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  • Health professionals risk arrest with road occupation, ‘die-in’ and ‘climate inquest’ outside JP Morgan

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    Health for Extinction Rebellion protests at JP Morgan Chase’s London Embankment offices 19 October 2023.
    Health for Extinction Rebellion protests at JP Morgan Chase’s London Embankment offices 19 October 2023.

    As part of the Oily Money Out week of protests, over 60 health professionals are risking arrest this morning by staging a ‘die-in’ and ‘climate inquest’ in the road outside JP Morgan Chase’s London Embankment offices.

    The protest is designed to highlight the bank’s leading investment role in the new fossil fuel extraction which is driving increasing levels of climate-related death and suffering. 

    Health for Extinction Rebellion, who have a long running campaign against JP Morgan’s fossil fuel investments (HXR, 2021, 2022, 2022-2, 2022-3, 2022-4), sought to emphasise, through their action today, the intolerable and growing human health impacts of the climate and ecological crisis, and the complicity of firms, like JP Morgan, who continue to drive fossil fuel extraction.

    The action comes as the ‘Energy Intelligence Forum’, being held in London this week, is the focus of major protests and demands to get “Oily Money Out” of our politics, out of COP 28, and out of power.

    Banner reads Oily Money Out. Protests London 18 October 2023.
    Banner reads Oily Money Out. Protests London 18 October 2023.

    Today’s action saw 14 health professionals lay themselves, shrouded, in the road outside the conference in military hospital style. Other health professionals circled amongst them, tending their ‘fallen’ colleagues, and laying headstones indicating the climate health impact each represented. A mock inquest was then held, in which health-workers gave testimony on the deaths already caused by the planetary emergency. These included among others, the 6 million deaths every year resulting from air pollution (Fuller, 2020), the 5 million deaths globally each year from extreme temperatures (Zhoa. 2021),  and the 43,000 who died from the climate-change associated drought and famine in Somalia last year (WHO/Unicef, 2021)  

    Following the action the group will be handing in a letter addressed to Luke Nelson, JP Morgan Chase’s head of sustainability. It reads:

    “Society in the future is likely to judge companies that continue such fossil fuel investments as both immoral and as operating outside international law. What does JP Morgan plan to do right now to avoid such a judgement?”

    New extraction goes against the explicit warning of the International Energy Agency (IEA, 2021) and the United Nations (UN news, 2022), yet politicians, lawyers and financiers continue to support a fossil fuel industry that has known for decades that fossil fuels cause deadly global warming (Scientific American, 2015). To emphasise this complicity, health workers today also held ‘Cigarette-style’ Health warnings, and banners reading ‘Fossil Fuels Kill’, and “Cause of Death = Fossil Fuel Finance”. The action sought to draw a direct parallel with the Tobacco industry which was complicit in 100,000’s if not millions of deaths, by knowingly misleading the public around the health impacts of smoking. 

    Despite the bleak reality of the climate crisis, the action also emphasised the numerous potential benefits for human health of climate action (The Health Foundation, 2023), and the need to galvanise mass support for the appropriate action needed to safeguard a healthy future.

    Health for Extinction Rebellion previously wrote to JP Morgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon,  ( 3rd September 2021 to outline their concerns and to suggest a positive route forward for the bank, but have yet to receive a reply. They have returned on numerous occasions speaking ‘off record’ with concerned employees. 

    “During the August heatwave of 2022 my father suffered a heart attack and died the following week. He had chronic physical health problems and like many of the most vulnerable in our society could not manage the extreme heat that climate change is bringing to us. This is not a problem of the future. It is a health catastrophe that we are living through right now”.

    Dr Jethro Purkis Specialty Doctor Bristol 

    “Governments and companies that continue to finance and license new coal, oil and gas are doing so at the expense of their citizens. Fossil fuels are the drivers of deadly climate change and air pollution in our communities. This is an industry that has delayed and denied climate change for decades in the name of greed, putting profit above all else, and from a health and a moral perspective it’s beyond time to shut it down” 

    Dr Juliette Brown, Consultant Psychiatrist

    “I am here demonstrating for my pregnant patients, for the new mums and for their babies that I see on a daily basis, I am also here for my own children to say that the fossil fuel companies are destroying any chance of our children being able to live any sort of “normal” future.  That the burning of fossil fuels have caused irreversible damage to our planet and that we need companies to stop all new fossil fuel exploration and to start being world leaders in green energy.  It is possible, we just need them to start putting the planet and people before profit”.

