White Supremacy Gains Popularity in Oregon, Conservatives Give Millions to White Nationalist Hate Group, Climate Defenders in the Crosshairs, and More!
White Supremacy Gains Popularity in Oregon, Conservatives Give Millions to White Nationalist Hate Group, Climate Defenders in the Crosshairs, and More!
Happy Friday! In case you missed it, my column Thursday was about Pennsylvania’s state sanctioned abuse of LGBTQ youth: “Conversion therapy is a barbaric abuse of LGBTQ youth and it's legal in PA.” I interviewed Marlene Pray, director of The Rainbow Room, an LGBTQ and allies youth center, and Leon Mopecha, an African non-binary 2017 Pennridge High School graduate who just graduated from Widener University. You can read the article either at the Bucks County Courier Times or The Intelligencer. It is truly shameful that this medical quackery is still legal in Pennsylvania, or anywhere for that matter.
Also, Raging Chicken Media editor Kevin Mahoney had a really interesting interview with Cory Doctorow, author of "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism,” on Monday. Listen HERE.
The State of the Nation
White supremacy is gaining traction in Oregon. New polling data states that 40 percent of Oregonians believe "America must protect and preserve its white European heritage," a 9 percent jump from 2018. Thirty-nine percent believe that whites are discriminated against because of the color of their skin, and support for white nationalists jumped to 11 percent. "What we are seeing are white nationalist and paramilitary movements that are spreading bigotry to build political power," said Lindsay Schubiner, Western States Center program director, the . "There is a lot that can be done by elected officials to close that political space for them to operate by speaking out whenever this type of bigotry arises and addressing these issues in policy by working toward equity."
But will it be done?
Right-wing donors gave $4.3 million to white nationalist, anti-immigrant hate group VDARE in 2019. The Center for Media and Democracy says this “suggests that big-money donors of the conservative movement may be moving their riches to more extreme causes in the aftermath of Trump’s rise.” A right-wing funding organization with ties to the Koch Brothers and the Mercer Family was responsible for ober one-third of that money. And for my Bucks County readers, in April 2011 VDARE founder Peter Brimelow spoke to the Thomas Jefferson Club, a now defunct Republican group that used to meet in Newtown. (You can watch the video HERE) One thing I have been repeating over and over again is that the Bucks County Republican Party’s extremism is not just because of the Trump presidency, it’s been happening for years. Please read THIS ARTICLE for more local context.
Dozens of cops have been outed for ties to far-right and racist extremist groups in the past decade, yet 40 percent were able to keep their jobs. USA TODAY Network published an article about a new Anti-Defamation League report about extremism in U.S. law enforcement.
"When you see that officers are members of white supremacist organizations and hate groups, that's not only troubling, but it shows that law enforcement is a system that enables people like that to be violent towards Black people," said Samuel Sinyangwe, a racial justice activist who co-founded We The Protesters, a collection of digital tools that track police violence.
The total number mentioned in the report, 73, may not seem like a lot, but keep in mind these are only ones that have been publicly reported. Experts suggest the problem is probably much more widespread.
How about some good news? Read about how solidarity and “bargaining for the common good” led to effective organizing and a huge union victory: Rutgers Unions Find Power in Coalition at Organizing Upgrade.
Fossil fuel workers embrace clean energy? I swear, I am not lying. The Blue-Green Alliance for out future is picking up steam in California. The LA Times reports about a “groundbreaking new report [by UMass Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute) — endorsed by 19 unions, including two representing thousands of California oil workers.” The report states that California could create 418,000 clean energy jobs annually, with the price tag being only 4 percent of the state’s expected GDP.
“Creating green jobs that are going to be better for all of us — that’s the kind of world I want to live in,” said Maribel Castillon, chair of the environmental justice action team for SEIU Local 721.
Dave Campbell, secretary-treasurer of Local 675, which represents about 3,000 oil workers, said:
“As an oil worker, you’re standing on the track, and you can see the train coming … The choice for us is, do we stand on the track and face whatever happens? Or do we get up on the platform and try to catch that train going out of the station?”
They are ready to get on the train moving toward a sustainable future with green union jobs. Maybe someone should share this news with the Pennsylvania’s AFL-CIO. And tell them to get behind the THRIVE Agenda as well.
Beyond the U.S. Bubble
Climate defenders are in the crosshairs. “Human Rights Watch documented that climate defenders in countries including Brazil, France, India, Kenya, and South Africa, have faced acts of intimidation and violence (including killings and enforced disappearances), discrimination, legal harassment, and false accusations of ‘eco-terrorism.’" And their voices aren’t being heard as well. They didn’t get a chance to speak at this month’s virtual UN Climate Talks plenary session. At previous Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) talks climate activists have also been surveilled, arrested, blocked entry into countries, and harassed, Human Rights Watch pointed out.
We must do better.
Meet the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners. “When it comes to the environment, the global community of grassroots activists, leaders, thinkers, and philanthropists is only growing and becoming more sophisticated, more united, more powerful,” said Susie Gelman, vice president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation. “These Prize winners have so much to teach us about the path forward and how to maintain the balance with nature that is key to our survival. They have not been silenced — despite great risks and personal hardship — and we must also not be silent, either. It takes all of us.”
The winners of the “Green Nobel Prize” are from: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Japan, Louisiana, Peru, Vietnam, and Malawi.
World Bank court rules in favor of the environment — and actually what is just legally and morally right. I did not mistype that last sentence. Canadian mining company Infinito Gold filed a lawsuit in 2014 against Costa Rica for cancelling an open pit mine, which never should have been temporarily approved as it was by former President Óscar Arias because the country had a moratorium on open-pit mining dating back to 2002. The company sought $300 million in damages and lost profits. The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes’ ruling is a pleasant surprise because typically it has prioritized corporate profits over people, the planet, and public health. However, I still feel the same way as I did in 2014, when I wrote that this international financial institution is Beyond Reform: It’s Time to Shut Down the World Bank!
Thanks for reading! I look forward to your feedback and suggestions. And most importantly, keep organizing!