Earth Day, planetary boundaries, and the Green New Deal
We need system change, not business as usual.
As we celebrate Earth Day in 2019, we need to recognize that more than climate change threatens our environment and our very existence. We have passed or are approaching several Planetary Boundaries outside of which human society may not survive.
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Extinction Rebellion, Grief and Climate Catastrophe
I was attracted to the Extinction Rebellion by its call for net zero carbon emissions by 2025 – more in line what is needed to save life on the planet than what many other groups have been calling for. And the fact that it employs acts of civil disobedience as a main organizing tool and directly challenges the present actions by elected official everywhere as untruthful and grossly inadequate to the task. I attended the action at Rockefeller Center in January. Yesterday more than 60 were arrested in NYC near City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge while the London CD protests enter their fourth day.
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The prosecution of Julian Assange is a threat to journalists everywhere
The arrest of Julian Assange not only puts the free press in the United States at risk, it puts any reporters who expose US crimes anywhere in the world at risk. As Pepe Escobar wrote
"Let's cut to the chase. Julian Assange is not a US citizen, he's an Australian. WikiLeaks is not a US-based media organization. If the US government gets Assange extradited, prosecuted and incarcerated, it will legitimize its right to go after anyone, anyhow, anywhere, anytime."
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Respect all sacred sites and people
The fire that partially destroyed the Iconic Cathedral, Notre Dame, though certainly sad, underscores some very important contrasts in priorities for people of faith in general, Christians in specific, and the public at large. The history, the architecture, and the stories associated with it have significant importance. However, it underscores some fundamental problems with what Christians prioritize and what people of wealth prioritize. Within hours of this occurrence, more than 300 million was raised for its restoration.
Yet the very same rich people in France refuse to support paying more for social programs in France. It also underscores the irony of Victor Hugo's novel Hunchback of Notre Dame, a novel the highlights the Churches need to offer sanctuary to undesirables, immigrants, homeless folks and those whom society rejects, contrasted with the Wealthy and powerful, and racists' attitudes toward the very same people, and yet they mourn the destruction of this very Cathedral. The Yellow vest protests against austerity and Government corruption further contrasts this contradiction.
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Greens Say ‘No to NATO’ While War Parties Give Standing Ovations to NATO
Greens are political activists and can be found in every movement for economic, racial and environmental justice as well as peace. They do not organize as Greens but as people who are part of the popular movement. The article below about the week of protests against NATO highlights Greens who participated, often as organizers with other peace and justice activists. There were many more Greens at these events than are mentioned. I apologize to those who are omitted.
Last week was one of contrast over the issue of war and militarism as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) came to Washington, DC. “No to NATO” protests began on March 30 and continued until the meeting of NATO foreign ministers on April 4. While people were opposing NATO’s aggressive militarism, the two Wall Street and war parties were giving the NATO General Secretary standing ovations.
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Why You Should Look Beyond Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
After reading an article about information that was presented to the Lavender Caucus recently by a proponent of the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), I recognized the need to provide an explanation to the members of the Green Party of the United States of the difference between the “teachings” of MMT and the real need for monetary reform as contained in the Green Party platform. This need for an explanation was further illustrated by a press release published recently on the Green Party website wherein the Green Party of Pennsylvania espoused “reformation of our economic model” in accordance with MMT. Obviously, Green Party members are eager to have information about the best way of funding the Green New Deal, and the best reforms needed for that funding. I have also had a couple of Green Party members tell me that they thought that MMT was part of the Green Party platform. It is not.
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Reflecting on the March of Return
The March of Return is a scream for life so that we may leave the walls of our prison. These are the words repeated by Ahmed Abu Artema in his many lectures and interviews. Abu Artema is the brain behind the most powerful expression of unarmed Palestinian resistance, The March of Return, which began on March 30, 2018, and has become a weekly occurrence in the Gaza Strip for close to a year.
"Why would we die here in silence? We want our message to reach the world. We want to say to the world ‘here there is a people. A people searching for a life of dignity, human rights and freedom.'"
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The Green New Deal — not just a Plan, but a Vision
And when political movements overflow the channels they normally flow through, they interact with entire societies in ways they don’t normally. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s already too late. It’s actually ... many days late and a few trillion dollars short.
The cries for action to prevent or reverse Climate Change are urgent and powerful. We face catastrophe if we don’t [fill in the blanks] in the next [number of years]. The problem is that we are already in the midst of catastrophe as we speak and [still] breathe. A hard look makes plain that — while the U.S. is frozen in a deadly downward spiral of austerity and war, while even essential services have been cut and many, many more are on the chopping block — what is required is a total social transformation.
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Why I am Going to Venezuela!
Hope.
That's it, in one word. And there's more!I am writing this because many people have been asking – and have been worried – about my planned trip to Venezuela with a political delegation of 20 people from 7 countries that will be there from March 28 through April 7.
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Facing 2020 and Bernie 2.0
Four years ago this May I was the first to brand Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as 2016's Democratic sheepdog candidate. As I explained then,
"The sheepdog is a card the Democratic party plays every presidential primary season when there's no White House Democrat running for re-election. The sheepdog is a presidential candidate running ostensibly to the left of the establishment Democrat to whom the billionaires will award the nomination. Sheepdogs are herders, and the sheepdog candidate is charged with herding activists and voters back into the Democratic fold who might otherwise drift leftward and outside of the Democratic party, either staying home or trying to build something outside of the two-party box."
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