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For Immediate Release
August, 02 2018, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Contacts in Japan:
(Please note that Japan is 13 hours ahead of Washington, D.C.)
Emily Rubino, Grassroots Campaigns Coordinator, Peace Action New York State (PANYS), emily.rubino@panys.org, 1-513-509-6439 (cell)
Hassan El-Tayyab, Policy and Organizing Director, Chicago Area Peace Action, hassan@chipeaceaction.org, 1-508-241-0888 (cell)
Michelle Cunha, Assistant Director, Massachusetts Peace Action, michelle@masspeaceaction.org, 1-781-605-5583 (cell)
Contact in Washington D.C.:
Paul Kawika Martin, Senior Director for Policy and Political Affairs, Peace Action, pmartin@peace-action.org, 1-951-217-7285 (cell)
Peace Action Available for Interview: On 73rd Anniversary of the U.S. Atomic Bombings, Organizers for Nuclear Disarmament in Hiroshima & Nagasaki
With President Trump's dangerous statements and policies regarding nuclear weapons, and heightened tensions with North Korea and Iran regarding nuclear weapons issues, commemorating the 73rd anniversaries of the U.S. Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Monday, August 6th, and Thursday August 9th is as important as ever.
WASHINGTON
With President Trump's dangerous statements and policies regarding nuclear weapons, and heightened tensions with North Korea and Iran regarding nuclear weapons issues, commemorating the 73rd anniversaries of the U.S. Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Monday, August 6th, and Thursday August 9th is as important as ever.
Representatives from Peace Action New York State, Chicago Area Peace Action, and Massachusetts Peace Action are currently in Japan to participate in events surrounding the anniversaries of the bombings, and are available for interview.
Topics:
- The significance of the anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings
- President Trump's dangerous statements and policies regarding nuclear weapons
- Grassroots efforts in the U.S. to reduce the nuclear threat and advance the goal of a nuclear weapons free world
- President Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the successful Iran nuclear agreement
- The diplomatic process with North Korea
- U.S. plans to spend $1.2 trillion over next 30 years on expanding its nuclear weapons capabilities
- The politics behind all the above issues as they relate to the Trump administration, Congress, and the 2018 midterms
Emily Rubino, Grassroots Campaigns Coordinator, Peace Action New York State (PANYS), emily.rubino@panys.org, 1-513-509-6439 (cell)
Emily Rubino is dedicated to intersectional activism that recognizes the connections between domestic social justice struggles and international human rights struggles. Her background in advocacy and activism includes acting as a Social Justice Leader through Fordham's Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice and traveling to Nepal, Jordan, and Chile through IHP's Human Rights program to stand with communities of indigenous, refugee, and Palestinian peoples in their human rights struggles. She has been involved with Peace Action New York State in various capacities for the past two years, and looks forward to continuing to advocate for a less oppressive world order. She is a Fordham graduate with a BA in International Humanitarian Affairs and Sociology.
Hassan El-Tayyab, Policy and Organizing Director, Chicago Area Peace Action, hassan@chipeaceaction.org, 1-508-241-0888 (cell)
Hassan El-Tayyab is the Policy and Organizing Director at Chicago Area Peace Action. He leads CAPA's lobbying efforts with the Illinois Congressional delegation to advance diplomacy and legislation to reduce the nuclear threat such as H.R. 669, the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act. You can read a feature story about him in the Chicago Tribune, and an op-ed of his in Truthout on nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. He is scheduled to be in Hiroshima from August 3-7 and in Nagasaki from August 8-9.
Michelle Cunha, Assistant Director, Massachusetts Peace Action, michelle@masspeaceaction.org, 1-781-605-5583 (cell)
Michelle Cunha holds a Bachelor's Degree in European History from Franklin Pierce University. A native of Bedford, she focuses on nuclear weapons issues such as Hanscom Air Force Base's roll in the new nuclear arms race.
