tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88228036309628367012024-03-16T09:23:18.068+00:00Simon PiraniResearcher, lecturer and writer + + + Honorary Professor, University of DurhamSimon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.comBlogger135125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-15426076448315886252024-03-16T09:22:00.001+00:002024-03-16T09:22:43.170+00:00Free Public Transport for London - why and how<p><a href="https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Campaign-Briefing-Fare-Free-London.pdf" target="_blank"> A campaign briefing, supported by Fare Free London, the Greener Jobs Alliance, the Stop the Silvertown Tunnel coalition and Tipping Point. I drafted the text.</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-56765872330717443322024-02-07T09:21:00.002+00:002024-02-07T09:21:27.935+00:00Energy should be a right, not a commodity<p><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/geopolitics-neoliberalism-and-racism-the-impact-on-energy-consumption/articleshow/107370112.cms">The 1980s gave us "this idea of energy, whether for electricity or fuel for vehicles, as being a commodity which some people could profit from, as opposed to being a right which all people should have because we live in modern times and the technologies available can deliver this to us". My interview with the Times of India.</a> </p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-27996235227235878782023-12-01T14:59:00.002+00:002023-12-01T14:59:39.484+00:00Climate change and social justice in Greenwich: why targets matter<p><a href="https://greenwichclimatene.wixsite.com/climatenetwork/post/climate-change-and-social-justice-in-greenwich-why-targets-matterby-simon-pirani" target="_blank">This article, published on the Greener Greenwich Community Network site, reviews the greenhouse gas emissions targets set by the borough of Greenwich, asks whether they do the job they need to do, and comments on how climate measures can be taken in a socially just way.</a> </p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-36843443609265801282023-11-01T13:20:00.001+00:002023-11-01T13:20:25.230+00:00Realising renewable power's potential means combating capital<p><a href="https://spectrejournal.com/realizing-renewable-powers-potential-means-combating-capital/">An article in Spectre journal, responding to the false logic, promoted by "ecomodernists", that renewables, decentralisation, private capital, and neoliberalism go together; and that nuclear, centralisation, public power, and socialism go together.</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-59877566761366297272023-11-01T13:17:00.002+00:002023-11-01T13:17:37.960+00:00Palestine and Ukraine: how the 21st century empires wage war<p><a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2023/10/30/palestine-and-ukraine-how-the-21st-century-empires-wage-war/">Two wars and how their causes are related. An article based on a talk I gave to the conference on "Changing Global Order: Nations and States", held by the Punjab Research Group (UK) in Oxford on 28 October.</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-24294698277138037192023-09-22T18:09:00.001+01:002023-09-22T18:09:27.800+01:00Wind, water, solar and socialism<p><a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2023/09/13/wind-water-solar-and-socialism-part-1-energy-supply/" target="_blank">Electricity systems: building blocks of a socialist view. A think piece published on my blog - Part 1 on energy supply, and Part 2 on electricity networks.</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-83707292365736681742023-08-24T10:47:00.006+01:002023-08-24T10:48:13.918+01:00How to do away with fossil fuel consumption<p><a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2023/08/14/how-to-do-away-with-fossil-fuel-consumption/" target="_blank">This article offers an overview of the processes through which fossil fuels are consumed, and how researchers analyse these; discusses how Karl Marx’s theoretical approach might help us develop this analysis; suggests ways to envisage the transition away from fossil fuels; and comments on the strategies needed to hasten the transition. It is based on a talk I gave at the Rosa Luxemburg foundation in Berlin.</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-66257931430358139142023-07-31T17:39:00.004+01:002023-09-22T18:05:38.404+01:00Communist Dissidents in early Soviet Russia<p><span style="color: #181716;">Five documents translated and introduced by Simon Pirani.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: #181716;">This book, published in 2023, gives voice to Russian communists who participated in
the 1917 revolution, but found themselves at odds with the Communist party as
it consolidated its rule in the early 1920s. One Red army veteran demands
action against corrupt officials; another mourns the dashed hopes of 1917 and
the loss of friendship and solidarity. A “collectivist” group aspires to new
cultural and technological revolutions; other oppositionists denounce material
inequalities, the return of workplace exploitation and creeping state
authoritarianism. The five documents in the book are published in English for
