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Episode 341 of The Red Nation Podcast

Red Power Hour is a sub-series of The Red Nation Podcast. Hosted by Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz.

(Note: We have released the first hour of the conversation on the main feed.  You can listen to the entire episode – almost an hour longer- by subscribing to Red Media on Patreon for as little as $2 a month or watch it for free on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel)

Red Power Hour is back! Co-hosts Elena Ortiz and Melanie Yazzie take on Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

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⚡️Episode 341 of The Red Nation Podcast⚡️ Red Power Hour – RPH vs. Killers of the Flower Moon Red Power Hour is back! Co-hosts Elena Ortiz and Melanie Yazzie take on Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) (Note: We have released the first hour of the conversation on the main feed.  You can listen to the entire episode – almost an hour longer- by subscribing to Red Media on Patreon for as little as $2 a month or watch it for free on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel) Watch the video edition on The Red Nation YouTube channel! https://youtu.be/9b-mL36sxII?si=RmkGAI37I9OS4A_Q Listen to The Red Nation Podcast on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Podcasts. Listen and download for free on Libsyn. The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you. Power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr https://therednation.org/red-power-hour-rph-vs-killers-of-the-flower-moon/ Links in bio! #flowersofthekillermoon #lilygladstone #indigenoustiktok #therednationpodcast

♬ original sound – The Red Nation Podcast

Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel 

The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you. Power our work here: 
www.patreon.com/redmediapr

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On February 5th, the Just Transition Alliance will join our comrades at the Labor Network for Sustainability (LNS) to celebrate the birthday of Rosa Parks with a Transit Equity Day of Action!

The COVID pandemic and recovery forever changed how communities function, work, socialize, and commute.  It also showed very clearly how public transit is critical to the lives of millions across the country.  Essential workers depend on and operate transit, small local businesses depend on transit, and historically marginalized communities depend on transit.  Transit is a key component of economic recovery and environmental sustainability, and it is a path to equity for isolated and under-invested urban, suburban, and rural communities.

But for far too long, policymakers in Washington have prioritized highways and cars over public transit.  This has devastating impacts not only for the climate crisis but for municipal budgets as well.  New legislation introduced in January by Congressman Hank Johnson from the Atlanta area would change that. The bill, “Stronger Communities through Better Transit Act,” will boost high-quality transit across the country by creating a new federal grant program available to all transit agencies to increase service frequency and dependability, thereby reducing wait times, expanding hours, and adding new lines to underserved communities.

For decades, the federal government has subsidized the cost of shipping and aviation.  Today, public transit is essential to workers and businesses – it is high time for Washington to treat it as such!  While Congress has taken some limited steps forward in recent years, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, this bill would provide crucial funding that would fill budget shortfalls currently experienced by numerous transit agencies.  These agencies, valuable public resources that are often among the largest employers in their areas, are powerful drivers of economic growth, jobs, and opportunity for tens of millions of people in the US, from small rural towns to major urban centers.  Every dollar invested in transit offers a 5-to-1 return, and every $1 billion invested in public transit produces 50,000 jobs.  As we have previously stated, investment in transit infrastructure presents opportunities for huge expansions in good union jobs, reduced dependence on personal vehicles dramatically improves quality of life in many neighborhoods, and fare-free transit services can increase equity for marginalized communities while actually reducing overall costs.

We also know that the climate crisis is here now, impacting our economy and nearly every aspect of our daily lives.  Investing in public transit is a powerful way to help address the climate crisis on the scale required.  It is a crucial part of the systemic changes that we need to build a new paradigm that improves the lives of workers and the environment.  Everyone fighting for real solutions for climate justice agrees on the need for widely-available, clean, free public transit.  Ambitious investment in transit by policymakers would be a win-win, for the economy and for the climate crisis.

We encourage all of our followers and allies to organize local events on February 5th.  See the LNS website for organizing tools and register your action or view other actions on the campaign page.

O conteúdo Transit Equity Day of Action! aparece primeiro em Just Transition Alliance.

Jan 24, 2021 – Settlers Gone Wild: Inauguration Hangover

Kim Tallbear, Andray Domise, and Melanie Yazzie join co-hosts Nick and Jen for a post-inauguration recap.

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#Throwback
The Red Nation Podcast: 
Jan 24, 2021 – Settlers Gone Wild: Inauguration Hangover
Kim Tallbear, Andray Domise, and Melanie Yazzie join co-hosts Nick and Jen for a post-inauguration recap.
Listen to The Red Nation Podcast on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Podcasts. Listen and download for free on Libsyn.
https://therednation.org/the-red-nation-podcast-throwback-2/ Link in bio!

♬ original sound – The Red Nation Podcast

The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you, power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr

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The fight to end the era of fossil fuels is ramping up, along with efforts to build towards more democratic, just, non-extractive energy sources and systems. Feminist climate justice advocates have a vital role to play – especially as policymakers seek answers to the question “what comes next?” after fossil fuels.

We need to build energy systems that are renewable, democratic and better serve the needs of communities, in the US and worldwide. We must offer repair for energy injustices that have harmed communities of color, low income communities, and communities of the Global South – as people have been denied equitable access to energy while also facing harms from the pollution, environmental degradation, and the wars and occupations of fossil fuel extraction and destructive energy sourcing. We know we must transition off of fossil fuels, and we must build our set of resources to guide and shape what comes after.

An end to fossil fuel development and use is a feminist priority, with serious implications for sexual and reproductive health and rights. From extraction to worsening climate change impacts, fossil fuel pollution is linked with infertility, fibroids and other reproductive diseases, serious illnesses in pregnancy, mental health harms and preterm birth, stillbirth and other adverse health outcomes. Communities of color and other marginalized communities that already face unjust inequities in health outcomes are hit the hardest. 

