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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Date: April 17, 2026 
Contact: Andy Moderow | 907-360-3622 | andy@alaskawild.org 

Trump Administration Moves Forward with Arctic Refuge Lease Sale, Ignoring Public Opposition and Threatening Indigenous Communities

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Trump administration announced plans to hold a new oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, advancing efforts to industrialize one of the nation’s most iconic and ecologically significant landscapes.

The coastal plain of the Refuge is often called the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge. On top of critical polar bear habitat, it is the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd, which the Gwich’in people rely on for their culture, food security, and way of life.

Despite this, and despite consistent polling showing that a strong majority of Americans oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge, the administration is moving forward with a plan that prioritizes oil industry interests over people, wildlife, and long-term economic stability.

“For decades, the American people have recognized that the Arctic Refuge is not an industrial zone for oil development, and this sale simply runs counter to common sense,” said Andy Moderow, senior director of policy at Alaska Wilderness League. “Any oil and gas company that is even thinking about buying these leases should know that, if they do, they will be sending a clear message to the American people—that no place in Alaska is too sacred to drill in a quest for corporate profits. We urge companies to take a pass on the Arctic Refuge lease sale, and we look forward to rightfully restoring protections for this landscape in the years to come.”

Previous lease sales in the Refuge have struggled to attract interest, underscoring the growing financial and reputational risks associated with Arctic drilling. Major banks and insurers have distanced themselves from such projects, and energy markets continue to shift toward cleaner alternatives.

Alaska Wilderness League will continue to stand with the Gwich’in people and partners across the country to oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge and protect America’s public lands and waters for future generations.

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Photo: Florian Schulz / www.florianschulz.org 

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples Side Event: Resisting Digital Colonialism | Alto al Colonialismo Digital​

Registered nurses at Rush University Medical Center (Rush) in Chicago, Ill., will be voting on May 14, 15, and 16 to join National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United. Rush nurses filed a petition for a union election on April 8. It was Chicago's largest filing on record for a union election in the health care sector, and one of the largest in any industry in a city famous for its union strength.

One evening last winter, I sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic on an eight-lane highway. It was rush hour but felt much later, with dark gray clouds hanging low in the sky. Red LED taillights blinked on and off as the traffic inched forward alongside a mass of dirty, day-old snow on the shoulder. Exhaust from the idling cars floated skyward, and I imagined it getting trapped under the low clouds, contributing to the sooty darkness.

Itching to get home, I turned on CBC News, the local radio station. The voice of Dr. Holli-Anne Passmore, associate professor of psychology at Concordia University of Edmonton, cut through the hum of the motor and the neighboring car’s stereo bass.

Passmore recounted how she had spent years studying how to move the needle on emotional wellbeing. Particularly during the winter, she said, many people find themselves struggling with the dreary days and shorter daylight hours. The gloomy suburban landscape through my windshield offered little in the way of contradictory evidence.

Passmore’s research on improving mental states pointed to something extremely simple: noticing nature. In a study involving 395 undergraduate students in Edmonton, and later replicated among 173 undergraduate students in China, she showed that simply taking a moment to truly notice everyday nature (such as a tree on a street corner, a bird pecking at feed, or a squirrel racing along the top of a fence) can trigger feelings of joy, wonder, and gratitude. No sweeping wilderness vistas are required: Participants in her studies reported feeling more satisfaction with life and more connected to nature even in largely urban environments.

It was an appealing idea, though my own relationship with the natural world felt somewhat complicated.

Like many of us, I’ve spent my entire adult life under the shadow of the climate crisis, weighed down and sometimes paralyzed by climate despair. Pursuing a master’s degree in environmental policy at the University of Cambridge only made me feel more hopeless — how could I, an insignificant piece of an extractivist society that seemed hell-bent on self-destruction, ever hope to do anything about it?

While there’s no use in burying one’s head in the sand, there’s also an inherent tension between seeking out knowledge to inform oneself about the climate crisis and the emotional burden that comes with it.

Those who frequently read the news know this feeling all too well. Every day is like watching the ship approach the iceberg, seeing it looming just ahead but having no power to force the captain to chart a different course. It’s a deeply exhausting experience.

Today such eco-anxiety is common. While not a formal medical diagnosis, feelings of fear, rage, and sadness over rapidly rising global temperatures and resulting climatic crises can have significant mental health effects. The impact of eco-anxiety is greatest for young people, but it can affect people of all ages. Though it may sometimes drive positive behaviors such as activism, information-gathering, or efforts to reduce personal environmental impact, all too often it provokes a sense of helplessness.

How, then, can we as environmentalists immunize ourselves against this grief? How can we understand and care about what’s happening to our beautiful planet while still taking care of ourselves?

Passmore’s words lingered in my mind as I pulled into my driveway later that evening. Just inside my front door was my Monstera deliciosa houseplant. While I’d had the plant for a few years and was careful to water it regularly, I had seen it as more of a decorative, static object than a living thing.

But that night I bent down to observe it at eye level and saw a new, light green leaf just beginning to emerge from another stem. Without any intervention or attention on my part, this tiny miracle was taking place in my living room, creating life from sunlight, air, and water.

And so began a habit of truly noticing and marveling at the nature around me.

As the days grew longer and the months grew warmer, I found myself enchanted by dozens of small caterpillars inching across a hiking trail, by the leaves emerging slowly and then all at once from the maple tree on my street, and by the woodpecker that took up residence outside my window and woke me up in the wee hours of every morning. A walk by the lake was no longer solely for the purpose of getting fresh air but also an opportunity to examine the goose and goslings bobbing along beside the rocky shore. A sunny autumn afternoon on my grandfather’s hobby farm left me in awe of the gift of apple trees, heavy with fruit brought forth from the earth.

With this change in perspective came a change in my actions. I began having more positive and hopeful conversations with other environmentalists, felt compelled to donate to new conservation causes, and, perhaps most therapeutically, started writing.

As our planet continues to warm, an ever-greater number of people will be affected by eco-anxiety and environmental grief. However, we as environmentalists can and should combat this. Defending ourselves from environmental grief and apathy by choosing to notice the wonder of everyday nature can not only improve our mental health but also help us reconnect with the world we love so deeply.

Despair is not productive; it prevents us from taking the actions we need to seek change. A recent piece in The Revelator by Rick MacPherson said it well:

“But despair isn’t neutral. It doesn’t just describe reality. It shapes it. Despair hands momentum to the forces counting on our fatigue. To the industries that benefit when we withdraw. To leaders who flourish when we believe we are powerless. It masquerades as honesty. Underneath it is permission — not to feel, but to quit.”

