Day 6: Thursday
It’s the day after Reclaim Power, and everyone at the school is surprised to still be free and not sitting in a cell. Its our last full day, and we still have an appetite for action. In the morning, we have a meeting to discuss the strategy for the swoop on our “secret” city-centre spot.

People then scatter to do their various tasks in preparation. However, I have a meeting with a Zero-Waster, Sonia S. Mendoza, Philappino delegate at COP15, organiser of the international Zero-Waste conference held a few weeks back, and chairperson of the Mother Earth Foundation. After quickly stuffing a Danish hot-dog down my throat, we meet at the Klimaforum, the “alternative” conference venue to the main COP15, and head into the much quieter exhibition warehouse space, which seems to act as the Press Corps alternative base. I do a video-interview, asking Sonia about community waste (or should I say, resource) management in the Philippines, what it’s like as an NGO at the talks, and her thoughts on the actions and events over the last week. She provides some good insights into all these, and her interview (and COP15 mini-doc) can be seen early next year on LCRN’s website…Watch this space.

I have a few hours before the swoop, so I head to Christiania’s Christmas Market for a spot of Christmas shopping (time is running out). The Christmas market has stalls with a variety of local crafts, food and Glugg (Danish mulled-wine), and a buzzy, cosy atmosphere. I buy some crafty gifts, a quick Glugg and Christiania postcards (mostly of the independent community of Christianna being harressed by cops in their attempts to “normalise” the people there). Its getting close, so I head Uptown to the main shopping district and the prospective “target” for our temporary Climate Camp.

The target is Hopenhagen Square, a crass display of greenwash and “green”-consumption. The square has a big main stage (where numerous pop bands have played, and big names spoken), display sheds for browsing a variety of techno solutions and “products” (like electric Harleys), and the great big “Greenwash Globe” – this globe has numerous projectors focused on it, displaying constant visuals, adverts and messages, with lines like: “Join the virtual global demonstration!” (with a link to their website), and “Hopenhagen” flashing up constantly. Yawn! A number of us come in from all sides of the square, and mill about. There are only three policemen on patrol round the site, drips and drabs of pedestrians walking through and an open-mike MC provides a little life to the square. We wait. Suddenly, a number of the swoop move into the space underneath the globe and starting pitching their tents. The police come over, and start pushing those setting up tents, confiscating tent poles and trying to bully them off the square. However there are a good 80 of us in the square now, and the police realise that they are in over their heads; they back off to a safe distance and start radioing for backup. The backup arrives in the form of a couple of vans of riot police, and a helicopter; we are honoured. The swoop continue to set up camp, unfurl banners and, link arms and bounce around chanting the old favourites: “What do we want? Climate Justice; When do we want it? NOW!”, “The people, United, Will never be defeated” and “Our Climate, Not your Business.” The police remain on the outskirts of the demo, and wait for action; however, we just mill about the square, drinking beer, chatting and laughing. They get bored with all this, so we negotiate that we can stay there till midnight (some hope till the morning), and riots cops drive off in their blue vans.

As the evening progresses, a bunch of swoopers take some banners over to the TV2 (Danish TV station) commentators box, where a live discussion on COP15 is taking place in one of the glass boxes in the square. They start jumping around outside the windows with their banners, while the discussion group do a very good job of trying to ignore them; the police move them on a couple of times, but they just go back, so after a while they post police on the four corners of the box to prevent swoopers touching the glass box; they remain there for the duration of the interview, and it seems their banners made it onto prime time Danish television; result! During the evening, the campers have a good old traditional caelly (a sort of line, or barn, dance) in the square, with only a harmonica to accompany them; a racouos laugh. Eventually, we’re all a little tired, so we leave five brave Climate Campers in their tents, as they attempt to spend the night in the Square.

