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The new book warns that “by far the biggest obstacle we are up against is hopelessness,” but its author—journalist and activist Naomi Klein—says that when it comes to the planetary climate emergency, hope is something humanity will have to earn.
Available in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada on Tuesday, Klein’s book—titled “”— is not just a collection of reporting and columns she’s written over the last decade, but a plea to readers across the globe to recognize the “all hands on deck moment” we are now living in.
In a conversation with Common Dreams ahead of the book’s release, Klein explained that only bold, collective action worldwide—led by an international movement dedicated to social justice and antagonistic toward supremacist ideologies—will be enough to stave off the worst of the geophysical threats of a hotter planet and battle the related politics of cruelty espoused by fascist leaders like Donald Trump in the U.S., Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Narendra Modi in India, and Matteo Salvini in Italy.
“What is terrifying is the intersection of these two different kinds of fires,” said Klein. “That the literal fires of the climate crisis and the political fires of this barbaric worldview that is not so gradually preparing people for a world in which millions are left to die.”
The word “gradually,” Klein noted, is key “because we are already at a point where people are going about their daily business in European capitals as thousands and thousands of mostly African migrants die in the Mediterranean. This has been going on for years now.”
The same could be said of migrant families and refugees victimized by Trump’s policies along the U.S.-Mexico border and his broader mistreatment of vulnerable people inside the country and across the world.
“I don’t think it is a coincidence,” she continued, “that increasingly barbaric political figures like Trump and Salvini, Bolsonaro, Modi are emerging in this moment where people—whether they deny it or not—do understand on some level that we have entered a period where there is going to be less land that it’s fit for humans to live on.”
For Klein, there isn’t a choice between whether the increase of extreme storms like the recent Hurricane Dorian which slammed the Bahamas or the fires ravaging the Amazon in Brazil are scarier than the kind of dehumanizing border policies and racism exemplified by Trump, Salvini, and others.
“It is the combination that is terrifying,” she said. “For me, the climate crisis has never just been about things getting hotter and wetter. It’s about the intersection of that extreme weather with the barbarism of white supremacy and supremacist ideologies of all kinds, including Hindu supremacy in India, and what it looks like when those forces intersect.”
While she first came to recognize the idea “eco-apartheid” when she reported on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans—where poor, predominantly black residents suffered the most and received the least relief from the storm’s devastation—”now we are seeing it on a global scale.”
In fact, she added, “we have been seeing it on a global scale for a very, very long time. But now what we’re seeing is an intensification of it.”
“I think that hope is something that we earn. It isn’t something static. It isn’t something that you have. It’s something that is earned with action and the space for hope is enlarged the more active we become.”
Trump’s decision last week to block victims of Dorian in the Bahamas from receiving Temporary Protection Status (TPS), Klein warned, is a telling signal that Trump—whether he states it publicly or not—knows full well what the implications are if the designation of protection was available to the world’s growing population of climate refugees. Currently, TPS designation is reserved for those fleeing “natural” disasters and war zones, but does not have a classification for people fleeing homelands or regions forever lost to climate destruction.
“I think that the Trump administration understood very early on that this was dangerous to their very anti-immigrant agenda,” Klein explained, “which is why they attacked TPS for Haitians, Salvadorans, and on and on.”
While making such a move in the middle of the evacuation of the Bahamas seemed particularly horrific, Klein pointed out that this is nothing new to the administration, but “absolutely consistent” with what Trump has been doing since taking office.
And it’s all the more reason, she explained, why people interested in the book and the demand for the Green New Deal must understand that justice stands as its key component and that it must be a truly global Green New Deal for all people, not one based on nationalism, jingoism, or the siloed concerns of elites.
“I believe we aren’t talking about the global nature of our lens enough,” Klein said.
In the United States, she continued, “I think Bernie [Sanders’] campaign has done a very good job of articulating what the U.S. piece of a global Green New Deal would look like, because he’s talking about huge levels of international financing, of economic transfers to help the Global South leapfrog over fossil fuels and also prepare themselves for the climate shocks that are inevitable.”
“We need to be talking more about immigration and what the future of the border looks like in the context of a crisis that was created in wealthy countries, but is impacting the poorest people in the world first and worst.”
By upholding those kinds of principles, Klein said, what Sanders is offering “is the precise opposite of the kind of barbarism we’re seeing from Trump.”
