The European Correspondent - Western Europe newsletter - Thursday 28 September 2023

 

The European Correspondent

Western Europe newsletter 

Thursday 28 September 2023

The United Kingdom ・ Climate crisis

British PM waters down climate targets

Rishi Sunak came under immense scrutiny after saying he wanted to be honest about the "costs" of tackling climate change. Announcing slower-moving policies, the deadline for banning fossil fuel cars has been moved by five years and homeowners no longer have to replace inefficient gas boilers.

Jacob Perkins While the UK is legally bound to reach net zero by 2050, there is little doubt this will slow down progress. Sunak's move also risks setting a precedent and some wonder whether other European countries will follow suit.

Sources: UK Gov

The United Kingdom ・ Climate crisis UK greenlights development of largest untapped oilfield amidst climate concerns The UK has given the go-ahead to develop the country's large untapped oilfield off Shetland, causing emissions equal to those of the world's 28 lowest-income countries. While the firm behind the build claims this will be a "green" oil field, it is unclear how this will allow the UK to reach net zero by 2050. Jacob Perkins It is a tumultuous time for climate activists in the UK. The government appears to be gearing up for a general election in which the climate might be a hot topic, with new subsidies for oil firms and reduced demands for change. Sources: The Guardian

France ・ Anti-racism

France marches against racism

Tens of thousands rallied in France to protest police violence and racism on Saturday. People took to the streets of different cities in France to protest police violence in demonstrations organised by the left, for a new anti-racist movement, with the main rally in Paris and others taking place in Marseille and beyond.

Melissa Chemam I attended the Paris march myself: many groups were represented, and the family members of those killed by the police over the years gave emotional speeches, including Nahel Merzouk's mother and Assa Traoré.

Sources: RFI, Deutsche Welle, and Personal YouTube channel

France ・ France and Africa Niger sees hope in France's withdrawal Niger welcomed the decision of France to finally withdraw its diplomatic staff from the country, including supporters of Niger’s deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum. For almost three months, Macron rejected the junta's call to leave. French military contingents will follow in the next months. Melissa Chemam Niger's relations with France, its former colonial power turned pseudo ally in its fight against jihadism, went downhill when Paris stood by the president ousted in a military coup in June. France finally agreed to retrieve its ambassador. Sources: The Guardian and Rfi

France ・ Sport's politics France bans headscarves at the Olympics, UN defends freedom of choice While France's sports minister said the country's women athletes would be barred from wearing headscarves during the Olympic Games, United Nations Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado told reporters in Geneva that "no-one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear or not wear." Melissa Chemam French authorities justified their decision as "in line with the country's rules on secularism", but for the UN it's up to the Olympics' host to respect all the participants' cultures, habits and choice of faith. Sources: rfi

Youth 4 Climate: Unprecedented court hearing

 

My latest for RFI English:

Young people take European nations to court over climate failures

Six young European people will bring 32 countries before the European Court of Human Rights for failing to do their part to avert climate catastrophe. The unprecedented hearing, to be held this week, is the world’s largest climate legal action to date.

After witnessing devastating forest fires and experiencing ever-worsening heatwaves, six young people from Portugal decided to act.

Aged between 11 and 24 years old, they launched an unprecedented case against over 32 European countries in the European Court of Human Rights in September 2020.

Three years later, their case will be heard on Wednesday, 27 September.

The applicants argue that European Union member states have contributed to global warming with greenhouse gas emissions, which has resulted, among other things, in heatwaves affecting their living conditions and health.

Collective action

The claimants are supported by activists from Youth 4 Climate Justice and Avaaz, and they are represented by lawyers Stéphanie Caligara and Gearóid Ó Cuinn, of the Dublin-based human rights NGO Global Legal Action Network (GLAN).

"These young people are not even activists," Caligara told RFI. "They are just young people who have been deeply affected by the fires in the Leiria region and by devastating heatwaves, so they wanted to act.

The claimants say they were driven to act by their experiences in the wildfires that ripped through the Leiria region in Portugal in 2017, killing 66 people and destroying 20,000 hectares of forest.

“Climate change has had a profound impact on our lives," 18-year-old claimant Sofia dos Santos Oliveira said in a statement.

"It has limited our ability to partake in activities like going out and enjoying the day. It is not normal, heatwaves damage our daily lives.”  

David vs. Goliath

"This is truly a David and Goliath case," said Ó Cuinn. "It is unprecedented in its scale and consequences.

"It also makes legal history. Never before have so many countries had to defend themselves in front of any court anywhere in the world."

The countries named in the action are the 27 members of the EU, as well as Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

The hearing comes following the hottest ever summer in Europe on record, with fires and floods ravaging the European continent and beyond.

The case has been supported by a global crowdfunding appeal that raised more than 138,000 euros.

The claimants hope the judges will issue a binding that would force the countries to rapidly escalate their emissions reductions.

