September, 16 2019, 12:00am EDT
![350.org](https://assets.rbl.ms/32012661/origin.jpg)
Over 800 Climate Strikes Planned in U.S. on September 20th; Global Climate Strikes to Take Place in 132 Countries
5 Days Ahead of Strikes, Activists of All Ages, Labor Groups, Faith Leaders, Businesses Gear Up for Youth-Led Climate Strikes in Intergenerational Demand for Climate Action
WASHINGTON
- With 5 days to go until the September 20th climate strikes, there are over 4,482 strikes registered globally and over 800 strikes taking place across the U.S.
- Coordinated by Future Coalition, the U.S. youth-led strikes includes Earth Uprising, Fridays for Future USA, Extinction Rebellion-Youth, Sunrise, Zero Hour, Indigenous Youth Council and Earth Guardians. The Youth Climate Strike Coalition is steering the national campaign, with active support, participation and collaboration from an Adult Climate Strike Coalition, which includes leading national organizations such as 350.org, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, SEIU and March On. Youth and adults, institutional and grassroots organizations, climate-focused and social justice groups, are coming together as a unified front to demand transformative action on climate.
- The Youth Climate Strike Coalition in the U.S. issued a set of policy demands calling for a just transition to 100% renewables by 2030, a halt to all leasing and permitting for fossil fuel extraction, protections for frontline communities, indigenous people, and biodiversity through transformative and decisive climate action
- The New York City school district, comprised of more than one million students, has given permission for youth to skip school for the day to participate in the strike. For more in the New York City strike and rally, go here.
- More than 600 health and medical professionals have signed a "doctor's note" excusing students from school, declaring that the climate crisis is a health emergency.
- Over 1,000 Amazon employees will join the climate strike to protest the company's inaction on climate change, the first strike in Amazon's 25-year history. Here is a list of companies shutting down on 9/20 to back the strike and unions have also backed it.
- There will be a "digital climate strike" when more than 1,500 websites will go dark to support the strike on Friday. Websites include Tumblr, Kickstarter, and WordPress.
- A week of escalated actions are planned the week preceding the global strikes from September 23rd - 27th, with local actions planned in Washington, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Wisconsin, Vermont, and the Bay Area. Demonstrating that the fight for climate action is beyond one moment, these actions put a spotlight on key climate justice fights taking place throughout the United States. Actions, vary from fossil fuel project shutdowns to demanding climate own halls to mass actions against fracking and fossil fuel finance.
Katie Eder, 19-year-old executive director of Future Coalition said, "On September 20th the voices of thousands of young people across America will be heard as we strike for our future. Our message will be clear -- we must act now to avoid the worst effects of climate change because all of our lives depend upon it. We are the new face of the climate revolution and we demand just and equitable climate action."
Xiye Bastida, 17-year-old youth striker with Fridays For Future NYC said, "September 20th isn't a goal, it's a catalyst for future action. It's a catalyst for the engagement of humanity in the protection of Earth. It's a catalyst for realizing the intersectionality that the climate crisis has with every other issue. It's a catalyst for the culmination of hundreds of climate activists who won't stop fighting until the climate emergency is over."
Jesus Villalba Gastelum, Age 16, Earth Uprising LA City Coordinator/ Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles Organizer said, "We are organizing the LA Youth Climate Strike from a place of love, hope, and resolve. We are taking to the streets this September 20th in order to claim the future that is rightfully ours. While this mobilization is youth led, we welcome people of all generations to join us in kicking off LA's week of action. Our march is calling out inaction on the climate crisis, and stands in support of refugee rights, human rights, and dignity for all."
During Climate Week, escalated actions will happen throughout New York City and across the US during the week of September 23-29. Communities are joining youth-led climate strikes, as well as coming together to protect families, air, and water from toxic fossil fuel projects, including in Minnesota, Seattle, Portland, New Hampshire, and more with hundreds across the country taking on the fossil fuel corporations and financiers.
Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, 350.org North America Director, said "The September 20th Climate Strikes and the following week of action across the United States is an intergenerational and multiracial moment to make our stand for our right to transformative climate action that preserves a sustainable, healthy, and livable future for all. With the leadership of young people backed by grandparents and parents alike, health workers, teachers, cab drivers and more, now is the time for all of us to come together to demand that real climate leaders at the national, state and local levels hold fossil fuel companies accountable for decades of negligence and damage."
