Climate change and global justice: patterns of participation in the Stop Climate Chaos and Make Poverty History marches

Abstract

There is abundant evidence of increasing public concern about climate change, but so far relatively little participation in demonstrations on the issue, certainly by comparison with the global justice and anti-war demonstrations of recent years. In order better to understand who does demonstrate against climate change, in November 2006 we surveyed 674 participants (and interviewed 256) in the I Count / Stop Climate Chaos march and rally in London. We then compared the results with those of a similar survey we administered to 563 participants in the July 2005 Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh (where we also interviewed 493). We discuss the similarities and differences between the patterns of participation, the overlap between participants in the global justice and climate change demonstrations, and the network links among the organisations and social movement sectors involved in each.