Lawyer Caligara hopes the court will recognise that "the inaction of governments affects negatively the right to life of the claimants", and that countries will finally take the "drastic measures" needed to cut carbon emissions.

A successful outcome for the claimants would be a historic milestone in climate litigation, and would require the 32 countries named not only to ramp up emissions cuts, but also to tackle their overseas contributions to climate change, including their exports of fossil fuels.

"Pas de Justice, pas de Paix" : Assa Traoré à la marche contre le racisme du 23 septembre

 

French journalist Ariane Lavrilleux about press freedom

My article for RFI: 

Freed French journalist calls for respect of press freedom after arrest

French journalist Ariane Lavrilleux, who was arrested over her report alleging that French intelligence was used by Egypt to kill civilians, denounced attacks on press freedom on Thursday following her release from custody.

“My arrest shows that journalists have an impact and that we are necessary," Lavrilleux told a media briefing held at the Reporters Without Borders headquarters in Paris.

"We will push our efforts to inform on arms sales to dictatorships so that citizens know what our governments are doing."

In November 2021 the online media outlet Disclose published a series of articles, based on hundreds of secret documents, that said French intelligence had been misused by Egypt to target smugglers on the Libyan border and kill civilians.

Their publication prompted France’s armed forces minister to call for an investigation. 

Lavrilleux was arrested on Tuesday and her home in Marseille was searched. She was freed after 39 hours in custody.

• French journalist arrested over report on Egypt spy operation

Condemnation

Rights groups condemned what they said was an unacceptable attack on the secrecy of sources – a view backed by Reporters without Borders and the Society of Journalists.

"I am not indicted at the moment, but a sword of Damocles hovers above my head and above Disclose. Three of their journalists have already been targeted by the DGSI," Lavrilleux said.

DGSI, or the General Directorate for Internal Security, is a French agency in charged with countering espionage, terrorism, cybercrime and the surveillance of potentially threatening groups.

France's Ministry of the Armed Forces filed a complaint for "violation of national defence secrecy" following the publication of the articles, and a case was opened in July 2022 by the Paris prosecutor's office that was then placed in the hands of the DGSI.

On Substack: Time for Some Climate Solutions

 

Latest post on my Substack newsletter

Time for Some Climate Solutions

Can we still curve the Climate Crisis? If we don't try, will we ever know?

MELISSA CHEMAM

12 SEPT 2023

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Dear readers, friends and allies, Every day, more reports our around the world, from key 

NGOs and at the United Nations levels ring some alarm. In the general news, fires, storms,

droughts and other disasters are broadcast all over the worlds on a daily basis. Somalia, Ethiopia, the Amazon forest in Brazil and beyond, Hawaï, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Japan, China, India… and of course Ukraine. 

All these places and countries have been going through natural disasters or human-made catastrophes more and more in the past few years. Most of them are linked to global 

warming, climate change, massive pollution and crimes against our biodiversity. The next 

UN climate summit, COP28 starts in November, in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates. 

We can all contribute to make a difference if we care, share, stay informed, get involved. 

To contribute to uplifting the mood, and not only listing problems, we, journalists, need to 

do better. 

As an African news journalist, I have a lot to look at… 

-

Read here: 

https://melissa.substack.com/p/time-for-some-climate-solutions

Hamza's and Sarah's story on AJE

 

Morocco earthquake aftermath:

Aid workers face huge challenges

Aid workers are facing huge challenges in delivering help to those affected by the September 8 earthquake in Morocco. 

Almost 3,000 people were killed in the earthquake. 

Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker and her team followed a personal story deep into Tizi N’test in Morocco's Atlas Mountains.

Read more on Hamza's story here, notably how he became an unexpected hero for my friend Sarah Barden, a British woman trying to find her father, a cyclist who died in the powerful earthquake that struck Morocco.

France: Press freedom is under threat

On Tuesday, journalist Ariane Lavrilleux's home in Marseille was searched and she was arrested for questioning by agents of the DGSI, France's domestic intelligence agency, Disclose announced on Twitter.

Investigative website Disclose published a series of articles in November 2021 based on hundreds of secret documents. 

Information from a French counter-intelligence operation in Egypt, codenamed "Sirli", was used by the Egyptian state for "a campaign of arbitrary killings" against smugglers operating along the Libyan border. 

The website denounced an "unacceptable attack on the secrecy of sources" - a view quickly backed by the Society of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). 

"We fear that the DGSI's actions will undermine the secrecy of the sources," RSF said.

 

The supper of the Kings

 

France - 23 septembre : Marches pour la justice sociale, contre le racisme et contre les violences policières

 

Le 23 septembre, marchons pour la justice sociale, contre le racisme et contre les violences policières

Le meurtre de Nahel tué par un policier à bout portant le 27 juin 2023 à Nanterre a remis une nouvelle fois sur le devant de la scène les violences policières et les politiques discriminatoires existantes depuis plusieurs décennies.

