‘More culture war nonsense from the government as children go hungry and the planet burns’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/more-culture-war-nonsense-from-the-government-as-children-go-hungry-and-the-planet-burns

Police during an Extinction Rebellion demonstration blocking Vauxhall Bridge in central London, April 10, 2022

Right to protest comes under fresh attack as Tories unveil new measures and fines

THE right to protest came under fresh attack today as the Tory government unveiled new measures directed at demonstrators.

Rattled by the repeated huge solidarity marches with Palestine in recent months, ministers presented amendments to criminal justice legislation designed to make protesting harder.

Among the acts now to be criminalised are wearing masks at a demonstration, climbing on war memorials or the use of flares or fireworks.

Protesters engaging in any of these activities now risk fines of up to £1,000.

Nor will they any longer be able to use the right to protest as a defence if they cause serious disruption, a change driven by the refusal of a jury to convict anti-racists charged with hauling down the statute of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.

Leading human rights lawyer and peer Shami Chakrabarti said: … “This is more culture war nonsense from the government while children go hungry and the planet burns.”

Suella Braverman, who lost office trying to ban a Gaza ceasefire protest on Armistice Day, has demanded further measures.

These would include giving ministers, rather than the police, the power to ban marches they do not approve of; prohibit the use of particular slogans or phrases and proscribe groups deemed “extremist” even if they are entirely peaceful.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/more-culture-war-nonsense-from-the-government-as-children-go-hungry-and-the-planet-burns

Continue Reading‘More culture war nonsense from the government as children go hungry and the planet burns’

March Against Genocide Isn’t News to New York Times

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Original article by DAVE LINDORFF republished from Fair.org under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Devoted New York Times readers are likely unaware that a huge protest was held in the nation’s capital on Saturday, January 13, to protest Israel’s wanton slaughter of tens of thousands of Gazan civilians, and to condemn “Genocide” Joe Biden’s weapon shipments and diplomatic backing for Israel. The Times, despite having a huge bureau in Washington, DC, did not mention the event, even over the course of the following week.

Freedom Plaza for the March on Washington for Gaza, January 13, 2024 (CC photo: Elvert Barnes)

It’s hard to get an independent estimate of the number of people who showed up—Palestinians and Americans of all ages and races, including Jewish Americans, arriving from all parts of the country—because neither the Washington Metro Police nor the National Parks Service provides crowd estimates. What is clear from photo images of Freedom Plaza, a broad 500-foot-long rectangle that can easily accommodate over 100,000, is that there was what Newsweek (1/13/24) called a “massive” demonstration spilling over into adjacent Pershing Park, with still more thousands of protesters continuing to arrive along on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Protester John Reuwer, treasurer and a board member of the organization World Beyond War, is a veteran of many protests, large and small. He attended the January 13 protest, as well as an earlier one on November 4. Reuwer said he attempted to gauge the number of marchers when they began walking out of the plaza towards a planned White House protest. “It took one hour and 40 minutes to clear Freedom Plaza,” he said, guessing that the total protester count was “between 100,000–150,000.” (March organizers claimed to have had 400,000 protesters in DC, though that seems a high estimate to this author, who has attended plenty of protests, dating back to the early Vietnam War actions.)

Newsworthy alliance

Al Jazeera (1/13/24): “Massive rallies have kicked off off in world capitals including London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Amman and Washington, DC.”

By size alone, the rally deserved a story in the Times. But this wasn’t just one isolated US demonstration; it was part of a global call for protest against the ongoing assault on Gaza, which by January 13 had killed nearly 24,000, 70% of the victims being women and children. Times editors were surely aware that large anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrations were occurring around the US and the world (Al Jazeera1/13/24).

Even more newsworthy than the number of demonstrators and simultaneous global actions was the reality that this was the second mass action in DC in two months. In both cases, the lead organizers were Palestinian or US Muslim pro-Palestinian organizations.

Also newsworthy was that those two demonstrations both prominently featured activists from Jewish Voice for Peace (Newsweek1/13/24), a leftist anti-Zionist organization that claims to have some 400,000 members. This unique sponsorship marks a huge development after the two decades of widespread US Islamophobia that followed the 9/11 attacks, as well as a rare political alliance between US Muslims and anti-Zionist American Jews.

