It was a mobilization with a large diversity of demands, with people from dozens of countries around the world and absolutely peaceful, from start to end. Nevertheless, the neoliberal media decided it was more important to report on another demonstration where there were clashes with the police, and giving no visibility to the huge “human chain” in a city where only a few days ago people thought fear was going to paralyze society as a whole.

At the end of the protest where over 10,000 people participated hours before the beginning of the COP21, Real World Radio interviewed activist Jon Palais of the French citizen movement Alternatiba. Together with Attac France, they were the organizers of the mobilization and were joined by several groups member of the Coalition Climat 21. The Coalition gathers different French groups that are jointly organizing activities in parallel to the UN conference.

Jon told Real World Radio that Alternatiba and Attac France thought that something had to be done on the streets despite the bans on protests by the state of emergency. He highlighted the peaceful, familiar and popular nature of the “human chain” and considered that it was proven that people in Paris are not afraid to demonstrate.

“We still have to mobilize and it is just the beginning”, said Palais. “We still have a mobilization agenda and we are going to do it whether we have the authorizations or not. This is our main message”, he explained.