    Charlotte Francis. Perinatal Pelvic Health Specialist Physiotherapist

    “I am a retired GP and  to my last breath I will endeavour to spread the scientific truths which the powers-that-be try so desperately to conceal from the public. I will always denounce the greed and self-interest borne of their grotesque worship of money which has clearly eaten away at their consciences, even their very humanity, to the extent that they are apparently unable to relate to the  enormous suffering already in the southern hemisphere, let alone envisage the horrors ahead if they continue their love-affair with Fossil Fuels”.

    Dr Valerie Davies,  Retired General Practitioner

  • Government has ‘no plans’ to stop arms sales to Israel despite civilian deaths

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    Original article by Adam Bychawski republished from OpenDemocracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

    Human rights groups say UK is ignoring its own rules on arms exports after hundreds of Palestinians killed

    Campaigners block the road in East London outside the DSEI arms fair Photo: @CAATuk / Twitter
    Campaigners block the road in East London outside the DSEI arms fair Photo: @CAATuk / Twitter

    The UK government has no plans to suspend arms sales to Israel, despite human rights campaigners warning its exports have been used to kill civilians, openDemocracy has been told.

    The UK has approved millions of pounds worth of licences for military equipment to Israeli forces since 2015. They include components for F-35 fighter jets, which can deliver ground strikes and have been recently pictured in social media posts from the Israeli Air Force.

    In response to Hamas’ attack on Israel which killed hundreds of civilians, Israeli forces have fired thousands of bombs into Gaza since 7 October. As of yesterday, 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza strip, according to the Palestinian health ministry. This figure was given before an attack on al-Ahli Arab hospital that reportedly killed 500 people.

    Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, warned last week that “Palestinians are in grave danger of mass ethnic cleansing”.

    openDemocracy asked the Department of Business and Trade if it would suspend and review its export licences for arms to Israel in light of the reported civilian killings. In response, the department said the licences were “under continual review” but there were “no immediate plans to stop arms export licences to Israel”.

    Emily Apple, media coordinator for the Campaign Against the Arm Trade, said: “It is disgusting that the Department for Business and Trade is refusing to suspend and review arms licences to Israel given the mounting evidence of war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.

    “UK industry is responsible for 15% of the components used in the F35 stealth combat aircraft that are being used in airstrikes, and the UK is therefore complicit in war crimes committed by the Israeli government.”

    Any UK company wishing to export military goods to other nations must apply for a licence to do so. The government has a number of criteria that must be met before licences can be granted. 

    One of the criteria is to “not grant a licence if [the department] determines there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

    Officials are also told not to grant licences if there is a “likelihood that the items would be used in the territory of another country other than for legitimate purposes including national or collective self defence”.

    The campaign group Palestine Action, which has taken direct action in the UK against Israeli arms company Elbit, said it was “no surprise” that the UK government is continuing to allow arms exports.

    “Numerous weapons factories, including ones owned by Israel’s largest weapons firm, continue to operate on our doorsteps, who market their weapons as “battle-tested” on the captive population of Gaza,” a spokesperson for the group said.

    The UK has in the past paused export licences in response to reports that its criteria may have been breached.

    In 2019, the then foreign secretary Dominic Raab suspended arms exports to NATO ally Turkey after it invaded Syria, on the grounds that it risked worsening the humanitarian crisis in the country.

    The UK revoked some arms licences to Israel in 2009 after hundreds of Palestinians were killed in airstrikes by Israeli forces. During the 2o14 conflict, the government warned it would suspend licences again if hostilities continued, but ultimately did not go-ahead with the decision.

    The decision to continue supplying arms to Israel comes after MPs and campaign groups raised concerns about a growing lack of transparency from the government over exports licences.

    In October, an enquiry led by MPs found that despite pledges from the government to improve transparency “progress has been limited” and that “there is a worrying lack of openness and data on compliance”.

