Jewish left-winger smeared and hounded out of Labour, who hammered Starmer party in local election, will stand for Greens
Jo Bird, Green Party parliamentary candidate for Birkenhead. Image thanks to the Skwawkbox.
Jo Bird, the Jewish left-winger repeatedly smeared, suspended and ultimately hounded out of Labour by the Starmer regime, will stand for the Greens in the Birkenhead parliamentary election.
The news will deeply worry the Labour right, who engineered the replacement of popular left-wing Birkenhead MP as candidate in the next election by the hard-right Alison McGovern, who currently sits in Wirral south.
Bird, a popular local councillor, trounced Labour in May’s local elections despite a dirty and intensive Labour campaign.
Birkenhead deserves better:
Better trains, buses, water and energy in public hands
Wirral, where Birkenhead is located, has been the scene of constant right-wing smears and machinations during and since the Corbyn leadership of the party. The party had just announced its shortlist of three for Wirral West, including a former councillor who quit accused of bullying and a woman who previously stood for the Tories. The party suspended the local ‘CLP’ to deprive members of a say.
Emissions added by coalmine expansions this year are equivalent to one-third of the country’s annual climate pollution. Image by eyeweed, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Expansion of metallurgical coalmine in Queensland will add 31m tonnes alone with activists accusing Albanese government of being reckless
Coalmine expansions and developments approved in Australia so far this year are expected to add nearly 150m tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere over their lifetimes – equivalent to nearly a third of the country’s annual climate pollution.
The Albanese government this week gave the greenlight to an expansion of the Gregory Crinum coalmine in central Queensland. It produces metallurgical coal, used in steelmaking.
According to an analysis by the Australia Institute, it is likely to extend the development’s life by 11 years – until the mid-2030s – and add about 31m tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere once it is burned. That equates to 6% of Australia’s annual emissions. The owner, Sojitz Blue, will have until 2073 to decommission the mine.
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Climate and conservation groups accused the government of recklessness and hypocrisy given its promise to act decisively on the climate crisis, pointing out it had the power to change the environment law to give it the power to block new fossil fuel developments if it chose.
The Climate Council’s chief executive, Amanda McKenzie, said the mine expansion approval showed Australia’s environment laws were “absolutely broken”.
“The Albanese government has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to arrest this decline,” she said. “Strengthening our national environment law, with climate at the heart of it, will safeguard our health, grow the economy, and protect our treasured natural places.”
THE CLIMATE COUNCIL has labelled the decision to approve an extension to the Gregory Crinum coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin until 2073 as ‘stunning hypocrisy’.
Just one week after Climate Minister Chris Bowen toured the Pacific to promote Australia’s climate credentials, and with all warning sirens blaring about a climate change-fuelled summer of extreme heat and fires ahead, it beggars belief the Albanese Government has thrown a lifeline to a fourth highly-polluting fossil fuel project.
“We hope this move locks in real action on ending the era of fossil fuels in California, and spurs other regions, states, and countries to join forces in tackling the root cause of the climate crisis,” said one activist.
Climate campaigners in California and beyond celebrated on Friday after the state Legislature affirmed its support for a resolution that urges the U.S. government to join a worldwide effort to develop “a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty as an international mechanism to manage a global transition away from coal, oil, and gas.”
Senate Joint Resolution 2 also endorses what advocates call a “just transition,” stating that “California affirms the need for a plan to phase out existing fossil fuel production that prioritizes the most impacted workers and local government services with short- and long-term investments that include enforceable labor standards, such as prevailing wages, apprenticeship opportunities, and project labor agreements, to protect workers and communities.”
California Senate Majority Whip Lena Gonzalez (D-33), who spearheaded SJR 2, declared Friday that “it is essential that we commit once and for all to ending our reliance on fossil fuels. People around the world, especially low-income people of color, are suffering the adverse health impacts of fossil fuel pollution, from asthma to cancer. The recent devastating fires and hurricanes emphasize the urgency of taking action, to prevent further extreme weather changes.”
“The science has been clear for decades—fossil fuels are responsible for the climate crisis,” she added. “We can prevent further harm to our communities, and that is why I am proud that California has now been added to the growing list of governments endorsing the fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty. It is time for our nation to be a part of the solution, to forge strong unity and commitment to phasing out the use of fossil fuels.”