Surely all this deserved an article in the the nation’s leading newspaper.

True to form

John Hess

The Times has a long history of ignoring or minimizing the newsworthiness of anti-war protests. As the late John Hess, a career New York Times journalist, wrote of the paper’s coverage of protest against the Vietnam War in his tell-all book about working for the paper, titled My Times: A Memoir of Dissent (Seven Stories Press, 2003):

The Times’ coverage of the Indochina war, as indeed all its news coverage, may be viewed as a battleground. On the one hand (to employ a favorite Times usage), a handful of reporters did noble work; on the other hand, editors reined them in, toned down reporting on the peace movement, passed up chances to break the news of the My Lai massacre, and followed the basic administration line on peace terms to the bitter end.

Journalist Jeff Cohen, a longtime media critic (and founder of FAIR), says:

The Times has a long-standing bias against activists and protests—especially if the protests are against US foreign policy, and especially if the Times is supportive or apologetic about official policy—which is most of the time. Totally ignoring the January 13 protest, to me, is not unusual. Times coverage has a bias that views politics as happening in the suites (or at election time), but certainly not in the streets. Public protests in which the US president is being labeled a genocide-enabler or mass murderer by unofficial actors—i.e., not elite politicians—are rarely going to make it into the news pages of the Times.

A former Times reporter recalls:

The NYT‘s coverage of protests has long been sporadic, hit and miss. Some editors would say, “Just because people are out there protesting doesn’t necessarily warrant a story. If the underlying subject or controversy is important, then we will cover that—that’s more important than covering the protest.”

This former Times reporter adds:

One annual protest that the Times covers almost religiously is the annual anti-abortion protest on each January anniversary of Roe v. Wade. it was never clear why Times pays so much more attention to that than to many other protests.

Indeed, true to form, the Times (1/19/24), after apparently deciding that the huge January 13 pro-Gaza protest didn’t warrant a story, less than a week later devoted 1,500 words to an annual March for Life anti-abortion rally on the National Mall, said to have been attended by “thousands.”

Original article by DAVE LINDORFF republished from Fair.org under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Continue ReadingMarch Against Genocide Isn’t News to New York Times

400,000 marched in Washington DC against Biden’s complicity in Israel’s genocide

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Original article by Natalia Marques republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Hundreds of thousands marched in Washington, DC to demand an immediate ceasefire and protest Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza

Hundreds of thousands marched in Washington DC to protest Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Photo: Adrian Antonioli / ANSWER Coalition

On January 13, a crowd of 400,000 gathered in Washington, DC’s Freedom Plaza to take the Palestine solidarity movement straight to Biden’s doorstep. Hundreds of thousands then marched, holding Palestinian, Yemeni, South African, and Puerto Rican flags, through DC and straight to the gates of the White House.

The mobilization was organized by the American Muslim Task Force on Palestine, which includes American Muslims for Palestine, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Circle of North America, Muslim American Society, Muslim Student Association-National, Muslim Legal Fund of America, Muslim Ummah of North America, and Young Muslims, and the ANSWER Coalition.

Frustrated with Biden’s support and bankrolling of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, protesters surrounded the President’s residence and chanted “Hands off Yemen!” and “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud, turn this invasion around!” in reference to the US-UK bombing campaign against Yemen in response to the country’s blockade of Israel-bound ships. Protesters also left bloody baby dolls at the gates of the White House to condemn the genocide in Gaza and the over 10,000 children that have been killed to date. As the crowd demonstrated, several snipers were seen on the roof of the White House.

The hundreds of thousands who showed up in DC were joined by millions across the world who participated in a global day of action in solidarity with Palestine to mark nearly 100 days of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Rallies, strikes, and mass mobilizations were held in major cities of South Africa, Japan, Turkey, the UK, South Korea, Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand, Ivory Coast, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Austria, Australia, Finland, as well as throughout the United States. Thousands shut down the Port of Oakland in California at 5 am on Saturday morning.