"Climate breakdown is one of the greatest human rights issues we face. Fighting climate breakdown is about much more than emissions and scientific metrics it's about fighting for a just and sustainable world that works for all of us. We need to start by phasing out fossil fuels, building real and long lasting solutions and prioritizing the communities at the frontline of the climate crisis," May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org.
In New York City, the strike on September 20th will be led by youth strikers including Greta Thunberg, who arrived in the city to take part in the UNSG summit, kicking-off with a rally in Foley Square before marching to Battery Park for key speakers and performers. The weeklong movement will surround the UN Climate Summit being held on the 23rd of September, which will gather world leaders in an attempt to accelerate real actions to implement the Paris Agreement and meet the climate challenge.
Other notable strike locations are Washington D.C., Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis, Miami, Los Angeles, Denver.
The climate strikes movement inspired by teenager Greta Thunberg has spread rapidly across the world in the last 12 months. Strikers are demanding that governments step up to take urgent action to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown by phasing out fossil fuels, accelerating the urgent transition to a 100% renewable energy powered world with climate justice and equity at its core, and holding fossil fuel billionaires most responsible accountable for their destruction.
For more on U.S. Climate Strikes and Week of Action visit strikewithus.org and explore this media pack.
For more on the 9/20 NYC Strike, visit strikewithus.org/nyc and explore this media pack.
For more information about global climate strikes, go to globalclimatestrike.net
QUOTE SHEET
Vic Barrett, 20-year-old Juliana v. United States plaintiff from White Plains, NY said, "Because of the actions of the United States government and the fossil fuel industry, my generation has never known a world free from the impacts of climate change. Time is running out. This decade is our last chance to stop the destruction of our people and our planet. This is our time to join in solidarity with communities around the world to fight for a just future. This is why we strike.
Jamie Margolin, founder of Zero Hour said, "If adults want youth to be studious and pay attention in school in order to prepare for our futures, then they need to do their jobs to make sure a future actually exists for us. That is why I am striking for the survival of my generation and civilization as we know it. I am striking because it is pointless to study for a future that does not exist.I am striking for complete system change."
Daphne Frias, founder of Box the Ballot, a member of Future Coalition said, "I'm striking this September to secure my future. When I take to the streets on the 20th and 27th, I take with me the resilience of my Latino and Disabled communities. People who are so disproportionately affected by climate change. Most importantly, I strike to show that you don't have to stand to take a stand; our voices are our most powerful tool and I will use mind to protect this planet we call home.
Michael Brune, Sierra Club executive director, said: "The youth climate strikers have have shown the world what true leadership on climate looks like. Now, for the first time, they are asking adults to join them. This is more than just another march for climate - these worldwide strikes have the potential to be the largest mass mobilization on climate in human history. By striking in solidarity with youth climate leaders, adults have the power to disrupt the business-as-usual politics that have led us to the brink of climate destruction."
Mary Kay Henry, President, Service Employees International Union said, "SEIU is proud to support the courageous students and young people across this country who are taking action for climate justice. We join our voices to their demand for an end to the corporate greed that is both polluting our planet and holding working people in poverty. As we fight for Unions for All, we will build the power to hold polluting corporations accountable and win climate justice for all, no matter where we are from or what color we are."
"As people of faith, we say that we believe in love, in compassion, in justice - then it follows that we must join this strike as surely as dawn follows the deepest darkness. Our children are calling to us. We must respond," Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, GreenFaith.
"A livable climate tomorrow requires halting public-lands fossil fuel expansion today. We're proud to stand with Colorado's youth calling for climate solutions that match the scale of the crisis," said Taylor McKinnon, senior public lands campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, participating in escalated actions in Colorado.
"We're making a stand that we're still here. The Gitche Gami is really important to the people of Minnesota, and we want to honor that through a peaceful prayer action on September 28th. Our goal is to teach people that treaties are a two-party agreement -- Native people are not the only ones responsible for maintaining the treaties, but that we're all responsible and we need to move in solidarity. We all need the water, and we all need to do this together," said Nancy, MN 350, Minnesota Chippewa / Leech Lake, participating in a rally and gathering to stop Line 3 in Minnesota.
