“We want to live in a system which will take into account planetary limits and the needs of everyone, not just the richest”

22nd of November 2023: Under the Banner of “End Fossil: Occupy!” thousands of Students from several countries come together this November. They occupy their schools, universities and political institutions. “We know that to stop climate chaos and realize a just society, we need system change. We also know that we must not wait for industries, governments, and institutions to negotiate or to change by themselves: we need to change the system now. We must accept the task of taking power into our own hands.” reads a statement on the campaign homepage.

University students in Czech Republic ended their three-day strike on November 17 with protest marches in Prague and Brno. The march in Prague led through Národní třída, where celebrations of the national holiday which commemorades the Velvet revolution and fall of communism took place. “We want to make it clear that celebrating and remembering is not enough, it is necessary that we advocate for changes that will lead to social transformation. We want to live in a system which will take into account planetary limits and the needs of everyone, not just the richest,” says one of student’s spokesperson Tereza Martinovská. Protesting students called for the government to approve the climate law which would enable the legal enforceability of climate commitments and the continuity of Czech climate policy. They also called for broader use of tools of participatory democracy in the form of citizen assemblies and criticized the GDP as an outdated indicator. According to students such indicator does not consider planetary limits, the fulfillment of basic human needs or the distribution of wealth in society and  they demanded to start using different indicators that would reflect the actual state of society more accurately. 

Monday, 20th, in Rome, at Sapienza, Students and environmentalist organizations have come together to occupy the University’s Physics faculty. In the statement, the students express their desire to occupy “against the role of our universities in the chain of environmental and war devastation”. With the same demands Students occupied in Pisa last week and Tuesday, 21st, Students in Parma and Turin also joined the Campaign.
“La Sapienza maintains active relationships with ENI, Leonardo, SNAM, Thales, as well as with bodies such as NATO, in the form of framework agreements, research collaborations, master’s degrees and sponsorships, as well as continuous advertising catwalks during recruitment days. The Physics Department is at the forefront of these collaborations, especially with the war supply chain and with Israeli universities, the main sponsor of apartheid in Palestine” reads the students’ statement. 

On Wednesday the 15th of November students met at a public space in Würzburg, Germany to destroy the earth – not literally, but in a performance. First, four people dressed as natural disasters painted on a big model of our planet, to symbolize the affects that these catastrophes, increasing with the climate crisis, have to us. Then the persons changed their costumes to different corporations that are part of the fossil industry, such as “Shell” and “RWE”, and wrecked the model of the earth with hammers and baseball bats to show their impact and mercilessness. In the Background of the performance the activists played music and sound recordings of facts about the climate crisis.
​​​​​​​”We wanted to disrupt and make sure people realize: this is not art – it is reality” says Linda H. who participated in the action.

End Fossil: Occupy! also announced the occupation of “Leiden University” in the Netherlands on 23rd and the occupation of the ministry of ecology in Portugal on 24th of November. 

Contact:

E-Mail: media@endfossil.com
Homepage (including other press releases): www.endfossil.com
Selection of Photos for commercial use from the mentioned actions: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB4cWK
More Photos from the campaign: t.me/EndFossil_PhotoPool

End Fossil: Occupy! is an international youth action occupying schools, universities and political institutions to disrupt the fossil economy. The vast majority of our campaign activity is conducted by unpaid volunteer activists. Climate Emergency Fund supports End Fossil’s international communications work.

November, 25th: This Friday in Portugal, students occupied the ministry of Infrastructure and demonstrated outside the Ministry of the Environment, disrupting these two institutions for hours. They were demanding an to end fossil fuels by 2030, and 100% renewable and accessible electricity until 2025, making this the last winter of gas. “End Fossil: Occupy!” also protested in Portugal by occupying schools and universities and blocking party headquarters.

“There were two ministries of Portugal stopped today because of us”, says Beatriz Xavier, “We stopped the status quo of the institutions that are driving us towards climate collapse. If we need disruption to end destruction, we are and will continue to be that disruption”

The 19 students who were peacefully occupying the Ministry of Infrastructure were detained for disobedience. The ones who were marching towards the Ministry of the environment were met by riot police, who charged towards them and injured a 16 year old kid. Another five people were detained in this march. In total 24 students were detained and 10 were forced to sleep in jail.

“The government continues to show they would rather detain who is ringing the fire alarm, than making plans to make sure we have a future. If the police represses us it’s because the government is continuing to choose to be an accomplice to the ones starting the fire.”, says Beatriz. “This system is failing us. We have no choice but to organise and disobey. We have no choice. They will criminalize everything we do, because they are afraid of the students’ power. But we will continue. We know we are on the right side of history.”

Students from the international campaign “End Fossil: Occupy!” also occupied more than 20 schools and universities in Portugal, Czech republic or Italy in the last two weeks.

A selection of photos can be found under this link: flickr.com/gp/198274557@N06/L40s6wN213

Contact End Fossil: Occupy! Portugal:
E-mail: imprensa@greveclimaticalisboa.org
Homepage: greveclimaticalisboa.org  

Contact End Fossil: Occupy! International:
E-Mail: media@endfossil.com
Homepage: www.endfossil.com
Twitter: twitter.com/endfossil

End Fossil: Occupy! is an international youth action occupying schools, universities and political institutions to disrupt the fossil economy. The vast majority of our campaign activity is conducted by unpaid volunteer activists. Climate Emergency Fund supports End Fossil’s international communications work.