Before marching, the crowd of hundreds of thousands in Freedom Plaza heard from a diverse array of speakers from the US Muslim community and anti-imperialist organizations. “So long as the genocide in Gaza is being funded by this administration,” said Ismahan Abdullahi of the Muslim American Society, “we will not relent in our efforts to demand justice and the liberation of the Palestinian people.”

“Just as South Africa courageously rose to rightfully charge Israel with genocide, we the people of the United States of America will rise and continue these efforts,” she continued.

“You Genocide Joe, you Blinken the butcher, and your Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. You will be haunted by the screams of the children in Gaza,” said Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine, who, like many other speakers, placed the blame for the ongoing Gaza genocide directly onto the United States government. “You will be haunted by the prayers, the agonizing prayers of the elderly and the women of Gaza. And we, this new generation, will be the answer to their prayers.”

Protesters demanded an end to all US funding of Israel. Photo: Wyatt Souers / ANSWER Coalition

2024 is an election year, and Biden, who is running for reelection, has been hounded by Pro-Palestine demonstrators at several campaign events already. Mainstream media outlets openly worry about Biden’s chances in 2024, with the aging President losing key demographics of Democratic Party support such as young people and Arab-Americans.

“Instead of focusing on the American people, our tax money is being used to spread hatred, to spread warfare, to support criminal activity, frankly speaking, to support a genocide,” Mohamed Sabri, who traveled from Chicago to attend the march in DC, told Peoples Dispatch about why he will not be voting for Biden.

As a result of Biden’s unpopularity, third party candidates running for president in 2024 have gained new prominence. Both Jill Stein and Cornel West, running platforms to the left of the ruling Democratic Party, spoke at the March for Gaza.

Peoples Dispatch spoke to presidential and vice presidential candidates Claudia De La Cruz and Karina Garcia, who were on the ground, marching among the crowd of hundreds of thousands, and are running jointly on an explicitly socialist platform. “We know it’s significantly important for any presidential candidate running for the 2024 election to prioritize the freedom, liberation of Palestine. Anyone who does not do that is standing in support of genocide,” said De La Cruz, the presidential candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

“Democratic politicians, they like to pay a lot of lip service during the year, especially around domestic issues, and they never want to talk about imperialism, which is at the center, it’s the core of all of the problems faced by the entire world,” added Garcia.

The PSL presidential ticket of Claudia de la Cruz and Karina Garcia participating in the March for Gaza in Washington DC. Photo: Craig Birchfield / ANSWER Coalition

Original article by Natalia Marques republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue Reading400,000 marched in Washington DC against Biden’s complicity in Israel’s genocide

Hundreds of Thousands March for Gaza as World Demands Cease-Fire

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Original article by JON QUEALLY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Tens of thousands of people gather to join the Global Day of Action calling for a ceasefire and an end to the war on Gaza on the 13th of January 2024, Central London, United Kingdom. The march and rally coincided with marches all over the World.  (Photo by Kristian Buus/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Coordinated actions from DC to London to Jakarta designed to “send a powerful message not just to the Israelis but to the Western powers who are backing them that the public say ‘not in our name.'”

Major coordinated demonstrations took place across the world on Saturday to mark the 100th day of Israel’s bombardment and military assault on the people of the Gaza Strip that have now claimed the lives of nearly 24,000 Palestinians, a large majority of them innocent men, women, and children who had nothing to do with the attacks orchestrated by Hamas on October 7 of last year.

In London, as many as 500,000 people marched on Parliament Square to demand an immediate cease-fire Gaza, condemn their own U.K. government’s support of Israel’s disproportionate and “genocidal” onslaught, and warn against a wider regional war that experts warn is creeping closer by the day.

‘Justice is lacking’: pro-Palestine demonstrators gather in London www.youtube.com

“This Global Day of Action, from Australia through to Asia, Europe and the Americas, is the first coordinated, international movement against the war being waged by Israel on the Palestinian people,” said Gaza Global Day of Action organizers ahead of the demonstration. “It will send a powerful message not just to the Israelis but to the Western powers who are backing them that the public say ‘not in our name.'”

In Dublin, organizers of a march that saw more than 100,000 march through city streets called it the largest rally for Palestinian rights in Irish history.

