Join Cambridge for Europe members on the COP26 march in Cambridge this Saturday 6th November add our voices to the demand for global climate justice. This CambsCOP26 Coalition Global Day of Action is part of one of many events taking place across the world on Saturday 6th November calling on politicians to take real action to stick to the 1.5 degree limit. The march will start at 1 PM outside Great St. Mary’s Church, and finish on Parker’s Piece at 2 PM where there will be speeches.
When and where.
Cambridge for Europe members will meet at 12 noon outside the Guildhall in Market Square Cambridge, where we will be distributing European Movement leaflets on the damaging post-Brexit trade deal with Australia to volunteers to hand out to people taking part in the march and to passers-by. If you can help with this let us know by emailing info@cambridgeforeurope.org.uk
At about 12.30 we’ll join the main group of marchers outside Great St. Mary’s Church.
What to bring
We encourage our supporters to bring home made placards, signs and banners rather than EU or national flags on this march. Good themes for the placards include rejecting post-Brexit trade deals with low environmental standards, the need to honour international commitments and treaties, and the need to work with the EU to make COP26 a success and protect our environment (rather than picking pointless fights with them).
Don’t let Brexit undermine COP26
Boris Johnson claims to be a champion of environmental protection, but his record has hardly been that of a host nation Prime Minister who wants the COP26 talks to succeed, which may be why he is busily dampening down expectations. As well as the damage it is doing to our people and wildlife, the sewage flooding into the UK’s rivers and seas due in part to shortages or treatment chemicals caused by Brexit is not a good look internationally. The decision to slash taxes on short-haul domestic flights, and secretly drop a series of climate pledges in order to secure a post-Brexit trade deal with the climate change skeptic Australian prime minister Scott Morrison shows that for Johnson the needs of Brexit propaganda trump the climate emergency.
Of course you would expect a COP26 host country leader to be working closely with allies in the EU to make the meeting a success, but instead we see Boris Johnson’s government picking a fight with the EU by reneging on the commitments it made in the Northern Ireland Protocol. Indeed, on the eve of COP26 Boris Johnson has chosen to publicly ally himself with the climate change denying and pro-coal Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki in his dispute with the EU over the rule of law and human rights. You could hardly think of an action more calculated to undermine COP26, though the EU and the majority of its member states are clearly still committed to its success.
We live at a time when we need serious, thoughtful political leaders to start to solve the climate crisis we all face, but instead we have Boris Johnson. We just have to hope that Johnson’s wrecking ball doesn’t undermine all the hard work the co-hosts Italy have put into the conference. On Saturday 6th November we’ll march to send that message to the world.
See you there!
