We spoke to Carole Reckinger of Votum Klima, one of the organisations who have joined forces with Youth for Climate ahead of the demonstrations on the 27th.

Reckinger explained that the demonstrations scheduled for Friday 27 September are expected to be large in scale, and the starting time of 3pm has been deliberately set with the hopes of attracting both students — who finish school at 2pm — and adults, who might be able to leave work a tad earlier than usual. Indeed, they specifically wish to emphasise that everyone is welcome, and seek to mobilise as many people as possible - including from Luxembourg's large expat community.

The demonstrations are jointly organised by Youth for Climate and 12 other organisations, though one of them is Votum Klima, an organisation aimed at influencing governmental climate policy and which alone represents some 23 individual organisations.

Other organisations that are lending their support to the demonstration include Caritas Luxembourg, Greenpeace, Landesverband, OGBL, and LCGB.

Shared demands

While each of these organisations have their own specific climate-specific programmes, they have agreed on two common demands for this demonstration. The first is the declaration of a climate emergency, which Reckinger explained essentially means that every future decision made by the government would have to take into consideration the climate crisis, and cannot be incoherent with fighting the climate crisis.

The second demand is for climate justice, between generations, between the poor and the rich, and between the North and the South. This means that climate change should be viewed not just on an environmental basis, but also through ethical and political lenses.

They also hold the shared belief that the current economic system and emphasis on unsustainable growth needs to be rethought, and want to emphasise the lack of action given the talk and promises made. They want the government as a whole to work together to find solutions, and ensure coherence between ministries and with the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

The demonstration - four starting points

For this set of demonstrations, the organisers have opted for not one, but four starting points - with each group walking towards and meeting at Place de Clairefontaine. The four starting points are:

  • Place de la Gare
  • Kirchberg (Place de l'Europe)
  • Limpertsberg (LGL)
  • Geeseknäppchen (Parking Bus Sud)

The start time is 3pm.

Place de Clairefontaine will serve as the final meeting place, and is where speeches will be held. Formal events are scheduled to continue here until about 8pm.

More information can be found through the ClimateJustice.lu website, the Youth for Climate Facebook page, and the Facebook event page for the demonstrations.