International solidarity
More than 40 environmental and human rights organizations, peasants and women alliances signed a declaration of solidarity for Ende Gelände:
Solidarity with the protest against coal-fired power generation in August and November 2017. The goals of the Paris Agreement cannot be reached without phasing-out coal
The governments of this world have agreed in Paris that the major part of fossil energies have to be kept in the ground. The burning of coal, oil and gas is the major cause of the global climate change. They cause droughts and hunger, the extinction of species, extreme weather events and floods. Climate change threatens the livelihood of millions of people, especially in the global south, and forces them to flee.
In November the UN climate summit will take place in Bonn – only 50 km from the Rhineland coalfields, the biggest source of CO2 in Europe. It could hardly be illustrated more clearly: whether there is really a turning point in the international climate policy is decided on a national level in those countries which are historically and currently the biggest polluters. A speedy phasing-out of coal in Germany is one of the preconditions for limiting the global warming to below 2 degrees as the world community has established in the Paris agreement.
For a long time now local people, as well as environmental and other organisations, have been fighting back. They demand a sustainable structural transformation for the coal areas and viable jobs instead of the coal industry.
Because one thing is clear: the coal-fired generation of power has no future! More and more people see themselves as part of a global movement for climate justice. They believe it is wrong that a few profit from the wealth generated by fossile energies, whereas many more suffer from the consequences of climate change. There are protests worldwide against fossile infrastructure.
The campaign „Ende Gelände“ puts an emphasis on security and transparency for all participants and excludes the destruction of infrastructure and endangering people. Civil disobedience against existential threats and failure has a long and important democratic tradition. There would be no phase-out of nuclear power without the – often disobedient – resistance against nuclear power. The determined but peaceful action “Ende Gelände” 2015 in the Rhineland and 2016 in the Lausitz region have taken up this tradition impressively.
We, the signatories, are appalled by the policy of looking away and the existential threat for millions of people wordwide through climate change. We fully understand when people faced with the menace of a climate catastrophe take to civil disobedience against coal mining.
„Ende Gelände“ provides a rousing signal to phase out a destructive technology, for the global protection of the environment and for a practiced solidarity with our fellow human beings wherever they are, but especially in those areas that are already threatened by climate change. Therefore we declare our solidarity with all people protesting peacefully against coal.
The signatories are:
Asia
- Walhi (Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indoensia – Friends of the Earth Indonesia)
- KpSHK – Konsorsium Pendukung Sistem Hutan Kerakyatan, Indonesia
- Nepal Peasants Federation
- Campaign for Climate Justice, Nepal (CCJN)
- National Women Peasants Association, Nepal
- Alliance for Tax and Fiscal Justice, Nepal
- National Alliance of Right to Food Networks, Nepal
- Nepal Youth Peasants Association
- Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) – Alliance Against Mining-Philippines
- Sanlakas Philippines
- Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Philippines
- Freedom from Debt Coalition-Iloilo, Philippines
- 350.org Philippines
- Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP – Workers Solidarity Philippines)
- South Asia Peasants Coalition
- South Asia Food Sovereignty Network
- Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), New Delhi India
- River Basin Friends.India
- HNA – India
- Environics Trust, India
- Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED), India
South America
- Aclimatando
- Movimiento de Jóvenes Frente al Cambio Climático, Argentina
- Bolivian Platform on Climate Change, Bolivia
- Priscilla Lopez-Naig, Secretary GeneralFreedom from Debt CoalitionNegros Chapter
Europe
- Reclaim the Power in the UK
- UK Youth Climate Coalition, UK
- Young Friends of the Earth Ireland
- Climate Justice Project, Sweden
- SolidaritéS Suisse, Switzerland
- Corporate Europe Observatory, Belgium
See here the German signatories