greater than that. We’re talking about climate justice. And that’s all-encompassing. That’s, you know, if you look at the scenario we’re facing right now in Paris, I mean, you have a heightened police state, you have unreasonable bureaucracy, you have limited resources. I mean, this is our element as frontline communities. This is the world we exist in.
And so, we are rising to the challenge to speak up and not only talk about what we are fighting against, but also what we’re fighting for and that’s just transition towards a renewable sustainable society. In Minnesota and along a lot of the indigenous communities is having sincere conversation of how we can build sustainable sovereign nations and also have a conversation about what does localized energy production look like, what does localized food production look like, what does it mean to really self determine our future as native people?
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Dallas Goldtooth of the 1491s and his father, Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of The Indigenous Environmental Network, based in Minnesota on Turtle Island, also known as North America. Tom Goldtooth recently won the Gandhi Peace Award. In a press statement issued by the Indigenous Environmental Network today, Tom Goldtooth said "We are here in Paris to tell the world that not only will the anticipated Paris Accord not address climate change, it will make it worse because it will promote false solutions and not keep fossil fuels from being extracted and burned." He said, "The Paris COP21 is not about reaching a legally binding agreement on cutting greenhouse gases. In fact, the Paris Accord may turn out to be a crime against humanity and Mother Earth."
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Naomi Klein on Paris Summit: Leaders' Inaction on Climate Crisis is "Violence" Against the Planet
Ahead of the 21st UN climate change conference in Paris, more than 170 nations submitted plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But experts say the proposed targets end up falling far short of what is needed to mitigate against drastic heating of the planet, and that the agreements during the negotiations are not likely to be binding. We discuss what’s at stake in Paris and how activists are responding with bestselling author Naomi Klein, author of "This Changes Everything: Capitalism versus the Climate."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more we’re joined by bestselling author Naomi Klein. She’s author of, "This changes everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate." Naomi, welcome back to Democracy Now!
NAOMI KLEIN: Thank you, Amy. It’s great to be with you.
AMY GOODMAN: You are a leading climate activist for many years. Among your actions, the first time you were arrested was protesting the Keystone XL. That right?
NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Now we’re here in Paris and this is the first day of the climate summit. Yesterday, major actions on the streets, although, protests were banned. Can you talk about the banning of protests and what it means?
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, first of all, you know, I think yesterday was a really important show of defiance against that ban on protests and marches, which I think we have to remember, is really quite extraordinary for North Americans, there are strong resonances with the way in which the way the French government has behaved. We have seen a discourse that is reminiscent of September 11 under George W. Bush, but one thing that’s worth remembering, Amy, is that even George W. Bush and Dick Cheney didn’t been marches and protests after September 11, and that is what François Hollande has done.
So people took to the streets and just said, no. I mean, the human chain, which I thought that was a very moving demonstration that thousands of people participated in and it clearly was a demonstration and people didn’t know what — how the state would respond and they did it anyway.
The stakes are incredibly high, because, here we are in this conference center, and this is a summit that is sponsored by all kinds of polluters. There’s a big pavilion, the Solutions 21 section of the summit which is put on by big energy companies, private water companies, agribusiness companies. And they are saying, we have the solution, right? The solution is private water, is genetically modified seeds, is nuclear power. And we’re here in France, which is a huge nuclear power powered country. And what was planned for the streets was not just opposition and a demand for action, but also a celebration of people’s alternatives, of climate justice, and and articulating and showing what that looks like in real terms.
There are people who have come to Paris to demonstrate what it is that they’re doing in their communities, community controlled renewable energy as well as agri-ecological farming methods. And so, my concern is that as this — as protest is suppressed, these corporate solutions that are being elevated within the conference center become more powerful. So there’s a real tension about, what do we mean by climate action and who is going to define that?
AMY GOODMAN: Your thoughts about the Place de la République, which has become world famous as the symbol around the world with people putting flowers and candles, paying respects to those who died November 13, and what happened yesterday?
