September, 22 2009, 01:01pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Orin Langelle, Global Justice Ecology Project +1.802.578.6980
Ananda Lee Tan, Mobilization for Climate Justice West Coast +1.415.374.0615/+1.203.247.
Hallie Boas, New Voices on Climate Change Coordinator +1.415.336.6590
Rachel Smolker, Climate SOS +1.802.735.7794
Abigail Singer, Mobilization for Climate Justice Co-Coordinator +1.828.280.3462
Actions Spreading Across the U.S. Against Corporate-Driven Climate Policy
WASHINGTON
As
groups protest the Pittsburgh International Coal Conference days before
the G-20 arrives in the city, additional actions against U.S. climate
policy and the fossil fuels industry took place on both the east and
west coasts.
In New York City, Climate SOS, New York Climate Action Group and Rising Tide North America
protested what they called "a greenwashed U.S. climate agenda" at the
opening of NYC Climate Week. Activists distributed their version of
the ACESA (American Clean Energy and Security Act) bill to event
attendees and media in the form of fake $2 trillion bills [1] which
subtly depict a collusion of prominent Green NGOs (NRDC, the Nature
Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund among others) with corporate
backers of the bill (BP, Shell, Dow, and others). Climate SOS
organizers Dr. Rachel Smolker and Dr. Maggie Zhou engaged ceremony
patrons with a pointed critique of the bill's corporate-friendly
implications.
Meanwhile on the west coast, the Mobilization for Climate Justice also
took action in San Francisco against the corporate-driven U.S. climate
bill. Activists blocked four lanes of traffic with a parachute-shaped
banner which read "Climate Justice or Climate Chaos." "If Congress
wants to protect the public interest, they would never consider
adopting the current climate bill (ACESA) that was written by big oil
and energy corporations in the first place," said Carla Perez of the Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project.
"Cap and Trade legislation coupled with direct subsidies to oil, coal,
nuclear, bio-fuels and incinerator industries will only serve to add
hundreds of toxic smokestacks in our backyards, she added."
Back in Pittsburgh, climate activists met in Schenley Park to set up
the climate convergence--a space to talk about issues related to
climate change and climate justice. Part of this effort includes the New Voices on Climate Change program of Global Justice Ecology Project. Anna Pinto, from CORE
in India, who came to the U.S. for a speaking tour as part of the New
Voices on Climate Change program [2] , explained why opening space to
discuss climate justice is so important. "Climate justice is not
abstract. It's practical, it's about survival. It's about need against
greed," Ms. Pinto explained. "Is it worth it to have three cars today
to have your children die of horrible diseases tomorrow? Both the
United States and Indian governments are pandering to the greed of
industrialists and financiers rather than enabling ordinary people to
provide for their needs," she concluded.
Indigenous Environmental Network's
Jihan Gearon, another New Voices on Climate Change participant, added
her view on the centrality of climate justice within the discussion of
climate change in the U.S. "From extraction to transportation to
refinement to distribution to consumption to storage, Indigenous
Peoples are disproportionately impacted all along this road of
destruction. The end result is contaminated and diminished food and
water resources, forced removals, increased rates of illness and
gridlocked economies," she explained.
"Global warming and climate change pose yet another serious threat. The
land of the Indigenous people in the arctic is literally melting under
their feet, disrupting the lifecycles of the plants and animals they
depend on, and forcing coastal and island communities to abandon their
homes and traditional lands. What happens to a culture when the land
and environment it stems from no longer exists? Even more frightening
is that the proposed solutions to climate change, such as carbon
trading, nuclear power, and 'clean' coal technologies, will only
exacerbate the problems we face," she added.
The repression experienced by indigenous and marginalized communities
around the world due to climate change and the fossil fuel economy is
today being echoed in Pittsburgh as a result of the same G-20 countries
that are the main drivers of climate change. Activists with the Three Rivers Climate Convergence and Seeds of Peace have been harassed and arrested numerous times over the past few weeks in the build up to the G-20 meetings later this week.
Protests across the U.S. demanding real, effective and just action on
climate are expected to continue throughout the fall, to culminate on
November 30th with massive non-violent civil disobedience actions
nationally and internationally.
November 30th is significant as it is both the tenth anniversary of the
historic shutdown of the WTO (World Trade Organization) meetings in
Seattle and exactly one week before the UN Climate Conference in
Copenhagen, where world leaders will meet to hammer out a new global
agreement on climate.
Activists are joining together around the world to ensure that any new
agreement on climate is devoted to real and just action to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, and not focused on corporate-controlled,
profit-oriented false solutions to climate change. Massive protests
are being organized by the international network Climate Justice Action
to occur during the UN meeting in Copenhagen, which some activists have
begun to call "CorporateHaven" due to the overwhelming influence of
industry in the climate debate.
