Wonderful - that's how I would describe our day! I know most of you will have been following the events in the media, picturing scenes of chaos. But it was nothing of the sort. Close to 100,000 people of all shapes, sizes, ages, nationalities and political inclinations showed up to march in Rostock. A very small minority can't wreck that hugely positive and peaceful vibe we found.
The immediate build up to these events is always a frantic time. With team members coming from New York and London, supporters from Poland, Spain and Denmark, banners from Switzerland and t-shirts from Hamburg there were a lot of things that could have gone wrong. Fortunately it all came together, despite Galit and me suffering from severe jet lag, our photographer being rushed to hospital and Hannah standing on a shard of glass!
On the morning of the march we met with our banner and T-shirt men Pascal, Miguel and Tino. We were delighted - the banners and t-shirts came out perfectly. Joined by Paul, straight from his petition delivery in Berlin, we moseyed over to the rendezvous place. We successfully rendezvoused with our volunteers, including Mike from New Zealand! Galit then used her amazing charm to recruit a few more: two German teenagers and their parents; Germans of all ages and others from France, Bulgaria, Denmark, Norway, Peru, Switzerland and China. So we were truly a global gathering: 100 Avaaz T-shirts went like hotcakes, to old and young alike:
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Thanks to Greenpeace Germany we had a fantastic position right at the head of the climate march, that gave photographers plenty of room to keep dashing in and taking pictures of our multi-lingual banners. The banners looked incredible - having them handmade by Pascal and Miguel's Swiss art collective was really good and we were one of the only organisations with banners in more languages than German and English.
With the Avaaz march ready to set off the only thing left to do was to pray that it wouldn't rain. The weather in Rostock was grey, windy and miserable, but that would not deter us! We set off. The march route was 5km we completed the whole route making lots of noise along the way. At the end, we got to the rally in time to hear the speeches and enjoy a peaceful few hours down by Rostock harbour. Much fun was had by all.
There is a lot riding on the events of the coming week, but I'm feeling good about it. Together we've created the biggest global climate change petition ever, with hundreds of thousands of us coming together from 193 countries. We've been heard and seen by the politicians. If they choose to ignore us they do so at their own peril! Thank you to all of you who have supported the petition. And an extra-special thanks to those that braved the wind and cold to march with us in Rostock!
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