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, I have seen the memorial. I wasn’t there as you guys were there, Democracy Now! was there. I was in the human chain and we were doing some filming there, but I was relying on media reports to understand what happened in the Place de la République. And I must say, that it’s incredibly important what you just reported, that it was police who disturbed that Memorial. Because the way it’s being reported and what — a lot of what I saw was that was blaming that on climate protesters. And in fact, they were the ones who were protecting it. I don’t know exactly what happened, but you have some very, very important footage to set the record straight on that crucial point.
But, the other thing I think is important to understand about why protests are important — you mention that I was one of the more than 1200 people who were arrested in an act of civil disobedience to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline. Obama gave a speech just now to this summit in which he talked about how he had canceled big projects that would have extracted some of the dirtiest fossil fuels, a clear reference to Keystone. But let’s remember, he did that under enormous pressure, Amy. It took him four years to reject that pipeline, and he did so because of the incredible organization of the climate justice movement led by indigenous movements, picked up by groups like Bold Nebraska and 350 and so many other groups.
So to the extent to which we have some kind of action here from leaders, and it’s not nearly enough, it’s because they’re under pressure from their populations. That’s true for Obama, it’s also true for countries like China who are under pressure because of air pollution. So they’re coming here because their movements, their people have mobilized, and yet we are meeting under a state of emergency and climate protesters are being told to just be quiet.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s not only about protests, the different events, the side events that take place. Not everyone can come into this highly guarded site. This is an old airport where Charles Lindbergh landed his plane after doing his transatlantic flight. But to say the least, it is extremely well guarded, keeping a lot of people out. So what are they doing outside?
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, there’s all kinds of events. I mean, this — and a lot of them are going on. So there’s gonna be — there’s one configuration called the Alternadiba which is this celebration of community controlled solutions weather agriculture or energy, there are concerts going on. There is a lot of — there’s a divestment event that’s going to be going on in a couple of days.
We’re organizing an event about justice based transition and the the Leap Manifesto that we were a part of in Canada and talking about this as a model to bring together the anti-austerity movement, the refugee rights movement, the climate movement, the anti-police violence movement, because, this is a moment where there’s a huge amount of mobilization around the world and also in Europe, but it’s still very much compartmentalized in, you know, what we sometimes call silos. So a lot of what’s going to be happening is, you know, is people coming out of their silos and strategizing. But, of course it’s happening under a situation where we don’t exactly know what is going to attract repression and what isn’t.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about what’s at stake in these talks.
NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah, yeah. Well, everything is at stake. We hear this from the leaders themselves, right? And this is — one of the key themes from the protests yesterday was that we are in a state of emergency, right? The French government has declared a state of emergency after those horrific attacks of November 13. But that’s not the only emergency. Security isn’t the only emergency. There’s also a connection. John Kerry has talked explicitly several times about how climate change was one of the key drivers of the outbreak of civil war in Syria. We know that climate change is already fueling conflict. We know that it’s already fueling mass migration.
So, it was interesting because François Hollande talked about we’re not choosing between fighting terrorism and acting on climate change, we are going to do both. But we actually have to do more than that, we have to expand our definition of security to put climate action at the very center of that, because there is no possibility for human security in a world that is headed towards three degrees Celsius warming, and that is with these governments are bringing to the table.
So, you know, Michael Klare, the energy analyst, has talked about how we should really be thinking about this summit as the most critical peace convention in the world. I mean, our only hope for peace, really, is a truly ambitious and binding climate agreement.
AMY GOODMAN: So how can that be achieved? You have all sorts of people, voices in today’s broadcast, people we have spoken to like Pablo Salon, who was the former, climate negotiator for Bolivia and ambassador to the U.S. saying this treaty will burn the earth. You have Tom Goldtooth, leading indigenous activist, saying what may come out of Paris is a crime against humanity.