    The Campaign Against the Arms Trade told openDemocracy that there is a “disturbing lack of transparency over arms sales to Israel”.

    “The UK government has hidden behind exemptions and refused to supply CAAT with data regarding recent exports by Elbit subsidiaries, and a large proportion of UK sales are hidden by open export licences where it is impossible to monitor the amount of weapons sold,” it said. 

    Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, urged the government to reverse its decision to continue supplying Israel with arms.

    “The UK’s arms export system is based on the principle of avoiding a clear risk of British weapons being used to commit serious violations of international law. There’s mounting evidence that Israel’s military conduct in Gaza during the last week has included indiscriminate attacks which have killed and injured large numbers of Palestinian civilians.

    “The government needs to follow its own rules and urgently suspend export licences for all arms transfers to Israel that risk being used to commit further unlawful attacks.”

    Original article by Adam Bychawski republished from OpenDemocracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

  • Labour-supporting Muslims tell Starmer to step down

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    https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/labour-supporting-muslims-tell-starmer-to-quit

    Thousands sign letter of no confidence as leader continues to back Israeli war crimes

    Image of Keir Starmer and a poor child.
    Zionist Keir ‘Kid Starver’ Starmer. Image thanks to The Skwawkbox.

    LABOUR-supporting Muslims told Sir Keir Starmer to quit today as the row over the Labour leader’s backing for Israeli war crimes deepened with more councillors leaving the party.

    Thousands of British Muslims across society signed an open letter telling Sir Keir that they had lost confidence in his leadership after he backed Israel cutting off food, water and power to Palestinians in Gaza, in breach of international law.

    In another blow to the Starmer leadership, Labour MPs backed a Commons motion tabled by Socialist Campaign Group secretary Richard Burgon expressing “deep alarm at the Israeli military bombardment and total siege of Gaza and the resulting deaths and suffering,” and calling for an immediate ceasefire and an “end to the total siege of Gaza.”

    Sir Keir tried to slither back onto the high ground today, using Prime Minister’s Questions to partially recalibrate Labour’s position.

    He said that “food, fuel and water must get into Gaza immediately” — the very things he had endorsed the Israeli government cutting off.

    But neither he nor PM Rishi Sunak backed calls for a ceasefire, instead emphasising Israel’s “right to defend itself” through continuing attacks on Gaza “within international law.”

    …

    Labour is facing large-scale resignations among councillors irate about Sir Keir’s pro-war crimes stance and the ban on attending solidarity marches.

    Further departures were reported today in London, Cambridge, Gloucester and Gedling in Nottinghamshire, joining colleagues in Manchester, Stroud and Oxford who quit earlier.

    …

    A Labour official, believed to be a member of the party’s executive, has described these councillors as “fleas” to be shaken off.

    …

    https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/labour-supporting-muslims-tell-starmer-to-quit

  • Tory candidate for Tamworth posted chart telling parents who can’t feed kids to ‘f*** off’

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    https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/tory-candidate-for-tamworth-posted-chart-telling-parents-who-cant-feed-kids-to-f-off/

    Andrew Cooper is standing for the party in Tamworth.

    With two by-elections set to take place this Thursday following the resignation of two Tory MPs, this week is a crucial test for Rishi Sunak ahead of the next general election.

    Yet one of the Tory by-election candidates, Andrew Cooper, who is standing for the party in Tamworth is revealed to have posted a chart telling parents who can’t feed kids to ‘f*** off’, causing yet another headache for the Tories.

    The story, first reported in the Mirror, reveals that in 2020 Cooper posted on Facebook a diagram drawn in pen on a piece of paper asking the question: “Can you feed your kids?” It said that those who have subscriptions for TV services such as Sky, as well as mobile phone contracts or get their nails done should “f*** off”. The diagram suggested that parents who do none of these but do not work should also “f*** off”.

    …

    Andrew Cooper prospective Tory MP for Tamworth's diagram telling parents to feck off
    Andrew Cooper prospective Tory MP for Tamworth’s diagram telling parents to feck off

    https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/tory-candidate-for-tamworth-posted-chart-telling-parents-who-cant-feed-kids-to-f-off/

  • Protesters occupy City Of London insurers’ offices demanding they reject climate-wrecking projects in UK and Africa

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    Extinction Rebellion occupy Lloyds of London insurance companies 18 October 2023.
    Extinction Rebellion occupy Lloyds of London insurance companies 18 October 2023.

