Weather March | “We are not drowning, we are fighting! “

From Kahnwalk to Glasgow via Mount Royal, tens of thousands of people around the world gathered on Saturday, demanding more climate justice, as the first week of COP26 work ended.

Leila Dassault
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Coralie Laplante
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In Glasgow, in the onslaught of wind and rain, about 100,000 people gathered on Saturday, setting up a lively procession to the sound of bagpipes and drums. The parade was led by a delegation from the Mohawk community of Kahnwalk, south of Montreal. The work was also performed by 26 people^E Weather Conference.

“It is very clear that the locals have the answers, they, [les leaders], Begin to listen and think [en ayant à l’esprit] Not just urgent needs, seven generations ahead, ”the 23-year-old told the Karakwinta English newspaper. Guardian.

“We are here to put indigenous voices at the forefront of the climate crisis,” said Ohontsakahte, 26, another Kahnawak member.

Agency France-Presse captures climate injustice by recalling that Africa is responsible for only 3% of Ugandan activist Vanessa Naket’s greenhouse gas emissions. However, in Uganda, she denies that global warming is already breaking out droughts, floods and landslides.

The slogan is “Let’s globalize the struggle! Globalize Hope! Echoed in the form of questions and answers in the group, explained Washington Post. Kathy Jetnil-Kijner, a poet and activist from the Marshall Islands, an island state threatened by rising sea levels, said in her speech, “I can tell you that we will survive the climate crisis. We are not drowning, we are fighting. ”

Activity or diplomacy?

Late on Saturday, young icon activist Greta Thunberg said on Twitter that this March sent a strong signal to leaders gathered at COP26. “Our ‘leaders’ do not lead – this is how leadership is,” she tweeted. The day before, she said COP26 had failed.

However, experts say Washington Post UN climate summit talks have had a real impact on weather forecasts. At the time of the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, the United Nations predicted that by 2100 the Earth’s temperature would have warmed by 4 C. Today, these forecasts are 2.7 C, which is still catastrophic and far from the target. 1.5 ° C was set in the Paris Agreement.

Equations were held in several countries around the world on Saturday: United Kingdom, France, Australia, Belgium, the Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia and the Netherlands.

“I want to live”

Under the clear sky in Montreal, more than 300 demonstrators formed a human chain at the foot of Mount Royal on Saturday, with a green ribbon in hand, calling on governments to work harder in the fight against climate change.

The event, organized by members of the Inter-Union Climate Network (RIC), sought to remind Canada that it would “lose the target” of greenhouse gas reductions set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

“We are half way to COP26 […] There are 190 world leaders pointing fingers at each other and making nice speeches. But what we are asking for is action, ”said Anne Dion, vice president of the Central des Un du du Quebec and RIC spokeswoman.

Stephanie Cloutier attended the rally with her two daughters. A teacher and union spokesman said he was concerned about the future of his children and students.

Participating in the mobilization, New Democrat deputy Alexandre Bouleris of Rosemont said Justin Trudeau’s liberals had no intention of making a “radical turn”. For Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokeswoman for Quebec Solidair, meetings in recent years have led the Legalt government to talk about the environment, unlike in the last election campaign, the Canadian Press reported.

The impact of climate change is also visible in the classroom, said Catherine Beauvais-Saint-Pierre, president of the Alliance des Professors de Montreal. “We’ve been seeing this for a lot of years, when we talk about heatwaves at the beginning of the school year, when we talk about heatwaves at the end of the year,” she says.

The motivation for Jonathan Provost’s involvement in the environmental cause is very simple. “I want to live,” he said immediately Press. “If we don’t, no one will. Not particularly powerful people, ”he continued.

“True democracy takes place in the streets, not in parliament,” said his friend Liam McMahon. “We cannot allow politicians in this matter,” he concluded.