In the energy infrastructure conversation in the US, a gendered and global justice framing is often missing. This leaves us open to the danger of reproducing and entrenching the harms of our current energy systems in an energy renewable era, especially as the threats rise of new resource wars and rights violations over lithium and other elements used in green technologies. We must not miss the opportunity to strengthen and accelerate more globally just, feminist approaches to the energy transition.

We must build on the existing frameworks and expertise that have been offered by Indigenous, Black, and disability justice movements globally, interlinking those and bridging their recommendations into US policy spaces. 

As the global mobilization to end the era of fossil fuels accelerates, the Feminist Green New Deal Coalition will create space for feminist climate justice advocates to gather their core, actionable principles for just and feminist energy transitions – and to channel those recommendations into US climate policymaking.

Join us in winter 2023 and early 2024 for virtual exchange sessions to discuss and gather principles and recommendations on a just, feminist energy transition. In these sessions, we will weave together our analysis and experience responding to questions like:

• Why should feminists be committed to ending the fossil fuel era? Why is a just energy transition a feminist issue? 
• Why is an intersectional analysis of race, gender, class and global justice critical for building a more just energy system? (production & use)
• What are the core tenets of a feminist, just and equitable energy system in the US? What are we building?
• How must our transition address repair for past harms and injustices in the current energy system?

The Feminist Green New Deal Coalition will gather the outputs of these discussions to inform a written report, campaign, briefing – to be determined – for distribution to US policymakers and movement partners.

To indicate your interest in this exploration and/or recommendations for additional folks to reach out to who may be interested in these conversations, please share here and stay tuned for more updates.

Justicia Energética Feminista: invitación y declaración de intenciones de la Coalición del FemGND y una invitación

La lucha para terminar con la era de los combustibles fósiles está cobrando más fuerza al igual que los esfuerzos dedicados a construir fuentes de energía y sistemas no extractivos justos y más democráticos. Las personas activistas de la justicia climática feminista juegan un papel vital, principalmente ocupando el rol de desarrolladores de políticas que buscan responder a la pregunta “¿qué sigue?” luego de los combustibles fósiles.

Necesitamos construir un sistema de energía que sea renovable, democrático y supla las necesidades de las comunidades, tanto en Estados Unidos como a nivel mundial. Debemos ofrecer reparaciones por las injusticias energéticas que sufren las comunidades de color, las de bajos ingresos y las del sur global. Entre estas injusticias a las que se enfrentan, además de que se les niega el acceso igualitario a la energía, se encuentran los daños a causa de la contaminación, la degradación ambiental y las guerras y ocupaciones por la extracción de los combustibles fósiles y las fuentes destructivas de energía. Debemos transicionar y dejar atrás los combustibles fósiles y construir un conjunto propio de recursos para guiar y darle forma a lo que viene después.

Es una prioridad feminista terminar con el desarrollo y el uso de los combustibles fósiles y, a su vez, evaluar las implicancias sustanciales que éstos tienen sobre los derechos sexuales y de salud reproductiva. Desde la extracción hasta el empeoramiento de los impactos del cambio climático, la contaminación de los combustibles fósiles se vincula con la infertilidad, fibromas y enfermedades de reproducción, graves enfermedades durante el embarazo, afecciones de salud mental, nacimientos prematuros, fetos muertos y otros efectos perjudiciales para la salud. Las comunidades de color y otras comunidades marginadas que ya enfrentan desigualdades injustas relacionadas con la salud son las más afectadas.

En la conversación en relación a la infraestructura energética en EE. UU., por lo general falta un marco de justicia global y con perspectiva de género. Esto nos deja expuestas al peligro de reproducir y fortificar los daños de los sistemas energéticos actuales en una era de energía renovable, especialmente en la medida en que aumentan las amenazas sobre nuevas guerras por los recursos y violaciones de derechos por el uso de litio y otros elementos que se utilizan para las tecnologías verdes. No podemos perder la oportunidad de fortalecer y acelerar el desarrollo de enfoques más justos y feministas a nivel mundial para lograr la transición energética.

Tenemos que construir sobre los marcos y las experiencias ya existentes brindadas por movimientos globales de justicia indígena, negra, y de discapacidad. Debemos vincularlos y acercar sus recomendaciones en los espacios de desarrollo de políticas de EE. UU.

A medida que la movilización global acelera el fin de la era de los combustibles fósiles, la Coalición Feminista del Green New Deal crea un espacio para las personas activistas de la justicia climática feminista con el objetivo de unificar los principios esenciales y de acción para que las transiciones energéticas sean feministas y justas, asi como también para comunicar esas recomendaciones en los espacios de desarrollo de políticas climáticas en EE. UU.

Acompáñanos en el invierno 2023 y principios de 2024 en sesiones virtuales de intercambio para debatir y unificar principios y recomendaciones sobre una transición energética justa y feminista. Durante estas sesiones, debatiremos con el objetivo de dilucidar en conjunto nuestro análisis y experiencia en respuesta a preguntas tales como:

• ¿Por qué las personas feministas deben comprometerse a terminar con la era de combustibles fósiles? ¿Por qué es una problemática feminista una transición energética justa?
• ¿Por qué un análisis interseccional de raza, género, clase, y justicia global es fundamental para construir un sistema energético más justo? (producción y uso)
• ¿Cuál es el dogma principal de un sistema energético igualitario, justo y feminista en EE. UU.? ¿Qué estamos construyendo?
• ¿De qué manera nuestra transición debe abordar las reparaciones por los daños e injusticias en el sistema de energía actual?

La Coalición Feminista del Green New Deal reunirá las contribuciones sobre estos debates para redactar un informe escrito, una campaña, un documento (a determinar) para su difusión entre las personas encargadas de desarrollar las políticas en EE. UU. y los movimientos asociados.