Les premier·es concern·ées sont les personnes racisées et précarisées, victimes au quotidien des politiques néo-libérales et de leurs conséquences désastreuses dans leur vie quotidienne : fermeture des services publics, inflation, hausse du prix des loyers et de l’énergie....

La fracture entre la police et la population est le résultat de ces politiques injustes et discriminatoires menées depuis longtemps. Contrôle au faciès, violences contre la jeunesse des quartiers, tous ces actes sont le résultat d’une doctrine d’exercice du maintien de l’ordre à laquelle s’ajoute un racisme systémique qui traverse la police.

La loi de 2017 sur l’usage des armes de services n’a fait qu’amplifier ce phénomène : rien qu’en 2022, 13 personnes ont été tuées par des tirs de la police française sur leurs véhicules. L’ONU a d’ailleurs critiqué à plusieurs reprises les politiques sécuritaires et les problèmes institutionnels de racisme en France, en particulier dans les forces de l’ordre. Les révoltes dans les quartiers populaires ne peuvent s’analyser que dans ce contexte global. 

Une politique régressive qui fait le lit de l’extrême- droite et piétine toujours plus nos libertés publiques, notre modèle social, notre avenir face à l’effondrement écologique.

La dérive autoritaire de la politique gouvernementale frappe également les mouvements sociaux et écologiques avec une répression toujours plus violente. Comme lors de la mobilisation contre la Réforme des retraites, puis à Sainte Soline contre les mégas bassines. La politique répressive de l’État est encore renforcée par le dernier remaniement ministériel, qui a élargi les compétences du ministère de l’Intérieur à la ville, l’Outre-mer et la citoyenneté.

Cette situation est d’autant plus inquiétante que l’institution policière paraît hors de contrôle du pouvoir politique.

Des déclarations factieuses de certains syndicats de policiers suite au meurtre de Nahel aux déclarations du Directeur général de la police nationale et à celle du Préfet de police de Paris ainsi que le ministre de l’intérieur, c’est l’institution policière qui aujourd’hui remet en cause l’État de droit, plutôt que de mettre fin à l’impunité des auteurs de violences policières.

A côté de cela, de nombreuses violences sont perpétrées contre les populations
Délocalisation et destruction de l’emploi, évasion et fraude fiscale, mode de vie des ultras riches écocidaire, supers profits des multinationales, modes de production hypers polluants responsables de la crise climatique. Et pour cela, l’État laisse faire ! 

Pendant ce temps-là, l’extrême droite galope et fait son nid.

Les images des violences commises par « des milices identitaires » lors des émeutes ou encore la cagnotte honteuse de soutien au policier inculpé en sont la preuve.

TOUTES LES MARCHES ICI: 

https://marchespourlajustice.fr/

À PARIS - MANIFESTION SAMEDI 23 SEPTEMBRE 

- RDV 14h30 GARE DU NORD

Nous exigeons des réponses immédiates et dans l’urgence : l’abrogation de la loi de 2017 sur l’assouplissement des règles en matière d’usage des armes à feu par les forces de l’ordre ; une réforme en profondeur de la police, de ses techniques d’intervention et de son armement ; le remplacement de l’IGPN par un organisme indépendant de la hiérarchie policière et du pouvoir politique ; la création d’un service dédié aux discriminations touchant la jeunesse au sein de l’autorité administrative présidée par le Défenseur des droits et le renforcement des moyens de lutte contre le racisme, y compris dans la police ; un plan d’investissement public ambitieux dans les quartiers populaires et sur l’ensemble du territoire pour rétablir les services publics, le financement des associations et des centres sociaux.

L’appel national sur le site de la FSU : lien

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Nous appelons à reprendre la rue samedi 23 septembre, à organiser des manifestations ou d’autres initiatives sur tout le territoire, pour faire front ensemble contre la répression des contestations sociales démocratiques et écologiques, pour la fin du racisme systémique, des violences policières, et pour la justice sociale climatique, féministe et les libertés publiques.

Nous exigeons des réponses immédiates et dans l’urgence :

• abrogation de la loi de 2017 sur l’assouplissement des règles en matière d’usage des armes à feu par les forces de l’ordre ;

• une réforme en profondeur de la police, de ses techniques d’intervention et de son armement ;

• le remplacement de l’IGPN par un organisme indépendant de la hiérarchie policière et du pouvoir politique ;

• la création d’un service dédié aux discriminations touchant la jeunesse au sein de l’autorité administrative présidée par le Défenseur des droits et le renforcement des moyens de lutte contre le racisme, y compris dans la police ;

• un plan d’investissement public ambitieux dans les quartiers populaires et sur l’ensemble du territoire pour rétablir les services publics, le financement des associations et des centres sociaux.