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Durban: thousands of protesters demand action on climate change

Thousands march in Durban for climate justice, ABC News 4 Dec 11 thousands of people have marched through the streets of Durban calling for “climate justice”.  Their appeal was aimed at diplomats locked in negotiations under the 194-nation UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is tasked with beating back the ever-mounting threat of global warming.

The crowd of around 6,500 snaked through the coastal city’s downtown area shouting and singing against a backdrop of drums and vuvuzelas, the high-decibel plastic trumpets that gained worldwide notoriety when South Africa hosted the football World Cup.

Many in the crowd lashed out at the UN talks, which end next Friday, saying that they were moving too slowly in the face of potentially catastrophic impacts of climate change, and that many of the solutions proposed lean too heavily on the market….

……..The peaceful demonstration, flanked by four armoured vehicles
and riot police, was organised by a broad international coalition of
environmental groups, farmers unions, and grassroots associations,
organisers said.

“We are bringing the voice of people from South Africa and the world
to say to those inside the negotiating rooms that that they have to
actually take serious decisions on climate change,” said South African
Lubna Nadri of the group Women in Action.

Decisions so far, she complained, reflect more the interests of big
corporations and oil industries than the poorest people, most exposed
to heatwaves, drought and floods intensified by global warming.

“That’s our message: we want climate justice, we don’t want climate
apartheid,” she said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-04/thousands-march-in-durban-for-climate-justice/3711454

December 5, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, South Africa