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, look, even the two degree target, which they are blowing through, when they announced that target in Copenhagen, and Amy, you were there, the delegates from African nations walked — marched through the hallways of that convention center and said that it was a death sentence for Africa. The Pacific Island nations chanted 1.5 to survive.
One thing that I do think was positive in those opening statements today is that both Françoise Hollande and Ban Ki-moon talked about 1.5. They said, they said, you know, the words. They didn’t say we are committed to 1.5, but they acknowledged that this is a reality. So, you know, the stakes could not be higher.
This is violence. Inaction in the face of such an existential threat. And at a moment when engineers like Mark Jacobson at Stanford University are saying, actually, with existing technologies, we could get to 100% renewable economies within three decades, we could have entirely clean economies by midcentury and yet our governments are talking about waiting until the end of the century. So that is a decision that is being made and it’s a decision that will lead to the disappearance of an entire nations, entire —
AMY GOODMAN: Explain, Naomi Klein, how this two-week summit works, why it’s different from past ones, and why for example President Obama, the president China, all the world leaders are here from the first two days rather than in Copenhagen at the end. How much is already set in stone?
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, there are some big questions, right? The question of financing. All leaders pay lip service to it. They all said the right things. We have to provide financing for the impacts of climate change and also for poorer countries to leapfrog over fossil fuels and go directly to renewables.
So the question at this point, the real issue is, how much money? Is the money going to be real? Is it just going to be reshuffled aid. That is yet to be decided. So that is something that people are going to be fighting very strongly over. Also going to be fighting over this issue of 1.5 versus two degrees. And then the other issue is enforceability, whether these commitments are binding. And then there’s going to be all kinds of complicated word play around how we define binding, enforceable, what does this mean?
The U.S. has made it clear that it can’t be a binding treaty because that means it has to bring it to the U.S. Senate, and they can’t do that. So now they’re saying, well, what will be binding is that you have to come back to the table. But what does binding mean if there are no penalties? So these are the things that are going to be wrangled over in the coming days.
But one thing I would say is that it is true that countries are coming to the table with more than they came to in Copenhagen. And that is because of the pressure they’ve been under. And so movements are going to keep pressuring their governments so that the next time they gather, they will bring more to the table. So, I’m on the board of 350.org, and we have never talked — a lot of groups were talking about the road to Paris. So we always make sure that we talk about the road through Paris. Everything does not end at the end of the summit.
What we do know is that governments come to the table at summits like this with what they consider to be politically possible. What social movements do is they exist to change what is politically possible. We move the bar. So that the next time they come to the table, what is politically possible is aligned with what is physically necessary. Because right now, what is considered politically possible is deeply out of alignment with what is physically necessary.
AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Klein, I want to thank you for joining us. Stay tuned for part two of this conversation at democracynow.org. Naomi Klein is the best selling author, activist. Her most recent book is, "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate." She is hosting a workshop on Wednesday here in Paris called, "The Leap Manifesto: A Justice-Based Energy Transition." Oh, and she and Avi Lewis have made a remarkable film called, "This Changes Everything," that’s traveling the planet.
You can follow Democracy Now! on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram for photos and video of the protests, Sunday, and all of the events here at the U.N. Climate Summit in Paris. And tune in for the next two weeks as we broadcast live from inside and outside the Climate Summit.
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"If You're Not at the Table, You're on the Menu": Indigenous Activists Demand Role in Paris Climate Talks
Across the world, indigenous and poor communities who have contributed least to carbon pollution are most often the most impacted by climate change, which which threatens their land, food supply and access to water. At the UN Climate Change summit in Paris, we speak with indigenous activists about the existential threat of climate change.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We are broadcasting from Paris at the 21st U.N. Climate Change Summit. Ahead of the summit, more than 170 nations submitted plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But experts say the proposed targets end up falling far short of what is needed to mitigate against drastic heating of the planet, and that the agreements during the negotiations are not likely to be binding.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says if temperatures rise more than two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, it could lead to catastrophic and irreversible impacts. If the world remains at the current levels of fossil fuel consumption and emissions, we’re on track for a rise of nearly 5 degrees. Scientists say this could lead to a collapse of the Greenland ice sheet, raising sea levels more than 20 feet, submerging island nations and coastal cities, including New York, Shanghai, and London underwater. Across the world, indigenous and poor communities who’ve contributed least to carbon pollution are most often impacted by — the most in climate change, which is threatening their land, food supply and access to water. On Sunday, we spoke with indigenous activists, who are part of the human chain here in Paris, about the existential threat of climate change.
