Rizki Liasari, Jakarta – The Jogja Fossil Free Community in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta held a Global Climate Strike (GCS) 2022 action with a joint mural at the Kewek Bridge in Darunejan, Yogyakarta city, on Friday September 23.
Aside from the action at the Kewek Bridge, four [sic] other Global Climate Strike actions will be held in Yogyakarta including a bicycle and non-petrol vehicle parade, a climate disaster photography exhibition and an exhibition at the Jogjakarta National Museum.
The route taken by the parade will be through the main roads from the Yogyakarta Monument north of the city to the zero kilometre point in front of the central post office via the Kewek Bridge, where they will stop to articulate their protest through the mural. The parade will end at the Jogjakarta National Museum with a sole artist exhibition taking up the theme of the climate crisis.
The Global Climate Strike is a global movement in response to the international Friday for Future youth climate movement that started in 2019 which is aimed at an energy transition that is just and without oppression.
The movement is organised on September 20-27 each year in various different countries around the world. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the movement continued both online as well as offline but on a smaller scale.
This year the Yogyakarta GCS is raising the theme "climate disaster" which is being taken up through a photography exhibition. Fossil Free Jogja Coordinator Arami said that in total there were 15 photographs of climate disasters which were selected from a photography competition held in various parts of Indonesia. The photographs are only a small part of the many photographs collected by Fossil Free Jogja between September 5 and 20.
"At the moment friends are again installing the climate disaster photography theme exhibition, we're exhibiting 15 out of 57 climate disaster photographs from Fossil Free Jogja, and our demand is so that no more climate disasters occur, because over the two weeks of the photography contest there were 57 photos of different climate disasters. And imagine, it was only over two weeks, what about if it was over a year?", said Arami during a break from painting the mural on the Kewek Bridge on Friday.
Yogyakarta is one of the cities in Indonesia which has been most active in articulating the issue of the climate crisis. Although the GCS only began in 2019, several similar movements have been initiated with other names such as Rise For Climate 2018 which was organised by Fossil Free Jogja, Fit Dhuwur Yogyakarta, Isi Punya Skater, Sasenitala, artists, students and other communities.
Arami explained that the actions almost stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic, although they still held a small-scale GCS starting with a poster contest, an art exhibition, performance art through to raising a flag opposing disasters. According to Arami, as an artistic and culture city, the actions held in Yogyakarta naturally bring with them values of art and culture.
Furthermore, aside from the different degrees, Arami said that the GCS movement is becoming increasingly urgent, adding that before people only talked about climate disasters, now climate disasters are right before our eyes.
"Later we don't know if for example there will be a storm which will batter our homes. Hopefully, next year there won't be a GCS because an energy transition which is just and without oppression will already be running", said Arami. (riz/fat)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was " Global Climate Strike di Yogyakarta Tuntut Transisi Energi Berkeadilan".]
Source: https://www.pilar.id/global-climate-strike-di-yogyakarta-tuntut-transisi-energi-berkeadilan/
