Tag: car culture

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 Müller 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)

Europe
Extinction Rebellion

Climate protesters shut down The Hague

Climate protestors who attempted to create a road blockade at The Hague were detained by Dutch police. Among those detained was prominent climate activist Greta Thunberg. Protestors took to the streets to oppose fossil fuel subsidies, and especially the Dutch government’s tax concessions for companies such as Royal Dutch Shell. Hundreds of demonstrators marched from The Hague city center to a field next to the A12 highway, a main artery through the Netherlands, which some then tried to block with their bodies. The protest, organized by Extinction Rebellion, was part of an international campaign against fossil fuel subsidies in Europe. Simultaneous demonstrations also took place as part of the campaign in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the UK. (Photo: Extinction Rebellion)

Palestine
Gaza

Pressure mounts for arms embargo on Israel

The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution, A/HRC/55/L.30, reiterating the Security Council’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza—and further calling for an embargo and prevention of the supply of weapons to Israel by UN Member States. Simultaneously, 40 Democratic members of the US House of Representatives signed a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to cease arms transfers to Israel in the wake of the air-strike that killed seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza. Meanwhile in Germany, human rights lawyers filed a motion in the Berlin Administrative Court to halt the Federal Republic’s arms exports to Israel. The lawyers claim that the German government has committed the crime of aiding and abetting in the genocide of the Palestinian people living in Gaza by continuing to supply Israel with arms. (Photo: hosnysalah/Pixabay via Jurist)

Planet Watch
toad

Podcast: further thoughts on the common toad

In Episode 221 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues the Spring ritual from his old WBAI program, the Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade (which he lost due to his political dissent), of reading the George Orwell essay “Some Thoughts on the Common Toad“—which brilliantly predicted ecological politics when it was published way back in April 1946. The Social Ecology of Murray Bookchin today informs a radical response to the global climate crisis, emphasizing self-organized action at the local and municipal levels as world leaders dither, proffer techno-fix solutions, or consciously obstruct progress. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: National Wildlife Federation)

Palestine
Rafah

Netanyahu orders ‘evacuation’ of southern Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to draw up plans for the “evacuation” of Palestinians from Rafah in southern Gaza as it prepares to launch a full-scale assault on the area. Where people would be evacuated to—and how—remains unclear. Over one million Palestinians forcibly displaced by Israel’s military campaign—now entering its fifth month—have been pushed into Rafah. Aid groups warn that there is nowhere left for people to flee to. People in Rafah are already experiencing disease and starvation, and aid operations are struggling to meet even basic needs. A ground invasion would “exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said. (Photo: Yousef Hammash/NRC)

North America
rio grande

Feds blame Texas in deaths on US-Mexico border

Two migrant children and their mother drowned while trying to cross from Mexico into the United States, after Texas authorities prevented US Border Patrol agents from reaching the victims to render life-saving aid, charged US Rep. Henry Cuellar, who represents a district on the border. The US Department of Homeland Security said the three migrants drowned near Shelby Park in the border town of Eagle Pass after Texas Guardsmen “physically barred” Border Patrol agents from entering the area. Mexican officials recovered the bodies the next morning on their side of the Rio Grande, in Piedras Negras. “This is a tragedy and the State [Texas] bears responsibility,” said Cuellar in his statement detailing the series of events. (Map: Google)