Memo to Danes: Even You Cannot Control This Summit
nN - 15.12.2009 17:40
On Saturday night, after a week of living off of conference center snack bars, a group of us were invited to a delicious home-cooked meal with a real live Danish family. After spending the evening gawking at their stylish furnishings, a few of us had a question: Why are Danes so good at design?
"We're control freaks," our hostess replied instantly. "It comes from being a small country with not much power. We have to control what we can."
When it comes to producing absurdly appealing light fixtures and shockingly comfortable desk chairs, that Danish form of displacement is clearly a very good thing. When it comes to hosting a world-changing summit, the Danish need for control is proving to be a serious problem.
The Danes have invested a huge amount of money co-branding their capitol city (now "Hopenhagen") with a summit that will supposedly save the world. That would be fine if this summit actually were on track to save the world. But since it isn't, the Danes are frantically trying to redesign us.
lees verder:  http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2009/12/memo-danes-even-you-cannot-control-summit
Naomi Klein: Denmark has a control-problem
Wednesday's disobedience action "Reclaim Power" can become the most important event under COP15, if Denmark otherwise can do, handles its "control-problem", the Canadian author writes.
The Canadian author Naomi Klein has been in Copenhagen since the start of COP15.
Here she has among other things has made speech in connection with the opening of KlimaForum (KlimaForum) in the DGI town and participated in Saturday's large demonstration to bella centre.
But write-strap behind the bestseller "No Logo" has also had time to pay a visit in a totally ordinary Danish the home blubber with Danish design. And that just got her to, to its homepage, to reply over the connection between the Danes' craving for super design and the more than thousand demonstrators, who during the weekend have been detained by the police.
Control-needs are a problem
In an article with the title "Danmark kan ikke kontrollere topmødet" she writes that Københavns Politi's use of preventive arrests and Denmark's highly-praised talent of design is due to one and the same things: The Danes' need for control.
That has resulted in smart lamps and comfortable office furnitures, which according to the price-winning author has been a positive contribution to the world.
"But when it comes to be a host for a world-historical summit the Danes' need for control has appeared to constitute a serious problem" , are writing Naomi Klein one's homepage and continue:
"The Danes have invested a lot of money in that fires their main place like "Hopenhagen" in connection with the conference that after-telling is to save the world. It'd also be totally fine, if the summit actually was on the way to save something. But as it isn't the case, the Danes have thrown themselves out in a hectic attempt at redesigning all us others" , Klein writes.
She sees the many preventive arrests in Copenhagen, as a warning for people that won't be tolerated deviations from the official "Hopenhagen message".
"Just take the weekend's demonstrations, where 1.100 people were arrested. It's totally insane" , sounds it from the Canadian author.
Supports activists
She was Monday evening among the speeches in Christiania during a support event for Climate Justice Action and their action "Reclaim Power" on Wednesday.
According to Klein will be able to just on Wednesday's disobedience action, which is to establish an alternative summit in the area around Bella Center, cleverly to go over and to become the most important event under the whole COP15.
There are as a matter of fact thousands of delegates within Bella Centret's walls, that support the activists' demands for "real solutions", it says from Naomi Klein.
She thinks that the action will send a clear and important message to the world, about that only an agreement based both on science and justice can be used for something. But are afraid at the same time that the action can get the Danish control-freaks once more to see red, and desperately try, prevent those delegates and the activists from meeting.
"Thus for our Danish hosts: Yes, Copenhagen is your town, and we love you for your bicycles and wind turbines, but the planet belongs to the os avenue samm. Avoid designing us entirely out of the picture" , suggests the song to the Danish government from Naomi Klein.
translated from : http://modkraft.dk/spip.php?article12226
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