COP27 Climate activism cannot be separate from human rights!
Join us on COP27 International Day of Action—November 12th at noon, Pioneer Square.
As an Egyptian-UK human rights activist, Alaa Abd El-Fattah faces death from a six month hunger strike, he is escalating that very strike with demands in support of the Global South and for human rights for the upcoming COP27. Egypt is ruled by former General Sisi in one of the world’s most brutal and repressive military regimes. Sisi took power in the coup that put down the Arab Spring push for democracy; his regime continues to be supported with military aid from the US. Over 60,000 Egyptian political prisoners suffer, with 2 dozen new prisons built since the coup, where torture frequently results in the death of inmates.
Please take the time to read these two articles which provide more details on what’s at stake at the UN climate negotiations happening in Egypt, Nov 6 – 18:
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Yet the marketing videos for COP27 greenwash this polluting, police state as a happy, environmentally friendly place. Meanwhile, environmental researchers and activists have been silenced by draconian censorship laws and extreme repression. The Global South continues to call for “loss and damage” reparations and debt cancellation. While we totally support this call, it is a tricky issue not only because of the resistance of wealthy, polluting nations but also how to design reparations so that they do not entrench authoritarian leaders like those in Egypt of the Philippines.
The sacrifice zone mentality in which bills like the Inflation Reduction Act or Manchin’s proposed dirty side deal sacrifice frontline communities has a grim parallel in how the rights of people living in COP27’s host country and tens of thousands of political prisoners become invisible in the name of so-called climate progress. Repression of climate activists around the world is increasing—far beyond Egypt, Mexico, Brazil, and the Philippines. We must stand up against all of this as committed internationalists and demand that defending our planet must go hand in hand with defending the rights of those who inhabit it. Please read the demands of the COP27 coalition: https://www.cop27coalition.org/cop27.
