Sanders and Gillibrand call on Amazon to recognize historic union victory

Common Dreams
June 11, 2022

Kirsten Gillibrand

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) Friday sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy urging him to drop the company’s objections to the historic union election on Staten Island before a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearing on Monday and finally recognize the Amazon Labor Union.

“If Amazon can afford to spend $10 billion in stock buybacks to enrich its wealthy shareholders and executives—including the second richest person in the world, Jeff Bezos—it can afford a unionized workforce,” the senators wrote. “If Amazon can spend over $4 million in a single year on union-busting and $213 million on your compensation, it can afford a workforce that can collectively bargain for better wages, better benefits, safer working conditions, and reliable schedules…We strongly urge you to respect the will of Amazon workers by dropping your objections, recognizing the Amazon Labor Union and negotiating in good faith before the NLRB hearing on June 13th. It is time for Amazon to end its blatant disregard of labor law and treat workers with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

Since the workers on Staten Island became the first-ever Amazon warehouse to successfully vote to form a union in the United States, Amazon has refused to negotiate a first contract, refused to recognize that the union exists, and filed 25 objections to the election – despite the NLRB certifying the victory.

"Sadly, Amazon has refused to accept the will of their workers and has instead filed 25 objections to the election, accusing both the union and the NLRB of misconduct. Amazon has objected to the union election from the beginning, alleging that there is insufficient support and the union and NLRB manipulated evidence of support. But, Mr. Jassy, last month's election results make it clear that your workers at JFK8 want a union. Amazon has gone as far as alleging that the NLRB and the union’s actions are “substantially more egregious” than its own actions to interfere with a union election in Bessemer, Alabama by illegally installing a mailbox to intimidate workers" the senators wrote.

Last year, Amazon increased its profits by 75 percent to a record-breaking $35 billion while avoiding over $5 billion in taxes and while spending $4.3 million on union-busting consultants and lawyers. Amazon has also been penalized more than $75 million for breaking federal discrimination and wage laws and is currently being sued by the NLRB to reinstate a worker who was illegally fired for organizing a union.

Amazon is waging a war against workers’ right to unionize – from forcing workers to attend anti-union meetings, to threatening to slash wages and benefits if workers form a union – and there are currently 51 open Unfair Labor Practice cases against Amazon pending before the NLRB.

Protesters march in Geneva against WTO role in agriculture

Agence France-Presse
June 11, 2022

A demonstrator holds a 'Down (WTO) Colonial Project' placard in a rally against the World Trade Organization in Geneva Fabrice COFFRINI AFP

Around 500 people marched in Geneva Saturday slamming free trade's role in a global food security crisis, as the WTO prepared to host global trade ministers in the city.

"Our food is not merchandise," and "Speculation: the beginning of hunger" read some of the banners paraded through Geneva, a day before the opening of the World Trade Organization's first ministerial meeting in five years.

Global food security will be high on the agenda at the four-day meeting, with WTO's 164 member states under pressure to produce a common response to the risk of a global hunger crisis that has been dramatically amplified by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But the farmers organizations behind Saturday's demonstration slammed what they deemed the destructive impact of the WTO-backed free trade agreements on small farmers and agricultural producers, and in turn on food security.

"No farmers, no food!" shouted the demonstrators.

"Today, the WTO is purely a place for doing business, taking market share and pushing up the cost of food, rendering it inaccessible to many," Nicolas Girod, spokesman for the French farmers union Confederation Paysanne, told AFP.

"The alternative is to develop true food sovereignty" at the local level, "in accordance with what populations are asking for," he said.

Asked what he expected to come out of the WTO ministerial meeting, due to last through Wednesday, he said "not much".

Long-range .308/.338-cal M10 bolt-action rifle for Canadian troops

By Boyko Nikolov On Jun 9, 2022 BULGARIANMILITARY.COM

OTTAWA ($1=1.26 Canadian Dollars) — The Finnish sniper weapon system SAKO TRG M10 was selected for the new long-range rifle by the Canadian government and according to information circulated in the Canadian media 229 units of this sniper rifle should be delivered by the end of 2022.

Photo: Twitter

• Canadian Cadex CDX-MC multi-caliber sniper rifle – the awakening of the Kraken

SACO TRG M10 is considered an evolution in the design of sniper rifles and was officially shown to the world nearly ten years ago, in October 2011. One of the impressive key features is the ability of the sniper rifle to switch from one to the second caliber: between .308 Winchester [7.62 × 51mm NATO], .300 Winchester Magnum, and .338 Lapua Magnum chamberings by changing the bolts. But that is not enough. To completely switch from one caliber to another, you still have to change magazines, forends, and barrels.

