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Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter

November 27, 2014

Climate, Governments and Corporations

This week in Other Voices, ahead of the COP 20 summit, we present articles and resources relating to climate change and the environment. We examine how governments and corporations often times work together to push environmentally damaging oil and gas projects to ensure continued profits and we also highlight various movements and organizations working to challenge their power and their priorities, and prevent and reverse the global damage they cause.

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This Week on Connexions.org

Climate Crisis, the Deindustrialization Imperative and the Jobs vs. Environment Dilemma

Rick Smith says that "So long as we live under capitalism, today, tomorrow, next year and every year thereafter, economic growth will always be the overriding priority till we barrel right off the cliff to collapse." Read More

Keywords: Climate & Carbon Dioxide - Capitalism



Edelman's TransCanada Astroturf Documents Expose Oil Industry's Broad Attack on Public Interest

Leaked corporate PR firm's strategy documents outline a "grassroots advocacy" campaign plan to build the appearance of support for TransCanada's Energy East pipeline as well as to undermine public opposition to oil and pipelines generally. Documents obtained by Greenpeace detail a desperate astroturf PR strategy designed by Edelman for TransCanada to win public support for its Energy East tar sands export pipeline. Read More

Keywords: Propaganda - Alberta Oil & Tar Sands



Drawing a line in the tar sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice

The fight over the tar sands is among the epic environmental and social justice battles of our time, a life-and-death battle for the future of the planet. It is a battle that pits these peoples' movement against the largest and most destructive industrial project -- a project driven by the big the most profitable and powerful transnational energy corporations. Read More

Keywords: Environmental Justice - Climate Justice



Tricks of the Trade

They are everyday brand names, products and services we all know and use -- but where does all the money go and how much tax do these companies pay? Find out some of the strategies many corporations use to drastically cut their tax bills. Read More

Keywords: Corporate Tax Avoidance - Corporate Agenda



The naked class politics of Ebola

Just as a glass prism differentiates sunlight into its component colours, corresponding to the different wavelengths, the Ebola crisis ravaging three West African countries has produced three distinct responses, corresponding to the three principal classes of capitalist society.Read More

Keywords: Ebola - Class



The Leading Terrorist State

It's official: "The U.S. is the world's leading terrorist state, and proud of it." That, according to Noam Chomsky, should have been the headline for the lead story in The New York Times on Oct. 15, which was more politely titled "CIA Study of Covert Aid Fueled Skepticism About Helping Syrian Rebels.Read More

Keywords: State Terrorism - U.S. Foreign Policy



Treasures From the Archives

Power to the people: 1971 interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono

John Lennon: “I’ve always been politically minded, you know, and against the status quo, but in the hurricane Beatle world it got left out. It’s pretty basic when you’re brought up, like I was, to hate and fear the police as a natural enemy and to despise the army as something that takes everybody away and leaves them dead somewhere. I mean, it’s just a basic working-class thing.” Read more

Topic of the Week: Climate Change

December 1 is the start of the global climate conference COP 20 in Lima, Peru. Global warming is a deepening crisis that threatens the planet we live on. Action on the causes of climate change -- and specifically the capitalist drive for accumulation – is an urgent and vital priority for us all. Connexions features a wide range of resources and organizations concerned with climate change, its causes, and possible solutions. See the Climate Change topic page as well as related topic pages such as:

Global Warming

Tar Sands

Ecosocialism

Group of the Week: Climate Change Organizations

Instead of a single organization, this week we feature a selection of groups and websites engaged in the fight for action on global warming and climate change. They’re listed in the Connexion Directory here.

Keywords: Climate Change - Climate Change Policy

Book of the Week: What Every Environmentalist Needs To Know about Capitalism: A Citizen's Guide to Capitalism and the Environment

A clearly written manifesto for that calls on environmentalists to go beyond schemes for “green capitalism” or piecemeal reform. Magdoff and Foster argue that efforts to reform capitalism along environmental lines or rely solely on new technology to avert catastrophe miss the point. The main cause of the looming environmental disaster is the driving logic of the system itself, and those in power — no matter how “green” — are incapable of making the changes that are necessary. Read More

Keywords: Ecosocialism - Environmental crisis

Flim of the Week: FLOW: For Love of Water

2008. Directed by Irena Salina.

A critical expose of the privatization of water infrastructure. Irena Salinas documents the global crisis we face as Earth's fresh water supply constantly diminishes. The film presents top experts and advocates to show us that every aspect of human life is effected by pollution, wastefulness, privatization and corporate greed.

Official Website

Keywords:Privatization - Water - Water Rights

Connexions Calendar

November 27, 2014
Book Launch: Threatening Democracy
Toronto, ON

November 29, 2014
Book Launch: A line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice
Toronto, ON

November 29, 2014
VIDEA Trade Fair
Victoria, BC

November 30, 2014................................. The Impact of Pesticides on Health - Ours and the Planet's ...................................... Ottawa, ON

The Connexions Calendar is an online calendar that exists to advertise events that support social justice, democracy, human rights, ecology, and other causes. We invite you to use it to promote your events. Adding events to the Connexions Calendar is FREE. We’ll give you a username and password which you use to log on. Use the contact form to arrange for a username and password.

Read more →

Seeds of Fire

November 27, 1965

A major demonstration against the Vietnam War takes place in Washington, D.C. A memorable speech by Carl Oglesby of the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) becomes one of the most widely distributed texts of the anti-war movement.

November 27, 1978

Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the United States, and San Francisco mayor George Moscone, are assassinated.

November 28,1820

Birth of Friedrich Engels

Read more →

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Copyright Connexions 2014. Contents are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License. This means you are welcome to share and republish the contents of this newsletter as long as you credit Connexions, and as long as you don’t charge for the content.

Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter, is available online here

Thanks to Tahmid Khan and Ulli Diemer for their work on this newsletter.


Connexions

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Toronto ON M6G 1L9 Canada

Phone: 416-964-5735

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Enjoy this issue of Other Voices? Want to share with friends and family? Then we encourage you to share this link. All issues of OtherVoices are available on the Connexions website at www.connexions.org/Media/CxNewsletter.htm