Tag: car culture

Planet Watch
Toad

Podcast: yet further thoughts on the common toad

The digitization and literal disembodiment of every sphere of human reality advances with terrifying rapidity—from the Social Security system to the New York subway system. Rather than dropping swipe-cards and bringing back tokens, returning to what was a manifestly superior and more rational system, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority moves to a still more dystopian “contactless” credit system. Similarly, rather than phasing out automobiles, our corporate overlords are now imposing driverless cars, a further step toward making the human race redundant altogether and portending the ultimate abolition of humanity. In Episode 270 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues his Spring ritual of reading the George Orwell essay “Some Thoughts on the Common Toad“—which brilliantly critiqued technological hypertrophy and articulated an imperative for humanistic revolution and scaleback of the mega-machine way back in April 1946. (Photo: Partonez via Wikimedia Commons)

Palestine
UNRWA

Israel blocks Gaza aid, ceasefire teeters

Israel is imposing a total blockade on aid entering the Gaza Strip, raising fears of a return to violence, and of a rapid further deterioration in the dire humanitarian situation in the devastated enclave. The move is intended to pressure Hamas to accept a temporary extension of the first phase of the three-stage ceasefire deal. The second phase was supposed to see Israel and Hamas hammer out a plan for Gaza’s post-war governance. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instead repeatedly expressed support for US President Trump’s widely condemned proposal to expel the 2.1 million Palestinian residents of Gaza and take control of the territory. Arab leaders meeting in Cairo endorsed a $53 billion reconstruction and post-war governance plan as a counter-proposal to Trump’s vision, but it was immediately rejected by the US and Israel. (Photo:  Mohamed Soulaimane al-Astal/TNH)

Planet Watch
rare earth mine

Ukraine, Greenland and the global struggle for lithium

In Episode 265 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines Trump’s ultimatum to Ukraine to hand over a large share of its wealth in strategic minerals such as lithium in exchange for continued US military aid—and whether a race with China for control of the lithium and rare earth elements needed for Elon Musk‘s industrial interests might also be the agenda behind the Trump regime’s annexationist designs on Greenland. Trump is meanwhile opening Native American lands in Nevada to lithium exploitation, while Musk’s Tesla has sought to grab a share of Bolivia‘s lithium reserves—now also coveted by China. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: rare earth mine at Mountain Pass, Calif. Credit: Tmy350 via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe
Ukraine

Trump prepares grab for Ukraine’s lithium

As Trump and Hegseth explicitly broach the surrender of Ukrainian territory to Russia, a poorly positioned Zelensky is acceding to demands that he turn a large portion of his country’s strategic mineral wealth over to the US in compensation for military aid. Especially at issue are Ukraine’s significant reserves of lithium—critical to de facto “co-president” Elon Musk’s e-vehicle interests. In announcing a new lithium refinery in Texas, Musk called the mineral “the new oil.” The premium on Ukraine’s strategic minerals is elevated by China’s perceived design to establish control over the planet’s rare earth elements. However, as Zelensky is quick to emphasize, nearly 20% of Ukraine’s mineral resources are in areas under Russian occupation. (Map: ResearchGate)

North America
Toronto

Ontario: bicycle lanes and Canadian Charter rights

Canadian bicycling advocacy group Cycle Toronto along with two individual cyclists, Eva Stranger-Ross and Narada Kiondo, have filed a court challenge against new provincial legislation granting the Ontario government authority over the installation and removal of municipal bike lanes. The group argues that the law, Ontario Bill 212, infringes on cyclists’ rights to life and security under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (Photo: Hallgrimsson via Wikimedia Commons)