We cannot afford to give ourselves this permission. We regain our power by allowing the wonder of nature to ground us and guide us, to cut through the fog of grief, to inspire our resolve, and to remind us why this matters.

If this simple act can help motivate us to demand something different, count me in — and in the meantime, I’ll be paying close attention to my houseplants.

Previously in The Revelator:

Dr. Green: A Wildlife Researcher Asks About Trauma and Grief

Republish this article for free! Read our reprint policy.

The post The Antidote to Your Eco-Anxiety May Be Right Outside appeared first on The Revelator.

“The Hub” is a weekly round-up of transportation related news in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Check back weekly to keep up-to-date on the issues Clean Air Council’s transportation staff finds important.

Join Transit Forward Philadelphia for events and actions to fight for transit funding and other wins in the City Budget. Attend City Council Budget Hearings, and learn how to advocate with Transit Forward Philadelphia.

Are you interested in improving the health and built environment of Philadelphia? The Nutrition and Physical Activity Team in the Health Department of Philadelphia is hiring a Built Environment Coordinator, and a Community Health Infrastructure Coordinator. Click the links in the titles to learn more about these roles and their impact!

Image Source: BillyPenn

BillyPenn: ‘Pop-up concrete’ event shows what bike lane protection on Spruce and Pine could be – Philly Bike Action (PBA) members set up their ideal bike lane protections, eight-in tall concrete barriers. Models made of cardboard were placed out on Spruce and Pine on Saturday, along with four pop-up stands, handing out coffee and pretzels for free, as well as information about safety improvements. The event’s goal was to highlight what proposed safety measures would look like and dispel common misunderstandings of cyclist and pedestrian safety initiatives.

Image Source: The Inquirer

The Inquirer: SEPTA will keep $2.90 fare for World Cup transit rides. Boston is charging $80 – There is no plan to increase the base fare of $2.90 for SEPTA riders on the Broad Street Line to Lincoln Financial Field for World Cup matches. This is different from other World Cup host cities in the United States. NJ Transit will be charging over $100 for the 18-mile train ride from NY Penn Station to NJ Meadowlands. Boston transit will be increasing its prices from $20 to $80. SEPTA will be handling demand by operating extra trains to support sports complex lines, but regular service hours and open stations can be expected. Additional buses are also being dispatched to serve the FIFA Fan Festival in East Fairmount Park from mid-June through mid-July.

Image Source: The Philadelphia Tribune

The Philadelphia Tribune: SEPTA reports progress on crime, need for capital funding – SEPTA reported on Wednesday that the system has seen 51 consecutive months of rider growth. They also reported crime is down 30% for the first quarter of 2026, and fare evasion dropped 37%. Over the next decade, billions in improvements are planned, including new fleets for the Market-Frankford Line, trolleys, and regional rail lines. The New Bus Network will streamline bus service across the city, and these changes will result in 660 service hours to the system.

Other Stories

NBC: PennDOT crews to repair potholes on more than 35 highways in Philly region

PhillyVoice: NJ Transit unveils first of 40 new train cars expected to enter service this year

The Inquirer via MSN: Waymo robotaxis are helping cities map potholes. Could Philly be next?

PhillyVoice: Speed cameras activated on stretch of Route 13 in Northeast Philly

The Inquirer: Comcast Spectacor reveals new location for Sixers and Flyers arena

Amtrak Media: Amtrak Joins SEPTA to Celebrate Completion of Ardmore Station Improvements

NBC Philadelphia: SEPTA Transit Police welcoming four new K-9 recruits this spring

In the quiet of late winter, tracks in the snow across Rahesuo and Valkeasuo peatlands reveal the hidden movements of wildlife. This field survey offers insight into how species survive the coldest months and how restoration in the Koitajoki Watershed is supporting boreal ecosystems.

Please see the news here.

A version of this piece was featured in Food Tank’s newsletter, typically released weekly on Thursdays. To make sure it lands straight in your inbox and to be among the first to receive it, subscribe now by clicking here.

I want to share some good news about the state of food waste in the United States: According to a new report from ReFED, total surplus food dropped by 2.2 percent between 2023 and 2024, including a 950,000-ton reduction in residential food waste. For me, this is a clear sign of the power of citizen eaters to help steer the global food system!

But we still have a long way to go. The total value of surplus food in 2024 was about US$380 billion, meaning consumers still spend an average of US$762 per person per year on food they ultimately waste—and reducing food waste remains a key solution to a variety of climate and food equity challenges.

This month, Food Tank is co-hosting the 10th Annual Stop Food Waste Day Celebration, with Compass Group and Envision Charlotte, on April 29th at Innovation Barn in Charlotte, North Carolina. I hope you’ll join us as we reflect on the progress we’ve made and continue to strategize for the future!

You can CLICK HERE to find out more about the event, which will be a wonderful day of live music, important conversations, delicious food, and interactive experiences. And if you’re in Charlotte, just email Food Tank’s Events Director Kenzie Wade at kenzie@foodtank.com to request a ticket.

No matter where you live, though, Stop Food Waste Day is a global day of action—so you can join us via livestream as well HERE.

Speakers for this year’s Stop Food Waste Day include Amy Aussieker, Envision Charlotte; Richard Armenia, Feeding Charlotte; Michiel Bakker, Culinary Institute of America; Eliza Blank, Farmlink; Palmer Brown, Compass Group; Cate Brinley, Youth Changemaker; Chris Ivens-Brown, Compass Group; Chayil Johnson, Community Matters Cafe; Chef Sam Kass, Acre Venture Partners and Trove; Amy Keister, Compass Group; Riley Nelson, NASCAR; Kris Steele, Crown Town Compost; Harry Tannenbaum, Mill; Alyssa Wilen, Alyssa’s Kitchen, and Eleanor Zhang, Youth Changemaker; plus a very special surprise musical guest!

“My grandma would always remind me not to waste food, (but) it wasn’t just about the food itself,” Amy Keister, Global Director of Sustainability for Compass Group, told us at Stop Food Waste Day last year. “It was about respect for resources, respect for the folks who grow the food, and an understanding of how interconnected we all are.”

Throughout the afternoon, we’ll celebrate the people, ideas, and innovations helping to reduce food waste and build a better food system—one that keeps good food in our kitchens and communities, instead of in landfills. We’ll hear from producers and youth storytellers who are shaping the next generation of the movement, and we’ll conclude with a delicious reception to help us connect and keep building momentum.

Once again, you can CLICK HERE to grab your tickets to join us starting at 2PM ET on Wednesday, April 29.

As I mentioned—and as the data proves—citizen eaters at the household level have tremendous power to drive real change when it comes to food waste reduction, and I want to hear stories of how you and your communities are helping to bring value back into all parts of the food system!