the first time, with an introduction and notes.<o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: #181716; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/history-politics-society/communist-dissidents-in-early-soviet-russia/" target="_blank">Copies can be ordered from the publisher here</a>. A PDF version, free to download, is <a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/communist-dissidents/" target="_blank">now available here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-55840822790768704842023-07-31T17:36:00.003+01:002023-07-31T17:36:36.637+01:00Ukraine: war makes just energy transition more urgent<p><a href="https://fpif.org/war-in-ukraine-makes-just-transition-on-energy-more-urgent/" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">While powerful interests are pushing Kyiv to invest
in fossil fuels and nuclear energy</span>, a movement is taking shape in former
mining communities to develop decentralised renewables. An article published by
Foreign Policy in Focus</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-38301881564162569462023-07-31T17:34:00.003+01:002023-07-31T17:34:48.438+01:00We need social change, not miracles<p><span style="color: #181716; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://theecologist.org/2023/jul/24/we-need-social-change-not-miracles" target="_blank">A review of No Miracles Needed: how today’s technology can save our climate and clean our air, by MarkJacobson, published by The Ecologist</a></span></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-70271839906690833462023-07-31T17:33:00.001+01:002023-07-31T17:33:29.032+01:00Governments are reinforcing fossil fuels’ power. We need to build alliances against it<p><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2023/07/12/governments-are-reinforcing-fossil-fuels-power-we-need-to-build-alliances-against-it/" target="_blank">An article based on an on-line talk I gave on 4July at the Humanitas Unisinos Institute (IHU) of the University of Vale do Riodos Sinos, Brazil.</a> (A video, in Portuguese only, is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=CTAOHWm_mt0&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ihu.unisinos.br%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title"><span style="color: #0066cc;">here</span></a>.)</span></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-9147941722322561642023-07-31T17:30:00.005+01:002023-07-31T17:30:59.169+01:00Corporate pressure versus climate action<p><span style="color: #181716; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://theecologist.org/2023/jun/12/corporate-pressure-versus-climate-action" target="_blank">Breathe by Sadiq Khan
offers a glimpse into the London Mayor's “internal struggle between action on
climate and corporate interests”. Published in The Ecologist</a></span></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-34586903223959268422023-03-27T09:44:00.001+01:002023-03-27T09:44:11.932+01:00Rhetoric aside, India must find answers to these seven critical questions on green hydrogen<p><a href="https://thewire.in/energy/india-rhetoric-green-hydrogen-questions">An article scrutinising India's "Green Hydrogen Mission", From The Wire (India), written together with Pritam Singh.</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-6195751802679308402023-02-18T15:53:00.001+00:002023-02-18T15:53:15.084+00:00The Nord Stream pipeline explosions: challenging false narratives<p><a href="https://newpol.org/the-nord-stream-pipeline-explosions-challenging-false-narratives-2/">The claim that the Nord Stream gas pipeline was blown up by US special forces, made by the investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, is being used to reinforce false narratives about Russia’s culpability for the war in Ukraine. In this article in New Politics, I write that Hersh’s claims about the purpose of the sabotage are factually incorrect, his account of the build-up to the explosion is misleading, his explanation for US motivation is flawed, and his failure to examine Russian motivation is one-sided.</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-73693912890797205582023-02-14T17:11:00.003+00:002023-02-14T17:11:45.208+00:00Transport: how Silicon Valley turns technologies against us all<p><a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2023/01/23/transport-how-silicon-valley-turns-technologies-against-us-all/">A review of Road to Nowhere: what Silicon Valley gets wrong about the future of transportation, by Paris Marx </a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-14416083689206082022023-02-14T17:10:00.001+00:002023-02-14T17:10:04.472+00:00Appeal to Labour Party members: help turn back this tide of greenwash<p><a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2022/12/21/appeal-to-labour-party-members-help-turn-back-this-tide-of-greenwash/">A letter to Maggie Ferncombe, chair of the London Regional Labour party, Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for climate change, and friends in the Labour party in London, about the Silvertown tunnel project</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-60714285679771825572022-11-20T18:39:00.000+00:002022-11-20T18:39:05.462+00:00Greenwashing governments and oil companies turned COP27 into a climate disaster<a href="https://truthout.org/articles/greenwashing-governments-and-oil-companies-turned-cop27-into-a-climate-disaster/">The international climate talks in Egypt have become a dystopian nightmare: Oil companies, dictators and greenwashers captured the process more effectively than ever. But there is hope: Alliances are taking shape — between civil society, scientists and labor — that aim to break the fossil fuel companies’ deathly grip on climate policy. Read the full story on Truthout.