These are the photos from the very successful Climate Emergency Rally held in Melbourne yesterday (July 5).
About 4000 people attended the protest, which happened the day after the Final Draft Garnaut Report was released.
This rally was significant for three reasons:
1. It was the first mass rally organised in a clear democratic manner by a broad coalition of groups (over 60 Victorian and interstate groups endorsed the event).
2. It had a clear political focus and fairly radical (although not overly contraversial) demands, inc. *Renewable Energy Not Coal Power
*Public Transport Not New Freeways
and was centred around demanding that the State and Federal Government take real action on climate change now, not in 2-4 years as proposed under the Garnaut Review
3. It was able to draw on the strength of two single issue campaigns that are not about climate change directly, but are projects that in the context of climate change have galvanised large amounts of community opposition. These were the Desalination Plant that the State Labor Government has forked out $140 million for, which will create unnecessary carbon emissions to without really improving the water supply, and the campaign to stop the dredging of the bay in Melbourne. The other issue implicit in the second demand, was the Eddington Review that sought to address the overflow of vehicle and public transport traffic into the city. Its main proposal was to construct a massive underground road tunnel to link up the east and the west.
The collective who organised the rally have already started discussing the possibility of initiating a national Climate Emergency Rally on October 4, one week after the final Garnaut Report will be released. Members of Resistance will be taking this idea to the Climate Camp happening in Newcastle next week.
Check out the media from the day below:
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/a-message-drafted-in-red-on-climate-change-20080705-32aa.html
http://news.smh.com.au/national/govts-acting-too-slow-on-climate-change-20080705-323u.html
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23973776-5005961,00.html
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/a-message-drafted-in-red-on-climate-change-20080705-32aa.html
http://news.smh.com.au/national/govts-acting-too-slow-on-climate-change-20080705-323u.html
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23973776-5005961,00.html