SAKO TRG M10 is a military conspiracy and has no civilian equivalent. Extremely precise long-range rifle. The maximum operating range is up to 1,500 meters, but the proven effective range is up to 1,200 meters. The rifle is equipped with a folding adjustable butt and aluminum middle chassis frame. The hand guard is innovatively integrated into the immediate vicinity of the trigger. SAKO TRG M10 has indicators that help identify different modular components for different calibers, where each caliber-depending component is specially marked so users can recognize the caliber of each part visually or by touch.

The Canadian government believes that with the acquisition of the Finnish SACO TRG M10 sniper weapon system, troops will gain more flexibility and increase their combat capability and effectiveness on the battlefield. All 229 units that will arrive by the end of the year will be paid for by Canada’s new weapons project worth 2.9 million.

Photo: TFB

The Finns also welcomed the choice of the Canadian government. “Sako’s commitment to great products that meet the needs of defense forces worldwide continues in Canada as we deliver the SAKO TRG M10 as the MCSW [Multi-Caliber Sniper Weapon], satisfying long and medium-range sniper needs with the multi-caliber capability,” said Raimo Karjalainen, CEO of the Finnish manufacturer.

 LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

The Reality Behind Conspiracy Theories and Domestic Terrorism

A Canadian Patriot Documentary

by Matthew J.L. Ehret / June 11th, 2022

Where “conspiracy theories” were once understood to be the driving force of world history (both for good or for evil), today’s dumbed-down populus has increasingly become induced to believe that the term is synonymous with either insanity at best, or domestic terrorism at worst.

The fact is that the behaviorists attempting to “nudge” humanity into a Great Reset of technocratic feudalism have set their sights on “conspiracy theories” as the primary threat to their agenda which they assert, must be destroyed and subverted through a number of techniques enumerated as early as 2008 by Cass Sunstein (counsellor to Biden’s Department of Homeland Security) in his essay “Conspiracy Theories”.

In this Canadian Patriot Review documentary produced and narrated by Jason Dahl, the true nature of “conspiracy theories” is explored from Ancient Rome, through the Golden Renaissance, American Revolution and our present age. Rather than seeing conspiracies as solely a negative term as is so often the case, we evaluate both evil as well as positive expressions of this fundamentally human process which literally means “two or more people acting together in accord with an agreed upon idea and intention”.

VIDEO 

The Reality Behind Conspiracy Theories and Domestic Terrorism (A Canadian Patriot Documentary) (rumble.com)

The film is adapted from the text written by Matthew Ehret titled “Will Conspiracy Theorizing Soon Get you Labelled a ‘Domestic Terrorist’?“

US cues upgrade of diplomatic mission to Palestinians

East Jerusalem consulate was closed in 2019 under former US President Donald Trump, who moved the diplomatic mission to the US embassy in Israel.

The Trump administration shuttered the US Jerusalem consulate, an office that for years served as the de facto embassy to the Palestinians [File: Ariel Schalit/the Associated Press]

Published On 9 Jun 20229 Jun 2022

The administration of United States President Joe Biden has signalled it is upgrading its diplomatic mission to Palestinians, which is currently located within the US embassy in Jerusalem, after former President Donald Trump downgraded the status of the mission.

The Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU), which operated within the US embassy in Israel, will now be redesignated as the US Office of Palestinian Affairs (OPA), and, while remaining in the embassy in Israel, will report directly to the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the US Department of State “on substantive matters”.

The PAU was created in 2019 when Trump decided to close the US consulate in occupied East Jerusalem, which had served as the de facto embassy to the Palestinians.

The move, while incremental, indicates the latest shift in the US’s approach as it seeks to mend frayed relations with Palestinians that emerged under Trump.

The Biden administration did not give any updates on pledges to reopen the consulate.

“The name change was done to better align with State Department nomenclature,” a spokesperson said. “The new OPA operating structure is designed to strengthen our diplomatic reporting and public diplomacy engagement.”

Following the closure of the consulate by Trump, the staff and functions of the mission remained largely identical, but the downgrade meant they fell under the US ambassador to Israel and the mission no longer maintained a distinct US-Palestinian bilateral track.

Palestinian officials did not immediately comment on the redesignation, which came as Palestinian officials said they expected to host senior State Department envoy Hady Amr on Thursday in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority’s seat of government in the occupied West Bank.

The closure of the consulate and the decision by Trump to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018 enraged Palestinians, who want occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Israel, which captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and later illegally annexed it, calls Jerusalem its indivisible capital.

Israel has said it would not consent to reopening the US consulate in occupied East Jerusalem and proposed that a consulate be opened in Ramallah instead.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected that plan, saying it will “only accept a US consulate in Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

Mexican megachurch leader jailed in US for more than 16 years for child sexual abuse


La Luz del Mundo ‘apostle’ Naasón Joaquín García sentenced after admitting three abuse charges in Californian court

Naasón Joaquín García, the leader of the Mexico-based church La Luz del Mundo, was sentenced in Los Angeles superior court to more than 16 years for sexually abusing young women. 