East Asia
Kaifeng

China: authorities shut down Kaifeng Critical Mass

A spontaneous Friday-night phenomenon of mass youth bicycle rides from Zhengzhou, the capital of central China’s Henan province, to the nearby historical city of Kaifeng seemingly got out of control, prompting a crackdown from authorities. The ostensible goal of the 50-kilometer “Night Riding Army” (akin to Critical Mass in the West) was midnight partaking of Kaifeng’s famous soup dumplings. The rides were initially celebrated by the authorities, with one write-up in the official People’s Daily cheering on the “youthful adventures.” But when an unprecedented 100,000 joined the ride (by some accounts, double that), provincial police responded by closing the road between the two cities to non-motorized vehicles, and bike-share apps were set to remotely lock any bike taken out of designated zones in Zhengzhou. And it seems that a dissident political element had crept into the event. While some cyclists carried Chinese flags, sang the national anthem, and shouted slogans in support of the Communist Party, others raised hand-made banners with subversive messages in coded homonyms such as “Freedom, I am fucking coming!” (Photo via Instagram)

North America
Attawapiskat

First Nations challenge Ontario Mining Act

Six First Nations from northern Ontario announced initiation of a lawsuit challenging the provincial Mining Act, arguing that the legislation infringes upon their treaty rights and other guarantees under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The central contention is that the Act enables prospectors and mining companies to stake claims on Crown lands, including traditional Indigenous territories, without prior consultation, due to a digital claim-staking process that was introduced in 2018. This mechanism allows claims to be registered online within minutes, without the knowledge of affected First Nations. (Photo: Attawapiskat First Nation Office. Credit: Paul Lantz via Wikipedia)

Europe
Ne Damo Jadar

Mass protest against lithium project paralyzes Belgrade

Tens of thousands filled the streets of Belgrade following weeks of  protests in cities and towns across Serbia to demand a ban on lithium mining in the country. Protesters blockaded the city’s two main railway stations, leading to several arrests. President Aleksandar Vučić accused the anti-mining movement of attempting to topple the government in a “color revolution.” The protests mobilized after Vučić’s government signed an agreement with the European Union calling for multinational mineral giant Rio Tinto to move ahead with the Jadar Valley lithium project in the west of the country. (Photo: Balkan Green Energy News)

Europe
Last Generation

‘Criminalization’ of climate protests in Europe

European governments have reacted to a growing wave of direct-action protests by climate activists with heavy-handed policing, effectively criminalizing such campaigns, seeking to dissolve groups, and imposing restrictions on basic rights, Human Rights Watch charges. “This creates serious risks to environmental activism and civil society as a whole and undercuts vital efforts to address the climate crisis,” the organization found. The press release was issued the same day a record-breaking sentence was handed down in the United Kingdom, with five Just Stop Oil activists given multi-year prison terms in a case concerning a protest action that disrupted the M25 motorway in London. (Photo: Stefan MĂźller via Wikipedia)

North America
Kent State

Podcast: Four dead in Ohio. And two in Mississippi.

As the police crackdown on the Gaza protests continues coast-to-coast—drawing concern from Amnesty International—Bill Weinberg notes that this repression comes in the month marking the 54th anniversary of slayings of student protesters at Kent State University in Ohio and Jackson State University in Mississippi. With police now unleashing violence on student protesters in Paris, Amsterdam and elsewhere in Europe, as well as in Jordan and Lebanon, there is an unsettling sense of deja vu. In Episode 225 of the CounterVortex podcast, Weinberg warns that the world could be headed toward an historical moment that rhymes with May 1970. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Kent State University Libraries via Britannica)

Planet Watch
air pollution

Lower emissions from US power grid (at least)

The US Department of Energy released its preliminary estimate for the nation’s carbon emissions in the previous year. While falling far short of the kind of drop needed to meet the Paris Agreement goals, a dip in emissions was recorded—almost entirely due to changes in the electric power sector. US carbon emissions have been trending downward since 2007, when they peaked at about six gigatonnes. The COVID-19 pandemic produced a dramatic drop in emissions in 2020, bringing the yearly total to below five gigatonnes for the first time since before 1990, when DoE monitoring began. Carbon releases rose after the return to “normalcy“; 2023 marked the first post-pandemic decline. The drop is largely due to the phase-out of coal-burning power plants. However, electricity generation remains the second source of emissions, behind transportation. (Photo: Ralf Vetterle, Pixabay)