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The post On Stop Food Waste Day, We’re Celebrating the Power of Collective Action! appeared first on Food Tank.

Three decades after one of the largest lead mines in the world closed down, people in Kabwe, Zambia, are still dealing with the aftermath. Facing pervasive lead contamination that continues to endanger their children, families in Kabwe, with a coalition of human rights groups, are calling on the African Union to force Zambia to clean up the site.

Read more on E360 →

Since Donald Trump moved into the White House for his second term as president in January 2025, you’d be forgiven for thinking the US has abandoned all action to tackle climate change and is working aggressively to undermine the efforts of other countries towards that end.

This week, at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington DC, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cast doubt on the scientific consensus around global warming and pressured the two institutions to reverse what he called their “mission creep” and “myopic focus” on climate.

But this hostile rhetoric from the Trump administration and its withdrawal from the UN climate regime – coupled with its support for fossil fuels – doesn’t tell the whole story of what’s happening in the US, according to Lou Leonard, the first dean of the School of Climate, Environment, and Society at Clark University.

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At the state, city and community level, as well as in business and higher education, efforts are resolutely continuing to reduce planet-heating emissions, boost clean energy and adapt to climate shocks, Leonard, an environmental lawyer, told Climate Home News in an interview from Massachusetts.

Thanks to impetus from coalitions such as America Is All In – whose predecessor group he helped launch – the US can still make significant progress towards its 2035 goals to cut emissions, research shows. Leonard, who worked as senior vice president for climate and energy at the World Wildlife Fund for over a decade, explains how US climate action and the Paris Agreement can survive Trump’s wrecking ball.

Q: Has the effect of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine global climate action and the UN climate process been worse than you expected? 

A: A thing that is striking to me, looking at the decade of the Paris Agreement… is that over the course of that decade, the United States had a hostile sort of leadership in Washington, and the agreement has endured.

And it has endured despite the United States, not because of the United States – at least from a federal standpoint. The US was really important in the formation stage but has not been as vital to the endurance of the agreement.

Q: Is it not fair to say though that the current US abandonment of the UN climate process could reduce the impact and influence of the Paris Agreement?

A: The nature of an international cooperative framework means that the aggregate ambition is as strong as the countries that make up it, right? I’m not saying that, in the dream scenario where every country was in a really aggressively positive place that we would not get more out of the international framework. There’s no question that that’s true.

I think it’s just when we’re thinking about the singular role of one country – even the United States – there’s much more in play here than that theory of how things were going to work; the centrality of the United States to all this, especially at the Washington level. I think that turned out to be wrong – at least in the longest sweep of the progress that we’ve made.

Fossil Free Zones can be on-ramps to the clean energy transition

I think the reason why what’s happening in Washington didn’t have as great an impact as it might have in the rest of the world is because the story of what’s happening in the United States is not limited to what’s happening in Washington.

And that’s the second part – which is the things that sometimes frustrate people about the American political system – the sharing of power and the federal system, and all of those things which were intentionally built into the US system.

In these moments, that structure has helped create a reality… and then the rest of the world can see for itself that there’s all these efforts through America Is All In and in other places to bring those actors and that leadership and analysis of the impact of that effort to the rest of the world. I think that that has been an important part of the story of why the Paris Agreement has endured.

Lou Leonard, Dean of the School of Climate, Environment, and Society, speaks at an America Is All In event. Lou Leonard, Dean of the School of Climate, Environment, and Society, speaks at an America Is All In event.

Q: What have some of the most important of those subnational efforts been in your view?

A: California’s the most obvious example, because it’s the world’s sixth largest economy and it’s certainly one of the most aggressive states moving forward on climate action. But it’s more than that: if you look at the America Is All In analysis that was released at COP30 in Belém, it shows a roadmap to maintain US trajectories, as a way to keep things from really collapsing when you have these changes in federal leadership.

There’s a parallel there to what’s happening globally – this is a distributed effort. We need all of society, all over the world, to be moving in this direction in order to reach our most ambitious goals.

And I think the fact that the US has over half of the economy, at least, really leaning in this direction really helps. And then if you just look at the energy transition in the US, we have begun to reach this tipping point where the role of the markets and the role of politics are shifting to some degree.

We really needed the policy incentives, and a lot of that [earlier] signal coming from Washington and then the states to get us to a point where renewable energy penetration was significant enough to begin to have momentum on its own, and I think we’re starting to see that. In just the last two years, over 90% of the new generation capacity in the United States has been renewables.

Q: Where do you see real momentum on US climate action continuing or gathering pace despite what Washington is up to?

A: What I really think is going to take us to another level than just relying on state governments… is the catalysing of more of a collaborative “all of society” approach here.

That’s what led me to higher education. I felt like there was an understanding and an alignment within higher education of the importance of these topics – and then the bench within higher education is filled with some of the top experts in the world on climate who were already leading as it related to climate science and talking about the problem. But if we could take that capacity and bring it into more direct relationship with businesses, municipalities and states, then that has the potential to unlock more of the impact of those actors together … that’s the reason I made the move.

The thing that drew me to [Clark] was you had a small university with really a national research capacity. And in Massachusetts, you have the only state in the country that has a chief climate officer that reports to the governor. You’ve got policy that’s been put in place related to green banks and zoning rules related to decarbonisation of buildings. And a state-based climate law that’s aligned with the Paris Agreement goals and has decarbonisation or net zero emissions by mid-century. You’ve got that policy piece in place, and then it’s how can you begin to catalyse some more of the collaboration that’s going be necessary to actually meet those goals? I think that’s really exciting.

Iran war could boost fossil fuel phase-out push, says Colombian minister

Another place where we’re seeing these ingredients come together is Pennsylvania. Just a month ago, the state of Pennsylvania created a new programme called Prepare PA, which is both about preparing for climate impacts and reaching goals related to the energy transition and the like. And they’re putting Penn State University at the centre of trying to help them implement a plan that involves businesses and municipalities. I think you’re seeing more and more of this kind of experimentation.

… This was always going to be an all-of-society effort, and the more we can see that, and the more we can make it real – how we all have roles to play at the local level, at the state level, in the private sector, in universities, in civil society, the more we have the opportunity to avoid this sense of powerlessness [about climate change] that can lead us to nihilism.

The post Q&A: Look beyond Trump for the full story on US climate action, says university dean appeared first on Climate Home News.

• April 17, 2026

SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL CONSOLIDATES APPEAL PROCESS IN OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS CASE

The Green Connection and Natural Justice have welcomed the decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to defer a decision whether to grant leave to appeal and direct that a further leave to appeal application by Shell and the State be heard together with the merits of the appeal, in a consolidated hearing, in the ongoing legal challenge against offshore oil and gas exploration in Block 5/6/7 off South Africa’s south west coast.

