Demanding Solutions

From the Amazon to the Andes, thousands of activists (above) marched through the streets of Lima on Wednesday to demand a just solution to climate change.

The march through the traffic-choked streets put a human face on the United Nations climate negotiations, a process largely confined to suited bureaucrats working behind the high walls of a military compound in a leafy neighborhood of Lima.

Campaigners said the message behind the march was not just to press for action to fight climate change – but for fairness, as well as protection for environmental activists who face daily harassment from powerful corporate interests.

“This is no longer an issue for governments and corporations to talk about behind locked doors,” said Oxfam International’s executive director, Winnie Byanyima. “People want solutions, and they also want those solutions to include their basic rights.”

Organizers said they hoped to get 10,000 or more out into the streets – which would make this the biggest climate march Latin America has ever seen.

By mid-morning, with dozens of riot police in helmets and plastic shields looking on, the crowds descending on Campo de Marte grew several thousand strong.

The marchers included peasant women from the Andes in bowler hats decked with flowers and full skirts, indigenous peoples from the Amazon carrying photos of murdered environmental activists, drummers, stilt walkers, trade unionists, students, and women’s groups.

Protesters carried banners declaring: “Keep the oil in the soil,” “Protect your food” and “Change the system, not the climate.”

The marchers – who came from Ecuador, Bolivia and other neighbouring countries – held up oil derricks studded with skulls, giant paper sheaves of yellow and purple corn, and oversized puppets dressed as peasants. One man came wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt, sticking a forest campaign sticker on the guerrilla’s beret.

There was even a “Green Inca” in green robes adorned with a brass breastplate and crown, who jumped up on a concrete block with a Peruvian flag, striking a pose.