Photograph: Carolyn Cole/AP

Associated Press
Thu 9 Jun 2022 

The leader of the Mexican megachurch La Luz del Mundo was sentenced on Wednesday to more than 16 years in a California prison for sexually abusing young female followers.

Naasón Joaquín García, 53, pleaded guilty last week in Los Angeles superior court to three felonies on the eve of a long-awaited trial

Prosecutors said García, who is considered the “apostle” of Jesus Christ by his 5 million followers worldwide, used his spiritual sway to have sex with girls and young women who were told it would lead to their salvation – or damnation if they refused.

Judge Ronald Coen, who called García a sexual predator, said: “I never cease to be amazed at what people do in the name of religion and how many lives are ruined in the guise of a supreme being.”

The sentence came after nearly three hours of emotional statements by five young women García was charged with sexually abusing. They had once been his most devoted servants. But in court they called him “evil” and a “monster”, “disgusting human waste” and the “antichrist”.

“I worshipped my abuser,” said a woman identified as Jane Doe 4. “He used me over and over again like a sacrificial lamb taken to slaughter.”

García pleaded guilty on Friday to two counts of forcible oral copulation involving minors and one count of a lewd act upon a child who was 15. In exchange, prosecutors dropped 16 counts that included allegations of raping children and women, as well as human trafficking to produce child pornography.

The victims objected to the plea deal, saying they only learned about it at the last minute and were not consulted. They implored Coen to impose a stiffer sentence but he said his hands were tied by the agreement.

“The world has heard you,” he told them and their supporters. “I promise you that.”

Naasón Joaquín García, pictured here in 2018, leads a service at La Luz del Mundo in Guadalajara, Mexico. He has 5 million followers worldwide. 

Photograph: AP
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The church, which is also known as the Light of the World, claimed in a statement that García pleaded guilty because he didn’t think he could get a fair trial.

“The Apostle of Jesus Christ has had no choice but to accept with much pain that the agreement presented is the best way forward to protect the church and his family,” the church said. It repeated its support for him.

García’s grandfather founded the Guadalajara-based fundamentalist Christian church in 1926. García took over as “apostle” after his father, Samuel Joaquín Flores, died in 2014.

Patricia Fusco, supervising deputy attorney general, praised the victims for their bravery in standing up to García. She said their courage had saved others’ lives.

“They [the victims] trusted him. They thought he was basically God on Earth,” Fusco said. “We know, of course, he’s not God. Not even close.”

Patricia Fusco, supervising deputy attorney general, lowers her head as victims of Naasón Joaquín García speak of the plea deal. 

Photograph: Carolyn Cole/AP

The victims spoke of how their delight at being invited into a secret inner circle with García. They said they were called angels and told they were García’s property and that his wishes were godly commands and they should serve the Lord without question. Bible verses were twisted to make them comply, they said.

But they were also told they would be damned if they spoke out – and so would anybody they told.

In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International.

Act now to end food, energy and finance crisis, Guterres urges world leaders

© WFP/Saleh Hayyan
A family shares a meal in Yemen with food provided by the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

8 June 2022
UN Economic Development


Ripple effects from the war in Ukraine have generated a severe cost-of-living crisis which no country or community can escape, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday at a press conference to launch the latest report on the conflict’s impacts on food security, energy, and financing.

An estimated 1.6 billion people in 94 countries are exposed to at least one dimension of the crisis, with around 1.2 billion living in “perfect-storm” countries severely vulnerable to all three dimensions, the policy brief by the Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) has revealed.

The report calls for stabilizing record-high food and fuel prices, implementing social safety nets, and increasing financial support to developing countries.
‘A new reality’

The UN chief said the message is clear and insistent: countries must act now to save lives and livelihoods.

“Three months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we face a new reality,” he told reporters.

“For those on the ground, every day brings new bloodshed and suffering. And for people around the world, the war is threatening to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake.”

Furthermore, the crisis is amplifying the consequences of other challenges confronting countries, such as the climate emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic, and inequalities in resources for post-pandemic recovery.

The increase in hunger since the start of the war could be higher and more widespread, according to the report.

The number of severely food insecure people doubled from 135 million prior to the pandemic, to 276 million over just two years. The ripple effects of the war could push this number to 323 million.

 

UNDP Ukraine/Oleksandr Simonenko
Drone footage shows the scale of destruction in Irpin in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine.

