Bangkok: Rich countries try to kill the Kyoto Protocol, International Youth declare “No Confidence” in road to Copenhagen

cross posted from Grist.

Today marked one of the final days of the Bangkok UN Climate Negotiations. With the end of this intersessional in sight, the International Youth Delegation (IYD) has officially declared “No Confidence” in the road to Copenhagen.

With youth delegates from over 30 countries engaging in the Bangkok process, the IYD cited pathetically weak targets from the North, alarm that a second commitment period in the Kyoto Protocol will not be secured, and a lack of guarantees for protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights and interests, in its Declaration. The current text of the draft climate deal is so weak and so full of “false solutions” (measures like offsetting that actually make the problem worse) it is unacceptable.

Youth delegates representing each continent addressed the U.N. today, detailing the urgency of the crisis as it affects their communities currently, telling stories of their hope and organizing alongside their denunciation of the state of play in the UN Negotiations.

This week the Annex 1 (rich countries), attempted to kill the Kyoto Protocol (KP). We are nearing upon the end of the current KP term, and a lack of renewing it means that the world would lose the few legally binding international climate agreements it has (as insufficient as they are). The excuse is that the United States will not sign, and therefore the whole thing should be scrapped and an entirely new deal can be struck on its own. It is lunacy to think that this will yield a stronger outcome, and the G77 (the rest of the world) countries are furious. We have always known the US wont sign the KP; the world cannot continue to wait for the US to get on board. In Bali, the U.S. already committed to setting comparable targets to other Annex 1 countries, so the world could deal with the U.S. in the LCA (Long Term Cooperative Action).

This all amounts to a shell game: more dirty delaying tactics from self-interested countries who are content to strip away basic attempts at an international agreement (for example “compliance” – meaning that the U.S. would have international oversight of its targets, or “top-down target setting” – meaning the international community sets carbon targets together based on science, rather than each countries independently setting their targets based on what their fossil fuel extraction industries dictate).

Allowing the U.S. to drag the world out of existing legal obligations is disgraceful. These negotiations are going backwards.

Make no mistake: Our future is being held hostage to interests that have consistently thumbed their noses at the international community and their obligations to the rest of the world. This process has been polluted by self-interested corporations and nations looking to profit off of our crisis. They have been pushing false solutions that exacerbate rather than fix the problem. Not only are the targets set by rich countries weak, but they are deceptive. Rather than representing actual emissions reductions, they contain unacceptable proportions of offsets, which do not reduce emissions, and displace the burden back onto the developing countries of the world.

Finance for Socioeconomic and Climate Justice Statment

STATEMENT

Finance for Socioeconomic and Climate Justice

Bangkok, September 28, 2009

We, the undersigned social organizations, movements and networks working towards climate and socioeconomic justice, gathered in Bagnkok for an International Strategy Meeting on Climate and Finance in parallel to the United Nations climate talks, call for:

• the recognition of the Global North´s historical responsibility and obligation to guarantee reparations for ecological debt, including climate debt, owed to the Global South;
• the creation of alternative funding mechanisms and flows that recognize the above and respect, protect and promote the sovereignty and rights of peoples and nature;
• an immediate end to any role for International Financial Institutions (IFIs) in climate financing, and other financial mechanisms and institutions that exacerbate and intensify climate change and increase ecological and other debts;
• rejection of market-based instruments which do not solve the climate crisis – but intead increase climate debt by allowing the North to offset its own greenhouse gas emissionss by transfering its emissions reduction obligations to the South.

Reparations Now!

We recognize that each human being has an equal right to ecological and climate space. Climate debt is a part of the larger ecological debt the Global North owes the Global South, accrued through centuries of theft of natural resources and the violation of human rights. Reparation of this ecological debt must include the complete restoration of territories and ecosystems, reconstruction of infrastructure critical to peoples well-being, recovery of social rights and recuperation of local agricultural systems in the Global South. Reparations must also include curtailing rampant consumption and making immediate cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the North. Reparations must be based on the self-determination of all peoples in order to guarantee that no new ecological debts are accrued.

Bangkok: day one of the UN Climate Negotiations

…and we’re off to a crawl

cross posted from Grist.

Coming right off the heels of the UN General Assembly in New York and the G20 in Pittsburgh, the world has taken its next step on the road to Copenhagen: the Bangkok round of negotiations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This morning the Thai Prime Minister opened the session by saying “There is no plan B, if we do not realize plan A, we go straight to plan F, which stands for failure.”

So, no pressure.

With an invigorated sense of skepticism, civil society, governments, and of course business interests are here to try to hammer through obtuse and contradictory text to create something that can be of some use on the table at the Copenhagen meetings this December.

The UN press office was quick to hand me a defensive-sounding media release stating ‘Negotiations set to pick up in Bangkok as a result of New York Climate Change Summit’ – hoping to put a positive spin on the process. Sure, the New York summit yielded lots of big talk about Climate – unfortunately very little in the way of meaningful targets and commitments, as pointed out (to much applause) by a Sudanese delegate this morning.

