Demonstrations in more than 100 towns and cities in Germany and all over Europe were called by Fridays for Future to mobilise citizens across the region for more decisive climate action and for turning out on 9 June by voting for democratic parties and against the right wing extremists threatening climate action and citizen rights. Mundus maris participated in the march in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Speakers at the warming up gathering at Schadow Platz called on citizens to be alert in the face of manipulation attempts of the extreme right which was luring with simplistic answer to complex challenges. They warned of the plans of neo-fascists, revealed by investigative journalists, to deport citizens with migration background or not in line with their anti-democratic ideology. In a region like North-Rhine Westfalia with a population shaped by 200 years of economic migration underpinning its prosperity this was particularly absurd and despicable. And what to think of their cynical denial of climate change in the face of many deaths resulting e.g. from extreme heat events or inundations after extreme rainfalls. Many home-made posters and signs expressed their demand for climate action and the protection of human rights.

As the square filled and the speaker line-up, including a representative of grannies against the right (Omas gegen Rechts), came to a close the whole party started marching through the city centre gathering more participants. Below some impressions from the protest.

At the front of the march  Mundus maris recalling ocean protection = climate protection
Grannies against the right extremists Children are liable for their parents
Monitoring climate over 200 years - no shortage of early warnings Climate warnings becoming very insistent

 

There is no Planet B. The Paris Agreement was already a compromise. This needs to be implemented. NOW. More 'compromises' and more delaying tactics will destroy our future. We should listen to the message of astronauts in awe about our blue marble. This is our home. We need to care for it, the ocean, the entire planet and each other.