Setting that example aside—and the book repeatedly takes an international perspective—Klein said she has serious concerns that many of the Democratic candidates running to oust Trump in 2020 are not talking about the Green New Deal in terms of international obligations or solidarity with others around the globe.
“We need to be talking more about immigration and what the future of the border looks like in the context of a crisis that was created in wealthy countries,” she explained, “but is impacting the poorest people in the world first and worst. And those connections, I think, are still not being made nearly enough.”
In addition to candidates pushing half-measures that are not actually up to the task of lowering greenhouse gas emissions, Klein also highlighted why many “highly nationalist” proposals are deeply problematic as well.
“We’re going to help the Global South by making them buy our solar panels?” she said. “That is just more economic imperialism.” To Klein, that kind of thinking fails to embrace the “sweeping spirit” at the heart of the climate justice movement.
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Klein explained that in the book she quotes Angélica Navarro, Bolivia’s then ambassador to the World Trade Organization, but who was also part of Bolivia’s climate negotiation team at the 2009 U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen. “Exactly 10 years ago,” she said, “Navarro called for a Marshall Plan for planet earth. She was building on a concept of ecological debt that comes from social movements in Ecuador, in Nigeria, in frontline African-American and Latino communities in the United States. So that’s the origin of this idea. It was never a nationalist plank.”
As both a member of the global climate justice movement and one of its most popular and widely-read chroniclers, Klein says there have been many prophetic voices over the thirty years since the crisis of global warming and climate change became known—many of them from frontline communities in the Global South.
These are people like Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner from the Marshall Islands, Klein recounted to Common Dreams, “Who stood at the podium in New York at the U.N. [in 2014] holding her nine-month-old baby and read a poem to her, saying we’re not drowning.”
Or, she said, “think about, Yeb Saño from the Philippines who was on the Philippines climate negotiating team at the U.N. Climate Summit when Typhoon Haiyan hit his family’s home and he broke down and wept.”
The clamor for climate justice and for action, Klein remarked, is nothing new. And while the book’s release comes just days before global Climate Strikes are set to kickoff in countries around the world on Friday—promoted as the largest series of climate protests ever—the demand for something like a Green New Deal is not new either.
The question now—and the central question explored in the book—is whether or not the urgent demands can be realized in the amount of time that scientists say is necessary. Can humanity wrap its head around a problem that we as a species have been intensely programmed away from confronting, let alone solving?
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As another more recent voice in the climate justice movement, 16-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden, has said, “We’ve had thirty years of pep-talking and selling positive ideas. And I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work. Because if it would have, the emissions would have gone down by now—they haven’t.”
“[The Green New Deal] is a spiritual project. It is a narrative project. It is a movement project. It is a political project.”
Like Jetnil-Kijiner and Saño, Klein says that Thunberg has also emerged as a prophetic voice for the global movement, bringing unique perspective as both a young person and someone who identifies as being on the Autism spectrum.
“I think the message for me,” said Klein, “is just our movements are strongest when we embrace diversity and difference of perspective. And Greta has that, as somebody on the Autism spectrum who has shared her story with so much courage and candor and has become a role model for young people around the world. But particularly for neuro-atypical people.”
One of the other things Thunberg has said is, “We do need hope. Of course we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.”
Klein agrees.
“I think that hope is something that we earn,” she said. “It isn’t something static. It isn’t something that you have. It’s something that is earned with action and the space for hope is enlarged the more active we become.”
Ultimately, the global movement clamoring for bold climate action cannot be—and should not be—whittled down. It is not just a series of demands or policy proposals, but neither is it a fixed call for hope or change.
“It is a spiritual project. It is a narrative project. It is a movement project. It is a political project,” Klein explained. “And it is all of those forces coming together. We have a long way to go to build the political power required to turn the vision of the boldest, most justice-based Green New Deal into policy. But it is absolutely extraordinary to think how fast we have moved already.”
“We have a long way to go to build the kind of multi-racial, working-class movement that sees itself in the future articulated in the Green New Deal.”
She credited people like Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, and the broader youth climate justice movement for all their work.
“They have done so damn much to move the political needle and create this extraordinary context where CNN felt the need to devote seven hours to the climate emergency. And the vast majority of candidates on that stage had to profess their fealty to the Green New Deal, whether they meant it or not,” Klein said.
But still, she continued, “we have a long way to go to build the kind of multi-racial, working-class movement that sees itself in the future articulated in the Green New Deal. That sees hope and a better world, not just better than a future of climate breakdown, but better than the present.”
