What was the Big Rally Really Like?
Posted by cdchase on December 17, 2009 | No Comments
I always planned to attend the first big rally and march on the first weekend of COP15. I had heard there was going to be one before I left the US. But the details were a bit sketchy. The announcements I’d heard would only say “downtown Copenhagen.”
When the day came, I asked my Danish friend Barbara and she said her sister was going but she herself wasn’t planning to go. But when she found out I wanted to go, she kindly offered to take Chris and I. But she had her doubts. As we were walking to where we thought it was (more on that later) – she asked me didn’t I think it was dangerous? I said, nah, it never really entered my mind that it would be dangerous. Then she let me know that there was a great deal of coverage in the Danish media about the potential for destructive activities along the lines of what Seattle endured during the infamously bungled (on all sides) WTO event a few years back. She also shared how she had asked a personal friend about it and he shared that he took the situation quite seriously and was leaving town with his kids. She reminded me we are living in a world where you don’t want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In my view, the kind of people this kind of rally would attract are 95% on the peace-movement side. The tiny fraction of those who might hold the view that property destruction is somehow useful, are fortunately not well organized enough to really carry it out – and certainly not in the face of a peaceful, well-trained police plan. So she escorted us so we’d know easily how to get in and out of any where.
We first ended up in the Hopenhagen plaza where they had exhibits, a stage and a bicycle-powered Christmas tree. Anyone could pedal a bike and light up the LED lights on the tree. A pedal-powered sound system worked in another part of the plaza. But this was clearly not the main rally I was looking for. Barbara inquired and led us on more a back route to the Big Rally in Parliament Square. We came across a set of hundreds of Danish citizens marching to the Square with signs, music, and followed by a police van at the end.
The people were old and young, parents with kids and I couldn’t help pointing out to Barbara what “dangerous characters” they are looked like. She ran into a neighbor and a colleague (driving an electric, enclosed bike) in the march.
The Square was mostly filled by the time we got there. It was packed in front of the speaker’s stage and very crowded until you got pretty far back. I decided to basically tour the crowd. We took a generally circling path around the back of the crowd and then circled in closer. I didn’t believe organizers estimates of 100,000 at the rally, but they definitely got into the 60,000+ range for the march itself. I sensed there were a lot more people who were there to march for their support of effective action against climate change than those who were there to hear the socialist messages from the stage.
I noted around 20-25 climate deniers in my crowd sampling. They were true believers of another sort – one I’m greatly perplexed by, though I see I really shouldn’t be. The history of humanity is crowded with folk who denied reality and leave it to history to sort it all out.
I was heartened to hear Senator John Kerry call them out, “Those who look for any excuse to
continue challenging the science have a fundamental responsibility which
they have never fulfilled: Prove us wrong or stand down.” Gosh, if only we could apply that to so many things.
The funniest part of the rally was when one of the speakers tried to do what you do from the stage at a big rally – you get a call-and-response going. It goes like this: “What do you want? “When do you want it” .
Evidently no one told the crowd the right answers! It also helps logistically if you have someone hold up a big sign with the answers – call a “prompt card.” So it was a bit like a Monty Ponthy moment when I was circulating in the crowd and heard the call for: “What do we want?” And there was like a big moment of everyone looking at each other like – us well, gee, what do we want? Climate change! NO that’s not right….uhhhhh gee ….. The announcer moved on to when do we want it? Well, pretty soon would be good….was the collective thought bubble. The speaker now realizes he has to let us know the right answers, so the word goes around and the next time there’s a weak but determined answer: “Climate Justice” and when do want it? Now! We were much more sure of that. Yes, that’s right, whatever we want, we want it NOW! The third time a few more got with the program. But “Climate Justice” just didn’t catch on. So the speaker gave up after a couple of more times.
It got me thinking. Technically speaking, what we want is a stable climate back – but that doesn’t trip off the tongue either. Stop emissions now! Yeah, but again, not great slogan quality. Climate Solutions! Getting Better.
Interestingly enough, 90% of that crowd did not contain the individuals who will actually have to invent or finance the solutions to battle climate change. Though each individual has a part to play, the problem is so challenging, collective government and business actions will be required.
Yet. we’re still arguing as if it doesn’t matter. We are ignoring that nature and physics and chemistry do not negotiate. As I write this the important people are still arguing, and that’s a good thing – as long as they are required to stay in the serious conversation.
Several Danes had gotten there early and taken the high ground (literally) climbing up on a major statue in the Square so they could see and be seen. Their messages: “Respect Our Police.” and here’s a universally applicable slogan: “Don’t Be Idiots.”
By the time police took action by arresting more than 900 towards the end of the march they considered too rowdy or suspicious (including one Buddhist nun), we were having hot tomato soup at a local Danish cafe. As the sunlight retreats beginning around 3:30pm, tens of thousands marched on in the clear, cold darkness to the Conference Center as a moving candlelight vigil demonstrating massive public support for a climate agreement now. (Climate Agreement Now!) Of the hundreds detained by police, only three were arrested, one who had his own illegal firework explode, injuring himself. After treatment, he was arrested. I’m sure the charge was possession of an illegal explosion, but it may have well as been being an idiot.
Let’s hope the negotiators take the sensible Danish anti-idiot advice to heart in the waning hours of the Convention and that we do get a Climate Agreement Now.
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