"The climate crisis is a human issue - affecting all of us. We are inspired by the youth activists who have led a global movement, and Patagonia is calling for urgent and decisive action for people and our home planet. On Friday, September 20th, we will be walking out of our stores, striking with the youth activists and calling for our government to take action. There is no room in governments for climate deniers and their inaction is killing us. We invite the business community and all those concerned about the fate of our planet and humankind to answer with actions and join us," Rose Marcario, President & CEO, Patagonia.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
LATEST NEWS
'Power Play of the Highest Order': DNC Plot to Ram Through Biden Nomination Sparks Fury
"Behind the scenes, people at the Biden campaign and DNC are working to put in the fix," warned one Biden delegate from Maryland.
Jul 16, 2024
The Democratic National Committee is barreling ahead with plans to cement U.S. President Joe Biden's spot at the top of the party's November ticket weeks before next month's convention in Chicago, an effort that has sparked outrage among congressional Democrats and delegates who are worried about the incumbent's ability to defeat GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who has said a "major course correction is needed" to avert disaster in November, has been circulating a letter to colleagues expressing concern about the DNC's plans, which were detailed Tuesday by Axios and The New York Times. At least three House Democrats thus far have said they're considering signing the letter, according to Axios.
Huffman told the Times in an interview that "to try to squelch debate and jam this through is a power play of the highest order."
"That kind of heavy-handed move is not going to go over well with a lot of people," Huffman added.
The letter, published in full by Axios, states that "there is no legal justification" for the DNC's plan for a "virtual roll call" among DNC delegates to formally confirm Biden as the party's presidential nominee before the end of the month.
The Democratic convention is set to begin on August 19.
Without offering specifics on the timeline, DNC Chairman Jamie Harrison confirmed the plans for a virtual roll call in a statement to Axios, even in the face of vocal concerns from congressional Democrats, grassroots activists, and some DNC delegates.
"We look forward to nominating Joe Biden through a virtual roll call and celebrating with fanfare together in Chicago in August alongside the 99% of delegates who are supporting the Biden-Harris ticket," Harrison said.
The Timesexplained Tuesday that "the process will effectively begin when the rules committee of the Democratic National Convention meets on a video call at 11:00 am on Friday, followed by another party group on Sunday."
"All of the more than 4,000 delegates are expected to begin casting their ballots as soon as Monday, a process that is likely to take about a week," the Times continued. "After that, the committee is expected to quickly hold the roll call, a tradition that typically occurs on the convention floor but is being held virtually this year."
"They are using non-existent rationalizations to quick-strike Biden into place."
One Biden delegate from Maryland, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, warned in a recent email to fellow state delegates that "behind the scenes, people at the Biden campaign and DNC are working to put in the fix."
"Put simply, they are trying to shut down the process earlier. We can't allow it," Mizrahi wrote in the email, which was obtained by Axios. "I am asking you to ask the DNC to stop pushing for an early vote."
The DNC initially instituted plans for a virtual roll call following the enactment of an Ohio law that could have prevented the Democratic presidential candidate from being on the state's November ballot if the nominee wasn't chosen by August 7.
But Ohio has since pushed back the deadline to September, rendering that justification moot.
The American Prospect's David Dayen wrote on social media Tuesday morning that he has heard from a source who said the DNC is still moving ahead with a virtual roll call because of supposed "ballot deadlines in Montana and California."
"This is nonsense, there are no such deadlines," Dayen wrote. "They are using non-existent rationalizations to quick-strike Biden into place."
Huffman's letter warns that "proceeding with the 'virtual roll call' in the absence of a valid legal rationale will be rightly perceived as a purely political maneuver, which we believe would be counterproductive and undermine party unity and cohesion."
"Moreover, it would contradict what President Biden himself has repeatedly said to members of Congress in recent days, telling us that anyone who 'wants to challenge his nomination should do so 'at the convention,'" the letter continues. "We respectfully but emphatically request that you cancel any plans for an accelerated 'virtual roll call' and further refrain from any extraordinary procedures that could be perceived as curtailing legitimate debate or attempting to force an early resolution of the party nomination."