Para indicar su interés en esta elaboración o para recomendar la participación  de colegas que puedan tener interés de participar y deseen comunicarse, haga clic aquí para compartir y manténgase al tanto de actualizaciones.

Episode 340 of The Red Nation Podcast

Justine Teba interviews Jen Marley; two Pueblo women talking about feminism, liberation, Palestine, and a future.

Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel

Listen to The Red Nation Podcast on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Podcasts. Listen and download for free on Libsyn. 

The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you. Power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr

The post The Red Nation Podcast – Now is not the time for fear! appeared first on The Red Nation.

Jan 18, 2023 – Ex-FBI Agent breaks the silence on Leonard Peltier and COINTELPRO w/ Coleen Rowley

The first FBI agent close to the Leonard Peltier case is calling for his freedom. Coleen Rowley recounts, in this wide-ranging and exclusive interview, her time as an agent in the Minneapolis field office. For nearly 50 years, the FBI has indoctrinated its agents on a specific version of events that led to Leonard Peltier’s arrest, conviction, and imprisonment. The mentality then, Rowley argues, is little different than the mentality today. That’s why she decided to break the silence and is calling on President Joe Biden to grant Leonard Peltier executive clemency.  

Rowley gives us an insider’s view of the FBI and how the dark and violent history of COINTELPRO, which targeted civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and social movements like the Black Panthers and AIM, didn’t end in 1971. It morphed and evolved over the years and continued well into the U.S. war on terror. Despite attempts at reform and accountability, the FBI continues its ongoing persecution of political prisoners like Leonard Peltier and the unarmed Water Protectors at Standing Rock.

This is a preview of a longer conversation. Watch the entirety through the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel or subscribe to Patreon for as little as $2 to listen to the audio.

Find out more: whoisleonardpeltier.info 

The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you, power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Listen on Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts. Listen and Download for free on Libsyn: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/25645620

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Episode 339 of The Red Nation Podcast

Cornel West (@CornelWest) is back on The Red Nation Podcast. He discusses the anti-Palestinian racism at Harvard, the genocide in Gaza, LandBack, and the soulcraft of spiritual resistance to the deep calamities facing humanity and the world.

The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you, power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Are you Indigenous? Do you support Palestine? Learn more about joining the Indigenous solidarity with Palestine movement and sign the letter here: https://indigenousforpalestine.org/

The post The Red Nation Podcast – The Empire is melting w/ Cornel West appeared first on The Red Nation.

@aaprpflorida: Tonight’s the night! A series discussing and deconstructing Pan-Africanism, Zionism, and Islam in relation to contemporary Palestine.

Webinar 1: Settler Colonialism and Imperialism

Deconstructing how settler colonialism emerged as a distinct political structure from other colonial forms and the centrality of imperialism to its structure.

Presenters:

• MC: Isra Ibrahim with the South Florida Coalition for Palestine
• @nickwestes: @therednationmovement and Red Media
• Onyesonwu Chatoyer: @aaprpinternational, All African Women’s Revolutionary Union, & @hoodcommunist

Sponsored by: Black Alliance for Peace, Hood Communist, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Al-Awda the Palestine Right to Return Coalition.

Listen on The Red Nation Podcast!

Listen on Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, and listen and download for free on Libsyn:

The post All African People’s Revolutionary Party: Palestine Teach-in Series #1: Settler-Colonialism and Imperialism appeared first on The Red Nation.

Episode 337 of The Red Nation Podcast

RPH co-hosts Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz (@spiritofpopay) spend almost two full hours discussing the big stories of 2023.

Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel

Support
www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Are you Indigenous? Do you support Palestine? Learn more about joining the Indigenous solidarity with Palestine movement and sign the letter here: https://indigenousforpalestine.org/

The post The Red Nation Podcast – Red Power Hour 2023 Retrospective appeared first on The Red Nation.

Episode 336 of The Red Nation Podcast

We can only attempt to summarize the year 2023. We gathered our podcast team to look back at our media work for the year and the current moment.

Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel

Support
www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Are you Indigenous? Do you support Palestine? Learn more about joining the Indigenous solidarity with Palestine movement and sign the letter here: https://indigenousforpalestine.org/

The post The Red Nation Podcast- Year in Review 2023 appeared first on The Red Nation.

Episode 335 of The Red Nation Podcast

Christmas is Canceled in Bethlehem – Turtle Island Palestine Mixtape Vol. 2 

00. [00:00] TRN-KREZ News Radio
Weather and updates on the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

01. [01:02] Baby in the Rubble
Pastor Munther Isaac
Middle East Eye / Bethlehem church altars nativity scene to show baby Jesus wearing keffiyeh in solidarity with Gaza

02. [02:29] Revolution
Melanie Yazzie delivers a speech by The Red Nation on November 4, 2023 at the national march for Palestine in Washington D.C.

03. [06:50] Palestinian Solidarity Pt. 1 
Mohammed El-Kurd speaks at the September 28, 2023 rally in Espanola, NM. He spoke minutes before the shooting and attempted murder of Indigenous activist Jacob Johns; a hate crime perpetrated by MAGA supporter Ryan Martinez. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJQycp1H5sQ&t=19s
​​https://youtu.be/QiQms32gROc?si=aM-NKUcaZHEC4M5q 

04. [10:09] Gaza Before
Palestine & The Blockade On Gaza / Osama Tanous 
Arab Resource & Organizing Center / Friday Night Forums:
Amidst a global pandemic, in the year 2020, Israeli settler colonialism hasn’t stopped. A panel commemorating the Nakba, the catastrophe.
https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/14448893

05. [24:25] Our Resistance is Global and so Are We
Palestine is an Indigenous struggle w/ Elena & Orien
The Red Nation-Santa Fe held a rally on Saturday, February 15, 2020 in solidarity with our Palestinian relatives who live under brutal occupation by the settler state of Israel. We were there to support Diné artist Remy and the images he put up in honor of the Palestinian people. 

