Activists arrive at COP26 with strong messages urging swift climate action

Friday’s protest took place against the backdrop of the United Nations’ climate summit, COP26, which began Oct. 31 and runs through Nov. 12. The aim of the conference is for negotiators from countries worldwide to agree on plans to prevent global temperatures rising beyond 1.5 degrees celsius. Inside the summit, less than a mile down the road from the protest, delegates and negotiators were taking part in youth day.

“Wherever I have been in the world, I sperry shoes have been struck by the passion and the commitment of young people to climate action,” said COP26 President Alok Sharma. “The voices of young people must be heard and reflected in these negotiations here at COP.”

It was out on the street where young people were making their voices heard. They carried signs with slogans like, “You’ll die of old age. I’ll die of climate change” and, “I’m missing my lessons to teach you a lesson.”

The march began at Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow’s West End around midday, where protestors kicked up autumn leaves as they began their two-mile walk to the city-center rally. Some of the young people marching were delegates at the summit but had chosen to take part in the march rather than head to the conference center on Friday.

“We’re happy to be at the strikes, because we’re finally feeling like we’re doing something … whereas inside the Blue Zone it hasn’t been the case at all,” said 19-year-old Lia Jimenez, a student from France, who was referring to the summit’s main venue.

“Actually this is the real youth empowerment,” said Selma Vincent, also 19. “Today’s supposed to be youth empowerment, but the youth isn’t actually being listened to properly [or] included in the decision making processes.”

Thunberg spoke last at the event, emerging to rapturous cheering and applause. As soon as she began her speech, the square descended into total silence. “The people in power can continue to live in their bubble filled with … fantasies like eternal growth on a finite planet and technological solutions that will suddenly bluetooth headphones appear seemingly out of nowhere and will erase all of these crises just like that,” she said. “Leaders are not leading.”

Alongside Thunberg, Indigenous speakers from Brazil, Ecuador and Guatemala asked the crowd to help them protect the Amazon rainforest and the spaces their people have occupied for centuries.

Speakers from Colombia talked about how the country was the most dangerous in the world to be a climate activist, and paid homage to people who’d been assassinated while battling to protect the environment. Representatives from Fridays for Future read out testimonies from young Afghan activists who’d been evacuated from the country after being persecuted by the Taliban.

Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate gave a speech painting a picture of a world in which climate justice had taken hold. “Three things should stay with us as we continue to organize and mobilize and strike and speak up and demand for climate justice,” she said. “That is: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these things is love. Because when we continue to love the people, when we continue to love the planet, that will be the strength we need to fight for a future that is sustainable, that is healthy, that is clean and equitable for all of us.”