</a>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-26717420871413081712022-10-22T18:55:00.000+01:002022-10-22T18:55:00.593+01:00The limits of western economic war with Russia and the failure of climate policy<p><a href="https://newpol.org/the-limits-of-western-economic-war-with-russia-and-the-failure-of-climate-policy/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this long-read analytical article on the New Politics web site, I argue that the western powers’ economic war on Russia is limited, because capital values its fossil fuel exports & kleptocrats' dollars pouring into offshore zones. Western policy always aimed to integrate Russia into the world economy; only the Kremlin's imperial adventure this year forced a change. The invasion of Ukraine </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">has aggravated rising prices, but the labour movement and social movements should reject "energy security" narratives being used to justify fossil fuel investments that trash climate policy. The roots of climate crisis and of war are entangled; responses by labour and social movements can be linked, too.</span></a> </p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-143091300946777692022-10-06T09:46:00.005+01:002022-10-06T09:46:53.447+01:00Ukraine: bogus 'anti imperialism' serves the Kremlin<p><a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2022/09/28/ukraine-bogus-anti-imperialism-serves-the-kremlin/">Based on a talk at an on line event, arranged by the Future of the Left group, at which I debated how the UK labour movement should respond to the war in Ukraine, with Richard Sakwa</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-13524345747292738412022-10-06T09:44:00.003+01:002022-10-06T09:44:35.296+01:00Cut motor traffic. Live better lives. Tackle climate change<p> <a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2022/09/16/cut-motor-traffic-live-better-lives-tackle-climate-change/">A submission to the borough of Greenwich consultation on its transport strategy.</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-50313510545177415052022-10-06T09:43:00.000+01:002022-10-06T09:43:03.309+01:00Europe Is Trying to Solve Its Energy Crisis With Fossil Fuel Projects in Africa<p><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/europe-is-trying-to-solve-its-energy-crisis-with-fossil-fuel-projects-in-africa/">In response to the Russian gas supply squeeze and rising food and fuel prices, European governments are paving the way to massive investments in fossil fuels from non-Russian sources that imperil efforts to tackle climate change. Published by Truthout</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-6137728403051298792022-10-06T09:40:00.001+01:002022-10-06T09:40:08.153+01:00The EU's plan for Ukraine hydrogen exports is colonialist greenwash<p><a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/eu-ukraine-hydrogen-export-european-commission/">Plan to pipe huge amounts of resource-intensive “green” hydrogen to Europe would undermine Ukraine’s recovery. A comment article in OpenDemocracy</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-8080077602324080932022-10-06T09:37:00.004+01:002022-10-06T09:37:34.170+01:00Durham and Ukraine miners: historic links of friendship<p><a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2022/07/06/durham-and-ukraine-miners-historic-links-of-friendship/">Durham miners have sent aid to Ukrainian mining communities near the front lines. Their friendship goes back to the early 1990s, and built on links made over decades before that. A feature article published in the programme for the Durham Miners Gala on Saturday 9 July.</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-46707498646354847712022-10-06T09:33:00.001+01:002022-10-06T09:34:18.926+01:00Why is Ukrainian resistance invisible to you?<p><a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2022/06/27/why-is-ukrainian-resistance-invisible-to-you/">An appeal to supporters of the Stop the War Coalition. These are notes I made for a meeting I was invited to, to discuss UK labour movement attitude to the war in Ukraine.</a> </p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8822803630962836701.post-53999796859990677792022-05-30T20:57:00.004+01:002022-05-30T20:57:52.366+01:00Goodbye Russian gas, hello rapid decarbonisation<p><a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-sanctions-oil-gas-decarbonisation/">A European embargo on imports of Russian fossil fuels could, combined with the right energy conservation policies, also help to tackle dangerous climate change. Open Democracy, 20 May.</a></p>Simon Piranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15198317943609476547noreply@blogger.com0