The reality of the US being able to meaningfully commit is grim, as illustrated by the statement released by John Podesta and Rajendra Pachauri, this Friday. Despite Obama talking a good game (which in itself is a welcome departure from the Bush years), he still failed to put forward any details. Hopes previously pinned on Obama have been deflated by stalled domestic legislation that NASA’s Dr. James Hansen said, if implemented “would do more harm to the environment than nothing at all.”

On the flip side, many people here in Bangkok have been encouraged by China’s announcement at the NY summit that it is increasing commitments on carbon reduction. We all know though, that responsibility to lead with these negotiations lies on the global North to make bolder and serious commitments. India and China are moving, and the classic US approach trying to pin blame on them is increasingly seen as excuse-mongering even to those who may have bought the line before.

From where we stand now, it looks like Copenhagen will be a greenwash. But civil society here in Bangkok is not taking this as a moment to despair but as a higher call to action for just and equitable ways to meet meaningful targets. Peoples movements and activist networks from across the globe are taking this opportunity to build and organize, invigorating local solutions back home, regardless of what ends up on the negotiating table. And so we keep pushing. If we temper our ambition along with our expectations, governments will feel more emboldened to backslide and allow the treaty to be an industry giveaway. Lets keep pressure up.

Here’s an inspiring quickie of organizers in the United States working for community based solutions to the climate crisis:

Kind of like shearing a sheep

I finally got a haircut after almost a decade.

It was last minute spokesperson prep for this action.

I wasn’t planning on posting this video, since its personal (aka not professional) and the most exhibitionist and scandalous thing of me on the internet, but a friend convinced me that 1) there is nothing professional about this blog 2) Its not like this blog isn’t all self promoting anyway.

nabil elderkin appreciation

I’ve been sitting transfixed by music videos directed by Nabil Elderkin. Nabil brings conscious music to life in such evocative and emotive ways…I am at a loss for words. See music videos below for K’naan, Kanye West, Rise Against, SEAL, and Common.

Indigenous Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change – Final Declaration

Indigenous peoples from across the Americas gathered in Anchorage, Alaska to address the climate crisis last week. Below is their final declaration. See Ben Powless’ photos here.

The Anchorage Declaration

24 April 2009

From 20-24 April, 2009, Indigenous representatives from the Arctic, North America, Asia, Pacific, Latin America, Africa, Caribbean and Russia met in Anchorage, Alaska for the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change. We thank the Ahtna and the Dena’ina Athabascan Peoples in whose lands we gathered.

We express our solidarity as Indigenous Peoples living in areas that are the most vulnerable to the impacts and root causes of climate change. We reaffirm the unbreakable and sacred connection between land, air, water, oceans, forests, sea ice, plants, animals and our human communities as the material and spiritual basis for our existence.

We are deeply alarmed by the accelerating climate devastation brought about by unsustainable development. We are experiencing profound and disproportionate adverse impacts on our cultures, human and environmental health, human rights, well-being, traditional livelihoods, food systems and food sovereignty, local infrastructure, economic viability, and our very survival as Indigenous Peoples.

Mother Earth is no longer in a period of climate change, but in climate crisis. We therefore insist on an immediate end to the destruction and desecration of the elements of life.

Through our knowledge, spirituality, sciences, practices, experiences and relationships with our traditional lands, territories, waters, air, forests, oceans, sea ice, other natural resources and all life, Indigenous Peoples have a vital role in defending and healing Mother Earth. The future of Indigenous Peoples lies in the wisdom of our elders, the restoration of the sacred position of women, the youth of today and in the generations of tomorrow.

We uphold that the inherent and fundamental human rights and status of Indigenous Peoples, affirmed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), must be fully recognized and respected in all decision-making processes and activities related to climate change. This includes our rights to our lands, territories, environment and natural resources as contained in Articles 25–30 of the UNDRIP. When specific programs and projects affect our lands, territories, environment and natural resources, the right of Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples must be recognized and respected, emphasizing our right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, including the right to say “no”. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreements and principles must reflect the spirit and the minimum standards contained in UNDRIP.

Calls for Action

1. In order to achieve the fundamental objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), we call upon the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC to support a binding emissions reduction target for developed countries (Annex 1) of at least 45% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 95% by 2050. In recognizing the root causes of climate change, participants call upon States to work towards decreasing dependency on fossil fuels. We further call for a just transition to decentralized renewable energy economies, sources and systems owned and controlled by our local communities to achieve energy security and sovereignty.

SmartMeme analysis on Capitol Climate Action

Wanted to share a reportback on CCA from Doyle Canning from SmartMeme, an amazing strategy, communications, and training organization.

Reportback: Capitol Climate Action

Doyle Canning, SmartMeme

Two weeks ago I was in the streets with thousands of friends, old and new, for the historic Capitol Climate Action (Check out my pics on FLICKR!) SmartMeme endorsed this action, and I was excited to support the effort by helping to create messages for the action’s banners, training participants in nonviolent direct action , and being a “contingent coordinator” with the awesome Blue Team.

