The EU has adopted a ‘business as usual’ approach to Israel as it perpetrates a genocide in Gaza.
Ahead of the parliamentary elections, our new research argues that by providing political cover and material support to Israel, the EU is complicit in genocide 🧵
Can you stop
#ClimateChange
with guns? 🌎🔥
The world’s biggest polluters seem to think so - spending more on arming borders than on climate finance.
👇Watch
@billmckibben
share why
#ClimateJustice
must be prioritized at
#COP26
.
Read more:
🇪🇬 The World Bank claims that the liberalization of electricity prices in
#Egypt
ended subsidies to the rich.
But in reality it paved the way for the entry of international finance, at the expense of the poorest.
👉
Borders are systems of control.
Where you are born and the passport you carry determines your life expectancy, your access to food, to water, to shelter, to health.
Watch
@arunkundnani
discuss with
@harshawalia
why we should abolish borders.
With
#COP27
happening in Egypt, it is clear that a just energy transition in North Africa will require a clear recognition of the historic responsibility of the industrialised West in causing global warming.
What could that look like in practice?
👉
The ongoing genocide in Gaza is the consequence of a political and moral failure of the international community.
A suspension of the Association Agreement would send a strong message that the EU’s commitment to human rights is more than just rhetoric.
Digitalisation is transforming our economy, society and environment. Our 2023 State of Power report provides a critical primer to understanding digital power today – its key players, dynamics, possibilities for resistance and strategies for transformation.
🚨 BREAKING: Richest polluting nations are spending 30X as much on the military as they do on climate finance for the world’s most climate-affected peoples.
Leaders reunited at
#COP27
must address military spending to prevent climate breakdown.
🌿The world we want is perfectly possible to finance:
These 10 proposals could raise $9.4 trillion a year worldwide – enough to pay for the pandemic, the Sustainable Development Goals, a just climate transition and reparations for slavery.
📑
🚨70 years after the UN 1951 Refugee Convention was adopted, Europe now looks to profit from the displaced. Our new research reveals how the highly lucrative arms trade is fuelling displacement and migration.
👉Read the full report:
The world’s most vulnerable countries and communities need support for renewable energy development. Yet the dominant form of support is all about ‘de-risking’ finance, which is more about guaranteeing corporate profits than delivering sustainable energy.
Big Pharma companies make obscene profits from the Covid vaccine, paid for with public money. It is not a market failure - it’s a policy failure.
Learn more in
@arunkundnani
’s interview with
@MohgaKamalYanni
from
@peoplesvaccine
.
👉
The “Arab Spring” shook and inspired the whole world.
Ten years on, a collection of essays brings together insights from a dozen brilliant scholars and activists.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) claims to respect the rights of migrants.
But new research shows links between the IOM and serious human rights violations perpetrated against migrants in the Balkans, where its presence is overwhelmingly funded by the EU. 🧵
We all know that industrial livestock farming is destroying the planet.
But is going vegan the only way to save the planet?
On the occasion of World Food Day, here are some key takeaways about different types of livestock keeping that can contribute to real climate solutions👇
Most narratives on the energy transition in North Africa disregard the factor of class, race, gender, justice, power and colonialism.
Read here why the proposed solutions do not address the root causes of climate, ecological, food and energy crises.
👉
⛽ Renewable energy projects in the Maghreb often translate into ‘green colonialism’ instead of a just energy transition that benefits working people.
Why does the new green hydrogen trend constitute neocolonial schemes of plunder and dispossession?
👉
“If you prepare for war you get war, if you prepare for peace you get peace.”
―Ukrainian peace activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Our new report reveals why the EU should not fund the research and development of new weapons. 🧵👇🏽
Biden is opposed to Trump's wall, but supports a more hidden ‘virtual wall’ and ‘smart borders’, deploying surveillance technologies that will be both more lucrative for the industry and more hidden in terms of the abuses they perpetrate.
Read more:
'Dismantling Green Colonialism' explores how the energy transition in the Arab region is held back by resource-grabbing and (neo)colonial agendas - and how to fight back.
Tomorrow
@BenToumert
and
@shqair_manal
will launch the book in London.
📢We are excited to announce the first ever State of the World conference – an opportunity to listen to some of the world’s best scholar activists with a truly internationalist analysis of the key issues of our time.
🔥Join us this September:
Quand un état d’urgence temporaire devient permanent:
En France, les droits humains ont été considérablement affaiblis. En particulier, les musulmans, les militants pour le climat et les groupes de solidarité envers les migrants ont été ciblés.
