Live from COP29: Climate Justice Activists Demand Action as Trump's Return Looms Over U.N. Summit

[Uncle Joe]

We are broadcasting live from COP29, the United Nations climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, where countries are shaping the world's response to the climate crisis. Despite pledges at last year's summit in Dubai to cut global emissions, the burning of coal, oil and gas has continued to rise as the world keeps breaking temperature records. This year's summit is also taking place under the shadow of a second term in the White House for Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax and promised to take the United States out of the Paris Agreement and ramp up domestic fossil fuel production. Despite restrictions on demonstrations at COP29, climate justice activists have been taking a stand, including on Saturday when they held a silent protest in the halls of the conference venue to demand trillions in climate financing for the Global South to speed up the transition to clean energy. Democracy Now! was there, and we bring you some of their voices. "I'm here because I am trying to enhance my voice to talk about our people, our communities and why climate change [needs] to be treated urgently. We need the money. We need it now," says Juliana Melisa Asprilla Cabezas, an Afro-descendant climate activist from Colombia, referring to the push for a fair climate finance deal. "We are protesting here because we have discovered that there's more fossil fuel lobbyists attending the COP29, which means the voices of the voiceless will still be suppressed," adds Thabo Sibeko. Palestinian delegation member Akram Al-Khalili explains that a key demand is for a global energy embargo.

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