Activists organize global climate protests, strike against the Ukraine war
BERLIN – Climate activists staged a tenth series of worldwide protests on Friday to demand that leaders take stronger action against global warming, with some linking their environmental message to demands for an end to the war in Ukraine.
The Fridays for Future movement, inspired by the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, called for demonstrations from Australia to Indonesia and the United States to Sweden.
In Jakarta, activists dressed in red robes and held placards calling for “system change, not climate change.”
Others held a banner that read “G20, stop funding our extinction”, a reference to the fact that the group of 20 largest developed and emerging economies accounts for about 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Indonesia will host the group’s next summit this autumn.
In Rome, protesters carried a giant inflatable globe through the streets and a banner that read, “Do school, not war.”
About 300 protests were planned in Germany. Thousands of young people gathered in Berlin’s government district, many of them the yellow and blue national flags of Ukraine.
“We are here today to show that peace and climate justice go hand in hand,” said Clara Duvigneau, a student from Berlin.
She and other activists said that Germany should immediately stop buying fossil fuels from Russia, and said that the tens of millions of euros (dollars) that Europe pays every day contribute to Moscow’s war treasury even when burning oil, gas and coal damages the planet.
Duvigneau urged the German government to invest in renewable energy rather than seek alternative sources of oil and gas from places like the Gulf.
“We do not want to rely on autocracies,” she said. “And we want the energy transition to take place as quickly as possible.”
Two young Russian activists who were among the speakers at the Berlin event condemned their government’s actions in Ukraine.
“There are many Russian people who are against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, and they do not support what Putin is doing,” Polina Oleinikova told The Associate Press.
Oleinikova said that people who speak out against the Russian government now “risk being imprisoned daily.”
“It’s very scary and we’re scared, but we’re still doing our activism because we feel it’s very important,” she said. “It’s the right thing to do and we will not stop.”
Climate activist Arshak Makichyan said the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia by the West also had a drastic impact on the Russian economy.
“Everything we had is collapsing,” he said, adding that he hoped Putin would be forced to resign and face trial.
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