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Protesters dressed as city traders made an ironic protest against carbon trading as the 'World Association of Carbon Traders' in the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition march. London, UK. 5/12/2009. One of the few logos displayed on the march that does not appear on the <em>Stop Climate Chaos Coalition</em> web page is that of the <strong>World Association of Carbon Traders</strong>. This group of around 50 smartly dressed 'city gents' - who included a few ‘gentesses’ and rather more bad false moustaches – along with power-dressed business women marched under the banner '<em>Carbon Trading: The Final Solution</em>' in a rather nasty yellow, perhaps meant to be gold, though it seemed more mustard to me. Although I saw quite a few tourists looking puzzled, the <strong>WACT</strong> logo -<strong> CO2$</strong> and placards including '<em>Trust Me, I'm a Banker, Capitalise On The Climate', 'In Markets We Trust', 'One Solution. Trade Pollution', 'Greed is Green', 'Carbon Trader = Eco Crusader.'</em> and <em>'Cash In On Climate Change'</em>, as well as the '<em>Permits to Pollute</em>' they were handing out made their ironic intention clear. And of course I recognised some of the faces of these agents from previous demonstrations by the <em>Space Hijackers</em>, a group who call themselves 'Anarchitects' whose various projects over the last ten years given a new creative face to protest. They added a welcome touch of ironic humour and substance to what was perhaps otherwise a rather bland if colourful demonstration that often seemed more like a PR media stunt than a political demonstration. As they strode down through Waterloo Place I pointed out to them that the building ahead of them was the headquarters of the Institute of Directors, and obligingly they stopped for a group portrait on its steps. The message behind their protest as the WACT is of course a serious one. Carbon trading is now seen widely by environmentalists as at best an irrelevance in environmental terms, allowing 'business as usual' and with fat profits for some. But worse, as with all markets, it is a mechanism for allowing the wealthy to increase their domination at the expense of the poor.

Politics

Trust Me – I’m a Banker

Protesters dressed as city traders made an ironic protest against carbon trading as the 'World Association of Carbon Traders' in the Stop...

by Peter Marshall in United Kingdom on 05/12/2009

Thousands of people have converged on London for the annual Climate Camp protest. The organisers managed to keep the specific site a secret until Wednesday afternoon when the various bands of supporters were led to Blackheath, a prosperous suburb in South East London. Recently climate camps have taken place most famously at London’s Heathrow airport and also at the, Drax power station in Yorkshire and the Kingsnorth power station in Kent. A spokesman for the Climate Camp is quoted as saying 'One of the main aims of the Climate Camp is to take direct action against the route causes of climate change. The City of London represents the epicentre of a failed economic system whose obsession with endless growth makes it impossible for us to move forward and deal with climate change. The targets have been chosen because of their enormous impact on climate change because of their promotion of failed market logic like carbon trading” Now the site is secured and the protestors are settled in for a series of workshops and meetings with the occasional incursion into the outside world to protest. The police are showing a low profile perhaps after recent criticism in the media of their policing of the G20 protests in London in April and the previous climate camps.

Environment

London Climate Camp 2009 at Blackheath London;

Thousands of people converged on London for the annual Climate Camp protest when the various bands of supporters were led to Blackheath, a prosperous...

by Terence Stokes in United Kingdom on 30/08/2009

On Wednesday thousands of people converged on London for the annual Climate Camp protest. The organisers managed to keep the specific site a secret until Wednesday afternoon when the various bands of supporters were led to Blackheath, a prosperous suburb in South East London. Recently climate camps have taken place most famously at London’s Heathrow airport and also at the, Drax power station in Yorkshire and the Kingsnorth power station in Kent. A spokesman for the Climate Camp is quoted as saying 'One of the main aims of the Climate Camp is to take direct action against the route causes of climate change. The City of London represents the epicentre of a failed economic system whose obsession with endless growth makes it impossible for us to move forward and deal with climate change. The targets have been chosen because of their enormous impact on climate change because of their promotion of failed market logic like carbon trading” Now, day three of the protest the site is secured and the protestors are settled in for a series of workshops and meetings with the occasional incursion into the outside world to protest. The police are showing a low profile perhaps after recent criticism in the media of their policing of the G20 protests in London in April and the previous climate camps.

Environment

London Climate Camp 2009 at Blackheath Day 3

On Wednesday thousands of people converged on London for the annual Climate Camp protest when the various bands of supporters were led to Blackheath...

by Terence Stokes in United Kingdom on 28/08/2009

Reporters