Alternative News

Articles from non-mainstream as opposed to corporate for profit sources.

Macron wants to blow up the Arctic

Details: Published on Thursday, 01 April 2021 04:48; Written by editor

France wants to destroy the Arctic!

French President Macron is about to do the unthinkable and guarantee Total's new Arctic gas megaproject -- to the tune of €700 million.

Total's plans directly threaten the survival of Indigenous people and will drive runaway climate change.

Tell Macron to pull the plug on Total's Arctic drilling ambitions!

Sign the petition

French oil giant Total wants to pump the equivalent of 535,000 barrels of oil per day from under the Arctic's fragile ice.

Total’s planned Arctic gas megaproject is set to become one of the most polluting projects in the world -- and financial backing of the French government could make it a reality.

France’s President Macron likes to show off his green credentials, even calling Total’s project "incoherent" and "reckless".

But away from the TV cameras, he’s about to quietly grant a €700 million loan guarantee to Total.

This dirty double-dealing must stop, and we need to move fast before Macron’s final decision. Macron is obsessed with his...

BREAKING: Research confirms Trudeau's pipeline will lose us $12 billion

Details: Published on Wednesday, 31 March 2021 18:18; Written by editor

Friends,

Earlier today, researchers at Simon Fraser University released a report that confirms something the climate movement has been saying all along: TMX makes no sense. The team from SFU’s School of Resource and Environmental Management ran a cost/benefit analysis of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and found that the project will lead to almost $12 billion in losses for Canada.1

If you haven’t already signed our Defund TMX petition, add your name today.

On top of being a climate disaster, the economics of TMX have always been shaky. Now it’s clear that Trudeau made a terrible mistake when he used our tax dollars to buy the pipeline from Texas oil giant Kinder Morgan in 2018. Since then, construction costs have doubled and global action to reduce emissions has finally started to ramp up. Those factors mean TMX is a clear financial loser and, as the study’s authors advise, the federal government would be better off cancelling the project now and redirecting funds into renewable energy projects.

The next federal budget is just a few weeks away. Tell your MP you don’t want another dollar of public money...

E-News: Carbon pricing call to action / Public transit agreement expires today / Celebrating water and more...

Details: Published on Wednesday, 31 March 2021 17:04; Written by editor

E-News: Carbon pricing call to action / Public transit agreement expires today / Celebrating water and more... r1 ...

Myanmar's bloody crackdown

Details: Published on Wednesday, 31 March 2021 13:18; Written by editor

Myanmar's military is murdering peaceful protesters -- and they're doing it with billions in support from gas and oil companies like Total and Chevron.

Local activists are calling on the companies to urgently suspend payments to the military until democracy is restored -- let's show that people all around the world are backing them up.

Sign the petition

Myanmar's military has staged a coup and is murdering hundreds of peaceful protesters, including children -- and they're doing it with billions in support from oil and gas companies like Total and Chevron.

Oil and gas is the government's top funder. So while the US, UK, and others place sanctions on the military, these ruthless Generals will be unfazed as long as they have the support of energy giants.

Activists in Myanmar are urgently calling on the companies to end their support to the military -- let's show that people all around the world are backing them up:

Total and Chevron:...

Transit Justice Struggles in Toronto: Statement on the TTC Fare Review

Details: Published on Wednesday, 31 March 2021 10:38; Written by editor

Transit Justice Struggles in Toronto:
Statement on the TTC Fare Review

Free Transit Toronto

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is developing a 5-year fare policy review and plan, along with a 10-year “collection” outlook, both to be included in a policy framework by the end of 2021. A relevant TTC document claims that:

“The 5-Year Fare Policy will explore all fare options ranging from zero-fare to full-cost recovery. The work will identify and establish the relative priorities of policy goals, such as equity, affordability, revenue, and ridership. It will also identify constraints and opportunities in the current fare structure that influence fare policy decision making. All TTC fare policies, some...

Donations are down sharply

Details: Published on Thursday, 22 April 2021 20:00; Written by editor

We wanted to make sure you didn't miss this important email from last week:

On March 9, 47 journalists at the award-winning news site HuffPost were suddenly laid off after the site was bought by BuzzFeed. One staffer described it as “a bloodbath” and “worse than the worst-case scenario.”