As the Irish Timesreports:

The crowd was filled with Palestinian flags, posters calling for an “End to the Gaza genocide” as well as makeshift washing lines, with baby clothes hanging from it, representing the many young lives lost in the conflict.

At the front of the march, four people held mock corpses in bloody body bags to represent the growing number of civilian casualties.

In the United States, tens of thousands marched in Washington, D.C. to denounce the Israeli onslaught—which has claimed over 23,000 lives, including more than 10,000 children—as well as their own government’s complicity in the carnage. President Joe Biden was on the tip of many demonstrators’ tongues and polls in the U.S. have shown very little support across the political spectrum for how he is handling the situation.

Jake and Ida Braford, a young couple from Richmond, Virginia, who brought their two small children to the protest, told the Associated Press the situation in Gaza has made them unsure of their support for Biden come this year’s election.

“We’re pretty disheartened,” Ida told the news agency. “Seeing what is happening in Gaza, and the government’s actions makes me wonder what is our vote worth?”

Following the march, demonstrators left a pile of bloodied baby dolls, including severe parts, in a pile outside the White House as a message to Biden. “The blood of the over 10,000 murdered children in Gaza is on his hands,” said CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, thousands gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta to condemn the ongoing “genocide” in Gaza perpetrated by Israel with the backing of the U.S. government and other Western allies.

Global day of action: Demonstration at US embassy in Jakarta urges ceasefire in Gaza www.youtube.com

Large protests were also held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as well as in the South African cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg. On Thursday, a delegation from South Africa presented its case charging Israel with genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

“We are here today to be part of the global day of action that will see demonstrations planned in more than 66 cities and at least 36 countries,” said a statement released by the organizers in Cape Town. “Today’s rally will be part of a united front of global voices, calling unconditionally for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.”

Cities in Israel were not among those holding large-scale demonstrations against the government’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza. One application by Israelis for a rally in Haifa to denounce the onslaught was rejected.

As Haaretzreported: “The commander of the police’s Coastal District, Maj. Gen. Daniel Levy, explained that the refusal to grant the permit was over “real concerns about a serious disruption to public order,” adding that there was a high likelihood that violence would break out between demonstrators and people opposing the demonstration.”

Original article by JON QUEALLY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Gaza Cease-Fire Now! No Wider War

Bloodied Baby Dolls Left Outside White House to Protest Biden’s Complicity in Gaza

Democrat Applauded for (Not-So) ‘Dumb Idea’ to End Houthi Attacks in Red Sea

Continue ReadingHundreds of Thousands March for Gaza as World Demands Cease-Fire

Dozens of Pro-Palestinian Rights Protesters Arrested for Blocking JFK Airport Entrance

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Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Airplanes are seen on a tarmac.  (Photo: Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash)

Organizers demonstrated to call attention to the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinians and the denial of their right to return home.

More than two dozen human rights campaigners were arrested on Wednesday for blocking Interstate 678, the Van Wyck Expressway, in New York—the road that leads to John F. Kennedy International Airport—in one of the latest highway protests demanding justice for Palestinians.

The protesters blocked the road at about 11:30 am and continued the action for about 20 minutes, The Messenger reported, displaying banners that read, “Right to Return, Right to Remain” and “Divest From Genocide.”

Independent journalist Talia Jane reported that the protesters aimed to call attention to the Israeli government’s denial of the Palestinian people’s right to return to their homes, which they were forced to flee in 1948 when the state of Israel was created.

The protest was held on the 81st day of Israel’s U.S.-backed bombardment of Gaza, which has killed at least 21,110 people and injured more than 55,000, as well as displacing more than 80% of the blockaded enclave’s population.

The campaigners linked arms and blocked the expressway days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly said the government’s objective is the so-called “voluntary” migration of Gaza’s 2.3 million people—another mass displacement of Palestinians nearly 75 years after they were driven from what is now Israel.

Some travelers headed for JFK on the busy holiday travel day exited their vehicles and walked to the airport with their luggage.

At least one told the demonstrators, “Good luck,” as she climbed over a highway barricade to get to the airport.

