August, 29 2016, 11:00am EDT

Momentum Continues to Grow in the Opposition to Fracking: More Than 70 Brazilian Cities Approve Fracking Bans
Last week saw two more Brazilian cities prohibit fracking, reaching a total number of 72 since the launch of the No Fracking Brazil campaign in 2013.Fracking is a method for fossil fuel extraction which is already banned in several countries and bankrupting its promoters in the United States.
CURITIBA, BRAZIL
The cities of Arapongas and Sao Manoel do Parana, in the state of Parana, have approved in the past week the prohibition of the exploitation of shale gas by hydraulic fracturing, an unconventional method known as fracking. With them, a total of 72 cities in Brazil have freed themselves from one of the most harmful fossil fuel extraction practices for water, the environment and society.
This decision is unprecedented in Brazil because the legislative chambers mobilised against hydraulic fracturing even before the cities' subsoil was sold for fracking. Many of these local bans are a result of the debates, lectures, seminars and public hearings that the No Fracking Brazil campaign has been holding in the last three years in several regions throughout Brazil to warn the population about the risks and impacts of fracking.
"It is important to show the fracking entrepreneurs that people will not passively accept the destruction caused by the fossil fuel industry," said Nicole Figueiredo de Oliveira, 350.org Latin America Regional Team Leader. "We will continue empowering the local communities to resist this government's offensive and urging public officials to invest in renewable energy projects instead of expanding fossil fuel extraction, so that we can have a sustainable, secure future", she added.
Auction rounds to sell licenses for commercial exploitation of shale gas by fracking have been held since 2013. With neither transparency nor wide consultation with civil society, the Brazilian government, through the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), is carrying out the proposal of selling the subsoil to the fossil fuels industry.
In the 12th round, more than 200 blocks for exploration were offered in 15 Brazilian states, endangering the lives of millions of Brazilians, as well as the main water and forest reserves, and agricultural and cattle areas. Thanks to the campaign's actions, the Federal Public Ministry issued injunctions suspending the effects of the auctions in at least six states.
Fracking is already destroying several places in locations such as the states of Texas and Louisiana in the United States, and the region of Vaca Muerta, in the Argentinean Patagonia, one of the world's largest shale gas deposits. In the United States, besides the trail of destruction, fracking is causing hundreds of companies to fall into bankruptcy, pressured by a high demand for compensation, the high cost of technology and pressure from the American society against the use and pollution of water, against the radioactive waste and the intense earthquakes recorded.
Opposition to fracking is growing worldwide across cities, counties and states where people and local governments are organizing to prevent fracking from taking place in their territories. Due to its severe and irreversible impacts, and to the legacy of devastation that fracking leaves wherever it is used, this technique has also been banned in countries like Germany, Scotland, France, Northern Ireland and Bulgaria.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
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1,500 Block Manhattan Bridge Demanding Lasting Gaza Cease-Fire
"We will make business as usual impossible until the U.S. stops funding and fueling a genocide," Jewish Voice for Peace said.
Nov 26, 2023
In what organizers said was the largest action of civil disobedience in New York City since the Iraq War, more than 1,000 protesters blocked traffic on the Manhattan Bridge for hours Sunday to demand a permanent cease-fire in Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.
The action, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, began around 2 pm Eastern Time, and traffic began moving again around 5:30 pm, The New York Times reported. The group included 1,500 Jews, Palestinians, religious leaders, and elected officials, Jewish Voice for Peace said on social media.
"These kind of things where you stop traffic brings more attention to the issue," 74-year-old participant Joan Glickman, who lives in Westchester, toldGothamist. "I do think there are many Americans who don't really pay attention to how serious this is."
The protest came on the third day of a negotiated four-day pause in hostilities between Israel and Hamas. On Sunday, Hamas released a third group of 17 hostages while Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners, The Associated Press reported. However, activists expressed concern about what would happen when the temporary truce ended.
"There are only two days left before the Israeli government resumes its genocidal onslaught against the people of Gaza—funded and fueled by the U.S. Netanyahu has said, 'We will come back to annihilate them,'" Jewish Voice for Peace tweeted Sunday.
On October 7, Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking around 240 hostages. In the month and a half since, Israel has killed more than 14,800 Palestinians in Gaza, including 10,000 women and children. That figure is more than double the number of women and children confirmed killed in Ukraine in two years of war against Russia. More than 800 legal scholars have said Israel may be committing a genocide in Gaza, and one human rights lawyer and former United Nations official called Israel's campaign in Gaza a "textbook case of genocide."
The protesters Sunday blocked the Manhattan entrance to the bridge and sat down in the center of the entrance ramp, The New York Times reported. One person scaled the arch over the ramp to unfurl a Palestinian flag.
"We needed to continue to raise our voices and continue to speak out because there's thousands of Palestinians that are under the rubble right now," Jewish Voice for Peace member Jay Saper said at the protest, as the Times reported.