According to The Green Connection’s Outreach Ambassador, Neville van Rooy, “By directing that the leave to appeal application and the full appeal be heard together, the Supreme Court of Appeal has created a single, consolidated process that goes beyond procedural efficiency. It shortens the path to final accountability and ensures that the Court fully considers the substantive failures identified by the High Court, including the government’s failure to properly take into account the significant risks to the livelihoods of small‑scale fishers, and the resulting asymmetrical assessment of who bears the risks and who stands to benefit from offshore oil and gas exploration.”

“This case matters to all South Africans because it is essentially about good governance and because it will set a binding legal precedent on whether government decisions affecting the country’s environment, climate future, public finances and livelihoods must fully consider climate risks, environmental harm and meaningful public participation – or whether such decisions meet the required standards of lawfulness and accountability. Moreover, amid a growing national debate on energy security, this case highlights a central reality of South Africa’s energy context, that local oil and gas production does not shield consumers from global market volatility. Sound governance should therefore prioritise transparent, evidence-based frameworks to model and guide South Africa’s long-term energy transition,” adds van Rooy.

Background to the Case
Following years of objections from coastal communities, small-scale fishers, civil society organisations and experts, who raised concerns about climate impacts, oil spill risks, transboundary harm and inadequate public participation – the Western Cape High Court in 2025 set aside the Environmental Authorisation granted for offshore drilling in Block 5/6/7. The Court found that the decision-making process was legally deficient, including failures to properly assess key environmental and socio-economic risks, and did not comply with the requirements of South Africa’s environmental laws.

In November 2025, the Western Cape High Court confirmed that the Environmental Authorisation for offshore drilling in Block 5/6/7 is unlawful and remains set aside, while granting the State and Shell limited leave to appeal on two issues only the consideration of full lifecycle climate impacts and transboundary environmental harm.

After the High Court ruling, the State and Shell petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal to expand the appeal to include additional grounds that had initially been refused permission to appeal including failures related to public participation, socio-economic impacts and coastal law compliance. The present process before the Supreme Court of Appeal arises from that petition.

In February 2026, The Green Connection and Natural Justice filed their answering affidavit opposing efforts by the State and Shell to broaden the grounds of appeal in the Block 5/6/7 offshore drilling case. They reaffirmed that the matter concerns lawful decision making, environmental governance, climate accountability and the constitutional rights of coastal communities, and argued that the High Court had already found serious flaws in the environmental authorisation process that should not be reopened on appeal.

Key Legal Questions Before the Court
“At the heart of the case are questions about good governance and lawful decision-making. The Court must determine whether the Minister had (and considered) all the necessary and reliable information when granting the Environmental Authorisation for offshore oil and gas exploration. This includes information on environmental risks and the socio-economic importance of marine resources to coastal livelihoods. We contend that this information was incomplete or inadequately considered. The case also raises questions about whether communities were given meaningful opportunities to participate based on full and accurate information, and whether South Africa’s coastal and environmental laws were properly followed. These governance issues will now be considered together in a consolidated appeal process,” says van Rooy.

“Therefore, to be clear, this case is not about judges ‘deciding climate change’. It is about whether South African law was followed specifically whether relevant climate, environmental and socio economic risks were lawfully and properly taken into account, as required,” he adds.

The matter is now progressing until the consolidated hearing of both the leave to appeal and the merits of the case, on a date still to be determined.

The Court has also directed that the related appeals brought by the State and Shell be heard together as one consolidated matter. The hearing date will be determined by the Supreme Court of Appeal, and is typically scheduled several months after the exchange of written arguments. Dates may change if there are delays, requests for extensions, or new directions by the Court.

“Importantly, the Environmental Authorisation for Block 5/6/7 remains set aside. No offshore drilling may lawfully proceed unless and until a valid authorisation is granted following a lawful process that complies with constitutional and environmental requirements,” concludes van Rooy.

The Green Connection and Natural Justice view the Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision as a vital step towards ensuring that the case is fully ventilated and that its implications for environmental governance, climate justice and coastal communities are properly considered. The organisations and their small-scale fisher partners remain committed to defending South Africa’s oceans, protecting the rights and livelihoods of coastal communities, and upholding the good governance principle that decisions with long-term environmental and social consequences must withstand rigorous legal scrutiny.

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The Green Connection administrator February 28, 2025 Latest News Eco-Justice Organizations Reject Draft Scoping Report For Offshore Drilling On SA’S West Coast (TEEPSA DWOB South).

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The post SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL CONSOLIDATES APPEAL PROCESS IN OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS CASE appeared first on The Green Connection.

As the sun sets on the thirty-year lifespan of the 1996 Ganges Water Treaty, Bangladesh finds itself at a historical crossroads that will define its...

The post The Ganges Renewal: A test of sovereignty against hydro-hegemony first appeared on Spring.

Upcoming event from Hope for the Future – Oil Wars: Winning a Just Transition in an Era of Energy Crises

It’s time to stop feeling powerless in the face of global insecurity and recurring energy crises, and instead reclaim our democratic system so that it works for the many.

Since the US-Israel war on Iran began, we have witnessed a huge, coordinated lobbying push, cynically using this crisis to advocate for more, expanded domestic extraction of oil and gas. And as the crisis threatens to send the cost of living ever higher, these arguments are increasingly gaining ground.

This is a dangerous time for the fragile transition to a greener, fairer, and safer society.

We are constantly being told that:

• Energy sovereignty requires ‘maxing out the North Sea’ – even though our reliance on fossil fuels has made the UK more exposed to energy crises than other nations, and despite the fact that future oil will be sold on the global market at high prices.
• Reliance on fossil fuels is the price of geopolitical safety, even though the pursuit of energy dominance on behalf of Trump’s USA is threatening peace everywhere – from Palestine, Lebanon and Iran to Venezuela and Cuba.
• The economic burden of a crisis like this must fall on the most precarious in society, even while the oil and gas lobby stands to make super-profits through price gauging.

But we don’t have to stand for this.

The question before us is: Do we double down on the fossil fuels that are making our societies and economies increasingly fragile and unjust? Or do we seize this opportunity to accelerate the shift to a fairer, greener world?

That’s why Hope for the Future is organising this crucial event.

In the first half, we’ll be hearing from campaigners working at the heart of these questions. They’ll be providing us with a range of different campaigning and policy responses to the crisis, helping us to understand and respond to the new context.

So far, we’re excited to confirm that we will be joined by speakers from the Stop Rosebank campaign and the Transition Security Project, with more to be announced.

