“I don't want to come to Copenhagen”, said an activist friend I know in November. “I don't see what's the point in travelling all that way and causing all that climate change just to go on a demonstration”. At the time I thought I she had a point, but on the bus home I remembered the argument against. Firstly, that trains don't cause that much climate change. Secondly, that activist weekends away are far more than “just a demonstration”, they give you a glimpse of another world.
It began with the journey out by a train chartered by Campaign Against Climate Change and several other organisations in France and Belgium. There we had flags hanging from the ceiling, live folk music and a three course vegan meal in the evening. And this is the first train journey I've been on where I've ended up discussing whether or not violence is necessary to achieve revolutionary change with someone I only met a few hours ago. (I don't think violence is necessary by the way, buy me a beer sometime and I'll explain why).
Then there was the demonstration on Saturday. I thought the Wave was a bit quiet but this was one of the liveliest demos I've been on. It had polar bears, lots of people dressing up, a clown army and people taking their children and pregnant partners in specially adapted bikes.
There there was the counter conference on Sunday which was full of passionate and enthusiastic people (I used to say passionate, enthusiastic young people, but since I've passed 30 I now realise the need to attract all ages). The whole place fizzed with enthusiasm.
It wasn't until I travelled out to the climate negotiations on Monday to attend a picket I realised how unusual this had all been. Firstly there was the four mile journey on a metro sponsored by Vestas ("the time for action is now" is their slogan, though quite how the action of closing a wind turbine factory helps I'm still not sure) past adverts claiming Coca Cola was green.
Then there was the conference itself. On the train people were relaxed and you could talk to strangers. At the climate change negotiations people were rushing to hand out business cards. On the demo people wore slogan T Shirts and flew slogan flags, at the negotiations everyone seemed to be wearing suits. The demo was populated by people who had travelled there on long train journeys, had had too little sleep on sports hall floors and had spent many hours in temperatures that were barely above freezing, yet in all my pictures people are smiling. At the climate change negotiations people transferred from heated hotels to heated negotiating rooms, yet I never saw anyone smile.
So to answer the activist I quoted at the start of this post, was I glad I went to Copenhagen? Yes I was. The sports hall I slept may have been uncomfortable, the demo may have been cold and the beer may have been expensive, but rarely before have I seen so many people inspired. And rarely before have I seen so many people smiling. If I had just sat at home and watched the demonstration on television I would probably have ended up as miserable as a climate change negotiator.
Two final points. Firstly, much has been made how badly the Danish police behaved at the event. This happened, and has been reported elsewhere, but I would no stress it. The riot police did try to intimidate the demonstration, but largely failed, as I think this picture shows.
Secondly, much has been made of the fact the negotiations were a failure. Again, this has been reported elsewhere, but begs the question of what we do now. Do we place our hope in the climate change negotiatiors in the suits, or the demonstrators in the streets. Having seen both at Copenhagen I know which strategy I prefer.
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