Save the Climate and False Creek South
Save the Climate and False Creek South
Striketober
Local
XR Vancouver : The October Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion (XR Vancouver) will be in the streets every day until October 29. They are demanding that our government commit to ending fossil fuel subsidies prior to COP26 and if not, they will be disrupting “business-as-usual with actions every day.” The protest group says it will occupy major intersections, bridges and shut down Vancouver International Airport.
On their website COP26 Extinction Rebellion, the global organization known as Extinction Rebellion (XR) writes:
COP26 in Glasgow this November has the stated aim of “uniting the world to tackle climate change”. Yet at the previous 25 COP conferences since 1995, world leaders have repeatedly failed to deliver on this. We will not accept this failure – governments must act now. “Stop killing us” is the message from XR Global South groups already suffering the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. We must also provide a voice for the millions of species and future generations who cannot speak for themselves. XR will continue demanding immediate action to tackle the climate and ecological emergency in the run up to, during and beyond COP26.
From Oct 31 to Nov 12, the UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow. For those not familiar with the COP process, read COP Explained here.
In their regular email newsletter, XR announces: Extinction Rebellion Groups across 'Canada' will rebel against the vacuous political culture that promises climate action and delivers destruction and lies. Actions and updates are listed below and on our Facebook page.
Day 7/ Fri Oct 22: We will not stop! Cambie Bridge - Cooper's Park, 4:30pm
Day 8/ Sat Oct 23: We will not stop (again)! Cambie Bridge - Cooper's Park, 12pm
Day 9/ Sun Oct 24: Save Fairy Creek, Grandview Hwy - Falaise Park, 12pm
Day 10/ Mon Oct 25: YVR Airport Pause - Larry Berg Flight Path Park, 4:30pm
Day 11/ Tues Oct 26: UBC Divest Already! - Jericho Beach Park, 4:30pm
Day 12/ Wed Oct 27: UBC Divest Already! Day 2 - Jericho Beach Park, 4:30pm
Day 13/ Thurs Oct 28: Downtown Snake March - Nelson Park, 4:30pm
Day 14/ Fri Oct 29: Final Day March - Dude Chilling Park, 4:30pm
XR currently has 1,194 groups in 84 countries. There are 40 local groups in Canada --13 in BC, including Kamloops, Kelowna, two in the Fraser Valley, four on Vancouver Island, one on the Sunshine Coast, Howe Sound, UBC and Vancouver.
Photo Credit: City of Vancouver
False Creek South gentrification plan goes before Vancouver City Council
False Creek South is a neighbourhood in Vancouver stretching between the Cambie and Burrard Bridges. Originally developed as a mixed-income neighbourhood in the 1970s and early 1980s, 80% of the land is owned by the City of Vancouver. Two-thirds of the existing neighbourhood comprises co-op and other social housing for low and middle income individuals, with the remaining third a mix of market rentals and strata condominiums. Building scale ranges from townhomes to four story multi-unit buildings. The neighbourhood design fully integrates the various forms of housing in the neighbourhood, and the neighbourhood is internationally recognized for its livability and sustainability.
On Thursday, October 26, a report titled The Future of False Creek South: Advancing a Conceptual Development Plan and Addressing Lease Expiries will go before Vancouver City Council for approval. The plan presented in the report calls for a major gentrification of the False Creek South neighbourhood, and if implemented, this plan would irrevocably alter the character of False Creek South.
This report represents the continuation of the False Creek South redevelopment plan, phase 1 of which took place under the previous City Council in 2017-2018. Under phase 1, the previous city council approved a broad set of values for redevelopment of False Creek South, which includes maximizing return on investment for the City of Vancouver, as well as providing space for existing residents within the plan. These two goals are fundamentally at odds with each other, and the proposal before city council prioritizes maximizing return on investments for the city of Vancouver, relegating the replacement housing for existing residents to a secondary concern.