In the second half, we’ll be exploring a ‘counter-lobbying’ approach to taking campaign asks directly to those in power, showing them that the oil and gas industries don’t speak for us. This is a key way we can hold our politicians to account and fight for a just transition to a greener, safer world.

You can sign up for free at https://hftf.org.uk/event/oil-wars-workshop.

Online Thursday April 23 – 5.50 – 7.00 We’ll see you there! Join Us

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The post Upcoming event from Hope for the Future – Oil Wars: Winning a Just Transition in an Era of Energy Crises first appeared on Greener Jobs Alliance.

Perkembangan hiburan digital terus menunjukkan tren yang semakin dinamis. Salah satu istilah yang belakangan banyak dicari pengguna internet adalah SLOT JEPANG. Fenomena ini muncul seiring meningkatnya minat masyarakat terhadap permainan digital bertema visual modern dengan nuansa khas Jepang.

Dalam laporan perkembangan industri hiburan digital, SLOT JEPANG sering disebut sebagai salah satu kategori yang menarik perhatian karena menggabungkan desain visual, teknologi animasi, dan konsep permainan yang terus diperbarui oleh pengembang.

Experience (Pengalaman): Perubahan Tren Pengguna Digital

Berdasarkan pengamatan di berbagai komunitas pengguna game online, banyak pemain menyebut bahwa SLOT JEPANG menawarkan pengalaman visual yang lebih hidup dibandingkan tema permainan lain. Pengguna merasakan adanya peningkatan kualitas grafis, efek suara yang lebih detail, serta karakter bergaya anime yang membuat permainan terasa lebih interaktif.

Sejumlah pemain juga mengungkapkan bahwa mereka lebih sering memilih tema Jepang karena tampilannya dianggap lebih menarik dan tidak membosankan. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa pengalaman pengguna menjadi faktor utama dalam meningkatnya popularitas SLOT JEPANG di berbagai platform hiburan digital.

Expertise (Keahlian): Peran Pengembang dalam Inovasi

Para pengembang game digital berperan besar dalam membentuk tren SLOT JEPANG. Mereka menggunakan teknologi desain modern seperti animasi 3D, sistem algoritma berbasis RNG (Random Number Generator), dan pengoptimalan antarmuka pengguna agar permainan berjalan lebih halus.

Selain itu, pengembang juga terus melakukan pembaruan fitur untuk meningkatkan kenyamanan pengguna. Mereka menambahkan elemen visual khas budaya Jepang seperti ikon tradisional, karakter anime, hingga latar kota modern Tokyo yang memberikan kesan berbeda dalam setiap permainan.

Dengan pendekatan ini, SLOT JEPANG berkembang bukan hanya sebagai hiburan visual, tetapi juga sebagai hasil inovasi teknologi yang terus diperbarui.

Authoritativeness (Otoritas): Dukungan Industri Game Global

Dalam skala industri global, tema Jepang memang sudah lama menjadi inspirasi dalam berbagai produk hiburan digital. Banyak studio game internasional yang mengadaptasi elemen budaya Jepang karena memiliki daya tarik pasar yang kuat.

Beberapa platform hiburan digital juga secara resmi memasukkan SLOT JEPANG sebagai kategori permainan bertema khusus. Hal ini memperkuat posisi SLOT JEPANG sebagai salah satu konsep yang memiliki pengaruh dalam industri game modern.

Selain itu, komunitas gamer internasional turut memperkuat popularitasnya melalui ulasan, forum diskusi, dan konten media sosial yang membahas pengalaman mereka.

Trustworthiness (Kepercayaan): Informasi dan Persepsi Pengguna

Meskipun SLOT JEPANG semakin populer, penting untuk memahami bahwa informasi yang beredar di internet sering kali berasal dari berbagai sumber komunitas. Oleh karena itu, pengguna perlu lebih selektif dalam menerima informasi.

Beberapa platform hiburan digital menyediakan deskripsi resmi terkait fitur dan mekanisme permainan. Pengguna disarankan untuk selalu membaca informasi dari sumber terpercaya sebelum mengikuti atau menggunakan platform tertentu.

Transparansi dari pengembang juga menjadi faktor penting dalam membangun kepercayaan pengguna. Dengan adanya penjelasan fitur yang jelas, pengguna dapat memahami cara kerja sistem permainan dengan lebih baik.

Kesimpulan

Fenomena SLOT JEPANG menunjukkan bagaimana industri hiburan digital terus berkembang mengikuti selera pasar. Dengan kombinasi visual menarik, inovasi teknologi, dan pengaruh budaya Jepang yang kuat, tren ini berhasil menarik perhatian banyak pengguna.

Namun, seperti bentuk hiburan digital lainnya, pengguna tetap perlu bersikap bijak dalam mengakses informasi dan memilih platform yang terpercaya. Perkembangan ini diperkirakan akan terus berlanjut seiring meningkatnya inovasi dalam industri game global.

Haití's Natural Resources: Between the myth of hidden wealth and the reality of unexplored treasure

By Paula Companioni*

Translated by Eduardo Aguilar

In the geopolitical imagination of the Caribbean, Haiti is often portrayed as a territory with an almost mythical mining potential. From the U.S. occupation of 1915 to contemporary debates about economic development, the narrative of a “country sitting on a gold mine” has been recurrent. However, the current reality is far from this fiction.

While neighboring Dominican Republic has recently announced the discovery of rare earth deposits in Pedernales, Haiti faces an uncomfortable question: what actually lies beneath its soil? This article examines three key issues—what minerals exist, where they are located, and the real size of the reserves—before concluding with a reflection on how this uncertainty becomes a double-edged sword in today’s volatile geopolitical landscape.

Gold, Copper, and Bauxite: Resources Yet to Be Determined

Haiti’s geology, shaped by the collision of tectonic plates, has endowed the island with a varied subsoil. Geological studies point to the presence of gold, copper, and bauxite, as well as potential deposits of cobalt and, according to more recent speculation, rare earth elements.

Haitian sociologist Jean Eddy Saint Paul, in a recent interview, confirmed this perspective:
“Nowadays there is a big hype about minerals and rare earths. I believe that in Haiti we have both. It is a very important country in terms of mining and rare earth resources.”

However, the myth collides with a technical reality. Claude Prépetit, director of Haiti’s Bureau of Mines and Energy (BME), stated in February 2025 that the country has not invested in mining research since 1993 and that all metal exploration activities stopped in 2012. This means that although there is geological certainty about the presence of these minerals—samples and known veins exist—there is no updated data regarding their concentration, economic viability, or purity. Haiti lacks modern maps needed to turn geology into economic knowledge.

Where Are These Resources Located?

The location of these resources is not random and tends to concentrate in mountainous areas and along the geological fault lines that cross the country. Historically, the main exploration permits have been granted in the northern region, specifically in the Massif du Nord, where gold and copper veins have been identified.

