# taz.de -- Climate Strike and Corona: „Not back to old normal“
> The pandemic did not replace climate crisis. It is adding to it. What
> does that mean for the movement? Three activists tell their stories.
IMG Bild: Feels like long ago: Climate Strike in Bangkok, September 2019
Tonny Nowshin says the corona-crises should urge us to reflect on our
priorities
„If I must choose my apocalypse, I would prefer Corona over the climate
crisis. Because at least it is only affecting us humans and it gives us
some time to reflect on the way we are taking up space and treating other
inhabitants on this planet.
I am struggling emotionally with this pandemic like everyone else. I guess
what affects me a lot is seeing the situation back home. I am from
Bangladesh. Most of the countries were not prepared for a pandemic in terms
of health care, we see this in the USA right now. But in the global south
countries lack resources to cope with it. Staying at home for a big part of
the population in Bangladesh means starving. Because we have this huge
informal sector of really small entrepreneurs – day workers, rickshaw
pullers – who lives on their daily earnings. So for them quarantine means
no earnings, hence, no food. That is a different form of crisis and when I
see the suffering through the news and numbers, it is difficult to cope
with. Not everybody can understand the load of emotional stress this means.
But I also dont want pity. Im trying to keep on working.
For the past two years we have been mobilizing to save the world's largest
mangrove forest that is located in Bangladesh. It is threatened by the
plans of building a coal power plant and industrial infrastructure that
surrounds the forest. We launched a petition against the German engineering
consultancy firm called Fichtner. They are involved in the construction of
Rampal- the coal power plant in Bangladesh and we want to stop their
involvement.
As for the pandemic I hope we will not just go back to old normal. This
crisis is making it even more clear that our societies are not designed to
protect normal people. You can see this when politicians are bailing out
banks instead of people. With this pandemic, now that we are on hold, we
reflect on our priorities. And this can be a very powerful thing!“
[1][Watch full Interview]
Nanticha Ocharoenchai aka Lynn says if the pandemic hits hard the climate
crisis will hit even harder
„It's weird because the pandemic has changed everything, but in the same
time in my life nothing has really changed. I usually stay home a lot and
don't meet a lot of people. I live in Bangkok and I dont like to be in the
city, its hectic. And all my jobs have always been remote anyway.
We are not in an official lockdown in Bangkok, but we are asked to stay at
home. But in Thailand there are a lot of people who can't afford to stay at
home, because their living depends on jobs that require going out. And a
lot of people also don't have homes to stay in. So that is really tough. I
don't exactly know how many people are infected in Thailand, I havent been
reading the news much, it's distressing.
With the climate strike movement we wanted to do a physical strike during
Earth Day, but now we are partnering with “we the planet“ to organize a
strike on social media platforms. People are sending in their videos with a
pledge. The pandemic shows that we CAN reduce emissions if we choose to.
And media and governments start to pay attention on how things like
deforestation and wildlife trade are linked to this outbreak. Many NGOs and
us too, whe are hurrying to make this an agenda: This pandemic may hit
hard, the climate crisis will hit even harder if we dont bring down the
emissions now.
And we have another urgent concern in Thailand right now. There are huge
forest fires in the north of the Country. There is a lot of open burning to
clear lands for growing maize. But the fires sprung over to protected
forest areas and they are growing bigger and bigger. It is causing all this
air pollution and environmental impacts. Some news agencies are trying to
cover it, but the attention is nowhere near enough. It is like half of
Thailand is burning right now and noone is talking about it.
We really can't go back to normal, by no means. I really hope that the
politicians realize how messed up we are right now. And the first thing
they should do is stop fighting. There's just so much political drama in
Thailand. Unproductive fights that use up so much time and energies for
more urgent issues – the just transformation to renewable energies for
example.“
[2][Watch full Interview]
Anna Conradie says African activists feel more strongly about social
justice and their biggest sorrow is drought.
Without the corona crisis, I would probably have had fundraising events for
“artivists“. “Artivists“ is an organization I founded to use art as a means
of protesting to draw people outside of the climate movement into the
climate movement.
Since we could not do that, I set up some meetings for a youth think tank I
founded. We work with a bunch of high polluters here in South Africa on how
they can make their companies more environmentally friendly. How it works
is, that I contact big corporates, tell them that we want to work with them
and not destruct them or anything, until we finally meet. It took me nearly
a year to get a meeting with one big company we now work with.
So that is how I started to get involved in the climate movement last year
in May. I started joining strikes and organized a national school climate
strike. We were planning to do another one this year, but because of Corona
that plan shifted. It is very difficult to make people understand here that
this is a very big issue, it is something that we need to act on rapidly.
I think where you come from defines how you see issues and how you
understand them. Here in South Africa, we have the richest square mile next
to the poorest. So, I think the youth in Africa sees climate issues a lot
different from European activists, we call them “the West“. African
activists feel very strongly about social justice because poverty and
injustice are on every corner of our hometowns.
In terms of the climate crisis though, our biggest worry is drought! Last
year, two regions were declared by the UN as “national disaster zones“.
They did not have water for four months! We should have enough water but
because of the lack of infrastructure, it causes us to lose about 40 per
cent of the water that should go to homes. So, our biggest concern is the
fact that drought will affect all of our subsistence farmers. If we do not
act rapidly, it will impact all of our rural areas, people will lose all
their livelihoods.
[3][Watch full Interview]
5 May 2020
## LINKS
DIR [1] https://www.instagram.com/tv/B_P7oQcHNhn/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
DIR [2] https://www.instagram.com/tv/B_W3MEMHGSh/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
DIR [3] https://www.instagram.com/p/B_iFfuUnuoS/
## AUTOREN
DIR Leonie Sontheimer
DIR Celine Weimar-Dittmar
## TAGS
DIR Schwerpunkt Klimawandel
DIR Schwerpunkt Coronavirus
DIR Schwerpunkt Fridays For Future
DIR taz in English
DIR taz international
DIR klimataz
DIR Schwerpunkt Klimawandel
DIR Schwerpunkt Klimawandel
DIR Schwerpunkt Fridays For Future
DIR Textil-Bündnis
## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA
DIR Climate Strike during Corona: „We go onto the streets anyways“
Covid-19 is the biggest challenge ever? Wait for the climate crisis. Three
climate activists report what they are doing to keep protest going on.
DIR Klimastreik von Fridays for Future: „Die größte Online-Demo“
Fridays for Future hat den globalen Klimastreik am Freitag ins Netz
verlegt. Tausende sehen den Livestream. Und es hagelt Posts bei Instagram &
Co.
DIR Krisen-Gespräch mit Greta Thunberg: „Das entscheidende Jahr“
Greta Thunberg und Johan Rockström haben auf Youtube über die Klima- und
die Coronakrise diskutiert. Beiden müsse global begegnet werden.
DIR Frauenrechtlerin über NäherInnen: „Die Krise ist eine Chance“
Die Näherinnen in Indien und Bangladesch schuften für Kleidung, die wir
nicht brauchen. Jetzt ist der Moment, diese Praxis zu hinterfragen.