Students occupy 10 schools and universities in Portugal

“we are studying for a future, that we are not going to have.” –

Students from End Fossil: Occupy! occupy 10 schools and universities in Portugal with more to follow locally as well as internationally

14th of November 2023: Yesterday, students from the climate justice campaign “End Fossil: Occupy!”​​​​​​​ in Portugal started a wave of actions against fossil fuels. They promise governments and institutions that there will be no peace until they create a plan that guarantees a future for the younger generations. 

This Monday, 10 schools in Portugal had seen several actions. The front door of one University was blocked. A class given by the dean of another University was interrupted and the auditorium was occupied to give a talk about climate vs capitalism. There were several banner drops and five schools were occupied. 

“We are occupying our shools for two reasons.”, says Beatriz, 19 and spokesperson from the Portugal actions, “First, we need to alert society and felllow students to the fact that we are studying for a future, that we are not going to have. But also because schools are the space were the youth can organise to fight against injustice in society. Historically, student struggles have been many times at the forefront of social change”

The demands of the portuguese actions are: The end of fossil fuels until 2030 and 100% renewable and acessible eletricity for everyone by 2025. Since the only non renewable source of eletricity in Portugal is fossil gas, this would mean that Portugal would stop using gas by 2025, making this the “Last Winter of Gas”. Last Winter of gas is also an international campaign that demands the end of fossil gas in Europe until 2025. 

“We can’t give peace to the political institutions until they guarantee us this is the ‘Last Winter of Gas’. This must be the first urgent step to put an end to the fossil fuels in Europe”, says Beatriz, “Since before we were born, governments have been deciding to condemn our future in exchange for profit, we can’t sit aside and let them sell our future to the highest bidder. That’s why in Portugal we are saying: ‘Sem futuro não há paz’ (No Future, No Peace).”

More actions are going to happen during this week. Some other schools are going to join in the actions and the portuguese students are also going to disrupt political institutions.  On the 24th, the students from all these schools are going to occupy the ministry of environment. End Fossil: Occupy! also anounced to occupy and disrupt educational as well as political institutions in several other countries.

A selection of photos from 13th can be found under this link: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB3fWN

Contact End Fossil: Occupy! Portugal:
E-mail: imprensa@greveclimaticalisboa.org
Homepage: greveclimaticalisboa.org  

Contact End Fossil: Occupy! International:
E-Mail: media@endfossil.com
Homepage: www.endfossil.com

End Fossil: Occupy! is an international youth action occupying schools, universities and political institutions to disrupt the fossil economy. The vast majority of our campaign activity is conducted by unpaid volunteer activists. Climate Emergency Fund supports End Fossil’s international communications work.

Students will occupy institutions for a livable world

In November thousands of Students will occupy educational and political institutions to fight for climate justice “We can’t rely on Governments and Corporations to ensure a livable world”

26th of November 2023: “End Fossil: Occupy!” is an international climate justice campaign, occupying Schools, universities and political institutions to radically transform the economic and political system. In Fall 2022 End Fossil: Occupy! occupied more than 50 Schools and universities. In May 2023 the campaign occupied 75 Schools and universities in 12 countries. This November End Fossil: Occupy! will peacefully disrup educational institutions as well as political institutions to “raise their voice in the face of political failure” and “realize a just society for all”.

2023 is history’s worst year for record-breaking wildfires. In Canada alone, wildfires have burnt more than 11.5 million hectares – an area roughly four times the size of Belgium. Syria lost 5 million sq meters to wildfire, displacing more than 50,000 people in 73 villages. In the EU, 468 289 hectares where burned and emitted 20 million Tonnes of CO2. 41% of that area is within “Natura 2000” protected sites.

Despite international agreements like the paris agreement and voluntary pledges to cut emissions by Governments and Corporations alike, the world is on track to 2° heating by 2050.
Governments like the UK government are increasing fossil subsidies. The German government is planning faster implementation of 138 “Autobahn”-projects, while withdrawing support for the “49€-ticket” for public transport.

“No matter, where we live, Sweden or Uganda, we need security against wildfires, droughts and floods. But politicians like Rishi Sunak and Olaf Scholz are ignoring science and the public. We can’t rely on Governments and Corporations to ensure a livable world. We, the youth, are rising up to build democratic power for a better world” – Said Syrina Bachinger from End Fossil: Occupy! Germany.

Occupations around the world sparked a wave of transformation in many places. In the Netherlands, “ISS” decided to cut its ties with the fossil fuel industry while in the Utrecht University, students successfully pushed the administration to declare a climate emergency. In the Czech Republic, students took to the streets and after successful negotiations, the minister of Trade and Energy agreed to phase out fossil fuels with community-owned renewables. In Barcelona, the university administration of UAB decided to introduce a mandatory seminar on the climate crisis.

“We need to take steps in the right direction: we must reduce our use of fossil fuels, include climate education in schools, develop more ambitious climate policies… the future of millions of people is at stake.” – Said Sara Santana from End Fossil: Occupy! Barcelona.

Countries, where occupations and other actions are planned in November, include Czeck Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Uganda, USA and Zambia.

Contact:

E-Mail: media@endfossil.com

Homepage: www.endfossil.com

Photos for commercial use: https://t.me/EndFossil_PhotoPool

Twitter: https://twitter.com/endfossil

End Fossil: Occupy! is an international youth action occupying schools, universities and political institutions to disrupt the fossil economy. The vast majority of our campaign activity is conducted by unpaid volunteer activists. Climate Emergency Fund supports End Fossil’s international communications work.

May of Occupations 2023 – Posters

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