Resist greenwashing at COP27

COP27 Poli Ed Graphics 400

At a vital moment in our planet’s history, as we see the devastating impact of the climate crisis, tens of thousands are gathering for the COP27 climate conference in Egypt.

While Palestine faces climate challenges, the UN development program considers the Israeli military occupation an environmental risk in its own right. For example, climate change has impacted the yield of olive trees in Palestine, which the Israeli regime has exacerbated by restricting water access and destroying thousands of olive trees every year.

This year’s climate conference is focused on global climate justice, including reparations for those in the Global South who’ve contributed least to our climate crisis but will be most impacted by its effects. However, without broader human rights conversations and genuine accountability, international spaces like COP27 can devolve into greenwashing.

Israel has tried to greenwash the theft of Palestinian land under the pretext of forestation projects, including in the Naqab. Millions of Palestinians remain under Israel’s separate-and-unequal apartheid system, illegal military occupation of the West Bank, and blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Today in Egypt, there are about 60,000 political prisoners, jailed for their political views and often facing horrific torture. Alaa Abd el Fattah, prominent activist from the Arab Spring, is currently on a hunger and water strike with only days left to survive. He, along with all political prisoners, must be released for any kind of justice to be possible.

We cannot make true progress toward climate justice without accounting for U.S. complicity in human rights abuses. The U.S. has entrenched the authoritarian and apartheid regimes of Egypt and Israel, together the largest recipients of our military funding over the past decade.

Next week, you’re invited to join us for an event with Stop the Wall, Visualizing Palestine, and the Boycott National Committee on Exporting Israeli Climate Apartheid: A People’s Forum on False Solutions. You can learn more from speakers across five continents on confronting false solutions to our climate crisis.

Register for the webinar now, and join us on Thursday, Nov. 17.

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