THE ANNUAL GATHERING of the global business and political elite formally known as the World Economic Forum met at the Alpine ski resort of Davos from 21 to 24 January. Among the 3,000 attendees networking with ‘key players’ from politics, NGOs and academia, were 119 billionaires worth $500 billion between Read more…
AS WILDFIRES rage across swathes of Australia tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in every major city to demand the resignation of the government and action on the climate emergency. For weeks global media has been awash with apocalyptic images of flaming skies, refugees, incinerated forests Read more…
THE WORLD climate conference in Madrid was a complete failure. The final document is worse than ridiculous. Almost all the important issues, such as how to deal with emissions certificates or compensation for poorer countries, all of which are more immediately affected by climate change, were postponed to the next Read more…
On November 29, millions of young people again took to the streets. The date for the “global climate strike” was deliberately chosen to put pressure on the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 25) being held in Madrid from 2-13 December. There is still no slackening of the movement’s mobilising power. Read more…
In September, delegates to Labour Party conference adopted what was been widely hailed as the most radical environmental policy of any major political party in the world. But when it comes to the Clause V committee hashing out the party’s election manifesto behind closed doors, there is no guarantee that Read more…
Worldwide, millions took to the streets on September 20, the first of the two planned climate general strikes.
Green taxes and individual lifestyle changes shift the burden onto consumers, making workers and the poor pay for climate change, while subsidising big business which creates it. Foodbanks and poundshops do not provide green options. Make the polluters pay, not their involuntary consumers.
The climate disaster is already here for the millions across the world fleeing floods, fires and desertification. But now we have been given a deadline: in October 2018, UN scientists warned we have less than 12 years to keep global warming below 1.5C, the Paris Agreement’s goal, or face catastrophic, runaway climate change
The march was led by school students, followed by young and older people. At its biggest march was around 8-10,000 people. We filled the whole of Briggate whilst waiting to set off on to the Headrow.
Surrounded by lollipop placards brandishing “system change not climate change!” slogans, we joined the forefront of the march lapping the city centre retail quarters, passing out leaflets along the way. Quotes such as “it’s my future” stood out to me in the fervor of the marching protesters, taking action simultaneously with other cities across the world in a stand against climate change, capitalism and corporate ecocide.
With the onset of the dry season in the Amazon region, an inferno of forest fires has hit the Brazilian states of Rondônia, Pará, Mato Grosso and Amazonas. Satellite images show rainforest the size of one and a half football pitches being consumed every minute.This is a disaster not only for the inhabitants of the Amazon region itself but for everyone on the planet.
Our perspectives on the current global situation, League for the Fifth International Congress in Berlin, June 2019
Extinction Rebellion (XR) captured the headlines of the mainstream media and the imagination of millions this Easter, as its activists occupied key tourist locations and major traffic arteries in London for a week or more.
In February tens of thousands of young people showed the way forward in the fight against climate change by walking out of their schools and protesting.
School students lead the way in the fight for system change not climate change
By Chris Close “WE WILL not be led quietly to annihilation by the elites and government… it is not only our right, but our moral duty to bypass the government’s inaction and flagrant dereliction of duty, and to rebel to defend life itself.” So reads the opening proclamation of Extinction Rebellion, Read more…
WHEN PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump selects one of the most notorious climate sceptics, Scott Pruit, to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) you know the planet is in trouble. Pruitt, is part of the team waging a legal action by 28 states against the EPA to halt Barack Obama’s Clean Read more…
THIS year has seen some of the worst floods, with areas from Aberdeenshire down to Lancashire under water. Large swathes of Northern cities like York, Leeds and Manchester were filled with muddy brown water. Families caught up in the deluge of Storms Desmond and Eva not only had their Christmas Read more…
By James Copley As we go to press, the death toll from the super typhoon Haiyan is rapidly mounting in the Philippines as it smashed through the Pacific nation. Deaths are reported to have topped 10,000, yet the true count is still far from complete. The typhoon has Read more…
IN PREVIOUS editorials we have argued for a strategy to beat the cuts, centring on the need to win the unions to an all out general strike to smash the austerity programme and kick out Cameron and Clegg. This month I want to use this editorial to discuss something not covered in the rest of the paper but which will affect us all if we do not take action.
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