Yesterday was the Global Day of Action for climate change. It was celebrated in Poznan with a bike rally and march. This was my first time being involved in a protest. It included international youth, locals, and other groups that had traveled there to participate. The rally ended up outside the conference center, a perfect place for a mass convergence for action on climate change.
There were a couple of interesting twists to the march that I hadn’t expected. One of them was a group of Polish anarchists from Berlin that were protesting the climate talks. Their dark colors, black and red flags, and sunglasses stood out among the cheerful environmentalists dressed as clowns and the bright banners.
The participants in the rally filled the street and spilled out onto the sidewalks were Polijca stood ready with their visors and shields. We arrived at the conference center after an hour of dancing and chanting to drum procession and were greeted by mounted Polijca on horses, heavy duty vans, and an helicopter overhead.
I’m only mentioning these for interest sake – I don’t consider them the main focus of the march and apparently they barely got a line in the local write-up. The march was amazing, I was surrounded by global citizens who were united on the same front. Difference groups had different messages –Countdown to Copenhagen, no more pollution, we want a revolution-. With this many people here I couldn’t help but think of the energy that will be in Copenhagen next year. Besides some fresh air, it was nice to be able to make noise and dance outside the watching eyes for the secretariat.
The rally ended with a skit headlined ‘stop clowning around’, which was directed at politicians. All the clowns (politicians) fell into a heap and refused to take action while the youth surrounding them did. Overall I think it was great way to get outside the conference center and raise awareness about climate change while simultaneously making a statement.