One of the most sensitive areas today is the southern border, particularly the Belle-Anse and Anse-à-Pitre region in the Southeast department. Following the discovery of 114 rare earth deposits in Pedernales (on the Dominican side), geologists estimate that the same geological formation may extend into Haitian territory.

This area is densely populated by small-scale farmers and lies on active seismic faults, making any potential mining activity a matter of significant social and environmental complexity.

This is where the myth collapses in the face of reality. The honest answer is that no one knows with certainty the size of Haiti’s reserves. The country does not have an updated inventory.

During the 1970s and 1980s, studies suggested significant potential for gold and copper. Yet more than three decades without systematic exploration have left Haiti in a situation of informational blindness. What exists today are not proven reserves—as in Chile or the Dominican Republic—but rather “inferred resources” or simply exploration concessions previously granted to foreign companies, such as the U.S.-based Newmont. These companies carried out preliminary exploration but did not proceed to extraction due to social instability and community opposition.

In fact, between 2006 and 2013 more than 50 exploration permits were granted without proper environmental impact assessments. This led to conflicts involving the displacement of peasant farmers but did not result in actual mining production. Haiti therefore remains a country with potential wealth that has yet to be quantified, trapped in the speculative stage of mining development.

Natural Resources and Geopolitics

In today’s global landscape—shaped by the energy transition and the growing demand for strategic minerals such as rare earth elements used in batteries and advanced technologies—uncertainty about Haiti’s subsoil is not an innocent void. It has become a space of geopolitical and discursive contestation.

Professor Jean Eddy Saint Paul offers an important historical insight. As early as 1924, during the U.S. occupation, geologists such as Wendell P. Woodring conducted extensive studies of Haiti’s subsoil and published detailed findings in Geology of the Republic of Haiti. “The best experts in the United States have studied the soil and subsoil,” Saint Paul explains. “According to the information in that book, it is a very important country from a strategic perspective, because it has lithium, natural resources, minerals, and rare earth elements.”

According to Saint Paul, the paradox is that while the Dominican Republic has elites capable of negotiating the management of their resources, in Haiti “those in power do not have the capacity to negotiate with the United States what is actually beneficial for Haitian society.”

The Risk of the “Resource Curse”

There is also a narrative interested in portraying Haiti as a “failed state” in order to justify foreign intervention under the pretext of stability. This is not a new pattern. During the 1915 occupation, the United States took control of the National Bank and appropriated land. Today, international financial institutions and foreign powers promote mining as an economic solution, despite strong opposition from local communities who see the industry as a threat of land dispossession.

For the Haitian sociologist, any future exploitation of these resources would require a profound political transformation: “To exploit or grant concessions to foreign companies, we need nationalist or patriotic leaders both in Congress and in the Presidency—people who defend the interests of the Haitian people and who do not see natural resources as an end in themselves, but as a means to contribute to the well-being of the population.”

A Double-Edged Narrative

The myth of Haiti’s natural wealth therefore looms like a sword of Damocles. On one hand, it fuels hopes for miraculous economic development. On the other, it legitimizes attempts at external interference, environmental damage, land grabbing, and resource exploitation without local benefit.

In a world marked by active conflicts over oil, lithium, copper, and rare earth minerals, Haiti faces the risk that its vulnerability will be exploited. Its resources—whose real magnitude remains unknown—could become spoils for external powers, repeating the tragedy seen in many countries of the Global South where the resource curse has perpetuated instability instead of prosperity.

*This article is the second installment of the “Series: Mining in Haiti — context, risks and debates”, built within the framework of the Territory Defense Program of the Itinerant University of Resistance in Haiti.

References:

Diario Libre. Haitianos se preguntan si tienen tierras raras tras el hallazgo en Pedernales. Ver: https://www.diariolibre.com/mundo/haiti/2025/02/18/en-haiti-se-pregunta-si-tiene-tierras-raras/3002520

López Soto, Ximena Damaris. El concepto de “Estado fallido” como estrategia para la explotación en Haití (CLACSO). Ver: https://conferenciaclacso.org/programa/resumen_ponencia.php?&ponencia=Conf-1-1439-35442&eje=13

Somos Pueblo. Tras el hallazgo en Pedernales, Haití se pregunta si también tiene tierras raras. Ver: https://somospueblo.com/tras-el-hallazgo-en-pedernales-haiti-se-pregunta-si-tambien-tiene-tierras-raras/

Author’s interview with Professor Jean Eddy, Haitian sociologist (unpublished).

Original post in Spanish and Kreyòl:

RECURSOS NATURALES EN HAITÍ: ENTRE EL MITO DE LA RIQUEZA OCULTA Y LA REALIDAD DE UN TESORO SIN EXPLORAR

Español: https://unir-haiti.org/recursos-naturales-en-haiti-entre-el-mito-de-la-riqueza-oculta-y-la-realidad-de-un-tesoro-sin-explorar/

Resous Natirèl Ayiti: Ant Mit sou Richès Kache ak Reyalite yon Trezò Ki Pa Eksplore

Kreyòl: https://unir-haiti.org/ht/resous-natirel-ayiti-ant-mit-sou-riches-kache-ak-reyalite-yon-trezo-ki-pa-eksplore/

Candidates and campaigners debate alternative local offers to Labour and Reform, through future alliances and those already underway

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Vijay Prashad and Tings Chak’s article in Monthly Review, “The Idea of the ‘Uyghur Genocide’ and the Realities of Xinjiang,” is among the more substantial recent efforts on the international Left to defend China’s repressive policies in Xinjiang and dismiss the grievances of local Muslim peoples. Their article strikes a similar tone to the Chinese government sources that they often rely on, featuring the same questionable historical narratives and narrow focus on a few individual critics and their affiliations. By the end of the piece, I was noting signs of intellectual sloppiness. As I did my due diligence and dug into its sources, my suspicions were confirmed.

Prashad and Chak now edit the international edition of the journal Wenhua Zongheng 文化纵横. This has brought them into dialogue with Chinese intellectuals such as Wang Hui 汪晖, and it was unsurprising to see the article’s conclusion riffing off Wang’s critique of technocratic governance in the PRC. Wang was cited here for the view that “[g]enuine ethnic unity cannot be achieved through depoliticization, but must be built on recognition of history, diversity, and substantive equality.” I found this a well-meaning note to end on, even if the article itself had done little to advance these objectives.

But as has now been confirmed through an exchange with Prashad online, Wang did not write these lines. The “landmark essay” attributed to him was made up. It also emerged that the authors had invented a book by Wang Ke 王柯, a scholar of Xinjiang who works in Japan, and a Grayzone article by Max Blumenthal.

