The hybrid in-person and digital People’s Summit for Climate Justice will run from Sunday 7th – Wednesday 10th November 2021 with over 200 free sessions being held in a dozen venues across Glasgow and online
Programme: www.climatejustice.uk/peoples-summit
Register here
Media Contact: [email protected]
As world leaders meet inside the UN Climate Talks to decide how and with what urgency governments respond to the climate crisis, the COP26 Coalition will host the counter summit to COP: the People’s Summit for Climate Justice.
The COP26 Coalition People’s Summit will centre the voices of the most marginalised, those who are being hit hardest by climate change right now, and the people resisting and organising for change. Bringing together movements from across the world to discuss, learn and strategise for system change together from the ground up.
The hybrid in-person and digital People’s Summit for Climate Justice will run from Sunday 7th – Wednesday 10th November with over 200 free sessions to be held in a dozen venues across Glasgow and online.
The programme features everything from workshops on how to sue an international fossil fuel company to a ‘Toxic Tour’ of Glasgow’s biggest polluters, discussions on how aggressive agricultural practices cause pandemics and exploit migrants, and workshops on defending the right to protest as the much criticised Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill comes into practice. Internationally, participants will hear from coastal Indigenous peoples fighting the British Crown to regain control of their native lands and ancient forests in British Columbia, Pacific Islanders resisting deep sea mining, Sahrawi people fighting state sponsored land grabs in the Western Sahara and many more.
Exhibitions and films will be shown from across the globe, including a sculptural tapestry made collaboratively by indigenous Malaysian women ‘Weaving the Future’ by Klima Action Malaysia, a Superhero Comic for the Climate Crisis and a screening of ‘Black, Black Oil’ by Emma Davie, which looks at Scotland’s economic, historical and emotional entanglement with North Sea Oil and Gas.
Venues include the Centre for Contemporary Arts on Sauchiehall Street, the Fred Paton Centre, Adelaide Place, Garnethill Multicultural Centre, Albany Centre, Govanhill Baths and Glasgow Film Theatre among others.
Organisers include the Trade Union Council, Fridays For Future, Indigenous Environmental Network, Landworkers Alliance, Christian Aid, Global Justice Now, Living Rent Tenants Union, ActionAid, International Transport Workers Federation, the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance and Get Glasgow Moving.
People’s Summit Programme Coordinator Jana Ahlers said: “To rewire the system, you have to understand it. To deliver justice you have to guarantee that all people are around the table. As world leaders meet to decide who will be sacrificed, who will escape and who will make a profit from this crisis, the People’s Summit brings together indigenous peoples, bus drivers, film makers, refugees, pilots, farmers, feminists, forest dwellers, artists, doctors, anti-racists and climate justice activists to create a convergence space which centres those excluded from COP26, makes the connections between all our struggles and shows that we the people already have all the solutions to this crisis.”
Ramon Mejia, National Organizer, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance said: “The annual UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP26) is a crucial battle ground for everyday people against fossil-fueled climate chaos. Heads of state assemble each year to negotiate and implement climate agreements, yet our communities’ voices, who reside on the frontlines of fossil fuel extraction and climate catastrophe, are sidelined. This year, with the COVID-19 pandemic, inequitable access to the COP means that many grassroots forces from the global south will not be present to inform the negotiations. The People’s Summit is an opportunity for our members, frontline communities and global movements to ensure our voices are heard. We will oppose false promises like ‘net-zero’ commitments, uplift real solutions from the frontlines, and demand our governments take the aggressive action required for climate justice and to be accountable to the People and the Planet.”
Harpreet Kaur Paul, Care & Repair co-lead Tipping Point UK said:
“What is on the table for discussion at COP26 falls far short of what justice and science demand. That is why it is so essential to meet, listen, share and organise at the People’s Summit. Join us as we come together and build our collective global justice movement power – and together change the political weather to make the necessary systems changes inevitable: from the ground up.”
The People’s Summit for Climate Justice follows the COP26 Coalition’s Global Day of Action on the 6th November. Tens of thousands will march and rally in Glasgow and London, plus 15 simultaneous mobilisations already confirmed in cities across the UK and more across the globe. In Glasgow, the march will assemble in Kelvingrove Park at midday and march to Glasgow Green. In London, the march will begin at the Bank of England and head to Trafalgar Square.
Global Day of Action Map: https://climatejustice.uk/gda/
Glasgow March route: https://goo.gl/maps/L5w4rB4bNeUrQk9G9
Movement Assemblies, daily 31st October – 12th November 2021
Each day during COP, the COP26 Coalition will organise evening Movement Assemblies in Adelaide Place, Glasgow. These assemblies will update the movement on the negotiations inside, and provide a space for strategising and organising throughout the COP Proceedings.
COVID Safety
The COP26 Coalition has a dedicated Safety and COVID-19 team.
To enter any summit space, you must provide a negative lateral flow or PCR test.
Due to potentially evolving restrictions, all dates and times are subject to change.
ENDS
Media Contact: Press Officer Mim Black on [email protected]
About the COP26 Coalition:
The COP26 Coalition is a UK-based civil society coalition of groups and individuals organising towards mobilising around climate justice during COP26. Coalition members include environment and development NGOs, trade unions, grassroots community campaigns, faith groups, youth groups, migrant and racial justice networks.
www.climatejustice.uk
Twitter: @cop26_coalition
Fb + insta: @cop26coalition