Aaron Regunberg, a progressive organizer who has vocally demanded that Biden step aside, argued Tuesday that "even if you're all in for Biden, you should oppose" the DNC's plan for a pre-convention virtual roll call.
"If Biden's our nominee, he'll desperately need Dem unity [and] enthusiasm," Regunberg wrote on social media. "Moves like this are tailor-made to engender mistrust and make it much, much harder for Dems—volunteers, donors, voters, all of us—to come together."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Democrats, Progressives Call On Menendez to Resign After Bribery Conviction
"He must resign today or be immediately expelled," said one watchdog leader.
Jul 16, 2024
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez faced fresh pressure to resign on Tuesday after his federal corruption trial ended with a jury finding him guilty on all 16 counts for accepting bribes from three businessmen and acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government.
"In light of this guilty verdict, Sen. Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said of the New Jersey Democrat, who had pleaded not guilty.
Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement that the verdict "demonstrates that the senator broke the law, violated the trust of his constituents, and betrayed his oath of office. It also shows that in America, everyone—no matter how powerful—is accountable to our laws."
Murphy continued:
Sen. Menendez received a fair trial and due process of law as he was entitled to under our Constitution. I want to thank all the public servants who play crucial roles in our criminal justice system, including our law enforcement officials, prosecutors, defense attorneys, jurors, and judges. Their hard work ensured that these brazen crimes were proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and our nation is grateful for their service.
I reiterate my call for Sen. Menendez to resign immediately after being found guilty of endangering national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system. If he refuses to vacate his office, I call on the U.S. Senate to vote to expel him. In the event of a vacancy, I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington president Noah Bookbinder, a former federal corruption prosecutor, similarly released a statement calling on the Senate to act if Menendez refuses to leave voluntarily.
"After years of ducking accountability for corruption, Sen. Bob Menendez has finally been convicted by a jury of his peers," he said. "There is no room in the Senate for a convicted felon, especially not one convicted of taking bribes. He must resign today or be immediately expelled."
Common Cause president and CEO Virginia Kase Solomón said that "after a guilty verdict from a jury of his peers who heard all the facts of the case, Sen. Menendez has broken the trust of New Jersey voters. When we see our leaders sell their influence, we lose faith that democracy is worth participating and believing in."
"It is foundational to our representative democracy that our leaders in Washington put their own personal interests aside in favor of the public interest," she added. "Rather than serve the voters, Sen. Menendez sold them out for his own personal profit. He must resign."
Menendez was initially indicted in September for allegedly taking bribes in the form of "cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value." He swiftly stepped down as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but remained in the chamber, despite calls for his resignation as the charges mounted.
The verdict was delivered at a federal courthouse in New York City on Tuesday. The Associated Pressreported that "as the verdict was read in court, Menendez, 70, looked toward the jury at times as he appeared to mark a document in front of him. Afterward, he sat resting his chin against his closed hands, elbows on the table."
Menendez did not testify at the trial—the conclusion of which comes as he is running for another Senate term as an Independent against Democratic Congressman Andy Kim and Curtis Bashaw, a Republican real estate developer.
"I'm deeply disappointed by the jury's decision," Menendez told reporters outside the courthouse, adding that he plans to appeal. "I have never violated my public oath. I've never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country."
The senator previously faced unrelated corruption charges in 2017, but that trial ended with a deadlocked jury. In this case, his wife, Nadine Menendez, was also charged. She has pleaded not guilty. Her trial was postponed so she could recover from breast cancer surgery.
This post has been updated with comment from Common Cause.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'I Am Not a Terrorist': Letters From Gaza Children Decry Daily Horrors of Israeli Assault
"We live in a constant state of fear and anxiety, with shells accompanying us around the clock, reaping lives, sparing only those fortunate enough to survive," one Palestinian girl wrote to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Jul 16, 2024
A U.K.-based humanitarian group on Tuesday delivered "heartbreaking" letters from two Palestinian girls—including one who lost her arm in an Israeli attack—imploring new Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer to "intervene and help bring about a permanent cease-fire" in Gaza.