It’s just the latest gut punch to a journalism industry battered by existential crises on multiple fronts.

Here at The Intercept, we’re not immune to the financial pressures that are affecting the entire news industry. And to keep The Intercept strong over the long haul, we set ambitious goals for growing the number of readers who donate to support our journalism.

But since Donald Trump left office, new donations to The Intercept are down more than 50 percent, and that’s a problem.

Deadly silver mine

Details: Published on Tuesday, 30 March 2021 11:36; Written by editor

Xinka land defenders are risking their lives to fight Pan American Silver’s massive silver mine in Guatemala.

You can help support brave Indigenous Xinka land defenders who are putting their lives on the line to stop this destructive mine.

Sign the petition

Hired guns, death threats and sowing community division. These are just a few of the violent tactics that Indigenous Xinka resistors have faced as they try to stop Pan American Silver’s Escobal silver mine.

Pan American Silver thinks no one in Canada cares what it does in Guatemala, but you can show Pan American Silver that isn’t true.

If Pan American Silver’s bosses know that the world is watching they’ll think twice about continuing to interfere in Xinka communities, fuelling conflict and violence.

Tell Pan American Silver to respect the Xinka people’s rights to self-determination without the threat of violence.

Violence, legal persecution and intimidation has already been used to impose this mine against the community’s...

Read more: Deadly silver mine

End of the Road for the AKP?

Details: Published on Tuesday, 30 March 2021 09:56; Written by editor

End of the Road for the AKP?

Daniel Johnson

In Istanbul, 2021 began with hundreds of students initiating a series of protests on the campus of Boǧaziçi University. They were demonstrating against President Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan’s January 1 appointment of a new rector via presidential decree. Melih Bulu, a business management Ph.D. and longtime Justice and Development Party (AKP) activist, was the first rector selected from outside the university since a military coup in 1980. Students chanted “Melih Bulu is not our rector” and “We don’t want a state-appointed rector.” (The song “Master of Puppets” could also be heard after Bulu gave an interview in which he claimed to...

Demanding Real Change

Details: Published on Monday, 29 March 2021 17:44; Written by editor

This is a test r1

Dear Friend,

Since our founding, the BCCLA has pushed for police accountability and limiting the scope of police powers. It’s a big task, and we take it on today by tackling the problem of policing on many fronts.

We’re a small organization, undertaking big legal actions against powerful institutions. Will you make a donation today to help us challenge this big power?

Join us in demanding change

Time and time again we hear stories from individuals and families impacted by police violence. They experience violations of their rights, and have difficulty getting justice afterwards.

When I hear these stories, I feel so enraged that this is the nature of policing and that police are not held to account for acting with impunity.

This is a time of reckoning for criminalizing systems. The system is...

March 2021 Update

Details: Published on Monday, 29 March 2021 14:00; Written by editor

March 2021 Update r1 ...

Activists Block General Dynamics Armoured Vehicles Bound for Saudi Arabia

Details: Published on Monday, 29 March 2021 10:52; Written by editor

Activists Block General Dynamics Armoured Vehicles Bound for Saudi Arabia:
Demand Canada Stop Fueling War in Yemen

World Beyond War

On March 26, Members of anti-war organizations World BEYOND War, Labour Against the Arms Trade, and People for Peace London blocked railway tracks near General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada, a London-area company manufacturing light armoured vehicles (LAVs) for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The activists are calling on General Dynamics to end its complicity in the brutal Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen and calling on the Canadian government to end arms exports to Saudi Arabia and expand humanitarian assistance for the people of Yemen.

This marks the sixth anniversary of the...

SR 2021: The Time of Our Lives /w Bryan Palmer

Details: Published on Sunday, 28 March 2021 10:48; Written by editor

SR 2021: The Time of Our Lives /w Bryan Palmer

For socialists, time and its meaning and organization have always been a central concern, if only because capitalism has placed such a premium on controlling time and subordinating it to its imperatives. At the current conjuncture, time has become the challenge for socialists to address, not only because it defines what does and does not constitute the working day, but because it is increasingly obvious that time and its organization defines life itself. Will time continue to be compressed into capital’s needs, or will it be reimagined as liberation, struggled through and over in ways that enhance the project of human emancipation?