‘Race against time’

UN trade chief Rebeca Grynspan, who co-leads the GCRG stream on finance, presented the report. She said the world is in “a race against time”, and inaction will be more costly than finding solutions.

The cost-of-living crisis could spark a “cycle of social unrest leading to political instability”, she warned.

Some 60 per cent of workers worldwide have already lower real incomes than before the pandemic, meaning families are having to choose whether to skip meals, keep children in school, or pay medical bills, for example.

“The current food crisis may rapidly turn into a food catastrophe of global proportions in 2023,” said Ms. Grynspan, head of the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD.

Higher energy costs and trade restrictions on the fertilizer supply from the Black Sea region have caused fertilizer prices to rise even faster than food prices.

She said if the war continues, and grain and fertilizer high prices persist into the next planting season, shortages of other basic foods such as rice will occur, affecting billions more worldwide.

© UNDP Nigeria
A farmer tends his crops in a field in Nigeria.

‘Package deal’ on exports

The report makes clear that the war’s impact on food security, energy and finance is systemic, severe, and speeding up, the UN Secretary-General said.

Although ending the deadly and devastating conflict is the only way to stop the “gathering storm”, the UN chief called for immediate action on two fronts: stabilizing global food and energy markets and supporting poorer countries in the crisis.

He said Ms. Grynspan and the UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, will coordinate two task forces on finding a “package deal” that would allow for Ukrainian-produced food to be safely and securely exported through the Black Sea, while Russian food and fertilizers would have unimpeded access to global markets.

The top officials have already begun working closely with parties in the two countries, and in Turkey, the European Union, and the United States, though the Secretary-General refrained from further comment to avoid jeopardizing the chances for success.

“Ukraine’s food production, and the food and fertilizer produced by Russia, must be brought back into world markets – despite the war,” he said.
Support vulnerable countries

Stressing that there is no solution to the global crisis without also solving the economic crisis in the developing world, the UN chief called for greater resources to help the world’s poorest countries and communities at this time.

“Governments must be able to borrow the money they need to keep their economies afloat and their people thriving,” he said.

“The global financial system must rise above its shortcomings and use all the instruments at its disposal, with flexibility and understanding, to provide support to vulnerable countries and people.”

Climate justice is key to addressing the climate crisis

MARY ROBINSON

Photo: Charlotte Burn Photography / St George's House
9 June 2022

At the St George's House Annual Lecture at Windsor Castle on 31 May 2022, Mary Robinson discussed the importance of climate justice as an indispensable concept, framework and guide for addressing the existential threat of the climate crisis.

LONG READ

Mary Robinson's speech

Your Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure and a privilege to be with you here this evening, for the first St. George’s House Annual Lecture since 2019 and on the happy occasion of Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Although we have all become familiar with and adept at using digital technologies in recent times, there is no substitute for face-to-face meetings and I look forward to a rich and stimulating conversation tonight.

My theme is climate justice, and why it is an indispensable concept, framework and guide for addressing the existential threat posed by the climate crisis.

Climate justice has been a priority in my public work for many years but its salience has increased significantly as a result of the intertwined crises our planet is currently enduring.

To understand this better, we need to acknowledge that our world has changed immeasurably over the course of the past three years.

The combined impact of the pandemic, the climate crisis, a brutal war on the continent of Europe and a fraying of the rules-based international order is being felt in every corner of the globe.

COVID-19 has claimed the lives of over six million people and untold numbers are still suffering the effects of their illness in unpredictable and destabilising ways.

The pandemic has exposed and exacerbated inequalities between and within nations, with the poorest and most marginalised in society often bearing the heaviest brunt in terms of health, psychological and economic impacts. Whilst we have witnessed remarkable feats of scientific endeavour and ingenuity in the rapid development of effective COVID-19 vaccines, we must also acknowledge a profound failure of politics, solidarity and coordination that has led to stark vaccine inequity: although 80% of people in higher and middle-income countries have received at least one dose, it is only 17% in low-income countries, predominantly in the Global South.

In the initial stages of the pandemic in Spring 2020, we heard many pious words from global leaders on the need to come together and act with common purpose in the face of this new, indiscriminate, existential threat.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, sought to harness this resolve through his call for a “global COVID ceasefire”. Yet three years on, it is clear that leaders have failed to heed his call: from the coup and civil war in Myanmar, to the ongoing agonies of Syria and Yemen, the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and, most egregiously of all, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

And all the while, fresh scientific data continues to reveal the true extent of the climate crisis, the damage human activity has wrought on our planet and its ecosystems, and the relentlessly-closing window of opportunity that remains to prevent irreversible planetary catastrophe.

A common thread runs through these three disruptions: injustice.

It is profoundly unfair that people in Western Europe and North America have had three or maybe four COVID vaccinations by now when millions in Africa, Asia and Latin America have not even had one.

