Naomi Klein

Trump's dangerous climate policy puts our whole world in peril

rabble staff — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 14:48:22 +0000

Thursday, December 1, 2016

At the precise moment that Donald Trump was giving his acceptance speech, I was in a room packed with a thousand people in Sydney, Australia, listening to Maria Tiimon Chi-Fang, a leading activist from the island state of Kiribati. All day I had been sending emails with the subject line "It's the end of the world." I suddenly felt embarrassed by the privilege of this hyperbole.

If Trump does what he says and rolls back the (insufficient) climate progress won under Obama, inspiring other nations to do the same, Chi-Fang's nation and culture will almost surely disappear beneath the waves. Literally, the end of their whole world.

If Trump does what he says and rolls back the (insufficient) climate progress won under Obama, it will mean the end of the world for island nations like Kiribati.

Unrestrained resource extraction isn't ancient history -- it's a crime still in progress

rabble staff — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 14:16:11 +0000

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

It has been one year and one week since a coalition of dozens of organizations and artists launched The Leap Manifesto, a short vision statement about how to transition to a post-carbon economy while battling social and economic injustice.

A lot has changed: a new federal government, a new international reputation, a new tone around First Nations and the environment. But when it comes to concrete action on lowering emissions and respecting land rights, much remains the same.

Our new government has adopted the utterly inadequate targets of the last government. Alberta has a climate plan that would allow tar sands emissions to increase by 43 per cent, wholly incompatible with the goals of the Paris climate agreement.

We have a new federal government, a new tone around First Nations and the environment. But when it comes to concrete action on lowering emissions and respecting land rights, much remains the same.

Why Hillary Clinton will never confront the fossil fuel industry

rabble staff — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 14:55:06 +0000

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

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While Clinton is great at warring with Republicans, taking on powerful corporations goes against her entire worldview, against everything she's built, and everything she stands for.

The Leap: Time for a reality check

rabble staff — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 17:16:21 +0000

Thursday, April 14, 2016

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Well, the Leap is certainly in the news. Many articles have been filled with errors and misrepresentations, which isn't surprising. We should expect more, however, from commentators on the left.

Watch the launch of The Leap Manifesto

kim elliott — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 00:30:11 +0000

Is this show currently playing?

September 16, 2015

On Monday, September 15, a group of prominent Canadians came together to launch the Leap Manifesto -- a bold vision for Canada's future.

livestream.com

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September 15, 2015, a group of prominent Canadians launched a manifesto outlining a bold climate and economic vision. We at rabble.ca are happy to have livestreamed the press conference to announce the Leap Manifesto: A Call for a Canada Based on Caring for the Earth and One Another. It has been translated into eight languages, including Cree and Inuktitut. The aim is to gather tens of thousands of signatures and build pressure on the next federal government to transition Canada off fossil fuels while also making it a more livable, fair and just society.

Now is the time for a climate leap

rabble staff — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 14:30:51 +0000

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

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What do Leonard Cohen and Black Lives Matter Toronto have in common? What do some of the country's most powerful labour leaders and most hard-core green groups agree on? How about Ellen Page and the head of English Canada's Jesuits?

It is possible for Canada to fight against climate change in a way that changes our country for the better. That's the message in the Leap Manifesto, launched yesterday.

Follow the jobs justice climate march at rabble.ca

rabble staff — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 23:11:33 +0000

This weekend, Canadians are rallying for jobs, justice and the climate. Time was, you'd have to wait to see the photos and read the news about the protest. Nowadays, you can follow the action here.

Follow this weekend's mobilization for jobs, justice and the climate

'People and Planet First': Naomi Klein on climate justice and a new economy

rabble staff — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 23:08:56 +0000

Friday, July 3, 2015

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Naomi Klein delivered these remarks during a press conference introducing "People and Planet First: The Imperative to Change Course."

The Pope is on our side, and we must mobilize

rabble staff — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 21:13:47 +0000

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

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This is a strange time. A Papal Encyclical is generating almost as much excitement than a Beyoncé album — complete with pre-launch leaks and a global media frenzy.

Pope Francis rocked the world last week by connecting the need for a fair economy with the need to to take bold action on climate. Action must continue to stop the destruction of the environment.