Honestly, I had a ball! The action was well organized, colorful, and upbeat despite the cold temperatures. My nonviolence training session was packed – with a dozen participants showing up 30 minutes early to ensure they got a spot, and a line going out the door when the room was full. 95% of that group were first timers to nonviolent protest, and they were fired up and ready to stop coal and solve global warming.

The action was endorsed by a large and diverse community of organizations, and attention was made to amplifying the voices of directly-impacted people. Leading the march were residents of Appalachian communities being blown-up by the Coal Industry; Indigenous delegations from Black Mesa and Michigan (where five new coal fired power plants are proposed), and leaders from Chicago’s Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, who are fighting for clean air against coal fired power plants. They were joined by celebrities and prominent environmental leaders like Bill McKibben and Wendell Berry, and the executive directors of the convening groups. The majority of participants were students (mostly white), many of them taking action in the streets for the first time.

Action Logic

The Capitol Coal Plant was a smart venue for this event. It comes with built in symbolism and implicit story-based strategy. The plant is powered by coal to warm and cool our nation’s Capitol building. The concept of the action was to draw attention to the fact that coal-fired power is fueling climate destabilization, and highlight the utterly destructive life cycle of coal, from mining to slurry to smog. It was also a way to point to the heavyweight influence that the coal industry has over all of Capitol Hill. Symbolically this was a perfect stage for our play.

But two unexpected things happened that took the story off the script.

1. Days before the protest, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid released a letter asking the Capitol Architect to switch the Capitol Power Plant from coal to 100 percent natural gas by the end of 2009.

Organizers responded saying that this was a victory, showing the power of grassroots mobilization to get the attention of power holders. This hardly took the wind out of our sails, but did complicate the frame. The discussion emerged in my nonviolence training about whether this shift even was a victory: “Natural gas is also a fossil fuel.” “The problem is the whole coal/oil/fossil fuel paradigm.” “One symbolic concession is a dangerous victory to claim, given the stakes.”

So the question is, what would a real victory look like? What if we’d pressed Pelosi further, and said “If you want to make a statement, put solar panels on the Mall and windmills along the Potomac, and kick Coal Inc. out of Congress.” As the climate fight intensifies, we cannot settle for half-hearted victories or afford to celebrate false solutions. We’ve got to shift our thinking and get ahead of the curve with visionary, foreshadowing stories and strategies. Bolder demands can be made of the new political establishment, and now is the time to make them.

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice looking for a new ED

Seems like everyone I know is looking for a job nowadays. Thinking it may be relevant to post some of the positions available up here.

Jews for Racial & Economic Justice
135 W. 29th St Suite 600, NY, NY 10001, search@jfrej.org

Position Available: Executive Director

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), a premier Jewish progressive non-profit organization, seeks a talented Executive Director to lead the organization. JFREJ is a membership-based organizing group working for racial, social, and economic justice in New York City.  Founded in 1990, JFREJ uses community organizing, political education, and arts and cultural programming to expose injustice, win policy changes at the local, citywide, and state levels, and build a Jewish community with justice at its core.

Our Movement is Beautiful: Images from CCA

Put together a slideshow of images from the Capitol Climate Action.

Remember, there are lots of ways to stay involved past this action, and even in the last couple days, people have been mobilizing & taking action and others facing repression.

p.s. the original slideshow had different music that youtube did not allow. check it out here.

My mom and I standing for climate justice

For the last 8 months I’ve been spending most of my time organizing what has become the largest demonstration and mass-action to solve the Climate Crisis in history. We’re creating leverage, political pressure, and a sense of urgency around building a clean energy economy. Its called the Capitol Climate Action (CCA) – check out our website at www.capitolclimateaction.org . With 8 days to go, its difficult to believe its actually happening – but it is, on March 2nd in Washington DC at a dirty coal-fired power plant, just blocks away from our congress building – which it literally powers.

We’ve built a coalition of over 70 public health, labor, racial, economic, and social justice, faith-based, conservation, environmental and other advocacy groups (see the list at our website), along with figures like NASA’s Chief Climatologist Dr. James Hansen, and advocates like Vandana Shiva and Bill Mckibben, Rabbis and Reverends (like Rev Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus), members of communities directly impacted by the coal cycle, like miners across Appalachia, urban youth that live next to coal plants, native folks who live near extraction…even celebs like Susan Sarandon and Daryl Hannah who will be joining us and risking arrest in a mass non-violent civil disobedience. Its an exciting action to me because its a huge step for a section of the movement who previously were a little nervous about this kind of action – we’re bringing along groups like the Progressive Democrats of America and reaching out to a really broad tent of the progressive majority in our country right now. Most importantly to me, my mother is coming down too – this is the first action I’ve helped organize that she is coming to, and I’m so excited to share my life with her in that way.