The Port Authority of New York told The Messenger that 26 people were arrested “for disorderly conduct and impeding vehicular traffic” and that officials dispatched two buses to offer rides to travelers.

The outlet reported that protesters carrying signs that read, “Land Back” also assembled outside Los Angeles International Airport, blocking travelers from entering.

National Jewish-led Palestinian rights groups Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow have blocked bridges and highways and organized mass protests in other travel hubs since Israel began its total blockade and air and ground assault in Gaza, which has threatened the population with starvation and disease as well as bombings.

Neither group had claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s protests at press time.

Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingDozens of Pro-Palestinian Rights Protesters Arrested for Blocking JFK Airport Entrance

Just Stop Oil activist handed shocking six-month prison sentence for slow marching

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/just-stop-oil-activist-handed-shocking-six-month-prison-sentence-slow-marching

Just Stop Oil protesters as they take part in a slow march protest through London as part of the group’s campaign to convince the government to end all new oil and gas projects in the UK, April 24, 2023

THE government’s draconian anti-protest laws have been used to give a shocking six-month prison sentence to a climate activist for taking part in a peaceful slow march.

Just Stop Oil supporter Stephen Gingell, 57, was sentenced at Manchester magistrates’ court on Thursday.

The father-of-three was arrested on November 13 after taking part in a slow march in north London for about half an hour.

Mr Gingell pleaded guilty to breaching section seven of the Public Order Act, which bans any act “which interferes with the use or operation of any key national infrastructure in England and Wales.”

Passed in May, the widely condemned legislation allows police to ban peaceful protests merely on the grounds that they might become disruptive.

“It seems this government has now made walking down the road, walking on the public highway, an illegal act that is worthy of imprisonment,” a Just Stop Oil spokesperson said.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/just-stop-oil-activist-handed-shocking-six-month-prison-sentence-slow-marching

Continue ReadingJust Stop Oil activist handed shocking six-month prison sentence for slow marching

Milei Couples ‘Total Crackdown’ on Protest With Economic Shocks in Argentina

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Original article by Julia Conley at Common Dreams shared under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Argentinian President Javier Milei looks on after the polls close in the presidential runoff election on November 19, 2023 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo: Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images)

“Protest is elemental to Argentine social and political life, so it’s not difficult to imagine how this ends,” said one journalist.

As the human impact of Argentinian President Javier Milei’s “shock treatment” to the South American country’s economy became increasingly clear with rising prices on Thursday, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich announced what one journalist said were doubtlessly “preemptive” new controls on protests to discourage a struggling population from speaking out.

Bullrich said four security forces—the Federal Police, the Gendarmerie, the Naval Prefecture, and the Airport Security Police—will work together to stop protests that block streets and suggested the protocol is aimed only at ensuring “that people can live in peace” without demonstrators blocking traffic.

But as Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler and others noted, the measures also include calls for armed forces to break labor strikes, create a national registry of people who organize protests, and sanctions against parents who bring their children to demonstrations.

The new package amounts to “a total crackdown on Argentine civil society,” Adler said.

https://twitter.com/davidrkadler/status/1735666098127733129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1735666098127733129%7Ctwgr%5Edc4c076d58c4fd3232ae472103691fce93a38f1a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fmilei

Bullrich’s announcement came days after Milei, a far-right libertarian economist who has called the climate crisis “a socialist lie” and has been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump, announced in the first weeks of his presidency an economic “shock treatment” package including a devaluation of the peso by 50%, from 400 pesos to the U.S. dollar to 820 pesos.

The administration also said it would cut public spending by closing some government ministries, increasing retirements ordered by decree, reducing energy and transportation subsidies, and freezing public works, with further “profound” measures expected in the future.

Milei claimed that with the spending cuts, government revenues will ultimately increase by 2.2 points, helping to confront an economic crisis in which annual inflation exceeds 160%, the country has a trade deficit of $43 billion, and $45 billion is owed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

But as Milei’s “open heart surgery of the economy,” as El País called the package, took hold, prices of some goods and services rose by 100% and some commuters worried that they will no longer to be able to afford their daily commutes it transit agencies are forced to raise prices due to lost subsidies.