What differentiates Global Justice Ecology Project from most groups is our holistic approach to organizing. We believe that the compartmentalization of issues is enabling corporations and conservative forces to keep movements for change divided and powerless. We strive to identify and address the common roots to the issues of social injustice, ecological destruction and economic domination as a means to achieve a fundamental transformation toward a society based on egalitarian ideals and grounded in ecology.
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'This Maniac Must Be Stopped': Netanyahu Condemned Over Massive Beirut Bombing
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Israel's dropping of massive bombs in Beirut on Friday sparked a fresh wave of global condemnation against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with critics accusing him of trying to drag the Middle East into an even bloodier conflict that could engulf the entire region.
The Israeli attack supposedly targeted Hassan Nasrallah, head of the political and paramilitary group Hezbollah. Multiple media outlets reported that the leader survived, though hundreds of others are feared dead in the "complete carnage" from the bombing that leveled several buildings. While the death toll from Friday is not yet clear, over 700 people have been killed in Israel's strikes in Lebanon since Monday.
As The New York Timesreported:
Lebanon's health minister, Firass Abiad, said that there had been a "complete decimation" of four to six residential buildings as a result of the Israeli strikes. He said that the number of casualties in hospitals was low so far because people were still trapped under the rubble. "They are residential buildings. They were filled with people," Mr. Abiad said. "Whoever is in those buildings is now under the rubble."
Social media and news sites quickly filled with photos and videos of massive plumes of smoke and smoldering rubble.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, said Friday that she was "deeply alarmed and profoundly worried about the potential civilian impact of tonight's massive strikes on Beirut's densely populated southern suburbs. The city is still shaking with fear and panic widespread. All must urgently cease fire."
However, the bombing is widely expected to worsen this week's escalation, which came after nearly a year of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) trading strikes with Hezbollah over the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 41,000 Palestinians.
"For Israel, it may not matter if Nasrallah was killed. Either way, it believes it'll get the regional war it has sought," Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said of the Friday attack.
Citing an unnamed Israeli official, NBC Newsreported that "Israel expects Hezbollah will attempt to mount a major retaliatory attack" in response to Friday's bombing of the group's command center.
As Reutersdetailed:
Israel has struck the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, known as Dahiyeh, four times over the last week, killing at least three senior Hezbollah military commanders.
But Friday's attack was far more powerful, with multiple blasts shaking windows across the city, recalling Israeli airstrikes during the war it fought with Hezbollah in 2006.
In a video posted on social media, IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari described the Friday attack as "a precise strike" on what "served as the epicenter of Hezbollah's terror," adding that the group's headquarters "was intentionally built under residential buildings."
During Netanyahu's United Nations General Assembly speech on Friday—which was met with a walkout from several diplomats and other officials—the prime minister said that Hezbollah has stored rockets "in schools, in hospitals, in apartment buildings, and in the private homes of the citizens of Lebanon. They endanger their own people. They put a missile in every kitchen, a rocket in every garage."
In response, Middle East expert Assal Rad said, "So he's claiming there's no civilian spaces in Lebanon and Israel has a right to destroy all of it."
Jason Hickel, who has positions at multiple European universities, also sounded the alarm over those lines from the Israeli leader's speech.
Netanyahu is "effectively arguing all homes are a military target," he said. "This is 100% genocidal and this maniac must be stopped."
Hours before the attack in suburban Beirut, the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) strongly condemned "Israel's brutal bombardment of Lebanon, another reckless escalation in the Middle East on behalf of the Benjamin Netanyahu regime that risks further destabilization in an already fragile region."
"The Israeli bombardment of Lebanon is the latest dark chapter in a series of disproportionate displays of force. Its ongoing genocide in Palestine over the last year has proven beyond any doubt that its willingness to commit horrific acts knows no bounds," DiEM25 said. "Rather than seeking a peaceful and just resolution, Israel's government has consistently chosen the path of militarism, often with international support from the European Union and the United States."
"The international community, including the E.U., has a critical role to play in promoting peace rather than enabling violence," the group added. "Peace and security in the Middle East will not come through bombs and military strength. It will come through diplomacy. We remain committed to working towards that aim and stand in solidarity with the Lebanese people, as well as all others suffering from this violent escalation."
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Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein said Friday that he was privately informed by the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X that his account has been permanently banned, a decision that Klippenstein argued was "politically motivated."
X, formerly Twitter, suspended Klippenstein on Thursday after he posted to the platform a link to his Substack article containing a download link for a 271-page dossier that Republican nominee Donald Trump's campaign prepared to vet Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who was ultimately chosen as the former president's running mate.
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In a statement issued late Thursday afternoon as it faced backlash, X said that "Ken Klippenstein was temporarily suspended for violating our rules on posting unredacted private personal information, specifically Sen. Vance's physical addresses and the majority of his Social Security number."
On Friday, Klippenstein—who has previously worked for The Intercept and The Nation—shared a private message from X informing him that his account is "permanently in read-only mode, which means you can't post, Repost, or Like content" or "create new accounts."
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