Alternative News

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

Make UK Public Transport Free

Details: Published on Wednesday, 04 September 2019 01:46; Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1888 ... September 4, 2019
__________________________________________________

Make UK Public Transport Free

Chris Saltmarsh

In mid-August, to uproar from the right-wing press, teen activist Greta Thunberg set sail in a zero-emissions yacht on a two-week trip across the Atlantic to reach the UN climate talks in New York. Taking her role as figurehead of the global school strikes for climate movement seriously, Greta shuns air travel for its high levels of emissions production, recently completing a tour around Europe entirely by train.

The problem Greta identifies is a real one. Flying is responsible for about 3.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is often the cheapest and easiest option for domestic travel or short-haul to western Europe. But emissions aren’t limited to air travel. From planes to cars -- which still dominate UK travel both locally and nationally -- our most popular transport systems are largely carbon intensive, with one-third of the UK’s CO2 emissions coming from transport.

And it’s no wonder we choose these forms of transport compared to the alternatives. Public transport in the UK is...

September 10 SEA Members Meeting

Details: Published on Tuesday, 03 September 2019 10:56; Written by editor

September 10 SEA Members Meeting r1 ...

RIP the Amazon?

Details: Published on Tuesday, 03 September 2019 03:44; Written by editor

As fires continue to rip through the Amazon, the EU is negotiating a deal with South America that would stoke the flames even more.

The so-called Mercosur deal could be a death warrant for the Amazon. France and Ireland have threatened to veto it -- now we desperately need your help to force other key countries to follow suit and defeat the deal.

If you chip in today, you’ll fund strategic polling to show the world, and key EU decision-makers, that we won’t stand by this deal while the Amazon burns.

Are you in?

If you've saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

Donate CA$93 now Donate CA$140 now Read more: RIP the Amazon?

Urgent: We need your help

Details: Published on Wednesday, 18 November 2020 13:22; Written by editor

Ecosocialism and Just Transition

Details: Published on Monday, 02 September 2019 04:12; Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1887 ... September 2, 2019
__________________________________________________

Ecosocialism and Just Transition

John Bellamy Foster

Climate change requires major societal change. But how do we ensure this transformation is done in a fair and just manner? John Bellamy Foster – a renowned environmental sociologist and editor of Monthly Review – takes a look at the idea of the Just Transition, arguing that any strategy to save the planet must go beyond the strictures of capitalism.

The idea of a "just transition" is appearing everywhere these days, most notably in the preamble of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which refers to the need to take "into account the imperatives of a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities."

Just transition first arose as a guiding principle in the labour movement in the 1970s-1990s during the leadership of Tony Mazzocchi within the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW), which pioneered in the creation of the labour-environmental movement. Mazzocchi sought to find a way around the "job blackmail" in which...

What do you think?

Details: Published on Wednesday, 18 November 2020 13:22; Written by editor

No Veganwashing Israeli Crimes!

Details: Published on Sunday, 01 September 2019 03:02; Written by editor

LeftStreamed — Recorded in Toronto, 8 August 2019

No Veganwashing Israeli Crimes!

A panel responds to the use of veganism to propagandize the occupation.

For over a decade, the nation branding campaign Brand Israel has sought to "wash" the crimes of occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing by carefully crafting the image of Israel as a progressive, forward-thinking oasis of modernism in the Middle East. The campaign has appropriated elements of both the LGBT and environmental movements to advance these goals. Such "pinkwashing" and "greenwashing" are unique in the world of state-sponsored propaganda campaigns.

Over the past several years, veganism has increasingly been weaponized for the same ends. Animal advocates across the West have been influenced by various claims of a vegan/ animal rights "revolution" in Israel and even participated in aspects of veganwashing. By contrast, the emerging animal rights movement in Palestine – like all social movement struggles – has suffered greatly under Israel’s occupation and violent expansionist agenda.

What notion of veganism is being appropriated here and what are the realities of animal rights in Israel? How prevalent is Zionism in...

RIP the Amazon?

Details: Published on Saturday, 31 August 2019 03:50; Written by editor

The Amazon is burning—devastated by demand for cheap beef and soy.

And the EU is on the verge of closing a trade deal with Brazil that will stoke the flames even more.

Can you make a donation now to save the Amazon from this disastrous trade deal?

If you've saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

Donate CA$93 now Donate CA$140 now Donate CA$186 now Donate another amount

Fires are being intentionally ignited across the Amazon—and it’s putting our very survival at stake.

The Amazon produces a fifth of the oxygen produced by Earth’s plants and trees. It’s the ancestral home to millions of Indigenous people. And it’s the habitat of rare animals like jaguars and sloths.

Backed by the pro-corporate Brazilian president, illegal loggers are burning the Amazon to clear land for cheap beef, soy, and timber.

