Tag Archives: Belgium

‘This Is Not Normal’: Record-Smashing European Heat Wave Sparks Demands to Combat Climate Emergency

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“The climate is changing. Use your voice, wallet, and votes to fight it.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-25-2019

Heat records were smashed across Western Europe on Thursday. (Image: Copernicus Emergency Management Service)

Following days of warnings from meteorologists, temperatures soared to historic highs throughout Western Europe Thursday, eliciting impassioned demands for governments to take more ambitious action to combat the climate crisis.

Heat records were shattered Thursday in regions of Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Continue reading →

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People Power: 160,000 European Protesters Demand Action on Climate Crisis

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Tens of thousands march in France, Belgium over climate crisis

By Common Dreams. Published 1-27-2019

70,000 protesters ignore the rain in Brussels. Photo: Greenpeace EU/Twitter

At least 80,000 people marched in a cold rain in Brussels Sunday in another massive protest demanding that the European Union take urgent and far-reaching action to address the world’s climate crisis.

Sunday’s march was the fourth climate march in the past three weeks—each one significantly bigger than the last—as students across Belgium and other European countries have skipped their high school and college classes in order to shame those in power who refuse to move urgently. Continue reading →

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As CETA Rises from Ashes, Campaigners Vow: ‘The More You Insist, the More We Resist’

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Belgium delegates reached 11th-hour consensus, which grants the Court of Justice of the European Union the ability to rule on final inclusion of ISDS

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 10-27-2016

Campaigners protested the Canada-European Union trade agreement outside the European Commission on Thursday. (Photo via Corporate Europe/Twitter)

Campaigners protested the Canada-European Union trade agreement outside the European Commission on Thursday. (Photo via Corporate Europe/Twitter)

The controversial Canada-European Union trade agreement that many declared “dead” now appears to be rising from the ashes, as officials announced Thursday that they have reached a last-minute consensus.

Earlier this week, trade delegates from the Belgian region of Wallonia rejected the Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement (CETA) out of concern that certain provisions, particularly the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system, inflate the power of multinational corporations and undermine standards protecting labor, the environment, and consumers. Continue reading →

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Brawl In Brussels

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The last few years have seen, in countries around the world, people taking to the streets in protest over the growing income inequality, and the powers that be’s tendency to protect the wealthiest’s economic standing by inflicting austerity measures on the neediest of their citizens.

Yesterday was no exception. 100,000 people took to the street in Brussels, Belgium to protest the government’s austerity measures and free market reforms. The rally was the first in a series of events planned by Belgian trade unions which include strikes in several provinces in coming weeks, to be followed by a general strike throughout Belgium on December 15. The rail companies made low cost tickets available so that more people would attend today’s protest. Continue reading →

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