Historic Doha March for Action

A young Qatari, protesting against an injustice, hand in hand with the international community, in the 1970′s.

This was the story told by COP18 President, Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, during his dialogue with youth. He spoke of his time as a college student in Michigan, protesting against drafting and the Vietnam war.

40 years on, Qatari students were able to march in their own country, against one of the single biggest injustices to ever face a young generation.

Today marked the first Climate change march in Qatar’s history, and was also the first of it’s kind in the Gulf.

Hundreds of activists from across the Arab region joined with international activists to march in Doha, demanding urgent action to address climate change at the UN negotiations. This was part of the now annual climate marches held by civil society at every COP.

The march was organised and supported by regional and international NGO networks such as Doha Oasis, IndyACT, 350.org, Climate Action Network, and the global TckTckTck campaign, as well as youth activists from the newly founded Arab Youth Climate Movement.

The official message of the march was under the banner of “One environment, One People, One earth”. Interestingly though, banners from international activists also reflected issues such as AIDS, migrant rights, and LGBT rights, which are all interconnected with the challenge of climate change, and generally regarded as taboo topics in Qatar.

If Gulf governments are to deal with the many facets of climate change on an international stage, they may also have to be more comfortable with opening the space in civil society where those topics can be discussed.

Video after the Pictures