Dear friends,

Welcome to 2021, and to the Rising Clyde #11, our first edition for an exciting new year! Be sure to subscribe to our joint Coalition Calendar to stay up to date on our events. As it is also Burns Night soon, tune into this edition’s soundtrack to get you in the mood for our upcoming Coalition Social.

We can’t wait until November for Action on Climate Justice. This Spring, 27-28 March, we will come together again for From the Ground Up #2: Take Action Now.

Due to the difficulties of school closures and another national lockdown in the United Kingdom, we have extended the deadline for submissions until 31st Jan 2021 for all UK & European contributors.

International allies from the global south are invited to attend our International Assembly on 4th February to discuss potential topics, and can submit contributions until 15th February. 

Get involved!

As we look into the new year, there is lots to be done!

• On Monday, 25th January, Migrants Organising for RIghts and Empowerment (MORE) is organising the first session on why Climate Justice is Migrant Justice. Please forward the flyer below and this submission form to any refugees, migrants and asylum seekers that might be interested!
• Join the Political Strategy Working Group meeting on Tuesday 26th December at 7pm for a policy discussion on Net Zero.
• The Comms Working Group is meeting weekly, with the next meetings on Thursday 28th at 3pm and Wednesday 3rd February at 3pm.
• After that, the Mobilisations Working Group are meeting on Wednesday 3rd at 6:30pm to plan a Glasgow-based action during COP26.
• On Thursday, 4th February, we are inviting all of our international allies to join us in our next International Assemblies, at 9am UTC and at 4pm UTC. Please forward this invite to all your international networks, and contact Global Solidarity if you’re able to help out.

News and Resources 

• ICYMI, in December we projected an important message onto the COP26 venue. The “Climate Ambition Summit” that the Government was hosting brought the expected high score on our bullshit bingo cards. 

• Though the U.K. did, at least, announce the end of public financing of fossil fuels overseas, somebody had to cut through the celebratory jamboree and remind the suits that 2020 was the hottest year on record and that “Carbon Neutrality” is a fairy tale, that Net-zero is not zero, and that an assumption that we will be saved by technologies like Carbon Capture and Storage are, at best, wishful thinking. 

• Of course, these summits always find new ways to achieve next to nothing meaningful, as Greta Thunberg noted about the One Planet summit in Paris this month. 

• In the face of such inaction, it’s heartening to know that Extinction Rebellion have released a new action strategy and waves of rebellion which you can read here and that Fridays For Future International have announced the next Day of Action as 19th March, which you can support by calling for #NoMoreFalsePromises.

• If any of you in Scotland do plan on taking direct action during these lockdown times, these activist COVID Guidelines will come in handy. But even if you’re not up for direct action, you can help local residents in Fife in their campaign to close the Mossmorran petrochemical plant.

• As Joe Biden was inaugurated this week, we’ve seen many reheated Takes on what it all means for international climate politics. Some questions worth asking include: what does Joe Biden’s oil transition mean for US-Saudi and US-Russia relations?  But with China assuming the mantle of climate leadership (to put alongside the mantle of dirty energy leadership) some are asking if the United States and China can reboot their climate cooperation? Or will John Kerry follow his own China policy?

And if you were still wondering whether the UK government’s race to zero is enough to tackle the multiple crises we face, here’s the youth with some real talk for you.