And the EU is about to make things worse by closing in on a deal to import more products grown from the Amazon’s ashes. But you have a chance to stop this, A.

Ireland and France have...

This is how we end the era of fossil fuels

Details: Published on Friday, 30 August 2019 10:38; Written by editor

Friends,

Yesterday, hundreds of people joined us for the Our Time to Strike for the Climate webinar to hear about our game plan leading up to the September 27th climate strikes in Canada.

I was joined by Climate Strike organizer Emma-Jane, an incredibly inspiring Grade 12 student from Victoria, BC and one of the lead organizers of Climate Strike Canada. We had an engaging conversation, and here are some key takeaways I wanted to share with you:

Students in Canada are striking from school on September 27th. Long before the global week of action was called for September 20-27th, students in Quebec issued a general strike mandate for the 27th. Quebec has a rich history of student organizing and we are following their lead.

The strikes are happening at a really critical time in Canada. Come September 27th, we’ll be entering the final stretch of the federal election campaign. It’s going to be so important to channel this energy towards brave, authentic candidates...
Read more: This is how we end the era of fossil fuels

Life and politics in Western Canada

Details: Published on Friday, 30 August 2019 03:14; Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( Oats for Breakfast ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project podcast ... No. 26 ... August 30, 2019
_________________________________________________

Life and politics in Western Canada

Oats for Breakfast sits down to discuss life and politics in Western Canada. We get into talking about Alberta’s premier Jason Kenney, what public education is like in Alberta and British Columbia, and about indigenous-settler relations in the two provinces.

Listen to podcast

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you do not want to receive any more newsletters:r0

Forward to a friend: this link

r39
powered by phpList

Your signature is missing, A

Details: Published on Thursday, 29 August 2019 03:58; Written by editor

The fires in the Amazon rainforest are still raging -- turning the Earth’s precious green lung into a smoldering wasteland.

The cause: farmers and loggers illegally slashing and burning trees at the encouragement of Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro.

Europe has condemned the fires, but it’s closing in on a trade deal to import tons of cheap beef, soy and other products grown from the Amazon’s ashes. We have to stop this now!

120,000 SumOfUs members like you already told the EU to call off the Mercosur agreement. And the momentum is building. At last weekend’s G7 summit, Ireland and France signaled they could oppose the deal -- but the rest of Europe won’t back down. Only with a huge, international swell of opposition can we stop Mercosur in its tracks, and protect what’s left of our largest rainforest.

A, will you add your name now to block this disastrous deal and stop the devastation of the Amazon?

Thanks for all that you do,

David and the team...

'Dual Power', Then... and Now?

Details: Published on Thursday, 29 August 2019 03:12; Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1886 ... August 29, 2019
_______________________________________________

‘Dual Power,’ Then... and Now?

Richard Fidler

Global capitalist crisis, impending ecological disaster, and new responses by popular movements in some regions, particularly in Latin America, inspire radical thinking about the need to go "beyond capital." But how to attain the desired "system change" -- today, an ecosocialist regime in place of capitalist rule -- continues to be a matter for debate and experimentation.

Recently a number of Marxist scholars and activists have revived a debate on the role of electoral action, parliament, and efforts to build alternative forms and institutions of direct democracy to replace the domination of capital. Many of the major contributions may be found on John Riddell’s website. Other discussions of these issues can be found in the on-line publication The Bullet published by the Toronto-based Socialist Project, in a series on "The State and Socialist Strategy."

A central bone of contention: the viability of using representative democracy and parliamentary means to attain and retain workers’ and popular power even while attempting to achieve radical social change through promoting...

Bell stoops to a new low

Details: Published on Wednesday, 28 August 2019 12:02; Written by editor

OpenMedia r1

Paov,

Recently, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced it was lowering wholesale infrastructure-access rates paid to Big Telecom by smaller competitors, in order to bring more affordable broadband service to Canada.1

Bell responded by punishing Canada's rural communities, removing 200,000 households from its planned broadband expansion.2

As long as Big Telecom controls the Internet in Canada, the telecom lobby will continue to pressure...

Read more: Bell stoops to a new low

Urgent: Amazon

Details: Published on Wednesday, 28 August 2019 01:10; Written by editor

The burning in the Amazon rainforest has reached a critical point -- and corporations on the hunt for cheap soy, beef, and timber are to blame.

We need your urgent support to hold complicit corporations to account. Will you please make a small monthly gift today to help stop the burning?

Donate CA$1 monthly now Donate CA$3 monthly now Donate CA$5 monthly now Donate another amount monthly

Not today, but I'll...

The Vicissitudes of the Latin American State

Details: Published on Wednesday, 28 August 2019 01:10; Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1885 ... August 28, 2019
_______________________________________________

The Vicissitudes of the Latin American State:

Jeffery R. Webber in conversation with Mabel Thwaites Rey

In early May, while in Buenos Aires, I had an extended conversation with Mabel Thwaites Rey, one of the leading theorists of the Latin American state and preeminent analyst of the rise and fall of the progressive tide of social movements and governments in the twenty-first century. She is a professor in the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Buenos Aires.