    Ten City of London insurance companies are targeted by activists calling on them to stop insuring West Cumbia coalmine and East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline NOW!

    Hundreds of protesters occupied City of London offices of ten Lloyd’s of London insurers demanding they rule out insuring the proposed West Cumbria coal mine and the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

    The occupations started as a huge crowd gathered outside Standard Bank. The protests are in collaboration with Fossil Free London’s “Oily Money Out” mass action – at which Greta Thunberg was arrested yesterday – and in solidarity with Extinction Rebellion Gauteng in South Africa.  In Johannesburg activists were recently met with brutality by security personnel hired by Standard Bank as they peacefully called for dialogue to end the financing of new coal projects.

    The protesters marched waving banners saying “Don’t Insure EACOP” and “Don’t Insure West Cumbria Mine” to three high profile buildings including the “Walkie Talkie” where in a coordinated swoop, activists occupied the office foyers of Ascot, Talbot, Chaucer, Markel, Allied World, CNA Hardy, Tokio Marine Kiln, Sirius International and Lancashire Syndicates. The activists are staging a sit-in and refusing to leave.

    Insurers from Lloyd’s of London have come under increasing pressure to rule out offering insurance to both the West Cumbria coal mine and EACOP, including protests at offices across the UK with hundreds of students entering the job market refusing to work for them.

    Claude Fourcroy, a spokesperson for Money Rebellion said: “We are calling on all the banks and insurers behind the West Cumbria mine and East Africa Crude Oil Pipelines to cut their ties now. Both of these projects will fuel climate breakdown. Lloyd’s of London and the insurers in its market sit at the centre of a web of climate wreckers in the City of London, alongside Barclays and HSBC.”

    Community members from Cumbria and Uganda joined the protests, sharing the united call to insurers and banks to stop underwriting fossil fuel projects.  The UK Climate Change Committee warned that the West Cumbria Mine would increase UK’s domestic emissions and make the government’s legally-binding domestic emissions budgets difficult to meet.

    The massive 1443 km East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline will wreak havoc on communities, jeopardise ecosystems and water supplies. and eliminate the possibility of Earth remaining habitable. There can be no new fossil fuels anywhere if global heating is to remain under 1.5C.

    Scientists say we are dangerously close to crossing the globally agreed threshold of 1.5C this year. Neither project will proceed without financial and insurance backing.

    Andrew Taylor, Coal Action Network said: “West Cumbria Mining Ltd wants to dig coal here right up until 2049 – when we’re supposed to have reached net zero by 2050! They’re not looking at the impact of how burning it would damage the climate and nature.  The UK government talks about us having energy security but the truth is, if the mine goes ahead, 85% of the coal would be exported.”

    Patience, a youth activist from Fridays for Future Uganda said: “We have gathered here today to demand that insurers cut ties with EACOP. By supporting this deadly fossil fuel project they undermine any climate commitments they have made. People in Uganda are facing human rights violations in the name of this project. This has to end.”

    Fossil Free London is simultaneously disrupting the Canary Wharf offices of Total Energies, a majority shareholder in EACOP.

    The protests come on the second day of the Fossil Free London “Oily Money Out” protests targeting the Energy Intelligence Forum at the InterContinental Park Lane Hotel in London, where fossil fuel corporations, including Shell, Total and Equinor, are talking to government ministers. The Forum is taking place in the run up to the COP28 Climate Conference, which has already been captured by the fossil fuel industry, with the appointment of Al Jaber, chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) as the COP28 President.

    Banner reads Oily Money Out. Protests London 18 October 2023.
    Banner reads Oily Money Out. Protests London 18 October 2023.


    Joanna Warrington, campaigner with Fossil Free London said: “We can’t allow London to welcome the climate-wrecking elite when droughts, floods, and wildfires rage across the world. London’s banks and finance sector have been ignoring all the warning signs while pouring billions into fossil fuel expansion. Their profit is our loss. Financing new fossil fuel developments is incompatible with a safe future.”