Speaking of sharing my life – Current TV just asked me to do a mini-series for them called “acting up” (no relation to the organization Act Up!) – they gave me a camera and I’m making 2 minute long rough, raggedy, one-take “webisodes” and posting them every day up until the action about what its like to organize it.  Its pretty silly and kinda weird, but you can watch it online. Check out my most recent post here: http://current.com/items/89834592/acting_up_3_from_the_capitol_to_hip_hop_clean_energy_now.htm and you can keep up every day here: http://current.com/topics/88871670/acting_up/default/0.htm This is my first time doing anything like this and it feels awkward! At the end they will get aired on actual TV.

What we’re actually doing: we will be sitting-in at the dirty coal power station that literally powers our congressional building in DC. This Power Station is just blocks from Congress and is a national symbol for the stranglehold dirty energy sources like coal have over our communities, our climate and our future. Coal is the single biggest contributor to global warming and it will be impossible to have a safe and secure future for humankind if we continue to burn it.

With a new administration and a new Congress, we have a window of opportunity in the US. But we have to open it — together. We can’t afford to wait any longer for the slow gears of the political process, while our economy tanks and the planet burns. I believe now is the time for bold action that communicates a message of urgency to build a clean energy economy and climate justice.

We’re also doing a big public conference call you can join to learn about the action which will include a few of us describing the scenario, as well as a presentation from NASA’s Dr. James Hansen. It will be:

Wednesday, Feb 25 at 9pm EST, 6pm PST.
The number is 605-475-6400 and enter the participant PIN: 1088562#.

I’m inviting you to come join me and my mom (RSVP on the website now!) – but even if you can’t make it you can watch live streaming video and constant blog and photo updates on our website (www.capitolclimateaction.org)

. If you do come, you can also get on our twitter text loop by sending a text message to: 40404 with the message: “follow capitolclimate” (without quotes) to get updates sent right to your phone as the day unfolds.

Al Gore has said “I can’t understand why there aren’t rings of young people blocking bulldozers and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants.” Let’s show him what people are really doing to solve this crisis.

This blog was also up on Znet, and Progressive Democrats of America

Dr. James Hansen calls for Civil Disobedience at the Capitol March 2nd

Today Climate Scientist Dr. James Hansen released a public service announcement calling on all of us to join the Capitol Climate Action (CCA) on March 2nd. If you haven’t heard, it will be the largest protest on Global Warming in U.S. history.

“It’s time to take a stand on global warming,” Dr. Hansen says in the video. “We want to send a message to Congress and the President that we want them to take the actions that are needed to preserve climate for young people and future generations and all life on earth.”

Dr. Hansen is a world renowned-scientist more accustomed to the lab and the library than the picket line. When he sees a problem so urgent that he is willing to take to the streets in protest, we can be sure it means that the government must act.

Some 2,000 people from across the country are expected to join Dr. Hansen at Congress’s own coal-fired power plant in Southeast Washington, D.C. Over 70 public health, faith-based, labor, racial and environmental justice, and climate groups has endorsed the action along with such leaders and figures as Vandana Shiva, Tom Goldtooth, Daryl Hannah, Michael Franti, Bill McKibben, Gus Speth, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Noam Chomsky, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Paul Hawken, Adrienne Maree Brown, and Wendell Berry. Grammy Award-winning country singer Kathy Mattea will also join the protest and perform.

Coal-fired power plants are largest source of global warming pollution in the country, and the Capitol plant is widely regarded as a symbol of the country’s dangerous reliance on the fossil fuel. Burning coal also cuts short at least 24,000 lives in the U.S. annually, inflicts catastrophic damage to the landscape and water supplies and jeopardizes the lives of coal miners. Furthermore, coal leads to approximately $167 billion in healthcare costs annually and diverts scarce resources away from energy efficiency and clean energy, which create more than twice as many jobs per dollar as money for coal.

RSVP to be a part of CCA and make history now!

Time Magazine celebrates monkeywrenching; plugs Capitol Climate Action

See this recent piece in Time Magazine about Tim DeChristopher’s stunts and the upcoming mass action on March 2nd.

To Protect Public Land, Eco-Protesters Get Creative

By Bryan Walsh Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009

Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher tainted an auction of oil and gas drilling leases by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars without any intention of paying for them.

Courtney Sargent / Deseret News / Rapport

You may have never heard of the Monkey Wrench Gang—unless you read the 1975 novel by maverick writer and nature lover Edward Abbey, who introduced the world to a fictional collection of green misfits waging a guerrilla war against industrialization in the American West. They sabotage bulldozers and construction sites, burn billboards and destroy dams, all to keep their beloved Southwestern desert pristine. Think of it as muscular environmentalism, a world apart from the wonky work on climate change that now defines the mainstream green movement.

