Corruption Tracker

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We put together a stellar panel of young, international activists so to talk about the links between the climate crisis and militarism!

When: May 23rd, 9AM ET (New York) – Find Your Local Time

Where: Zoom – Register on Eventbrite

Description

From fires and hurricanes, to heat waves and flash floods, human-induced climate change has not only increased the number of weather-related disasters in the last 50 years, but has made them more severe. Weather-related fatalities and injuries continue to climb as the impacts of these disasters have reached $202 million in economic losses per day.

Extreme weather and natural disasters are not the only mechanism with which climate change and the burning of fossil fuels impact our communities. Food insecurity, water scarcity, infectious diseases, forced migration, and political conflict will only continue to cause devastating impacts. Militaries have already begun to position themselves as the only entities that can “fight” climate change, as if it is the next war they seek to embark on.

Yet, militaries represent a huge climate problem. According to Scientists for Global Responsibility, the world’s militaries are responsible for 5.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the Costs of War project reports that since the beginning of the war on terrorism, the U.S. military has emitted at least 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gasses. More than 400 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses are directly due to war-related fuel consumption. Western militaries claim that they will reshape themselves into the ultimate climate action ally, but what does this mean in practice?

In this panel, we explore what researchers, policymakers, and activists are doing locally, regionally, and globally to address the role of militarization in the climate crisis. Our speakers will discuss what we can do to educate and mobilize other young people to join our efforts!

Sponsored by The World Peace Foundation, and partially funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Speakers:

• Nico Edwards – YouthFusion2000 and Scientists for Global Responsibility
• Raeesah Noor-Mahomed – Intersectional activist from Johannesburg, South Africa
• Manal Shqair – Campaigns Coordinator, Stop the Wall
• Ibrahim Muhammad – Climate justice activist, Arctic Basecamp Ambassador

 

Moderator(s):

• B. Arneson – Research Coordinator, Corruption Tracker and Director of the Global Arms Trade and Corruption Program, World Peace Foundation
• Alwande Khumalo – Social Media Campaigner/Programme Associate and South African Youth Representative in Amnesty International’s Global Youth Collective

 

 

Speakers

Raeesah Noor-Mahomed is a 20 year old Intersectional Activist from Johannesburg, South Africa. Raeesah began their activism in 2019, doing performance art pieces to raise awareness about the climate crisis. 

 In 2020 Raeesah stood outside their school gates every Friday, boycotting class in a demand for the Government to declare a climate emergency.

They continued this boycott until the Covid-19 lockdown was implemented.

Raeesah has since been networking and collaborating with activists and organisations, both in the country and around the world. In 2021, Raeesah crowd-funded to attend COP26. In 2022, Raeesah attended a Climate Justice Camp in Tunisia, with almost 400 participants from 65 countries.

Raeesah is in their final year of their undergraduate degree at the University of Cape Town, where they major in Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Theatre and Anthropology. Raeesah plans to combine their passion for social justice with their love for the arts.

Manal Shqair is a Palestinian climate activist, grassroots organizer and the international advocacy officer of Stop the Wall Campaign. Currently, Manal is doing her PhD at Queen Margaret University, Scotland. In her PhD thesis, she examines the role of Palestinian semi-nomadic women’s everyday practices of resistance in reinforcing their communities’ sense of group solidarity and enable them to resist Israeli settler colonial dispossession in Masafer Yatta, occupied West Bank.

Nico Edwards is a PhD Candidate in International Relations at the University of Sussex, looking at the rise of ‘green militarism’ and ‘sustainable warfare’ models across the Global North. Parallel, she volunteers as a civil society communicator and coordinator addressing issues around disarmament, demilitarisation and environmental sustainability.

In this function, she works with a range of organisations including Youth Fusion (the Abolition 2000 Youth Network) and Scientists for Global Responsibility. Nico is also a World Peace Foundation Research Associate, investigating emerging green military trends as part of the Revitalising Debates on Global Arms Trade programme.

 Ibrahim Muhammad Abubakar is a Climate justice Activist from Nigeria, A highly motivated student currently pursuing BSC ED. Geography Education. He is also an Organiser of Fridays for future demonstrations in Nigeria, also serves as a Director of intersectional Climate revolutionary Action Nigeria Chapter, a certified Ambassador of SGDS and an Arctic basecamp youth Climate Ambassador. 

His enthusiasm to speak for Mother earth, and speak science to power made him an Arctic basecamp Youth Climate Ambassador.

The background image used on this site is an edited version of a US Navy photo released under a public domain license. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement (should be obvious in our case…).