Rupert's Read

Keep up to date with the Gaza Freedom march - follow my mate Peter's blog: http://petroff-riverofpeace.blogspot.com  

Important info about my friend and Green Councillor colleague Peter Offord. Please help, if you can!!: GAZA FREEDOM MARCH - BREAKING NEWS PETER OFFORD DETAINED IN EL ARISH, EGYPT As some of you may know Norwich Stop the War President, Peter Offord, is one of the international delegates travelling to Gaza to take part in the Gaza Freedom March. With him he is taking in art supplies to assist the Palestine Trauma Centre in Gaza. He and his colleagues were hoping to enter Gaza through the Egyptian border. However we have learned today that the Egyptian police are stopping international delegates from travelling to the Rafah border, where they intended to cross into Gaza to take part in the March. Currently Peter is around 40 kilometres from the Gaza border, which has been closed. This evening he has forwarded the message printed below explaining that he was among those detained in El Arish, to which the message refers. We must do all we can to ensure that the march is allowed to proceed...

  Corrected version of Peter's piece in the OBSERVER last week. Sad, but inspiring reading. Let him be given a peerage!...: The Observer - Peter Tatchell profile   How constant beatings have caught up with campaigner Peter Tatchell Peter Tatchell is standing down as a Green party parliamentary candidate after assaults by Robert Mugabe's thugs and Russian neo-Nazis. He tells Elizabeth Day about his painful decision The Observer, Sunday 20 December 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/20/peter-tatchell-retires-interview   Photo slide show of Peter Tatchell's human rights campaigns: http://www...

  T he last survivor of an unknown and uncontacted Amazon tribe has been targeted by gunmen. The incident took place last month in Tanarú, an indigenous territory in the Amazon state of Rondônia, Brazil, but the news has only just emerged. It is not known whether the Indian was in the direct line of fire or whether the shots were designed to scare him away. Ranchers in the area oppose government efforts to protect the man's land, and are the most likely perpetrators. Officials from FUNAI, Brazil's Indian affairs department, discovered that its protection post had been ransacked and found empty shotgun cartridges nearby in the forest. The police have investigated the incident, but nobody has been charged for illegal entry. Altair Algayer, a FUNAI official, said, 'This is a serious situation. The Indian's life is being put in danger by the interests of the ranchers'. FUNAI believes that the 'Man of the Hole' has survived the attack. This name ref...

Watch this: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/18/chief_g77_negotiator_lumumba_stanislaus_di  (Democracy Now)  

Crucial Amy Goodman interview with the great Bolivian President: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/17/bolivian_president_evo_morales_on_climate

Here is my response to:   http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2009/12/16/looks-like-the-conspiracy-is-working-just-fine/   It is obviously very good that people are not as prejudiced against gays etc as they used to be. But is this because people are becoming more liberal (more tolerant, more... indifferent?), or because they are becoming more thoughtful and caring? I hope it is because of the latter. Liberality points toward societal disintegration. A more caring society, more capacity to think and imagine yourself into the shoes of others, points toward societal integreation. You can see where I am going with this... I strongly welcome the support for gay rights, and for abortion rights; but I hope that in an important sense this does NOT mean that Britain is becoming a more liberal society. A society that leaves people free to do whatever they want so long as it doesn't directly harm other autonomous people. Because that way lies nemesis. For society, and the ec...

An important piece of work that my friend Anat in Israel has done, that she asked me to help spread: Press Release 16 December 2009 Coalition of Women for Peace to Tzipi Livni: "Cooperate with any international investigation against you" This morning (Wed. 16/12/09), the Women's Coalition for Peace sent a translation of the Goldstone Report to Knesset Member Tzipi Livni (head of the opposition and Foreign Minister during the "Cast Lead" offensive), who received notice of a warrant for her arrest in Britain this week. In a letter attached to the report, Coalition members wrote: "we are convinced that if you refer to the report you will understand why British citizens and organizations have turned to the courts with a request to issue a warrant for your arrest." The report directly refers to remarks by senior political figures in Israel which encouraged indiscriminate attacks on civilians, in...