06. [35:56] Resist, My People! Resist!
Orien Longknife reads a poem by Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, and connects Palestinian and Indigenous resistance in O’gaPoGeh — so-called Santa Fe, NM.

07. [40:44] All Natives Resist Colonists 
Minneapolis to Palestine Teach-In and Panel
Connecting our movements for collective liberation: An Indigenous Perspective
Sana Wazwaz with American Muslims for Palestine

08. [52:44] Out of My House
You ain’t a leftist if you haven’t left yet w/ Mohammed El-Kurd 
Mohammad El-Kurd joins members of The Red Nation after a press conference opposing the statue of colonizer Oñate in Espanola, NM on September 25, 2023.  

09. [01:10:55] Palestinian Solidarity Pt. 2
Wael Omar from Palestinian Youth Movement delivers a speech on Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2022 in Albuquerque, NM.

10. [01:15:20] Freedom 
Indigenous Solidarity With Palestine / Nick
Nick wraps up our mixtape with a poem. We will achieve freedom and liberation. Free Palestine and free the Indigenous world.

The post Christmas is Canceled in Bethlehem – Turtle Island Palestine Mixtape Vol. 2 appeared first on The Red Nation.

At the Coalition of Communities of Color, we understand that the tools we use to build systems are just as important as the systems themselves. 

That’s why, we’re excited to announce the 19 community-based organizations who are joining CCC, along with our partners at the City and County, in the Modernized Anti-Racist Data Ecosystems (MADE) for Health Justice initiative.

Our Partners: APANO, Cascade AIDS Project, Coalition of Community Health Clinics, Community Energy Project, Familias en Acción, Hacienda CDC, IRCO, Latino Network, NAYA, Nesika Wilamut, Oregon Health Equity Alliance, Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Street Roots, suma, Urban League, Unite Oregon, Verde, Voz

We are thrilled to work with so many partners representing communities most impacted by climate change. A big thank you to all everyone who joined us at our kick-off earlier this fall!

In November, we had the pleasure of hosting the MADE for Health Justice team from the de Beaumont Foundation, who is coordinating and collaborating with us on this opportunity. We are grateful for their partnership and look forward to continuing to work together in the future.

Dear friend,

As always near the end of the year, there’s a strong urge to get through the remaining weeks of 2023 as quickly as we can with little time for reflection or action. This season, I invite you to slow down from the end-of-year rush and keep your attention on the ongoing events in communities, near and far. 

Below, you’ll learn important news about our changing government in Portland and an exciting new update for our health and climate initiative to create a community-driven data ecosystem. 

At the same time, we also want to take a moment to hold space for the innocent lives of Palestinians and Israelis suffering an onslaught of horrific violence, death, and destruction. At CCC, we unequivocally condemn this violence and call for an immediate end to it through a ceasefire. We urge you to join us on this call. 

We don’t take this stance as foreign policy experts, but as human beings committed to fighting against injustice, anytime, anywhere. 

We encourage you to read our full statement as well as this blog post from the Othering & Belonging Institute to learn more.

This season, I’m remembering all that we have confronted and overcome. Generations of sacrifice, hard work, courage, and resilience have brought us together. Generations more will bring us forward. But only when we act.

I am grateful to be in this work with you.

Warm Regards,

Marcus C. Mundy, Executive Director

Read our full statement on gaza Important Updates for New Portland Gov., Launching Jan 1. 2025

Last November, CCC worked to pass a historic ballot measure to transform the City of Portland’s form of government and elections. We are continuing our work to support a successful transition to a city government that serves Portlanders equitably. Key updates on the transition include:

• The City Council approved a new organizational chart that shows how the city’s services will be organized under the voter-approved charter reform. 

• As part of the recent changes, a non-elected City Administrator will be appointed to oversee the management of the city's bureaus and services. The primary focus of the Mayor and City Council will now be on developing policy and addressing broader issues.

• The new form of government also establishes six service areas, including Budget and Finance, City Operations, Community and Economic Development, Public Safety, Vibrant Communities, and Public Work

• The City of Portland has released an annual report of their work to date where you can read more in depth about the key decisions that have been made thus far, from changes to the salaries of elected officials to the newly formed City Council districts. You can find which City Council district you are a part of at PortlandMaps.org.

• Want to learn more? Sign up for updates from the City of Portland!

Kicking off MADE for Health Justice

Thank you to our partners for joining us at our October kickoff meeting!

At CCC, we understand that the tools we use to build systems are just as important as the systems themselves. 

Today, we’re excited to announce the 19 community-based organizations that are joining CCC and our partners at the City and County in the Modernized Anti-Racist Data Ecosystems (MADE) for Health Justice initiative!

This new collaborative multi-year project is set to establish a health and climate data ecosystem that is built by and for our communities. We are thrilled to work with so many partners representing communities most impacted by climate change.

Our Partners: APANO, Cascade AIDS Project, Coalition of Community Health Clinics, Community Energy Project, Familias en Acció, Hacienda CDC, IRCO, Latino Network, NAYA, Nesika Wilamut, Oregon Health Equity Alliance, Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Street Roots, suma, Urban League of Portland, Unite Oregon, Verde, Voz

Learn more about MADE for Health Justice

Our Statement on the Israel/Palestine Conflict: The Violence Must End

The Coalition of Communities of Color unequivocally condemns the violence, death, and destruction that has been visited upon innocent Israelis and Palestinians.

We also acknowledge the historical power imbalance that has been responsible for perpetuating the conditions of Palestinian suffering over the past several decades.

