Climate activists on Monday (27) blocked the entrance to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Paris for several hours to “claim the cancellation of the debt of the countries of the south”.
“G7 responsible, IMF guilty, cancel the debt for a living planet,” read a banner hanging, noted an AFP journalist.
Dozens of activists from Extinction Rebellion, Youth for Climate, Attac and 350.org promoted this action as part of a global campaign named “Debt for Climate”, after the G7 summit in Germany.
Its main demand is the cancellation of the debt of the poorest countries so that they can face the climate crisis.
Some militants put their hands on the glass doors of the entrance to the building in Paris, while others, sitting on the floor, chained each other with their hands inside tubes to make their expulsion difficult.
“We have to give these countries the means to fight the climate crisis. They are the first victims and the last responsible,” said “Chalou” of Extinction Rebellion, as his companions dropped false notes with the slogan “Stop fossil fuels”.
The countries of the south “find themselves obliged to exploit fossil fuels in order to have real money” and “pay this debt”, another activist, “Zita”, told AFP, for whom this “vicious circle” prevents the poorest countries from “investing in sustainable solutions”.
“The real debt is the ecological debt of the countries of the north with the countries of the south”, said Julien Rivoire d’Attac France, who also asks to “end this colonial management” in search of a “just transition”.
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