The blockades go on, but we have to go home

As the clock struck 11 yesterday evening, Tamsyn and I settled down in our couchette for another 7 hours sleeper train ride to Brussels. It was strange being back in a closed space to sleep, and I thought of all the thousands of activists that were still sleeping and staying at the gates of Heiligendamm that night. In fact, as I write this, the remaining blockaders are only now arriving back into Rostock for a final rally in the city centre before they head home.



Back on the train, we got chatting with our couchette cohorts, and spied a familiar face leaning over the top bunk. It was John, from People and Planet, who had only hours earlier facilitated a student meeting which I had spoken at. Finding our way to a seated carriage we deconstructed the weeks events, cobbling together the info we had from various friends and familiar faces we’d seen this week.

The overriding feeling seems to have been that we, as activists, had done what we went to Rostock to do. We showed solidarity with the thousands of activists protesting again the G8 in their own varied ways. We informed the alternative summit of all that we could and discussed in depth the path from where we are now- wheeling towards climate chaos at a terrifying rate- to where we need to get to- a sustainable society that put people and the environment first. And we shared our experience with people and media watching from across the globe.



The G8 leaders, in contrast, have not done even one thing they claim to have wanted to do for the world’s poor. They have not agreed a single policy to stop climate change. The comments that ‘emissons need to be reduced and that they will strongly consider at least a halving of global emissions by 2050’ is a poor substitute indeed. The latest in a long history of pledges for aid money for various initiatives will come as little comfort to all those activists, across the globe, who know that without immediate action on climate change, action which takes into account the way that equating economic growth with development has undermined both people and planet thus far, we stand no chance of alleviating poverty.

So, was there a point to it all? Definitely! Looking back at our week I believe WDM can feel confident that we are part of a global movement that continues to grow, to learn and to strengthen its demands on our leaders. The successful blockading of many of the summit entrances must be heralded as a major achievement for the movement as it could not have been done without thousands of people staying strong and firm together. The fact that this group included all ages and types of people protesting in their own way is extremely good news.



And the fact that we all walked away with a feeling that another world is possible, and indeed is being brought forward by a mass movement, is nothing short of fantastic. Meanwhile the G8 leaders are being forced to make statements on issues they would rather ignore, and having to hide from their citizens behind thousands of feet of fencing whilst they do it. The G8 may not disband this year, or next, but it is hard to see how keeping this up, retaining their cracking façade of legitimacy and following their dogmatic free-trade ideologies, in the face of such opposition and resistance, can possibly go on much longer.