"We write to you with hearts full of sorrow and spirits crushed by the daily suffering inflicted upon us by the brutal war," wrote 15-year-old Mais Abdel Hadi, president of the youth-led Palestinian Children's Council, in a letter presented to Starmer's office in London by the charity Christian Aid. Palestinian Children's Council is a partner of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
"We live in a constant state of fear and anxiety, with shells accompanying us around the clock, reaping lives, sparing only those fortunate enough to survive," said Hadi, whose family is forcibly displaced due to the destruction of their home. "Destruction and devastation surround us on all sides. Our question is: Why must we children pay such a horrendous price?"
"Our question is: Why must we children pay such a horrendous price?"
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, an average of 58 children have been killed each day—approximately 16,000 in total—since Israel launched its retaliatory assault and siege of Gaza after the Hamas-led attacks last October 7.
The ministry—whose figures have been deemed reliable by Israeli intelligence—says that Israeli bombs and bullets have wounded more than 34,000 other Palestinian children, and that thousands more are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of bombed-out homes and other buildings. Over 17,000 other Gazan children are orphaned.
"We wake up every day to the sound of bombs and rockets, with no safe place to seek refuge," Hadi stated. "This violent war has taken our homes, schools, families, relatives, friends, and classmates. It has forced us to sleep in poor tents and in the open air, our bodies scorched by the sun during the day and deprived of sleep at night due to constant airstrikes and random shelling."
"We need your support and urgent intervention to end this tragedy," she stressed to the newly-elected prime minister.
Hadi continued:
We demand an immediate cease-fire and the establishment of peace because we, the children of Palestine, deserve to live in safety and peace. We also urge you to work on rebuilding our schools and hospitals that have been destroyed and to provide the necessary psychological and educational support so we can regain our lives and futures.
Stop the death by starvation, the killing by denying medicine, and the destruction of health centers. Bring back life through songs, poems, and music. We are children who hope for a dignified life and do not wish for anyone to suffer.
Save our lives, dreams, and rights, and preserve our childhood. We are not just numbers or news in media reports; we are living souls, carrying hope in our hearts, awaiting your swift and effective action.
Sixteen-year-old Hala Abu Saleem, one of the thousands of child amputees in Gaza, asked: "Will my hand grow back? Or am I condemned to live without an arm?"
"I am not a terrorist to be exterminated," asserted Saleem, whose family is also forcibly displaced after their home was bombed. "I am not a terrorist for my house to be destroyed and my family killed. I am not a terrorist to live in a tent that is scorching during the day and freezing at night, unfit even for animals!"
"It's time for you to bear the consequences of your mistakes from over a century ago," Saleem added. The British Empire ruled Palestine in the early 20th century and facilitated Zionist colonization before reversing the policy amid resistance from the existing Arab population.
"End the occupation," she begged. "Stop the genocide!"
Starmer, who became prime minister on July 5, has given no indication that his administration will depart from the previous Conservative government's nearly unconditional support for Israel. As opposition leader, he sparked widespread outrage in Britain—a country that has seen massive pro-Palestine demonstrations over the past nine months—and beyond by initially supporting Israel's "right" to cut off water and electricity in Gaza, acts cited as evidence of genocide. He later retracted his statement.
The United Nations Children's Fund has described Gaza as "the most dangerous place in the world to be a child." More children were killed in the first four months of Israel's Gaza onslaught than in all the world's wars over the past four years, according to the U.N.'s Palestine relief agency. Israeli forces have allegedly deliberately targeted and executed children. Israeli warplanes are dropping shrapnel-packed fragmentation bombs that doctors say are eviscerating children's bodies and causing a "constant flow of amputations."
Israel also stands accused of using starvation as a weapon of war, killing dozens of children by malnutrition, dehydration, and lack of medical care.
In addition to killing, maiming, starving, and orphaning children, Israel's war has wrought what one Gaza mother described as "the complete psychological destruction" of youth living in the enclave.
Last month, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres added Israel to the so-called "List of Shame" of countries that kill and injure children during wars and other armed conflicts.
Israel's conduct in the 283-day war—which has left more than 137,500 Palestinians in Gaza dead, maimed, or missing—is under investigation by the International Court of Justice in a South Africa-led genocide case.
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is also seeking to arrest Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes including extermination and forced starvation. Khan also applied for warrants to arrest three senior leaders of Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2006.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular