After a march through the city center, the founder of the climate protection movement Fridays for Future, the Swede Greta Thunberg, will give a speech on George Square in the afternoon (around 3 p.m.). Vanessa Nakate, a climate justice activist from Uganda, said that the heads of state and government signed a number of agreements this week. “But we know that is not enough.” Protests like these put enormous pressure on those in power.
Demonstrations in more than cities expected on Saturday
The next demonstration will follow on Saturday in Glasgow, which the organizers expect to attract more than 100,000 people. Thunberg, Nakate and the Scottish rapper Loki are also talking here. It also includes farmers, trade unions, religious groups, anti-racist activists, indigenous groups and local community groups, as it was said. The protest is part of a global day of action that organizers estimate will bring hundreds of thousands to the streets in more than 200 cities around the world.
Demonstrations since the beginning of the climate conference
There has already been a lot of creative protest around the conference site in Glasgow in recent days: Activists from the Ocean Rebellion group demonstrated on Thursday as larger-than-life, bloody fish against the pollution of the world’s oceans, while giant Pokémon figures called for a quick end to coal-fired power generation in Japan . Previously, some demonstrators had already disguised themselves as Boris Johnson, Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and other state leaders who were playing a deadly game with the planet in the style of the Netflix series “Squid Game”.
Greta Thunberg is disappointed with the climate summit
Greta Thunberg also took part in several protests and events during the summit and repeatedly criticized that voices from the global south, which is particularly affected by climate change, were not heard enough. “This is no longer a climate conference,” she tweeted on Thursday. “This is a greenwashing festival of the global north.” Due to the different access to corona vaccines as well as travel restrictions and visa rules, a trip to Glasgow was impossible for many interested parties.
In Scotland, around 200 countries are struggling to find out how the goal of limiting global warming to a tolerable level of a maximum of 1.5 degrees can still be achieved. According to the plans submitted by the states up to the summit, the world is heading towards 2.7 degrees with its current plans – with catastrophic consequences. The planned end of the conference is November 12th.