It is for this reason, Klein explained, that earlier this year—in partnership with artist and activist Molly Crabapple and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)—that she helped produce a short animated video trying to offer a vision of the kind of “beautiful world” the Green New Deal could create.
The response to the video was amazing. “We had something like 10 million views in a week,” Klein said.
But it is that very excitement that helps show why half-measures or partial political gestures from lawmakers don’t qualify as the Green New Deal.
“We obviously need a candidate who embraces this vision, puts it the center of their platform, not one item to tick on the laundry list,” Klein said. “Because that’s the exact opposite of the whole idea of a Green New Deal, is that it’s not an item on a laundry list. It is a vision for the next economy that is holistic.”
And what’s exciting, she continued, is that with a candidate like Sanders in the race—and other Democratic candidates now forced to at least pretend they have serious plans to address the crisis—there’s at least a pathway.
“We need that person to kick Donald Trump’s ass. And we need a movement outside pushing and pushing for that vision, pushing every step of the way. Because, my God, the backlash from the fossil fuel industry, from the banks, from every elite sector is going to be so fierce.”
“We need that person to kick Donald Trump’s ass,” Klein said. “And we need a movement outside pushing and pushing for that vision, pushing every step of the way. Because, my God, the backlash from the fossil fuel industry, from the banks, from every elite sector is going to be so fierce.”
The change in the political landscape, “is not in the fact that there are people talking about this vision,” argued Klein. “The change is that there is now a political pathway to power, where we could imagine it actually being implemented.”
But the pathway is a narrow one, she added, “So the question is how do we enlarge that pathway? How do we improve our chances? How do we earn the hope that we could actually do this? That’s the only discussion that matters.”
In the book, Klein writes:
So with a beautiful vision and a political pathway—albeit a narrow one—to attaining power, is there a flip side to this climate emergency? Is it possible that this is a good moment to be alive in order to wage these crucial fights and create this better future?
“It’s a goddamn terrifying time to be alive,” responded Klein. “My friend, Elizabeth Paredo in Bolivia, was one of that country’s prominent feminists and environmental voices, said to me 10 years ago, ‘We have never negotiated so close to death before.’ And she was talking about Bolivia’s melting glaciers and the fact that Bolivia was negotiating for its life.”
And now, Klein said, “that’s where we all are. As a species, we’ve never been so close to death and we have this narrow pathway that is the path to life, right? And it’s like, which side are we on? It is all hands on deck.”
The final question is this, she said: “What are we going to do to fight for life right now?”
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On the eve of a global climate strike and just days before a major United Nations climate summit, more than 450 environmental activists and organizations sent an open letter Thursday to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urging him to support a global ban on fracking for fossil fuels, highlighting growing concerns about public health and the climate emergency.
“As you are aware, manmade climate change is the biggest and most comprehensive existential threat humanity has ever faced—apart from a nuclear war,” the letter reads. “However, at a time when global forces must be combined to combat the foreseeable and enfolding mass extinction of our planet, the oil and gas industry—backed by many irresponsible governments—bets on a fossil fuels extraction technique that will destroy the joint forces of humanity: hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking.”
Organized by the U.S. advocacy group Food & Water Action, its European arm Food & Water Europe, and Pennsylvania-based air quality group the Breathe Project, the letter lays out the oil and gas industry’s contributions to methane emissions, how hydraulic fracturing supports the plastics industry, and the environmental, health, and human rights implications of fracking.
Letter signatory Robert Howarth, a Cornell University professor of ecology and environmental biology whose research on methane leaks has exposed climate impacts of fracking, explained Thursday that “over the past decade, methane levels have been rising rapidly in the atmosphere, contributing significantly to the unprecedented global climate disruption seen in recent years.”
“Over 60 percent of the increased global methane emissions are from the oil and gas industry, and shale gas development in North America is responsible for one-third of the increased emissions from all sources,” Howarth said in a statement. “Fracking for shale gas is a climate disaster.”
As actress and U.N. Human Rights Champion Amber Heard put it: “Every well and every pipeline adds more methane and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and pushes us closer to the edge of the climate cliff. The science demands, and our children demand, a global ban on fracking.”
Biologist Sandra Steingraber, a longtime critic of fracking, pointed out that “a decade ago, when there were only nine scientific studies on the impacts of fracking, some political leaders suggested that fracking might serve as a bridge to a stable climate. Now there are 1,800 studies, and the science is clear.”