This was my comment today, on learning that the government is funding a half-NDR. "This is a ridiculous half-way house decision that satisfies nobody. Building only part of the route undermines any claim that the road is a bypass: the NDR can never again be called the 'northern bypass'. It will result in gridlock in North East Norwich, especially if the road building is accompanied by large scale housing growth and a failure to invest massively in improved public transport. "It is no wonder that the route has been dubbed a 'road to nowhere'. It is an utter waste of taxpayers' money. The Government really should have made a clear decision about the priority for investment. £67.5million would make an enormous different to Norwich residents if invested in creating a first class public transport system to enable people to get around the city in an efficient and affordable way".

  Now it gets interesting... Good to hear someone 'naming the beast': globalised neo-liberal capitalism. Manmade climate change is just the SYMPTOM...   *President Evo Morales of Bolivia to arrive at Copenhagen Conference President Evo Morales Ayma of the Plurinational State of Bolivia will arrive in Copenhagen tonight, Tuesday 15 December, to join the UN conference on climate change. President Morales arrives with an unprecedented mandate from the Bolivian people after his landslide re-election with 64% of the popular vote. He also has a strong moral standing on the international stage for his rejection of the economic system that has caused the crisis, and his advocacy of rights for Mother Earth and economic and social development based on Buen Vivir ('living well' in harmony with all humans and the planet) which is inspired by indigenous principles. During a summit of ALBA country members in Cuba held this week, Evo Morales explained he was travelin...

From the great people at Avaaz. I've done it, I hope you will too, reader!: −−−−−−−−−−− Dear Friends, With only five days left, the crucial Copenhagen climate summit is at a tipping point. The US and China, the world's biggest polluters, are blocking a deal. The rest of the world could cave in to their pressure for an empty agreement, or fight for a real deal. We urgently need a massive global outcry for the US and China to do the right thing, and for Europe, Brazil, South Africa and the rest of our leaders to draw a line in the sand and insist on a deal that saves the planet. Click below to sign the petition for a real deal −− supported by hundreds of organizations it's already at a staggering 10 million signatures − let's make it the largest petition in history in the next 72 hours. Sign below and forward this email to everyone! http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen_real_deal/98.php?CLICKTRACK   The negotiations work through consensus, so if even just ...

This is a good base to build on! NATIONALLY, we normally score only 1 or 2 % in these polls, because our support is so concentrated in particular areas. http://www.comres.co.uk/independentonsunday111209.aspx  

Why Politics-As-Usual May Mean the End of Civilization: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mckibben/why-politics-as-usual-may_b_382013.html

  http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/12/the-cuts-wont-work-time-for-a-green-new-deal/

Check out my latest article on Open Democracy: http://www.opendemocracy.net/rupert-read/last-refuge-of-prejudice Do comment THERE, rather than here. ...Is discrimination against future people the last acceptable prejudice?...  

The real danger is that Copenhagen will either come up with nothing, or something worse than nothing: See http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2009/12/07/copenhagen-does-not-go-far-enough or http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/12/rupert-reads-guardian-letter/ What is actually needed is something along the lines that Tuvalu has proposed, and is now winning backing for: http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/12/copenhagen-day-four-tuvalu-shows-the-way-as-g77china-group-starts-to-fracture/ But Britain is at present among those standing directly in the way of this! OK, so here is how Ed Milliband could REALLY change the game at Copenhagen. Come out and say that Britain's line is going to change radically: we are going to BACK the Tuvalu proposal. THAT would be news. THAT would be real progress. THAT would give us all hope that our future isn't doomed. THAT would be courage...

