Blue
Later in November …
The People’s Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal Port
Newcastle Protestival: November 22-24
Newcastle & Canberra, Australia
Organised by way of Rising Tide Australia:
We are the rising tide of ordinary people, called by extraordinary times. We are a diverse movement demanding Australia honours our commitment to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. We are prepared to take whatever peaceful actions are within our power to defend the climate.
Currently, NSW police are in the NSW Supreme Court trying to stop ‘ordinary people’ from stopping the operations of the world’s largest coal port by way of challenging Rising Tide’s ‘Form 1’ (a notice of intention to hold a public assembly).
Rising Tide has published a statement on the action which you can read here.
See also : NSW Police try to stop People’s Blockade of world’s largest coal port, Isaac Nellist, Green Left, October 30, 2024 /// ‘Wicked problem’: five charts that show how the climate crisis is making Australia more dangerous, Graham Readfearn, The Guardian, October 3, 2024 /// Australia must earn right to host UN climate conference by phasing out fossil fuels, Stephen Long, The New Daily, October 31, 2024 /// Honest Government Ad | COP31 /// A Fair COP31: The 2026 UN Climate Conference, Tom Hawking and Polly Hemming, The Australia Institute, June 9, 2023.
In other news, ‘Spain mourns as death toll passes 150 in catastrophic floods’ (BBC, October 31, 2024), with dozens missing as as a result of ‘torrential rains and flash floods, which largely affected Valencia, as well as Castilla-La Mancha in Andalusia, and as far south as Malaga’. As reported by the ABC, ‘Scientists say a warming planet is at play, and extreme weather events are occurring more frequently and in much greater strength than ever before’.
Red
Forensic Architecture has produced a report — A Spatial Analysis of the Israeli Military’s Conduct in Gaza since October 2023 — to produce ‘A Cartography of Genocide in Gaza’:
Since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, Forensic Architecture has been collecting data related to attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure by the Israeli military. Our analysis of this conduct reveals the near-total destruction of civilian life in Gaza. We have also collected and analysed evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military directing Palestinian civilians to areas of Gaza designated as ‘safe’. These orders have resulted in the repeated, large-scale displacement of the Palestinian population across Gaza, often to areas which subsequently came under attack.
The patterns we have observed concerning Israel’s military conduct in Gaza indicate a systematic and organised campaign to destroy life, conditions necessary for life, and life-sustaining infrastructure.
In addition, Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, has produced a report on ‘Genocide as colonial erasure’ which:
… examines the unfolding horrors in the occupied Palestinian territory. While the wholesale destruction of Gaza continues unabated, other parts of the land have not been spared. The violence that Israel has unleashed against the Palestinians post-7 October is not happening in a vacuum, but is part of a long-term intentional, systematic, State-organized forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians. This trajectory risks causing irreparable prejudice to the very existence of the Palestinian people in Palestine. Member States must intervene now to prevent new atrocities that will further scar human history.
In the meantime, ‘The Albanese Government has referred antisemitism at Australian universities to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights for inquiry and report’. This follows a series of recent incidents, including a cake stall at USyd, arrests at a protest at UWS and, in a ‘highly irregular’ move, students at UniMelb having claimed ‘to have begun the process of referring the university to the ICC, saying they have evidence of partnerships linked with weapons companies and operations on occupied Palestinian land’.
And so on.
Further, Wollongong Friends of Palestine are organising a picket:
See also : Israelism: The awakening of young American Jews, which ‘sparked huge debate on American campuses even before the events of October 7, 2023’ and of course: NEVER READ THE COMMENTS.
