eco shenanigans

NB: If you haven't yet read Naomi Klein's article " Capitalism vs. the Climate ", I recommend that you do! Xstrata and Occupy LSX From an environmental perspective,  Xstrata , one of the world's largest mining corporations, was an excellent target for the OccupyLSX activists to target on November 30. The most obvious reason for this is the company's aggressive pursuit of expanding its coal operations. In Australia, Xstrata is planning to build the  largest opencast coal mine  in the southern hemisphere. Xstrata also has a very poor record in dealing with indigenous peoples who live on or near the lands that are being mined, and a number of local activists who oppose Xstrata's operations have been assassinated . You can find a good overview of most of the reports coming out about Xstrata from  the London Mining Network . So when Occupy LSX 'occupied' the Xstrata headquarters, my first thought was "Great! They're finally doing somethi

A s a Marylander living in London who has been an active participant in the student and anti-cuts protest movements, I was thrilled to come across the news yesterday that “ US Uncut ” groups are sprouting up around the country. UK Uncut was born when a group of seasoned activists met in a pub in North London in October to discuss government cuts to public services and the emerging student protest movement. To them, it was clear that a crackdown on tax avoidance by corporations and wealthy individuals would negate the need for spending cuts and undermine the Coalition government’s argument that these cuts are “necessary”. The target in mind was Vodafone , the largest mobile phone company in Europe. A report on the British whistleblower site Private Eye had indicated that the HMRC (the British version of the IRS) had cut their tax bill from $9.7 billion to just under $2 billion, and that this decision had been guided by government officials. This information came out at the sam