I’m unsure how much weight to give all this. Needless to say, I found it dismaying to find a left forum like Monthly Review infected by the same fake sourcing that I now must watch out for in the undergraduate essays I receive. Prashad says that there was no AI use involved in their article. Only he and his co-author know the truth of that. He has also said that the flaws in its referencing do not materially impact the substance of the article. Here we agree. Let us note this shortcoming and move on. Any debate should indeed focus on points of substance. On that, I’m afraid to say, my conclusion is that the article’s substance is as deficient as its referencing.

Misusing history

Take the authors’ sketch of Xinjiang’s history. Like every State Council White Paper, they repeat a version of the mantra that this territory has been part of China since ancient times. They claim that not only Xinjiang, but Tibet as well, were part of China during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–229 CE)—and also during the Tang (618–907), Yuan (1271–1368), Ming (1368–1644), and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties.

Before going on, I must pause to note how absurd it is for Prashad and Chak to drag us onto this terrain of debate at all. Since when has the Left considered the political status of a territory millennia in the past to have any bearing on the justice of its political configuration in the present? What business is it of today’s radicals to plumb dynastic chronicles to decide whether this or that piece of land rightfully “belongs” to a modern state? Prashad and Chak would not appreciate the comparison, but the similarity between this kind of argumentation and the logic of Zionism is striking.

Since when has the Left considered the political status of a territory millennia in the past to have any bearing on the justice of its political configuration in the present?

Space precludes a full dissection of the specific claims. Briefly, though, the Han and Tang participated in multisided rivalries in the Tarim Basin, both establishing intermittent control there across a century or so—i.e., for less than half their existence. As for the “Yuan,” this was the Chinese name for the “Great Mongol Empire,” i.e., it was a Mongol, not a Chinese dynasty. In any case, the Toluid family ruling the Yuan were mostly kept out of Xinjiang by their Ögedeid and Chaghatayid cousins. The Ming then garrisoned Hami, on the very eastern edge of Xinjiang, for a century or so before the Islamised Chaghatayid Mongols drove them out. Finally, while maintaining that Xinjiang “belonged” to the Qing, the authors acknowledge that it was only after the destruction of the Junghar khanate (1634–1758) that this empire was able to tax it. The admission brings them close to recognizing the obvious reality: that the Qing dynasty’s mid-eighteenth-century incorporation of Xinjiang was an act of imperial conquest.

The difficulty for the authors is that the Chinese government line on Xinjiang has evolved in the last decade, in line with the heightened repression. The official position today is not that some dynasties had control of Xinjiang, but that they all did. The State Council report that Prashad and Chak cite says that Xinjiang became “Chinese territory” in the Han Dynasty and that all dynasties since “exercised the right of jurisdiction” there. This is where things get truly awkward for anyone interested in preserving their credibility as a historian, and Prashad and Chak decide to dodge the issue by shifting to questions of ideology. “Chinese political thought,” they argue, “is not rooted in fixed territory but in a more abstract idea of belonging.” All Chinese empires had documents that “suggested” their rule in Xinjiang, grounded in the civilizational notion of “all under Heaven”, i.e. Tianxia.

There is a term for a style of analysis that rests on a stark binary between Eastern and Western ways of thinking and doing. Edward Said once wrote a book about it. But the fact is, there is nothing particularly unique about the universalist pretensions exhibited by China’s dynasties. The Holy Roman Empire once claimed to rule all “Christendom,” even though its actual writ was far more limited.

What the imperial self-aggrandizing of the past might have to do with the rights and wrongs of policies in the present is again something the authors entirely fail to explain.

At this point Prashad and Chak add a final disclaimer: that the historical literature on Xinjiang is vast and “beyond our command to interpret.” Were they genuinely so perplexed, the appropriate thing to do would be to present various sides of the debate. But this they have studiously avoided doing. The only version of history they have presented is the distorted one preferred by Beijing. Their closing gesture towards the inscrutable Orient is a last-ditch effort to restore some distance between themselves and the obviously false claims they have rehashed.

Are we reinventing here the category of “non-historic” peoples, destined to be swept aside by those with more viable national movements?

We move from here to an equally common talking point in official publications: that the notion of “East Turkistan” was a foreign invention. I can assure the authors that well before any Russian influence, the notion that Xinjiang was part of “Turkistan” was commonplace. It is also true that modern nationalism came relatively late to Central Asia, and that when it did, local imaginings of nation and place were part of a trans-Eurasian dialogue, connecting to intellectual trends among Muslims and non-Muslims in Russia and the Ottoman Empire. There is nothing particularly unique in such a story. Entering the twentieth century, activists in or from Xinjiang laid claim to the territory using a mixture of old and new vocabulary: Uyghuristan, East Turkistan, Altishahr, occasionally even the archaic “Moghulistan.”

So what? Again, I am reminded of the way that Zionists try to discredit the Palestinian cause by claiming that “Palestine” was not a well-defined, or meaningful geographic unit for the inhabitants of the region at the time of Zionist colonization. Those facts are in dispute, but even assuming this was the case, what follows? Are people to be punished for arriving late to a fully elaborated nationalist program? Are we reinventing here the category of “non-historic” peoples, destined to be swept aside by those with more viable national movements?

The fact is, Prashad and Chak show no serious interest in the complex political history of the region they are discussing. They skip the entire history of Islamic reformism and Soviet-aligned Uyghur nationalism; there is no mention of Comintern strategies towards Xinjiang, which saw various schemes to extend the Russian revolution there; nothing on Uyghur labor organizing or cultural radicalism in Soviet Central Asia. Their “left” analysis sets all this aside to commence a narrative of “secession” movements at the time of the Sino-Soviet split, aligning with a trend in China today to reduce Uyghur nationalism to a tool of Russian/Soviet intrigue. They devote two long paragraphs to the relatively insignificant figure of Yusupbek Mukhlisi (1920–2004), with only a brief nod to the Second East Turkistan Republic as part of his life story. They inform us that Mukhlisi’s Kazakhstan-centered network claimed responsibility for attacks in China in the 1990s, neglecting to mention that not even the Chinese government took these claims seriously. Prashad and Chak’s narrative of more recent militancy likewise zooms in on individuals and organizations at the expense of any consideration of social conditions. No one denies that jihadists have emerged from discontented sections of Xinjiang’s populace, and that some of these have engaged in unconscionable attacks on ordinary Chinese civilians. But simply recycling official narratives on the scale and nature of these attacks adds little clarity to the discussion.

