Introduction from the Refuser Solidarity Network:

Conscientious objector Einat Gerlitz, 19, is currently serving a 7 day prison sentence for her refusal to enlist in the Israeli army and take part in the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. Two other conscientious objectors, Nave Shabtay Levin (18) and Evyatar Moshe Rubin (19), are currently imprisoned and another, Shahar Schwartz (18) is awaiting trial for the second time after he was jailed for 10 days. Below is Einat’s refusal statement. Hi,



My name is Einat Gerlitz, I am 19 years old, and I just completed one year of civil service. At the age of 16, when the enlisting process started and discussions turned to what would be a “meaningful army service”. I asked myself what a meaningful service might mean. 



In high school I was a youth activist on issues of climate change, and through this activism I met youth from all over Israel. I met Palestinian youth from Sakhnin, and together we thought about the future of our generation in the reality of the climate crisis. Through my connection with them I learned about the experience of Palestinians who live in Israel and that encouraged me to learn about the hard life of Palestinians who are under Israeli occupation. I knew there is a violent regime in the west bank, but I did not know how that statement translated into an everyday reality. The acquaintance with the Palestinian activists led me to start asking questions and to wonder about the connection between serving in the Israeli army and the violent regime of the occupation. 



I wondered how I could work  in solidarity  with Palestinians, while at the same time being part of the army that violently controls them. As time went by, I was exposed to the hidden realities of the occupation. To the reality of hundreds of children being arrested by the army every year, and by the effect of these arrests on the children’s future; the reality of soldiers who prevent Palestinians from accessing their land and limit their ability to earn a living; the reality of the support that the army gives settlers’ violence against Palestinians. I realized that to serve in the army is a political choice, and I chose to refuse. 



My friends say that serving  in the army is a lifetime opportunity. But I think that the act of refusing is my chance to use my privilege as an Israeli Jew in order to actively change our cruel reality. This reality hides behind the one-sided Zionist narrative that we learned. The generations before built the nation not on empty lands but on top of Palestinians who lived there before. We are not better than the Palestinians. They deserve the same basic democratic rights, the same independence, the same access to water, freedom of movement, education, and a secure life.  



Therefore, I choose to refuse to take part of an army that control the Palestinian people and deprive them of their freedom. 



In my act of refusal, I take responsibility for the society I live in. I want to live in a society whose people do not surrender to silencing. I want to live in society that knows how to acknowledge the experiences of different people even if it destabilizes its official narrative. 



I call on my age group to open their eyes and ask questions – does violent control over civilian population can bring security? Do not weapons and violence increase hatred and desire for revenge? Who would you be if you grew up with the threat of guns and with nightly searching operations in your neighborhood? I refuse because I want to remind you that there are children living there, on the other side of the wall. Children like you and like me. 



In solidarity,

Einat



See also here: Oren Ziv, ‘Refusing is the minimum’: Why these Israeli teens are objecting to army service, +972, September 2, 2022 (https://www.972mag.com/four-conscientious-objectors-israel-army/)





Taken from 

Israeli teens refuse to join army – World Socialist Party US (wspus.org)

 The Human Development Index was launched in 1990 in an effort to look beyond GDP as a measure of well-being.

 A new vaccine could eradicate malaria. The R21 vaccine is already shown to be 77% effective after the initial doses and maintains its high efficacy after a single booster jab.

Prof Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, said R21 could help to reduce deaths from the disease by 70% by 2030 and eradicate it by 2040.

Good news.

The bad news is that getting the vaccine into the arms of tens of millions of African children who most need it would be a challenge without funding.

The body that provides more than half of all financing for the world’s malaria programmes, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has warned that unless it receives significantly more money from leading donor countries such as the UK at its pledging conference this month, it will not be able to get the fight against those diseases back on track after the Covid pandemic.

The UK has not yet said what it will pledge in New York, but the fund is thought to have asked for about £1.8bn. As foreign secretary, Truss outlined a strategy for overseas aid marked by an overall spending reduction and a retreat from the funding of multilateral organisations like the Global Fund.

“It’s incredibly important that the Global Fund is properly refunded. What they do is absolutely amazing,” said Hill.

Prof Halidou Tinto, regional director of the health sciences research institute (IRSS) in Nanoro, and the Burkina Faso trial principal investigator, said that while production was not expected to be an issue, the big challenge for poor African countries was how to fund the vaccine’s rollout. “This may be … the issue that could delay the deployment,” he said.

