<div class="gmail_quote">The Seattle activists' coming of age in Cophenhagen will be very disobedient<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/nov/12/seattle-coming-age-disobedient-copenhagen" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/nov/12/seattle-coming-age-disobedient-copenhagen</a><br>
<br>
The climate conference will witness a new maturity for the movement that<br>
ignited a decade ago. But that does not mean playing it safe<br>
<br>
Naomi Klein<br>
<a href="http://guardian.co.uk" target="_blank">guardian.co.uk</a>, Thursday 12 November 2009 20.30 GMT<br>
<br>
The other day I received a pre-publication copy of The Battle of the<br>
Story of the Battle of Seattle, by David and Rebecca Solnit. It's set to<br>
come out 10 years after a historic coalition of activists shut down the<br>
World Trade Organisation summit in Seattle the spark that ignited a<br>
global anti-corporate movement.<br>
<br>
The book is a fascinating account of what really happened in Seattle;<br>
but when I spoke to David Solnit, the direct-action guru who helped<br>
engineer the shutdown, I found him less interested in reminiscing about<br>
1999 than in talking about the upcoming United Nations climate change<br>
summit in Copenhagen and the "climate justice" actions he is helping to<br>
organise across the United States on 30 November. "This is definitely a<br>
Seattle-type moment," Solnit told me. "People are ready to throw down."<br>
<br>
There is certainly a Seattle quality to the Copenhagen mobilisation: the<br>
range of groups that will be there; the diverse tactics that will be on<br>
display; and the developing-country governments ready to bring activist<br>
demands into the summit. But Copenhagen is not merely another Seattle.<br>
It feels, instead, as though the progressive tectonic plates are<br>
shifting, creating a movement that builds on the strengths of an earlier<br>
era but also learns from its mistakes.<br>
<br>
The big criticism of the movement the media insisted on calling "anti-<br>
globalisation" was always that it had a laundry-list of grievances and<br>
few concrete alternatives. The movement converging on Copenhagen, in<br>
contrast, is about a single issue climate change but it weaves a<br>
coherent narrative about its causes, and its cures, that incorporates<br>
virtually every issue on the planet.<br>
<br>
In this narrative, the climate is changing not only because of<br>
particular polluting practices but because of the underlying logic of<br>
capitalism, which values short-term profit and perpetual growth above<br>
all else. Our governments would have us believe the same logic can be<br>
harnessed to solve the climate crisis by creating a tradable commodity<br>
called "carbon" and by transforming forests and farmland into "sinks"<br>
that will supposedly offset runaway emissions.<br>
<br>
Activists in Copenhagen will argue that, far from solving the climate<br>
crisis, carbon trading represents an unprecedented privatisation of the<br>
atmosphere, and that offsets and sinks threaten to become a resource<br>
grab of colonial proportions. Not only will these "market-based<br>
solutions" fail to solve the climate crisis, but this failure will<br>
dramatically deepen poverty and inequality because the poorest and most<br>
vulnerable are the primary victims of climate change as well as the<br>
primary guinea pigs for these emissions trading schemes.<br>
<br>
But activists in Copenhagen won't just say no to all this. They will<br>
aggressively advance solutions that simultaneously reduce emissions and<br>
narrow inequality. Unlike at previous summits, where alternatives seemed<br>
like an afterthought, in Copenhagen the alternatives will take centre stage.<br>
<br>
For instance, the direct action coalition Climate Justice Action has<br>
called on activists to storm the conference centre on 16 December. Many<br>
will do this as part of the "bike bloc", riding together on an as yet to<br>
be revealed "irresistible new machine of resistance", made up of<br>
hundreds of old bicycles. The goal of the action is not to shut down the<br>
summit, Seattle-style, but to open it up, transforming it into "a space<br>
to talk about our agenda, an agenda from below, an agenda of climate<br>
justice, of real solutions against their false ones
This day will be<br>
ours".<br>
<br>
Some of the solutions on offer from the activist camp are the same ones<br>
the global justice movement has been championing for years: local,<br>
sustainable agriculture; smaller, decentralised power projects; respect<br>
for indigenous land rights; leaving fossil fuels in the ground;<br>
loosening protections on green technology; and paying for these<br>
transformations by taxing financial transactions and cancelling foreign<br>
debts. Some solutions are new, like the mounting demand that rich<br>
countries pay "climate debt" reparations to the poor. These are tall<br>
orders, but we have seen during the last year the kind of resources our<br>
governments can marshal when it comes to saving the elites. As one<br>
pre-Copenhagen slogan puts it: "If the climate were a bank, it would<br>
have been saved" not abandoned to the brutality of the market.<br>
<br>
In addition to the coherent narrative and the focus on alternatives,<br>
there are plenty of other changes too: a more thoughtful approach to<br>
direct action, one that recognises the urgency to do more than just talk<br>
but is determined not to play into the tired scripts of cops versus<br>
protesters. "Our action is one of civil disobedience," say the<br>
organisers of the 16 December action. "We will overcome any physical<br>
barriers that stand in our way but we will not respond with violence<br>
if the police [try] to escalate the situation." (That said, there is no<br>
way the two-week summit will not include a few running battles between<br>
cops and kids in black; this is Europe, after all.)<br>
<br>
A decade ago, in a New York Times comment piece published after Seattle<br>
was shut down, I wrote that a new movement advocating a radically<br>
different form of globalisation "just had its coming-out party". What<br>
will be the significance of Copenhagen? I put that question to John<br>
Jordan, whose prediction of what eventually happened in Seattle I quoted<br>
in my book No Logo. He replied: "If Seattle was the movement of<br>
movements' coming-out party then maybe Copenhagen will be a celebration<br>
of our coming of age."<br>
<br>
He cautions, however, that growing up doesn't mean playing it safe,<br>
eschewing civil disobedience in favour of staid meetings. "I hope we<br>
have grown up to become much more disobedient," Jordan said, "because<br>
life on this world of ours may well be terminated because of too many<br>
acts of obedience."<br>
<br>
<br>
* <a href="http://guardian.co.uk" target="_blank">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009<br>
<br>
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