“Fracking is making the climate crisis worse,” said Steingraber. “Fracking is destroying drinking water and undermining human rights around the world. Fracking is harming health through toxic air pollution and supporting a polluting plastics industry that is killing our oceans. Our planet is on fire, but fracking is not an evacuation bridge nor a fire extinguisher. Fracking is an arsonist that needs to be stopped everywhere and right now.”
Concerned Health Professionals of New York—which Steingraber co-founded—and Physicians for Social Responsibility in June published a comprehensive analysis of nearly 1,500 scientific, government, and media reports detailing the various health and climate consequences of fracking. The analysis noted with alarm that U.S. oil and gas production, backed by President Donald Trump’s administration, “has spurred a massive build-out of fracking infrastructure.”
Without increased public opposition and government regulation, that build-out is only expected to continue throughout the United States. A first-of-its-kind report released in June by Food & Water Watch showcased more than 700 recently built or proposed facilities across three industries that benefit from and help fuel the U.S. fracking boom: the petrochemical and plastics industries, gas exporters building liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, and natural gas-fired power plants.
Wenonah Hauter—founder and executive director of Food & Water Watch, Food & Water Action, and Food & Water Europe—noted in a statement Thursday that U.S. opponents of fracking have had some success in reining in related industries.
“In more than a decade of fighting fracking in the U.S., we’ve banned it in multiple states and made great progress elevating the issue globally. But there is much more work to do.”
—Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Action
“In more than a decade of fighting fracking in the U.S., we’ve banned it in multiple states and made great progress elevating the issue globally. But there is much more work to do,” she said.
“The fracking surge in the U.S. has been a boon for the polluting petrochemical industry, which turns fracked gas into plastics. Our planet and our oceans are drowning in plastic and fracking companies are profiting,” Hauter added. “This needs to stop once and for all. We need a global ban on fracking.”
The letter to Gutteres makes the case that “directly affected regions and communities all over the world rely on a strong and bold public position of the United Nations on this significant and existential issue.” Signatories call on the U.N. chief “to accept this climate champion role” and vocally support a worldwide fracking ban.
Groups backing the letter include the Break Free From Plastic Movement, Friends of the Earth, Oil Change International, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Alianza Mexicana contra el Fracking, Support Centre for Land Change South Africa, and SumOfUs. Individuals include activists Karenna Gore, Naomi Klein, and Bill McKibben; human rights attorney Jennifer Robinson; children’s singer Raffi; fashion icons Vivienne Westwood and Joe Corré; and actors Emma Thompson and Mark Ruffalo.
“The climate emergency is a casting call for heroes, and we need everyone to show up,” said Ruffalo. “Step one is to stand up and say, loudly and clearly, that there is no place for fracking on a climate-destabilized planet.”
During a conference call with House Republicans on Friday, President Donald Trump reportedly blamed Energy Secretary Rick Perry for the July 25 call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that is at the center of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
Citing three anonymous sources who were on the conference call, Axios reported Saturday that “Trump rattled off the same things he has been saying publicly—that his call with Zelensky was ‘perfect’ and he did nothing wrong.”
“But he then threw Perry into the mix and said something to the effect of: ‘Not a lot of people know this but, I didn’t even want to make the call. The only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to. Something about an LNG [liquified natural gas] plant,'” Axios reported, citing one source’s recollection of the president’s remarks.
“Another source on the call,” according to Axios, “said Trump added that ‘more of this will be coming out in the next few days’—referring to Perry,” who is reportedly planning to leave the White House by the end of November.
There is no mention of an LNG plant in the memo of Trump’s call with Zelensky that the White House released last month.
As the Daily Beast reported, Trump’s claim that Perry is responsible for the Ukraine conversation is “contradicted by text messages released earlier this week between top U.S. diplomats and Andrey Yermak, an aide to Zelensky, which suggest Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was a primary advocate for arranging the call.”
Critics were not impressed by Trump’s attempt to deflect blame for the call, during which the U.S. president pressed Zelensky to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.
“‘I was talked into my crime by Rick Perry’ is the most implausible alibi I’ve ever heard,” tweeted Esquire‘s Charles Pierce.
Others similarly lambasted the president’s reported comments:
This is not the first time Trump has thrown a member of his administration under the bus during the Ukraine scandal.
“I think you should ask for Vice President [Mike] Pence’s conversation, because he had a couple of conversations also,” Trump told reporters last week.
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In response to Axios‘s reporting, writer Thor Benson tweeted, “Giuliani, Pompeo, and others should pay attention to what Trump is doing to Rick Perry. They’re next.”