Paul Kawika Martin, Senior Director for Policy and Political Affairs, Peace Action, pmartin@peace-action.org, 1-951-217-7285 (cell)
Since 1993, Paul Kawika (ca vee' ca) Martin, Peace Action's Senior Director for Policy and Political Affairs, has worked with numerous environmental, peace, animal rights and human rights organizations including the Rainforest Action Network and Physicians for Social Responsibility. Paul worked with a Clinton Presidential Commission and spent a year campaigning in twenty countries on Greenpeace ships including the Rainbow Warrior. His work has appeared in countless international, national and local television, radio and print media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Politico, Nightline, CNN, MSNBC and Democracy Now! Mr. Martin has travelled to nearly 35 countries including Japan, Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon and Cuba. He received his bachelor's at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) in Environmental Studies and Global Peace and Security and currently lives in Washington, D.C.
About Peace Action:
Founded in 1957, Peace Action (formerly SANE/Freeze), the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization, with over 100,000 paid members and nearly 100 chapters in 36 states, works to abolish nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs, encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights and support nonmilitary solutions to international conflicts. The public may learn more and take action at www.PeaceAction.org.
Peace Action is the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization with over 100,000 members and nearly 100 chapters in 34 states, works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs and encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights.
LATEST NEWS
UAE Energy Companies Accused of 'Greenwashing' COP28 President's Wikipedia Page
"This is the problem with 'bringing everyone to the table,'" said one critic. "Don't invite the wolf to dinner."
May 30, 2023
Calls for United Nations officials to name a new president of the annual global climate summit intensified on Tuesday as new reporting showed that people allied with Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, president of this year's Conference of the Parties, submitted edits to his Wikipedia page in an effort to disguise his fossil fuel interests and make him appear committed to meeting the Paris climate agreement's goals.
The Guardian and the Center for Climate Reporting (CCR)reported that a number of users, including some who were paid by energy companies linked to al-Jaber, have recently edited his page of the online encyclopedia amid mounting criticism of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) CEO's appointment to lead the summit (COP28).
One anonymous user disclosed that they were being paid by ADNOC as they suggested Wikipedia editors remove a reference to a $4 billion oil pipeline deal al-Jaber signed in 2019 with investment firms BlackRock and KKR, saying the agreement was one of several "unnecessary details" included in al-Jaber's page.
The same user asked editors to replace a paragraph addressing al-Jaber's work with ADNOC—the world's 12th-largest oil company by production—and its juxtaposition with his role as the United Arab Emirates' climate envoy with a reference to ADNOC's investment in "carbon capture and green fuel technologies."
The head of marketing for COP28, Ramzi Haddad, was identified by CCR as the owner of a Wikipedia user account called Junktuner, which edited al-Jaber's page to include a quote from a Bloomberg editorial that said the ADNOC executive "is precisely the kind of ally the climate movement needs."
\u201cThe President of the COP28 conference is an Oil CEO. And now, the head of marketing for COP28 has been editing the COP28 Wikipedia articles to greenwash his reputation.\n\nDoes anyone else see the huge conflict of interests here?\u201d— Greenpeace UK (@Greenpeace UK) 1685464017
Haddad's edit prompted a reprimand from a Wikipedia administrator, who wrote, "The nature of your edits, such as the one you made to 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, gives the impression you have an undisclosed financial stake in promoting a topic."
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who co-organized a letter signed by more than 130 U.S. and European Union lawmakers last week demanding al-Jaber be removed from his position as COP28 president, said Tuesday that the new reporting is the latest indication that the U.N. should "rethink how to run these very important forums."
"It's not surprising that COP28 is trying to burnish al-Jaber's green credentials, but the fact remains that as an oil executive he is also overseeing a lot of damage to the planet," Whitehouse told CCR.
Masdar, a UAE government-owned clean energy company where al-Jaber is chairman of the board and a former CEO, also paid a user who promoted the COP28 president's work at the firm. Those edits were submitted a day after al-Jaber's appointment was made public in January.
Caroline Lucas, a member of British Parliament who represents the Green Party, told CCR the revelations show "oil companies and their CEOs are taking greenwash to a whole new level," by not only "seizing control" of the global summit but also attempting to control narratives about al-Jaber, whose current company is expanding its fossil fuel production.
"It shows the brutal clampdown on the freedom of expression is in full swing months before the conference has even begun," Lucas said.
COP28 is scheduled for November. Al-Jaber was named president of the meeting weeks before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report on the climate crisis, promoting calls to phase out coal production by 2030 in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, ensure net-zero emissions from electricity generation by 2035 for wealthy countries, and cease all funding and licensing of new oil and gas development.
