Call to protest against oil and gas extraction
The Climate Justice Charter Movement said the public needs to fight from all fronts such as mass actions, appealing to the government, taking legal action against the licences, signing petitions and building a mass movement to defend life-enabling systems.
The Climate Justice Charter Movement (CJCM) is calling on local and international organisations to protest in their respective communities against oil and gas extraction in the ocean on December 9.
In a statement on Tuesday this week, the movement said the public needs to fight from all fronts such as communities rolling out mass actions, appealing to the government, taking legal action against the licences, signing petitions and building a mass movement to defend life-enabling systems.
It added that seismic surveys and offshore oil and gas rigs have been extensively studied, saying that their detrimental impacts on marine life are well-documented.
The movement said it wants to start coordinating for rolling mass action from December 9 until May 2024 to show collective mass power.
“Our Rights Of Nature Policy which is informed by fisherfolk and coastal communities calls for the defence of our oceans and the rejection of ocean trawlers, seismic surveys and carbon capital activities that destroy our oceans. These activities pose significant threats to the delicate balance of underwater ecosystems. It is clear, however, that the ANC-led alliance does not care about fisherfolk, does not care about coastal communities and does not care about the climate crisis. We, the people must unite to defend our oceans, to defend coastal communities and to defend the right of marine species to live and thrive without being blasted by air guns every second,” read the statement.
It added: “As a movement, we firmly reject the capture of our oceans by multinational corporations who want to loot our ocean commons for oil and gas. In our campaigning with SAFSC since 2014, we have continually argued that there can be no food sovereignty and no climate justice if the oceans are captured by corporations. The struggles of coastal communities have been ignored by the mainstream media. Denying these communities access to the sea is denying their rights, their heritage, and their culture and basically, it is a form of carbon apartheid.”
The statement further read that CJCM supports December 9 as a day of action.
“Endorse the Climate Justice Charter ( here: https://cjcm.org.za/endorse ). Join the Climate Justice Charter Movement. Oil and gas extraction is one part of the larger climate justice struggle,” read the statement.
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