PROTESTER 1: As we speak, climate change is happening, and we cannot wait one year, two years, five years.
TOM GOLDTOOTH: This issue of climate change is a life-and-death issue.
PROTESTER 2: Shut down.
CROWD: [indiscernible]
PROTESTER 2: Shut down.
CROWD: [indiscernible]
PROTESTER 2: What do we want?
PROTESTER 3: If we don’t sort out climate change, our coastal communities and our island communities they’re going to be underwater.
PROTESTER 2: If you’re not at the table, you are on the menu. So, we want to be at the table.
PROTESTER 3: We need to have a binding agreement coming out of this thing. In the Pacific we want the, you know, the differential in the temperature to be less than two degrees, so, 1.5 to stay alive, that’s the message that we’re putting out there. A lot of our Pacific Island nations governments are along side with indigenous peoples. There’s a lot of solidarity, there’s a lot of synergy in terms of the things that we want. Because basically, if we don’t sort out climate change, our coastal communities and our island communities they’re going to be underwater.
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French Farmer-Activist José Bové on Paris Protest Ban: "We Are in Prison in Our Own Home"
Among those who took to the streets of Paris in protest Sunday was the French farmer, activist and politician José Bové, one of the world’s leading critics of corporate globalization and genetically modified organisms. Bové is a sheep farmer who became famous for helping to destroy a McDonald’s under construction in France to protest trade policies that hurt small farmers. He is also a member of the European Parliament. Bové joins us to discuss France’s ban on protests in the aftermath of the Paris attacks and what’s at stake at the United Nations summit on climate change.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. We’re broadcasting from Paris, France, from inside the U.N. Climate Summit. Among those who took to the streets this weekend, of Paris in peaceful protest, Sunday, was French farmer, activist, and politician José Bové, one of the world’s leading critics of corporate globalization and genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Bové is a sheep farmer who became famous for helping to destroy a McDonald’s under construction in France to protest trade policies that hurt small farmers. In 2009, he was elected to the European Parliament. I caught up with him in the streets of Paris on Sunday.
JOSÉ BOVÉ: My name José Bové. I’m, uh, at this moment, European Deputy.
AMY GOODMAN: And what are your thoughts on the U.N. COP and what is coming out of this climate summit in Paris?
JOSÉ BOVÉ: Well, I’m not sure that this summit is going to reach what we need because all the governments, they want to stay in their own way to go. And the big companies are there also, supporting the summit, and they don’t want to change anything. That’s why, for the moment, like for example I’m here with the Indians from Ecuador, which are fighting against Exxon, and all of the big companies. And in this moment, the companies, they don’t to change anything. So we know, clearly, that if we don’t keep the oil inside of the earth and we still use it, we’re not going to be able to change. That’s why we say, clearly, that it’s not the climate that we have to change, it’s the system.
AMY GOODMAN: You’re a Frenchman. The major climate march was canceled after the terror attacks of November 13. Do you think the environmental activists should have marched anyway?
JOSÉ BOVÉ: Well, I think the alternative we built with this human chain was a good thing to say, it’s not because the demonstration was stopped, was forbidden that we’re not going to do something. So this is the beginning, and which we’re doing these two weeks. Many demonstrations are going to be going on, not maybe big ones, but we don’t know because we have now to make impression.
