April, 10 2018, 09:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Lindsey German: 074721 98941, Chris Nineham: 079305 36519
Stop the War Coalition's Statement on Syria
Stop the War condemns the bombing attacks on the people of Douma in Syria, including alleged chemical attacks. Yet again, the main victims of this war are the ordinary people of Syria, who have now suffered seven years of war which has left many dead, and many more refugees.
WASHINGTON
Stop the War condemns the bombing attacks on the people of Douma in Syria, including alleged chemical attacks. Yet again, the main victims of this war are the ordinary people of Syria, who have now suffered seven years of war which has left many dead, and many more refugees.
The attack must not be used to justify more military intervention. We condemn all outside military intervention including that of Russia and Iran. But equally we condemn that of our own government and its allies. Already Donald Trump has promised retaliation and there has been a missile attack on a Syrian airfield, most likely by Israel. France and Britain are likely to support further such action.
It is sometimes claimed that the bombing by Assad is the result of the West's failure to intervene. Nothing could be further from the truth. The West has been intervening directly and through its proxies throughout this war. Britain voted against bombing Syria in 2013, but voted to do so in 2015 and continues its military intervention. Nato member Turkey is intervening in Syria and has launched a massive military attack on the Kurds in Afrin.
The Middle East has become the site of endless war following the invasion of Iraq in 2003 - an invasion we opposed and about which we were proved right. In recent months there has been Western bombing in Iraq and Syria, not to mention the Western-backed Saudi war in Yemen. It is surely the height of hypocrisy for those supporting such wars to now claim their military can help those under threat in the Syrian war. The idea that Israel - whose troops shot 28 unarmed civilians in the past two weeks, and killed thousands in its bombings of Gaza - should now be attacking Syria over its attacks on civilians is grotesque.
This escalation of war is highly dangerous. The only solution in Syria is a ceasefire on all sides and a political settlement - military intervention has already been proved to have failed.
Stop the War was founded in September 2001 in the weeks following 9/11, when George W. Bush announced the "war on terror". Stop the War has since been dedicated to preventing and ending the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere. Stop the War opposes the British establishment's disastrous addiction to war and its squandering of public resources on militarism. We have initiated many campaigns around these issues.
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'Gift to Corporate Greed': Dire Warnings as Supreme Court Scraps Chevron Doctrine
"Make no mistake—more people will get sick, injured, or die as a result of today's decision," said one advocate.
Jun 28, 2024
The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative supermajority delivered corporate polluters, anti-abortion campaigners, and other right-wing interests a major victory Friday by overturning the so-called Chevron doctrine, a deeply engrained legal precedent whose demise could spell disaster for public health and the climate.
The high court's 6-3 ruling along ideological lines in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce significantly constrains the regulatory authority of federal agencies tasked with crafting rules on a range of critical matters, from worker protection to the climate to drug safety.
The majority's decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts.
"The weight of human suffering likely to arise from this decision should keep the justices up at night," said Emily Peterson-Cassin of Demand Progress, a watchdog group that called the decision "a gift to corporate greed."
"The Supreme Court is threatening safeguards that protect hundreds of millions of people from unsafe products, bad medicines, dangerous chemicals, illegal scams, and more," Peterson-Cassin added. "By handing policy decisions usually deliberated over by experts to lower level judges, the Supreme Court has set off a seismic political shift that primarily serves only the most powerful corporate interests."
Stand Up America executive director Christina Harvey issued a similarly stark warning: "Make no mistake—more people will get sick, injured, or die as a result of today's decision. Some ramifications of this decision won't be felt for decades, but they will be felt."
The Chevron doctrine, which stemmed from the high court's 1984 ruling in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, held that judges should defer to federal agencies' reasonable interpretation of a law if Congress has not specifically addressed the issue.
In her dissent, liberal Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the consequences of upending Chevron could be vast given that it underpinned "thousands of judicial decisions" and has "become part of the warp and woof of modern government, supporting regulatory efforts of all kinds—to name a few, keeping air and water clean, food and drugs safe, and financial markets honest."
Kagan noted that unlike the Supreme Court, federal agencies are staffed with experts that should be granted deference to interpret ambiguities in laws written by Congress, which "knows that it does not—in fact cannot—write perfectly complete regulatory statutes."
"When does an alpha amino acid polymer qualify as a 'protein'?" Kagan asked. "I don't know many judges who would feel confident resolving that issue... But the [Food and Drug Administration] likely has scores of scientists on staff who can think intelligently about it, maybe collaborate with each other on its finer points, and arrive at a sensible answer."
