alanjjohnstone
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The first draft COP26 statement
https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/Overarching_decision_1-CMA-3.pdf
My first impression is of Oliver Twist holding out his bowl asking for a bit more.
The Iranian Oil Workers Strike – Update
http://libcom.org/blog/struggle-iranian-oil-workers-goes-09112021
There is a link in the WSPUS article to sign an online petition.
Something that is very simple and easy and encourage others to do
Another good article to read on the failed left tactics
“…the Democratic leadership could simply get the Senate to remove Manchin and Sinema from their committee positions. Schumer could bring matters to a head with a motion saying that taking money from lobbyists to introduce policies that result in bribes (campaign contributions) is a corrupt conflict of interest…The problem, of course, is that all the Senators and most Congresspersons do the same selling of their votes…”
“…the new BBB bill has been distorted into something quite different than what was described until last week. The largest element grafted onto it is the $450 billion tax cut for wealthy homeowners, raising the SALT property tax deductibility in East Coast Democratic states from $10,000 to $72,500. This giveaway is promoted by the same centrists who are blocking approval of the BBB because it will add to the budget deficit….the early promise of fiscal savings for Medicare drug purchases has been drastically watered down…”
Jonathan Cook raises the important issue of how militarism and climate change is being ignored at COP26 in an article.
Military pollution is the skeleton in the West’s climate closet
“…armed forces are the most polluting on the planet – and the goal at COP26 is to keep that fact a closely guarded secret…Unlike the farming and logging industries, or the manufacturing industries, or the fossil fuel industries, efforts to curb the growth in military spending – let alone reverse it – are off the table at the COP26 summit… The military’s rationale is neither to be sustainable nor to be kind to the planet…Consumption and competition are at the heart of the military mission, whether armies are waging war or marketing their activities as purely “defensive”…”
MS, I watched good reporting on the progressive current affairs ‘Breaking Point’ that explains the loss of Virginia with Black voters and poor White voters switching to the Republicans or failing to vote was because of the Democratic Party tactic of identity politics, them using the race card too often.
The real issue – the poverty in Virginia which affects all communities – was practically ignored by the Democrats and the Republicans benefitted.
While the Taliban are still officially designated as a terror group, charities are hindered because of financial sanctions from alleviating the suffering.
The Taliban while exercising and exclusion and censorship of the media are doing themselves no favours in bring to world attention a plight they themselves reluctantly acknowledge.
The nearest safe sanctuary for refugees is Iran, itself deprived of charity and NGO help.
Pakistan another neighbouring “safe haven” cannot harbour many more refugees.
It will be only a matter of time that the US and its allies begin a blitz of propaganda blaming the Taliban exclusively for culpability in the disaster and not the US withdrawal of propping up the civil population that had gone on, no matter how corrupt it was.
The Left will call for some sort of reparations but fat chance of that funnelling down to those who need it most.
Note the two people interviewed carrying SWP placards saying “System Change not Climate Change” who had nothing to do with them but were from some environment charities.
This typical long-time SWP practice – flood a protest with their placards for others to pick up and carry. When the media news outletsproduce video and photos, it is highly effective.
I have suggested previously we too adopt such tactics but mass produce flags or pennants with some of our own popular slogans – one world one people, for instance, and our logo and website details
I should have added the important caveat that some of our members are getting on in age and walking on marches is something some are no longer physically up to doing.
Having a banner, (and I think we have some that highlights our case and which are more attractive and appealing than CWO’s), and simply holding it to be seen at the various vantage points on the route, would get our message across.
A lesson to bear in mind for the next similar occasion.
And if our members get photographed, I’m sure they will be all smiles and thumbs up.
Mostly out of the news other than the occasional article on the Suu Kyi trial and the military flashpoints in the north and east but for most Burmese, the misery continues with widespread hunger and poverty reported.
The U.N. humanitarian chief urged Myanmar’s military leaders on Monday to provide unimpeded access to the more than 3 million people in need of life-saving humanitarian assistanceAre we right not to march, rather than just “attend”?
Leaflets get wet and become unusable.
Banners and flags are mostly weatherproof (wind being the main risk from personal experiences)
If it was about getting our message across on Friday and Saturday we didn’t.
I’m aware it is a perennial discussion point often centred o May Days but shouldn’t we once again question our abstentionist policy of participating in marches and rallies when most taking part in climate change are not party-affiliated. But it may be a moot point since the opportunity has come and went now.
I’m sure we can produce better-looking banners than the CWO had on Glasgow’s march
The term vaccine nationalism became popular about the hoarding of Covid19 for the “national interest”, the willingness to sacrifice the lives of the poor and vulnerable in the undeveloped and developing nations.
Climate nationalism will be exactly the same. “National interest” will bring so many loopholes in all the promises, pledges and policies to reach the 1.5 of Paris it will be like a sieve.
For all the language of it being a global problem, and requiring world action, we hear very little about doing away with the nation-state. Even among the young eco-warriors, they still talk of abiding by the rules of inter-national treaty obligations and not of one world.
While the US, the UK and the EU are very happy to cite “humanitarian” reasons to invade or impose sanctions, that humanitarianism didn’t mean sharing patents and surrendering intellectual property. I fear the disappearance of islands and the flooding of low-lying coasts won’t shift their consciences one little bit.
was a wash out. It was raining and only a few hundred turned up
Fair weather eco-activists they have in Cardiff!!