Malaria vaccine a step closer as experts urge Truss not to ‘turn off the tap’ on funding | Global health | The Guardian

 “..caring is an innate part of being human…”,  Durham University archaeologist Prof Charlotte Robertson

 “..caring is an innate part of being human…”,  Durham University archaeologist Prof Charlotte Robertson

East and west, the planetary heatwaves persist.

A heatwave enveloping the US west broke records as high temperatures and historic energy use strained California’s grid to the brink of its capacity as people increased use of their air conditioning,

California’s state capital of Sacramento on Tuesday hit an all-time high of 116F (47C), breaking a 97-year-old record. Six places in the San Francisco Bay Area and central coast set all-time record maximum temperatures, including Santa Rosa, with 115F (46C).

In neighboring Nevada, Reno’s 106F (41C) on Tuesday was its hottest day ever recorded in September and smashed the previous record for the date, 96F (36C) in 1944. It came within two degrees of the all-time high for any day or month of 108F (42C), set in July 2002 and equaled in July 2007, according to the National Weather Service.

In Salt Lake City, a city at more than 4,000ft (1,219m) elevation, temperatures were about 20 degrees higher than normal, hitting 105F (41C) on Tuesday, the hottest September day recorded going back to 1874.

Scientists say climate change has made the west warmer and drier over the last three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. In the last five years, California has experienced the largest and most destructive fires in state history. The climate crisis has also increased the likelihood of compounding catastrophes that test resilience and capacity to respond. Hurricane Kay, which is hovering near the Mexican coast, could cause thunderstorms in California. There are risks of flooding in the southern part of the state and increased fire weather to the north.

China recorded its highest temperatures and one of its lowest levels of rainfall in 61 years during a two-month summer heatwave that caused forest fires, damaged crops and hit power supplies, the national meteorological agency said.

The average national temperature in August, 22.4C, was 1.2C higher than the seasonal norm, while average rainfall fell 23% to 82mm, the third lowest since records began in 1961, according to Xiao Chan, the vice-director of China’s national meteorological administration. The heatwave between mid-June to the end of August was the “most severe” since records began in terms of duration, extent, intensity and impact, said Xiao.

267 weather stations across China recorded their highest temperatures in history last month. The extreme temperature caused widespread drought in regions along the Yangtze River, south-western China and east and central Tibet. The persistent heat and drought caused forest fires and affected agricultural production, water resources and power supply. The Yangtze is the world’s third largest river, providing drinking water to more than 400 million Chinese people, and is the most vital waterway to China’s economy.

China has warned that extreme weather will probably persist in coming years as it tries to cope with the climate crisis and rising temperatures.

Temperatures smash records in US west as brutal heatwave continues | US news | The Guardian

China reports ‘most severe’ heatwave and third driest summer on record | China | The Guardian

 Big oil and gas companies are spending tens of millions on adverts publicising their environmental work, while only about a 10th of their investment goes into low-carbon development, a comprehensive study of public communications from five oil and gas firms by InfluenceMap, a climate finance thinktank, found. 

 60% of the ads made at least one claim highlighting the companies’ positive climate actions. But on average, the five companies devoted only 12% of capital expenditure to low-carbon activities – and this included some gas projects.

Less than one in four ads highlighted the companies’ fossil fuel activities, InfluenceMap said, which suggested that the companies were spending about $750m a year on communications aimed at burnishing their climate credentials.

Researchers looked at 3,421 public communications materials published by BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies in 2021, including articles and blog posts on corporate websites, press releases, reports, speeches and company and CEO social media accounts. They found that 60% made at least one green claim, with the most popular being centred on efforts to “transition the energy mix”. However, analysis of the capital expenditure of the five companies found that all were forecast to increase their oil and gas production, with the exception of BP, which was expected to have similar levels in 2026 as in 2021.

“Essentially, we found that big oil is spending millions of dollars on this green PR, and it is a really systematic campaign to portray themselves as pro-climate,” said Faye Holder, program manager at InfluenceMap. “But at the same time, they are still lobbying to lock in fossil fuels and investing in a really unsustainable energy future with high levels of oil and gas, and very low spend on low-carbon activities.” She added, “…it’s really clear they want to dissociate themselves from oil and gas, and attach themselves to this climate agenda.”