Still, the outlaw spirit lives on in the work of contemporary monkeywrenchers like Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old college student who singlehandedly disrupted a multi-million-dollar land auction that would have put hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in southern Utah in the hands of oil and gas companies. But DeChristopher didn’t use sabotage or homemade bombs—just chutzpah.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which administers America’s public lands, was running the auction on Dec. 19, in the waning days of the Bush Administration. Environmental groups including the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) had been fighting the move, arguing that the energy companies would damage nearby national parks and culturally sensitive areas. But the fight seemed lost, until DeChristopher, an economics student at the University of Utah, arrived at the sale. “I saw this as a very corrupt and fraudulent process, and a threat to my future,” he says.

Strategy note – Dress to Impress at the Capitol Climate Action

Organizers asking action participants to dress in their “Sunday Best” at the civil disobedience at the Capitol on March 2nd.

We’ve all heard that movements for ecological sanity and social justice are in a crucial political moment. We’re moving from margin to center, and ideas that were once considered on the radical fringe are seen as common sense and self-evident. We’re embracing strategies that employ a diversity of complimentary tactics. Our president proudly writes a narrative of American progress driven by civic engagement and social movement. Our battle is no longer of whether climate change is real, but whether or not we will meet this challenge with the speed and urgency our times require with solutions that are deep enough to solve the economic and climate crisis for everyone, not just for a few.

The nature of protest must evolve to seize this opportunity.

On March 2nd 2009, thousands of people from all walks of life and organizations from across the political spectrum will gather at the coal-fired power plant that powers congress for the Capitol Climate Action in DC. The Capitol Power Plant is a flashpoint and national symbol for a clear message of real solutions, healthy jobs and communities, and climate justice.

In this action, the medium is our message – we’re engaging in an act of civil disobedience. We’re highlighting the moral imperative to take action; our future can’t wait, and we’re willing to put ourselves on the line to ensure we have one. Nothing less than the survival of our species hangs in the balance, and we’re taking ourselves seriously enough to convey that with clarity.

That’s why in their initial public letter, Wendell Berry and Bill Mckibben said, “this will be, to the extent it depends on us, an entirely peaceful demonstration, carried out in a spirit of hope and not rancor. We will be there in our dress clothes, and ask the same of you.”

Dress how you like – it doesn’t need to be a business suit. Folks from different cultures have different ways of “dressing up” – feel free to do what feels right.

People often draw parallels between the emerging climate movement and the civil rights movement in the United States. While the climate movement still has a long way to go to earn that comparison, we are right to be inspired by it. Throughout history people have taken bold and confrontational action, often breaking laws to bear witness to an evil and reshape society. We understand that we are the inheritors of this spirit and its tone of seriousness and respectability. Throughout the labor movement and various currents for racial justice people have chosen to wear suits as part of their message they send through these bold actions.

We are asking participants to honor this legacy and use this as an opportunity for change-agents of all kinds to look at ourselves perhaps a bit differently than before. We realize it will be cold and we may all be bundled up anyway, but request that all participants respect the “tone of the zone” and come ready to engage in a positive solution-oriented bold national call to climate action. Dressing up is just one part of an overall message that will only enhance the powerful nature of this action.

Horror in Plain Sight

In 2009 we see our institutions unmasked, from Gaza to Oakland to Tennessee
This originally appeared in WireTap Magazine and later Znet.

My heart hurts.

14 days into 2009 and what a year it’s been. Recent highlights include a young unarmed black man who was placed onto the ground, with his hands behind his back, shot and killed by an by a white police officer in an Oakland BART station; levees breaking in Tennessee, flooding communities with a billion gallons of toxic coal ash that is 40 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill; and of course, the unrelenting assault on Gaza that in the last 19 days has claimed the lives of 919 Palestinians, including 384 children and women. Not to mention an economic crisis that has precipitated the layoffs of paid organizers around the country – many of my friends finding themselves unemployed, and important organizations (like COV records) needing to close their doors.

My tattoo says "tzedek" which means "social justice" in Hebrew, and embodies a long history of civic engagement and solidarity with oppressed peoples within the Jewish tradition.

As a young Ashkenazi Jewish man, I’ve been particularly shaken seeing some members of my Jewish community attempt to rationalize or justify the murder of children, the use of illegal biological weapons like White Phosphorous, and blocking of humanitarian aid. I feel unsafe as a Jew in a world where militarists and demagogues commit genocide and pretend it is in my name or the name of my people. What is happening in Gaza is a political, not a religious conflict, as decried by Jews around the world who stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine (including some of the most religious and traditional Hasidim). Even Jon Stewart took a political risk in condemning the attacks.

What links many of the above events is their overt brazenness. The massacre of Palestinian people, wanton environmental destruction to power our fossil fuel addiction, and police shootings are certainly not new phenomena, and are a logical extension of many of the way our institutions function. But what is both remarkable and terrifying is how naked and unabashed these recent horrors have been.

Oscar Grant was murdered by police in front of a full BART subway car, as onlookers filmed the entire thing. Dozens of youtube videos were up within hours for the entire world to see an unarmed cooperative man shot in cold blood. There was no attempted justification, no way to sweep it beneath the rug. It was in plain sight.

