PRESS RELEASE – 19th September 2021
“If the government won’t rise up for climate justice, we will” says Emily Bailey from Climate Justice Taranaki, which is gathering with a coalition of social justice and environmental groups from across Aotearoa to protest in Taranaki during the COP26 international climate negotiations in November.
“We are sick of waiting for the government to take the urgent action needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and actually transition the country off fossil fuels. Thursday’s announcement that the Emissions Reduction Plan will be delayed for five months just emphasises the need for people to push back against business as usual and demand real change, not hypothetical or harmful techno-fixes and a disastrous carbon trading and offset system,” said Bailey.
The coalition invites people to meet in South Taranaki from the 3rd to 7th of November for an event called ‘Rise Up for Climate Justice’. The aim is to grow the climate justice movement, deepen the conversation around real transition off fossil fuels and focus on just solutions, and to take non-violent direct action against major climate polluters.
The event will see two days of protest action. “The 5th of November is the day colonial troops invaded Parihaka after 21 years of bloody war across the country to take land and resources from Māori. A war which has continued through systemic racism and an extractive economy has now led to the devastating social and environmental crises before us,” said Bailey. The 6th of November has been announced in Scotland as a Global Day of Action for climate justice with many protests confirmed across the world.