“If [the bus fare] goes up, my salary will be spent on transport,” Julia González, who takes three buses and a train to her job in downtown Buenos Aires, toldThe Associated Press.

About 40% of Argentinians live below the poverty line and more than 9% are destitute, reported El País, with incomes insufficient to buy food.

Economist Juan Manuel Telechea told the outlet that monthly inflation could reach 30-40% due to the devaluation and that social aid will be “highly insufficient.”

Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said of the economy Wednesday that Milei “found a patient in intensive care about to die,” but one trade unionist told El País the president is “exaggerating the inherited crisis situation to justify inadmissible measures, which will increase poverty levels in Argentina above 50% in a matter of days.”

“The mega-devaluation that is being carried out is a matter of concern because it may devolve into hyperinflation,” Pato Laterra, an economist at the National University of La Plata, told the newspaper.

Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said last month that Argentina’s current economic crisis is the result of right-wing former President Mauricio Macri’s administration, which took out the largest loan ever from the IMF and pushed the economy into a recession, with poverty and inflation rising by 50% or more.

“But a crazed, economically suicidal approach would only make things worse—and as Argentina has experienced, things can get a lot worse,” said Weisbrot. “Milei displays a callous disregard for most people’s living standards, values, and well-being, as well as a commitment to widely discredited economic policies, that is unprecedented.”

Jacob Sugarman of the Buenos Aires Heraldsaid Wednesday that it remains to be seen “how long Argentine society is willing to tolerate this kind of pain” and suggested that Bullrich’s announcement of a crackdown on dissent is likely to further anger the public.

“Protest is elemental to Argentine social and political life, so it’s not difficult to imagine how this ends,” said Sugarman, “especially with Bullrich announcing that the government will use federal forces including the National Military Police to break picket lines.”

Original article by Julia Conley at Common Dreams shared under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingMilei Couples ‘Total Crackdown’ on Protest With Economic Shocks in Argentina

Court confirms Greenpeace right to peaceful protest as activists’ 200 hour long protest against deep sea mining in the Pacific continues

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Amsterdam, The Netherlands —  A Dutch court has largely rejected a request by a deep seabed mining company to issue an injunction against protest by Greenpeace International, stating that it is “understandable” the organisation has resorted to direct action in the face of the “possibly very serious consequences” of the company’s plans.

Greenpeace International activists from the Rainbow Warrior attach a flag reading 'Stop Deep Sea Mining'' to a cable holding the prototype robot Patania II in April 2021. (Photo: Marten van Dijl/Greenpeace)
Greenpeace International activists from the Rainbow Warrior attach a flag reading ‘Stop Deep Sea Mining” to a cable holding the prototype robot Patania II in April 2021. (Photo: Marten van Dijl/Greenpeace)

In the case brought by NORI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Metals Company (TMC), the judgement states that Greenpeace International’s climbers who were occupying the vessel’s stern crane must disembark, but denies NORI’s request to keep Greenpeace activists from being within a 500 metre radius of MV COCO. The court decision comes after nearly 200 hours of peaceful protest by Greenpeace International activists against the MV COCO, which is collecting data for TMC as part of its drive to file the first-ever deep sea mining application next year.

“This is without question a massive setback for the deep sea mining industry. The Dutch court not only affirmed Greenpeace’s right to protest but also agreed that nodule mining is a highly controversial activity. The Metals Company has never been interested in scrutiny and they can’t stand that Greenpeace is watching and opposing them at every turn. Our activists are speaking the truth to destructive companies like TMC that are only out for their own profit, at huge cost to us all. We are determined to keep bringing this dangerous industry to public attention and will continue to disrupt its plans”, said Mads Christensen, Executive Director of Greenpeace International.

After five days of a non-stop kayak activity around the MV COCO, the vessel was safely climbed by five Greenpeace International activists on 25 November. Activists aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise took turns occupying the vessel’s stern crane to peacefully draw attention to the demand that TMC stop its deep sea mining exploration activities and drop its destructive plans in one of the world’s last untouched ecosystems. NORI claims the protest has been costing it 1M Euros a day. 

