“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for broader use of tools of participatory democracy in the form of citizen assemblies and criticized the GDP as an outdated indicator.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.