At one point, the protesters said they would refuse to leave until U.S. President Joe Biden called for a permanent cease-fire to the conflict, and they unfurled banners reading, "Lasting cease-fire," and "The whole world is watching."
"We will make business as usual impossible until the U.S. stops funding and fueling a genocide," Jewish Voice for Peace tweeted.
A spokesperson for the New York Police Department told Gothamist that it made "multiple" arrests.
"I hope that this message is strong and they're listening in the White House," Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour said during the protest, as Gothamist reported.
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Three university students of Palestinian descent were shot and wounded Saturday night in Burlington, Vermont.
The students were identified as Brown University student Hisham Awartani, Haverford College student Kinnan Abdel Hamid, and Trinity College student Tahseen Ahmed. In a Sunday morning statement posted on social media, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) said they had "reason to believe that the shooting was motivated by the three victims being Arab."
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"The surge in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment we are experiencing is unprecedented, and this is another example of that hate turning violent," Ayoub continued.
The three 20-year-olds were visiting one of the trio's family members in Burlington for Thanksgiving, police said, as the Burlington Free Press reported. They were walking along a residential street near the University of Vermont campus around 6:30 pm Eastern Time when a white man confronted them, according to Seven Days.
"The suspect was on foot in the area. Without speaking, he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled on foot," police said, as the Burlington Free Press reported.
Police said that two of the men were wearing keffiyehs at the time of the shooting, while ADC said that all three were wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic. Police, however, said they did not yet know the shooter's motives.
"The hate crimes against Palestinians must stop. Palestinians everywhere need protection."
"My deepest condolences go out to the victims and their families," Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said in a statement reported by the Burlington Free Press. "In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime. And I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it's proven."
The three men were taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center where two are stable and one "has sustained much more serious injuries," police told Seven Days on Sunday.
Two of the students are U.S. citizens and the third is a legal resident.
The families of the three men circulated a statement through the nonprofit Institute for Middle East Understanding.
"We call on law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation, including treating this as a hate crime," the statement read in part. "We will not be comfortable until the shooter is brought to justice."
"We need to ensure that our children are protected, and this heinous crime is not repeated. No family should ever have to endure this pain and agony," the families continued.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it was offering $10,000 to anyone providing information that led to the arrest or conviction of the shooter or shooters, and the FBI said it was aware of the incident and prepared to investigate if local police found evidence of a federal crime, according to TheAssociated Press.
The head of the Palestinian mission to the United Kingdom, Husam Zomlot, linked the shootings to the killing of six-year-old Wadea Al Fayoume last month, a Palestinian boy who was stabbed 26 times by his family's landlord in Chicago.
"The hate crimes against Palestinians must stop," Zomlot tweeted. "Palestinians everywhere need protection."
Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders also issued a statement.
"It is shocking and deeply upsetting that three young Palestinians were shot here in Burlington, Vermont," Sanders said on social media. "Hate has no place here, or anywhere. I look forward to a full investigation. My thoughts are with them and their families."
In the wake of Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel and Israel's bombardment of Gaza afterword, both Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents have increased in the U.S., The Guardian reported. CAIR said it had received 1,283 reports of discrimination and petitions for help between early October and early November, a 216% increase from the same time period last year.
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President Joe Biden has requested that Congress to lift most of the restrictions on Israel's access to a U.S. stockpile of weapons in the country, The Intercept reported Saturday.
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The news comes in the midst of a four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, which has given journalists and humanitarian organizations a moment to assess the extent of the death and destruction unleashed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking around 240 hostages. In retaliation, the Israeli military has killed more than 14,800 people in Gaza, around 10,000 of them women and children. That means the number of women and children killed in Gaza in less than two months is more than double the number confirmed killed in Ukraine in two years of fighting with Russia, The New York Times concluded Saturday. One of the reasons for the high civilian toll, the Times said, is Israel's use of 2,000-pound, U.S.-made bombs in a densely populated Gaza Strip.
Despite this, Biden's request would allow Israel to access all weapons from the WRSA-I, not just excess or obsolete ones, something that could hurt U.S. preparedness, Paul told The Intercept. The request would also remove a requirement that Israel provide concessions to the U.S. in exchange for accessing the weapons, lift the $200 million per year restocking cap, and shorten a requirement that the government inform Congress 30 days ahead of a weapons transfer under "extraordinary" circumstances.
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On the campaign trail in 2020, Biden said the idea of putting conditions on aid to Israel was "absolutely outrageous." But the administration's seemingly unconditional support for Israel as it carried out its siege, bombardment, and invasion of Gaza has led to backlash among progressives, who have marched for a cease-fire and carried out direct actions in several major cities. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on November 15 found that 68% of the U.S. public backed a cease-fire.
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