Geo-engineering is Russian Rouletter. This is important stuff here: COPENHAGEN NEGOTIATORS warned to LOOK BEFORE LEAPING!: Civil Society Alarmed at Climate Technology Quick Fixes in Copenhagen [ ETC Group Copenhagen Press Release] Copenhagen, December 10, 2009 – Over 160 civil society groups, including social movements and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), today released a joint declaration on technology: "Let's Look Before We Leap!". The declaration alerts governments to the absence of any precautionary environmental and social assessment mechanisms in the draft Copenhagen agreement on technology, and claims that the current approach poses grave threats to human health, human rights, rural livelihoods, diverse ecosystems and climate stability. The negotiating texts in Copenhagen refer repeatedly to the need to rapidly develop and deploy so-called "environmentally sound technologies". However, the text is silent on evaluating controversial ...

Pleased that the INDY today published my letter on why it's not 'Climategate': http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-a-debate-about-tax-1836606.html Sir; I commend The Independent on being one of the few media outlets not using the term "Climategate" in news coverage. That is the term preferred by those who deny the existence of man-made climate change, to refer to the recent illegal hack into the email systems of the Climatic Research Unit [CRU] at the University of East Anglia. I find it surprising that so much of the rest of the media has fallen for this term. For "Climategate" seems to suggest that there is some serious doubt raised about our knowledge of the world's warming climate by the emails that have been made public: but our knowledge of the dangerous climate change that greenhouse gases are creating is of course largely consensual and uncontroversial. Dr Rupert Read Department of Philosophy University of ...

This [see link] really is a disgrace and a disaster. It backs up everything that I have been saying recently about Copenhagen right now being a road to nowhere:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/08/copenhagen-climate-summit-disarray-danish-text?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter Nothing other than plain racism and utterly short-sighted self-interest can support something like this.     Contraction and Convergence or bust.  

My latest piece for the major blog, 'Liberal Conspiracy', on Copenhagen's likely failure and the silver lining in the CRU hack: http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2009/12/07/copenhagen-does-not-go-far-enough/   My latest EASTERN DAILY PRESS newspaper column: http://oneworldcolumn.blogspot.com/2009/12/no-chocolates-please-were-british.html

Absolutely pathetic: Britain's MPs shows abject failure to lead on climate by endorsing airport expansion on the very day that Copenhagen opens!!: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/07/mps-third-runway-heathrow-report  

The key thing to remember is that Watergate involved illegal break-in and theft to undermine the good guys, and that what the climate-deniers are calling 'Climategate' involves illegal hacking and theft to undermine the good guys... http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/12/04/climategate-watergate/

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/12/shooting-cru-the-climate-change-messenger/    

Interesting event coming up this week, featuring Chris Goodall of the Green Party: http://www.cutcarbon.biz/ec/firstdirect/757/protect/speaker.asp? Check out this poll out http://www.cutcarbon.biz/ec/firstdirect/757/protect/poll.asp  

After the crisis: the need for a new monetary system By the great James Robertson: strongly recommended...

http://www.euractiv.com/en/cap/world-set-new-food-crisis-2010-un-warns/article-187695 We need to treat food as life, not as a thing to profit from...

For Rupert's Readers, from the good people at Transition Norwich:   EEDA has just published an important study – the first of its kind in the UK called East of England Transport and Carbon Study: Assessing transport's contribution to a low carbon economy in the East of England. The study was undertaken by Atkins in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen. The findings ought to ring alarm bells and if taken seriously by decision makers, should lead to a radical reassessment of regional transport policies.    The main findings are: ·   In 2007 road transport emissions in the East of England accounted for almost 33 per cent of local CO2 emissions ·  under Business as Usual, (planned growth in population etc), the region's transport sector CO2 emissions will grow a further 33% between 2006 and 2031 if no other action is taken.     This huge growth goes in completely the opposite direction of what...

Crucial reading here from John Vidal: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/29/financial-negotiations-money-copenhagen-summit Money matters, and is welcome. But there are severe problems, because of the market-fetishism of the world today; e.g. : (1) REDD would be absolutely disastrous, helping monocultures, hurting indigenous people; (2) Carbon-trading is a hopeless non-solution. We need contraction and convergence / carbon rationing, or possibly Kyoto 2. And these aren't even on the table. It's depressing... Time to start thinking about 'Seattle-ising' Copenhagen...