For a quick clip of the occupation, see: http://icop15.org/content/171209-hopenhagen-climate-camp-occupation

We hear about a little gig going down at the Candy Factory, an occupied space in Norrobro with a large bike workshop (where numbers of the group have been fixing and repairing bikes for others, and building the mythical Giant Bicycle Contraption (which turns out to have been a red herring for the police)). In the basement is a bar and gig space, and we walk into the smoky room to hear the Open Mic in full swing; it’s a great evening as members of the audience from all over Europe and the States display their variety of talents, which is impressive in skill and scope, interspersed with bouts of slogan chanting. A drunken, raucous night is had by all and we head home on the bus, singing. When we get back to the school, we find the Campers have returned home (in the back of a riot van of all things) – given the option of evacuating the square at midnight or being arrested, they made the right decision, on the condition they get a lift home. Result! A party develops in one of the rooms in the school, and a few talented musicians play for the dancing crowd into the early hours. At some ungodly hour the last of us go off to sleep.

Day 7 and 8: Friday and Saturday
It’s the day of return. A frenzy of activity before the busses arrive; we pack up our bags, clean rooms and communal areas, sort out recycling and waste, donations for accommodation and food; some rush off to do “one last thing” in the city, and the rest of us sit around and wait for the buses to arrive. Eventually we’re off to the waiting buses, and we’re off, waving goodbye to lovely Copenhagen. Its snowy, so we drive at a cautious pace through the night; in the cosy coach, some drink and chat, others read, while still others (like me) fall asleep from pure exhaustion. We awake in the morning to find ourselves at the Port of Calais – in a massive queue waiting to get on the ferries; rumours abound of a Customs strike, train trapped in the Channel tunnel, bad weather and so on; we don’t actually know why there’s the massive queue. Several hours later we make it into the Port, and have an hour to kill, much of which is spent in massive queues at the very few places to get something to eat: the self-service restaurant or a vending machine….mmm…what a choice. We’re on the ferry at last, have a beer, then off as we hit Blighty and the White Cliffs of Dover (with snowy tops); on the other side we swap drivers and pick up the English papers to find out the commentary (or is that tattle?) on the summit. We find an article in the Times on the police brutality to some our group detained during the week, written by an embedded journalist at the school. We also find out that the talks have been a massive failure – something many of us knew would always be the outcome. We set to chatting about “What Next?”; and before you know it, we’re in London. A group picture, one more collective chant of “A…Anti…Anticapitalista”, and we say our fond farewells.

In Summation
Many will say: “Why did you bother going? It didn’t change anything.” If one measures success by mainstream column-inches or changing government policy, then the answer will certainly be a resounding failure. However, if you measure it by other benchmarks, it was a great success. Activists from across the world met up in Copenhagen, out to demonstrate that people power is stronger and more effective than big government and business. We held our own in the face of massive police repression, defending temporary spaces to demonstrate democratic decision-making (Climate Camp, Peoples’ Forum at the Reclaim Power demo), and having more constructive debates in two hours than the Summit had in 2 weeks. We maintained non-violent civil disobedience, against numerous attempts by the police to escalate the violence to justify brutality later (using the standard protocol adopted by police forces across the world when dealing with “politically sensitive” demos: undercover police and agent provocateurs in the crowd instigating violence). We reported what was happening on the streets to the hundreds of thousands across the world through alternative media channels such as Indymedia; we provided medical and legal support to the thousands that converged, through the Action Medics and Legal Observers. We showed solidarity for the millions across the world that will feel the brunt of Climate Change and the neo-liberal “business as usual”; solidarity was seen in the detention centres, on the streets, in the convergence spaces and with the people of Copenhagen, who bear the brunt of their police force’s violence on a regular basis. While big business and Western government cronies held private talks, barring NGOs and third-world negotiators, the people on the streets held the real Summit, full of engaging, open discussion, and inspiring stories of sustainable solutions that have developed against the odds. Many will walk away from COP15 disappointed because they believed their governments would provide the “solution” to Climate Change ; we walk away ready to continue our work to ensure the real solution is implemented: the Power of Everyday People.