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It boils down to whether we are honest with ourselves or not.
The UN climate summits are a prank that continues to push the bounds of absurdity. In 2020, they canceled the summit altogether because – they said – we were in an emergency. Many in the climate justice movement swallowed the irony and moved on. Then in 2022, they held the summit under a military dictatorship. Local activists did not participate in the “civil society space” as they were rather busy being tortured by the regime. This year, the summit is to take place in a petro-state, under a semi-constitutional monarchy, to be chaired by an oil millionaire.
What if this year’s climate summit were in a cheerful democracy like Macron’s that put in coma a water defender or like Sunak’s that now arrests people for merely marching in the streets? What if this summit would take place in a country where not all activists are being prosecuted? What would that change in terms of climate crisis? What would the 28th climate summit have to offer us? Remember: We currently need 10% annual emission cuts to avoid planetary collapse.
Half the world is less than 28 years old. Most of us were born into climate crisis and into climate summits. We don’t need a lot of background in statistics to understand that their climate summits and the world emissions are uncorrelated.
It really just boils down to whether we are honest with ourselves or not.
The world is run by capitalists under a capitalist system designed to exploit the people and the planet. So, it is no coincidence that decades of UN “climate” summits are accompanied by a climate breakdown. They are honest with themselves and lately they have been getting more and more honest with us as well. Their perspective is that they themselves are in no emergency and that ordinary people can go f*** themselves. Their expectation is that we consent to this. They arrange funding, press conferences, reports, public statements – basically anything other than actual political action, to achieve this consent. Some will claim to be “realists” and will accept the crumbs thrown at them. They will sleep well, like the government officials and corporate CEOs. Indeed, 4.3ºC warming is better than 4.4ºC warming, which in turn is better than 4.5ºC, and so on.
We, on the other hand, are climate realists.
We are on a highway to hell, with their feet still on the accelerator.
We refuse to participate in a process of negotiating words that have less value than the ink with which they were written. We have not a single second to waste in Dubai.
It is our responsibility to build a viable, climate-realist, justice-oriented alternative to the ongoing shit show. We must change their system, which sees everyone and everything as commodities and as separate from each other. It is imperative that we forge a new system that restores harmony with nature and among human beings.
To this effect, we are calling for an Earth Social Conference to take place in Pakistan in the
beginning of December 2023. Join us to build the collective force we need in order to pull the emergency break.
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Organizations and individuals interested in signing this call to boycott COP and joining the process of organizing our climate realist conference and next steps for a movement that dares to execute system change can contact us via earthsocialconference@disroot.org.
Individual signatories
Aasim Sajjad Akhtar (Quaid e Azam University, APAKA; Pakistan)
Alice Gato (Climáximo; Portugal)
Anabela Lemos (Justica Ambiental; Mozambique)
Anam Rathor (Climate Action Now and FFF Pakistan; Pakistan)
Aunil Muntazir (Alliance for Urban Rights; Pakistan)
Bienfait Katalandwa (XR Goma; Democratic Republic of Congo)
Bridget Masikati (RWA; Southern Africa)
Cesar Leal (Ciencia Local; Colombia)
Derya Sever (Polen Ekoloji Kolektifi; Turkey)
Esso Tayiwna Ketehouli (ATTAC Togo; Togo)
Farman Bag (High Asia Herald; Pakistan)
Fatima Shehzad (Progressive Students Federation; Pakistan)
Gildas Le Moal (France)
Hardwork Mkwada (Zimbabwe Disaster Relief Agency – ZIDRA; Zimbabwe)
Inés Sánchez (Spain)
Jawad Moustakbal (ATTAC Morocco; Morocco)
John Mark Rozendaal (USA)
Karim Dillhöfer (Letzte Generation; Germany)
Lachlan Ayles (Just Stop Oil and Climate Vanguard; UK)
Linden Jenkins (XR Boston; USA)
Lissah Kanyezi (Zimbabwe Disaster Relief Agency – ZIDRA; Zimbabwe)
Mariana Rodrigues (Climáximo; Portugal)
Matilde Alvim (FFF Lisbon; Portugal)
Mawaba Liebe Fawiya (ATTAC Togo; Togo)
Melissa Kowara (XR Indonesia; Indonesia)
Minhaj ul Arifeen (Alliance for Urban Rights, EFO, APAKA; Pakistan)
Oscar Sampayo (Corporación Yariguíes – GEAM; Colombia)
Pholo Mvumbi Roger (Agir pour la Sécurité et la Souverainete Alimentaire – ASSA; Democratic Republic of Congo)
Precious Kalombwana (Fridays for future Zambia and End Fossil Zambia; Zambia)
Roland Dedi (Côte d’Ivoire)
Rodrigo Meruvia (Fundación Gaia Pacha; Bolívia)
Salman Khan (Pak Forest; Pakistan)
Sandra Dorgan (São Paulo, Brazil)
Sinan Eden (Climáximo; Portugal)
Sumeyye Elis Yildizli (Polen Ekoloji Kolektifi; Turkey)
Tom Hoy (Modest Proposals; USA)
Tooba Syed (APAKA, Alliance for Urban Rights; Pakistan)
Vanessa Dourado (ATTAC Argentina)
Yasir Darya (Pakistan)
Endorsing organizations
Association Peace and Environment (Togo)
APAKA (Pakistan)
ATTAC Argentina
ATTAC Morocco
ATTAC Togo
Agir pour la Sécurité et la Souverainete Alimentaire – ASSA (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Alliance for Urban Rights (Pakistan)
Ciencia Local (Colombia)
Climate Action Now (Pakistan)
Climate Vanguard (UK)
Climáximo (Portugal)
Corporación Yariguíes – GEAM (Colombia)
EFO International
End Fossil Zambia (Zambia)
FFF Brasil (Brazil)
FFF Lisbon (Portugal)
FFF Pakistan (Pakistan)
FFF Zambia (Zambia)
Fundación Gaia Pacha (Bolívia)
JA! (Mozambique)
Kibengo Youth Care Activists (Uganda)
Make Rojava Green Again (AANES)
Mesopotamian Ecology Movement (Turkey)
Modest Proposals (USA)
Progressive Students Federation (Pakistan)
Polen Ekoloji Kolektifi (Turkey)
RWA Southern Africa (RSA)
Rising Tide UK (United Kingdom)
The Yes Men (USA)
XR Goma (Democratic Republic of Congo)
XR Indonesia (Indonesia)
XR New York City (USA)
XR Washington DC (USA)
Youth For Climate France (France)
Youth For Climate Île-de-France (France)
Zimbabwe Disaster Relief Agency – ZIDRA (Zimbabwe)
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– “We are on a highway to hell, with their feet still on the accelerator.”, reference to UN General Secretary António Guterres’ words in COP27 in Egypt, addressing the delegates: “We are on a highway to hell, with our foot still on the accelerator.”
– “It is imperative that we forge a new system that restores harmony with nature and among human beings.” – taken from the Peoples Agreement of the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, Cochabamba, 2011.