by Chris Bisson

At the close of 2010, delegations from 184 governments assembled in Cancun, Mexico for the 16th gathering of the “Conference of Parties” (COP) under the banner of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This gathering of the global political class under the guise of climate change mitigation produced an agreement much heralded by bureaucrats, CEOs and journalists alike.

Though this agreement set a maximum cap of 2 degrees Celsius average global rise in temperature, it involves no binding agreements and relies almost entirely on market mechanisms to accomplish this. Most nefarious of all, the primary mechanism opted for is the “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation” (REDD) programme – which is basically a system whereby rich industrialized countries bribe poor developing countries into cutting back on deforestation.

By Ashanti Cabral

The province is abuzz with the build-up to the G-8 and G-20 meetings in June, occurring in Huntsville and Toronto respectively. Government leaders and officials from the world's wealthiest countries are preparing to discuss the global financial crisis, while crafting economic strategies without any transparency or input from the vast majority of people most affected by their plans. Submerged under talk of recession, recovery and “New Beginnings” (Stephen Harper’s theme for the G-20 conference) is any substantial mention of another devastating crisis impacting the globe, the ecological crisis. The G-20 pays lip service to the concept of sustainable development and the G-8 speaks of “greening” their summit, yet their talks in Copenhagen revealed no practical results.

By Andrew Loucks and Devin K.
LINCHPIN

GUELPH - The courts have put an end to the occupation of what was to be the Hanlon Creek Business Park, but the City of Guelph has also been prevented from beginning construction for 30 days. Activists who occupied the undeveloped area southwest Guelph July 27 have left, but they are also relishing a small victory.

In a suprising decision August 13, Ontario Superior Court Justice Douglas Gray ordered people to leave the proposed construction site, and ordered the City to delay construction so that the Ontario Minister of Natural Resources might act to protect endangered Jefferson Salamander habitat. Lawyer Eric Gillespie, who represented people occupying the site, has called the decision “remarkable and virtually unprecedented” for stopping construction on environmental concerns.

For the second year in a row, Hamilton will be home to Ontario's only Anarchist Book Fair, happening June 6, from 10am to 4pm at Westdale Collegiate, 700 Main St. West . Over 300 people from all over southern Ontario took part in Hamilton's first anarchist book fair, held last June.

For those not familiar with anarchist book fairs you can expect a couple dozen or so publishers and book stores to be on hand offering literature in various forms (as well as the occasional t-shirt) at affordable prices. You can expect to find just about every social justice issue covered from the environment, to women's struggles to radical history and theory. Many local activist groups will also be on hand to share information about important struggles happening in our community and beyond.

Greg Macdougall
LINCHPIN

When we talk about the moral and ethical implications of climate change it sounds like something that could put you to sleep. “Morals”. “Ethics”. A response might be, “stop lecturing me” or “don’t you have anything more interesting to talk about?”
But what we’re really saying is that the fight for “climate justice” is on the same level as efforts to end slavery, stop genocide, or win the right for women to vote. It’s on the same scale, but perhaps even more profound than any of those. What we’re saying is that climate justice isn’t just a technical thing or an economic thing or a political thing. It’s way bigger than any of that.

Common Cause Ottawa interview with Pete St-Antoine of Peoples Global Action (PGA) Bloc Ottawa

Q. Could you introduce yourself?

I’m Pete St-Antoine and I organize with Peoples Global Action (PGA) Bloc Ottawa.

Q. PGA Ottawa is organizing around the No 2010 campaign against the Olympics in Vancouver. What are the reasons that you’re opposing it?

There are lots of reasons we’re opposing the Olympics. One of the main ones is that they’re happening on stolen (aboriginal) land. That’s one on the main things that people are rallying around in Vancouver. People are losing their land and they’re also seeing a lot of land being destroyed. A lot of mountains are being destroyed right now. There are huge expansions right now of many resorts. Sun Peaks is one of them. They are countless resorts that are being expanded for the Olympics as part of the infrastructure and also because of the huge amount of traffic that they’re expecting during that time period.

On February 28, on the second anniversary of the start of the Six Nations land reclamation at Caledonia, McMaster University was the site of the important event, “The Land Reclamation at Caledonia/Kanonhstaton: Two Years Later...” The day-long event brought together many of the major figures of this historic and ongoing struggle. The following is a brief summary of the first part of the event.

On February 13, 2008 the “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land” speaking tour passed through Hamilton. The speakers included Kanahus Pellkey, a Secwepemc and Ktnuxa Warrior and member of the Native Youth Movement. They spoke while taking care of their very young children who occasionally grabbed the attention of the 50+ crowd with their laughter and curiosity. Despite the title of the talk, the 2010 Olympics were only briefly mentioned as the speakers spoke freely on a wide range topics. The following is a summary of some of the key themes that we picked up on.