Hi everyone. As our stay in Copenhagen is getting closer to its end, here is the first report we´ve made of the events we’ve gone through here, from our point of view as Reclaim the Fields group.
The 11th: First day in Copenhagen. The Reclaim the Fields´ group met at the KlimatForum. We got to know each other. Glad to see the people again, those we had met in France, and to welcome the new ones. We were about 25 persons taking part in that first meeting. The agenda for the morning: presentation and history of the movement,first contact game (names and questions by pairs), round of expectations and non-violent actions´game. The soup kitchen is launched by the swedish local group: Mykorrhiza. Homegrown vegetables and handing out of illegal seeds with information aboutit. Agenda for the afternoon: la Via Campesina´s conference at the KlimatForum. Within Reclaim the Fiels, discussion about the COP15 context and the group´s political view. Presentation of the agenda of actions, as wellas the different movements (CJA, CJN, LVC?) Organization and tasks sharing. The whole week, we had the chance to stay in a school (very warm place fortunately) in the southern part of the city, not faraway from downtown,with la Via Campesina.
The 12th: Day of the big demonstration and the block system change not climate change?, in which took part Reclaim the Fields, together with La ViaC ampesina. Walking through the streets of Copenhagen, from 1:00 to 6:00pm. Response of the police: massive preventive detentions. They cut the last part of the demonstration and took a whole block of people, without responding to any criteria. Solidarity manifestation took place at night,in front of the detention center.
The 13th: Hit the Production day. We participated in the Via Campesina action against the meat industry. Street theater about the pork industry and its impact on south peasants, in which Reclaim the Fields took part actively(young people were disguised in pigs locked in a cage). Then took place a spontaneous demonstration with the Samba Band, for about one or two hours, which ended at the Klimat Forum.
The 14th: No borders day. Just a few people of Reclaim the Fields participated in that action, the rest of the group was preparing the action for the next day and taking part in the meetings for the 16th.
The 15th: Agriculture day. In the morning, about half of the group was helping in the kitchen, while the other ones were making the banners and attending the meeting for the demonstration, which started at 12:00. The plan was that the demonstration was going to make a few stops in the places whereaction groups had planned something: supermarket, gas station, ministry of agriculture? Unfortunately, the police prevented some actions from taking place. The Reclaim the Fields´ action took place in front of the NETO supermarket, distributing soup and homegrown vegetables to the people,explaining the importance of local agriculture (eat local= responsible,?)and denouncing the impacts of agroindustry and chain markets ( industrial agriculture fries the earth,?)
The 16th: Reclaim Power, the day everyone was waiting for. About 30 people of Reclaim the Fields participated in the Blue Block, which aimed to enter the Bella Center to hold the People Assembly. The Danish police prevented them from entering but they held the People Assembly with two thousands people, just outside the walls. The inside group, NGO´s delegates wantingto take part in the Assembly, got stopped by the UN Police and 150 people were arrested. The people of RtF who didn´t participate in the Blue Block, took part in other groups actions, which were mainly aimed to distract the police: the bike block, the green block (about 200 arrested, part of the RtF affinity group ?salsifis? got arrested for about 12 hours) and the autonomous block (the RtF affinity group ?roquette? got arrested for about 10 hours) Debriefing of the day with la Via Campesina. A victory for two reasons:the People Assembly took place and the agreement was not going to bereached. Apart from that, the groups felt stronger and the police repression was destroyed by the media the next day. Written by Stéphanie. Please, for those who were here with us, completethe report and join pictures if you have some. Thanks and see you soon.
See photos below:
