May 13, 2017

Final action-packed weekend of Global Divestment Mobilisation

For the 9th consecutive day, people all over the world are coming together today to take action and demand fossil fuel divestment from their banks, cities, museums, pension fund, universities and other institutions.

Asia kicks off the weekend:

In Tokyo, Japan, campaigners organised the Earth Choice Festa : Our Choices and Climate Change.  Using art, music, and discussion sessions 350 Japan is building awareness about the disastrous consequences of climate change and information about personal divestment.

In Seoul, South Korea, locals were invited to an event where a chalk artist illustrated how serious and dangerous air pollution and coal plants are, with quizzes and other activities promoting solutions and divestment.

In Hong Kong, there was a parade of cyclists holding banners promoting divestment, to recruit new supporters for their divestment campaign. At universities in Guangzhou and Wuhan, there were also workshops on the impacts of climate change as a means to introduce the fossil free campaign.

In Taipei, Taiwan, locals used street art to engage the public on divestment, and held talks at 3 universities around Taipei to recruit new volunteers and support for campus divestment campaigns.

There was even a new effort to raise awareness about fossil fuels and promote public transport in Punakha, Bhutan.

Europe up next

Fossil Free Linköping University, Sweden will be forming a section of the university’s traditional student parade today.  Their event will involve dinosaur outfits, to make the point that fossils belong in the past!

In Amsterdam, Netherlands, organisers are working hard to get a group of 8 artists, now known as the #VanGogh8, released after they were arrested by police yesterday evening during an artistic interventional at the Van Gogh Museum. They were highlighting the museums’ unethical sponsorship ties with oil giant Shell.

They’ve got it right in Turku, Finland, where they are throwing a block party event in downtown Turku. They’ll have some of the best DJ’s in town playing music as they celebrate the generation that will cut their ties with the fossil fuel industry.

In England, Town Halls will be pressured to divest Local Government Pension Funds, with events including a giant map linking climate impacts to families in Birmingham, a ‘Renewables Ark’ in Bradford highlighting local flood risk and a series of 14 rolling rallies across London’s Town Halls to take on a fossil fuel monster.

The week will culminate with a creative action at the British Museum highlighting government subsidies enjoyed by fossil fuel companies, and calling for an end to fossil fuel sponsorship.

 

In Hannover, Germany, locals will be taking part in the Silent Climate Parade to highlight how climate change is quiet, but it happens and it threatens our future. The parade will dance silently through the streets of Hannover to draw attention to climate change and the need for fossil fuel divestment.

After pushing the City of Berlin to divest, Fossil Free Berlin are now setting their sites on bigger targets, rallying outside the Brandenburger Tor to send an international signal for climate protection and divestment.

And the City of Göttingen is expected to be adopt a motion to divest today, so activists there will be calling on the University of Göttingen to divest.

Further events will also be held in Basel, Switzerland and Silba, Croatia

 

Highlights to watch out for elsewhere

In New York, USA, participants are joining the initiative started by #DeFundDAPL to rally concerned citizens to pull their money from banks and financial institutions that invest in fossil fuels.

In Quito, Ecuador, the Yasunidos are organising an event to build momentum in the campaign to stop oil drilling in the Yasuní National Park, the most biodiverse park on the planet.

 

You can follow all the action live as it happens across the planet on our live coverage website and by following the hashtag #fossilfree on social media.

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