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A day after President Donald Trump announced he would withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, Turkey on Tuesday said it is moving ahead with military operations in the country targeting Kurdish forces.
“All preparations for the operation have been completed,” Turkey’s defense ministry said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reported on Twitter that Turkey had begun shelling an SDF post in a border city, but said none of its forces were injured and that it had not responded to “this unprovoked attack.”
Late on Monday, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights countered reports that bombing by Turkish forces had already begun that day.
Reports that Turkish troops and tanks were assuming positions along the Turkey-Syria border was causing tension in the border city of Akcakale Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera.
“There’s a lot of tension here,” said Al Jazeera reporter Charles Stratford. “There are huge concerns about the security ramifications this operation could have. It’s very difficult to predict when any military operation might start.”
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The SDF, which includes many Kurdish fighters and which spent years helping the U.S. to combat ISIS in the region, said troops were standing ready to fight a possible Turkish attack—without the help of the United States.
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“We as Syrian Democratic Forces take the matter into account and are fully prepared to fiercely respond to any imminent attack on Syrian soil,” SDF spokesman Gabriel Kino told Al Jazeera.
Trump said Monday that “having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,'” the U.S. Armed Forces will no longer be in northeastern Syria—defying the advice of his own military officials.
Syria’s deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad called on Kurds in Syria to rejoin government forces after Trump’s announcement.
“The homeland welcomes all its sons, and Damascus will solve all Syrian problems in a positive way, away from violence,” Mekdad told the newspaper Al-Watan.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted Tuesday that Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from northeastern Syria “could have catastrophic consequences” for the civil war there and “risks laying the ground for immense violence and suffering.”
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Adam Neumann, the CEO of beleaguered work-sharing start-up WeWork, will walk away from the company with $1.7 billion, enough money to easily pay over four years of salaries for the 4,000 workers expected to be laid off in the company’s restructuring.
That’s according to Sean Porter, a data scientist at analyst firm Decision Data. For the hypothetical, Porter assumed each worker makes an average of $90,000 due to self-reporting and employee demographics.
Assuming the salary at $90,000, Porter found that the company would owe the 4,000 employees roughly $360 million a year—which goes into $1.7 billion 4.7 times.
“The number was quite shocking,” wrote Porter.
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Multinational holding company SoftBank pushed Neumann out of WeWork with the golden parachute, it was reported on Tuesday, a decision that World Socialist Website reporter Harvey Simpkins called “outrageous.” More job losses, Simpkins wrote, seem inevitable.
“This is likely only the beginning of a jobs massacre,” wrote Simpkins. “The technology-industry publication The Information reports that as many as 5,000 layoffs could be forthcoming.”
Neumann’s payout for WeWork—a company that has seen wild swings in valuation over the past year and is considered a troubled asset—was described to Business Insider by consulting firm Steel City Re CEO Nir Kossovsky as a hit to SoftBank’s reputation.
“Throwing him overboard with a golden parachute does deliver a mixed message,” said Kossovsky.
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Over two dozen youth activists were arrested Monday for occupying the floor of Canada’s House of Commons to demand the nation’s lawmakers prioritize combating the climate emergency a week after voters elected a squad of Green New Deal supporters to Parliament.
The activists, who want a Green New Deal for their country, tweeted that they were arrested for trespassing and “dragged out of the House of Commons chamber,” but “all are OK.”
“We’re calling on every member of Parliament to accept the mandate from our generation that they come together and make tackling the climate emergency priority number one,” Simran Dhunna, an organizer with Our Time Toronto, explained ahead of the action. “Temperatures, injustice, and inequality are rising. A government that will push a Green New Deal is the only way to stop that.”
The nonpartisan Our Time campaign was launched earlier this year by the global environmental group 350.org and local organizers to encourage Canadian voters to support candidates in favor of a Green New Deal in last week’s national elections. Voters elected eight Our Time candidates and while incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau retained his position, his centrist Liberal party lost its majority in Parliament.
Although Trudeau has publicly positioned himself as a progressive, he has been heavily criticized for his climate record in a country that, on average, is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. Perhaps his most controversial decision came last year, when the prime minister announced that his government would buy Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline.
Our Time said in a statement Monday that their occupation of Parliament “comes as Justin Trudeau has signaled plans to forge ahead without the formal support of other parties, and to prioritize tax cuts and pipeline expansion ahead of climate action.”