Filmmaker Charles Kriel said the greenwashing of public information regarding al-Jaber by his associates shows "the problem with 'bringing everyone to the table'" at a meeting about the climate emergency.
\u201cThis is the problem with \u201cbringing everyone to the table\u201d. Big Oil and authoritarians play the long game, and will operate an agenda of mission creep. Rather, ID the bad guys and put them out of business. Don\u2019t invite the wolf to dinner. Same for tech. https://t.co/qV4af3TBC8\u201d— Dr Charles Kriel (@Dr Charles Kriel) 1685431256
Julia Steinberger, a professor of societal challenges of climate change at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, said the latest news must push other climate envoys, including John Kerry in the U.S., to demand that al-Jaber step down.
"Sultan al-Jaber," she said, "is being exposed so clearly as an agent of the fossil fuel industry, whose main purpose is to prevent effective climate action."
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UN Chief Praises 'Moral Voice' of German Climate Activists Targeted in Police Raids
"It is clear that a lot of the progress that we have seen on awareness on climate change and positive movement on climate change is due to the fact that people have been demonstrating peacefully throughout the world."
May 30, 2023
The spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday commended climate activists in Germany after police raided their homes following months of traffic-disrupting protests against the government's failure to adequately address the climate emergency.
"Climate activists—led by the moral voice of young people—have continued to pursue their goals even in the darkest days," the spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York. "They need to be protected and we need them now more than ever."
"It is clear that a lot of the progress that we have seen on awareness on climate change and positive movement on climate change is due to the fact that people have been demonstrating peacefully throughout the world," he added.
"The government's approach is intended to intimidate and create fear. But we cannot and will not allow ourselves to remain in this fear."
Last Wednesday, around 170 masked and armed police officers raided the homes of activists from the Germany-based international direct action group Letzte Generation—or Last Generation—in seven German states while shutting down the organization's website and freezing multiple bank accounts.
Among those targeted were Last Generation spokesperson Carla Hinrichs, who said around two dozen armed police broke down the door of her apartment in Berlin's Kreuzberg district while she was in bed at around 7:00 am, with one officer pointing a gun at her.
"I'm afraid that this state is sending its civil servants with weapons drawn to storm my apartment," Hinrichs said in a video posted on Twitter. "But I'm even more afraid that it is letting us speed into this disaster without doing anything."
\u201cBREAKING: German police are staging the world's first nationwide raid on climate activists. The goal: shut down a group called "Last Generation" that engages in peaceful protest to save the planet.\n\nWill they also arrest the fossil fuel executives?\nhttps://t.co/W5RxXfmDmq\u201d— Steven Donziger (@Steven Donziger) 1685012163
No arrests were reported. However, authorities accused seven activists of raising at least $1.5 million to finance "criminal acts."
Police also claimed two Last Generation members are suspected of plotting to sabotage an oil pipeline running from the southern state of Bavaria to the Italian port of Trieste.
Last Generation has become a household name in Germany due to the group's nationwide acts of civil disobedience. Last week, activists blocked 12 streets in the capital Berlin, gluing themselves to the road and to vehicles, and enraging motorists and many other people.
In January, Last Generation was at the center of protests against the expansion of an open-pit coal mine in Lützerath, a depopulated village in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Members of the group made headlines last year after they threw mashed potatoes on a protected Claude Monet painting in the Museum Barberini in Potsdam.
\u201cClimate protesters from Last Generation threw mashed potato at Claude Monet\u2019s Les Meules (Haystacks) at Potsdam\u2019s Barberini Museum.\u201d— VICE World News (@VICE World News) 1666625542
Last Generation has also held protests in countries including Austria and Italy, where members poured charcoal in Rome's Trevi Fountain to demand an end to government fossil fuel subsidies.
Earlier this month, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democratic Party called Last Generation's protest tactics "completely crazy."
In response, Last Generation asked when police would target "lobby structures and confiscate government fossil funds."
"The government's approach is intended to intimidate and create fear. But we cannot and will not allow ourselves to remain in this fear," the group said on its new website. "The federal government is leading us into climate hell and is stepping on the accelerator."
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Student Debt Provision in Biden-GOP Deal Could Be 'Catastrophic,' Campaigners Warn
"What if payments begin and millions—literally millions—of people default on their debt?" the Debt Collective asked. "What if seniors get their Social Security checks garnished en masse?"
