Protesters hit out at fossil fuel corporations fuelling the climate crisis and profiting from genocide in Gaza
Activists demonstrate for climate justice and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, November 11, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan
PROTESTERS hit out at oil giant BP “hijacking” Cop29 while profiting from the genocide in Gaza as the international climate summit kicked off in Azerbaijan today.
Palestine and climate campaigners protested outside the firm’s London headquarters as world leaders headed the latest round of international climate talks.
As the UN warned 2024 is set to be the hottest year on record, Fossil Free London activists held a banner reading “BP, stop fuelling genocide and climate breakdown.”
They demanded BP stop its oil and gas extraction, “hijacking” the Conference of the Parties (Cop) process in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku and “profiteering from genocide.”
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Human rights experts have warned that countries and corporations supplying oil to Israeli armed forces may be complicit in war crimes and genocide following an International Court of Justice ruling on Israel.
Joanna Warrington, a campaigner with Fossil Free London, said: “It’s the very same fossil fuel giants that profit from the suffering of billions as our climate tips closer to collapse, which are fuelling and enabling Israel’s horrific colonial genocide.
Police raided the home of journalist Asa Winstanley. (Photo: AsaWinstantley.com)
Why are no national news outlets covering the crackdown on pro-Palestinian journalists in Britain?
“Journalism is the lifeblood of democracy” proclaimed prime minister Keir Starmer in a comment piece for the Guardian at the end of October. “Just because journalists are brave does not mean they should ever suffer intimidation”, he wrote.
Yet 11 days before his article was published, officers from the counter-terrorism unit of the Metropolitan Police raided the home of Asa Winstanley, a well-known pro-Palestinian journalist with the Electronic Intifada, and seized his devices under provisions of the UK’s Terrorism Act.
Winstanley was presented with a letter indicating that the raid was part of ‘Operation Incessantness’, a counter-terror initiative about which little is known.
This is not the first use of anti-terror laws to try to silence pro-Palestinian voices in recent months.
It follows the detention at Heathrow Airport of Richard Medhurst and the arrest of Sarah Wilkinson in August 2024, both of whom are independent journalists prominently associated with reporting Israel’s war on Palestinians.
The attacks on journalists are part of a wider pattern of harassment of pro-Palestine activists.
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In response to these outrageous infringements of journalists’ ability to do their jobs, Declassified UK noted back in September that “they are part of a sinister development that has serious implications for civil liberties and freedom of speech, yet it has been ignored by the mainstream media”.
This continues to be the case. Not a single national news outlet in the UK has reported on the policing of British pro-Palestinian journalists. Not one of them has thought to investigate what ‘Operation Incessantness’ might mean for press freedom.
Not one of them has reflected on the precedent set by the use of anti-terror laws for reporting on Gaza.
dizzy: Bloggers are journalists and journalists are bloggers. Restrictions are applied to this blog contrary to human rights principles. Comments are not permitted, stats are manipulated. I finally managed to connect to Google Analytics and it told me I had 8 page views on one day, 14 on the following day – at least it’s obviously total BS.
I assume that UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is responsible for this but it could be Germany since this blog is hosted in Germany. I have no idea tbh because I’ve never been told and never been given the opportunity to challenge it.
On the plus side, I think that the Fascist human rights violators may also be paying for my hosting. If I’m reaching a far wider audience than acknowledged, somebody is paying for that bandwidth. Somebody is also paying to hide my name. I used to pay for it – about £20 a year – but decided that I couldn’t afford it one year. My name appeared on the DNS record but was hidden within about 20 minutes.
Rescue workers use excavators to remove the rubble of a destroyed house hit in an Israeli airstrike, as they search for victims in Aalmat village, northern Lebanon, November 10, 2024
ISRAEL bombed the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza without warning early today, [Sunday, November 10, 2024] killing at least 33 people including 13 children.
Its bombers killed a further 23 people in the Lebanese village of Aalmat, north of Beirut, a day after a bombing raid over the ancient port of Tyre left at least seven dead, including five siblings, three of whom were deaf and mute. Other Israeli bombing over Lebanon killed a further 31 people on Saturday, according to health officials.
The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, which Israel has banned, said famine is already taking grip in northern Gaza, where Israel’s invading forces continue to deny access to humanitarian aid.
Israel was forced to deny comments from a commander on the ground, Brigadier Itzik Cohen, last week that no aid would be allowed to enter the north because “there are no residents [ie, non-combatants] left there,” as well as that his declaration “No-one is returning to the northern area. There is no return to the north, and there will not be” reflects a policy of ethnic cleansing in the north — as openly advocated by Israeli ministers including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — saying instead it represented a tactical position based on ongoing fighting.