It is an offence unto international law and basic human decency that innocent Ukrainian civilians are being slain in their homeland on the orders of a Russian president in contempt of the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions.

At the same time, the way the international community has reacted to Putin’s invasion stands in contrast to its paralysis and passivity in the face of many other conflicts and violations of international law.

For too long, acts of aggression have been tolerated and unpunished by leading powers, including the permanent members of the UN Security Council, because the perpetrators are political or economic allies.

This is itself a profound injustice, resonant of historical hypocrisy and cynical realpolitik. I hope that the reaction to the war in Ukraine can herald a sea-change in global attitudes to ending impunity for war criminals everywhere.

Climate justice also challenges hypocrisy. It is a grave and worsening injustice that the impacts of climate change are felt the most by those people who are least responsible for rising carbon emissions and global temperatures.

Without justice, we will not have a fair, healthy and peaceful world. And without climate justice, we risk not even having a liveable planet for future generations.

Climate justice is a diverse concept reflecting the multiplicities and intersectionality of the climate crisis itself, but with a clear principle at its core. I identify five key layers of climate injustice:

Firstly, it has disproportionately affected the poorest countries, poorest communities, small island states and indigenous peoples of our planet;

Secondly, within that, it has exacerbated gender injustice. Women are too often excluded from and oppressed by decision-making bodies and institutions, meaning their perspectives are not heard when climate policies are debated – yet it is also women who are the ones building resilience in their communities;

Thirdly, there is the intergenerational injustice whereby young people and those not yet born may suffer the physical, material and psychological consequences of a wrecked climate because of the actions – and inaction – of their predecessors;

The fourth injustice is a subtle one. Industrialised countries built their economies on fossil fuel. Now our challenge – exemplified by the current war in Ukraine – is to wean ourselves off coal, oil and gas far more quickly than we’re doing and to provide a just transition for the workers that helped us to build our economies. And we need to support developing countries to bring themselves out of poverty in ways that help them to move to renewable energy but understand the immediate need to address energy poverty with an equitable transition.

Lastly, there is the injustice to nature herself. The oceans, forests, ice shelves and coral reefs that predate human existence and help sustain it today are at risk from our reckless behaviour, as is the wildlife we affect to love on television documentaries.

Delivering justice requires a concerted, holistic effort from all of us: governments, business, civil society, women’s networks, youth, faith groups, trade unions, investors and ordinary members of the public.

In particular, it demands that we do not act in silos but acknowledge different perspectives and draw connections between seemingly remote experiences, whether this is the impact of war in Ukraine on food security in Zimbabwe, or droughts and famine in the Horn of Africa and elsewhere on that continent, leading more people to attempt perilous sea crossings in the Mediterranean to reach Europe’s shores.

The climate crisis is not static, and a climate justice-driven response should not be either. We can see this clearly in the current debates on Europe’s energy security and the political imperative to end our dependency on Russian oil and gas.

There is a clear moral, strategic and environmental reason to do so: this is a fossil-fuelled war, where the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom have been buying over $600 million dollars of Russian oil and gas every day even as they also spend millions supplying Ukraine with vital military and humanitarian assistance.

In the rush to replace Russian fossil fuels, I hope that European governments – and I still very much include the United Kingdom as a European government in this context - will further accelerate the shift to renewable energy, rather than simply seeking alternative sources of fossil fuels.

Any increased use of Liquefied Natural Gas, coal and nuclear must be a strictly temporary measure, so as not to lock in long-term dependency.

Care must be taken to listen to African voices about the limited use of gas as a transition fuel for both clean cooking and wider purposes, but with a proviso it is time-bound and compatible with the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us that we have a vanishingly small window remaining to keep alive the target of restricting global temperature rises to 1.5℃ as set out in the Paris Agreement.

There is no more space for new fossil fuel infrastructure - existing infrastructure alone will blow the 1.5℃ target. Compared to their grandparents, at the current rate of predicted global warming it is projected that a child born this year will live through seven times as many heatwaves, nearly three times as many droughts and twice as many wildfires.

Yet here again, the transition to renewables has climate justice implications that need to be understood holistically by a wide range of stakeholders far beyond the energy industry.

Clean-energy technologies such as solar plants, wind farms, and electric vehicles are mineral-intensive. Motors and turbines need nickel, chromium, manganese, and rare earths. New electricity networks require vast quantities of copper wire. Electric-vehicle batteries need lithium and nickel.

The International Energy Agency estimates that reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 will require a six-fold increase in mineral inputs, and a 40-fold increase in lithium supply.

This presents both an opportunity and a threat. The opportunity is for governments, investors, mining companies, and civil society organisations to come together to develop new investment models aimed at supplying a renewable energy revolution while building shared prosperity, public trust, and strengthened governance.

