Counter-protesters at a K.K.K. Rally in Charlotte, N.C., in 2012. Credit: Yash Mori
For decades, Wunsiedel, a German town near the Czech border, has struggled with a parade of unwanted visitors. It was the original burial place of one of Adolf Hitler’s deputies, a man named Rudolf Hess. And every year, to residents’ chagrin, neo-Nazis marched to his grave site. The town had staged counter demonstrations to dissuade these pilgrims. In 2011 it had exhumed Hess’s body and even removed his grave stone. But undeterred, the neo-Nazis returned. So in 2014, the town tried a different tactic: humorous subversion
The campaign, called Rechts Gegen Rechts — the Right Against the Right — turned the march into Germany’s “most involuntary walkathon.” For every meter the neo-Nazis marched, local residents and businesses pledged to donate 10 euros (then equivalent to about $12.50) to a program that helps people leave right-wing extremist groups, called EXIT Deutschland.
FEDERAL COURT AFFIRMS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF KIDS AND DENIES MOTIONS OF GOVERNMENT AND FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY IN YOUTH’S LANDMARK CLIMATE CHANGE CASE
Eugene, OR – On April 8, 2016, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin of the federal District Court in Eugene, OR, decided in favor of 21 young Plaintiffs, and Dr. James Hansen on behalf of future generations, in their landmark constitutional climate change case brought against the federal government and the fossil fuel industry. The Court’s ruling is a major victory for the 21 youth Plaintiffs, ages 8-19, from across the U.S. in what Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein call the “most important lawsuit on the planet right now.” These plaintiffs sued the federal government for violating their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property, and their right to essential public trust resources, by permitting, encouraging, and otherwise enabling continued exploitation, production, and combustion of fossil fuels.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Philip Gregory with Cotchett, Pitre, & McCarthy of Burlingame, CA, said: “This decision is one of the most significant in our nation’s history. The Court upheld our claims that the federal government intensified the danger to our plaintiffs’ lives, liberty and property. Judge Coffin decided our Complaint will move forward and put climate science squarely in front of the federal courts. The next step is for the Court to order our government to cease jeopardizing the climate system for present and future generations. The Court gave America’s youth a fair opportunity to be heard.”
As part of Friday’s historic decision, Judge Coffin characterized the case as an “unprecedented lawsuit” addressing “government action and inaction” resulting “in carbon pollution of the atmosphere, climate destabilization, and ocean acidification.” In deciding the case will proceed, Judge Coffin wrote: “The debate about climate change and its impact has been before various political bodies for some time now. Plaintiffs give this debate justiciability by asserting harms that befall or will befall them personally and to a greater extent than older segments of society. It may be that eventually the alleged harms, assuming the correctness of plaintiffs' analysis of the impacts of global climate change, will befall all of us. But the intractability of the debates before Congress and state legislatures and the alleged valuing of short term economic interest despite the cost to human life, necessitates a need for the courts to evaluate the constitutional parameters of the action or inaction taken by the government. This is especially true when such harms have an alleged disparate impact on a discrete class of society.”
Photo of bicycling "info ladies" courtesy of The Guardian
For many in Bangladeshi villages, a computer is
something they may not have seen until recent years. Now they have access Internet thanks to women known as “info
ladies” who bring Internet to these villages by bicycles.
These info ladies bike into Bangladeshi villages
and provide thousands of people with laptops and Internet connection. This
service has been especially beneficial to women, who are the top receivers,
giving them access to government services and allowing them to have contact
with their distant loved ones.
In Bangladesh, only 5 million of the population of
152 million had access to the Internet. This service was created in 2008 by a
local development group called D.Net that recruits and trains women for three
months to use the computer, the internet, printer, and camera and then provides
these women with bank loans to buy the equipment.
This is amazing because not only does this service
provide millions of people with access to Internet and services, but it also
creates jobs for women who are unemployed. Both the “info ladies” and those being served in these
villages are empowered by this project.
These “info ladies” also provide communities with
education. They will meet with
teenage girls to discuss health care and subjects that are not generally
discussed, like reproductive health.
They also give villagers a voice by providing them with the tools to
initiate changes in government services.
