All entries for May 2009

Anna's titbit

The police violence wasn’t shocking to anyone who knew what to expect. True, it was upsetting, and above all disappointing, but I never expected lines of riot police to be kind and courteous. What was shocking was the hostility proffered by otherwise reasonable people when I explained my role in what happened on April 1^st. The protestors were at fault, they claim, and the police shouldn’t be blamed. After all, they were just dong their job, which can’t have been easy given those dirty hippies clogging the city streets. These everymen didn’t care what the protests were for, which I didn’t find so unusual. What scared me the most was that they refused to hear about abuse of power by the police, and about the many ways in which the law was broken by it’s supposed upholders. The police force, usually so quick to condemn protestors, should always be held accountable when they act like violent, psychopathic bullies. Many have pointed out how we should be grateful that the water cannons and tear gas weren’t broken out. It is true that we are living in one of the most liberal countries in the world. Indeed, we have more freedom than the overwhelming majority of people alive today. Yet even here protestors are treated like criminals for exercising their human rights, getting corralled in like animals, deprived of food, water and shelter. If that doesn’t scare you, it should… if the right to peacefully protest should be upheld anywhere, it is here. Stand up for the rights of your fellow human – even if you disagree with everything else the G20 protests were about, the right to peacefully protest should never be compromised.

: 10 May 2009 12:25 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Lyrical Mayhem

West Side Story - Green Song (Jet Song):

If you invest in the carbon exchange,
The long-term environmental future looks bleak,
A sustainable world, depends on less consumption (GO GREEN!),
So profit short-term, is a contradiction (GO GREEN!)

- By Owen

The Jungle Book - I Wanna Be Like You:

Coal Giant:
Now I’m the king of the financiers
The business VIP
I’ve reaped quick profits from the climate’s losses
And life has been pretty sweet
I wanna carry on my business
And roll my debts back down
And pedal my quick fix for economy misfits
Let the cash wipe away my frown

MP:
Oh, oobee do
I wanna finance you-oo-oo
I wanna talk with you
Walk with you
Oo-oo-oo
You’ll see us through
A government like me-e-e
Can save the economy
With you-oo-oo

Gee Mr Dirty Energy
We’re on our way to prosperity

Now here’s the deal, sir
Lay the secret on me of a sustainable future

Coal Giant:
Er…

MP:
Now don’t try and kid me fossil fool
I made a deal with you
I gave you money and you’ve had it real sunny
To see our targets through
Give me a greener option
Did you think you could grow and grow?
There’s not the resources
And the natural forces
Will be the end of you

- By Martin

The Beatles - It's All You Love (Can't Buy Me Love):

It's all you love, oh, love, oh
It's all you love, oh

I'll buy you a carbon credit card
So you can offset burning coal
Destroy the world with no regard
Because you've got no self-control
'Cause you don't care a-bout the climate
Money is all you love

[Chorus]
It's all you love, oh
Money is all you love
It's all you love, oh
Yeah yeah yeah, yeah

You spend spend spend on your climate card
Until the fossil fuels run dry
Your children's world is burnt and scarred
And when you're dead they'll see your lies
But you don't care a-bout your children
Money is all you love

[Chorus]

We've got no homes or jobs to do
All we've got is you to thank
If we put our climate's hope in you
It'll end up like the banks
So I don't care too much for markets
Money is all you love

It's all you love, oh, love, oh
It's all you love, love, love

- By Tim

Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows:

Everybody knows the warming’s coming
Everybody knows we’re heating fast
Everybody knows that the carbon trading
Is just a fat cat covering his ass
Everybody knows the targets fixed
But the earth gets poor while the rich get rich
That’s how we flow
Everybody knows

Everybody knows the states are meeting
Everybody knows that it’s change they cry
Everybody knows that they’re just hoping
Old strategies will do just fine
Everybody’s filling up their pockets
With money steeped in oil and rockets
From the earth’s death throws
And everybody knows.

Everybody knows that you care for the climate
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you’ve measured targets
And even done a graph or two
Everybody knows when you guys meet
The climate makes a good aperitif
If you’re thus disposed.
That everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how things goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that it’s now or never
Everybody knows the banker’s blue
Everybody knows that you live forever
When you’ve got another loan or two
All the pyramid schemes are rotten
And it’s not all plain sailing when the country’s gotten
From its short-term woes
And everybody knows.

- By Martin

West Side Story - Brown (Cool):

Brown, Brown, Gordon Brown
Go Green Brown!
Got renewable energy in your pocket
Why don't you use it?

Invest a lot
Of your fiscal stimulus in green Brown
Real Green.

- By Owen and Jess

West Side Story - Change (America):
How are you combating climate change?
How are you combating climate change?
How are you combating climate change?
We need results to fight climate change.

- By Owen

West Side Story - There's a place for us:

There's a place for us
A greener place for us
Peace innovation and clean fresh air
Take all of us there

There's not much time for us
But we have the power to act
Work together sustainably
Create a green world economy

The facts
Are clear
Act now with fossil fuel reduction
Or wait for environmental destruction
Go Green

- By Owen

The Jungle Book - Green Sustainables (Bare Necessities):

Look to the ... Green sustainables
The long-term green sustainables
Forget about your gases and your coal
I mean the green sustainables
Of Mother Nature's recipes
That bring the green sustainables of life

- By Martin

: 03 May 2009 14:15 |  Tags: Activism G20 Lyrics Protest Songs |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Statement of Intent and Leaflet

Statement of Intent:

"We are here because we believe that climate change is the most serious
threat facing our planet and business leaders and governments are taking no
real steps to tackle the problem.

We believe that climate change cannot be dealt with within a system that is
based on unsustainable and unregulated economic growth and consumption.

We are calling on the world’s leaders at the G20 conference to take climate
change seriously and scrap false solutions such as carbon trading. We reject
carbon trading as part of a dangerous logic which allows the richest to
pollute while the poorest suffer.

We reject the false logic which puts the economy first and climate change
second. The recession and climate change are part of the same problem and
need to be addressed together. That’s why we are protesting in the financial
district!

We will be joining a grassroots potentially thousand strong movement the
day before the G20.

We began our discussion by talking about what we would like the world to be
like and our protest will be informed by these ideas. The Warwick group will
complement the climate camp through street theatre in the tubes, in cafes
and in spaces that we find on the day. We will try to create a dialogue with
passers-by about alternatives both through theatre and through direct
communication and free food!"


Leaflet:

*Climate change affects you.* Don’t let governments and business speculate
with our climate in the same way they speculated with our homes and jobs.

Climate change and the economy are part of the same problem and need to be
solved together. That’s why we are in the financial district!

World leaders at the G20 need to look at meaningful solutions to climate
change and stop spinning their way out of it with carbon trading. The
solutions exist yet the UK currently spends 0.0083% of its GDP dealing with
it.

Fossil fuel companies and trading firms are churning out global warming
gases and reaping huge profits whilst doing it. The UK government wants to
bulldoze people’s homes and build a *third runway* at Heathrow. Meanwhile
the first *new coal power station* in twenty years is planned for
Kingsnorth.

Today we are joining a *grassroots movement*. Diverse people all over
London are calling on business and world leaders to take their concerns
seriously. We are taking theatre, food and discussion to the financial
district and starting a dialogue about the world we want our children to
live in.

*A sustainable future is a green future*. Take a look at the alternatives
such as *http://www.zerocarbonbritain. com*

: 03 May 2009 13:50 |  Tags: Activism G20 Intentions Protest |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem