Climate Camp in Bonn Alternative Summit in Bonn gets off to a very wet start
Following the persistent rain on Friday, the tents of the youth Climate Camp on the grass at Poppelsdorfer Allee were more or less under water. There were fewer participants than anticipated.
“We hope that numbers will increase over the next few days,” says Miran Mahmod, one of the spokespersons for the Climate Camp which is being supported by many other political groups such as the youth group of the Verdi trade union (Verdi-Jugend) and the Left Party. The Camp is running until Thursday and invites the public to take part in events and discussions about the environment. “We would like to draw attention to the dangers of increased global warming and the grievances about fighting for environmental protection,” explains Mahmod.
The reason behind the Climate Camp is the World Climate Conference COP23 which is taking place in Bonn in November. The Bonn youth movement, which according to Mahmod arose from an education strike organised by students and school pupils, views the COP extremely critically: “We criticise the fact that the climate summit is a closed event and that so far only empty promises have been made, says Mahmod. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to give everybody the chance to take part in the debate about environmental protection. The Climate Camp in Bonn should provide time and space for this over the seven days.
Concerts and sport
In addition to the content work there must be a fun factor: concerts and sport events will also be held on the lawn. Tents provide accommodation and there are biological toilets and mobile showers to keep everyone clean. The Stadtwerke (public utilities) will provide the water and electricity will come from generators. “Local residents will also be supporting us by letting us use their electricity,” says Mahmod. And meals will be cooked together: on Friday evening the camp made Turkish lentil soup with pitta bread.
Mahmod says it is well known that one of the participants at the camp is a member of the Bonn Verdi-Jugend who is being investigated on suspicion of breaking the peace at the G20 summit in Hamburg. “Of course we have spoken about it, but the accusations are untrue”, says Mahmod, who also took part in the demonstrations in Hamburg. “All the Bonn protestors were demonstrating peacefully there”.
(Original text: Lisa Inhoffen, Translation: Caroline Payne)
