31st Aug: Protest but no progress

31 August 2002

Police prevent protestor access to the Summit

Helicopters circled overhead and the police were heavily armed. Despite rumours that there may be violence, the marches have so far been peaceful with a carnival atmosphere. A barbed wire fence kept them out of the conference centre.

Flying high

But - ironically - the same fence keeps us in. I have spent today flinging small papier mache figures around with my Friends of the Earth International colleagues and our South African partners.

Unloading more than 5,000 figures

We've been setting up our Hear our voice art installation next to the conference building so it will be ready by tomorrow morning.

Bird?, plane?
- no a flying figure!

The figures arrived in truckloads to cheers of excitement.

We formed a human chain to get them to their final resting points. It was such a laugh.

There they will stand until the end of the Summit to remind world leaders to listen to the people and protect them from exploitation by big business.

Passersby even asked to join in and help us. One of my best moments was when I overheard a policeman telling a delegate what our project is all about!

Running low

There is nothing to laugh about inside the Summit. The talks are not going well. In fact they are going backwards rather than forwards as countries even
fail to agree now on what they agreed ten years ago in Rio. It's a joke.

In many cases where there were targets for some kind of action written into the official documents, they have now put in words like 'if possible' and 'make progress' - words that get them out of making real commitments.

Unloading continues...

So there is an air of despondency here but our art project keeps us upbeat.

Let's hope it makes a difference. I must go back now, as we'll be setting up well into the night.

Don't let big business rule the world!

Love Sarah

Sarah Donnelly, our Policy and Campaigns Co-ordination Assistant is sending daily updates direct from the Earth Summit.