Shell made the most green claims, with 70% of public communications stressing pro-environmental activities, while just 10% of capital expenditure was invested in low carbon, which included some gas projects, according to InfluenceMap’s report. ExxonMobil made green claims in 70% of its communications, while devoting 8% of capital expenditure to low carbon. For TotalEnergies, 62% of communications made green claims, with 25% of capital investment going towards low carbon.

Oil and gas firms’ green investments fail to match promise of adverts – study | Fossil fuels | The Guardian

 The number of children confirmed killed or injured in Ukraine passed 1,000 today, a grim milestone after six months of war, Save the Children said today.

Since 24 February, an average of five children have been killed or injured in Ukraine every day.

I’M FOR WORLD SOCIALISM

Now that the Queen has died, what now of this archaic institution? 

The Socialist Party is unconcerned as to whether we live in a republic or a constitutional monarchy – capitalism is capitalism whatever its political label. Socialists desire a good deal more than a mere capitalist republic. 

The Royal Family in relation to the rest of society are members of the capitalist class. That is, they own so much wealth, in the form of vast landed estates, that it is economically unnecessary for them to work. This means, for example, that they can enjoy themselves at Ascot racecourse, the grouse moor or other similar places as often as they please.

As regards the Queen, we can agree with the constitutional description of her role that in law, she is the head of the executive, an integral part of the legislature. In practice, as a result of a long evolutionary process during which the absolute power of the monarchy has been progressively reduced, the Queen acts only on the advice of her ministers, which she cannot constitutionally ignore. She reigns but she does not rule. The United Kingdom is governed by Her Majesty’s Government in the name of the Queen. The Queen was merely a rubber stamp and in this respect, the Royals are an example of the redundant nature of the capitalist class in general.

It has been claimed that she performed a useful function on the grounds that the Queen created more goodwill around the world than a mere presidential head of state could. Elizabeth was worth her weight in gold as an ambassador for Britain. But what did all these foreign tours and visits really achieve? The warm welcomes offered to Her Brittanic Majesty were often quickly forgotten by political realities, as numerous conflicts within and outwith the Commonwealth have shown.

Even if it is conceded that the accompanying trade missions produced a certain measure of success, in that foreign firms were more inclined to Buy British—what relevance does this have for those of us whose lives are taken up in earning enough to go on living? It simply meant that the wealth which we produce, but what our employers own, was more easily disposed of on the world’s markets — without this necessarily benefiting us. Thus if the Queen can be said to have had any function at all, it is that of being public relations for the British capitalist class. She was richly rewarded for her services through generous payments from the Civil List.

The problem with the whole concept of royalty is that it signifies the difference between those who are born into the blue-blooded ranks of the privileged and we commoners and humble subjects.  Those who think that they are low can be more easily treated as low. 

The Chartist Ernest Jones expressed it well

“We’re low—we’re low—we’re very, very low.

As low as low can be;

The rich are high—for we make them so—

And a miserable lot are we!”

 One in 10 American households struggled to feed their families last year, with more than 5 million families missing meals and cutting portions due to poverty, new government research reveals.

 In the richest country in the world, children in 274,000 American households went hungry, skipped meals or did not eat for entire days because there was not enough money to buy food.

2.3m are unable to afford adequate nutritional food at times during 2021, according to the annual food insecurity report by the USDA.

The climate breakdown and Russia’s war in Ukraine are pushing up food prices, and the cost of groceries in July was up 13.1% compared to last year, with the price of cereal, bread and dairy products rising even higher.

One in four Americans rely on federal nutrition assistance such as food stamps and free school lunches. The rates are higher among Indigenous, Black and Latino households. Households are now also under more pressure as states roll back pandemic-linked financial support such as free school meals for every child, child tax credits and many states now stopping expanded food stamp benefits.

Realtime data from the US Census survey “suggest that food hardship has been steadily rising in families with children this year”, said Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, director of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University.

Every month, millions of Americans are forced to choose between paying for rent, healthcare, bills, childcare and groceries, because they are not paid a living wage. Food insecurity and unequal access to grocery stores play a major role in a range of public health epidemics, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and tooth decay, as unhealthy processed foods with high levels of fat and sugar are often cheaper and more accessible than healthier options.

Food insecurity has never fallen below 10% since 2000.

One in 10 US households struggles to afford enough food, study finds | US news | The Guardian