These services are both free, or come at a small
cost but the especially positive aspect of the work of these women is that they
are empowering other women with the tools to succeed, with information, with
access to technology, with education, and giving women a voice. This is a huge step forward in terms of
development and in terms of women’s empowerment, especially in a country with a
high level of gender inequality.
[In this day,] there are 57 million children without access to education and millions more who aren’t learning in school. Working together, we can lower that number to zero by 2015.
On July 12 — less than a year after she was shot by the Taliban for her strong voice in this fight — Malala Yousafzai [from Pakistan] mark[ed] her 16th birthday by delivering the highest leadership of the UN a set of education demands written by youth, for youth, to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Sign this letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to show your demand for emergency action in support for Malala’s education fight.
Dear Mr Secretary-General,
I stand with Malala in demanding that the leaders of the world end our global Education Emergency. After the recent violent murder of 14 girls in Pakistan who simply wanted an education, I support the civil rights struggle of 57 million girls and boys who will not go to school today — or any day. Read More
Click the above link for more information and to sign the petition - add your voice to the fight for global education and empowering leaders.
Clip courtesy of Vine at https://vine.co/v/hBX2IImrbEu/embed
This week
has been historical for the gay rights movement with a breakthrough in legal
history. The Supreme Court has
ruled the Defense of Marriage Act, otherwise known as DOMA, as
unconstitutional.
DOMA was
signed into law in 1996 by then-President Bill Clinton, excluding married gay
couples from a number of crucial legal rights, including the non-recognition of
married partners of gay Americans under the immigration system.
“Within hours of the supreme court ruling striking down
the Defence of Marriage Act (Doma) […] many branches of the federal
government including the Pentagon and State Department had issued statements
saying they would immediately extend employee benefits to same-sex partners.”
Others,
including the Department of Homeland Security have announced that immigration
policies that affect mixed nationality gay couples would go under revision as
well.
Gay couples
in same-sex marriage states will now have the right to file joint tax returns
and will have access to federal benefits. But more than just in terms of
legality, the ruling of DOMA as unconstitutional could provoke a shift in
mentality of popular thought in US society. Could this legal ruling reduce homophobia and thus the
oppression of “non-heterosexuals?”
There is
still much to be done in terms of same-sec marriage and legality, but the
ruling of DOMA as unconstitutional has definitely been a positive step forward
in embracing the many cultures and ideas of the world we live in today.
Moreover,
governor Jerry Brown of California has taken on a separate Supreme Court ruling,
dismissing an appeal to uphold the state's Proposition 8 vote banning gay
marriage. County clerks have been instructed to begin issuing marriage licenses
to same-sex couples – the ruling is set to become official in 25 days.
It only
seems right that such a huge step forward for the gay community take place
during Pride month.
The Guardian states,
“The San Francisco gay community
threw one of the biggest parties of the year on Wednesday. Thousands of people
thronged the Castro neighborhood, at the heart of gay life in the city. Businesses
closed early and traffic was detoured away from the area as revelers danced
into the night.”
Let us think
of this time as a huge step forward for an oppressed community and remember
that we must continue to fight for equal rights as there is a long way to go
for many who are still victims of hate, fear, and ignorance.
The only way
to create further change is by continuing to talk about these pressing issues!
Photo courtesy of Red Alliances Media (http://redalliances.com/2013/05/06/proud-to-be-indigenous-with-first-peoples-worldwide/)
The month of May was a fun and exciting time for indigenous peoples from all over the world as they were invited by the First Peoples Worldwide organization to take to social media and express what they love about being indigenous during Proud To Be Indigenous Week.
First Peoples Worldwide was founded in 1997 as a program that offers funding for local development projects in indiegnous communities worldwide. The work of this organization is particularly incredible because it is an indigenous-led organization that gives a voice to indigenous communities in solving today's challenges around climate change, food insecurity, among others. The organization is made up of head staff, a global network of board members, grantees, and practitioners that all represent diversity and solidarity in indigenous lifestyles.
The organization used the month of May as a way to include indigenous peoples from around the world in expressing that theye were proud to be indigenous. First Peoples received over 300 photos from 69 different indigenous communities across 33 countries with a campaign on Twitter that used the trending tags #Proud2BIndigenous and #P2BI. The photos are available on the organization's Facebook page.
