August, 22 2019, 12:00am EDT
Bernie Sanders' Green New Deal Proposal is a Blueprint for the Regenerative Economy We Must Strive For
Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policy package is heralded as one of the farthest reaching accomplishments by a president in a generation. While there were many aspects of his New Deal that should be lauded, we can no longer ignore the fact that it deliberately excluded People of Color from enjoying its benefits while enacting policies that continue to harm those in Indian Country. The New Deal, in many ways, was responsible for the creation of frontline communities, which are treated as sacrifice zones via redlining and other discriminatory housing practices.
WASHINGTON
Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policy package is heralded as one of the farthest reaching accomplishments by a president in a generation. While there were many aspects of his New Deal that should be lauded, we can no longer ignore the fact that it deliberately excluded People of Color from enjoying its benefits while enacting policies that continue to harm those in Indian Country. The New Deal, in many ways, was responsible for the creation of frontline communities, which are treated as sacrifice zones via redlining and other discriminatory housing practices.
It is imperative that any Green New Deal agenda state these truths explicitly and make firm commitments to address and erase many of the discriminatory practices of the past in order to secure a regenerative economy that leaves no one behind.
Senator Sanders' Green New Deal does just that by centering frontline communities, including Native Nations and tribal communities, with regulatory and financial mechanisms that could have immediate and long-lasting beneficial impacts if implemented.
In 2019, Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) expressed our concern that the Ocasio-Cortez/Markey Green New Deal resolution did not include "commit to omit" language associated with destructive schemes such as geoengineering, carbon markets, carbon offsets, and industrial carbon capture and storage. Senator Sanders' plan is the first of the presidential candidate platforms to explicitly reject these false "solutions".
Tom BK Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network and CJA Steering Committee Member, positively acknowledges this clear commitment stating, "false solutions disproportionately impact Indigenous communities here in the US and Canada, as well as globally. If we are serious about reversing the climate crisis, we have to be serious about how we're going to do it, and false solutions like carbon pricing and offset regimes are neither serious nor realistic initiatives that cut emissions at source."
Senator Sanders' three-point Green New Deal approach includes holding the fossil fuel industry accountable for past harm and making it obsolete. CJA Policy Coordinator, Anthony Rogers-Wright remarked, "The climate crisis is a crisis of justice, and fossil fuel cartels are and have been at the heart of this crisis. For too long, they have enjoyed impunity for knowingly subjecting Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples to disproportionate impacts that have cost lives and adversely impacted public health. From Cancer Alley in the Gulf South to the 48217 in Detroit, MI, it's past time for the people to realize justice. Senator Sanders is to be applauded for understanding that mechanisms that restore Civil Rights Law are integral for an equitable Green New Deal."
We are encouraged to see that Senator Sanders understands that a regenerative economy must be inclusive and accessible for all people. His financial commitments to a transition from investor-owned utilities to a 100% publicly owned model is a bold leap towards Energy Democracy, which will allow for local control of renewable energy production and distribution.
CJA understands that Transit Justice is Climate Justice. The Senator's plan for huge investments in zero emission personal, public transit, and shipping vehicles, while also ensuring that public transportation is affordable, are steps in the right direction. Construction of a long overdue national high speed rail network is a welcome component of his GND that will vastly reduce emissions, and also create good paying union jobs in the process.
Rural communities and farmers, especially Black and tribal grassroots communities, have been neglected and left out of the discussion for far too long, even though they suffer some of the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Worse yet, these communities have been treated as non-entities by local and federal governments. Agriculture accounts for nearly 15% of national emissions when it could actually assist in the drawdown of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.. Senator Sanders' call for a transformation from industrial agriculture to agroecology/regenerative practices will secure soil health, increase natural sequestration of greenhouse gas emissions, foster the production of healthy food, and protect farm workers from exposure to harmful pesticides. Offering financial protections for small family farms, which produce the majority of our food shows the Senator understands the harmful role that Big Ag plays in exacerbating the climate crisis and economic inequality.
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Senator Bernie Sanders released, arguably, the most comprehensive climate platform of all the candidates. His current proposal indicates that he continues to learn and understands the need to center frontline communities in any Green New Deal.
CJA Executive Director, Angela Adrar, summed up his proposal stating, "Climate change is a complex challenge and Senator Sanders' GND offers multi-faceted solutions. We are looking for bold plans that directly benefit the frontlines, build on their wisdom and strategic efforts, and transform the economy to one that is regenerative in a way that leaves no one behind through a Just Transition. While there are some aspects of the plan that could be improved, the Senator's GND is a solid foundation to build from and we look forward to working to ensure such a plan's full potential is realized."
Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) formed in 2013 to create a new center of gravity in the climate movement by uniting frontline communities and organizations into a formidable force. Our translocal organizing strategy and mobilizing capacity is building a Just Transition away from extractive systems of production, consumption and political oppression, and towards resilient, regenerative and equitable economies. We believe that the process of transition must place race, gender and class at the center of the solutions equation in order to make it a truly Just Transition.
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UN Secretary-General Calls for Probe After Staffer Killed in Gaza
One U.N. staff member was killed and another was injured after an attack on their "clearly marked" vehicle.
May 13, 2024
United Nations Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres on Monday reiterated his demand for a cease-fire in Gaza as he called for a full investigation into an attack on a "clearly marked" U.N. vehicle which killed one staff member and injured another in Rafah.
The U.N. did not identify the victims, but said the staff member who was killed worked for the U.N. Department of Safety and Security (DSS) and was the body's first international worker to be killed in Gaza since Israel began bombarding the enclave in October.
"The secretary-general condemns all attacks on U.N. personnel and calls for a full investigation," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for Guterres. "He sends his condolences to the family of the fallen staff member. With the conflict in Gaza continuing to take a heavy toll—not only on civilians, but also on humanitarian workers—the secretary-general reiterates his urgent appeal for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and for the release of all hostages."
Approximately 190 U.N. workers have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its attack. Until Monday all had been Palestinian nationals and most had worked for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which has provided aid and public services to Gaza since 1948 and is a top employer in the enclave.
"Humanitarian workers must be protected," said Guterres on social media.
The DSS employees had been traveling to European Hospital in Rafah, where about 1 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced since October. About 300,000 people have fled the city in the past week amid Israel's long-feared invasion.
The attack on the U.N. vehicle comes weeks after Israel struck another clearly marked humanitarian convoy, killing seven international aid workers with the U.S. group World Central Kitchen.
Israel has also attacked humanitarian aid operations, firing on civilians who gathered around a convoy to get food as starvation took hold of the enclave due to the Israeli blockade on nearly all relief deliveries, and killing at least one U.N. worker at a food distribution center in Rafah in March.
Israel and its defenders in the Biden administration have repeatedly claimed the Israel Defense Forces are taking steps to prevent civilian deaths, even as the death toll has surged past 35,000. In October, as the IDF began its assault in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said publicly that he had "released all the restraints" on the military.
Author and Middle East policy expert Assal Rad asserted Monday that "you don't kill 190 U.N. staff, repeatedly kill aid workers in clearly marked vehicles, kill an unprecedented number of journalists, doctors, and medics, tens of thousands of civilians, and more than 14,000 children on 'accident.'"
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'We're Gonna Win': Alabama Mercedes Workers Begin UAW Vote
A victory in the Southern state, said one organizer, "would show workers across all different industries that they can stand up together and fight for more."
May 13, 2024
From Monday through Friday, around 5,200 employees of Mercedes-Benz in Alabama will vote on whether to join the United Auto Workers—which has set its sights on the U.S. South after contract wins at the industry's "Big Three" in Michigan last year.
While Republican leaders in the state, including Gov. Kay Ivey, and at least one worker have publicly attacked the unionization effort, multiple Mercedes employees have signaled their support for the UAW going into this week's voting at an assembly facility in Vance and battery plant in Woodstock.
"I've watched our company not keep up with the times," Mercedes worker Brett Garrard recently told the Detroit Free Press. "We pray for fair wages, comparative wages inside the auto industry. Benefits packages have suffered throughout the years. My wife, herself, has stage four cancer. I'd like to see something implemented to maybe help our situation."
David Johnston, who works at the Woodstock plant, has also cited medical concerns, tellingForbes that "I'm always in a medical hospital. I'm always sick. I need better healthcare. Plus, when I retire I'm not going to have any insurance until Medicare kicks in."
Johnston is optimistic about the vote in Alabama. He pointed to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where Volkswagen plant employees last month overwhelmingly voted to join the UAW.
"I mean, hands down. I think we're gonna win. We're gonna win. Hopefully by a lot," he said. "It seems like it's gonna be a slam dunk just like Volkswagen. Everybody's excited."
Haeden Wright, a senior organizer for Jobs to Move America, toldAL.com that a win in Alamaba "would show workers across all different industries that they can stand up together and fight for more."
In comments to The Guardian, Mercedes employee Rick Webster similarly framed this week's vote as part of a larger battle.
"It's time for Alabama workers to stand up and unite not just at Mercedes, but at Hyundai, Honda, and Toyota. It's time for everybody to stand up and have a voice and we need to end the Alabama discount," he said, using an organizer term to highlight how workers in the state have subpar wages and benefits compared to their peers elsewhere in the country.
Webster also called out Mercedes' efforts to convince workers in Alabama not to vote in favor of joining the UAW—which has filed multiple union-busting complaints against the company with the National Labor Relations Board.
