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It’s just a few weeks before the It Takes Roots to Weather to Storm Delegation -- made up of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, the Climate Justice Alliance and the Indigenous Environmental Network -- departs for the mass mobilizations and that are happening in Paris during the U.N. Conference of Parties (COP) negotiations on climate change.
These mobilizations are critical during this political moment, in which there is a pitched battle between the fossil fuel industry and communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis who are advancing a movement to stop the burning of the planet. We need your support in getting our delegation of 100 members to Paris to help organize actions on the ground and stand up for real solutions for climate justice.
We’ve already begun to lay the groundwork and the relationships needed to build a unified front in the face of this global crisis. In October GGJ staff members and three GGJ members from Cooperation Jackson, the Southwest Workers Union and the Indigenous People’s Project/Ruckus Society participated in a racial justice-focused organizer exchange in Paris to build toward the convergences in December.
Over the course of just a few days we met with dozens of local organizers on the frontlines of Afro-Feminist, youth, racial justice, migrant and refugee organizing sectors in France. We learned about the displacement being caused because of the COP 21 and detention of the Roma People, people from the Ivory Coast and other refugees living at the nexus of climate, economic, and political instability. We also learned about the history of Anti-Black racism and violence against immigrants in France and the movement for police accountability that echoes many of the same demands we are fighting for in the U.S. An evening panel on Neo-colonialism, Feminism and Community Organizing provided an opportunity to share stories of how women and other gender-oppressed people are providing leadership for a gender justice lens within the broader framework of climate justice.
This organizer exchange began the process we’ll need to develop a cohesive strategy and a message for our time in Paris -- one that spotlights the demands of frontline communities and demonstrates cross-border solidarity between people of color, migrants, indigenous people and women from across the world.
We just need your support in raising the funds needed to host the upcoming delegation and continue the work we’ve started to strengthen the racial and gender justice framework leading into our time in Paris. Will you help by making a donation today? Click here to give.
Thank you for your support and your solidarity!
Kali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson & Jaron Browne, GGJ Staff
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