All gathered to warn about the climate emergency. This is the watchword that brought together nearly 300 demonstrators in Reims this Saturday. They left around 2:30 p.m. from the Porte de Mars before joining the Courthouse for speeches.
– Anna Huot
A total of 14 associations have come together to organize this march. The main organizer was the Action nonviolent Cop 21 (ANV Cop 21) of Reims. Its aim was to highlight the climate issue, still too absent from the electoral campaign for Alexy, spokesperson for the ANV Cop 21. “We have statistics that have come out that say that the climate emergency occupies 3% of media space and electoral debates. (…) It is almost sabotage. (…) It is high time to seize this problem and to politicize it within the campaign“, he declares
The climate issue, a source of concern
And if the climate issue remains little addressed in the electoral campaign, it is omnipresent in the minds of the demonstrators, like Marion, 25, now involved in Le Relais Jeune, an association which has chosen to take a tour of France in on foot and by bike to raise awareness of climate, democratic and social justice issues. ” The model that we are being offered is not going to be livable. We will be the first generation in France to suffer the consequences of global warming. I come from Montpellier, soon there will be great droughts and floods. I also wonder about having or not having children. What world are we going to leave to our future children?“, she sighs.
– Anna Huot
So the protesters are demanding action. “Only 30% of our greenhouse gas emissions are linked to our lifestyles, so even if we are exemplary, we only play on 30%. It means that 70% is played out at the political and collective level so I want to play on this lever there because it is the most important one“, proclaims Pierre, co-organizer of the Relais Jeune, who also came to walk for the climate.
– Anna Huot
Following this mobilization, the organizers have already warned that other movements will follow: a strike for the climate on March 25 and other marches on April 9, on the eve of the first round of the presidential election.