Trudeau doubled down on his government’s pipeline plans during a press conference in Ottawa last Wednesday:
CBC noted that Trudeau’s effort “to earn the trust of people in the two resource-rich provinces” came just “two days after much of Western Canada rejected the Liberals on election day.” Environmentalists, meanwhile, remain outraged over the prime minister’s steps to expand fossil fuel infrastructure given scientists’ urgent warnings about the need to transition global energy systems to renewable sources.
“In 2015, fossil fuel lobbyists were sitting down with the Trudeau government, and watering down our climate ambition just days after the election. In 2019, our generation won’t stand for that,” Our Time Ottawa organizer Karolina Krym declared Monday. “Climate change is impacting us now, so we’re acting now and we expect our politicians to do the same.”
Participants and supporters of the sit-in shared updates on social media with the hashtags #GreenNewDeal, #OurTimeToLead, and #OurTime2019. The activists, who eventually moved to a nearby outdoor location, brought with them 338 “Mandate Letters from our Generation” for incoming MPs.
The letter, which the activists urged MPs to come pick up, informs elected officials that they “are now responsible for ensuring Canada meets the climate crisis at the speed and scale that science and justice demand.” Specifically, it calls on them to deliver a Green New Deal that:
- Listens to the science;
- Respects Indigenous rights and sovereignty;
- Creates millions of good jobs; and
- Enshrines dignity, justice, and equity for all.
“A Green New Deal is the only plan that recognizes we can’t tackle the climate crisis without dealing with racism, inequality, and supporting communities through a transition off fossil fuels,” said Stephen Buehler, an Our Time organizer and journeyman machinist in Edmonton. “It’s the only plan that says ‘yes, this is going to be a big change,’ and also tells workers and communities that we’ve got their backs.”
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With Congress set to vote as early as next week on the annual military spending bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joined Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna in calling for the inclusion of an amendment that would end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s years-long assault on Yemen.
“The humanitarian crisis in Yemen must end,” tweeted Schumer, a Democrat from New York. “A bipartisan majority in Congress has repeatedly supported ending President [Donald] Trump’s support of the Saudi war in Yemen.”
“Progressives will not support the National Defense Authorization bill if we do not have this amendment that brings the war in Yemen to an end.”
—Rep. Ro Khanna
Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, quickly echoed Schumer Wednesday.
“Senator Schumer is right,” tweeted Sanders. “Congress has got to stand up for the Constitution and tell this lawless president: We are not giving you a Pentagon bill that allows you to partner with the despotic Saudi regime in its horrific war in Yemen.”
Earlier this year, as Common Dreams reported, the Senate and House passed a War Powers resolution led by Sanders and Khanna that would have ended U.S. support for the Saudi war on Yemen, which has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. But Trump vetoed the historic measure in April, and the House and Senate lacked the votes to override the president’s move.
Now Sanders, Khanna, and Schumer are leading an effort to include a Yemen amendment in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which will set next year’s military budget.
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“Progressives will not support the National Defense Authorization bill if we do not have this amendment that brings the war in Yemen to an end,” Khanna said Wednesday in a video produced in partnership with Sanders. “The bloodshed must stop.”
As journalist Sam Adler-Bell reported for The Intercept on Wednesday, progressive anti-war groups are pressuring Democrats to use their leverage in the House and Senate to push for inclusion of the Yemen amendment, which is sponsored by Reps. Khanna, Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Adam Smith (D-Calif.).
“Democrats increasingly purport to support putting an end to the country’s many endless wars,” David Segal, executive director of progressive advocacy group Demand Progress, told The Intercept. “But anything less than using the NDAA to ensure an end to our involvement in the Yemen war would belie these claims.”
Adler-Bell reported that some progressive staffers on Capitol Hill are worried “that Democratic leadership would trade away some of the Yemen language, which is precisely tailored to cut funding for forms of U.S. assistance that are essential to the Saudi aerial bombardment.”
“The Democrats have moral authority, procedural power, and bipartisan majorities on their side,” said Segal. “If they let the NDAA go through without these provisions intact it will amount to a demonstration of cynicism or learned helplessness that could cost hundreds of thousands more lives.”
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Former GOP Gov. John Kasich (Ohio) is fundraising on speculation that he will challenge President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE for the Republican presidential nomination next year.
Kasich for America, a political action committee affiliated with the Ohio Republican, sent out an email blast to supporters Tuesday saying more donations were needed to promote Kasich’s message and that he is still considering all of his options.
