Dear Friends,
We hope this email finds you well as we share our recent news and activities with you. During the COVID times, when TPNS decided to focus on climate related work with specific reference to the global military, we were in different times. We could not have foreseen the Russian invasion of Ukraine nor – no matter how horrendous the Israeli occupation had been up to October 7th 2023 – Israel’s decision to implement a genocidal war designed to utterly destroy Gaza and the elimination, one way or another, of Palestinians from their homeland.
The world is now in an insane arms race – $2.4tr annually and rising – and the climate emergency along with basic international development, global health and public services all in the process of being relegated to second place, behind rearmament and talk of WW3.
In every way, we are in dark times. And the biggest threat to our collective safety – climate chaos – is dropping off the radar.
How on earth can this be?
As ever, it will be down to the tenacity, courage, vision and organising power of civil society where-ever it may be, to push back even harder, despite the deep sadness, despondency and overwhelming scale of the opposition faced – from authoritarian governments locking up climate protesters to genocide-enabling politicians; from amoral and greedy corporate elites to shameless oligarchs.
We have no choice but to resist and to keep hope alive – for the generations to come and for our beautiful blue planet.
Deb & Ho-Chih
Palestine
NAKBA ANNIVERSARY IN A TIME OF GENOCIDE
The Nakba ( ’the catastrophe’) is the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people through violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their society and the suppression of their culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations.
This May marks 77 years of Nakba.
77 years of dispossession, ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
77 years of displacement and exile.
77 years of catastrophe.
But in the face of brutal oppression and systematic violence, Palestinians continue to resist.
TPNS contributed to this compelling infographic on the scale of Israel’s militarised state as part of Transnational institute’s 2021 State of Power report. It gives context to the ‘David and Goliath’ nature of Israel’s war on the people of Gaza,
Read more on our Make Apartheid History page: BDS demands this Nakba 77; watch a short film with Juliet Stevenson addressing UK government complicity in the genocide; and read a powerful essay entitled ‘GAZA War Dust and Collateral Inhalation: Israel Breathes in Gaza’s Dust.’ A Forensic Study of the Self-Inflicted Consequences of Modern Warfare . Follow our MAH facebook page for latest news on Palestine. MAH is a TPNS project.
Finally if you have yet to watch it, don’t miss Louis Theroux’s documentary The Settlers, on BBC iPlayer.
Publications
‘Robbing Peter to Pay Paul’
In response to a call by the UN General Assembly last September, and the Pact for the Future, the UN Secretary General was asked to garner more information on the impact of the increase in military spending on the SDGs. The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs launched a Call for Papers on the impact of the global increase in military expenditure on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Our submission, ‘Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: SDGs vs Rising Military Expenditures’ includes recommendations for practical routes to both reducing and redirecting military spending in favour of people and planet.
Supported by Global Justice Now, Palestinian Institute for Climate Action, Resilient40, Health Poverty Action and AFRIDED. 
Read it here.
‘What does the global arms race mean for climate action?’
A communications briefing for climate organisations
Authors: TPNS, Transnational Institute, Scientists for Global Responsibility
Read it here.
Press
Geopolitical conflict impedes climate change mitigation. This article in the prestigious Nature journal makes a clear argument that militarism is undermining climate action and includes a number of references to TPNS’s reports.
Read the full article here.
Op Ed: The carbon footprint of EU’s defence splurgeHow should climate activists respond to Europe’s embrace of a ‘security’ emergency that has completely displaced its commitment to tackle the far bigger climate emergency? So far, the response from climate groups has been rather muted, with few statements by climate organisations and little evident public resistance. By Deborah Burton, Nick Buxton and Dr Stuart Parkinson.
Read here.
Fossil capitalism is a leech that feeds on the graveyard of Gaza. Israel’s militarised violence in Gaza and the climate crisis both serve the interests of one perpetrator: fossil fuel imperialists. The UNFCCC must include war-related emissions in its transparency frameworks. Without accounting for military and conflict-related emissions, global climate efforts remain incomplete. The author is Mohammad Usrof, founder of the Palestine Institute for Climate Strategy.
Read the article here.
Bonn Climate Conference
TPNS will attend the annual Bonn Climate Conference in June. We will launch an updated paper on the impact of NATO’s increased military spending (and emissions) along a new report on the alarming rise of (costly, risky and unnecessary) nuclear energy across the African continent. Both will be presented at events during the first week. Bonn is the preparatory conference for the annual COP, due to be held in Brazil in November.
Sustain our work
Funding for Tipping Point North South activities comes largely from grant-makers. However major donors and individual donors – either one off or regular givers are equally important to our work. Regular givers sustain our core work; major donors help sustain our staff costs, our research and our participation at major events where we present our work.
All our activities – from campaigns to events and films – have always sought to tackle important, political and often tough issues. When TPNS launched, it was made possible with generous support from The Co-operative Bank. TPNS is constituted as a ‘mutual’ – a non profit co-op. Since we are not a charity, donations are not tax-deductible. Sorry. We are, however, CAF registered.
If you would like to know more, email us at info@tippingpointnorthsouth.org
Or visit https://tippingpointnorthsouth.org/how-to-donate/
Thank-you for your support.
Tipping Point North South 