The threat is that we fail to protect the human rights of vulnerable communities in the transition-minerals boom, with an investment surge instead fuelling the destruction of livelihoods, environmental damage, and a global wave of land and water grabs by multinational companies.

Mining companies, the wider extractive industry and its investors have a clear responsibility to be at the forefront of efforts to strengthen human rights protection.

This is a matter of climate justice just as much as it is good governance and responsible investment. And it builds on the vision of a dearly-missed friend, Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations and my predecessor as Chair of The Elders.

At the turn of the millennium, Kofi already perceived that globalisation entailed profound shifts in political and economic power, the balance of - influence between nation states and corporations, and the need for a new, inclusive approach to promote prosperity and human rights as two sides of the same coin.

In a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1999, Kofi outlined his plan for what has become the Global Compact, bringing together multinational corporations and the United Nations to work for the common good. His words to business leaders still resonate today:

“You can uphold human rights and decent labour and environmental standards directly, by your own conduct of your own business. Indeed, you can use these universal values as the cement binding together your global corporations, since they are values people all over the world will recognise as their own. You can make sure that in your own corporate practices you uphold and respect human rights; and that you are not yourselves complicit in human rights abuses.”

It is all too easy to pay lip service to these values, whether in the form of corporate mission statements, ministerial speeches or hashtags on social media.

Actually putting them into practice is a more arduous task requiring persistence and vigilance, especially in the face of short-term pressure points and the siren voices of political populism.

It is alarming, for example, to read the latest statement by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, that it will vote against the majority of climate-related shareholder resolutions at upcoming corporate board meetings – including proposals to make banks align their business models to a 1.5℃ scenario, and to direct companies’ lobbying activities around climate change.

Faced with the enormity and urgency of the climate crisis, this short-termism and self-interest is maddening.

But climate justice, like the great civil rights and emancipatory movements before it, is driven by hope just as much as by anger – and therein lies the key to its success.

Hope is a particularly precious quality to me in my current role as Chair of The Elders, because it reminds me of another dear, departed friend, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

In every context, “Arch” — as he always wished to be called — brought forth the South African concept of “ubuntu”, that shared sense of interdependent humanity that roughly translates as “I am because you are”.

But he also described himself as a “prisoner of hope”, which I still find the perfect metaphor for the persistent belief in the goodness of people and the capacity for change which is essential to deliver climate justice.

Speaking as an Elder, I have been particularly heartened to see how, in recent years, a groundswell of youth activists across the world have taken up the cause of climate justice, precisely because they want - and deserve - to have hope in their future.

Principled young women like Greta Thunberg, Vanessa Nakate and the British ornithologist Mya Rose Craig have captured the world’s imagination and earned popular admiration.

This has led to a situation where, in many countries, public attitudes to climate change and the need for radical structural reform to models of energy production and economic growth are ahead of governments’ agendas and priorities.

I saw this on the streets of Glasgow last November during the COP26 climate summit, when people came together to demand urgent and radical action.

In the final analysis, COP26 fell short of what the people called for and what the world needs. Some progress was made in the Glasgow Climate Pact, but six months on this is looking increasingly fragile. Not enough leaders were in crisis mode last November – including the UK– and not enough of them are today.

This makes it all the more important that the drumbeat for climate justice continues and intensifies ahead of the next COP in Egypt this November. This will be an African COP, and African voices need to be heard from across the continent – which is the most vulnerable to climate change despite being responsible for just 4% of global carbon emissions. It must advance African priorities, particularly climate adaptation, finance, loss and damage and a fair, equitable just transition.

I have just returned from visits with The Elders to Rwanda and South Africa, where I heard directly from people on the front lines of Africa’s climate crisis who are developing plans for a just energy transition.

In Rwanda, like many African countries, the challenge is to bring access to energy to those without. In South Africa, the challenge is to transition away from coal in a way that leaves no one behind.

A bright spot at COP26 was the proposed deal between South Africa, the UK and others, to support a just transition away from coal in South Africa. It’s now critical that international partners follow through with the promised finance, much of which should be grants not loans. The rest of the world is watching, and we cannot afford for this deal to fail. Got right, this could be a model for other emerging economies to raise ambition this decade.

What really struck me on my recent visit was the need for a people-centred, holistic approach that includes women and young people, who have been excluded for too long from the debates on their future.

Within women’s networks, and youth networks, there is still an extraordinary amount of trust that is otherwise all too absent in the world right now. We need to empower these voices and harness their energy and commitment for the good of the whole planet.

At COP26, developed countries pledged to double adaptation finance by 2025 – which, if realised will increase support to vulnerable countries by billions. But the world has heard similar promises before which have never been realised, adding insult to the existing injustice.