Under the proposal before council, the number of market rental and strata condominium units are slated to triple and would occupy all of the prime real estate on the site. These units would almost certainly be unaffordable for all but the highest income earners, due to the astronomical cost of market housing in Vancouver and the lack of measures in the plan to reduce the cost of these units.
The number of co-op and other social housing units is slated to double; however, these units are slated to be placed in a wall along 6th Avenue. The plan aspires to house existing low and middle income residents in the new co-op and other social housing units, but the plan does not guarantee the size or affordability of these units relative to existing units. What’s more, the co-op and social housing units envisioned in the plan are purely aspirational at this time, as they are contingent on senior government funding which has not yet been secured.
In response to the plan, the RePlan committee of the South False Creek Neighbourhood Association has produced a presentation entitled The Future of False Creek South. The presentation highlights many concerns with the False Creek South redevelopment plan being put to council, but stops short of calling for the complete abandonment of the redevelopment plan.
Vancouver-based sustainable urban planning advocate Patrick Condon struck a more oppositional tone to the project in a recent article in The Tyee, The City’s False Promises About False Creek South
Thom Armstrong, CEO of the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC, was interviewed by Gloria Mackarenko on CBC Radio’s On the Coast program. Armstrong made a number of basic, important points -- including that the city needs to include threatened co-ops in the lease renewal framework approved in July.
False Creek South and Co-Op Housing | On the Coast With Gloria Mackarenko
Let’s run Skytrain into North Vancouver!
North Shore Connects, a partnership composed of the City of West Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, City of North Vancouver, Squamish First Nation, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation is campaigning for a Skytrain into North Vancouver claiming it will remove 50,000 cars from bridges daily. The Lions Gate Bridge currently averages 70,000 vehicles per day and the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge averages 120,000. The formation of North Shore Connects coincides with the recent release of Translinks 30-year regional transportation strategy for a new round of public consultation.
Provincial
BC court reinstates injunction at Fairy Creek
On October 8, the BC Supreme Court reinstated the Injunction at Fairy Creek, which allows the RCMP to once again arrest protesters attempting to block the logging of some of the last old-growth trees in BC. The RCMP have resumed arrests at Fairy Creek, which is already the site of the largest mass civil disobedience campaign in Canadian history.
BC Gov’t to introduce fees for access to information requests
The BC NDP government has introduced legislation to implement a fee for access to information requests other than for personal reasons. This is the sort of undemocratic move that would be unsurprising if it came from a BC Liberal government. Coming from the supposedly left-leaning BC NDP, the move is much more sobering for what it reveals about the true nature of this government.
Since the BC NDP commands a majority in the BC legislature, the legislation is expected to pass easily.
Knowledge Network airs new series on BC’s untold history
The Knowledge Network is in the midst of airing a new four-part documentary series titled British Columbia: An Untold History.
The four Episodes are as follows:
E1 Change + Resistance -- Uncovers the Indigenous resistance to oppression in BC. First Nations persevered through years of brutality and criminalization. Remembering this history is an act of refusal to be erased.
E2 Labour + Persistence -- Explores the history of labour and inequality in BC. First Nations, immigrants and women fought overseas in both World Wars and then kept fighting for equal rights at home.
E3 Migration + Resilience -- Reveals the immigrant narratives of resilience that define BC. Chinese, Japanese and Punjabi migrants, the Doukhobors and American war resisters catalyzed social movements that continue today.
E4 Nature + Co-Existence -- Examines how the history of BC is inseparably fused with the history of natural resources and how First Nations have worked with non-Indigenous environmentalists to co-exist and protect the land.
Episodes 1 and 2, which have already aired, are available to stream on the Knowledge Network’s website. Episodes 3 and 4 will air at 9pm on October 26 and November 2 respectively, after which time they will also be available to stream.