What follows presents an argument about time that: 1) outlines how class struggles over time have been essential...

Amazon under attack!

Details: Published on Saturday, 27 March 2021 11:26; Written by editor

The Indigenous People of the Amazon are under attack! Brazilian President Bolsonaro wants to open up some of the most fragile rainforest to predatory mining companies.

Let’s pressure the Brazilian Congress to vote down Bolsonaro’s plan and protect the Amazon!

Sign the petition

Bolsonaro says it’s his ‘dream’ to open up the Amazon rainforest for mining but for the Indigenous People who call it their home, it’s a nightmare.

Ripping up the land to mine for gold and diamonds will devastate the precious ecosystems and the Indigenous communities who have protected these sacred lands for years.

Bolsonaro wants to rush his plan through a vote in Congress in the next few weeks, so we have to act fast.

If we can show Brazil’s politicians that the whole world is watching as they’re deciding the Amazon’s fate, we can stop this senseless destruction.

Add your name and show them...

Read more: Amazon under attack!

Leaked Memo: Amazon Knows Its Workers Resort to Urinating in Bottles

Details: Published on Thursday, 22 April 2021 20:00; Written by editor

Council This Week

Details: Published on Friday, 26 March 2021 19:02; Written by editor

Council This Week r1 ...

Dont be fooled, Paov

Details: Published on Friday, 26 March 2021 13:20; Written by editor

Paov,

I’m sure you saw the news yesterday: the Supreme Court affirmed that the federal carbon tax is constitutional.1 What’s more, the court joined scientists and social movements in calling climate change “an existential threat to human life in Canada and around the world.”

The truth prevailed yesterday, and that’s something to celebrate, but we can’t mistake the carbon tax for the bold climate action we need. Remember: climate scientists give us less than a decade to cut global carbon emissions in half. That requires massive economic transformation, paid for by the multibillion dollar corporations that got us into this mess.

Take a moment to ask your MP to support the Just Transition Act, a vital first step on the road to a made-in-Canada Green New Deal.

We’re glad the Supreme Court pushed back against the Conservative premiers yesterday but, if we let this legal battle turn carbon pricing into a stand-in for real climate action, then we’re still having the debate on Big Oil’s terms. Just look at the other big news that broke yesterday: the American Petroleum...

Visibilizing the struggle

Details: Published on Friday, 26 March 2021 12:38; Written by editor

Visibilizing the struggle r1

PBI-Colombia accompanies meeting of Indigenous Embera leader Argemiro Bailarín with the Embassy of Ireland … Read more...

The key role played by Quakers in the formation of Peace Brigades International 40 years ago … Read more...

...

A, thank you for your story!

Details: Published on Friday, 26 March 2021 11:20; Written by editor

Hi A,

A few weeks ago, we asked you and SumOfUs members around the world to share what inspires you to be a part of our global movement -- and we’re blown away by the incredible response. You give us hope that real change is possible if we come together!

As we continue to fight big corporations this year, we’re so grateful for your voice and support. We couldn’t do this without you!

Here’s a small snapshot of our amazing global community.

Watch on YouTube!

Thanks for all you do,
Andrea, Laura, Deborah and the team at SumOfUs

SumOfUs is a community of people from around the world committed to curbing the growing power of corporations. We want to buy from, work for and invest in companies that respect the environment, treat their workers well and respect democracy. And we’re not afraid to stand up to them when they don’t.

Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping...

Capitalizing on the COVID Crisis: the Ford Governments Move to Privatize Public Education for EdTech

Details: Published on Friday, 26 March 2021 09:48; Written by editor

Capitalizing on the COVID Crisis:
the Ford Government’s Move to Privatize Public Education for EdTech

Natalie Coulter

In The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein demonstrated how neoliberalism was not always advanced in society through democracy, but was instead pushed on society by powerful elites behind the public’s back in times of crisis. As Milton Friedman put it, “Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.”

Recently, Klein coined the term “disaster capitalism” to describe how corporations profit from crises with help from the right-wing governments that pick up and implement the...