In our discussion, we trace her intellectual and political development, the centrality of Gramsci and Poulantzas to her general understanding of the capitalist state, as well her theorization of the specificities of the Latin American state form, having to do, above all, with its subordinate incorporation into the world system of states and dependent relationship to the logics of global capital accumulation.

From these theoretical foundations, our discussion moves to Thwaites Rey’s interpretation of the rise of anti-neoliberal social movements at the turn of the century and the progressive governments that followed them,...

Trump's toxin in Canada

Details: Published on Tuesday, 27 August 2019 06:12; Written by editor

Dow Chemical and the Trump administration just reversed the ban on chlorpyrifos, a super dangerous pesticide causes brain damage in children even in tiny amounts.

We have just three days to make sure this ban in enacted in Canada.

Join the over 15,000 SumOfUs members who have already signed the petition calling on Health Canada to ban Dow Chemical's toxic chlorpyrifos.

Thanks for all that you do,
Angus, Amelia, Nabil, and the team at SumOfUs

Dow’s toxic pesticide, chlorpyrifos, seriously affects children’s brain development. Health Canada is currently deciding whether to kick this toxic chemical off the market.

Tell Health Canada to put our children’s health before the pesticide industry’s profits and ban chlorpyrifos for good.

Sign the Petition

Original email:

Agri-giant Dow’s dangerous pesticide, chlorpyrifos, has serious negative effects on our health -- especially for children. And the worst part is -- it’s all over the fruits and veggies our...

Public Transport Can Be Free

Details: Published on Tuesday, 27 August 2019 02:44; Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1884 ... August 27, 2019
_______________________________________________

Public Transport Can Be Free

Wojciech Keblowski

If we are to believe transport experts and practitioners, abolishing fares for all passengers is the last thing public transport operators should be doing. For Alan Flausch, an ex-CEO of the Brussels public transport authority and current Secretary General of International Association of Public Transport, "in terms of mobility, free public transport is absurd."

According to Vincent Kauffmann, a professor at University of Lausanne and one of key figures in sustainable mobility, "free public transport does not make any sense." Getting rid of tickets in mass transit is judged "irrational," "uneconomical" and "unsustainable."

However, if we turn to commentators from outside the field of transport, the perspective on fare abolition changes radically. Social scientists, activists, journalists and public officials -- often speaking from cities where fare abolition has actually been put to the test -- fervently defend the measure.

For Judith Dellheim, a researcher at Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Berlin, providing free access to public transport is the "first step toward socio-ecological transformation." For Michiel...

Last chance to add your name!

Details: Published on Tuesday, 27 August 2019 02:18; Written by editor

In just two days the SumOfUs community is turning up to AIG’s head office in Sydney, Australia to tell AIG to insure our future -- not the climate destroying Adani coal mine.

We’ll deliver this petition from members like you around the world, have a billboard roaming the streets, and hand out flyers. And the more names we have, the more powerful we’ll look! Can you add yours today?

Already over 87,000 people like you have stood up to AIG -- because if it insures this mine it will help seal our planet’s fate to catastrophic climate change. And there’ll be no going back.

Join the stand against AIG. Add your name now!

Thanks for all that you do,
Kat & Nick

Here's our original email:

We’re in a race against time to stop one of the world’s biggest new coal mines from being built before it ruins our climate forever.

There’s one thing that can stop this dirty coal mine from going ahead: insurance. Tell insurance giant AIG to insure our planet’s future and NOT Adani’s mine now.

Want a better cell phone deal?

Details: Published on Monday, 26 August 2019 12:24; Written by editor

OpenMedia r1

Paov,

I just wanted to follow up on Marie’s email from last week and check if you’ve had a chance to fill out the survey for the CRTC’s wireless market review?

This review is a great opportunity to introduce more choice and affordability...

Amazon fires

Details: Published on Monday, 26 August 2019 09:10; Written by editor

It’s not too late to prevent the Amazon rainforest from being burnt down for cheap beef, soy and timber.

Europe is about to sign a deal with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro that will add fuel to the blaze. Together, we can block it and save what's left of our largest forest.

Sign the petition

The fires in the Amazon rainforest are raging out of control.

The cause: farmers and loggers illegally slashing and burning trees for cattle and crops. With the blessing of Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro, they're mounting an all-out assault on our planet’s “green lung”, its vital carbon stores and the three million species of plants and animals who call it home.

And now, Europe is about to add fuel to the blaze by signing a deal to import more cheap beef, soy, and other products grown from the Amazon’s ashes. We have to stop this now!

So far, over...

Read more: Amazon fires

Alternative News