education

We need a Revolution. What’s the plan?

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https://juststopoil.org/2024/03/03/we-need-a-revolution-whats-the-plan/

This system is fucked, politics is failing us, we need a revolution or we really do face rule by ‘the mob’. As we pass through 1.5C of heating to 2C and then the predicted 3C in the lifetime of many alive today, we will lose all we cherish and value. Our treasured landscapes, the rule of law, education, healthcare, pensions – and yes the people we love. We will not be able to feed ourselves and those who rule us do not care. Look at Gaza, this is what they are prepared to let happen. Genocide is now acceptable.

In response, nonviolent civil resistance to a harmful state will continue, with coordinated, radical actions that reach out to new people and capture the attention of the world. Alongside this, a new political project will be set up. This will run local assemblies and will support and stand candidates to shape the electoral debate. A coordinating structure known as Umbrella, will support these projects and this will be the heart of our community of resistance. 

Just Stop Oil will continue to be the major focus until we win, but we have a new three part demand: No New Oil, Revoke Tory Licences and Just Stop Oil by 2030. In addition to disrupting high-profile cultural events and continuing our Stop Tory Oil campaign, focussing on MP’s and those in power, this summer Just Stop Oil will commence a campaign of high-level actions at sites of key importance to the fossil fuel industry – airports.

In addition to Just Stop Oil, young people and students will be taking action in a new campaign that will demand an end to genocide – both in Palestine, and globally, from the continued drilling and burning of oil and gas.  

Umbrella will launch Assemble, a democracy project that will mobilise hundreds of people by running local assemblies on issues of concern to communities across the country and giving them pathways to action. The goal is to create a “People’s House” to parallel the House of Commons as the first step towards having permanent legally binding citizens assemblies- a democratic revolution.

Umbrella will be the hub for fundraising, mobilisation and directing resources to a range of new campaigns and groups, including Robin Hood, a major new campaign based around a demand to properly fund our public services by taxing the richest in society. 

Each of these campaigns will share the values of nonviolence and accountability.  

The system is fucked. You know it, everyone knows it. Don’t just sit around and watch everything collapse. Build what comes next: a revolution in politics, economics – our entire way of life.

It’s time to unfuck the system.

We are going for it. Join us.

https://juststopoil.org/2024/03/03/we-need-a-revolution-whats-the-plan/

Continue ReadingWe need a Revolution. What’s the plan?

Schools crippled by soaring PFI bills

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/schools-crippled-soaring-pfi-bills

School children in a classroom, November 27, 2019

UNIONS and campaigners slammed private firms today for imposing crippling maintenance bills on schools locked into Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts.

PFI schools are bound by 25 to 30-year contracts with private firms, who own and maintain the schools until taxpayers’ money repays the debt.

Over 900 schools have been built through PFI contracts since the 1990s. The initiative was eventually scrapped in 2018.

The BBC spoke to one head teacher in Liverpool who said that nearly 20 per cent of the school’s entire budget is being squandered on contracts.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/schools-crippled-soaring-pfi-bills

Continue ReadingSchools crippled by soaring PFI bills

 Teachers’ union leader slams Government’s ‘absolute failure’ over Britain’s crumbling schools 

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/01/teachers-union-leader-slams-governments-absolute-failure-over-britains-crumbling-schools/

Image credit: Sky News / YouTube

The leader of the UK’s top teachers’ union has ripped into the Government for its “absolute failure” to properly fund schools, following further revelations into the state of Britain’s crumbling classrooms. 

Schools across the country have been struggling to cope with urgent building repairs and mounting maintenance costs, BBC Panorama has been exposing, with schools unable to claim extra money for repairs to tackle leaks and cold. 

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Commenting on the latest investigation into the state of British school buildings, Daniel Kebede, who became General Secretary of the National Education Union last year, stressed that the failings lay firmly at the feet of the Government.   

Kebede wrote on X: “Make no mistake this is absolute failure from government.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/01/teachers-union-leader-slams-governments-absolute-failure-over-britains-crumbling-schools/

Continue Reading Teachers’ union leader slams Government’s ‘absolute failure’ over Britain’s crumbling schools 

Fossil Fuel Subsidies Surged to Record $7 Trillion

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https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2023/08/24/fossil-fuel-subsidies-surged-to-record-7-trillion

Scaling back subsidies would reduce air pollution, generate revenue, and make a major contribution to slowing climate change

Coal loader P4393. Part of the coal loading facility at Kooragang Island, NSW Australia. Image by eyeweed, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Coal loader P4393. Part of the coal loading facility at Kooragang Island, NSW Australia. Image by eyeweed, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Fossil-fuel subsidies surged to a record $7 trillion last year as governments supported consumers and businesses during the global spike in energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the economic recovery from the pandemic.

As the world struggles to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and parts of Asia, Europe and the United States swelter in extreme heat, subsidies for oil, coal and natural gas are costing the equivalent of 7.1 percent of global gross domestic product. That’s more than governments spend annually on education (4.3 percent of global income) and about two thirds of what they spend on healthcare (10.9 percent).

Our findings come as the World Meteorological Organization says July was the hottest month on record, underscoring the urgent need to curb human-induced climate change.

As the Chart of the Week shows, fossil-fuel subsidies rose by $2 trillion over the past two years as explicit subsidies (undercharging for supply costs) more than doubled to $1.3 trillion. That’s according to our new paper, which provides updated estimates across 170 countries of explicit and implicit subsidies (undercharging for environmental costs and forgone consumption taxes). Download detailed data for different countries and fuels here.

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If governments removed explicit subsidies and imposed corrective taxes, fuel prices would increase. This would lead firms and households to consider environmental costs when making consumption and investment decisions. The result would be cutting global carbon-dioxide emissions significantly, cleaner air, less lung and heart disease, and more fiscal space for governments.

We estimate that scrapping explicit and implicit fossil-fuel subsidies would prevent 1.6 million premature deaths annually, raise government revenues by $4.4 trillion, and put emissions on track toward reaching global warming targets. It would also redistribute income as fuel subsidies benefit rich households more than poor ones.

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With global energy prices receding and emissions rising, it’s the right time to phase out explicit and implicit fossil-fuel subsidies, for a healthier and more sustainable planet.

https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2023/08/24/fossil-fuel-subsidies-surged-to-record-7-trillion

Continue ReadingFossil Fuel Subsidies Surged to Record $7 Trillion

The public think everything has got worse under the Tories, a new poll has found

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/the-public-think-everything-has-got-worse-under-the-tories-a-new-poll-has-found/

Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil's You May Find Yourself... art auction. Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch appear.
Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil’s You May Find Yourself… art auction featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.

Rishi Sunak’s government gives of the strong odour of failure. From the cost of living crisis to collapsing school buildings and from high interest whacking mortgage holders to shocking NHS waiting lists, there’s a growing sense that Britain under the Tories just isn’t working.

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The poll, reported first by Byline Times shows that the public think the Tories are failing on almost every major issue. It’s damning stuff. Here are the results:

  • 61% of voters say public services overall have got worse under the Tories
  • 67% say the NHS has got worse under the Tories
  • 54% say schools have got worse under the Tories
  • 49% think crime has increased under the Tories (with just 8% thinking it’s gone down)
  • 53% think the UK is doing worse than other similar countries economically

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/the-public-think-everything-has-got-worse-under-the-tories-a-new-poll-has-found/

Continue ReadingThe public think everything has got worse under the Tories, a new poll has found