Read More:
BC’s ‘Untold’ History is Riveting Stuff -- Dorothy Woodend in The Tyee
Two centuries of BC history told through a diverse lens in new documentary series -- Christina Jung in CBC News
International
Join the Climate Justice Movement with COP26 Coalition
The COP26 Coalition is a UK-based civil society coalition mobilising around climate justice during COP26. Coalition members include environment and development NGOs, trade unions, grassroots community campaigns, faith groups, youth groups, migrant and racial justice networks, as well as Acorn, Extinction Rebellion, Force of Nature and many more.
“COP26 coalition is doing great work,” said Anjali Appadurai, Climate Justice Lead at Sierra Club BC, during a recent forum at a Socialist Unity Assembly. “I will be at COP26 later this month working to raise the stakes around their demands and put pressure on the BC government. Stay in touch!”
The Coalition aims to bring together movements from across the globe and build boots-on-the-ground power for system change. The movement will be putting indigenous, frontline and Global South communities front and centre. You are invited to join the Coalition in actions across the world. Plans include a Global Day of Action for Climate Justice on November 6 and a Peoples Summit for Climate Justice Nov 7-10.
Their demands include: No More Cooking The Books: No To Fossil Fuels, Net-zero And False Solutions; Rewire The System: Start The Justice Transition Now; and Global Climate Justice: Reparations And Redistribution To Indigenous Communities and The Global South.
No tech for apartheid
This past May, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud executives signed a $1.22 billion contract to provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military in what is known as Project Nimbus. Google and Amazon employees made a public declaration in a letter to the Guardian in which they said “We cannot support our employer’s decision to supply the Israeli military and government technology that is used to harm Palestinians.” They are asking their employers to reject this contract and future contracts that will harm the community of technology workers and users. They are calling on global technology workers and the international community to add their voices to this call to action. You can do so on their website.
Thomas Sankara murder trial begins in Burkina Faso
34 years after the assassination of African revolutionary Thomas Sankara, the trial of the 14 people accused of plotting his assassination began on October 11 in Burkina Faso. Thomas Sankara was President of Burkina Faso from 1984 to 1987, when he was gunned down in one of the most infamous killings in modern African history. Sankara was a charismatic Marxist revolutionary who was widely known as “the Che Guevara of Africa.”
Upcoming Events
Solidarity Fridge Stock
October 23, Noon - 4:00 pm
Members of the Democratic Socialists of Vancouver are organizing an action to stock Vancouver's community fridges.
Global Day of Action for Climate Justice
Nov 6
COP26 Coalition is organising decentralised mass mobilisations across the world, bringing together movements to build power for system change – from indigenous struggles to trade unions, from racial justice groups to youth strikers.
Events | Vancouver Ecosocialists -- Roundup of events from around Metro Vancouver and online
Media Roundup
“They know people don’t know their rights” Daily street sweeps displace and dispossess unhoused DTES residents -- Pivot Legal Society
Why BC Needs an Independent COVID Science Group -- Amy Tan and Katrina Zelder in The Tyee
Harsha Walia is Still Trying to Make Sense of It All -- Olamide Olaniyan in The Tyee
BC Promises to Fix Broken Oil & Gas Royalty System -- Michelle Gamage in The Tyee
Why It’s Harder for the BC NDP to be Greener -- Robert A. Hackett in The Tyee
Environmental groups applaud Quebec’s ban on fossil fuel exploration -- Jenny Uechi in The National Observer
Starbucks Workers are Organizing -- And Management is Worried -- Faith Bennett in Jacobin Magazine
Sally Rooney turns down Israeli translation on political grounds -- Lucy Knight in The Guardian
Leaked documents reveal the fossil fuel and meat producing countries lobbying against climate action -- Lawrence Carter, Crispin Dowler
Podcasts
The Red Review, brought to you by Socialist Action, covers the monthly happenings in Canada from a socialist perspective. https://socialistaction.ca/our-initiatives/the-red-review/
People Over Plastic (POP), a BIPOC storytelling collective and podcast working towards an anti-racist and plastic-free future, launches today.
https://www.peopleoverplastic.co/