We may not be experts on these larger forces and history, but we are all humans, all with a moral code. Our mission, while local, urges us to speak out against the oppression, injustice, and horrific violence, including the indiscriminate bombing and siege of Gazan individuals, families, and children.

To that end, we wish to share the words of our colleagues at the Othering and Belonging Institute, helmed by the eminent scholar dr. john powell:

As Palestinians suffer under collective punishment and Gaza is made increasingly unrecognizable and uninhabitable, and Jews suffer from the attacks and worry about loved ones taken as pawns in a political fight, we as a society will also be unrecognizable to future generations if we do not stand up for Palestinian and Jewish humanity and our shared, unequivocal right to belong without othering.

We urge you to read the complete statement from the Othering and Belonging Institute here, which lays out the complex but always critical issues that will begin to direct decision-makers into better next steps.

We, along with millions of others, call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and release of all hostages, and it is incumbent on our congressional delegation to hear the voices of their constituents and join this call to end the violence.

This message is shared on behalf of the Coalition of Communities of Color and does not necessarily reflect the views of all of our members.

 Calls to action:

• Read “We Belong to Each Other: A Call To End the Violence” from the Othering and Belonging Institute

• Sign on to the letter from Jewish Voices for Peace Portland calling for a ceasefire

• Contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to end the violence in Gaza now

 

 Updated November 29: CCC initially neglected to call for the release of all hostages and have updated our statement to include this demand. We deeply regret this oversight and thank the community member who drew this to our attention.

Washington D.C.-  Build Back Fossil Free, a coalition of over 1,100 groups pressuring the Biden Administration to declare a climate emergency and end the federal approval of new fossil fuel projects, released the following statement in response to the Biden Administration’s plans to release resume onshore oil and gas leasing: 

“Today, President Biden violated his promise to end drilling on public lands with yet another handout to the fossil fuel industry. Black, Indigenous, communities of the global majority and poor communities are being left devastated from climate chaos and we are tired of the excuses and inaction from this Administration. The reality is simple: they said they would act to curb the climate crisis, yet they fail to do so at every crucial opportunity that is presented to them. Scientists continue to ring the alarm, there is no time to waste. 

“Families are already paying the price of decades of fossil fuel dependence, creating record profits for oil and gas CEOs who exploit the current crisis. Minor changes will do little to break Big Oil’s stranglehold on our economy and our communities. This decision sacrifices the health and future of Black and Indigenous people, and communities of the global majority – all while doing nothing to lower gas prices. Meanwhile, more drilling will poison frontline communities and deepen the climate crisis.  

“If Biden truly wants to help families and communities, he can use his executive authority to declare a climate emergency, end the federal approval of new fossil fuel projects, and deploy major investments in delivering 100% renewable energy for all. Until then, the proof is in his actions, not his words. And his actions are putting the fossil fuel industry’s profits before the health and safety of our families and communities over and over again.”

The oil and gas industry continues raking in record profits while communities pay the price. The watchdog organization Accountable.US reported in February that Shell, Chevron, BP and Exxon made more than $75.5 billion in profits in 2021, some of their highest profits in the past decade. 

The communities most at risk from new fossil fuel extraction are primarily Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples, people of the global majority and those on the frontlines of fossil fuel industry expansion. These are the same communities that turned out in record numbers to get Biden elected in 2020 and who have since been urging Biden to use his executive authority to fulfill his campaign promise and ban new federal fossil fuel projects. In March, these communities were joined by the Congressional Progressive Caucus in urging the President to ban new federal fossil fuel leases. 

Several analyses show that climate pollution from the world’s already-producing fossil fuel developments, if fully developed, would push warming past 1.5 degrees Celsius, and that avoiding such warming requires ending new investment in fossil fuel projects. Thousands of organizations and communities from across the U.S. have called on Biden to halt federal fossil fuel expansion and phase out production consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius.

Additional statements from climate, social justice and environmental organizations on moves by the Biden Administration and BLM to restart drilling: 

“As frontline community members in the Permian Basin that have been advocating for putting a stop to new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, Citizens Caring for the Future finds it extremely disheartening that BLM is going forward with these lease sales,” said Kayley Shoup of Citizens Caring for the Future. “Our day-to-day life and health is directly affected by these sales and the subsequent production that comes along with them. It would take a small army to truly enforce regulation here in the Permian, and we know that is the reality in oil and gas regions around the country. We live our lives surrounded by the industry and we understand that in order to take on climate change and make a meaningful dent in emissions the Biden administration must take action that puts a stop to new development.” 

“The West is drying up and going up in flames. Between extreme drought, the shrinking of the Colorado River, and now urban wildfires in the winter, how much more death, destruction and devastation do we have to see before this administration takes action?” said Natasha Léger, executive director of Citizens for a Healthy Community. “It’s time for climate leadership and to stop leasing our public lands for oil and gas development. We need heroes to break through the political and economic inertia that has us on a collision course to inhabitability.”

“As the Interior Department announces that it plans on continuing oil and gas leasing on federal land, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic condemns any further extraction, especially within the Arctic,” said Siqiniq Maupin, executive director of Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic. “Our lands are warming at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world, causing detrimental impact to the fragile ecosystems that call it home and directly impacting the rest of the world, as well. With conservative climate models predicting that we have less than 30 years to radically change our relationship with oil and gas, the future rests in the United States’ hands. We can no longer commodify our land and water, especially at the rate climate change is occurring. We are nature fighting back.”  