The Dutch court denied NORI’s request for an injunction to keep Greenpeace activists from being within a 500 metre radius of COCO, a call that was repeated by the International Seabed Authority Secretary-General but which the judge described as ‘not an enforceable measure’. 

Greenpeace International climbers descended on 30 November, but the 200-hour ongoing peaceful protest continues.  

“The ISA Secretariat should learn from Greenpeace International activists as an example of a bold fight back against the destruction of this still unknown ecosystem. The power of the global movement against deep sea mining is growing, and is undimmed by corporate efforts and behind the scene’s agreements to limit protest. Brave action across the world by people standing up for what is right will stop deep sea mining”, said Greenpeace International Stop Deep Sea Mining campaigner Louisa Casson, aboard the Arctic Sunrise.

Greenpeace International activist Sofia Castellanos said: “We are standing up against the first ever deep sea mining application that TMC are trying to rush through against scientific warnings and political opposition of 24 countries calling for a moratorium. We will continue to protest every time TMC tries to push forward this dangerous industry, for the sake of our oceans and the rich and mysterious life of the deep sea.” 

Continue ReadingCourt confirms Greenpeace right to peaceful protest as activists’ 200 hour long protest against deep sea mining in the Pacific continues

Australia’s largest-ever civil disobedience protest stops half a million tonnes of coal exports

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https://priceofoil.org/2023/11/27/australias-largest-ever-civil-disobedience-protest-stops-half-a-million-tonnes-of-coal-exports/

Image: Rising Tide

They are calling it the largest civil disobedience climate protest in the history of Australia.

This weekend, thousands of activists, young and old, from across the country descended on the world’s largest coal port at Muloobinba (Newcastle), on Awabakal and Worimi land and water.

The organizers labeled it a family-friendly event with live music and speeches. The plan also included blockading the plant by a sea blockage by kayak, boat, or even surfboard. It was the first time a blockage was planned overnight.

The protest was a huge success. In the end, some three thousand people prevented coal ships leaving for thirty-two hours and stopped half a million tonnes of coal from being exported.

Some tweets from the action:

In total, one hundred people were arrested, including 97 year old Reverend Alan Stuart who said: “I am doing this for my grandchildren and future generations.” He became the oldest person ever to be arrested in Australia.

https://priceofoil.org/2023/11/27/australias-largest-ever-civil-disobedience-protest-stops-half-a-million-tonnes-of-coal-exports/

Continue ReadingAustralia’s largest-ever civil disobedience protest stops half a million tonnes of coal exports

Protesters Take Over Strategic Sites in D.C., Los Angeles, Oakland to Call for End to Gaza Assault

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Original article republished from DEMOCRACY NOW! under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Daily protests against Israel’s attack on Gaza continue. In Washington, D.C., human rights activists gathered in front of the White House for a vigil calling on President Biden to back an immediate ceasefire. Body bags were laid out on the ground to represent the more than 11,500 Palestinians killed by the U.S.-backed Israeli assault.

Later in the evening, activists blocked the entrance of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters before police violently removed them. Lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, were gathered for a campaign event. This is Eva Borgwardt of the Jewish peace group IfNotNow. 

Eva Borgwardt: “We’re outside the Democratic Party headquarters because this party claims to be on the side of life and peace and equality, and we’re saying that we want them to live up to their values and oppose this horrific war and call for a ceasefire now. And we’re being responded to by the police shoving antiwar activists down the stairs, shoving peaceful protesters back with their bikes. And because our party, our party that 80% of us want a ceasefire, would rather beat up protesters than” —

Chuck Modi: “Hold on. To be continued. One second. One second. One second.”

The interview was interrupted when police resumed beating protesters, spraying them with chemical agents and arresting them. 

In Los Angeles, over 1,000 American Jews and others held an emergency sit-in on one of Hollywood’s busiest streets to demand an immediate ceasefire. Earlier this week, over 700 Jewish activists and their allies shut down Oakland’s federal building. Hundreds of people were arrested in the action.

Original article republished from DEMOCRACY NOW! under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Continue ReadingProtesters Take Over Strategic Sites in D.C., Los Angeles, Oakland to Call for End to Gaza Assault