The attacks on Gaza were done in a manner that produced millions of heartbreaking photos of the carnage circling the globe in an instant, accompanied by graphic descriptions from international doctors in Gaza. What is happening right now is not a “war” – it is, after penning people in a cage, starving them and depriving them of all basic resources, blowing apart entire communities in what is the most densely populated area of the planet. That the Israeli government claims that this is in retaliation for Hamas rockets is a transparent joke, as more Palestinians died in the first 5 days of the assault than Israelis did from the last 5 years of rocketfire. And now the Israeli Right Wing political parties are attempting to ban Arab parties from running in upcoming elections. Its almost as if they wake up in the morning and say to themselves “how can we further delegitimize ourselves, make Jews around the world less safe and more hated, and kill as many brown people as we can in the process?” Massacres are no stranger to the Israeli military, but this kind of action with this kind of visibility marks a new chapter in the “we do whatever the fuck we want and don’t care what anyone thinks” book of the conflict. It’s all in plain sight.

The TVA coal ash spill, while not covered by the media very extensively, again reveals the extension and overt consequences of longtime policies that had previously been easier to cover up and hide from the public.

So what is this all about? It seems like 2009 is in many ways a year of honesty. Our institutions are unmasking themselves and behaving in ways that perhaps have always been typical, but are often sugar-coated with a smiley face on top. No more pretense or sugar. It’s been amazing to me how many people lately have been talking about how in the face of increased resource scarcity, economic collapse, and a climate crisis that threatens the very survival of our species, the major institutions in our society are freaking out. Like a convulsing creature gasping for breath, they lash out and crush things around them, revealing how they really are. There is a growing understanding that “continuing business as usual” is the most unlikely and unrealistic of all futures we could chose.

There is of course, a whole lot of reason to hope. For real, I’m not just saying that to end on a positive note. I have been walking with deep gratitude lately, not just for my own life, but for the courage of regular people across the globe. People around the world are organizing in response to these tragedies and are joining a new wave of political activism and organizing worldwide. I’ve seen more conversation and public debate about these issues than ever before (even if its often among Palestinian and Israeli friends on my facebook page over my status updates). The progressive shifts in our country and internationally are still strong – and if anything, strengthened – by these tragedies, as we have an opportunity to more clearly put our finger on the roots of our problems and join together to fashion just and sustainable solutions.

Stay involved. You can find great Gaza updates at War Times and End The Occupation, plus a friend’s commentary at Shadia Fayne Wood’s blog. ColorofChange.org is running a campaign for Oscar Grant that you can support online here. Stay up to date with the TVA Tennessee ash spill at itsgettinghotinhere.org. You can also buy “Gaza on my mind” shirts as a fundraiser for medical supplies.

Also, War Times has spread the word that The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has developed on online Resource Center at www.adc.org. This new tool, designed to serve as a primary source of information, incorporates several resources on the Gaza attacks including:

• A factual timeline of the events leading up to the Israeli attacks.
• Reliable articles on the situation in Gaza.
• A list of UN responses and statements on the tragedy.
• A list of credible media sources.
• A continuously updated resource on the numbers of killed and injured.
• An instructive link on contacting the media about the tragedy in Gaza.
• An instructive link on contacting elected representatives including President-elect Obama.
• A list of protests, rallies, and vigils taking place nationwide.

Thats all for now.

SURVIVAL IS NON-NEGOTIABLE

Youth frame the conversation at the UNFCCC in Poznan, Poland

Young people from around the world made their voice heard today at the UN Framework Convention on Climate change in Poznan, Poland. After an inspiring speech from Al Gore, over 200 young people from India to the U.S. to the Congo held a spontaneous action inside, with banners that read “SURVIVAL IS NON-NEGOTIABLE.”

The demonstration was the next step in our “project survival” – inspired by a speech earlier this week by a representative from the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), stating that current emissions targets set by powerful countries condemn their nations to extinction. In the last two days youth have mobilized to get over 80 country delegations to sign a pledge to “safeguard the survival of all peoples and nations.” Youth organized actions, tracked down delegates in the halls, lined the entrance to the plenaries, and knocked on meeting room doors to push their countries to sign the Survival Pledge. This morning our text has been adopted in the official UN Ministerial declaration document emerging from COP14, the COP President’s text on long-term vision. Heads of state referenced our call in major speeches. “It’s been an amazing success,” said Amanda McKenzie, of the Australian Youth Climate Network. “Hearing Australia’s Climate Minister Penny Wong commit to ’survival’ yesterday had me cheering in the halls. Now, it’s time to make sure she delivers.”

Actions like the one that happened 15 minutes ago aim to create the pressure to do just that. At the end of our action (after engaging with some angry UN people) several delegates and dignitaries came to thank the Youth for their action. A woman said “I am in a very high position in my government in Norway. Youth doing actions like this makes my work pushing for stronger targets easier. Thank you.”

We’ve had an exciting victory, but we know we must continue to organize to make the implications of that statement meaningful – we know that any targets less than 350ppm will not insure the survival of all peoples and nations, and we know that any solution that is not equitable and just, is no solution at all.