“It is unconscionable that the BLM will go forward with these oil and gas lease sales as we continue to see the devastating effects of climate change, particularly in the Southwestern United States,” said Deborah McNamara, campaigns director at 350 Colorado. “According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s August 2021 assessment, there is ‘high confidence’ that human-influenced rising temperatures are a direct cause of the extension of the wildfire season, increased drought, and decreased precipitation in the southwest United States. In order to curb emissions and do what scientists are telling us we must do in order to avert the absolute worst climate impacts, we need a rapid phase out of fossil fuel production by 2030. Continuing business as usual at the BLM with ongoing oil and gas lease sales will not get us where we need to be in order to solve the climate crisis and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

“How much more can Gulf Coast states endure? Most of us weren’t born with a silver spoon to get lawyers all the time to fight these civil laws aka ‘environmental acts,’ or have the luxury of property rights because it was all taken from us so long ago,” said Love Sanchez of Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend. “Now here we are, working class people, simple people, 95% of the time BIPOC people, that just want to protect our land and water. Then, I’m not surprised, we now have the Interior, who decides they want to continue their projects in the Gulf Coast. It’s a very disappointing thing to hear. Fortunately, we will continue to be persistent in protecting these waters.” 

“The Biden administration’s claim that it must hold these lease sales is pure fiction and a reckless failure of climate leadership,” said Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s as if they’re ignoring the horror of firestorms, floods and megadroughts, and accepting climate catastrophes as business as usual. These so-called reforms are 20 years too late and will only continue to fuel the climate emergency. These lease sales should be shelved and the climate-destroying federal fossil fuel programs brought to an end.”

“We have heard a lot of rhetoric from President Biden and his administration about the need to take action on climate,” said Kyle Tisdel, climate and energy program director with the Western Environmental Law Center. “But not only is the administration not doing everything it could — it is not really doing anything. Climate action was a pillar of President Biden’s campaign, and his promises on this existential issue were a major reason the public elected him. Achieving results on climate is not a matter of domestic politics. It’s life and death.”

“Candidate Biden promised to end new oil and gas leasing on public lands, but President Biden is prioritizing oil executive profits over future generations,” said Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager at Friends of the Earth. “Biden’s Interior Department has even issued permits to drill at a rate faster than the Trump administration. Now, the Bureau of Land Management is preparing to hold its first public lands lease sale, despite having no legal obligation to do so. If Biden wants to be a climate leader, he must stop auctioning off our public lands to Big Oil.”

“This is pure climate denial,” said Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director for WildEarth Guardians. “While the Biden administration talks a good talk on climate action, the reality is, they’re in bed with the oil and gas industry. Rest assured, with the climate crisis raging, we can and will fight back. We can’t afford not to.”

“The Biden administration fiddles while Rome burns,” said Shelley Silbert, executive director at Great Old Broads for Wilderness. “The most destructive fire in Colorado history consumed over a thousand homes last December. When your house is on fire, you act immediately. Climate disasters hit us harder each day and we’re out of time. The Biden administration must address the climate crisis now, and a vital step is stopping oil and gas leasing on public lands immediately. There is no other option.” 

“Right now, fossil fuel extraction on public lands and waters make up a quarter of our greenhouse gas emissions at a time scientists are saying we must move urgently to cut emissions by at least half. Not only does it devastate our planet, it’s a handout to Big Oil at the expense of average Americans, who will bear the brunt of its societal, health, and financial ramifications,” said Dan Ritzman, Lands Water Wildlife director at the Sierra Club. “We urge the Biden administration to take advantage of this historic opportunity to make good on campaign promises, fulfill a global commitment to acting on climate, and serve American communities by phasing out oil and gas production on public lands and oceans.” 

“Let’s set aside all the niceties and speak plainly on this: even people in positions of power and authority are fully aware that nothing goes unscathed in the aftermath of creating and maintaining  fossil fuel infrastructures,” said Sha Merirei Ongelungel, executive director of Pasifika Uprising. “So whether you’re trying to reopen the Palau National Marine Sanctuary for commercial fishing and potential exploratory drilling or in the United States pushing to resume oil and gas leasing on public lands, the only safe inference is that our leaders are dishonest and hungry for more money and more power. And that is wholly unconscionable. What’s legal isn’t always ethical and too many leaders, the world-over, are demonstrating this with their utter disregard for their communities and the climate. Frankly, I’m embarrassed for these so-called leaders. For all their power and authority, they will never have the true power and solidarity needed to lead us into a safer future like grassroots movements.”

“Ramping up exports of liquified natural gas to Europe in response to the invasion of Ukraine is a losing proposition that will take too long to implement to address current energy demands,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project. “Instead of taking decades to build the necessary export terminals so we can keep burning fossil fuels and turning the Earth into a fiery hellscape, we should be investing in solar production in urban settings where the energy is being used, on rooftops and parking lot awnings, so Europe and the United States can both transition to clean power sources and get that production online a whole lot faster.”

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change could not be more clear. It is time to rapidly transition off of fossil fuels. Increasing leasing for fossil fuels on public lands is grossly misaligned with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and ensuring that young people inherit a habitable planet,” said Zanagee Artis, executive director of Zero Hour

###

Congressional Progressive Caucus Calls on Biden to Declare a Climate Emergency and Ban Fossil Fuel Leasing on Federal Lands and Waters

Congressional Progressives follow the lead of climate, frontline, and progressive groups who have been making the same demands 

Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Progressive Caucus today called on President Biden to declare a climate emergency, jumpstart just renewable energy production, ban federal fossil fuel leasing, end fossil fuel subsidies, and take executive actions aimed at advancing environmental justice and making clean air and water accessible for all.

Since Biden’s inauguration, declaring a climate emergency, igniting a just renewable energy revolution, and ending fossil fuel expansion have been the top demands from climate, Indigenous, social justice, and progressive groups, including the Build Back Fossil Free Coalition. The growing coalition of more than a thousand groups is dedicated to pushing Biden to use his executive authority to act on climate and fossil fuels. 