Counter-terrorism and repression

The authors’ master narrative of recent years is of a Communist Party gradually shifting from a counter-terrorism crackdown to recognizing the social and economic grievances that generated support for Uyghur militancy and addressing these through development schemes. There is a grain of truth here, and recent improvements in basic living standards in Xinjiang have indeed been impressive. But the party has long had grand designs for Xinjiang’s economy. The relevant policy shift between the first and second decades of the twenty-first century was not from counterterrorism to development, but from militarized counterterrorist policing to a far more wide-ranging “de-radicalization” paradigm. This involved a panoply of War on Terror techniques: predictive policing (on the basis of Islamophobic “indicators” of radicalization), surveillance of social media and domestic space, public loyalty ceremonies, and of course mass ideological re-education carried out through detention centers.

At the same time, a Stalinist purge hit Xinjiang’s institutions, targeting non-Han elites deemed insufficiently loyal. As one Chinese commentator described it in 2020: “Xinjiang has punished a large number of ‘two-faced people’ and ‘two-faced factions’ in the fields of public security, prosecution, law, education, publishing, propaganda and culture.” The Chinese government has itself publicized stories of Uyghur intellectuals imprisoned for publications that were once approved by state censors, but which now fall foul of tightening ideological standards. Alongside this, there is ample evidence of people receiving devastating sentences for acts as simple as providing religious instruction at home or maintaining contact with relatives outside China.

The authors would have us believe that stories of repression in Xinjiang originate in a narrow circle of U.S.-aligned diaspora activists.

All this is grossly minimized by Prashad and Chak. In the only mention of formal incarceration in their entire article, they note in passing that “several people” were imprisoned from 2014 to 2019 for “violent activities.” “Several people”? Total prosecutions in Xinjiang soared during this period, jumping from 41,305 in 2016 to 215,823 in 2017, and increased in average length. China has not hidden the fact that thousands have been convicted for “terrorism” offenses—keeping in mind that a UN review of available judicial documentation described “judgments referring to conduct being ‘extremist’ despite none of the formal charges being related to terrorism or “extremism.’” This was seen as indicative “of an approach that considers any type of violation of law committed by a Muslim person as presumptively “extremist.’”

The authors would have us believe that stories of repression in Xinjiang originate in a narrow circle of U.S.-aligned diaspora activists. But some of the most chilling stories I have encountered—of family members ripped from their beds at night, eventually returning months or years later as broken individuals—have been from people who studiously avoid all involvement in diaspora politics. Against such narratives, the authors counterpose the glowing reports that China has received from bodies such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. I suppose if China’s State Council is a trustworthy source on human rights in Xinjiang, then why not Egyptian or Indonesian diplomats?

In the end, Prashad and Chak fall back on a form of whataboutism: Sure, the camps might have been coercive, but China’s counter-terrorism policies were still preferable to Russia’s in Chechnya, America’s in Iraq, or Israel’s in Palestine. This is true enough. China has not engaged in the mass slaughter of Uyghurs and Kazakhs. Gaza stands in ruins, while Xinjiang’s modern infrastructure grows. But the comparison strikes me as odd, given the earlier insistence that Xinjiang has been part of China for millennia. If so, why are imperialist wars and colonial genocides the points of reference here?

The question of “genocide”

Which brings me to the question: Is this genocide? This often sits at the center of debate on Xinjiang, but in my opinion it need not. When public discourse shifted to talk of “genocide” in Xinjiang, I was among those who were wary. The hope that accusing China of the crime of crimes might prompt international action was understandable, if misplaced. But it was equally obvious that the claim would serve as a lightning rod for skeptical critique, and risk obscuring the wider question of mass repression and cultural erasure. Some adopt capacious definitions of genocide that may arguably capture the Xinjiang case. Personally, I use the term in its common-language sense of the deliberate destruction of a people. While some have died in China’s camps and prisons, I am not convinced that “genocide” best describes the situation.

I can also concur with the authors that talk of genocide in Xinjiang has been cynically exploited by governments that have no business lecturing anyone on human rights, implicated as they are in their own horrific crimes. Liberal human rights organizations have often been too quick to make common cause with China hawks. The Left should have no truck with any of this.

Aligning as they do with official Chinese government positions, Prashad and Chak’s argumentation draws more on the logic of nationalism than left traditions of debate on the national question.

But equally, the Left should not allow criticism of genocide claims to smuggle in an attitude of indifference to the human suffering that those claims point to—precisely what Prashad and Chak are trying to do. In their hands, talk of genocide is reduced to the work of a handful of individuals affiliated with right-wing think tanks, a move that allows them to focus on cultivating a sense that the entire Xinjiang issue is a construct of funding sources and self-interest. This will pass for “materialism” in some circles, but it is the sort of analysis that Gramsci had in mind when he complained of the reduction of Marxism to “economic superstition.” In such thinking, “‘Critical’ activity is reduced to the exposure of swindles, to creating scandals, and to prying into the pockets of public figures.”

Sadly, far too much of today’s China debate has this feel to it. Prashad and his co-thinkers are often enough on the receiving end themselves of critiques focusing on funding sources. It is a pity that instead of elevating the discussion above this level, they choose to descend to it.

Concluding

Aligning as they do with official Chinese government positions, Prashad and Chak’s argumentation draws more on the logic of nationalism than left traditions of debate on the national question. They are quite often wrong, but just as often they present talking points with little obvious relevance to determining where the Left should stand on  the situation in Xinjiang. Wang Hui’s critique of “depoliticization,” which the authors embrace in their conclusion, expresses a desire for more dialogue and debate to build trust among the peoples of Xinjiang. Well and good. But who do they imagine participating in this dialogue? Minzu University Professor Ilham Tohti once tried to initiate such an exchange, and is now serving a life sentence in prison for separatism. Any comment from the authors on that?

Marxists have always insisted that the only way to build trust amid national antagonisms is through the forthright defense of national rights—something that is entirely missing from Prashad and Chak’s lengthy presentation. In the absence of this, what is the import of a call for more “politicized” governance in Xinjiang? After all, Xinjiang has seen plenty of politics in the last decade: relentless ideological bullying, the constriction of non-Han languages and cultural expression, and life-destroying punishments for anyone who steps out of line. The full implications of China’s new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress remain to be seen, but it looks likely to involve more of the same. Some may choose to keep downplaying all this in the name of anti-imperialism. I think the Left needs to tell the truth.

Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Tempest Collective. For more information, see “About Tempest Collective.”
Featured Image credit: Preston Rhea; modified by Tempest.

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If California High-Speed Rail road construction work remains on schedule, Shaw Avenue near Highway 99 in Fresno will reopen by the end of the year – as an overpass. Read more.

Israel’s brutal campaign against Lebanon launched on March 2 has run parallel to the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. When Trump and Iran declared a ceasefire in the second week of…