📑
There are no easy solutions to stopping war once it has started. But five months on it is clear that sending high-calibre weaponry worth tens of billions has not stopped the fighting.
@DondeNiamh
says we need to rethink this militarised response 👇
In the days following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war frenzy reached fever pitch. Calls for de-escalation and dialogue were side-lined, ignored, ridiculed, or misconstrued as pro-Russian or pro-Putin.
It became taboo to reject militarism in favour of peace. 🧵👇
Today the Dutch High Court ruled that the Netherlands must stop exporting F35 fighter jet components to Israel.
Two weeks ago the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel is plausibly committing genocide.
This must be the beginning of the end for the genocidal regime.🧵
🚨The European Union just gave the final green light on the historical withdrawal from the climate-wrecking Energy Charter Treaty!
This is a huge victory for climate justice campaigners across Europe 🌍
The Transnational Institute and allies around the world, including
@NaomiAKlein
,
@yanisvaroufakis
,
@Jayati1609
and
@davidrkadler
, condemn the detention of TNI associate Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky in Russia.
Sign the call for his immediate release now:
EU–Israeli relations are underpinned by the Association Agreement, which contains a human rights clause. Had the EU invoked this clause and cut trade ties, imposed an arms embargo and prohibited arms shipments transiting from the US, it may have pressured Israel to shift course.
The EU began funding the development of military wares in 2017.
It then increased its military budget by 1250% from one budgetary cycle to another.
It is increasingly intent on investing in militarism and preparing for war rather than prioritising peace.
In 2020, Joe Biden received three times more donations than Donald Trump from the border security industry.
🚧 What does this mean for future US immigration policies?
Read our latest research with
@ConMijente
&
@afsc_org
⬇️
Great news our TNI colleague
@satokokishimoto
won her mayoral election in Suginami, Tokyo on the same day Colombia voted its first Afro-Colombian Francia Márquez as V-P! Radical women taking power is what this world desperately needs.
#PeopleOverProfit
Big Tech companies like to claim that data is a new ‘raw’ material that is there for taking.
Google’s chief financial officer has even likened it to sunlight, claiming that data is ‘replenishable, inexhaustible and owner-less resource that can be harvested sustainably’. 🧵⬇️
Today with
@via_campesina
we mark the International Day of Peasant Struggles, remember the Eldorado do Carajás massacre in 1996 and honour the resistance of peasants worldwide who persist in their struggle for social justice and dignity.
10 years ago the EU won the Nobel Peace Prize.
But a decade on, EU policies are less likely to promote peace and more likely to contribute to instability, violence and war.
With the holidays coming up, let's take a look at the EU’s actual commitment to peace: 🧵👇
El proceso constituyente en Chile abre la posibilidad de discutir los tratados de comercio e inversiones y revisar el tratamiento que el país otorga a las inversiones extranjeras.
#AsambleaConstituyente
Yesterday, Bolivia presented details about the World Health Organisation’s review of the classification of the coca leaf as a narcotic drug.
This process could end 70 years of racist discrimination of millions of coca leaf users, many of them indigenous people.🧵
Why should we aim for no borders instead of open borders?
In this interview led by
@arunkundnani
, activist and writer
@harshawalia
lays out the case for the abolition of borders.
For the first time in history, the
#IPCCReport
has recognized the role of Free Trade Agreements and Bilateral Investment Treaties as mechanisms to delay government action for climate mitigation.
This is a huge milestone.🧵👇🏽
In 1972, Salvador Allende’s held his acclaimed speech at the United Nations in which he spoke about how transnational corporations could become an overpowering political and economic force.
Fifty years later the world he so starkly warned us about has become a reality.
Today people across Europe are standing in solidarity with those killed in
#Melilla
while Latino communities are mourning the 53 people found dead in a truck in
#SanAntonio
, Texas.
These deaths are not unpreventable tragedies but the result of a deadly border regime. 🧵👇
Long before the Ukraine war, the EU increased its security, defence and military budgets for 2021-2027 by a staggering 123% compared to the last budget round.
What does this money fund, and why is it so problematic? 🧵👇🏽
🇵🇸Palestinian trade unions called for global days of action and solidarity on 9 and 10 November in response to the unfolding genocide in Gaza.
This prompted anti-war activists and workers globally to take direct action to disrupt the shipment of arms to Israel. 🧵👇
Last week the EU approved the Act in Support of Ammunition Production.