By overturning the Chevron doctrine, the liberal justice wrote, the Supreme Court's majority demonstrated that it "disdains restraint, and grasps for power."
"This is the outcome of a multi-decade crusade by big business and right-wing extremists to gut federal agencies tasked with protecting Americans’ health and safety."
An array of right-wing and industry organizations—including groups with ties to the Koch network and Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo—pushed the Supreme Court to scrap the Chevron doctrine, and Friday's decision could embolden separate legal challenges.
"Anti-abortion activists are celebrating the ruling as a big win for their plans to further restrict medication abortion," The New York Timesreported Friday, citing a strategist for Students for Life who said that "getting rid of Chevron is the first domino to fall."
"They see the decision as a new precedent that can work in their favor as they seek to bring another case against the Food and Drug Administration to the Supreme Court, which rejected their bid to undo the FDA's approval of the drug earlier in June," the Times added.
Climate advocates warned the ruling could also be devastating for the planet, potentially hamstringing the Environmental Protection Agency and other departments as they attempt to rein in planet-warming pollution using existing law. The American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. oil and gas industry's largest lobbying group, celebrated Friday's ruling as environmentalists voiced dismay.
"Today's reckless but unsurprising decision from this far-right court is a triumph for corporate polluters that seek to dismantle commonsense regulations protecting clean air, clean water, and a livable climate future," said Food and Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter. "This decision brings into sharp relief the critical importance of electing presidents who will appoint Supreme Court justices guided by science and sound legal precedent."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said that Friday's ruling "by an extremist Supreme Court eviscerates four decades of legal precedent that protects Americans’ rights to clean air and water, safe workplaces, and healthcare by preventing the dedicated civil-servant experts who staff our federal agencies from implementing the laws enacted by Congress."
"That is why Congress must immediately pass my Stop Corporate Capture Act, the only bill that codifies Chevron deference, strengthens the federal-agency rulemaking process, and ensures that rulemaking is guided by the public interest–not what's good for wealthy corporations," said Jayapal. "Make no mistake: this is the outcome of a multi-decade crusade by big business and right-wing extremists to gut federal agencies tasked with protecting Americans' health and safety to instead benefit corporations aiming to dismantle regulations and boost their profits."
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'The Right Call': Biden Blocks Trump-Approved Mining Road Through Alaskan Wilderness
The move is "a monumental step forward in the fight for Indigenous rights and environmental justice," a tribal leader said before the decision was final.
Jun 28, 2024
The Biden administration on Friday blocked the construction of an industrial road that would have opened up access for mining in the Alaskan wilderness, earning praise from campaigners who said the project threatened Indigenous livelihoods and local ecosystems.
The administration separately moved to protect millions of acres of Alaska land the Trump administration had opened up to development.
The Ambler Road, which would have been the first step in a copper and zinc mining project worth an estimated $7.5 billion, had been approved in the final weeks of the Trump administration, even though it ran through a national park and the foothills of the Brooks Range. Biden's Interior Department reassessed the road proposal and recommended cancellation after releasing a final environmental analysis in April, making Friday's announcement expected.
"Today, my administration is stopping a 211-mile road from carving up a pristine area that Alaska Native communities rely on, in addition to steps we are taking to maintain protections on 28 million acres in Alaska from mining and drilling," President Joe Biden said in a
statement. "These natural wonders demand our protection."
Alaska Native tribes and conservation groups had strongly opposed the road project, which would have crossed tribal lands, the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, 11 rivers, and thousands of streams. They said it would impact Indigenous livelihoods by, for example, disturbing caribou migration and salmon spawning. The area is currently roadless.
Dan Ritzman, the Sierra Club's director of conservation, said in a statement that the Biden administration made "the right call."
"Those who would seek to revive this project should listen to the local communities along the proposed route of the road, who have time and time again made their voices clear in opposing this damaging project," Ritzman said.
Many Indigenous communities had banded together in strong opposition to the project in recent years, and they celebrated the administration's decision.
"This is a historic win for the Alaska Native community," Brian Ridley, chief of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, said in a statement in April, when the Interior Department issued its recommendation. "It reaffirms that our voices matter, that our knowledge is invaluable, and that our lands and animals deserve protection. The Biden administration's choice to reject the Ambler Road Project is a monumental step forward in the fight for Indigenous rights and environmental justice."
