On electoral night, Climáximo supporters disrupted the rally of the right-wing Democratic Alliance (AD).
After weeks of intense electoral campaign, Portugal went to votes to choose its next government after the center-left Partido Socialista (PS) majority government fell in November due to green capitalism scandals. As the electoral night of March 10th raised expectations throughout the country, Climáximo – a grassroots climate justice group based in Lisbon – interrupted and painted in red the party rally of the right-wing Aliança Democrática (AD – Democratic Alliance, right-wing alliance consisting of the Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata), the People’s Party (CDS–Partido Popular), and the People’s Monarchist Party (Partido Popular Monárquico), to say that stopping the climate crisis is not on the ballot.
These 2024 elections, like many around the world this year, give “the last mandate to stop climate collapse”.
Amidst the ascension of the far-right party Chega, the housing crisis, the drought, and the political instability that led to the fall of the previous government, these elections “are crucial for climate justice”, says the Lisbon grassroots climate justice group.
However, “no party – not even in the left – has a sufficiently ambitious plan to stop climate collapse and deliver a new transformative vision for society”, says the 19-year-old António Assunção, the spokesperson for the action.
For the past 3 weeks, Climáximo has been doing actions that aim at putting the climate crisis in the center of the debate.
According to the Portuguese group, “it’s not acceptable that in 2024, with elections that give a mandate until 2028, climate justice is not at the center of discussion and that no party presents a plan compatible with carbon neutrality by 2030 and the corresponding emission cuts”.
In late February, Climáximo supporters subvertised party campaign outdoors with the message “with your vote we guarantee climate collapse”.
Two weeks ago, the group interrupted the main debate between parties on national TV.
Earlier this week, activists painted and damaged the check-in gates at Lisbon airport in a protest that highlighted the “absurdity of the discussion on where the next airport will be”, very present in the parties’ electoral programs.
On the Feminist Strike of 8th of March, two Climáximo supporters shattered the glass of Santander Totta’s bank to denounce their investment in fossil fuels “which are killing us, women, outrageously faster than men”, on an allusion to the Sufragettes who fought for women’s rights.
On Saturday, they blocked a road in Lisbon to say that “there’s no abstention in the climate crisis”.
Climáximo has not been the only group trying to put climate justice in the agenda, as last week activists of student-led collective Fridays for Future Lisbon painted AD’s right party main candidate Luís Montenegro in green paint.
To the group, “governments and corporations have declared war on society, and the fight for climate justice will happen on the streets and not on the ballots”.
They propose a “Disarmament Plan” followed by a “Peace Plan”, which they say is “so far the only plan on the table that is compatible with climate justice”.
According to António Assunção, this plan will be “fought and implemented by the people, and not by electoral politics that, around the world, are failing us”.