Filed under: animation, environment, film, politics | Tags: activism, change, climate, environment, new economics
Change
Change is coming; social change on a massive, unprecedented scale. There are three potential avenues through which this change will manifest.
In the best case scenario we ourselves will be the architects of this change, working collectively and creatively to reshape social structures and ways of life from the bottom up to build a new paradigm based on equity and sustainability, and the kind of lifestyles that can still afford us a high quality of life and the opportunities for joy and prosperity that our own generation has enjoyed – albeit with much lower levels of material consumption.
The second option is to allow / demand the state, and very likely other powerful transnational institutions, to impose change from the top down, accepting massive curtailments of our personal freedoms and a new paradigm characterised by unprecedented levels of social control, state intrusion and global governance and enforcement in order to ensure that atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations remain at or below safe levels.
The third option is to continue on our present path, and invite change to be visited on us, abruptly, at some point in the nearish future, through the medium of humanitarian catastrophe and eco-system collapse. Society will be certainly be restructured as a consequence; but into something chaotic, unplanned, dreadful, bereft. Only a very small proportion of the humans alive when the shit finally hits the fan will survive this new paradigm. They will be the ones with the access to guns and the lack of conscience required to use them. What will the ‘society’ they build look like?
Doom and gloom aside, what seems clear to me is that there are plenty of alternative models of ways of life we could easily choose to adopt at the level of our local communities – alternatives that could not only avoid ecological Armageddon, but also result in an improved quality of life for those enacting them. What is to be done at the national and geo-political scale is much less clear, but I would point to the work of the New Economics Foundation for some very clear thinking on this problem. Profligacy and materialism are not only bad for their victims; they are bad for their beneficiaries too.
Surely we can do better than this?
Filed under: democracy, environment, peak oil, politics | Tags: activism, bills, bp, campaign, compass, economy, gas, injustice, oil, petition, profits, renewables, uk
Compass starts a very sensible campaign – read more here and sign the petition…
Rising energy and fuel prices are affecting everyone but its the poorest and those on fixed incomes who are paying the heaviest price. The warm summer weather will not mask the anxiety and anger at dramatically rising bills for the essentials of life – light and heat. We believe that the moment is right for the government to levy a sensible one off windfall tax to guarantee social and environmental justice both now and in the future. This is why.
The average annual spend on domestic energy per household has now breached £1200. Since 2000 we have faced gas price rises of 100% and electricity price rises of 61% – with further increases including British Gas raising its gas bills by a record 35%. Simultaneously the main energy providers have seen their profits rise from £557 million in 2003 to now over £3 billion. This alongside the recent news of profits made by oil companies – BP is now making £37 million a day with a 23% increase in profits to £6.7 billion for the first 6 months of 2008.
Filed under: digital revolution, environment, ethical, funny, politics | Tags: activism, coca-cola, columbia, ethical
Mark Thomas is writing a book about Coca Cola, which will be published this
September and here’s your chance to be included in it! Yelp with joy
and holler with anticipation folks! Not only can you get a mention in
the book but you will also take part in a mildly annoying action
against the purveyors of gassy juice.
As many of you may know Coca Cola bottlers in Colombia face allegations
that the plant managers colluded with paramilitaries to bring about the
deaths of trade unionists working for the Coke plants.
In 2001 the Colombian union Sinaltrainal brought a court case in the
USA against the bottlers and also claimed that the Coca Cola Company
bore indirect responsibility. The Colombian bottlers rather than
investigate the claims of collusion instead brought legal charges
against the trade union in Colombia, claiming the bottlers had been
libelled.
What was this libel? What did the union say about the company that
defamed them? Well, according to the bottlers the union committed
slander by bringing the court case in the US. So logically if the
victim of a crime can commit a libel by bringing a court case
well that
opens up all sorts of legal possibilities. So here is the plan…
Mark would like you to suggest a victim of crime or oppression who
should be taken to court for slander. This can be a retrospective
claim, something which is happening now, or for those of you who are
anticipating victims of crime, something in the future.
For example, a case against the suffragettes for claiming that men
cant run the country, or the Bhopal families from inhaling Union
Carbide products without permission. The choice is yours.
The best suggestions will appear in the book and those that are
printable will be sent to Coca Cola Femsa who currently operate most of
the Colombian bottling plants, with the suggestion that they might like
to take on these counter claims too.
Send your suggestions to: youcantdothat at markthomasinfo dot com
Filed under: environment, politics | Tags: activism, dove, greenpeace, indonesia, palm oil, sustainability, unilever
Enough’s Enough recently partnered with Greenpeace to help target Unilever, the world’s biggest consumer of palm oil. Palm oil plantations are destroying Indonesia’s rainforests, massacring critically endangered Orang-utans and devastating the climate.
We focused on Unilever’s beautiful Dove brand, placing a full page advert in The Times.
Today Unilever have called for a moratorium – a complete halt – on rainforest destruction in Indonesia. Unilever’s CEO Patrick Cescau has promised that all of Unilever’s palm oil will be sustainable by 2015.
Even Prince Charles has been quick to react, saying, “This really is a groundbreaking development which could make the whole difference to the future of the rainforests”.
So many thanks to all of you who supported this campaign.
Feels good? Then join us and send a blank email to whenisenoughsenough at hotmail dot co dot uk
The more of us there are, the more we can do … and there’s lots to be done.
Filed under: digital revolution | Tags: activism, culture, inspirational, usa, youth
top 10 youth activism victories in 2007
Anyone who laments that American young people are apathetic, uninvolved or not sufficiently outraged clearly isn’t up on the news.Luckily, though, we are. The past 12 months have been filled with many great youth organizing successes; some were covered extensively by mainstream media, and some went — sadly — unnoticed. From these extraordinary stories, Wiretap has culled a list of our favorite 10 youth victories of the year. They’re not just the events you’ve heard about, like the hunger strikes at Harvard and Stanford, because the less-attended actions of low-income, low-profile youth groups can be equally triumphant. And they’re not just acts of campus activism, either — because half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 are not enrolled in college. And though there are countless other examples of protest, cooperation, and informed dissent that went on and are still continuing around the country, here are 10 especially inspirational stories that went down this year. Congratulations to these and all other young people who took responsibility and took charge in 2007 to work hard both with their peers and with other groups, who put their energies into action for their communities, and for the world.
By Nicole McClelland and Kristina Rizga, December 20, 2007
This is your chance to make MPs live with the consequences of laws they pass. All you have to do is snap a photo of an MP when they are doing TV or radio interviews on College Green opposite Parliament and send it in to gotcha@shopanmp.com. Or if you spot an MP being interviewed on the news let us know what channel, what time it was on and what they were talking about. We will then try and get them investigated by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Here is why and how….
In August 2005 it became illegal to demonstrate in and around Parliament Square without prior police permission under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA). So far Maya Evans has been prosecuted and found guilty of an offence under this law for reading out the names of the British an Iraqi war dead by the Cenotaph in Whitehall. People have been threatened with arrest for wearing T shirts with political slogans on them and for having cakes with the word PEACE iced upon it on display in Parliament Square. Mark Thomas had to get permission to wear a red nose on Red Nose Day or run the risk of arrest. He even had to get permission to stand by himself with a banner saying “Support the Poppy Appeal’. The law is stupid.
According to SOCPA one person can constitute a demonstration, other than that there is little definition in law as to what a demonstration is. But if a person breaks the law by reading the names of the war dead and the Oxford English Dictionary lists a definition of a demonstration as : an expression of opinion, then surely each time an MP gives a TV or radio interview about politics or politicians on College Green tthen they are demonstrating- and if they are demonstrating without permission that is illegal.
Mark Thomas with lawyers Leigh Day and Co (advised by Tim Owen QC of Matrix Chambers and Tom de la Mare of Blackstones Chambers) delivered a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions Wednesday 12 December 07 calling for an urgent investigation into allegations that MPs had broken the law- including the Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Any new evidence of MPs giving interviews on College Green will be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Here is how you can help. If you live, work or are visiting London and walk past College Green (opposite the House of Lords entrance) and you see an MP giving an interview then:
(1) Photo them with your phone (make sure we can identify them)
(2) Send it in to us with details of time and date
(3) If you hear any of the interview then send us the details.
If you spot an MP being interviewed in the SOCPA zone on TV then let us know:
(1) The channel it was on
(2) The time you saw it
(3) What they were talking about
Send it in to us at gotcha@shopanmp.com.
We will follow up the interview and shop them to the D.P.P.
All this legal help doesn’t come cheap so if you can spare some dosh please buy a badge or make a donation by clicking on the links below. You will pay via Paypal.
Lets get them in the dock! Happy Snapping!