Astoundingly, this is a UKIP press release sent out yesterday. They are actually proud of being in the gutter, proud of slurring someone just for them having been active in CND...:   UKIP Press Office 2 Queen Anne's Gate London SW1H 9AA Nigel (sic.) reprimanded in European Parliament over Ashton speech WATCH THE SPEECH HERE AT WWW.UKIP.ORG UKIP Leader Nigel Farage was this morning reprimanded by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek for his questions relating to the appointment of Baroness Ashton as the EU's High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs. Buzek insisted that Mr Farage 'restrain his language and refrain from making unacceptable comments in the chamber'.       Mr Farage was questioning whether Ashton was a suitable candidate for the post because of her past associations with th...

The motion came to Norfolk County Council on Monday. It included this: 'This Council... urges all residents of Norfolk, including Members of Norfolk County Council, to reduce their carbon footprint, for instance, in the manner suggested by the current 10:10 campaign' The Green Party amendment clause was: 'recognises that there is a Climate Emergency and write to the Prime Minister to call for the Government to do everything possible to each a lasting agreement at the Copenhagen Climate Summit', and was passed. This I believe was the first instance of a Tory-run council using the words 'climate emergency' and was carried unanimously in the meeting.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/rupert-read/real-scandal-in-hacked-climate-change-e-mails-controversy

This is quite encouraging. If it is done right, and sensitively to terrain, and any biomass-sourcing that comes from it is done genuinely-sustainably, then it will be just the kind of thing our country and our world needs:   http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6930091.ece From The Times November 25, 2009 Plant forests across Britain to beat climate change, say scientists Iconic species such as the English oak and the beech could be destroyed by higher temperatures in the South of England Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor   The creation of new forests and woodlands across the country will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent and protect communities at risk of flooding, according to a scientific study for the Forestry Commission . Planting trees in 23,000 hectares a year for the next 40 years — about the size of Queen's Balmoral estate, or a town the size of Kettering,...

  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/6631000/CBI-calls-for-new-sources-of-credit.html This is quite fascinating... The CBI are basically endorsing (presumably unknowingly) OUR policy - Green Party policy - on local-business-banks!   See e.g. http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/mfss/min.html  : 'Local Initiatives - Long-Term Action IN504   Small businesses in the UK find it difficult to get timely access to external funds and affordable interest rates. Community Banks are needed which have funds available for local activities. (see   EC512 ) IN505   Community Banks would give local firms and co-operatives access to funds managed locally and supplied at preferential rates. This would favour activities identified by the Local Government Local Development Plan. The allocation of funds would make use of environmental impact analysis but be simple enough to be understandable. IN506   A pilot Community Bank scheme (i...

This quotation from a LibDem website (passed onto me by an eagle-eyed Green colleague) is so cute, it's classic; notice the tacit admission that usually these kinds of things ARE nothing more than meaningless slogans in a Focus newsletter...: "Robin Meltzer, who ran Carol's winning campaign, said, "We won the election so handsomely because, in Carol Caruana, we had a candidate who really did work tirelessly, for four years. It wasn't just a slogan we put in a Focus. " " http://www.westminsterlibdems.org.uk/news/000194/historic_libdem_breakthrough_in_kc_points_to_victory_in_bayswater.html

On Monday November 30th, 2009 I will be delivering two talks at MMU Cheshire, Crewe Campus . The talks are free and open to all staff and students, and to outside visitors. 4pm-6pm — Couzens - 0 - 17 "Swastikas and Cyborgs: Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations as a War Book " 7pm-9pm — Crewe Lecture Theatre "What Does a Film Need to be Like, to be About Madness?: PERSONA and FIGHT CLUB" I hope to see you there!

