Learnings from the state of Israel
Sometimes it’s hard to understand why people fight against renewable energy projects. And sometimes, it’s not that hard, you just have to listen.
In the Golan Heights, the Druze community is fighting against a wind turbine project backed by the state of Israel. Genesis Wind would meet wind production goals for the state of Israel but would also serve as a tool for land theft and colonial expansion. Read more about this here.
In the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a renewable energy project is providing cover-up for Azerbaijan’s recent ethnic cleansing of Armenians and its disastrous environmental record. Read our report (a short read in the summary, deep dive in the full report), spread the word, and contact us if you would like to collaborate around this. Read more about this here.
As we move past the one-year anniversary of the surge of violence that began on October 7 2023, a new analysis from the Gastivists Collective brings new data to the table regarding the connection between fossil gas, the Israeli state and Europe. More information on this report here.
On 20th October 2023 we wrote this letter to our networks, inviting our friends, colleagues and comrades in the climate justice community to offer their thoughts, and invite them to engage with us in discussion, and crucially, in action.
It is clear to us that making demands of ceasefire, peace and justice, is part of our work. It is not a deviation from our work for climate justice. We do not have to justify, triangulate, or wordsmith our demands to find the climate angle.
Far right parties and fascism are expanding. We see it as we type. The way in which these factions tackle the subject of the climate crisis and gas needs of “the nation” can not be ignored. But we don’t have to wait to face their horrendous next steps. We can prevent their narratives so that the people don’t trust them-only in crisis. Their spaces have to be reduced and their narratives countered. We have to understand what are the incipient steps for more militarisation of the energy needs and trace the lines between far-right politics and increasing power of fossil fuel companies.
With focus on Romanian geography, we tried to tackle this subject in debates we organized on the ground. Read more about it here.
In 2022, the sharp rise of gas and electricity prices lead to a wider cost of living crisis in Europe. Together with CEO, we gathered trade unions, climate and housing activists, access to energy groups, consumer groups and many more for regular discussions to make sense of this new context, connect with inspiring initiatives in Europe and coordinate regional needs.
You can listen to short podcast episodes on the key topics that we covered: housing, the CEE context, energy justice, trade union and hope.
To tell the story of how the cost of living crisis, the invasion of Ukraine, energy crisis and climate crisis are interconnected, we have created #SpringIsComing – a 15 minute original movie – to arm European movements with a common story of why we need to leave behind the age of fossil capitalism, and move into a democratic and renewable energy future.
The video is available here. If you want subtitles in other languages, we translated the video in Danish, Czech, Italian, Croatian, Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, French, Spanish and German. You can find them all here.
Do you want to organise a screening? See here how.