Today the California Legislature officially endorsed the creation of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty with the passage of #SJR2 by @SenGonzalez33! Congrats to the @fossiltreaty team and thanks to Assemblymember @Ash_Kalra for being the Assembly Champion. https://t.co/dqiJwV8hGM
According to its text, SJR 2 will be sent to Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris—who are seeking reelection next year—as well as the top Democrats and Republicans in Congress, California’s congressional delegation, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, every mayor in the state, the United Nations secretary-general, and the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
The resolution was sponsored by the Stand.earth initiative Stand Against Fossil Fuel Expansion (SAFE) Cities and the Indigenous Environmental Network, whose executive director, Tom Goldtooth, said in a statement Friday that “this decision of the state of California is a commitment to take down the single biggest contributor to the climate crisis: the fossil fuel industry.”
“California joins the millions of voices across Turtle Island and Mother Earth calling on Biden to follow in the footsteps of our Pacific Island brothers and sisters from the small island states and negotiate a mandate for a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty,” he noted. “As the state with the highest population of Indigenous peoples in the country, it is important to pass legislation that would put a halt to the devastation and destruction of the compounding effects of climate change caused by fossil fuels.”
“This decision of the state of California is a commitment to take down the single biggest contributor to the climate crisis: the fossil fuel industry.”
Along with other local, regional, and national governments, the demand for such a treaty is backed by the European Union, the World Health Organization, faith and civil society groups, and individuals across the globe, including Nobel laureates, scientists, and youth leaders.
If California were a country, it would be the fifth-largest economy in the world in terms of gross domestic product, after the full United States, China, Japan, and Germany. The U.S. state is the largest economy to embrace the treaty call so far, according to Alex Rafalowicz, executive director of the Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty Initiative.
Rafalowicz said in a statement Friday that by supporting the treaty proposal, “California sets a powerful example to the international community, underscoring the urgency of fast-tracking an equitable transition away from oil, gas, and coal. This move will catalyze a ripple effect that reaches far beyond state borders.”
“By aligning its immense economic and cultural influence with the fossil fuel treaty proposal, California can accelerate its own energy transition, inspiring global cooperation to safeguard our planet and communities,” the campaigner continued. “We hope this move locks in real action on ending the era of fossil fuels in California, and spurs other regions, states, and countries to join forces in tackling the root cause of the climate crisis: the production of coal, oil, and gas.”
The resolution approved by California supports a plan to create a global framework to manage fossil fuel production by:
♻️starting a just energy transition 🚫stopping expansion ⬇️equitably phasing out coal, oil & gas
— Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative (@fossiltreaty) September 1, 2023
Last December, California regulators approved a blueprint to cut planet-heating emissions by 85% and get the state to carbon neutrality by 2045. Newsom said at the time that “California is leading the world’s most significant economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution—we’re cutting pollution, turning the page on fossil fuels, and creating millions of new jobs.” However, activists have called on him and other state leaders to go further.
Nathan Taft, a California resident and senior digital campaigner for SAFE Cities, said Friday that “Los Angeles was one of the first cities in the world to endorse the fossil fuel treaty, and it’s great to see California following its lead by becoming one of the first subnational governments joining this movement to address the climate crisis with the scale and urgency required.”
“At the same time, California must follow this historic resolution with concrete policies that protect its residents and the climate from fossil fuels,” Taft asserted. “At a bare minimum, California should stop issuing new fossil fuel permits, divest its massive pensions from fossil fuels, and implement all-electric building codes.”
Central California Environmental Justice Network oil and gas director Cesar Aguirre similarly argued that the state’s support for the treaty “only holds weight if we see meaningful protections come from it” and “no new neighborhood drilling should be the first priority.”
The vote in California comes as much of the Northern Hemisphere has endured a summer of extreme heat connected to human-caused global warming and as parties to the 2015 Paris agreement prepare for COP28, a U.N. climate summit hosted by the United Arab Emirates in November.
As Common Dreams reported last November, during COP27 in Egypt, Kausea Natano, prime minister of the Pacific nation Tuvalu, proposed a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty, telling those gathered that “we all know that the leading cause of climate crisis is fossil fuels.”
Unlawful practice still used in Kent was condemned after more than 200 went missing from accommodation
The UK Home Office has placed more than 100 lone asylum-seeker children in hotels in recent weeks, despite the practice having been found unlawful by the high court.
The government’s continued use of hotels has been condemned by human rights and refugee organisations since more than 200 children have gone missing, including dozens who vanished from one hotel in Brighton.
One of the reasons why children continue to be placed in hotels, some for a number of weeks, is that Kent county council says it cannot cope with the number of children arriving. The council’s geographical location means it has responsibility to take into care lone children who arrive at the Kent coast in small boats. It has warned that they are struggling to meet their legal obligations to UK as well as asylum-seeker children.
Both the Home Office and Kent county council have been found by the high court to have acted unlawfully by failing to look after these children properly.
