On Tuesday the 7th, following a wave of international protests, students from various collectives occupied the Psychology department of the University of Lisbon, under the slogan “End the Genocide, End Fossil”. They demand that the Portuguese state uphold an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza as well as the severing of relations with Israel, and an end to fossil fuels in Portugal by 2030.
Climáximo stands in total solidarity with the students, and calls on all other organizations in the climate justice movement and in society to show their public support for the occupations. We condemn the university direction and the police repression for the night of May 9th. We know that those who fight against the genocidal system bother the decision makers. All power to the students!
The movement for climate justice must be unconditionally on the side of the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. As a movement that works for large-scale society change, it must support the struggle for the liberation of all peoples from the clutches of colonialism, imperialism and capitalism. Global climate justice means the possibility for all people to live in self-determination, with the right to water, land and life. What’s happening in Gaza right now is a total attack on life, with more than 30,000 Palestinians dead, a third of them children.
Companies and governments have declared war on society and the planet and are currently carrying out an ecocide and a genocide on a global scale. Gaza is the most horrific expression of the annihilation of life in the name of profit and property, driven by colonial and racist structures of domination. The link between the genocide in Gaza and ecological and climate destruction is clear: they are carried out by the same system, with the same culprits. They’re the ones who colonize and slaughter in Gaza, at the same time as they condemn humanity (especially the poorest populations) to death and forced displacement, due to climate disasters, famine, droughts and floods – as we have seen in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
In Gaza, the genocide is carried out under direct orders of the leaders of the Zionist state using bombs and warplanes financed by the US and Europe; in Rio Grande do Sul and everywhere else in the world affected by extreme weather phenomena, the bombs are heatwaves, storms, fires and droughts, fueled by the increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. This war is carried out in a conscious and coordinated manner by governments and companies in the name of profit.
Peace is free from fossil fuels, which have always been boosts for conflicts. While Israel was dropping bombs on Gaza, the Israeli energy minister sealed new agreements to exploit oil from the “Leviathan” well – a carbon bomb. In 2022, the European Union signed an agreement to buy gas from Israel, normalizing financial and diplomatic relatiionships with a settler state. On October 30th 2023, two new gas licenses were awarded to ENI (an Italian company) and BP (a British company). Genocide is “business-as-usual” for the companies that condemn us all. Israel’s intention to seize Gaza has already been made clear, as well as its intention to seize the gas reserves off the coast of Gaza. Since 1948, Israel has been occupying, seizing and destroying the water, land and life of the Palestinian territory.