Dear Progressive Reader,

Much of the discussion around Donald Trump’s recent picks for nominees to serve in the Cabinet and other offices has focused on the havoc these appointees may cause domestically—in public health, justice, trade, and the economy. But less ink has been spent on the global implications, particularly in relation to the climate crisis, that this new administration will bring.

COP29, the annual United Nations-organized “Conference of the Parties of the UNFCC” to address the global crisis of a warming planet caused by human actions concluded last weekend. The meetings, held in Baku, Azerbaijan (and thus hosted by a “petro state” for the third year in a row), were overshadowed by the knowledge that during his first term as President, Trump had withdrawn the United States from the Paris climate accords, and that throughout his term he had done everything he could to promote the fossil fuel industry and oppose pro-environment initiatives.

In an essay in the book The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2020, edited by Michio Kaku, climate reporter for The Washington Post Sarah Kaplan writes, “I think of the United Nations scientists who declared last year [in 2018] that we had just over a decade to get climate change under control, and the officials meeting in Madrid [at COP25 in Spain] this month who have fallen far short of the commitments needed to make this happen. Life on Earth has been evolving for nearly 4 billion years. Yet only now, as the geological clock strikes midnight, is there a creature capable of looking back at that history and appreciating it. Only now, as our own actions imperil this extraordinary and singular planet, do humans have a chance to comprehend all that is about to be lost.”

This week on our website, Glenn Daigon looks at the role played by ballot initiatives in this year’s election; Sarah Lahm previews the billionaire chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, Linda McMahon, chosen by Trump to lead the Department of Education; and Akilah Monifa pens an op-ed on how we need to acknowledge our similarities in order to work together in a time of national division. “We can learn to fight in quieter ways,” she writes, “treating one another with kindness and respect, always looking for ways to lift people up.”

Also, two writers look at the importance of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA). “Since its inception in December 1949, following the 1948 founding of Israel, UNRWA has provided Palestine refugees with cost-effective, humanitarian services,” reports Jackie Abramian of Global Cadence. Yousef Aljamal of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) who is himself a Palestinian refugee explains, “For Palestinian refugee families like mine, UNRWA is a lifeline. Although the agency is not perfect, it is crucial to Palestinian refugees.” He continues, “Israel is now waging a war on UNRWA due to its role in preserving the rights of Palestinian refugees. In just over a year, Israel destroyed 90 percent of UNRWA schools and killed more than 230 UNRWA employees.” As Abramian notes, “The United States and its allies offer platitudes while arming Israel, whose humanitarian aid blockade has imposed forced starvation and halted the third phase of the polio vaccination campaign for nearly 120,000 children across northern Gaza, administered by UNRWA and other groups.” And Aljamal cautions, “If the world has any respect for international law and the role of the United Nations, Israel’s move against UNRWA should be challenged. The failure to do so undermines the legitimacy of the U.N. system and global commitments to the U.N. Charter, opening the door for other states around the world to disregard these guardrails and international rules without repercussions.”

Our Hidden History calendar notes that today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the huge protests in Seattle, Washington, during the 1999 meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Those protests were characterized by an alliance of organized labor and environmentalists not often seen in the United States, as well as scenes of delegates from less-developed countries pounding on the doors and demanding “a seat at the table” of secret meetings where the U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and other delegates from wealthy nations were seeking to craft deals that would assure a continuation of the global status quo. But that week also marked the global launch of a new form of independent media. IndyMedia, as the coalition and its website were called, was a sea change in both technology and a new ideology of citizen journalism. As I wrote on Indymedia’s tenth anniversary, “A media revolution was created in Seattle using ‘open publishing’ software developed in Australia, servers hosted locally, a space provided by local progressive business people, and dozens of computers, mini-disc recorders, and small video cameras purchased with donated funds. Using the tools of corporate globalization (inexpensive recording equipment and high-speed Internet), with a few easy lessons in how to format and post audio, video, and text, these ‘citizen journalists’ were able to create a ‘globalization from below,’ distributing news to a worldwide audience by and about the people being most affected.” Much of the technology and economics of the news business has changed radically since those days, but the legacy of that movement remains. As I pointed out in 2009: “The elements of participatory journalism—people given voice to help shape how their stories are told—this is truly what democracy looks like. Be the media!”

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

 
Sincerely,

Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. - The new 2025 Hidden History of the United States calendar is now available. You can order one online and have it mailed to you. Don’t miss a minute of the “hidden history” of 2025. Just go to indiepublishers.shop, and while you are there, checkout some of our other great offerings as well. There is still time to get your items delivered for the holidays.

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