Call to prepare and organise a climate camp in Germany

1) The idea
2) How the idea emerged and how where we can go from
here
3) Why organise a climate camp?
4) Communication

1. The Idea

Following the model established by the Camp for
Climate Action in the UK, which was held for the
second time this year, we want to initiate the process
of organising a Climate-Action Camp in Germany in
2008. Just like in the UK we want to create links
between the exchange of knowledge (in workshops),
self-organised living (in the camp) that minimises our
ecological footprint, networking and direct action.
The last two camps in the UK specifically targeted
particular installations, against which direct or
thematically appropriate actions were organised. Last
year’s target was the UK’s largest coal-fired power
station, while this year the camp drew attention to
the aviation industry and the expansion of London’s
Heathrow airport. Whether we should also choose such
focal points in Germany should be discussed at the
preparatory meetings.

2. How the idea emerged and how where we can go from
here

This email and initial call emerged from this year’s
Camp for Climate Action in the UK, when several
German-speaking people met there who had all,
independently of each other, had the idea of
organising such a camp in Germany. We hope to use a
first planning meeting either on the last weekend in
October or the first weekend in November (26.-28.10. /
2.-4.11) somewhere in the geographical centre of
Germany to decide how to go on from here. If you want
to attend the meeting, go to
http://www.doodle.de/yu8vxh39em9zh7s7 and enter your
preferred date – we can then select the most suitable
date (provided it doesn’t clash with local
organisation). Both date and location should be agreed
on by the end of September.

3. Why organise a Climate-Action Camp

Climate chaos is a reality. And there’s not much time
left to limit the damage. Which is exactly why we
can’t simply jump into knee-jerk activism that simply
reproduces the causes of the problem. Rather, we need
to take profound direct action, without of course
excluding people. We also need grounded analyses of
the fundamental structures that serve to highlight the
urgent need for social transformation and can
communicate information about the underlying causes to
a wider audience.

Climate Change is not only an ecological problem, but
also a question of the distribution of its
consequences. It thus also poses social questions.
This is why we need immediate and direct action. Of
course, we also need to discuss many other questions,
for example the following (a first rough list compiled
by us in the camp):

- How can we act effectively?
- What does a carbon-neutral life look like? What kind
of utopias do we need? Which alternatives can we live
already now?
- Why are the media suddenly interested in the issue
of climate change? Which interests are pushing this?
Are these interests also our own?
- Do we trust states and businesses to save us? Or do
we create our own solutions?
- How do we judge the climate change policies pursued
until now by environmental NGOs? What are their
effects?
- Is it possible to protect the climate in the context
of the current socio-economic system? Or is there a
need for radical social change?
- Who profits from climate change? And what does that
mean for our actions?

A climate camp could pursue these and many other
questions, inspire people to think and act
politico-ecologically, it could be a space for
experimentation, think-tank and a space to network
further common actions. Of course, we’d first have to
decide:

- What could a climate camp in Germany look like?
- How could it be organised?
- Who would join?

4. Communication

Info:
Website of the UK Camp for Climate Action:
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/

Indymedia reports:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/actions/2007/climatecamp/

Website of the UK-based Network for Climate Action
http://www.networkforclimateaction.org.uk

Reports on Indymedia Germany:
http://de.indymedia.org/2007/09/193563.shtml

For future communication sign up to our email list
http://lists.trilos.net/mailman/listinfo/klimacamp

We are also working on setting up some sort of
internet-presence. Details to be decided at our first
meeting.
http://www.klimacamp.org/

If you want to get in touch with us directly, let us
know via the mailing list. We are from different parts
of Germany (e.g. Freiburg, Berlin, Wendland region,
Bremen) and can maybe travel to where you are to
report back from the Camp with fotos and movies (as
motivation in the run-up to the first organisational
gathering).