The "anti-Black Friday" initiatives multiplied on Friday 29 November in Europe to denounce the overconsumption and its climate consequences, as a new series of global warming events begins.
"Today, Amazon has a greenhouse gas emissions of a state," denounces Jean-François Julliard, director of Greenpeace France, participating in a sit-in with dozens of other activists in front of the French headquarters. 'Amazon in Clichy, near Paris.
Gathering in particular at the call of Attac and Greenpeace for this action presented as "non-violent and joyous", the demonstrators unfurled banners hostile to the online trading giant before sitting in front of the headquarters of the company to shouts of: "We say stop at Black Friday and his impunity!"
"Amazon is a symbol of impunity"
"We need more than ever actions of civil disobedience because Amazon is a symbol of impunity", including tax, said the MEP Manon Aubry (LFI, radical left), present at the event.
"Amazon destroys jobs and the climate", "Block Friday", could we read on banners drawn by about forty activists in front of the site Amazon of Flers-en-Escrebieux, in the north of France, whose The entrance was protected by around 20 police officers, an AFP videographer noted.
Several other actions of this type took place in France: near Lyon, a hundred activists briefly blocked two entries from an Amazon warehouse. Already on Thursday, several dozen activists of environmental movements had briefly blocked the distribution center of Amazon Brétigny-sur-Orge, not far from Paris.
Several actions in Europe
In Germany, hundreds of Amazon employees, according to the union, took advantage of this Black Friday to draw attention to their working conditions. "Their work can not be remunerated at ridiculous amounts," denounced in a statement the union Verdi, at the origin of the strike scheduled to last until Tuesday.
The union, which calls for a collective agreement to guarantee "a decent wage and quality and healthy jobs," accuses Amazon of "depriving staff of their fundamental rights" and using it "under extreme pressure". "As a result, many employees fall ill," warns the union. Amazon has minimized the impact of the strike, ensuring that orders are delivered "on time".
In the UK, where distributors rely on Black Friday to try to address consumer fears over Brexit uncertainties, a Bradford-based artist group in the Yorkshire region in the north of the country is calling on people to a "Buy Nowt Friday", "Nowt" meaning "nothing" in the local dialect.
"Consumerism = climate crisis"
In Madrid, Greenpeace has deployed a banner on a facade under renovation of Gran Via, the main shopping street in the city. A few days before the opening of COP25 in the Spanish capital, the NGO wrote "Consumerism = climate crisis".
Students from the "Students for Climate" association planned to form a human chain in Maastricht to protest the overconsumption of Black Friday. These actions take place when, on Friday in Asia-Pacific, the launch of a new series of global events against global warming was launched.
In Tokyo, hundreds of people marched in the Shinjuku commercial district. "I feel a sense of crisis because almost nobody in Japan is interested in climate change," said Mio Ishida, a 19-year-old student.
With AFP