Click below for many more photos and reflections.

U.S. Youth Lead where U.S. State Dept Won’t in UNFCCC Negotiations

Young people in Poznan, Poland are stepping into the empty shoes of our stalling government.

Young people from the United States have been engaging full force in the 14th Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Unfortunately, we can’t say the same of our government. Instead of waiting around for our government to change its tune on the international stage, we’ve decided to set up dozens upon dozens of meetings with countries across the globe, especially those countries whom our country has disrespected in the past. Even if our own government isn’t listening to some of the most affected stakeholders in this negotiation, we will. We’re hoping the next wave of U.S. engagement will follow our lead.

See our letter, which as already been getting very enthusiastic response from countries around the world.

We’re here from Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, SustainUS, Rainforest Action Network, Energy Action Coalition, Indigenous Environmental Network, 350.org

Or just read the text of the U.S. letter to other delegations here.

International Youth call for a Climate Rescue Plan at the UN

The economic crisis is an opportunity to transform our economy
Cross Posted from Grist

It’s day four of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Poznan Poland, but it feels like I’ve been here for months. I’m up before the sun rises and in bed after midnight – and the action is nonstop. I with 500 youth delegates here from over 54 countries across the globe, from India to Peru, to Australia. Young people have been meeting with governments, participating in negotiations, harassing corporations, training each other in everything from climate justice to organizing skills, and speaking clearly and loudly: young people are collaborating across borders and have a shared vision. We want binding, equitable, science-based targets, and we’re going to fight for them.

One of the ways that we’ve been telling our story is through actions – we’ve been coordinating two per day! This afternoon, we hosted a “Who Wants To Be a Trillionaire?” game show. One contestant was the “big banks,” who have recently won 4.1 trillion dollars in government bailouts from the E.U. and the U.S. The other was a “climate rescue plan” which got over 40 times less – a measly 13.1 billion (if that doesn’t sound like a big disparity, check out the graph on this report here: http://www.ips-dc.org/getfile.php?id=314). The United States Congress has committed zero dollars (http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/913). Despite getting all the questions wrong, the “big banks” got all the money anyway. A rambunctious game show audience held a banner that said: “EU Bailout: $2.8 Trillion. US Bailout: $1.3 Trillion. Climate Rescue: Priceless”

Our point was simple: the same people who have spent decades telling us they can’t afford to save our planet, can clearly move trillions of dollars within weeks (when their own pocketbooks are directly affected). The issue is not lack of resources, its lack of political will. Youth are demanding our governments invest in a strong green economy, our planet, and our future.

Lucky for us, this economic crisis presents us with a wonderful opportunity. The opening day here in Poland, the UNFCCC said that the economic crisis is no excuse for inaction. We are saying that in fact, it’s the best reason in the world to invest in clean energy now, creating green jobs and sparking opportunity worldwide.

New activist resource guide! Tell stories through your work.

<a href=”https://smartmeme.rdsecure.org/index.php”>smartMeme</a> is an organization dedicated toward helping change-agents tell better stories with their activism and organizing. Story telling is the oldest form of human communication, and the most effective action, too. In their new resource guide, smartMeme helps activists shift ideas, culture, and the world around us. I can’t recommend it enough.

You can download it here.

MELTING I.C.E.

Just wanted to share that today Znet published an expanded article version of the post below. It’s a better read. Check it out here.

* Also see a beautiful slideshow of the action here.

What do immigrant rights have to do with the youth climate movement?

Melting the I.C.E.

Yesterday was a Halloween to remember. I had the honor of participating in an inspiring action organized and led by Bay Area Latino & Latina youth. Over 400 high school students walked out of school on Halloween to protest the vicious I.C.E. raids that have terrorized their communities, violently ripped apart their families, traumatized children, racially profiled neighborhoods, and demonized hard working people in the Bay Area and across our country.

When speaking at a convention the National Council of La Raza, even Barack Obama, who sharply pulls to the center on this issue, has said: “The system isn’t working, when 12 million people live in hiding…when communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids; when nursing mothers are torn from their babies; when children come home from school to find their parents missing; when people are detained without access to legal counsel.” And yet we see no action being taken on a national electoral level. So yesterday young folks have decided that they must act directly, challenging the concept that a human being can be “illegal”.

When initially writing this post describing the day, I thought about posting it in Its Getting Hot In Here, and realized that the connections between immigrant justice and the youth climate movement may not be obvious on their surface. Here’s just a couple of ways that they intersect…

Yesterday I felt the power of youth, and the moral legitimacy of young people speaking truth to power – of being bold and not letting injustices stand; of offering leadership; of youth organizing for a better world. A Youth Climate Movement holds this same power, and as young climate activists strive to integrate a deep understanding of power, race, class, and gender into that growing movement, we would do well to explore the links between our work and the struggles of immigrant youth and their families across the country.