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“As we get closer to the 2020 elections, the buzz about who’s running grows every day. Many have suggested Gov. Kasich should run, and he is keeping all of his options on the table,” the PAC said. “It’s critical that we continue to grow this organization. The dollars we raise go directly into keeping Americans updated about Gov. Kasich’s activities and his message.”
Respondents have the option of donating $25, $50, $100 or some other amount. The Federal Election Commission reported that Kasich for America finished 2018 with almost $290,000 on hand.
Kasich, who ran a failed primary campaign in 2016, is known to be mulling another presidential bid against Trump in 2020. He’s become one of the president’s most vocal detractors in the Republican party since his election, calling his record “dismal.” However, he’s admitted that a primary challenge against a sitting president would likely be an uphill battle.
“If you’re going to run as a Republican you have to have a sense that if you get into primaries you can win. Right now, probably couldn’t win,” he told the Associated Press in an exclusive interview in December. “But that’s today. It’s ever changing.”
“It’s not like I wouldn’t do it,” he added. “You can’t be afraid to do it.”
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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) had also reportedly floated the idea of challenging Trump but told Newsmax last weekend, “It’s not something I’m actively considering or that I really gave any consideration to.”
No primary challenge has ever unseated an incumbent president. The last instance was a campaign by Pat Buchanan against President George H.W. Bush in the 1992 presidential race that seriously hampered Bush ahead of the general election against Bill ClintonWilliam (Bill) Jefferson ClintonWill the ‘law and order’ president pardon Roger Stone? Five ways America would take a hard left under Joe Biden The sad spectacle of Trump’s enablers MORE.
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), who is mulling entering the increasingly crowded 2020 Democratic presidential field, has scheduled an event for next week in Denver.
The Colorado Sun reports that Hickenlooper has registered an event with local officials for March 7 at Denver’s Civic Center park, which is being billed to supporters as a “celebration.”
The Sun also reports that several sources close to the former governor expect an official announcement to come in the first week of March.
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Colorado political strategist Andy Boian, who has served as an informal adviser to Hickenlooper, told local news outlet KDVR that Hickenlooper will make an official announcement of his candidacy at the event.
“Hickenlooper is going to announce he is running for President of the United States at this event,” Boian told the outlet.
A Hickenlooper spokeswoman told the Sun earlier this week that “it’s not a secret the governor has been thinking about running for president.”
The former governor’s team also told The Hill this week that a campaign announcement would likely come at a major rally in Denver, though they didn’t specify a date or a time.
Hickenlooper has been teasing a potential White House bid for months, telling reporters in December that he was “past 50-50” on the chances of him running for president, while attacking President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE’s record on economic issues for rural states.
“We’re seeing all kinds of evidence that the Trump presidency isn’t succeeding. It’s not taking America where it needs to go. It certainly isn’t fulfilling his promises to the rural parts of America,” he told CNN in December.
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If he enters the field next week, Hickenlooper will face a crowded race for the Democratic nomination, as Sens. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE (I-Vt.), Kamala HarrisKamala Devi HarrisRand Paul introduces bill to end no-knock warrants The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook McEnany says Juneteenth is a very ‘meaningful’ day to Trump MORE (D-Calif.) and Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenWarren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Joint Chiefs chairman says he regrets participating in Trump photo-op | GOP senators back Joint Chiefs chairman who voiced regret over Trump photo-op | Senate panel approves 0B defense policy bill Trump on collision course with Congress over bases with Confederate names MORE (D-Mass.), among a number of others, have all announced bids.
Hickenlooper would become only the second governor to announce a White House bid following Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s (D) entrance into the race on Friday.
Most of the Democratic presidential candidates are working to distance themselves from socialism, a label that could divide the party.
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenWarren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Joint Chiefs chairman says he regrets participating in Trump photo-op | GOP senators back Joint Chiefs chairman who voiced regret over Trump photo-op | Senate panel approves 0B defense policy bill Trump on collision course with Congress over bases with Confederate names MORE (D-Mass.) and former Rep. John DelaneyJohn DelaneyThe Hill’s Coronavirus Report: Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says country needs to rethink what ‘policing’ means; US cases surpass 2 million with no end to pandemic in sight Minnesota AG Keith Ellison says racism is a bigger problem than police behavior; 21 states see uptick in cases amid efforts to reopen The Hill’s Coronavirus Report: Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan says there will be consequences from fraying US-China relations; WHO walks back claims on asymptomatic spread of virus MORE (D-Md.), who are each vying for the Democratic nomination, this weekend embraced capitalism and said they are not democratic socialists.
