Tahawul – Egypt Power Shift : a new generation of climate activists join the anti-coal movement

Just last week we held our first, ever Power Shift workshop in Egypt. Tahawul (meaning to shift or to transform in Arabic) took place between March 6 – 9 in the city of Hurghada by the Red Sea bringing together 60 young, aspiring climate activists from different governorates throughout Egypt.

pse2
Photo credit: Hoda Baraka

The aim of the workshop was to build capacity and provide attendees with the skill-set required to organize within their communities in order to work on issues related to climate justice, giving particular focus to the problem of using coal as a source of energy.

This comes after the Egyptian government started to consider in earnest plans to import coal in spite of the serious threat coal poses to the health of individuals, as well as the threats to the environment, and its role in exacerbating global warming.

Allowing the import of coal would force the country into an even more polluting and fossil fuel dependent future, discouraging a transition to renewable energy where Egypt has much potential.

This workshop comes as a second stage following the initial Global Power Shift workshop held in Turkey last June.

The first phase of the Global Power Shift, which took place in Istanbul, brought together 500 climate activists from all over the world. The second phase of the project seeks to strengthen local climate movements.

With the culmination of the workshop, the aim now is to create spaces for dialogue and planning activities throughout Egypt’s governorates to combat the import of coal and work towards clean energy solutions in Egypt.

pse1
Photo credit: Hoda Baraka

Specifically, activists are working on a traditional and social media campaign in response to false information circulating lately by groups with economic interests to importing coal.

Stay tuned for more to come from this new generation of Egyptian climate activists!