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Hospital where displaced people live in tents, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, November 9, 2024
THE Scottish Greens used the Armistice Day commemorations today to call on all governments to end their complicity in the Gaza genocide.
The party’s co-leader Patrick Harvie challenged the SNP Scottish government to stop subsidising arms manufacturers, and the Labour government to end all arms sales to Israel as its military continues its bloody assault in Gaza.
Mr Harvie said: “After the horrors of October 7, the last 400 days have seen some of the worst war crimes of this century carried out against the people of Gaza.
“By arming and supporting Israel, the UK has made itself utterly complicit in the destruction.
“How can [Prime Minister Sir] Keir Starmer and his colleagues look at a humanitarian emergency on that scale and decide to continue the arms sales?
Mask off Maersk campaign exposes shipping giant’s use of Algeciras Port for transporting military cargo to Israel despite Spain’s stated arms embargo
The Spanish government has announced it will block two ships—Denver and Seletar—operated by shipping giant Maersk and carrying military cargo bound for Israel, from docking at the port of Algeciras. This decision comes just days after the Mask off Maersk campaign released a report exposing the company’s regular use of the Spanish port for transferring cargo that enables the ongoing genocide against Palestinians, despite Spain’s stated arms embargo.
Researchers from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and Progressive International (PI), who contributed to the report, told Peoples Dispatch that it is unclear whether Pedro Sánchez’s administration was genuinely unaware of the shipments or deliberately chose to look the other way. What is clear, however, is that since Sánchez announced the embargo in May, Maersk has succeeded in delivering thousands of tons of military cargo to Israel. It appears that Maersk typically sends one ship per week from New Jersey to Spain, carrying around 1,000 tons of military cargo destined for the Israeli military, the report states.
These shipments end up being used in Gaza, facilitating the killing, torture, and kidnapping of Palestinians. In recent months, Maersk has transported aircraft parts, armored vehicles, and projectile bodies—much of which has been essentially subsidized by US tax dollars. The shipments also included nearly 300 tons of goods labeled as “diplomatic cargo,” a classification that, according to PYM and PI researchers, is undoubtedly being used to obscure the true nature of the containers. This is one of several strategies used to evade oversight over shipments bound for Israel; others include submitting blank designations and relying on freight forwarders to mask the trace of what is being transported.
These entities, including Interglobal Forwarding Services (IFS) used by Israel, can get very creative in how they describe cargo. The Mask off Maersk report documents such practices and makes it clear that shipments bound for Israel should undergo regular oversight and inspection in order to stop ammunition and other military cargo being transported there. Between 2011 and 2014, for example, IFS managed to transport over 16,000 tons of “diplomatic” cargo on Maersk ships, according to the report. This designation appears to establish a stable supply chain of goods whose true nature remains concealed from customs authorities and the public, PYM and PI warn.
Maersk is fully aware of these operations, as well as of the nature of the cargo its ships transport, and could halt them immediately if it chose to, the report’s authors told Peoples Dispatch. However, it continues to enable this flow of deadly cargo, fueling the genocide. As a result, responsibility to block these shipments now lies with the governments of the countries whose ports are used in the transfers. Researchers noted that Morocco, Egypt, Italy, and Turkey must all be held to the same scrutiny as Spanish authorities. For instance, after being denied access to Spanish ports, the Maersk Denver sought permission to dock in Tangier, Morocco, sparking a BDS call urging local activists to mobilize and prevent this. Reports that Mediterranean ports might allow these ships to dock are deeply troubling and, moreover, stand in violation of several UN resolutions and recommendations.
The researchers emphasize that pressure must continue on the Sánchez administration until it commits to inspect every Maersk vessel originating from the US and carrying cargo to Israel, given the practices highlighted in the report. “These vessels must be blocked from docking—nothing more and nothing less,” stated PYM and PI activists.
Without grassroots pressure, governments are likely to ignore public opposition and continue allowing military cargo to flow to Israel through their logistical hubs. What’s needed now, according to the researchers, is a stronger mobilization of trade unions and workers’ actions against these shipments. For example, in October, dockworkers at Athens’ Piraeus port successfully blocked a shipment of ammunition destined for Israel.
Though such direct action triggers government repression, PYM and PI researchers argue that it remains one of the few effective ways to disrupt and halt Israel’s arms supply chain. The two Maersk ships Spain decided to block are not the only ones expected to bring more weapons to Israel—but the full list can be stopped through strong workplace mobilizations. Advocacy alone will not be enough to get the governments to act against the genocide in Palestine; only a people-led strategy, with trade unions playing a central role, can accomplish this goal.
