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    Latest XR newsletter Archived Message

    Posted by Ian M on January 20, 2021, 3:03 pm

    https://rebellion.global/blog/2021/01/12/global-newsletter-47/

    It has a 'legal eagle' theme talking about 'climate activism’s relationship with the law' and how 'communities and organisations have started to use existing laws, and even create new ones, to hold governments and polluting corporations to account'. It's acknowledged that there are 'some examples where the law is not so much an asset to the climate cause as an ass'. Here's the 'must read' section that's usually my stomping ground:

    'Must Reads

    Rebels protest the UK Supreme Court’s U-turn on Heathrow airport expansion. Photo: Hannah Woodhouse

    Order! This issue’s Must Reads is taking us to court, and in the dock is the law itself. Is it a help or a hindrance to the climate cause? A beacon of hope or a bastion of the Establishment? Read on, rebel! Read on!

    Desmog: Climate Litigation Summary 2020
    An excellent round up of all the key climate litigation filed last year, with links for each case to find out more.

    Grantham Research Institute: Global Trends in Climate Change Litigation
    This report published by the London School of Economics analyses key developments in climate change lawsuits around the world between May 2019 and May 2020.

    ClientEarth: Latest NewsThis international environmental law charity uses the courts to hold polluting governments and companies to account. Their website is an excellent resource for news about climate litigation.

    Vimeo Short: UK Supreme Court Overturn Ruling Against Heathrow Expansion (2 min)
    A short film shot at an XR protest outside the UK Supreme Court last month. The Court overturned a recent ruling that building a new runway for Heathrow airport was illegal.

    Guardian: The ‘Spycops’ Bill Undermines the Rule of LawA former shadow attorney general discusses legislation that allows undercover police to commit crimes to ‘keep the peace’. Could have major ramifications for climate protests both in the UK and across Europe.'

    Notice anything missing? I didn't feel like I had any links to contribute on the general theme, being of the view that law reflects the wishes of the rich & powerful, and if a law is made that challenges their power & control it will be swiftly abolished. But then I face-palmed when reading it - how could you write about the successes and failures of law and not mention Julian Assange, the key example - happening right now! - of how the justice [sic] system gets weaponised to torture & disappear dissidents fighting for a better world? The counter argument might be that his persecution has nothing to do with climate activism, but that strikes me as willfully naive especially considering wikileaks' many revelations involving climate change politics: https://search.wikileaks.org/?query=climate+change&exact_phrase=&any_of=&exclude_words=&document_date_start=&document_date_end=&released_date_start=&released_date_end=&new_search=True&order_by=most_relevant#results and just generally the relevance of somebody getting destroyed for telling the truth, one of XR's core demands ffs...

    A search of https://rebellion.global for 'assange' turned up no results. Searching the UK page, https://extinctionrebellion.uk turns up one mention from May 2019, courtesy of yours truly:

    '9. The arrest of Julian Assange: ‘So Now He’s Our Property’

    Excellent two-part summary by Media Lens. What does it have to do with Extinction Rebellion? It shows what the dominant culture does to its truth tellers and to dissidents who step beyond the bounds of Acceptable Discourse and actually challenge power. Remember: Wikileaks were once feted by the Guardian too. Not so much lately. See here for leaks published over the years on the subject of global warming. Petition against his extradition here, now over 300,000 signatures.'     - https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2019/05/03/newsletter-20-parliament-meets-our-first-demand/

    Meanwhile there's always time & column inches spare for XR Israel, including in this latest issue:

    'Israel Rebellion Brings Big Shit & Blockages.

    13 - 27 DEC | Ashkelon, Petah Tikva, Jerusalem.

    Rebels in Ashkelon find an alternative use for lengths of pipe. Photo: XR Israel

    XR Israel launched a fortnight of nationwide actions last month, with the rebellion wave kicking off in the coastal city of Ashkelon.

    40 brave rebels blocked the entrance to both the giant coal-fired Rothberg Power Station and the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company, whose pipeline pumps millions of barrels of crude oil every day between ports on the Mediterrean and Red Sea.

    Rebels managed to block traffic to the sites for two hours and recruit more rebels to their cause. An affinity group focused on the pipeline is now being set up.

    A fissure in the pipeline in 2014 flooded the Evrona Nature Reserve with oil, and was labelled one of Israel's worst environmental catastrophes. Nevertheless the pipeline’s operator recently secured a lucrative oil deal with the United Arab Emirates.

    A week later rebels in the central city of Petah Tikva entered the lobby of Migdal Group, one of the biggest pension funds in Israel. To encourage the group to stop greenwashing their dirty investments, the plucky rebels brought a big pile of fake excrement with them and basted it with a generous supply of green slime.

    Migdal invests over $1.5 billion a year in fossil fuels, and has a history of branding itself sustainable with little evidence. But following the rebel action the company stated it will apply environmental and social criteria to investment choices and ditched recently bought stock in the oil company Delek.

    The rebellion wave closed in the capital Jerusalem. 100 rebels disrupted the city for several hours by blocking the two exits of the Ministry of Energy, where the Prime Minister recently raised Israel’s renewable energy target to 30%, even though the current 17% target is far from being met, underlining how talking targets can bear little relation to action on the ground.'

    Nothing as far as I'm aware warning of the dangers of the fake a/s 'crisis', and no mention of Palestine since we got flak (some of it from XR Israel directly, funnily enough, one email alleging that they'd lost members over it) for running a story about Bedouins being dispossessed in the mildest terms:

    'Palestine: ecological breakdown meets experienced resisters

    18 OCT | Umm al Khair, West Bank

    These Bedouin children from the West Bank village of Umm al Khair have one of the lowest carbon footprints on earth, yet they are among those who will suffer the most from ecological breakdown.

    Palestinians will be amongst those hardest hit by the crisis. This environmental inequality is further compounded by a political one, as Palestinian access to water is restricted and much of their wells and infrastructure have been destroyed. With droughts and desertification likely to hit the region, life is made especially hard.

    In Umm al Khair, most of the village’s water supply has been stolen by the neighbouring settlement of Carmel (seen in the background), leaving the area’s Bedouins with an average of just 15 litres of water per day.

    Community activist and Umm al Khair resident Awdah Hathaleen said: “They control the water network, and they only allow the people of Umm Al-khair to get a little water. More than 5000 plants of thyme died this year because of the water problems… They don’t have mercy for the human; how they will be merciful with the environment?”     - https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2019/10/19/rebel-daily-9/

    Maybe we need to update the acronym PEP (progressive except for palestine) to PEPA (progressive except for palestine and assange)??

    jeers,
    I

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