We a big problem with the French Government in this moment, because, since now a few days, they arrested several people from the movements, the movements which are fighting against climate change, they have been arrested. People have been their house opened by police. And some of them now are not allowed to go into the street, have to stay in their home. They are imprisoned in their own home. This is a scandal because they use the laws which has been put on against the terrorists to fight now against the social movement. This is not acceptable. So that’s why we are also here to say, this has to change. This is not — we’re not going to accept this. And if we have to go in the street, if we have to make some demonstrations, we’ll do it even if it’s forbidden.
AMY GOODMAN: And France’s policies around climate change?
JOSÉ BOVÉ: We have a big problem in Europe. Europe is not at the level it should be. We should be now in the front line. But, unfortunately, we have also big companies. And the governments are now behind these companies. Total, and all the nuclear companies, industrial agriculture, which is pushing very strong in France and other European level. So even what the European Union said we have to get lower using of carbon, in fact, this is still not enough. We know this is just the minimum of the minimum. It’s not going to stop, unfortunately, the climate problem.
AMY GOODMAN: You became the poster boy of anti-corporate activism in 1999 at the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle. Explain what you did here in the south of France.
JOSÉ BOVÉ: Well, it’s very simple. What I — In 1999, you know, we were — it was the beginning of the WTO. And Europe refused to bring, coming from United States, beef treated by hormones which is used in the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: Beef treated by hormones.
JOSÉ BOVÉ: Yeah, beef treated by hormones. This is forbidden in Europe because we had a big social fight to forbid because it’s dangerous [carcinogen]. So we say we’re not allowed. We blocked this beef coming inside, and WTO gave to United States the capacity to sanctions against 60 European products. And that in compensation because they couldn’t have their market. That’s why one of these product, was the Roquefort cheese, which we do in my region. OK, we’re not allowed to serve this Roquefort cheese because we refuse to let in the beef treated by hormone. OK, that’s not a problem, but your junk food is not also allowed to come in. And that’s why dismantle a McDonald, which in building — they were building it in France in Millau at that moment. And that was a very big mess.
AMY GOODMAN: So you dismantled the Golden Arches. And where did you put them?
JOSÉ BOVÉ: Even the, not only that, all the —
AMY GOODMAN: The building.
JOSÉ BOVÉ: The building, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: And where did you put it?
JOSÉ BOVÉ: And we put it in the administration house, and said, now you keep all of this stuff here. And when they stop with the fact that they want to bring beef treated with hormones, we’ll — you can give them back.
AMY GOODMAN: And what happened to you for doing this?
JOSÉ BOVÉ: I was in jail. I was arrested. I went to jail and I was sentenced for several months of jail. I went to Seattle and we made a very huge demonstration, lots of demonstration.
AMY GOODMAN: Outside the McDonald’s there.
JOSÉ BOVÉ: And just in front of the McDonald’s in the center of Seattle we distribute more than 500 kilos of Roquefort cheese. And it was a very big joke. Very funny thing. And Danielle Mitterrand, which was the wife of François Mitterrand, was with us to distribute the Roquefort. And it was very funny. And we made a lot of funny things. Unfortunately since that moment, since 2006, now, I’m not allowed to go back to the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: You’re banned?
JOSÉ BOVÉ: I’m banned. I’ve been put out by plane. They kick — when I came back — I came back in 2004 — I was allowed to go, but in 2006, the Bush administration said, no, this guy is not allowed to come back anymore. The problem is that, you have ALÉNA, the ALÉNA treaty with here Canada and Mexico; the economic treaty. That means that, also
AMY GOODMAN: NAFTA?
JOSÉ BOVÉ: Yeah ta- yeah. Mexico says, you’re not allowed also to go in, and Canada, the same. And the fact that Canada says, you are not allowed to come in, Australia, New Zealand said the same. So now I’m forbidden from a lot of countries because the American administration told me in 2006 that I had been sentenced for moral turpitude. And I say, what is moral turpitude?