In October 2021, the Build Back Fossil Free coalition organized a weeklong mobilization at the White House where thousands of Indigenous, frontline, and allied activists put their bodies on the line to demand Biden declare a climate emergency and stop permitting fossil fuel projects. 

Earlier this year, the coalition sent a letter, signed by more than 1,100 organizations, to Biden urging him to quickly deliver on his campaign promises by declaring a climate emergency, stopping the federal approval of new fossil fuel projects, and initiating a just transition to a distributed, renewable energy future. 

Ahead of the State of the Union, organizers gathered at the White House with an art piece depicting a giant pen and executive order, urging Biden to act on climate “with the stroke of a pen. And last week, groups in the coalition sent another letter to Biden urging him to use the Defense Production Act to jumpstart the deployment of clean energy solutions, like heat pumps, across the country as a response to the crisis in Ukraine. 

President Biden has the authority today to use the Defense Production Act to create well-paying, union jobs building just, renewable energy technologies; begin to phase out the quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution created by fossil fuel production on federal lands and waters; and declare a climate emergency to reinstate the ban on crude oil exports, which would have health and climate gains equivalent to shutting down 42 coal plants.

Below are statements from leading climate, social justice, and environmental organizations:

Quotes:

Grassroots/Frontline Groups

“Biden must take bold action by declaring a climate emergency and investing in real clean energy and actually sever the dependence of fossil fuel economy. Indigenous, frontline, youth and grassroot led movements have been demanding that the federal fossil fuel leasing program be reformed to ensure that communities have equity access to clean energy grids and participation in planning processes. It’s important for this administration to adopt the principles Environmental justice movements have thoroughly implemented as their center frontline communities and equity to further meaningful climate solutions,” Julia Bernal, Executive Director for Pueblo Action Alliance

“Those living in the Arctic are on the cutting edge of the climate crisis. The CPC agrees with us, thousands of organizations agree with us, now is the time to declare a climate emergency and stop the expansion of fossil fuels. The Biden Administration needs to follow this grassroots-led movement and the science backing us and stop approving fossil fuel projects like the Willow Master development plan,” Siqiniq Maupin, Executive Director of Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic

“Biden is failing to support Tribal sovereignty each day he allows the Dakota Access pipeline to flow. This CPC announcement is another reminder for Biden to stand with the people, declare a climate emergency, uphold Indigenous rights and protect the water.” Waniya Locke, Standing Rock Grassroots

“The climate crisis is rooted in lack of oversight of extraction that is happening in frontline communities. It is time for Biden to go beyond performative politics and show communities of color that we will be represented. He needs to declare a climate emergency and stop fossil fuel destruction, including extraction on federal fossil fuel leases that pollute in communities like ours.” Cesar Aguirre, Senior community organizer, Central California Environmental Justice Network

National Organizations:

“President Biden has demonstrated his lack of commitment to the very communities who elected him to office. He has stalled on climate action, abandoning Black, Indigenous, communities of the global majority, and other frontline communities who don’t have time to negotiate with neoliberals, capitalists, and white supremacists because their very existences are at stake. This is why we stand alongside the CPC to demand Biden use his executive powers to declare a Climate Emergency and ban drilling on federal lands and waters. Our collective futures depend on bold climate action now.” Ashley McCray, Green New Deal Network Organizer,  Indigenous Environmental Network

“There’s no question that we’re in a climate emergency. The caucus is absolutely right that President Biden should declare it so we can build the energy security that only renewable energy can bring,” said Jean Su, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program. “Biden can act quickly, without Congress and without Joe Manchin, to stop oil and gas drilling on public lands and unlock his emergency powers to end the era of deadly fossil fuels. He must answer the caucus’s call and turbo-charge the renewable energy transition with the Defense Production Act.” Jean Su, director, Energy Justice Program, Center for Biological Diversity.

“As communities across this country are facing the realities of a rigged economy, a public health crisis, racial injustice, and climate change, Congress and the Biden Administration must use every tool at their disposal to deliver comprehensive, transformative, and immediate change. The announcement of the CPC Executive Action slate is a bold and exciting phase of progressive power that demonstrates Progressives understand there is no time to waste. Declaring a national climate emergency and working to end our reliance on fossil fuels are two critical steps in addressing the climate crisis our communities are facing and Indivisible is thrilled to see these priorities included in a slate that works to address climate change, invest in good paying union jobs, and prioritize a just and equitable society.” Ann Clancy, Associate Director of Climate Policy, Indivisible

For more information or to be connected with experts and spokespeople reach out to Cassidy DiPaola, cassidy@fossilfree.media.

###

For a PDF of this letter click here.

February 24, 2021

Dear President Biden,

As 1,140 organizations collectively representing millions of members and supporters, including Indigenous, Black, Brown, and frontline communities, we urge you to use your executive authority to speed the end of the fossil fuel era, protect our communities from the climate emergency, and address the severe harms caused by fossil fuels. 

Your first year in office was marked by historic climate disasters, another alarming surge in domestic greenhouse gas emissions, and increasingly dire warnings from the leading scientists around the world. From hurricanes and floods, to wildfires and droughts, tens of millions of Americans are directly confronting the dangerous consequences of a warming world. Indigenous, Black, Brown, AAPI and working-class communities are disproportionately harmed not only by fossil-fueled extreme weather, but also targeted by oil, gas, and coal corporations and suffer from toxic pollution and ongoing environmental injustices.

You have repeatedly identified the existential threat posed by climate change, calling it a “code red” for humanity, and stated in your first week in office, “In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. We can’t wait any longer.” 

You further promised “environmental justice will be at the center of all we do addressing the disproportionate health and environmental and economic impacts on communities of color — so-called ‘fenceline communities’.” And you elevated the  respect of Indigenous sovereignty and ordered federal agencies to strengthen nation-to-nation relationships with Tribes.

These statements must be backed up by bolder action. You have the authority under existing law to wind down fossil fuel production and catalyze a just, renewable energy revolution to deliver healthier communities, a livable future, and millions of good-paying jobs. It’s critical that you use that authority as quickly and broadly as possible.

Together, we call on you to take these steps:

• Follow through on your promise to ban all new oil and gas leasing, drilling, and fracking on federal lands and waters.
• Direct federal agencies to stop approving fossil fuel projects, including pipelines, import and export terminals, storage facilities, refineries, and petrochemical plants. Direct the Department of Energy to halt gas exports to the full extent authorized by law.
• Declare a climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act, unlocking special powers to reinstate the crude oil export ban, redirect disaster relief funds toward distributed renewable energy construction in frontline communities, and marshal companies to fast-track renewable transportation and clean power generation, creating millions of high-quality union jobs.

The U.S. must contribute its fair share to the global effort to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius in line with what science, justice, and equity demand. Your administration’s legislative and regulatory climate proposals have not addressed limiting the production and burning of fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change. As fossil fuel lobbyists and politicians continue to block real climate action in Congress, bold executive action is desperately needed.   

President Biden, you are the chief executive with immense powers to address our communities’ concerns.

You showed what serious climate leadership could look like in your first week in office when you canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and paused oil and gas leasing on federal lands. The urgency of the moment requires you to return to that original ambition. Fully deliver on your climate and environmental justice promises by using your executive authority to keep fossil fuels in the ground and build a resilient and affordable renewable energy system.

Sincerely,

For a full list of organizations see click here.

**Apologies for some of the audio issues, Andrew had a night off**

As the nights draw in and  the GND team snuggle up in our cozy, retrofitted, zero carbon  house of the future (powered entirely by the hot air supplied by Andrew) it's time for a catch up with the low traffic neighbourhood Santa Claus himself, Councillor Jon Burke of Hackney.

This week we discuss the on going campaign to make Hackneys streets for people not just cars, the climate impacts of catering the world to cars and we debunk myths about low traffic neighbourhoods.

Links

Jons' article in the Huffington Post on electric vehicles
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/electric-cars_uk_5fb64017c5b695be8300137c

The Hackney Citizen article on the journey from against to for LTNS
https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2020/12/08/ltns-from-horror-to-acceptance/


Shout outs

Claire Stocks- XR and Walk Ride GM campaigner
@stocksyatlarge

Chris Stark- chief exec at the Climate Change Committee (UK)
@ChiefExecCCC

Scarlett West- Climate activist
@ScarlettOWest

Alice Toomer McAlpine - Manchester Meteor Co-editor

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If there is one thing to be said about the last 40 years of Neoliberalism it's this. You can put a price on everything. If it can be quantified then it can be priced and sold. Even when it comes to the existential threat of climate breakdown and biodiversity destruction the strategy has been give it a price tag and then someone in the system can pay for the damage.  Existence has turned into a game of who will pick up the insurance policy excess.  Does the commodification of everything give us the tools to tackle climate change? Or are we green washing are way extinction?

This week we are joined on the show by Adrienne Buller (@adribuller) Senior Research Fellow at Common Wealth. We discuss how green finance is a cover for some of the markets ecological sins, could UBS be a pathway out climate breakdown and how should the labour party  define its self, now the tories have supposedly become the big spenders?

Adriennes' article on attaching market value to life 
https://novaramedia.com/2020/10/16/whats-the-value-of-a-whale/

Dealing with the commodification of housing.
https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/charting-a-just-and-sustainable-recovery-for-scotland

Governing the Commons by Elinor Ostrum
https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/political-theory/governing-commons-evolution-institutions-collective-action-1?format=PB

Progressive International 
https://progressive.international/wire/2020-12-02-common-wealth-to-makeamazonpay-reimagine-the-platform-economy/en


Shout Outs

The Standsted 15, here's a short film on their story. 
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/stansted-15-tell-their-story-through-film

Sophie Yeo - @some_yeo
https://inkcap.substack.com/

the Yard @theyard_mcr a fantastic venue/co working space in North Manchester
https://theyardmcr.com/

Luca Rudlin- Amazing Videographer, editor and all round amazing dude
@People_Staring

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on
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We find degrowth fascinating. For us as a show it really turns the world upside on what we should see a human progress. However, you'll be hard pressed to find its message front and center of any political parties commitments unlike the Green New Deal.  So are these ideas compatible? Can parties stand on a platform of Degrowth? Or is political hope too tied to the idea of growth?

This week we are joined by Riccardo Mastini (@r_mastini) to discuss how the concept of degrowth fits inside a Green New Deal, the ideological frame work of Growth, is Modern Monetary Theory a boon for degrowthers? And are humans intrinsically good people?




Shout outs
The Trouble Webzine on eco-socialism 
https://www.the-trouble.com/

@thetroublemag

Positive Money
@PositiveMoneyUK
The tragedy of Growth 
https://positivemoney.org/publications/tragedy-of-growth/

Common Wealth- think tank specialising in new ownership models.
@Cmmonwealth

Retrofit Get in project Articles 

Mancehster Meteor @nickjwprescott
https://themeteor.org/2020/11/12/theatre-workers-tackle-the-climate-crisis/

The Guardian 
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/22/manchester-theatre-staff-upgrade-homes-covid-layoffs-retrofitting-scheme

Issac Rose from GM Housing Action
@_isaacrose
@gmhousingaction


Craft-D 
@Craft_D
A letter to Corbyn
https://ditto.fm/letter-to-corbyn

If you like the show tell your comrades!
Find us on
 Twitter:@MCRGND_POD
Insta: Manchestergndpod
FB:MCRGNDPOD

Support the show