Friday, December 18, 2009

COPENHAGEN VIDEO: Strong Voices Speak for the Weak (3:52 am)

COPENHAGEN—While a two-dimensional view casts the COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen as a battle between the United States and China — over monetary commitments for developing countries on the frontlines of climate change, over what temperature rise the world’s leaders will permit (anything over 1.5 degrees Celcius gets scary), and over transparency (the U.S. wants China’s efforts to reduce pollution to be monitored) — the G77 bloc of poor nations (mostly African nations, Latin American countries, and Pacific island states) is still playing hardball.

They’re on the frontlines, their people are already dying in the hundreds of thousands due to climate change, and they don’t have the infrastructure to greenify their infrastructure.

On behalf of TheUptake.org, I was able to capture the voices of two particular strong voices representing the weak at the COP15 summit: President Mohammed Nasheed of the Maldives, a Pacific island state which is two meters high at its highest point and will die a watery death within this century if climate changed is not stopped, and Lumumba Stanislaus di-Aping, a Sudanese native and the chief negotiator for the G77 block. Watch those videos below:

—Jacob Wheeler, In These Times contributing editor and videographer for TheUptake.org.

posted by Jacob Wheeler | start the discussion

Thursday, December 17, 2009

COPENHAGEN VIDEO: ‘Reclaim the Power’ Protesters Clash—and Dance—With Police (11:36 pm)

COPENHAGEN—On Wednesday, December 16, about 1,000 people from several activist groups came together to form the “Reclaim the Power” demonstration outside the Bella Center, where the international climate conference is being held here.

Protesters marched to the center hoping to interrupt and confront delegates, but police held demonstrators at bay just outside the site with a limited use of force. Protesters built makeshift rafts and attempted to ford the moat-like waterway around the venue in order to circumvent police forces. But they were immediately detained by K-9 squads. They then used the raft as a barricade briefly and ineffectively—police soon confiscated and deflated it.

Soon afterward, tensions softened after police began to remove their riot gear helmets. Chants ceased and both sides eased into smiles as protesters danced to drum beats. Demonstration leaders eventually made a deal with police to leave the site peacefully, dancing to Samba music as they departed… Check out video of the clashing and dancing below.

posted by Blair Kelly and Alexander Kelly | start the discussion

Weekly Diaspora: CIR ASAP the First Step to Reform (12:24 pm)

On Tuesday, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR-ASAP). Rep. Gutierrez said that the bill represents “the final push for comprehensive immigration reform,” as Khalil Abdullah reports for New America Media. Seth Hoy at AlterNet breaks down some of the bill’s key points, which include a border security provisions, family unification, a legalization component, and improved detention conditions.

The legislation is an encouraging first step forward on the path to immigration reform. But many hurdles must be overcome before an immigration bill from the House or Senate becomes law, especially in today’s tense political environment. Outright antagonism from the nativist lobby or the far Right will be no small part of the challenge, no matter how concessionary the legislation is to Republicans.

In the absence of nationally legislated reform, many border states like Texas are attempting to fill in the gap. One of these cases is a town called Del Rio, as Melissa del Bosque reports for the Texas Observer. Del Rio’s new school superintendent, Kelt Cooper, has “an overarching concern about Mexican nonresidents attending [U.S.] public schools.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, acting under Cooper’s request, recently took a headcount of children crossing the bridge that connects Ciudad Acuña in México to Del Rio, Texas. No other border to the county was inspected similarly.

At Cooper’s order, Del Rio school district employees handed out fliers to drivers with students who crossed the bridge that morning, informing parents that their children were being withdrawn from school unless they could prove U.S. citizenship. If Cooper truly cared about his student body, he’d take a lesson from another school with a large immigrant population and harness the energy available to him, rather than sowing fear and division amongst the student body.

In The Progressive, David Bacon writes about the impact of President Barack Obama’s brand of immigration enforcement, which has been sold as hard on employers, but not on workers. A key part of this approach has hinged on phasing out the aggressive and visibly disruptive SWAT-style raids that were common... read more

posted by Nezua | start the discussion

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Mulch: Peaceful Protests Turn Violent in Copenhagen (1:37 pm)

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop15) turned ugly today when police officers beat back hundreds of demonstrators, including a group of 50 to 100 delegates that were trying to meet with the protesters.

More than 250 people were arrested, including spokespeople for Climate Justice Action (CJA), a global network of NGOs that organized a walkout at the Bella Center today. CJA’s spokesperson Dan Glall told Mantoe Phakathi at Inter Press Service that “as a condition for going back to the negotiations, we demand industrialized nations uphold the Kyoto Protocol, commit adequate funds to adaptation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly.”

OneClimate has video (below) of today’s walkout.

“More than 1,000 people have been arrested, detained and released over the course of the past week,” Jennifer Prediger writes for Grist. “Some were made to sit on freezing sidewalks for six hours in a nasty version of time out. The people who threw rocks and set cars on fire were rightfully detained. But the droves who were dragged in last night for dancing awkwardly in Christiana? Seems like overkill to me.”

The chaos outside reflects the increasing pressure inside the Bella Center, as delegates turn to the United States and China for leadership in the final days of the summit. Together these countries account for 42 percent of the world’s carbon emissions.

In order to finalize a global climate agreement in Copenhagen, both countries need to take a big step forward, as David Doniger and Barbara Finamore report for Grist. For the U.S., this means aid for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people; for China, this means making steady progress to meet the country’s carbon reduction goals.