Unless there is a major effort to drive the doubling of this adaptation finance commitment - starting now - it won’t happen; that is why we need to see a clear roadmap by COP27, and why the UK has a particular responsibility to step up and ensure that the promises made in Glasgow are delivered upon.

One of the most significant areas of unfinished business from COP26 was on loss and damage, and specifically on a new financial mechanism whereby wealthy countries help with the costs of climate disasters in the developing world, such as rebuilding and rehoming communities after devastating floods, cyclones or fires.

The United States, backed by the European Union, postponed setting up this mechanism, but nations have nevertheless committed to talk further on this between now and 2024, and the outcome of this dialogue must be a new fund.

Next week climate negotiators will meet in Bonn, Germany, to prepare for COP27, and as part of these negotiations they will hold their first “Glasgow Dialogue” on Loss and Damage finance.

I hope very much that this Glasgow Dialogue will be guided by the slogan by one of that city’s greatest modern writers, Alasdair Gray: “Let Glasgow flourish by telling the truth.”

We need to be crystal clear on this point: there can be no climate justice without climate honesty. Honesty about the science, honesty about the responsibility, honesty about the actions required and honesty about the speed with which we need to act.

This places a particular onus on leaders to act in good faith and with integrity to strengthen the institutions, cooperation and processes without which progress on climate action will be impossible.

People need to know that when their leaders sign a treaty, they will abide by their obligations under international law. This sends a signal to everyone else in society – in business, finance, research and the judiciary – that their government can be trusted and that they also have a responsibility to follow the same standards.

In the six months left before COP27, I hope that all leaders draw inspiration instead from the words of Nelson Mandela, the founder of The Elders and one of the greatest activists and statesmen I have ever had the privilege of knowing:

“Do not look the other way; do not hesitate. Recognise that the world is hungry for action, not words. Act with courage and vision.”

Thank you.

FEATURED ELDER

Mary Robinson

First woman President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Chair of The Elders; a passionate advocate for gender equality, women’s participation in peace-building, human dignity and climate justice.

AOC: America is a nation 'on the precipice... of fascism'

Common Dreams
June 11, 2022

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on MSNBC (screengrab)


Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned Thursday night that the U.S. stands "on the precipice... of fascism" and that an attack on the Capitol like the one that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021 could happen again.

Ocasio-Cortez's (D-N.Y.) comments in an Instagram Live video followed the first prime-time hearing held by the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

The first installment of the public hearing, she said, revealed "new information, shocking information" including that "Republican members of Congress were seeking pardons before the insurrection knowing what they were about to do."

"There is such a concerted ring-wing operation to try to convince everybody that [the Jan. 6 riot and attack] didn't happen, that it wasn't a big deal," Ocasio-Cortez said. But, she stressed, "This was an attempted coup of the United States of America."

"When former President [Donald] Trump's own people told him 'No,' he was going to fire every single person down the chain until he found even a coffee fetcher," she said, "to overturn democracy." All this, said the congresswoman, "so that he could retain power."

RELATED: 'This is treason squared': Legal expert aghast Trump tried to keep security forces away from the Capitol

"Those attacks killed people, traumatized people," the congresswoman said. And although Trump "promised his own people that he would pardon them... now they're going to prison," she said, adding that the former president "only cares about himself."

Ocasio-Cortez also singled out Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who on the day of the attack was tweeting the Speaker of the House's location knowing that the Trump-backed mob was looking for the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "in that moment."

The focus right now, said Ocasio-Cortez, should be "on the bigger picture, which is that legally, structurally, institutionally very little has changed. Virtually nothing has changed" the behavior that led to the Capitol attack.

Directing criticism at Republicans, she said that "not only did they vote to protect it, they encouraged it... So, we are on the precipice, legally, of fascism." She added that "no law was ever passed to prevent this from happening again."

"I dislike the 'lesser of two evils politics,'" said the Democratic congresswoman, but "this is not about two different political opinions" but "about if we're going to have a democracy or not."

Republicans, she said, "are pretending that this never happened and if anything...the Republican Party has only grown more supportive and defending of what happened on that day with time" and "only committed hard to the lie" of an election Trump supporters falsely portray as stolen.

She noted that the Jan. 6 mob was "trying to kill people" and that "some people did die." Ocasio-Cortez also rebuked the 21 House Republicans who voted against giving the officers who defended the Capitol the Congressional Gold Medal.

Rejecting the notion the mob storming the Capitol was composed of "poor, white, working class people," she said that they "had resources and they were targeting the vice president of the United States and the speaker of the House as well as everybody who was in that chamber as well as everybody on that campus."

The GOP, she added, has "been committed to covering it up every day since."