On the green card when you go inside the United States, this is a — very few words, moral turpitude. Your not allowed. I say, what is that? They say, you attacked the economic interest of the companies. And that’s why — and the Obama administration didn’t change anything. So even now, I’m a European deputy and I’m still not allowed to go inside the United States. The moment where we are discussing this big stupid treaty between the United States and Europe. This is quite incredible.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s French farmer, activist, and politician, member of the European Parliament member José Bové. One of the world’s leading critics of corporate globalization. José Bové attended the WTO protests in 1999. Today is the 16th anniversary of the Battle of Seattle. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report When we come back, Naomi Klein joins us live here at the U.N. Climate Summit here in Paris, France. Stay with us.
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"I Am Paris, I am Bamako, We Are Humanity": Memorial at Bataclan Theatre Honors Attack Victims
Shortly after arriving in France for the United Nations Climate Summit, President Obama laid a single rose at a memorial for the victims of the Paris attacks outside the Bataclan, the concert hall where the deadliest violence took place on November 13th. Democracy Now! visited the site on Saturday night.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re here for two weeks covering the U.N. Climate Summit in Paris, France. Shortly after arriving in Paris after midnight, President Obama laid a single rose at a memorial for the victims of the Paris attacks visiting the Bataclan, the concert hall where the deadliest attacks took place on November 13. Democracy Now! visited the site on Saturday night.
AMY GOODMAN: I’m Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! We’re at the site of the Bataclan Theater. That’s where on November 13, 2015 more than 80 people were killed as a concert was going on; Eagles of Death Metal. In fact, their name is still on the marquee. Thousands upon thousands of people have streamed by in the days since, laying down flowers, candles, putting up signs like one that said "Je suis Paris. Je suis Bamako. Nous somme humanité." "I am Paris, I am Bamako, we are humanity." People come here, they light candles, they cry, they remember. Can you tell us your name?
KARIM: [translated] Karim [sp]. Karim. My feelings today, I’m very sad. I am very sad because days ago, people were killed here, assassinated. I came here today to reflect and to say that not all Muslims are like the ones who perpetrated the crimes that we see here today. Today, we are all Bataclan, we are all the hundred victims. I needed to come here today. I needed to come here today to say that Islam is not this that we see here. And when I left the Metro station on behalf of jews, on behalf of Catholics, on behalf of everyone, I cried because it is important on behalf of everyone that I be here today.
AMY GOODMAN: As we leave the Bataclan Theater, and pass the Gare du Nord, which is the train station, we see the Place to B. Our tour guide, now, is Frédérick Martel, who is a journalist and researcher with Radio France, Radio France, which is public radio in France. Welcome to Democracy Now! Can you talk about this Place to B? What is it?
FRÉDÈRICK MARTELL: They decide to give this name to this place, which is actually an hostel where you can have 600 people —
AMY GOODMAN: This is a hostel?
FRÉDÈRICK MARTELL: Yes, 600 people can stay here, can live here. And, actually, for the COP21, is gonna be bloggers and journalists that are kind of underground. They are not necessarily accepted by the official COP. So they will live here, and you have you have one, two, three, four, five, six restaurant, café. And all these places become press room, meeting rooms, production room, where, like, activists and bloggers can meet, can organize also their counter COP. So, it’s a place for civil society. Where, basically, people that are not the official one can do their own COP21.
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Global Protests Demand Climate Action Ahead of Paris Summit
More than half a million people took part in rallies around the world ahead of today’s opening of the 21st United Nations Climate Change Summit here in Paris, France. World leaders have arrived for two weeks of negotiations aimed at reaching an accord on global warming. In London, the musician and artist Peter Gabriel said citizens around the world are calling out for a binding and just agreement.
Peter Gabriel: "I think the politicians certainly are becoming aware that a lot of the people on the planet are really worried about this issue and really feel it is a serious threat, so hopefully they will respond. That is part of the aim of this march and marches going on all over the world."
