Young people from Portugal promote wave of climate protests – 10/18/2023 – Environment

A Portuguese environmental activist glued herself to the entrance of a plane this Wednesday morning (18). The previous week, protesters threw red paint at a painting by Pablo Picasso, in addition to blocking traffic on important highways in Lisbon.

In the last month, Portugal has been shaken by a series of actions by environmentalists, which even included hitting the Minister of the Environment with eggs with green paint.

One of the main people responsible for the wave of recent demonstrations is the collective Climáximo, which has specialized in civil disobedience initiatives as a way of drawing attention to the environmental emergency.

“In the face of such a huge crisis, we have to open a discussion of public crisis with radical democracy. Civil disobedience is, historically, a tool capable of putting the climate crisis at the center of the debate, by allowing anyone to stop consenting to normality “, said Noah Zino, an activist at the entity.

According to her, Climáximo previously tried several other approaches, all without success.

“We have already done everything. Since 2015, we have signed petitions and organized the biggest climate demonstrations in the country. We have written countless articles in newspapers, given dozens of interviews, lectures, trainings and public sessions. We traveled 400 km across Portugal to speak and organize with populations most affected by the climate crisis”, he lists.

The environmental activist highlights that Portugal continues to invest, according to the IMF (International Monetary Fund), more than 3.3 million euros every day in the fossil economy, in addition to having projects for the construction of new airports and gas pipelines.

“Faced with a climate crisis that, according to the WHO, [Organização Mundial da Saúde], already kills hundreds of thousands of people every year, these projects are effectively weapons of mass destruction projects. If they know they are killing en masse and decide to continue to do so, then we know that the government and corporations have declared war on people and the planet,” he stated.

Climáximo’s action at the airport, in a plane that was preparing to travel the stretch between Lisbon and Porto (just over 300 km), also aimed to highlight the large amount of emissions in short-term air travel.

In recent years, Portugal has lagged behind in railway investment compared to several other European Union countries. While neighboring Spain has built a modern high-speed train network, the Portuguese railway network has shrunk by around 18% since the year 2000.

There is, for example, no direct rail connection between the capitals Lisbon and Madrid. Announced seven years ago, the railway expansion plan has less than 20% of projects completed.

For at least three years, European museums have been targeted by the most radical wing of the environmental movement, which uses the visibility of “scenic attacks” on paintings to secure space in the media and go viral on social media.

Last Friday (13), Portuguese environmentalists targeted “Femme dans un fauteuil (métamorphose)”, by Pablo Picasso, on display at the Centro Cultural de Belém, also in the Portuguese capital. Taking advantage of a moment of distraction from the security guards, the young people threw red paint at the work.

Despite the incident, the painting, which has transparent acrylic protection, was not damaged, according to the management of the cultural space.

Politicians are also frequent targets. At the end of September, another environmental group, GCE (Student Climate Strike), hit the Portuguese Environment Minister, Duarte Cordeiro, with eggs containing green dye. The socialist politician was shot while participating in a lecture entitled “The new energy is green”, alongside executives from companies linked to the oil and gas sector.

The action was widely publicized on the group’s social networks, where young people present their explanations for the demonstrations. Environmentalists criticize the government’s proximity to companies linked to fossil fuels.

“It is clear that this conference is a facade to clean up the image of companies that in Portugal are profiting from the climate and cost of living crises”, justified the protesters.

GCE environmentalists, who are calling for an end to the use of fossil fuels by 2030, say they will intensify the demonstrations. “We promise to continue not to give peace to the government. We will return with a wave of actions from November 13th, with occupations in schools and disruption of the normal functioning of institutions”, they anticipate.

Targeted by activists, Minister Duarte Cordeiro chose not to press charges against the two young women responsible for the action.

In recent months, several activists have been detained —and subsequently released— for participating in protests, especially those involving blocking traffic and defacing windows and facades of polluting companies.

Environmentalists are now preparing for a marathon of visits to the courts, even though experts consider the scenario of effective arrests to be quite remote.

Noah Zino, from Climáximo, says that activists are aware of the legal risks and the possibility of animosity among the population. There were records of attacks against some of the young people who participated in the action to close traffic in Lisbon. Dissatisfied drivers got out of their cars and violently pulled the group off the asphalt to clear the path.

“Everyone is afraid. We are human, with families and jobs. We also understand the frustration of the people who attacked us. We live in a society that stretches us to the limit, and any interruption to normality can create emotional reactions. We also know that there will be no normality to defend in climate collapse.”

In the assessment of Marc Lomazzi, a French journalist specializing in the subject and author of the book “Ultra Ecologicus: Les Nouveaux Croisés de l’Écologie” (ultraecological: the new crusaders of ecology), European society, increasingly concerned with issues related to global warming, tends to view environmentalists with some sympathy.

“Globally, as long as things remain peaceful, the tendency is for public opinion to be favorable. Obviously, if they move to violent actions, there will be a divorce from public opinion,” Lomazzi highlighted to Sheetin November, shortly after the release of his book, which explores the origins and characteristics of radical environmentalism.

Even with a certain tolerance in society, the wave of radical environmentalist actions is already causing political reactions. Countries such as Italy and the United Kingdom are promoting changes in legislation specifically targeting this type of demonstration, classified by some politicians as “ecovandalism”.

In addition to civil disobedience, groups of Portuguese youth have also sought legal action to fight climate change.

At the end of September, a case filed by six of them, aged between 11 and 24, began to be judged by the European Court of Human Rights, one of the highest legal bodies in Europe. The decision, which should only be made next year, could force more than 30 countries to review their greenhouse gas emissions.