"It is a daily barrage of text messages, emails, and there's an app we have for work for every kind of announcement you can think of and we're getting two to three notifications daily. Every day before the shift, we have to sit in the team room and watch anti-union videos," he explained. "It's just been a constant barrage. Everybody is just sick and tired of it."
Johnston toldNPR that "the entire message in those meetings is Vote no, vote no, vote no. We don't think you need to do this. This is not what you want."
A company spokesperson has told multiple news outlets that Mercedes-Benz U.S. International "fully respects our team members' choice whether to unionize and we look forward to participating in the election process to ensure every team member has a chance to cast their own secret-ballot vote, as well as having access to the information necessary to make an informed choice."
The United Auto Workers webpage on the Alabama effort includes information about who is eligible to vote, how to participate, and workers' rights as well as the UAW's responses to some of opponents' allegations against the union.
"Right now, Mercedes is doing whatever they can to discourage us. But voting yes for our union is a game-changer," the UAW webpage says. "Once we vote yes, the company is legally required to sit down with us as equals to bargain a contract. Just like VW, Mercedes has negotiated union contracts with workers all around the world. We can win our union, our union contract, and our fair share right here in Alabama."
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Citing Ethnic Cleansing, US Army Major Resigns Over Israel's Assault on Gaza
"As the descendant of European Jews, I was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment when it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing," wrote Maj. Harrison Mann.
May 13, 2024
An American Army officer on Monday described months of being increasingly disturbed by the images and news of Israel's U.S.-backed bombardment of Gaza, which culminated in his public resignation from his position at the Defense Intelligence Agency to avoid further complicity in Israel's "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians.
Army Maj. Harrison Mann published his resignation letter on LinkedIn, saying he had distributed it internally on April 16 to announce his resignation from the agency.
As an officer at the DIA, Mann said, he has been unable to escape the fact that his place of work "directly executes policy" for the Biden administration, including its "nearly unqualified support for the government of Israel, which has enabled and empowered the killing and starving of tens and thousands of innocent Palestinians."
"My work here—however administrative or marginal it appeared—unquestionably contributed to that support," wrote Mann.
He described wrestling with the question of whether he could continue working at the DIA, reasoning with himself that, "I don't make policy and it's not my place to question it."
"However, at some point it became difficult to defend the outcomes of this particular policy," Mann wrote. "At some point—whatever the justification—you're either advancing a policy that advances the mass starvation of children, or you're not."
At the time Mann sent his letter to his colleagues, Israel was conducting airstrikes and preparing its ground invasion of Rafah, the southern Gaza city that over 1 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced to since October.
Israel has continued to block aid to Gaza even after saying in early April it would open a crossing and a port, and has now pushed the enclave into what the United Nations World Food Program chief said earlier this month was a "full-blown famine." Dozens of people have died of starvation. At least 35,091 people who have been killed in Israel's military assault—two-thirds of those killed have been women and children, despite Israel's claim it is targeting Hamas fighters.
Mann wrote that as the bombardment dragged on and U.S. President Joe Biden's defense and funding of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued, his mind turned to his European Jewish relatives.
"As the descendant of European Jews, I was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment when it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing—my grandfather refused to ever purchase products manufactured in Germany—where the paramount importance of 'never again' and the inadequacy of 'just following orders' were oft repeated," wrote Mann. "But I also have hope that my grandfather would afford me some grace; that he would still be proud of me for stepping away from this war, however belatedly."
Mann publicized his letter about six weeks after foreign affairs officer Annelle Sheline resigned from her position at the U.S. State Department, saying her work in the human rights realm in the Middle East had become "impossible" in light of Biden's material and political support for Israel's assault on Gaza.
Education Department official Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American, also resigned in protest earlier this year, and a top official who oversaw arms transfers at the State Department, Josh Paul, stepped down in October, citing the Biden administration's decision to send more arms to Israel as the war began.
In February, U.S. Air Force member Aaron Bushnell died after self-immolating in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., having said he was engaging "in an extreme act of protest" to avoid being complicit in genocide.
On LinkedIn, Mann wrote Monday that he "received an unexpected outpouring of support" when he distributed his letter internally, and appeared to address other federal employees who may be questioning their complicity in Biden's policies.
"I am sharing [the letter] now in the hope that you too will discover you are not alone, you are not voiceless, and you are not powerless," wrote Mann.
Feds United for Peace, which includes employees across 30 federal agencies who have advocated for a cease-fire in Gaza, called Mann's letter "incredibly significant."
The New York Timesreported that it is not known "whether other military officers have resigned in protest of U.S. foreign policy" since the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October and the IDF's deadly retaliation, "but the resignation of an active-duty officer in protest of U.S. foreign policy is likely uncommon—especially one in which the officer makes public the reasons for doing so."
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