In addition to the online campaign, First Peoples hosted several events in New York City, including a workshop led by the founder, Rebecca Adamson, on how corporations need to engage and work with indigenous communities because their voices need to be heard when the issues at hand concern these people.
Though the Proud To Be Indigenous week is over, submissions are welcome throughout the year!
Thousands of people are killed, injured, raped, and forced to flee from their homes as a result of the unregulated global arms trade. The Control Arms campaign is a global civil society alliance calling for a bulletproof Arms Trade Treaty: a global, legally binding agreement that will ease the suffering caused by irresponsible transfers of conventional weapons and munitions.
Representatives from all countries will come together at the UN from March 18—25 to take the next step in developing a strong and effective global Arms Trade Treaty. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.
Click here for the Control Arms Campaign website. They have lots of resources and suggestions for taking action on this important issue.
Our friends at GlobalSolutions.org have lots of materials on their website for people who live in the U.S.A. Here’s a link to their Fact Sheet, and here’s a link to a great blog post, Getting Small Arms Out of the Wrong Hands, by Don Kraus, their Executive Director.
February 28, 2013 – Evgenia Chirikova, leader of the Movement to Defend Khimki Forestparticipated in a meeting with French President Francois Hollande and Russian public figures. In her speech, Mrs. Chirikova told President Hollande how Vinci, the French Company that is constructing a Moscow-St. Petersburg road through the Khimki Forest, had joined with chains of tax-haven companies. These companies are apparently trace-able back to Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg, a friend of Putin and other Russian billionaires. The project, funded by Russian tax-payers, banks and pension funds, rather than foreign investments, is already accruing profits, which find their way back to Rotenberg. Besides this obvious corruption, the project is also linked to abuses of environmental activists who protested the road’s serious environmental impact.
*Read more about EarthAction’s previous collaborative campaign with Evgenia Chirikova to protect the Khimki Forest here, and read more about the movement on The Nation.
January 25, 2013
One Billion Rising 02.14.13
Violence against women is a daily fixture in the news. It’s time to change that. GlobalSolutions.org and One Billion Rising are planning a day of action for February 14th, 2013. GlobalSolutions.org is a Partner in the EarthAction Network and we support their Call to Action. Here is what you can do:
1. Rally on February 14! Rally with GlobalSolutions.org and One Billion Rising, a movement that is bringing hundreds of thousands of concerned global citizens all over the world to rally, dance and raise our voices to declare that we will not tolerate violence against women anymore. Join us at the DC rally, or join or start one in your own community. We have signs you can print out, Global Citizen t-shirts, CEDAW petition forms, info on rally locations and more. Contact Arielle Weaver to find out more (Put "End Violence" in the subject line and include your zip code so we can let you know if a rally is already happening near you).
2. Raise your Voice! Help us permanently influence the system by signing our petition urging the Senate to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) treaty during this 113th Congress. This is an important move to protect women's rights on the long-term.
3. Learn More. Join GlobalSolutions.org for a special webinar on February 9 to discuss the global epidemic of violence against women, and what each of us can do to take action. We'll send you details on this next week.
4. Spread the word. Help us flood Facebook and Twitter with key facts about violence against women, and the US role in stopping it worldwide. Collectively, we can change the conversation.
But for some, it is a sport. Last year Renewable Rider Tom Weiss pedaled across the country to raise awareness about the US's energy crisis and to garner support for renewable energy.
In 2011 the Alliance for Renewable Energy and 2020 Action, both projects of EarthAction, sponsored Tom Weis and his Rocket Trike 'Ride for Renewables'—No tar sands oil on American soil. Tom peddled his trikealong the 1,700-mile pipeline route to draw the nation’s attention to the perils of this project and to support the people in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas who are most directly threatened by this dangerous pipeline scheme. Now, Tom wants to share with you the stories of the brave farmers, ranchers, rural families and tribal community members who he met along his trip and who are counting on our help to defend them from the proposed TransCanada XL invasion of their land.
Want to learn more? Follow the Ride for Renewables on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to the Youtube channel to see the video updates for the next 70 days.
For more information on the Keystone XL pipeline, check out 20/20 intern Alex's blog on the issue from February, 2012 here.
EarthAction's mission is to inform and inspire people everywhere to turn their concern, passion, and outrage into meaningful action for a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.
