- Album: The images of the Madrid Climate March
- March: Javier Bardem calls Almeida "stupid" from the stand
- Climate.Greta Thunberg, before 400 journalists: "The climate crisis is still ignored"
- COP25.Youth against climate change beyond Greta
Greta Thunberg staged on Friday the Climate March that brought tens of thousands of people on the streets of the capital. "Hope is not within the walls of the [UN] conference , but here, on the street," she said at the end of a march that brought together, as she said, "half a million people." Before that, the young activist had already left her mark on her first public event in Spain. "The leaders are betraying us and we will not let it continue," he said in his speech, at the end of which he was calm and smiling in front of the crowd gathered in New Ministries.
Greta's presence on the march was intense, but brief. While they were preparing a security zone at the head, she appeared elsewhere in the demonstration. Due to the impossibility of being able to advance on foot and on the recommendation of the security forces, he left the place in an electric vehicle, until he reappeared at the end of the march, in Nuevos Ministerios, where he read his manifesto.
Actor Javier Bardem, who also read a manifesto, starred in the most controversial moment of the night when he called the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, “stupid” from the podium , as well as the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
People and associations of different backgrounds and ideas joined a march that, like the planet itself, gave everyone shelter.
Fridays For Future nodes from up to 23 Spanish cities attended the march. Félix Muñoz, one of the administrators of the organization in Valladolid, explains that he wanted to move to an appointment that he considers "historical", and with the addition of being able to meet in person the person who started it all, Greta.
Under a common banner that read: "Catholics for the care of the common house," various Catholic associations also joined the march. "We have not wanted to distinguish organizations to show a united Church, beyond names," explained the coordinator in Spain of the World Catholic Movement for Climate, Gabriel López Santamaría.
Among the aforementioned organizations are Cáritas, Manos Unidas and the Episcopal Conference, which yesterday also organized a meeting at the Pablo VI Foundation on three aspects: education as the engine of social change, ethical investments and the divestment of fossil fuels.
“Different entities of the Church in Spain were already carrying out actions around climate change, but the announcement that Madrid would host the summit worked as a binder,” says López.
One of the most curious pictures that have been seen during the march has been that of the Pikachu escorting a group of Japanese activists who are calling for their country to stop financing the companies that trade with coal.
With a calm, leisurely tone, far from the rapturous speech he gave in New York in September, the young activist appeared at a press conference, escorted on stage by three other young activists, to insist on the message she has been repeating in different forums and formats: «We want real action, and the action is not happening». He said the same, but lowered the volume.
"We have been with the strike for a year and basically nothing has happened," said the 16-year-old Swedish girl on the Fridays For Future-Youth for Climate movement, which she formally leads in Sweden and of which she is a symbol of world level "It's not sustainable that kids don't go to school," he added. "But the climate crisis cannot wait."
On this occasion, the hardest speech was given by Vanessa Nakate, representative of Fridays For Future in Uganda: “In my country and in other African nations, people have been left homeless, they have become orphaned. Remember that people are already dying as a result of this crisis. It is not only about the future, it is now. If you can't do it for us, do it at least for your children and grandchildren.
However, the questions of the journalists were invariably addressed to the young Swedish woman, even though she herself had asked, in one of her first interventions, that they also address her classmates. "They shouldn't listen to me before anyone else," he argued. "Please, don't ask me questions only." The room, which had already applauded the presenter, did it again to underline these words. But no one threw his questions at any of the other three activists.
Shari Crespi, from Fridays For Future Spain, was also explicit when he argued: “We have been discussing the causes of climate change for some time and we do not realize that the great cause is colonialism. I ask politicians not to let life be put on price.
For his part, the delegate of the organization in Spain, Alejandro Martínez, demanded that the agreements be more ambitious: "We expect politicians who are up to the task and on the right side of history." Along the same lines, Greta Thunberg said he expects COP25 to have concrete results, although he has not yet seen progress in this area: «World leaders must see the urgency of the climate crisis, now they do not seem to do so. We must ensure that they cannot ignore it or hide it any longer.
400 journalists after her
The first public act of Greta Thunberg in Spain took place at La Casa Encendida, in a press conference followed from several rooms of the cultural center to accommodate the more than 400 accredited Spanish and foreign journalists who queued to access the site.
Only those who had the so-called "patio" pass managed to see in person Greta and the rest of the activists. Many communicators came directly from Ifema, where the Madrid Climate Summit (COP25) is held, and some took advantage of the dead time before the act to eat a snack right there. But the room, crowded with people speaking in different languages, was silenced every time it was felt that Greta was and her companions about to appear, which happened several times before they actually took the stage.
It was an atypical press conference and not only because of the difficulty of access and the furtive lunches, both understandable circumstances given the circumstances, but also because of the tuning between questioners and questions. Several times the journalists interrupted to applaud, the first in the presentation of the act and the last at its end, which linked with the beginning of the March for Climate from the nearby Atocha station .
Meanwhile, the members of the summoning platforms that waited at the beginning of the march were nervous, anxious even for the presence of Greta. «It has been a busy day. The strong point is this march, but our activities will continue, parallel to the Climate Summit, ”explained the spokeswoman for Youth for Climate, Marta Macías.
Precisely, in one of the banners carried by the Student Union, one could read: "This summit is a farce."
Several spokesmen agreed that they "do not expect much from the Climate Summit." "In the previous editions, drastic measures have not been agreed enough to stop a climate crisis," said Rosa Fraga, of the Platform for a New Energy Model.
“Not even following the Paris Agreement is enough. To give a concrete example, a maximum temperature increase of 2 ° C is marked. From several environmental groups, we ask that the maximum be set at 1.5 ° C. In general, we do not have many expectations for the results of the summit, but, if we are surprised, great, ”said the spokeswoman for Youth for Climate.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- Climate change
- Climate Summit
- Environment
- Science and Health
- science
Climate crisis Why a New Zealand newspaper first warned of climate change ... in 1912
ScienceGreta Thunberg arrives in Lisbon after crossing the Atlantic and postpones his trip to Madrid: "I will stay here for a few days"
Climate crisis Images taken by drones reveal instability of the ice sheet in Greenland