You’ve probably heard about the new proposed Robin Hood Tax on financial transactions.
Related to the Tobin Tax that has been suggested for a while, the idea is that by taxing financial transactions of the city by 0.05%, $400Bn could be raised for good causes.
But here are some uncomfortable questions: Continue reading ‘Robin Hood Tax? More like Oliver Twist crumbs…’
I went last Friday to see TB at the Iraq Inquiry.
I was meant to be in the ‘additional viewing facility’ but was called on Thursday by someone in the Cabinet Office saying a space in the inquiry room had become available.
Lucky me.
The room was no larger than a classroom, and there were four rows of fifteen seats and a little velvet cordon. The weirdest part was the atmosphere. It felt like one of awe and deference, which to me, felt plain wrong. There were a few family members behind me, and whenever they mumbled anything, a whole bunch of people would swing round with evil stares and jutting jaws. Why was Tony Blair so sacred? Continue reading ‘Tony Blair’s drift into insanity’
Power2010 is a high profile UK “campaign to give everyone the chance to have a say in how our democracy works for us.”
It’s funded by the Rowntree Trust and is supposed to be about us deciding how to change our politics.
But the one massive assumption implicit in the whole campaign is that our politics have borders. Continue reading ‘The problem with Power2010′
Have a watch of our banner action from the 17th December in Copenhagen’s central square.
The police scrambled a helicopter and brought 20 police and 3 vans down to arrest our two climbers. They were released the following day.
The banner drop was covered as breaking news live on Danish DR channel who were in the square at the time.
The COP15 process is not democratic. Until we have negotiations that are, we will never reach just or sustainable agreements on climate change or any other global issue.
So COP15 was a resounding failure. No surprises there.
After years of preparation it came down to an eleventh hour haggle between the US and China. As expected, national interest trumped any hope(nhagen) of a deal to benefit the planet.
“For the Chinese, this was our sovereignty and our national interest,” said Xie Zhenhua, head of China’s delegation.
We said it’d be the polluters who’d decide and it was. Continue reading ‘COP15. Fail. Don’t put the future of the planet into state leaders’ hands.’
It seems COP15 negotiations are in a deadlock. We have decided to release the emails of the top delegates from six countries, in protest at an elitist and undemocratic conference. Decisions made behind closed doors by powerful nations can only lead to an unjust deal. Continue reading ‘TOP SECRET! Email addresses of top COP15 negotiators revealed.’
Today we dropped a massive banner in central Copenhagen. We dropped it over the corporate “Hopenhagen” greenwash campaign in the town hall square because Hopenhagen is damaging the planet!
What we need is real political power not ‘hope’! We’ve dissected the Hopenhagen campaign before so we wont go on a rant but the best subvertising we’ve seen of it so far was ‘Shopenhagen’. Continue reading ‘Banner Action in Central Copenhagen’
Two Egality members were arrested last night during a raid on Christiania while they were participating in a peaceful meeting. They were arrested on no charge under excessive terrorism legislation introduced especially for the COP15 summit.
They were released 7 hours later with no charge.
Jim Button said: “We were held in cages through the night without any explanation. When we asked for a reason, they said that under Danish law they didn’t have to give any.”
Article in openDemocracy:
The only certainty at Copenhagen is failure – either a bad deal or no deal. This is because of the fundamental disconnect between those affected by climate change and those with the power to address it. Unless people have an equal say in the issues that affect them, we will never achieve just or sustainable agreements for global issues. We need democracy. Continue reading ‘Only (real) Democracy Can Save The Planet’
We’re going to Copenhagen to protest the lack of democracy in the process.
Read our article in openDemocracy, and flyer.
Come meet us at the KlimaForum on Tuesday 15th December at 7pm when we’re screening World Vote Now, with director Joel Marsden. The film will be followed by a discussion on democracy and climate change. We’ll also be on the streets for the Reclaim Power! action on the 16th. Continue reading ‘We’re coming to Copenhagen’