Dozens Arrested as Paris Demonstrators Defy Protest Ban Ahead of Climate Summit
A major rally was canceled here after authorities banned public protests in the aftermath of the Paris attacks. But tens of thousands of people formed a human chain stretching down the sidewalk for blocks. After the human chain action ended, thousands of Parisians and international activists defied the French ban on protests and tried to march through the downtown streets. They were met by hundreds of riot police, who used tear gas, sound bombs and pepper spray. More than 200 protesters were arrested.
Planned Parenthood Suspect Cites Anti-Choice Falsehood After Deadly Clinic Shooting
Friday’s deadly mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado has sparked new calls for confronting anti-choice extremism and the nation’s lax gun laws. Three people were killed and nine injured when a gunman identified as Robert Lewis Dear opened fire at the Colorado Springs facility. Dear was taken into custody after a multi-hour gunfight with police. While investigators claim his motive remains unknown, he reportedly invoked an anti-abortion talking point, saying "no more baby parts." Republicans have falsely accused Planned Parenthood of selling organs from aborted fetuses for profit, basing their claims on doctored videos. Since July, when the anti-choice Center for Medical Progress began releasing the heavily edited videos, at least five other Planned Parenthood locations have been attacked by vandals.
Planned Parenthood: Anti-Choice Rhetoric Feeding "Domestic Terrorism"
In the wake of the shooting, Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains CEO Vicki Cowart said in a statement: "We share the concerns of many Americans that extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country." At a vigil on Saturday, Cowart said Planned Parenthood will not be intimated into abandoning its work for women’s health.
Vicki Cowart: "What happened yesterday was a terrible crime, resulted in a terrible tragedy, and we will never forget it. But we will adapt, we will square our shoulders, we will go on, we will show up for work on Monday and we will begin again. And we invite all of you to be with us more resolve than ever that providing healthcare and education for the people across our community is the right thing to do."
Clinic Shooting Comes as GOP Seeks to Defund Planned Parenthood
The three slain victims were officer Garrett Swasey, a father of two, Ke’Arre Stewart, a father of two and Iraq war veteran, and Jennifer Markovsky, a mother of two who was at the clinic in support of a friend. All of the nine injured victims are said to be in good condition and expected to recover. One survivor, Ozy Licano, described the shooting.
Ozy Licano: "As I was looking at him I saw blood, I didn’t know if it was coming from my neck or my lip or what. I felt stuff hit me, and I felt a pain here, an pain here. I thought it was my jugular vein or I was bleeding internally, so I just thought instead of trying to do something to him, I just needed to get out of here. I ended up in King Soopers parking lot, bleeding everywhere. Got out of the car, yelled for help, told them to call 911, lady responded immediately and I sat down, and I told them there is something bad going on the Planned Parenthood."
The National Abortion Federation says attacks linked to anti-abortion extremism have killed at least eight people since 1993. The Colorado Springs shooting comes as far-right Republicans seek a government shutdown unless a new budget deal defunds Planned Parenthood.
President Obama Demands Gun Control After Colorado Clinic Shooting
The Colorado shooting also comes amid continued Congressional inaction on gun control despite repeated mass shootings. In a statement, President Obama said: "We have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them. Period. Enough is enough."
Study: White Americans are Biggest Terror Threat in U.S.
On Sunday, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper joined with voices calling the clinic shooting an act of "terrorism." This comes as a new study finds White Americans are the biggest terror threat in the United States. The New America Foundation says that of 26 acts of terrorism in the U.S. since 9/11, most were carried out by whites. The list does not include several mass shootings carried out by whites, including Sandy Hook or the Aurora movie theater, because they lacked political motivation.
Activists: Russian Strike on Crowded Syrian Market Kills Dozens
A Russian airstrike in Syria has reportedly killed dozens of people. Activists say at least 44 people died when Russian bombs hit a crowded marketplace in the province of Idlib. Russia has claimed it is targeting the Islamic State, but Idlib is not under the group’s control.