May 30, 2023
House Republicans weren't ultimately able to include a full repeal of President Joe Biden's pending student debt cancellation plan in the new debt ceiling agreement, but they did reach a deal with the Biden White House to insert a provision that campaigners say could be devastating for millions of borrowers across the country.
Tucked in the 99-page legislation that Congress could vote on this week is language prohibiting the education secretary from using "any authority to implement an extension" of the federal student loan repayment pause, which remains in place as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a pair of legal challenges to the Biden administration's debt relief plan.
If passed, the repayment pause enacted early in the Covid-19 pandemic and extended eight times—saving borrowers hundreds of billions of dollars in payments and interest—would be terminated 60 days after June 30, 2023 unless another extension is "expressly authorized" by Congress.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)—who attended California State University, Bakersfield when tuition and fees were an inflation-adjusted $1,982—wasted little time touting the provision as he made the media rounds over the weekend, declaring in a Fox News appearance that the "pause is gone" if the debt ceiling bill passes.
Debt relief campaigners responded with alarm.
"This has huge and catastrophic financial implications for 50 million+ people," the Debt Collective, the nation's first debtors' union, wrote on Twitter.
The Biden White House had already pledged to end the student loan repayment pause 60 days after the Supreme Court decides the fate of student debt cancellation or 60 days after June 30—whichever comes first.
The debt ceiling agreement codifies that pledge into law, potentially complicating the White House's ability to authorize another pause if the Supreme Court agrees with the right-wing challengers' deeply flawed legal case and strikes down the administration's debt cancellation plan.
The Debt Collective pointed to that possibility late Monday, noting that the Biden administration "was gearing up to resume payments because they were going to simultaneously cancel lots of debt—20 million accounts zeroed out."
"Because of Covid's impact, the Biden admin said returning to repayment needed to be coupled with relief," the group wrote. "If SCOTUS rules student debt relief is legal, Biden can say he took action on student debt—the second-largest household debt in the country. The problem is, WE DON'T KNOW what SCOTUS will rule. We're still waiting. Basically this debt ceiling deal puts the cart before the horse."
"The debt-ceiling bill agreement reached by lawmakers is deeply harmful to millions of American families—the worst thing for borrowers would be a sudden and startling restart of payments."
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona insisted that, under the new agreement, the Biden administration would still retain the "ability to pause student loan payments should that be necessary in future emergencies."
But the Debt Collective warned that it could take the Biden administration weeks or months to implement another pause if it decided one was needed. The administration could also choose not to try to implement another freeze even if millions struggle to make payments.
"What if payments begin and millions—literally millions—of people default on their debt?" the Debt Collective asked. "What if seniors get their Social Security checks garnished en masse?"
\u201cThere's many more reasons to extend the pause, and absolutely no reason to let Republicans push Biden in a corner. Biden will try to tell you this is the fault of Republicans and there was nothing he could do. \n\nThat won't be true. It isn't true. The provision should go.\u201d— The Debt Collective \ud83d\udfe5 (@The Debt Collective \ud83d\udfe5) 1685396895
Due to funding shortfalls, the Education Department doesn't expect to have the capacity to begin collecting student debt payments again until October.
The financial firm Jefferies estimates that once federal student loan repayments begin, they will cost roughly 45 million borrowers a combined $18 billion per month, potentially having a significant impact on the broader U.S. economy in addition to placing major strain on individuals and families.
The average federal student loan payment in the U.S. is around $400 per month—though the Biden administration is working to finalize rules aimed at lessening that financial burden.
Natalia Abrams, president and founder of the Student Debt Crisis Center, said in a statement Monday that "it is imperative that lawmakers prioritize the wellbeing of millions of Americans by keeping payments paused until comprehensive and permanent debt cancellation is delivered."
"The debt-ceiling bill agreement reached by lawmakers is deeply harmful to millions of American families—the worst thing for borrowers would be a sudden and startling restart of payments," said Abrams. "Not only does it unnecessarily codify the end of pandemic relief measures that are still desperately needed, but it also sends a disheartening message that the ongoing efforts to assist borrowers are being rolled back before permanent relief promised by the Biden administration has been delivered."
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