Protesters storm this year’s COP30 Climate Conference
Written by Yavor Tarinski
Protesters managed to enter the venue for this year’s 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belem, Brazil, yesterday and clashed with security guards at the entrance. With slogans such as “Our land is not for sale!”, indigenous peoples and environmental organizations are protesting and demanding real action to mitigate climate change and protect forests.
The COP is, in essence, a climate summit of the ruling elites and the lobbies of the super-rich – an increasingly elitist space, filled with empty rhetoric and promises, while the most biodiverse areas on the planet continue to be plundered and humanity is in a dangerous position. For years, these COP summits have been nothing more than a joke aimed at “greenwashing” the image of those most responsible for the unfolding multidimensional crisis – multinational corporations and national governments – while the communities that suffer the most are left completely outside the consultations and decision-making. In Brazil, the communities that protect the Amazon – the real guardians of the climate – were not invited to the “big table”. So they decided to go in on their own.
The regression in climate policies is evident everywhere, while it is characteristic that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on global emissions in 2024 shows that no progress was observed in relation to climate goals. On the contrary, emissions increased by 1.2%.
The choice of location for this year’s COP is being characterized by indigenous and ecological movements as a provocative decision – it is taking place in the Brazilian city of Belém, on the edge of the Amazon, an area plagued by ongoing deforestation and environmental exploitation.
People are losing their water, their forests, and even their lives every day defending them. This was not just an act of protest: it was a reminder that without climate justice, there are no real solutions. A reminder that elites cannot solve the climate crisis, as their privilege and wealth caused it in the first place. It is up to local communities around the world to connect with each other and take the initiative from the bottom up.
In this context, simultaneously and in parallel with the COP, the People’s Summit is taking place, showing us in practice how decisions should be made! This People’s Summit is an autonomous event organized by grassroots movements from 62 countries, which will last from Wednesday (12) to Sunday (16) November. Among the participants is a large delegation from the MST (Landlord Workers Movement), which promotes the idea that direct grassroots participation and popular agrarian reform are both a necessity and a solution to the ecological crisis, the capitalist system and global warming.
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