Thousands Join Anti-War Protests in Britain Ahead of Bombing Vote
The British parliament is expected to vote this week on joining the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Ahead of the vote, thousands rallied across Britain on Saturday against the plan.
Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition: "Well we are very much opposed to David Cameron’s plan to have a vote in Parliament to bomb Syria. The bombing has already been going on for more than a year by other forces. At the moment Syria is being bombed by the two biggest military powers in the world. The United States and Russia. So there is no case for it actually solving the problem. ISIS is as strong as it was before the bombing started."
Prominent Kurdish Lawyer Shot Dead in Turkey; Thousands Protest Journalist Arrests
Thousands of people gathered in Turkey on Sunday for the funeral of Tahir Elci, a leading Kurdish lawyer and human rights activist. Elci was gunned down on Saturday in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir. He had been awaiting trial for public comments in which he said the Kurdistan Workers Party is not a terrorist group. Hundreds of people have died since a ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government broke down in July. Elci’s killing came one day after thousands rallied in Istanbul against the government’s arrest of two prominent journalists. The pair is accused of espionage after publishing a report claiming Turkish intelligence sent weapons to militant extremists inside Syria.
Turkey, EU Reach Accord on Stopping Refugees
Turkey and the European Union have reached an agreement on limiting the flow of refugees trying to reach Europe. Turkey will receive over $3.2 billion dollars and closer EU ties in return for efforts to stop migrants from leaving its shores.
NSA Formally Ends Bulk Collection of Phone Records
The National Security Agency has formally ended the bulk collection of phone records more than two years after Edward Snowden exposed it. The NSA says that as of midnight Sunday, the mass surveillance of metadata is no longer in place. The NSA will instead ask companies for a specific user’s data rather than vacuuming up all the records at once.
Chicago Protesters Demand Resignation of Top Officials over Laquan McDonald Case
Protests continue in Chicago over the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old African American teen Laquan McDonald. Officer Jason Van Dyke was indicted for murder last week just as police finally released video footage of him shooting McDonald 16 times more than a year ago. Police had claimed Laquan McDonald lunged at Van Dyke with a small knife, but the video shows him posing no threat and running many feet away. Protests have been held daily since the video was released. In a Black Friday action targeting a busy shopping district, the Reverend Jesse Jackson joined demonstrators calling for the resignation of Chicago’s police superintendent and a top prosecutor.
Rev. Jesse Jackson: "We need a new police department and a new chief. We also need a special prosecutor to find out who found out about the tapes and suppressed them for 13 months. And until change takes place there will be more of it. There will be more boycotts and the protests on the mass economic withdrawal will escalate."
Jay Darshane, the manager of a Burger King that may have captured surveillance video of the shooting, says he’s testified before a Grand Jury about police potentially deleting the footage. Eighty-six minutes of the surveillance video was erased, including the portion capturing the time of the shooting.
U.S. Activists Stage Thanksgiving Fast Outside of Guantanamo Prison
A group of American activists have traveled to Cuba to stage a symbolic fast in solidarity with the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The group Witness Against Torture set up camp near the Guantanamo prison on Wednesday. On Thanksgiving Day, they sat around an empty table, going without food to show support for the 107 people who remain behind bars. Nearly half have been cleared for release. The activists also called on the Obama administration to deliver on its promise to finally close the prison.
Robert Hinton, Fmr. Rikers Prisoner Compensated for Abuse, Shot Dead in NYC
Robert Hinton, a New York City man who recently won a settlement for his abuse at Rikers Island jail, has been shot dead. Hinton was awarded a near-half a million dollars for a beating by Rikers corrections officers in 2012. He was imprisoned in the solitary confinement unit for men with mental illness when the officers hogtied and attacked him, leaving him with a broken nose, a fractured vertebra and a bleeding mouth. His case led to the firing of a captain and five officers involved. On Friday, Hinton was shot dead outside of a Brooklyn housing project. His attorney says he had been planning to buy a new home, and had recently sent a text message saying: "I pray I even live long enough to see some sort of happiness."
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