Jakarta / Thu, January 30, 2020 / 11:34 am Sellers display animals for sale on a sidewalk of Jl. Matraman Raya in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, on June 20, 2019. (Kompas.com/Ardito Ramadhan)
5
Shares
Responding to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, animal rights organizations have called on the Indonesian government to close all markets that slaughter or sell illegal wildlife. The virus, 2019-nCoV, is believed to have first emerged among wild animals in a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Read also: Monitor wildlife trade as certain animals ‘have potential’ as coronavirus carriers, warns LIPI
In an open letter sent to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Dog Meat Free Indonesia, a coalition of several animal rights organizations in the country, says that zoonotic coronaviruses can originate from wild animal markets.
“We urge the Indonesian government to take strong and immediate action to mitigate the risk…
Los sindicatos ELA, LAB, ESK, Steilas, EHNE, Etxalde, Hiru, CNT y organizaciones juveniles, feministas, ecologistas y de pensionistas convocan a sus 200.000 militantes y al conjunto de la clase trabajadora a una huelga general ofensiva sobre “pensiones, salarios y vida digna”. SINDIKALAGENDA : Urtarrilaren 28tik aurrera
La Carta de Derechos Sociales de Euskal Herria convoca el próximo 30 de enero huelga general en las comunidades autónomas del País Vasco y Navarra bajo la consigna “pensiones, salarios y vida digna”. La plataforma agrupa a los sindicatos ELA, LAB, ESK, Steilas, EHNE, Etxalde e Hiru, así como movimientos sociales impulsados por organizaciones juveniles, feministas, ecologistas o de pensionistas. A esta huelga también se adhiere el sindicato CNT. Todas estas organizaciones sindicales y movimientos sociales agrupan y representan a por lo menos 200.000 militantes en Euskal Herria.
“La huelga debe entenderse en clave ofensiva, va más allá de las anteriores huelgas generales…
“The East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) is exceptionally shallow — more than 75 per cent of its entire area of 2.1 million square kilometres is shallower than 40 metres — so most of the methane gas avoids oxidation in the water column and is released into the atmosphere.” (Wadhams, pg. 123“).
”To spot methane levels breaking the 2000ppb mark so sharply in this fragile region is unprecedented.”
”Another factor that works against acceptance by the scientific community is due to native biases towards Russian researchers, namely Natalia Shakova, one of the foremost prominent researchers of ESAS.”
The northern continental shelves of Russia, inclusive of the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea (ESAS) are some of the least researched yet most controversial subjects in climate science today. It’s the one region that has the biggest potential to trigger runaway global warming because of sizeable sub sea methane deposits, thereby taking civilization down to its knees. But, that prospect is also extremely controversial within the scientific community.
Scientific opinion runs the gamut: (1) high risk-methane bursts will bury civilization with runaway global warming – a dreadful, deadly risk (2) not to worry, it’s low risk because almost all of the massive deposits of undersea methane will stay put (3) not to worry, low risk because any methane seepage via undersea permafrost is oxidized and dissolves within the seawater and not a threat to runaway global warming.
By and large, climate scientists dismiss the ESAS and some go so far as to vilify published research. In fact, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) dismisses its near-term/intermediate-term risks. The reasons are manifold (more on that later).
Unfortunately, recent events in the high Arctic lean towards option number one as the more likely outcome. In that regard, I recently met with Dr. Peter Wadhams, world-renowned Arctic expert, to discuss the issue (more on that follows).
Report on recent action in Montreal in solidarity with the ongoing Wet’suwet’en struggle against Coastal GasLink and the RCMP. Originally posted to Montreal Counter-Info.
This morning around 7:30am, about sixty people enraged by the invasion of Wet’suwet’en land by Coastal GasLink and the RCMP gathered in the east of Montreal. They blocked the intersection of Pie-IX Boulevard and Notre-Dame Street East in the middle of rush hour, in order to disrupt access to the Port of Montreal as well as downtown via Autoroute 720.
Banners were deployed reading “GTFO of Wet’suwet’en land” and “Solidarity with Indigenous Sovereignties”, and flyers explained the reasons for the action to motorists.
Leaving flaming barricades, the group marched westward on Notre-Dame, forming a roving blockade and building more barricades on its way.
The repressive anti-demonstration arsenal of the Montreal police fortunately did not show up, because the call to action was not spread using social media. A couple cop cars showed up toward the end.
Today’s super-rich are the most privileged and powerful group of people in history. If you’re a billionaire, you can even decide an election by funneling a little bit of your money into the race. You can choose to pay 0% tax. You can sway public opinion by buying up media outlets, and by using think tanks to influence schools and news sources. You can mobilize law enforcement agencies towards targeting your enemies, that is anyone who annoys you.
They are criminals, even the very few with a conscience give away just a fraction of their ill-gotten loot. Even today, with many states openly run by neo racist, sexist and militarist neo fascists, it’s popular to campaign against the astounding and ballooning wealth and power of billionaires. Unmasking these mega robbers helps unite us and at least slows down the trend to dictatorial rule.
The eight richest people in the world hoard more wealth than the bottom 50% of humanity combined .. they are playing with fire..’.
Extreme inequality and declining living standards have happened everywhere that neoliberalism has been imposed, including in the Scandinavian countries that have tried to “reform” capitalism. While the world’s eight richest men now have the same amount of wealth as the bottom half of humanity, the world’s poorest 3.6 billion people are currently getting poorer.
Some call it Moneyland, others see a return to feudal times. The offshore world could also be compared to the two-tiered architecture of imperial Panem in Suzanne Collin’s dystopian Hunger Games trilogy, which is said to reflect the workings of the Roman empire.
Income inequality is at its highest level in at least 50 years, according to one measurement from the government’s Census Bureau. Oxfam reported that the world’s wealthiest 26 individuals, as of 2018, had the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the US population, which is supposedly the richest state. There were 2,153 billionaires as of March, with the ultra-rich worth $8.7 trillion, according to Forbes.
Cover Photos from Indybay Donate to Bail Fund HERE
On January 14th, a massive, militarized eviction by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department ended a nearly two month long takeover of a formerly vacant property by the collective, Moms 4 Housing, in West Oakland.
Despite the raid, the movement surrounding it shows no signs of letting up, as grassroots anger grows at law enforcement and the deepening housing crisis.
This is what showed up to evict black mothers from their home in Oakland last night. This is the weaponized arm of speculative real estate investment capital. #Moms4Housingpic.twitter.com/xoRUnhaSgC
On Monday, January 13th at around 6:30 PM, word went out that a locksmith had been seen outside the occupied West Oakland home which had been re-appropriated by a collective of formally houseless African-American mothers and their children.
The lock smith explained that they were waiting for the police and that an eviction was going to be carried out that night. Within minutes, through text and social media, people mobilized and surround the house in solidarity.
#Moms4Housing ACSO brought inciident command center vehicle, Swat truck full of gear, ambulance at the ready,
Soon, the crowd swelled to between 200-300 people, with a line of supporters locking arms in front of the house in defense. Supporters also dropped off piles of food and supplies, while both the mothers inside and supporters outside gave short speeches and statements of solidarity.
As the evening wore on, word came down that the Sheriffs were claiming that the eviction would not be carried out that night and the crowd largely dissipated. Over all, the mobilization of hundreds of supporters in a matter of minutes was seen as a key victory and a sign of the movement’s growing strength.
