Despite the climate emergency, the climate demonstration organized in Brussels only brought together 740 people, far from the crowds of 2019. How can we explain this discouragement of certain demonstrators?
A new climate demonstration was held this afternoon in Brussels. 740 people took part, according to the police.
Several associations were present, including demonstrators from Valencia, Spain. They want concrete actions more than a week after the floods in their native region: “We must act. We do not have time to think and wait four more years or two more years. We must act immediately. It is urgent”reacts Nestor Antonino, of the ASBL Espai Valencian in Belgium. “What has just happened in Valencia will happen everywhere in Europe. We have already seen the floods in France this summer, we have already seen the floods in Liège,… it will continue. That’s how it is. Floods, natural disasters are going to be much stronger, much more dangerous and much more deadly.”
But one observation: climate demonstrations attract fewer people today. However, we remember the historic gatherings in the capital in 2019.
How can we explain this discouragement?
“Hotter! Warmer! Warmer than the climate!”chant, as usual, the demonstrators, always motivated. Young people are there, but also families. Charlotte came for her son Raphaël. “He speaks to me often, he is already quite aware of climate issues. And so I thought it was important to come today, I thought it was a good opportunity.”
The participants come mainly from Brussels and Walloon Brabant.
The procession is relatively small compared to those of the 2019 rallies. In the rain, the demonstrators came from the entire country. Almost all political parties were present. Five and a half years later, the mobilization is still much less strong. On January 27, 2019, there were 70,000 demonstrators in the streets of Brussels. Today, the police number 740.
How to explain it? First of all, the young people we met feel tired today. “It’s very active at one point, we say to ourselves OK, there’s something there. And then, we talk too much and people stop believing it.”
Associations also have fewer resources. This event received less publicity. “I had less information. I had to search to find out what time and how“, explains a demonstrator. Kim Le Quang, co-founder of “Rise For Climate”, also admits that today there is less support from certain artists: “It was also, at one point, thanks to Stromae, thanks to Angèle who were mobilized, that we had so many people.”
The climate is really the last of its priorities. So, it shows.
Another explanation, the lack of political courage. Some people feel that the protests are useless. “We know very well that the new Walloon government, the climate, is really the last of its priorities. So, it shows.”we estimate in the parade.
Sociologists still talk about precariousness among young people. Covid has weakened them in their academic career. Access to employment is more difficult. How can you defend a common cause when you must first solve your own problems?
Marches for the climate climate demonstration rise for climate ecology
