October, 17 2019, 12:00am EDT
350.org Responds to Passing of Rep. Elijah Cummings
350.org shares deep sadness at the news of Maryland Representative Elijah Cummings passing away today. For decades, Cummings has represented the people of Maryland with integrity, bravery, and a commitment to our democracy.
WASHINGTON
350.org shares deep sadness at the news of Maryland Representative Elijah Cummings passing away today. For decades, Cummings has represented the people of Maryland with integrity, bravery, and a commitment to our democracy.
350.org's North America Director, Tamara Toles O' Laughlin made the following statement:
"This morning, we lost a true champion for democracy, transparency, the rights of the people of Baltimore and the humanity of this country. Rep. Cummings leadership will be deeply missed. Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time.
"In my years of living, working and fighting for the people of Baltimore, I have always felt assured that we had a tireless ally in Rep. Cummings. He was an inspiration that continually pushed us to be better for the common good.
"In the fight to stop catastrophic climate change, we need champions of his caliber to fight with and for the people as we stand up to corruption in high places and continued dereliction in Washington now more than ever before. Representative Cummings' example demands that we fight ever harder for a more just world, for all of us."
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
Trump EPA and Citibank Sued for 'Illegally' Freezing Green Energy Funds
"This program was designed to save money for hard-working Americans who are struggling to pay for groceries and keep the lights on," said the head of a climate group that had been awarded funds to finance green energy expansion.
Mar 10, 2025
The need for a federal lawsuit filed Monday presents "more evidence of a constitutional crisis," according to one campaigner, as plaintiffs pushed back against the Trump administration's unlawful freezing of funds appropriated by Congress to help fuel a green energy transition in marginalized communities nationwide.
The lawsuit was announced Saturday by Climate United Fund, a nonprofit green investment fund, and was received Monday by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who previously presided over President Donald Trump's criminal trial regarding his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
The group is accusing the Environmental Protection Agency and Citibank of "illegally withholding" $7 billion that had been awarded to Climate United through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which set up a $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, also known as the Green Bank.
The Green Bank was established to fund solar power, energy-efficient housing projects, and electric vehicles. Climate United has reported that it used funds to begin pre-construction on a solar energy project across the University of Arkansas system, invest in electric trucks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with plans for nationwide expansion, and launch a grant program for low-income communities to start clean energy projects.
For the last two weeks, The New York Times reported, Climate United and seven other nonprofits that were awarded funding through the Green Bank have been unable to withdraw the money from their accounts at Citibank.
"They have essentially acted as if they control the power of the purse, but very clearly written into the Constitution is the separation of powers that grants Congress and Congress alone the power of making funding decisions."
The Times reported that the EPA appeared to have frozen the funds after EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called for a "termination" of the agreement the Biden administration made with Citibank when the money was allocated to the nonprofits.
Zeldin made that demand last month after the right-wing group Project Veritas, released a hidden-camera video in which it had surreptitiously recorded an EPA employee saying before Trump took office that the agency was attempting to spend federal money on climate programs before the Republican president was inaugurated.
Zeldin suggested the comments signaled the Green Bank was "designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight" and was "irresponsibly shoveling boat loads of cash to far-left, activist groups in the name of environmental justice and climate equity."
Climate United and the other groups impacted by the funding freeze have been struggling to pay their staff, the Times reported.
"This isn't about politics; it's about economics," said Beth Bafford, CEO of Climate United. "This program was designed to save money for hard-working Americans who are struggling to pay for groceries and keep the lights on. We're going to court for the communities we serve—not because we want to, but because we have to."
In his statement about the Green Bank funding last month, Zeldin said he was referring the matter to the Office of the Inspector General, suggesting an accusation of potential fraud.
Days after Zeldin's directive, federal prosecutor Denise Cheung resigned after declining to freeze an unidentified bank's accounts for a government contractor, saying she had not found "sufficient evidence" of criminal activity. Cheung's resignation is believed to have stemmed from Zeldin's accusations regarding the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
In an interview with "Living on Earth" on Public Radio Exchange last month, Jillian Blanchard, vice president of climate change and environmental justice at Lawyers for Good Government, said Zeldin's push to claw back $20 billion that was awarded last year through legislation passed by Congress suggests that "this executive [branch] seems to believe that they have and should have more power than both Congress and the courts."
"They have essentially acted as if they control the power of the purse, but very clearly written into the Constitution is the separation of powers that grants Congress and Congress alone the power of making funding decisions," said Blanchard.
The Trump administration has already been blocked from freezing funds that were were appropriated by Congress. In January the president moved to block federal grants and loans in an order that was swiftly blocked by federal courts, with one judge saying the funding freeze was "likely unconstitutional."
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'Unparalleled Attack on the Rule of Law' by Trump Puts US on Global Watchlist
"The Trump administration seems hellbent on dismantling the system of checks and balances which are the pillars of a democratic society," said one senior leader with the group CIVICUS.
Mar 10, 2025
An organization that tracks threats to civic freedoms announced Monday that it has added the United States to its watchlist, citing the Trump administration's "unprecedented" executive orders that the group says undermine democratic institutions, rule of law, and global cooperation.
"The Trump administration seems hellbent on dismantling the system of checks and balances which are the pillars of a democratic society," said Mandeep Tiwana, interim co-secretary general of CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society activists and organizations, in a statement Monday.
"This is an unparalleled attack on the rule of law in the United States, not seen since the days of McCarthyism in the twentieth century. Restrictive executive orders, unjustifiable institutional cutbacks, and intimidation tactics through threatening pronouncements by senior officials in the administration are creating an atmosphere to chill democratic dissent, a cherished American ideal," Tiwana continued.
The CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist, which highlights countries where there is a serious decline in "respect for civic space," also noted declines in the status of four other countries on Monday: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Pakistan, and Serbia. Democratic Republic of the Congo and Pakistan earned a rating of "repressed," while the watchlist considers the civic space rating of Italy and the United States to be "narrowed." Serbia earned the civic space rating of "obstructed."
"Open" is the highest ranking a country can receive, and denotes when "citizens and civil society organizations are able to organize, participate, and communicate without hindrance."
"Narrowed" is the second-highest tier rating, and countries earn this designation when people can exercise civic freedoms, including the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly, and expression, though occasionally violations of these rights occur.
Following his return to the White House, "Trump has issued at least 125 executive orders, dismantling federal policies with profound implications for human rights and the rule of law," according to the group.
Other actions that CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist highlights include: rolling back federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, implementing a widespread pause on foreign aid, taking steps to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development and laying off employees there, and withdrawing from the World Health Organization, the U.N. Human Rights Council, and the Paris Climate Agreement.
"These measures come amid a broader potential curb on the freedom of association," according to the group, which points to the passage of the so-called "nonprofit killer" bill in the U.S. House of Representatives in November, 2024. If it became law, the bill would allow the Treasury Department to revoke the tax-exempt status of non-profits it deems to be supporting terrorism.
The group points to Trump's January 30 executive order which is purportedly aimed at combating antisemitism. In an accompanying fact sheet with the order, Trump is quoted saying: "To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before."
Critics had warned that the executive order could chill political speech on campuses, according to The Guardian, and it is freshly in the news after Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead the Gaza solidarity encampment on Columbia University's campus.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said described Khalil's arrest as being "in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting antisemitism," according to The Associated Press.
The group also highlighted recent actions that touch on press freedom concerns. For example, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced in February that the administration will now decide which outlets get to participate in the presidential press pool, in a break with precedent.
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'Genocide Alert!' Israel Slammed for Cutting Off Power to Gaza Water Plant
One expert noted that "this collective punishment of civilians" violates the Geneva Convention as well as a preliminary injunction from the International Court of Justice.
Mar 10, 2025
Outrage over the Israeli government's decision to cut off electricity to a water treatment plant in the decimated Gaza Strip mounted on Monday.
As Common Dreamsreported Sunday, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said that he "signed an order for the immediate halt of electricity to the Gaza Strip" as part of a policy to use "all of the tools that are at our disposal to ensure the return of all the hostages" taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
The Times of Israelnoted that the new move by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government "was mainly expected to affect a single desalination plant, the only facility in the strip still running on a power line supplied from Israel."
Responding on social media Monday, the Peace & Justice Project—founded by Jeremy Corbyn, an Independent member of the U.K. Parliament—condemned the cutoff as Israel's "latest act of genocidal collective punishment against the Palestinian people."
"This latest despicable act must be condemned by all governments and Israel must be sanctioned," the group added.
Also speaking out on social media, Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, declared, "GENOCIDE ALERT!"
"Israel cutting off electricity supplies to Gaza means, among others, no functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water," Albanese said. "STILL NO SANCTION/NO ARMS EMBARGO against Israel means, among others, AIDING AND ASSISTING Israel in the commission of one of the most preventable genocides of our history."
Unconscionable, and immoral: Israel stops electricity supply to Gaza to ratchet up pressure on Hamas | The Times of Israel www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
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— Timothy McBride ( @mcbridetd.bsky.social) March 9, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas' political bureau, called the move "a desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics," according to The Times of Israel.
He tied the decision to Israel halting all humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave last week, saying that "we strongly condemn the occupation's decision to cut off electricity to Gaza, after depriving it of food, medicine, and water."
Clean water has been a key issue in Gaza since October 2023. Oxfam said last July that Israel had systematically reduced the water available by 94%, with just 4.74 liters per resident obtainable each day—less than a third of the recommended minimum amount in emergencies.
A Human Rights Watch report from December accuses Israel of "extermination and acts of genocide" in Gaza "by intentionally depriving Palestinian civilians there of adequate access to water, most likely resulting in thousands of deaths."
Netanyahu said that last week's block on aid was done "in full coordination" with U.S. President Donald Trump, who proposed an American takeover of Gaza—a plan that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Sunday "is taking shape."
Israel and Hamas reached a fragile three-part cease-fire and hostage-release deal in January. Stage one expired on March 1, and negotiators have not yet agreed to terms for the second phase, but talks are being held in Qatar this week.
"Food cut off, almost all electricity cut off, with the remaining energy now cut off too, in order to cut off water supply. This is a 'cease-fire' Israel-style," said Nick Dearden, director of the U.K.-based group Global Justice Now. "Barbaric collective punishment. Stop all weapons, suspend trade deals, economic sanctions now."
Since we made this statement Israel has announced it is cutting off electricity to Gaza. We say again: the threat of starvation and denial of vital humanitarian aid and services should never be used as a tool of war or a bargaining chip in negotiations. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
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— Quakers in Britain ( @quaker.org.uk) March 10, 2025 at 11:51 AM
University of Michigan professor Juan Cole wrote Monday on his website, Informed Comment, that "the Israeli government is cutting Palestinian civilians in Gaza off from staples as a means of pressuring Hamas to release all Israeli hostages with no quid pro quo so that Netanyahu can start bombing again."
"This collective punishment of civilians violates the Geneva Convention and other elements of internationally agreed on laws of war to which Israel is signatory," noted Cole. "It also violates the preliminary injunction of the International Court of Justice, in which Israel also has membership."
Israel faces an ongoing genocide case at the Hague-based court over its deadly blockade and assault of Gaza—assisted by billions of dollars in U.S. weapons. Like his predecessor, Trump's administration is
working to send even more arms to Israel.
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