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In doing so, they followed in the footsteps of several other Democratic candidates, including Sen. Kamala HarrisKamala Devi HarrisRand Paul introduces bill to end no-knock warrants The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook McEnany says Juneteenth is a very ‘meaningful’ day to Trump MORE (D-Calif.) and former Rep. Beto O’RourkeBeto O’RourkeBiden will help close out Texas Democrats’ virtual convention: report O’Rourke on Texas reopening: ‘Dangerous, dumb and weak’ Parties gear up for battle over Texas state House MORE (D-Texas), who is considering a 2020 bid.
The push among many candidates to distance themselves from democratic socialism comes as Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE (I-Vt.), a contender for the 2020 nomination, has embraced the label and Republican leaders have seized on socialism as an attack line on Democrats.
Hickenlooper, who announced his candidacy last week, said during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he “absolutely” rejects the label of democratic socialist, though he added that he thinks labels “do nothing but divide us.”
“I’m happy to say I’m a capitalist but I think at a certain point the labels do nothing but divide us,” he said. “What I’m trying to build this campaign around, is to say that as a country we’ve got to stop finding every excuse to divide ourselves and begin working together.”
Warren, meanwhile, has previously embraced capitalism and said Sunday that she is not a democratic socialist.
“I am not. And the centrists have to speak to whatever they are doing. What I can speak is to is how I am doing,” Warren also said Saturday during an interview at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, according to CNN. “All I can tell you is what I believe,” she added. “And that is there is an enormous amount to be gained from markets. That markets create opportunities.” Delaney argued in a CNN op-ed that Democrats should embrace capitalism and that “socialism is not the answer.” “In its pure form, it is a bad economic model and it’s the wrong political approach,” he wrote. Harris said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire last month that she is “not a democratic socialist.” Additionally, O’Rourke last month declared that he is a “capitalist.”
“I don’t see how we’re able to meet any of the fundamental challenges that we have as a country without, in part, harnessing the power of the market,” O’Rourke told reporters in El Paso, Texas.
Spokespeople for Sens. Cory BookerCory Anthony BookerRand Paul introduces bill to end no-knock warrants Black lawmakers unveil bill to remove Confederate statues from Capitol Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk MORE (D-N.J.) and Kirsten GillibrandKirsten GillibrandWarren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Warren, Pressley introduce bill to make it a crime for police officers to deny medical care to people in custody Senate Dems press DOJ over coronavirus safety precautions in juvenile detention centers MORE (D-N.Y.), who are each seeking the nomination, also confirmed to the Associated Press last year that they don’t consider themselves democratic socialists. Sen. Amy KlobucharAmy KlobucharHillicon Valley: Biden calls on Facebook to change political speech rules | Dems demand hearings after Georgia election chaos | Microsoft stops selling facial recognition tech to police Democrats demand Republican leaders examine election challenges after Georgia voting chaos Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk MORE (D-Minn.) also clarified during an MSNBC interview this month that she is “not a socialist.”
The campaigns for Rep. Tulsi GabbardTulsi GabbardGabbard drops defamation lawsuit against Clinton It’s as if a Trump operative infiltrated the Democratic primary process 125 lawmakers urge Trump administration to support National Guard troops amid pandemic MORE (D-Hawaii) and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) did not immediately return requests from The Hill seeking clarification on whether they consider themselves democratic socialists.
But even as the majority of the Democratic candidates have embraced capitalism, leaders in the GOP have highlighted a growing interest in democratic socialism to attack the party as a whole.
President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE said during his State of the Union address last month that he was “alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote GOP senator to try to reverse requirement that Pentagon remove Confederate names from bases No, ‘blue states’ do not bail out ‘red states’ MORE (R-Ky.) said last week that Democrats have taken “a sharp and abrupt left turn toward socialism.”
“A flawed ideology that has been rejected time and again across the world is now driving the marquee policy proposals of the new House Democrat majority,” McConnell said from the Senate floor.
Proponents of democratic socialism have argued that it’s necessary to guarantee citizens adequate health care, housing and education as well as to expand the rights of workers.
Sanders said last month during an interview with MSNBC that his support of democratic socialism means he views “economic rights as human rights.”
“I happen to believe that in the year 2019, with all of the wealth around us, we can create an economy which guarantees health care to all people as a human right,” he said. “Which guarantees education, from child care to higher education, as a human right. Which guarantees the right of people to have decent and affordable housing.”
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