Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard Alumni

We are alumni calling on Harvard to embody its core value of “veritas” and BAN research funding from the fossil fuel industry

Dear Members of the Harvard Corporation, Provost Garber, and Climate Provost Stock,

We are proud of Harvard’s commitment to divest its endowment from the fossil fuel industry, but to show real leadership in the climate crisis, Harvard must go further. As Harvard alumni, we urge you to follow the recommendations laid out in the paper “A Fossil Fuel-Free Harvard.” To maintain academic integrity, Harvard must:

1. Ban fossil fuel funding and collaboration in research
2. Strengthen and enforce conflict-of-interest disclosure policies
3. Convene a panel to design and implement these policies

Signed,

DivestHarvardAlumni

See related:

• Divest Harvard – Whose University? The Case for Reinvestment at Harvard
• Harvard’s Divest Fest — Tuesday, May 3rd 2022
• Harvard Will Move to Divest its Endowment from Fossil Fuels | News | The Harvard Crimson
• Recalling Some of the Chapters from the Harvard DIVESTMENT Struggle…Part 1
• Recalling Some of the Chapters from the Harvard DIVESTMENT Struggle…Part 2
• Recalling Some of the Chapters from the Harvard DIVESTMENT Struggle…Part 3
• Harvard Divestment in Historical Perspective

For a new and troubling aspect of Harvard’s recent climate research see:

• Climate change technology: is shading the earth too risky? [ Prof. David Keith & Harvard’s “Climate-Changing” Research]

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Indian students watch banned BBC documentary critical of PM Modi • FRANCE 24 English

FRANCE 24 English Jan 26, 2023

University students in India’s southern state of Kerala burned an effigy of Narendra Modi in response to the banning of a BBC documentary critical of the prime minister. “India: The Modi Question” looks at Modi’s role during deadly 2002 sectarian riots. The broadcaster’s programme alleges the Hindu nationalist, premier of Gujarat state at the time, ordered police to turn a blind eye to an orgy of violence there that left at least 1,000 people dead, most of them minority Muslims.

Outrage as Indian government blocks BBC documentary on PM Modi from airing

CNA Jan 26, 2023

As India celebrates its 74th Republic Day, controversy in the country continues over the latest Shah Rukh Khan Bollywood film and a BBC documentary. These have triggered a public outcry and reignited debates about press freedom and freedom of expression in the country. The Bollywood superstar’s new blockbuster Pathaan is attracting a lot of controversy, with attacks and protests by right-wing Hindu groups. The main objection of Hindu groups is that the lead actress, Deepika Padukone, wears a saffron-coloured bikini during a sequence of a song. The colour is considered to be a symbol of spirituality in Hinduism. The documentary, meanwhile, looks at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role as chief minister of Gujarat during deadly riots in the state in 2002.

State-Sponsored Religious Massacres in Gujarat, India (2002)

Journeyman Pictures Jan 15, 2019

A State of Complicity (2002) – A Muslim attack on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims sparked reprisals against the Muslim community throughout Gujarat; yet it seems that the Indian government permitted it. Subscribe to Journeyman here: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c… Over 1000 people have died, and more than 100,000 have become refugees in their own land. India is no stranger to communal violence of this sort. But the difference in Gujarat is that, according to a number of experts, the violence is taking place with government backing: “The Gujarat state administration has been engaged in a massive cover-up of the state’s role in the massacres,” claims a report by Human Rights Watch.

See related:

• Survivors of the Gujarat riots speak out – Newsnight January 26, 2023
• Can A Documentary “Destabilise” World’s Largest Democracy? | Left, Right And Centre January 26, 2023
• India’s take on BBC’s Modi documentary January 26, 2023
• Inside the Kashmir That India Doesn’t Want the World to See | The Dispatch January 26, 2023
• Modi Denies India Is Targeting Muslims. We Found a Different Reality. | The Dispatch January 26, 202

Survivors of the Gujarat riots speak out – Newsnight

BBC Newsnight Nov 10, 2015

The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visits the UK this week. And it means that for the third time in about three weeks, there will be a controversial foreign leader here, generating business contracts and protests. Modi is Hindu nationalist, who was chief minister in Gujarat state state back in 2002, when communal rioting there caused the death of hundreds of Indian Muslims. Our reporter Secunder Kermani has been talking to one of the British survivors of that violence. * SUBSCRIBE to get our latest videos http://bbc.in/1iouM30 *

Can A Documentary “Destabilise” World’s Largest Democracy? | Left, Right And Centre

NDTV Jan 24, 2023

Controversy rages over the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi that has been blocked by the government. The opposition has called it censorship, while BBC has maintained that its series is well-researched. The government has dubbed it a propaganda piece. Has the government overreacted? Can a documentary “destabilise” the world’s largest democracy?

• Survivors of the Gujarat riots speak out – Newsnight
• India’s take on BBC’s Modi documentary
• Inside the Kashmir That India Doesn’t Want the World to See | The Dispatch
• Modi Denies India Is Targeting Muslims. We Found a Different Reality. | The Dispatch

India’s take on BBC’s Modi documentary

Brut India Jan 25, 2023

This is how the spokesperson of India’s foreign ministry handled some pointed questions about the BBC documentary on PM Modi’s Gujarat riots past.

Inside the Kashmir That India Doesn’t Want the World to See | The Dispatch

The New York Times Aug 23, 2019

Indian authorities say life is returning to normal in Kashmir. But thousands of people have been detained, and the military still patrols the streets, firing pellet guns and tear gas to quell protests.

Modi Denies India Is Targeting Muslims. We Found a Different Reality. | The Dispatch

The New York Times Apr 6, 2020

How can someone who’s lived for years as a citizen of India suddenly be declared illegal? Whistle-blowers told us how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is making Muslims stateless.

See related:

• Survivors of the Gujarat riots speak out – Newsnight
• Can A Documentary “Destabilise” World’s Largest Democracy? | Left, Right And Centre
• India’s take on BBC’s Modi documentary
• Inside the Kashmir That India Doesn’t Want the World to See | The Dispatch

Exposing The Inhumane Conditions Of Burkina Faso’s Gold Mines

Journeyman Pictures Sep 19, 2016

Gold Dust: Under Blaise Compaore’s leadership, Burkina Faso’s unregulated gold rush has had a devastating effect on mining conditions. This report digs deep into the industry, exposing the corruption beneath Compaore’s ruling.

Millions of people – including children as young as fourteen – mine in an unregulated industry for a few golden grams of hope. Marcel toils underground to support his family – but without the glittering rewards promised. “We all have hope, we hope to earn” he says, but “they rob us here…They treat the miner like an animal.” 17-year old Soumaele has been mining for two years. His thin body can go to even deeper than the older men, to places where the air is impossible to breathe and the tunnels are likely to collapse. Gold promises a great deal, but in an anarchic industry, teacher Soungalo Hema fears for the future of children like Soumaele: “You try and save them”, she says, “but a lot of the time it’s in vain. I ask myself ‘what will happen to all of us?'”
For similar stories, see:

The Children Working On Indian Coal Mines https://youtu.be/0ZA5Az09Zj4

Dangerous ‘Rat-Hole’ Mining Destroying India’s Environment https://youtu.be/jEcA6jnaRek

In Nicaragua Children Work in Quarries Instead of Going to School https://youtu.be/y35aStP7BHw