The only concern raised in the EP briefing was not that the war in Ukraine continues, but that it ends, causing demand for ammunition to drop off, explains
@DondeNiamh
in
@euobs
.
As we all know, Nigeria has a tragic history with international oil companies like Shell.
Less known is the fact that these companies have used the controversial ISDS mechanism to sue the country.
Our latest report shows why Nigeria should not join the Energy Charter Treaty👇
We denounce the illicit Argentine intelligence files kept on
@TNInstitute
, our researcher
@lucianaghiotto
and many journalists. Such intimidation is a threat to democracy.
🌎Is climate change a security issue? More and more politicians say so, but whose interests will it serve?
🚨As
#COP26
leaders call for climate security, our latest primer sounds an alarm.
#NoWarNoWarming
When we think of surveillance, we often think of cameras and states.
But the biggest surveillance is carried out digitally by corporations: Almost every commercial website we visit broadcasts data to companies that then market to us.
As billions across the world face energy poverty and skyrocketing energy bills, this is a crucial moment to transition towards a public energy system rooted in justice, solidarity and democracy.
We need to unite globally to put the care of people and our planet before profit.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine western governments have pledged billions of tax money to militarism.
But these states are already vastly superior militarily.
Shouldn't we instead be investing in dialogue, diplomacy and tackling the cost of living crisis? 🧵
🚨TNI with
@SOMO
,
@ITforChange
and
@StatewatchEU
present:
A free six-week course from brilliant experts and activists taking on Big Tech worldwide and advancing an alternative digital world rooted in justice.
ℹ️
Since the pandemic, large corporations like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have gained huge influence on our public health infrastructure.
Why should we depend on Big Tech to receive healthcare?
📢 Activists, join our essential course to understand how digitalisation is shaping our world – and how we can counter the power of Digital Capitalism.
📅 1 April 2024 - 12 May 2024
Register for free:
An overview of the weekly masterclasses below 🧵👇
For decades, the EU has maintained close ties with Israel, treating it as a de facto member state, even as it expanded its illegal occupation of Palestine and invaded and waged war in neighbouring territory.
This has not changed even with Israel now on trial for genocide.
Israel's war on Gaza is part of a longstanding colonialist system of apartheid, violent occupation and oppression.
Our reading list sheds light on the most recent developments and provides context through articles, reports and videos from our archive.
Instead the EU chose to back a genocidal regime to the hilt providing political and material support for Israel making it a partner in the crime of crimes, genocide.
Find out more 👉
Global military spending is at an all-time high.
New data from
@SIPRIorg
reveals that states spent $2.24 trillion in 2022, up 3.7% on the previous year.
Militarism fuels tension and instability, prolonging war and conflict - it does not make us safer. 🧵
#WarCostsUsTheEarth
Recipe for disaster? Rob Wallace warned that industrial food and farming systems were a dangerous cooking pot for pathogens. Don't miss him in conversation with land and farming activists.
#covid19
Webinar: 15 April, 4pm CET. Register at
Who has digital power in the world?
Digital power is determined by infrastructure: cables, satellites, data centres, computers, chips.
Whoever holds the infrastructure holds the power.
🧵👇
What would GLOBAL Green New Deal look like? How do we advance climate justice during a pandemic? Join webinar on 13 May, 4pm CET with
@UNCTAD
's Richard Kozul-Wright, Asad Rehman
@chilledasad100
Karin Nansen
@FoEint
& Sandra van Niekerk
@AIDC_ZA
On this day in 1974, the Transnational Institute was founded.
Progressive thinkers came together to build a unique organization rooted in the protests against the American war in Vietnam, and struggles against hunger, debt and nuclear proliferation.
2020 has seen antiracism movements gain momentum, but individualism and fragmentation undermine solidarity & depoliticise antiracism struggles. In our latest report,
@ilyas_nagdee
& Azfar Shafi reflect on collectivity & solidarity in antiracist organising:
As a major offshore financial centre, the Netherlands has been a driving force behind the system that allows corporations to sue countries, as explained by
@kennardmatt
in this interview.
Read more about it in our latest report with
@somo
and
@both_ends
:
For the first time in history, the Netherlands is facing an
#ISDS
claim under the
#EnergyCharterTreaty
.
The German energy giant RWE is suing NL for phasing out coal in 2030, seeking 1.4 billion euro.