The U.S. has already committed to pay its share of a $30 billion fund to last through 2012. “But to lead in Copenhagen, the U.S. needs to back even larger investments to meet these core needs for the longer-term—2015 or 2020,” Doniger and Finamore write. “China has the opportunity to enhance its standing as a responsible world leader by building global confidence in the implementation of its carbon reduction goals.”

But as David Corn... read more

posted by Alison Hamm | start the discussion

Weekly Pulse: No Public Option: Worse Than Nothing? (11:23 am)

In search of the elusive, filibuster-proof 60th vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid eviscerated the Senate’s healthcare reform bill on Tuesday. Potential GOP swing voter Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) confirmed that Reid promised to kill both the public option and the expanded Medicare buy-in, according to Brian Beutler of Talking Points Memo.

Snowe didn’t pledge to support the bill, of course. She didn’t even promise to cooperate on the procedural votes required to pass the bill before Christmas, a deadline that the Obama administration has its heart set on. In other words, Reid gave away the progressive crown jewels of health reform on spec to a senator who cheerfully turned around and continued the Republican stalling strategy. From Snowe’s vantage point, that’s a great move. The longer the bill hangs in limbo, the more Reid will give away.

Former Democrat Joe Lieberman (I-CT) seems determined to kill the bill. Lieberman must be motivated more by a desire to spite liberals than any principled policy stance. He keeps threatening to filibuster policy proposals he once campaigned on, like the Medicare buy-in. Lee Fang of TAPPED notes that Lieberman told the New York Times that he now opposes the buy-in because it’s beloved of lefty single-payer types like Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY); and the policy wonk behind the public option, Prof. Jacob Hacker.

The Women’s Media Center has launched the #UnderTheBus campaign, which calls on supporters to contact their representatives and urge them not to let Lieberman and his close, anti-choice ally Ben Nelson (D-NE) sell out women’s healthcare for political gain. Nelson has hinted he won’t vote for the bill unless it contains strong abortion funding restrictions.

Stephanie Mencimer reports in Mother Jones that a bunch of teabaggers decided to stage a sit-in to oppose the health bill at Lieberman’s office. Mark Meckler and some Tea Party Patriots showed up at Lieberman’s office and asked to meet with the senator. When they were told he wasn’t available, they all sat down. When they tried that routine at Sen. Barbara Boxer’s office (D-CA), her staff ignored them. Lieberman’s staff called the cops. (Note... read more

posted by Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger | 1 comment

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

COPENHAGEN VIDEO: No Borders Network Street Demonstration (12:54 pm)

On Monday, December 14, the No Borders Network (comprised of several different groups) demonstrated outside the Parliament building in Copenhagen, bringing with them roughly 600 protesters and a truck with a sound system blaring techno music and chants from leaders.

The protesters surged toward an inflated orange globe (representing 1 ton of Co2), piercing the balloon and cutting its ties. Police attempted to keep the steadily deflating balloon in place, but it was soon rolling across the square until it lay immobile. Riot police and K-9 squads soon quelled the crowed and pushed them back, away from the Parliament building and the completely deflated art piece. The demonstration then progressed, mostly without incident, to Christiania, where the group dissolved into drum circles and dancing.

Blair Kelly and Alexander Kelly are American journalists with Investigate West, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to investigative and narrative journalism, reporting at the Copenhagen climate conference.

posted by Blair Kelly and Alexander Kelly | start the discussion

Weekly Audit: House Bank Bill Fatally Flawed (10:42 am)

Last week, the House of Representatives finally approved a financial regulatory overhaul and President Barack Obama announced a new initiative to address the unemployment crisis. Both are a step in the right direction, but neither offer effective solutions to problems that still plague the U.S. economy.

The House bill doesn’t do away with too-big-to-fail banks and that’s a big problem. As John Nichols explains for The Nation, “the big banks aren’t going to get sidelined—let alone broken up—anytime soon.” Instead of splitting large, risky banks into smaller firms that could fail without wreaking economic havoc, the House bill gives regulators more power, including the ability to bail out a faltering bank with billions of taxpayer dollars. When push comes to shove, regulators are not going to risk letting a major bank fail. They’ll just bail the company out. We all saw what happened when Lehman Brothers collapsed last year.

By imposing a tougher set of rules on banks, it’s conceivable that regulators could prevent some future failures. But as Mary Kane notes for The Washington Independent, Congress carved so many loopholes in the new laws that banks will have little trouble skirting them.

Obama had hoped to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) to crack down on predatory lending, but a coalition of bank-friendly Democrats pushed through amendments that significantly weaken it. Obama wanted states to have the power to enforce stronger rules on predatory lending. Under a loophole that Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) pressed into the House bill, states are prevented from writing or enforcing rules that limit interest rates charged by credit card companies and payday lenders. That’s a really destructive move, Kane notes, since it was state regulators, not federal regulators, who cracked down on abusive lending over the past decade.

Obama also hoped to require that risky derivatives transactions would be conducted via exchange like ordinary stock trades. Derivatives are the type of trades that brought down AIG. But the House bill exempts a huge portion of transactions from this requirement and changes the definition of “exchange” to include private, unregulated derivatives trades, as Nick... read more

posted by Zach Carter, Media Consortium blogger | start the discussion

Monday, December 14, 2009

COPENHAGEN VIDEOS: Street Protests, Mass Arrests and Climate Justice Action Interview (3:12 pm)

Videos of street protests and mass arrests on Sunday, December 12 in downtown Copenhagen, Denmark:

An interview with Ed Thompson, a member of Climate Justice Action, a group protesting the “false solutions” being discussed at the COP15 climate talks:

Blair Kelly and Alexander Kelly are American journalists with Investigate West, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to investigative and narrative journalism, reporting at the Copenhagen climate conference.