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweets at Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene wanting to know if they asked for pardons after January 6

Taiyler Simone Mitchell

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

AOC called out several congress members on Twitter asking if they'd asked for pardons after January 6.

Her tweets came the day after the January 6 House Committee alleged that several members did so.

"Just trying to clear some things up," the congresswoman from New York said.

In a Friday tweet storm, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked several of her fellow representatives if they'd asked the White House for a pardon following the January 6 attack.

Her remarks came the day after the January 6 House select committee aired its first public hearing — in which GOP co-chair Rep. Liz Cheney alleged that several members of Congress asked for pardons after the insurrection.

Her first tweet was addressed to Rep. Matt Gaetz who took a jab at Rep. Jamie Raskin for his involvement in the committee.

"Hey @mattgaetz while I have you responding to my tweets, can you respond to one more for me: Did you ever ask Trump for a pardon? Let me know in the replies! You clearly know where the button is," she responded.

Gaetz didn't respond but Ocasio-Cortez continued calling out Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

"Hey quick question Boebert, did you ask for a pardon after tweeting the Speaker's location on Jan 6th?" asked the congresswoman.

"Maybe your friend @RepMTG can answer! Did either of you seek a pardon? Just trying to clear some things up," she added.

"Ok Sandy, $5 a gallon gas, 3+ million illegals crossing our southern border, no baby formula, inflation higher than it's been in both of our lifetimes, and this is what you want to talk about?" Boebert responded.

Fact check: Biden falsely claims US has 'fastest-growing economy in the world'

By Daniel Dale, CNN
 Fri June 10, 2022

Washington (CNN)In a Wednesday appearance on the ABC late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," President Joe Biden made a dramatic claim about the US economy -- and repeated himself for emphasis.

"Look, here's where we are. We have the fastest-growing economy in the world. The world. The world," Biden said.

Facts First: Biden's claim is false. 

The US economy grew by 5.7% in 2021, but more than 50 other countries had faster growth that year, figures published by the International Monetary Fund show; many of them are small or developing countries, but some of them are large or wealthy. In addition, the US economy shrank in the first quarter of 2022, while various other countries experienced growth. And while economic experts expect the US economy to resume growing over the rest of this year, a significant number of other countries are expected to grow faster.

Asked for comment on Friday, a White House official did not attempt to specifically defend Biden's claim that the US has the fastest-growing economy in the world.

Instead, the official pointed out that the 5.7% growth in the United States' real gross domestic product in 2021 was the fastest for the country since 1984. The official also pointed out that the International Monetary Fund has projected that, as of the fourth quarter of this year, the size of the US economy will be bigger relative to its late-2019 pre-pandemic level than any of the other six countries in the international forum known as the Group of Seven: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Those comments are accurate. But Biden said on Kimmel's show, three times, that the US economy is growing faster than that of any other country in "the world," not just growing faster than six particular countries. And that's inaccurate.

"Clearly the US has been the G-7 economy that has done best in terms of GDP growth rates since the inception of COVID, but is not literally the fastest-growing economy in the world over this period," said Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, a former International Monetary Fund official who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank's Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy.

How the US compares

Biden took office in late January 2021. Among the dozens of countries that saw faster real GDP growth than the US in 2021 were Ireland (13.5%), Chile (11.7%), Turkey (11%), Colombia (10.6%), India (8.7% for the fiscal year that began in April 2021), Greece (8.3%), Israel (8.2%), China (8.1%), the United Kingdom (7.4%), France (7%) and Italy (6.6%), according to figures published by the IMF and the countries' governments.

 (Many countries' growth rates were higher than usual in 2021 because their economies were rebounding from the 2020 economic crisis caused by the pandemic.)

An economic outlook released this week by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development projected the US would grow by 2.5% in 2022. That was lower than the OECD's 2022 projections for 11 other members of the Group of 20 international forum: Saudi Arabia (7.8%), India (6.9% for the fiscal year), Indonesia (4.7%), China (4.4%), Australia (4.2%), Spain (4.1%), Canada (3.8%), Turkey (3.7%), the United Kingdom (3.6%), Argentina (3.6%) and South Korea (2.7%).

We'll add one caveat. There are various ways to measure growth -- among other things, you can pick different start and end points and different gauges of economic activity -- and there are various complications involved in the data.

Laura Veldkamp, a finance professor at Columbia University's business school, said there is "no way" that Biden's claim is true if he was using "fastest-growing" in the usual way, referring to a percentage change. She said, however, that she would personally describe the President's claim as "misleading," rather than false, since "the word growth in conversation can mean many things."

We'll respectfully stick with our harsher conclusion. If Biden was citing some unusual or obscure measure of growth, he could have explained that. He didn't, and the White House didn't either when asked for comment.