This treaty is widely used to attack climate policies around the world ⬇️
#COVID19
has shown us the disastrous effects of years of austerity, social security cuts and public service privatisation. We need to work for a public future. Our new book shows the way:
Our next webinar will examine authoritarian and repressive state responses to
#COVID19
. With UN Special Rapporteur on Protecting Human Rights
@NiAolainF
, author/researcher
@ArunKundnani
and
@MPaz_online
of the Digital Rights campaign.
Registration:
Let's talk about de-privatisation and democratic public ownership as strategies for
#energydemocracy
and
#climatejustice
. The Future is Public! Join us here:
Today we remember Orlando Letelier, TNI's second director and a former Chilean government minister under Allende. Exactly 42 years ago, he was assassinated in Washington DC with a car bomb:
Germany is Israel’s second-largest arms supplier after the US.
In 2023 German exports to Israel increased tenfold from €32.3 million to €326.5 million with the vast majority of new licences being granted in the period following 7 October.
On April 21, the people of Ecuador will be able to vote on a referendum to decide if foreign investors should be able to sue countries at so-called international arbitration courts.
Europe's "refugee crisis" triggered a wave of
#RefugeesWelcome
solidarity. But now those citizens helping refugees are being criminalised and prosecuted. How is this possible?
For 20 years, the EU has been deploying military missions, with scant public scrutiny and no parliamentary oversight, mostly to Africa.
In light of the European elections, we look at how these missions contributed to human rights violations and military coups. 🧵
#COVID19
has shown us the disastrous effects of years of austerity, social security cuts & privatisation. Support for public services and limits on private profit is at an all-time high. How do we ensure this support becomes permanent?
Join our webinar 👉🏾
Elon Musk ‘is the poster child for [Big Tech’s practice of] failing up. A man who is so insulated by his wealth, his luck, and his privilege that it doesn't matter how many times he screws up, he can he can still land on his feet’ - Cory
@doctorow
Most writing on the energy transition in North Africa and the Arab region is dominated by international neoliberal institutions.
This essay collection is different: It exposes greedy power structures shaping the response to climate change. 🧵👇
Want to know what the rise of
#China
means for social and environmental justice? Join our 6 week introductory webinar series starting 10 November.
🖊️ Find out more and register for one or all sessions here
Our economic system has long served the interests of the rich and powerful. What if we use public money to build the systemic solutions needed for everyone to thrive? New book out now: Public Finance for the Future We Want. 👉
#PublicFinance
Since 7 October, the EU has approved 130 Horizon Europe research projects involving Israeli entities in receipt of €126 million.
Israel Aerospace Industries, one of Israel’s largest arms companies, got almost €640,000, while Israel’s Ministry of Health got almost €1 million.
Who has digital power today? With 10 insightful essays, 40 illuminating infographics, 1 podcast, 9 powerful illustrations, our free 11th State of Power report breaks down the facts, key issues, and outlines possible alternative digital futures. Read it at
How have companies like amazon evaded attempts at regulation and governance?
In their essay,
@CeciliaRikap
and
@cedric_durand
show how the contemporary debate on dismantling Big Tech giants misses the point.
The EU funds arms companies that export weapons to Israel. Companies like Rheinmetall, Leonardo, and others that arm Israel have received public money to the tune of €426 million under the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) and the European Defence Fund (EDF).
How can essentials such as water, energy and care be managed in an inclusive way? This new report finds that collaborations between citizens and public institutions are best positioned to do so. Read it here:
#FutureIsPublic
Israel is an apartheid state.
It maintains this system of occupation, control and oppression through surveilling every aspect of life in Palestine.
🧵 based on a chapter from an upcoming book by
@_PMolnar
who visited the occupied West Bank in spring 2023.
Hundreds of grassroots organizations to oppose the UN Food Systems Summit
#UNFSS2021
because of the massive influence it gives to the corporate sector. This weekend the counter-summit
#FoodSystems4People
is kicking of with a great line up of (online)events
Remember how we beat
#TTIP
in 2016? Now politicians and corporate leaders are trying to bring the worst part of TTIP back. We need to
#STOPISDS
now and support a
#bindingtreaty
that can punish multinationals for their humanrights violation:
The central myth of neoliberalism – ‘private sector good, public sector bad’ – persists in the face of all evidence to the contrary
@newint
@nickmdowson
Yesterday the Dutch parliament decided they want to exit the climate wrecking Energy Charter Treaty.
Here is why this is a great move for the climate movement 👇🧵
There is always an alternative: 2,400 cities in 58 countries have taken services like health care, waste management and energy back into their own hands.
Our new book shows how democratic public services can lead to wider radical transformation: