“They are afraid of the terrorists, but they’re also afraid of the truth”

[marmar]

from The Progressive:


Young Activists to World Leaders in Paris: Stop Hiding Behind Counter-Terrorism and Take Action on Climate Change
Posted: December 3, 2015

by Roberto Lovato


PARIS--I met Emma Karanov and Julie Berluzzi, two high school seniors from Paris, at a sit-in during the climate summit the Place de la République, one of the centers of political expression in a country whose streets are paved with a long history of protest, and terror.

Along with the Bataclan nightclub where ninety mostly young people were killed in the terrorist attacks of November 13, the square is currently a major center of emotional and political gravity. It was filled with more 10,000 pairs of shoes this past week, standing in for the hundreds of thousands of marchers anticipated before the protests were cancelled in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

“We wanted to make a statement by leaving our shoes here,” said Berluzzi, who joined several thousand people in the shoe action after French President Francois Hollande used emergency powers to forbid the planned protests. “Then the police showed up and started arresting people. We don’t know why they started encircling us,” she added, looking at a human barricade of heavily armed police surrounding the activists and Marianne, the storied statue at the center of Republique and personification of the French Republic. “When they started getting violent, many of us decided to sit.”

“They are afraid of the terrorists, but they’re also afraid of the truth” injected Karanov, who says she will study art after she graduates. “I’m more afraid of climate change than I am of terrorism because climate change is already impacting millions around the world.”

The terrorist attacks, the government’s response, and climate change all affect young people in particular, the students said. .................(more)

- See more at: http://progressive.org/news/2015/12/188442/young-activists-world-leaders-paris-stop-hiding-behind-terrorism-and-take-action#sthash.xiR1WjUr.dpuf

[Ron Green]

1. US corporate media are to blame for this.

Always, ALWAYS going for the lower-brain story: fear, excitement, sentimentality.

Climate IS the big issue, there's really no argument there. Not only will it kill far more people than shooters, much evidence suggests it's a root cause of shooting.

But as long as we've got TV traffic copters, we're gonna put on that live show.