Nobel week this year will sure be well remembered. The Divest Nobel campaign got its international breakthrough and in Stockholm Nobel Day was filled with actions against fossil investments.
We started the week with an opinion piece from Divest Nobel on Common Dreams followed during the week with letters to the editors in 20 Swedish local papers, as well as the largest evening paper, Aftonbladet.
Wednesday the first big news broke: 14 laureates and scientists contributing to the Nobel-winning IPCC wrote a letter to the Nobel Foundation – demanding that they divest from fossil fuels.
Early Saturday another article burst on the scene – archbishop Desmond Tutu joins his fellow laureates in demanding divestment. A tactic he knows well from the fight against apartheid.
N-day – Nobel Day
Armed with pamphlets and in full costume we gathered outside the Nobel prize ceremony at the concert hall in Stockholm. Later we joined the guests of the ceremony in moving on to the city hall where they enjoyed a gala dinner and we enjoyed the attention from passers-by.
With the Nobel medal being chased by oil barrels in the streets of Stockholm our message was clear to all: The Nobel Foundation should break with fossil fuels – these are not assets such a well respected institution should be connected with.
A divestment decision from the Nobel Foundation would be most welcome in the fight against climate change. To slow warming and stave off the worst climate catastrophes, we must take a clear stand.
The momentum built by the Fossil Free movement that has now led investors managing assets worth 5 trillion dollars to pull their holdings out of fossil fuels, and the rise of actions of civil disobedience targeting the fossil fuel industry directly, at the very machines digging up the coal, oil and gas that has to be kept in the ground, lead the way where political action lacks the urgency the climate crisis requires.
All in all a very intensive week, with a lot of international press taking on the issue. There were articles published in Germany, as well as Belgium, Nigeria and other places. In Sweden Fria Tidningen wrote about the international call from laureates.
The number of signatures on the petition almost doubled during the week and a lot of people took the opportunity to ask the foundation directly on their Facebook page through comments on the beautiful pictures from the award ceremony and gala dinner.
The Twitter feeds of @NobelPrize and @DivestNobel have also been very busy with pledges, questions and pleas for the venerable institution to divest.
We are quite pleased with our Nobel week, and would love to celebrate a divestment decision together with the laureates next year.