Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.
Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.
His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.
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Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement
Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris
Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.
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who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!
For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video
Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.
Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.
"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.
Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.
Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.
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Interview with Osprey Orielle, executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network, conducted by Melinda Tuhus
One of the many civil society groups to attend the recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties meeting in Lima, Peru – known as COP 20 – was WECAN, the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network. The organization works with women leaders around the world to promote rights-based solutions to climate change, including the rights of women, indigenous peoples, nature and of future generations.
The UN Meeting in Peru was organized to begin drafting a global climate agreement in preparation for negotiations in Paris, later in 2015. At the conclusion of the Lima meeting, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the outcome, but many climate activists were disappointed. Critics say that delegates failed to deliver a strong draft on which to build the Paris agreement by accepting a deal that only requires "self-certification" of commitments to cut carbon emissions, rather than binding reductions that would be reported and transparently regulated.
Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with WECAN founder and executive director Osprey Orielle Lake, who attended the meeting in Lima with about 30 other members of her group. Although these UN climate meetings are known more for "generating global warming gases as attendees fly in from around the world" than for any accomplishments in addressing climate change, Orielle Lake says WECAN's attendance in Lima is just one part of their Inside-Outside strategy.
OSPREY ORIELLE LAKE: You know, an organization like ours, we really have an inside-outside strategy in which we're really working on the inside to influence the process as much as possible, to influence governments as much as possible, to advocate against false solutions which are being discussed there, such as geo-engineering and nuclear power, and things that we don't agree with. So we think it's important to be inside that process and as well as to advocate for gender equality and make sure that whatever laws are put in place, that they're gender-responsive. So we think there's a lot to be done on the inside. That said, you know, most of our work is not actually inside the UN process, but outside the process in creating pressure in more local grassroots, on the ground solutions and different policies that we can more immediately affect. So most of our work is not involved with the UN but at the same time we think it's important to have our voicces heard, have members that are involved with us, especially women on the front lines, women from low income communities, women from indigenous communities – having their voices there is a really important thing, so we can do the best we can with the UN process.
BETWEEN THE LINES: I was fortunate to be able to cover the International Women's Earth and Climate summit outside New York City in September 2013, which was organized by your organization, WECAN, the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network. And out of that came the Women's Climate Action Agenda. Can you talk about what's in it and how you're using it?
OSPREY ORIELLE LAKE: It's a very dynamic document that we released in September during the UN Climate Summit and the People's Climate March in New York. And we brought it also to Lima, Peru, and we released it inside the UN, and it goes through an entire host of solutions and recommendations, everything from addressing unsustainable consumption and production in the global North. It recognizes how to take action with common but differentiated responsibilities. We talk about leaving 80 percent of the oil in the ground; divestment from fossil fuel companies and investment in clean energy. We talk about the protection of the rights of nature and the end of the commodification and ownership and exploitation of all ecosystems. It addresses how we can democratize our food, agriculture and seed systems, the protection of the rights of indigenous people and how we can really transform our extractive economies, which is so important right now, and how we move to a socially just and environmentally sustainable economic pattern. And of course, something very central to our organization, which is really the promotion of women's rights and women's leadership in all steps of climate change, adaptation and mitigation.
And inside the COP we also worked very closely with the Women and Gender constituency, which is led by organizations like the Women Environment and Development Organization – WEDO – and Women in Europe for a Common Future, WECF. And these are very long-standing, prominent women's organizations internationally, who are really directing the leadership of women's groups inside the UN. And I really want to commend the work that they do. And together we all advocate to the delegates and to governments, and a big focus, of course, is insisting on a fundamental framework of a rights-based agreement that's focused on climate justice and focusing on gender equality, women's rights, indigenous rights and ensuring that we really look at historic responsibilities, and pushing for that kind of agenda inside is really important, so that was our work on the inside as we held an event. We were part of a press conference releasing our report – our Climate Action Agenda – and supporting the leadership of the women inside in climate negotiations.
And then we also did several events on the outside, parallel to the negotiations. We held a big event, which we were very excited about, in downtown Lima called Women Leading Solutions on the Front Lines of Climate Change. We really need to stop treating nature as property and start really seeing nature as a rights-bearing entity, and how we can really, as human beings, harmonize our lifestyle and our way of living, to be in harmony with nature and the natural laws of the earth. So there was a very, very large two-day tribunal with people all over the world coming to hear the tribunal but also coming as witnesses and presenting cases and offering testimony. It was a very, very powerful – and, I would say, heartbreaking – experience hearing a lot of these cases, but it was also very empowering for people to participate in the tribunal. So those are a lot of the activities that we were involved in when we were there – so both inside and outside the formal process.
BETWEEN THE LINES: So I was going to ask you if you thought it was worth the trip to Lima. It sounds like you thought it was.
OSPREY ORIELLE LAKE: Absolutely. You know, I think a lot of these international gatherings are really key for civil society and for a lot of us involved in different environmental organizations or human rights organizations or indigenous organizations, different social justice movements to gather and meet on our own, and strategize together, have our voices be heard, to be able to have direct action, to be engaged in the process, to engage with our leaders. So I think it's extremely valuable because if we're not there making a stand and not making our presence known, then we're not influencing the process at all, and I don't think that's productive or wise.
Learn more about WECAN by visiting wecaninternational.org
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