“Our climate, not your business”

Published 01st November 2009 - 4 comments - 964 views -

Wednesday the 28^th of October I planned to attend the yearly conference of Business Europe, this year tackling the crucial issue of climate change. That morning, at 8.55 at the Charlemagne building of the Commission where the conference would be held, I was not the only one there. Right at the moment when I wanted to enter, a group of some 30 climate activists  blocked the building. Two guys held a banner stating “Our climate Not your business”. Behind their backs the other protestors blocked the two revolving doors (some of them trapped themselves inside the glass revolving doors by placing wooden triangles under the doors) and shut the side doors with chains. This way the activists of Climate Alarm managed to prevent some 200 people (delegates and other people) from entering the building for almost two hours.

What was it all about?

The statement behind the action of this newly established action-group, linked to the international organization Climate Justice Action, was that "corporate lobbyists have no role to play in deciding how to deal with the climate crisis”.

“The companies that are represented by Business Europe, such as Shell, Arcelor Mittal, and Daimler have lobbied hard to prevent the creation of an effective climate policy. At the same time they have made huge profits of the failing market in CO2-emissions and are still profiting from destructive pseudo-solutions such as nuclear power and agro-fuels”, a spokesman of Climate Alarm stated.

The European Commission lent its buildings for the second time for free to Business Europe for its annual conference. “It shows how close the EU institutions are to business when it comes to climate change," Ms Martin told EUobserver.

How the police reconquered the building – or not?

The police entered the building through the parking-entrance. They had trouble convincing the protestants to leave. It was easy for the police to cut the chains that locked the side doors, but the revolving doors remained occupied territory. ‘Bravo pour la police’ was scouted ironically after they had reconquered the building by using pepper spray on the activists that had trapped themselves inside the revolving doors.

During the rest of the day, Climate Alarm came up with more surprises. Apparently a large delegation of them was hidden in the public. In the afternoon, they interrupted the conference 3 more times.

 

Means and Ends

In the past, environmental and developmental NGO’s have set up big and original events and actions in front of EU buildings, always in coordination with police and building security. This time a complete different approach was used. The activists conquered a public building and didn’t inform the police about their plans (because they would never have gotten a permission).

This way they have created a negative aura around NGO-actions in the Brussels European quarter. As Climate Alarm suggests itself, that the police used pepper spray (which is very unusual) will probably have to do with the fact that this was an unauthorized action.

Did Climate Alarm take recourse to this kind of means (occupying the entrance) in the hope to get more media-attention and bigger public recognition? I fear that in that case they did not succeed. I didn’t find anything about the action in my national newspaper, only on the regular European media-sites (EUObserver, European Voice,…). What happens in and around EU buildings often stays there and does not reach the national media. Climate Alarm was no exception to this. On the same day Oxfam set up a much more playful event: in Brussels, Dublin, Madrid, London and Berlin, a big square was filled with miniature tents for climate-refugees. Next day my colleagues were talking about this action of Oxfam. Because of its originality, this initiative did make its way to the national newspapers.

Category: International Action, | Tags: climate activism, lobbying, business europe,

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Femmy Thewissen

Master in Philosophy and International Politics

I recently obtained my masters in International Politics (with a major in EU politics) and Philosophy. During my studies I focused on the aspect of democracy, mainly in relation to the polity of the EU. As I am interested in a broad field of topics (ranging from climate change, sustainability to urban development and philosophy) I see this blogging-experience as a major opportunity to incorporate some of these interests in my blogs. Furthermore I like to be involved locally in organisations and see this as a chance to be also involved globally.

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