The Biden-Harris administration today took action to protect public lands in Alaska — safeguarding vital ecosystems that are critical to Alaska’s subsistence economy and the way of life for Alaska Native communities.https://t.co/K2xXIbj0lp
— US Interior Press Team (@USInteriorPress) June 28, 2024
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state agency, had proposed the road project and is likely to challenge the Biden administration's ruling in court.
Alaska's congressional delegation lobbied hard for the project to go forth, and has not given up: this week, Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican, tried to revive the project through a defense bill amendment, arguing that it was a matter of national security.
Ambler Road proponents argue that the U.S. needs access to the minerals in the area, which could be used in wind turbines, photovoltaic cells, and transmission lines needed for a clean energy transition. Ambler Metals, a joint venture mining company that's spearheaded the project, has conducted exploratory work in the area and pushed these arguments. The company spent $370,000 on lobbying the Interior Department over two years, according toPolitico.
The proposed site for Ambler Road was several hundred miles south of Willow, an $8 billion ConocoPhillips oil drilling project in the Alaskan wilderness that did receive federal approval last year, angering environmentalists.
The Interior Department also on Friday formally recommended that 28 million acres of public land in Alaska maintain protection from development. The land has been protected since 1971 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act but the Trump administration—again in a move made in its final weeks—had sought to end the protection.
"This sweeping action [by the Trump administration] would have opened the 28 million acres to extractive development activities, such as mining and oil and gas drilling," an Interior Department
statement said.
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Christian Nationalism 'On the March': Oklahoma Mandates Bible Teachings in Public Schools
"It's not just happening in Oklahoma; we're seeing it from Texas to West Virginia, from Florida to Idaho," said one church-state separation advocate.
Jun 28, 2024
Advocates for the separation of church and state said Thursday that they plan to take all necessary steps to stop Christian nationalists across the country "from trampling the religious freedom of public school children and their families" after Oklahoma school superintendent Ryan Walters became the latest right-wing leader to mandate Christian teachings in schools.
Walters announced Thursday that "immediate and strict compliance is expected" for a new policy mandating that public schools teach the Christian Bible as part of the state curriculum.
Including the religious text in class materials is necessary "to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of Western civilization, to have an understanding of the basis of our legal system," said Walters. "We're talking about the Bible, one of the most foundational documents used for the Constitution and the birth of our country."
The announcement came days after Republican Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana signed into state law a new policy requiring all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments by 2025.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) endorsed the policy on Wednesday, saying, "I think there's a number of states trying to look to do the same thing, and I don't think it's offensive in any way." Last weekend, former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump also expressed support for the requirement, saying it could be "the first major step in the revival of religion, which is desperately needed in our country."
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which has launched a legal challenge against the Louisiana law, said Thursday that Walters' policy is "textbook Christian nationalism" and "a transparent, unconstitutional effort to indoctrinate and religiously coerce public school students."
"This nation must recommit to our foundational principle of church-state separation before it's too late. Public education, religious freedom and democracy are all on the line."
"Public schools are not Sunday schools," said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. "Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters has repeatedly made clear that he is incapable of distinguishing the difference and is unfit for office."
"Walters is abusing the power of his public office to impose his religious beliefs on everyone else's children," continued Laser. "Not on our watch. Americans United is ready to step in and protect all Oklahoma public school children and their families from constitutional violations of their religious freedom."
Laser noted that the organization is already challenging Walters and other Oklahoma officials who are pushing to open the first publicly funded religious charter school, which was blocked by the state Supreme Court this week.
That effort, Walters' announcement, and Louisiana's Ten Commandments law all illustrate that "Christian nationalism is on the march across this country," said Laser.
"It's not just happening in Oklahoma; we're seeing it from Texas to West Virginia, from Florida to Idaho," she said. "Christian nationalists and their lawmaker allies want to replace school counselors with religious chaplains; allow teachers and coaches to pray with students; teach Creationism in science classes; and ban books and censor curricula that feature LGBTQ+ people and racial and religious minorities."
"Americans United will do everything in our power to stop Christian nationalists like Ryan Walters from trampling the religious freedom of public school children and their families," added Laser. "This nation must recommit to our foundational principle of church-state separation before it's too late. Public education, religious freedom and democracy are all on the line."
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) also said it would take "any necessary steps" to stop Walters from imposing the Bible teaching requirement on Oklahoma educators.
"Walters' concern should be the fact that Oklahoma ranks 49th in education," said FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. "Maybe education would improve if Oklahoma's superintendent of education spent his time promoting education, instead of religion."
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