C limate Camp London and Zed books invite you to : The Great Global Warm-Up a day of workshops , discussion and debate . When: Saturday 28 November, 11am—5.00pm Where: SOAS, 10 Thornhaugh St, London, WC1H 0XG. Rooms: G2, FG07, FG08 Cost: Free (donations welcome) Climate change is one of the biggest issues of our age . Copenhagen is almost upon us. But the current political response is feeble. Whatever your level of knowledge , this is an exciting opportunity to learn more, meet others and be part of shaping the agenda in the run up to UN climate talks in Copenhagen . Last chance to sign up for places on coaches taking activists to Copenhagen: http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/actions/copenhagen-2009/coaches And find out about Actions in London during Copenhagen: http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/actions/copenhagen-2009 Contact: london@climatecamp.org.uk Speakers will include: Ruth Davis -Head of climate change policy at the RSPB, David Fleming -Lean Economy Connection, James ...

 Encouraging news!- http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/22/obama-greenhouse-gas-cut-target Obama is seemingly ready to offer target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions cuts. I always suspected that the 'pessimism' of the last fortnight or so was a lot to do with managing expectations...

The 'scandal' of the hacked emails from Environmental Science at UEA ( http://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2009/nov/homepagenews/CRU-update - this includes a direct rebuttal of the single seemingly most-damaging email, the 'trick' email), my University, has been gotten out of all proportion in some of the right-wing media, old and new. I have now read a good number of the 'worst' of the hacked emails. I also know a few of the protagonists personally, and for human-interest value the hacked emails certainly do offer some tidbits. But: When the dust settles, I predict that the climate-deniers will be left holding onto hardly anything, here. There is so far as I can tell at this (still-admittedly-early) stage no significant scientific scandal, and most importantly absolutely no reason to doubt any of the fundamentals of the science of manmade climate change here, just a few unpleasant or silly or (at worst) unwise and bad-practice emails. Scient...

This is so sad. This is what we are doing to the innocent creatures of our world. This is the carcass of a baby albatross; filled with plastic junk that it was mistakenly fed as food... You can find many more similar images, at: http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&rlz=1C1CHMA_en-GBGB354&um=1&sa=1&q=albatross+plastic&btnG=Search+images&aq=f&oq=&start=0 This is the world we have to change...

Come to a FREE screening of the seminal film "The Age of Stupid" from Midday to 2pm on Tuesday 24th November in the Thomas Paine Study Centre lecture theatre at UEA, Norwich. The film stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? The film will be followed by a Q&A session. Places will be on a first-come, first-served basis, so arrive early to avoid disappointment.

Quite tragic, really. As unstoppable climate change slopes nearer, all that Conservative (and Labour?) politicians are obsessed by is: building more roads... http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2009-11-19a.244.0&s=chloe+smith#g247.0

'The fossil fuel lobby repeatedly misrepresent science. One misrepresentation is the claim that the science of global warming is dependent on computer models. This is a total misrepresentation of the truth! The models are dependent on the science NOT the other way round. The science is simple and based on measurements. 1. The global temperature is 30C higher than it should be based on radiation balance. 2. The 30C temperature rise can only be explained by the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Without those greenhouse gases most of the Earth would be covered in ice. 3. If greenhouse gases increase the temperature will rise. 4. Greenhouse gases have increased. 5. The temperature has increased. These all involve simple measurements that have nothing to do with models. The science is so basic that most of the work was not done in the 21st century, nor even in the 20th century but in the 19th century.'

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/TobinTaxThanks/ Please sign (I have!), blog, tweet and generally disseminate this petition. Brown is going to get a huge amount of counter-lobbying from the banksters, so he needs a positive push. Since it is one of the rare petitions that is actually supporting what he is saying, it may get noticed.

Monbiot's latest GUARDIAN column, prompted by my challenge to the TODAY programme on their free-airing of climate-denial... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/nov/13/climate-deniers-today-programme?showallcomments=true#end-of-comments

  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/10/filmmaker_philippe_diaz_on_the_end   Watch this! http://www.theendofpoverty.com/   This is going to be an important film. The filmmaker overstates somewhat his point about poverty vis a vis global over-heat, because the latter will impoverish or eliminate all future generations , unless we stop it.  But the general point he is making is nevertheless extremely powerful, and must provoke us to action .