We in the U.S., as principal carbon emitters, have a responsibility when it comes to this issue. The young people in our immigrant rights demonstration held signs that said “our immigration is forced migration” – articulately making visible the effects of policies like NAFTA, and the havoc they have wreaked on Latin American countries, creating the economic hardship that forces families to move in order to survive.

We know that as Climate Crisis intensifies, millions will be displaced from their homes – especially along the equator (and disproportionately in countries that are not responsible for the crisis).

Where will they go?

Will our country be the beacon of hope it has aspired to, a refuge for tired, huddled masses, yearning to breathe free? Unless we sharply move toward a sane and humane immigration policy, we will see an acceleration of barbaric dehumanization of people searching for a better life, as more and more people are displaced, forced to adapt to a changing climate.

The political challenge of transforming our immigration policy to one that is compassionate and human will only grow more difficult as more people search for a new place to call home. Let’s work for immigrant justice now.

Yesterday morning was kicked off when hundreds of East Bay youth were prevented from riding BART to cross into San Francisco for the event. Some were detained. Ironic, huh? Several BART stations in poor neighborhoods were temporarily closed down. The students rallied outside the BART stations, and started making news headlines for the disruption.

Meanwhile in SF (and eventually joined by some of the East Bay youth who made it across), hundreds of young folks and allies, mostly Latino/a, gathered and rallied in downtown SF. We honored the dead and disappeared by painting our faces as skulls or wearing masks, and dressing in black. Traditional Cherokee and Aztec blessings, prayers, and drums were offered, grounding participants in the large Native presence and solidarity there, and casting the hypocrisy of the U.S. immigration debate itself into sharp perspective. Signs crying out “I am indigenous to this land!”, “We didn’t cross the borders, the borders crossed us!” were held alongside “Immigrant rights are human rights.”

We began to march to the I.C.E. building, circled it while chanting and asserting that no human being is illegal, while out front of the building people spoke out, including social movement veteran and Latino/a rights activist Betita Martinez. After, Danza Azteca as well as others offered traditional dances and prayers.

As we circled the building again, students aged 18-21 non-violently locked themselves to barrels and lock-boxes, forming two blockades on each side of the I.C.E. alleyway that deploys their vans for raids and to transport prisoners. It was a beautifully and gracefully executed non-violent direct action. Until the facility closed at 6 pm, two groups of demonstrators supported the blockaders, sharing stories of their fathers being taken away in the middle of the night, poetry, music, and chants of justified and palpable pain and anger. At the close of the building, blockaders declared victory and peacefully left the area, no arrests were made.

Their words were far more powerful than anything I could write here. The young folks who blockaded wrote a letter to San Francisco. I’ve shared it below, along with more pictures. Please read it.

All Hollow’s Eve, 2008.

Our Dear San Francisco,

It has begun. Last week we saw government officials blow open people’s doors in the middle of the night to kidnap so called “gang members.” They came for us. Each night we wait in panic, waiting to see who next of our friends and family will be disappeared. But today is something else.

Today, a day when we celebrate the dead and disappeared – a day when we don masks to make the real monsters tremble in their empty coffers – it begins.

CLICK BELOW FOR THE REST OF THE LETTER AND PHOTOS FROM THE DAY

most emotional greenwashing i’ve seen yet…

crossposted from itsgettinghotinhere.org

Weird.
I almost don’t know what to say about this video. Its an advertisement from HSBC bank, pulling heart strings by depicting environmental activists doing tree-sits and forest defense, being attacked by police to let loggers into an endangered forest. A young woman activist gets out of jail, and hops on a motorcycle with her (I assume) partner, a logger. The lesson is that the bank values a diversity of perspectives and worldviews, just as this couple apparently honors the complexity of our world. All set to a Joanna Newsom song.

Its a great message, even if it still reinforces the false frame of “jobs versus the environment” and sensationalizes & romanticizes confrontation, but as an activist who has been in dangerous and confrontational situations like this before, it feels both triggering and intensely emotional to see a bank characterizing itself in this way, especially given the role of Finance in fueling climate destroying projects. At the same time, this is more of an indication of confrontational tactics moving from margin to the center of our political scene as the urgency of the Climate Crisis intensifies.

Juxtapose the above ad alongside this footage of a similar action in Tasmania, where company thugs from Gunns Logging have recently physically attacked activists, their camp and cars firebombed. This footage is of them attacking a car non-violently blockading a road.

I’m not sure how to react to this.

So You Think You Can Be President?

crossposted from Its Getting Hot In Here.

“I remixed the remix; it was back to normal!” – Mitch Hedberg

Reality TV meets the presidential debates.

My friend Jonathan McIntosh remixes videos. Specifically, he takes aspects of pop-culture and jumbles them around to make them accurate (and really funny). In his most recent video, the “So You Think You Can Dance” judges are far more honest (and tough) on the candidates stances on Clean Coal and Nuclear than the “real press” ever has been.

(if the youtube video isnt working, view it here: http://www.rebelliouspixels.com/)

This Sunday, Naomi Klein spoke about the elections at the Bioneers Conference. She said…