Climate activists in Paris stage peaceful action, despite official ban on marches

PARIS, France — Massive rallies and marches are never easy affairs to manage. This is all the more true for the climate movement, which has sometimes found that acts of civil disobedience are essential to make governments take notice.

So the terrorist attacks in Paris, only two weeks before the the U.N. climate talks were set to begin in the same city, created an enormous hurdle for climate activists. The French government forbade any major gatherings from taking place, on the grounds that the police will be completely occupied guarding against terrorism and managing security for the COP 21 Climate Summit, which is bringing heads of state and foreign ministers from some 150 countries to the city. Even a stationary event in a stadium was not allowed.

But the coalition of progressive and environmental groups that had been working for months to plan COP-related events was determined to make some use of the enormous enthusiasm and energy that had been built up. So they went ahead with their plan to create a dramatic collection of posters, signs, and works of art to colorfully express their demands for a greener, human rights–based economic model. And they used them on Sunday in a human chain along a two-mile route through central Paris, made up of people standing still on public sidewalks — a compromise action that the police neither formally forbade nor allowed.

Place de la République, at the northern end of the human chain, features the massive copper statue of Marianne, a symbolic figure of the French republic, surrounded by symbols of its founding principles of liberty, equality, and brotherhood. Currently, the base is covered in candles and French flags commemorating the recent terrorist attacks.

On Sunday, Place de la République also featured hundreds of shoes laid out by activists, some with notes and artwork, to represent people who had planned to participate in the march.

At one point, the human chain passed right in front of Le Bataclan, one of the sites where the terrorists struck by entering a concert and firing on the crowd. The sidewalk in front of the building and along a small park across the street is covered in memorial notes and flowers.

Indigenous people were especially prominent in the human chain, as they have been at other major climate marches. The Indigenous Environmental Network also held a traditional healing ceremony at Place de la République earlier Sunday morning to honor the memory of the victims of the recent attacks and to call for healing the Earth. They came from as far away as New Zealand, the Marshall Islands, and Samoa. Two indigenous activists from the U.S. who had attended that morning’s event were in the human chain holding a banner saying, “Respect Indigenous Peoples Rights.”

“Indigenous peoples from the Arctic region in the north to Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia are one of the most vulnerable populations,” said Tom Goldtooth, a Native American activist from Minnesota. “We are experiencing a changing climate that affects our right to practice our culture, our religions, and the effect of extractive industries operating in our backyard.” Goldtooth points to issues like the cancer clusters among Canadian First Nations near the Alberta tar sands as emblematic of how the fossil fuel economy assaults indigenous communities. The Indigenous Environmental Network will be present for the next two weeks here, holding events inside and outside the COP to demand strong language protecting indigenous rights in the agreement. Goldtooth emphasizes that it must be not just in the preamble but in the operational text as well.

At the conclusion of the human chain’s formal gathering, around 1:00 pm, organizers expressed optimism that the seamless execution would create space for more outside activism during COP. France is currently under a state of emergency which grants the government  broad powers. It had even preemptively placed some climate activists under house arrest.

Unfortunately, over an hour later, at Place de la République, another group of protesters focused on anti-capitalist messages, some wearing masks and bandanas over parts of their faces, massed in the square and surrounding streets and refused to disperse. According to The Telegraph, they were chanting, “State of emergency, police state, you will not deprive us of our right to demonstrate.” Some threw objects at the police, who were nearby in riot gear. The cops then sprayed tear gas and arrested nearly 300 of them. 350.org described them in a statement as “a small group of protesters unaffiliated with the climate movement,” who were “violating the nonviolent pledge that every group involved in the climate coalition here in France has agreed to.” It remains to be seen how this will affect the ability of climate activists to organize events over the next two weeks.