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...