Jobs, justice, climate: A new climate movement is rising from below

rabble staff — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 13:42:13 +0000

Monday, June 8, 2015

This is an edited version of a speech that Naomi Klein gave on May 21 in downtown Toronto, at a press conference announcing the upcoming March for Jobs, Justice and the Climate on July 5.

A coalition of groups is coming together in Toronto on July 5 for a march for jobs, justice, and climate action. What you're seeing are the first steps towards a new kind of climate movement.

The Right to Be Cold: Sounding the alarm on climate change in the North

rabble staff — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 13:42:34 +0000

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Sheila Watt-Cloutier is one of the most widely respected political figures to emerge from Canada's Arctic, and this potential was identified early on. When she was just 10 years old, she and her friend Lizzie were selected as promising future Inuit leaders and sent to live with a white family in the tiny coastal community of Blanche, N.S. Having grown up in Nunavik, Que., on dog sleds and in canoes, the young Watt-Cloutier loved new experiences and approached the long voyage south in the spirit of adventure. The girls were in for what Watt-Cloutier now describes as a "brutal shock."

In her new memoir "The Right to Be Cold," Sheila Watt-Cloutier summarizes the devastating impacts of oil and gas extraction on Arctic communities.

No one saw anything: Bearing witness to the ongoing catastrophe of MMIW

rabble staff — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 12:05:50 +0000

Monday, December 22, 2014

Naomi Klein delivered this speech on December 18 at The Opera House in Toronto, at a special production of the Basement Revue to honour Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.

Listen to an audio recording of Naomi's reading here, with live musical accompaniment from Cris Derksen.

On July 20, 2013, Bella Laboucan-McLean fell 31 stories off the balcony of a condo tower in downtown Toronto. She had been at a small gathering inside one of the building's many glass boxes. There were five other people in the condo that night.

A resident of a lower-floor heard the sound of her body falling and alerted the police.

On July 20, 2013, Bella Laboucan-McLean fell 31 stories off the balcony of a condo tower in downtown Toronto. Everyone who was there claims they saw nothing. Knows nothing.

What does #BlackLivesMatter mean for climate change? Everything.

rabble staff — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 12:42:44 +0000

Friday, December 19, 2014

The annual United Nations climate summit wrapped up in Lima, Peru, and on its penultimate day, something historic happened. No, not the empty promises from powerful governments to finally get serious about climate action -- starting in 2020 or 2030 or any time other than right now. The historic event was the decision of the climate-justice movement to symbolically join the increasingly global #BlackLivesMatter uprising, staging a "die-in" outside the convention centre much like the ones that have brought shopping malls and busy intersections to a standstill, from the U.S. to the U.K.

"For us it is either death or climate justice," said Gerry Arances, national coordinator for the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice.

The reality of an economic order built on white supremacy is the whispered subtext of our entire response to the climate crisis, and it badly needs to be dragged into the light.

We can change everything: Mobilizing for climate justice

rabble staff — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 14:27:19 +0000

Thursday, December 4, 2014

This article is adapted from This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, by Naomi Klein and was first published in The Nation. You can read our review on rabble.ca here.

About a year ago, I was having dinner with some newfound friends in Athens. I had an interview scheduled for the next morning with Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Greece's official opposition party and one of the few sources of hope in a Europe ravaged by austerity. I asked the group for ideas about what questions I should put to the young politician. Someone suggested: "History knocked on your door -- did you answer?"

Climate change can be a "People's Shock," a blow from below. In this excerpt from her new book, Naomi Klein exposes climate change as the unfinished business of liberation. What can we do about it?

Four reasons why the tar sands are in deep trouble

rabble staff — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 13:49:15 +0000

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

It doesn't matter.

Ever since the debate over the Keystone XL pipeline exploded three and half years ago, that's been the argument from the project's liberal supporters. Sure, the oil that Keystone would carry from the Alberta tar sands is three to four times more greenhouse-gas-intensive than conventional crude. But that's not on Keystone XL, we're told. Why? Because if TransCanada isn't able to build Keystone to the south, then another pipeline will be built to the west or east. Or that dirty oil will be transported by rail. But make no mistake, we have long been assured: all that carbon buried beneath Alberta's boreal forest will be mined no matter what the president decides.

Will the U.S. government throw a lifeline to a climate-destabilizing industrial project that's under a confluence of pressures that add up to a very real crisis?