Friends of Tim, friends of labor and social justice -
I heard about Tim's death just a few days before I was about to travel to the Copenhagen climate talks with a large US and international labor delegation. A large demonstration on Saturday, December 11, in Copenhagen reminded me of Seattle 1999, and my thoughts wandered to my first sighting of Tim - in the video Global Village, Global Pillage - an excellent piece of work that I've used many times for labor education purposes. When I first saw the video I remember saying to myself "So that's Tim Costello! What an accent!" Some years later I was fortunate enough to meet Tim and, in the past year or two, work with him and his comrades Jeremy and Brendan at GLS on labor's climate policy. But my time knowing and working with Tim was to be all too brief. We talked a lot about unions and the climate challenge, and how to move the conversation in labor towards an internationalist, science-based and forward-looking perspective. For Tim, the
Obama-brokered "Copenhagen Accord" would have provided further evidence that only a "globalization from below" and fundamental social change can address the present challenges we face as a civilization. The banners in Copenhagen like those saying "Climate Change Needs System Change" could have been designed by Tim. We have lost a real friend and champion, but Tim's contribution has made us better equipped to face the challenges ahead.
Sean Sweeney
I heard about Tim's death just a few days before I was about to travel to the Copenhagen climate talks with a large US and international labor delegation. A large demonstration on Saturday, December 11, in Copenhagen reminded me of Seattle 1999, and my thoughts wandered to my first sighting of Tim - in the video Global Village, Global Pillage - an excellent piece of work that I've used many times for labor education purposes. When I first saw the video I remember saying to myself "So that's Tim Costello! What an accent!" Some years later I was fortunate enough to meet Tim and, in the past year or two, work with him and his comrades Jeremy and Brendan at GLS on labor's climate policy. But my time knowing and working with Tim was to be all too brief. We talked a lot about unions and the climate challenge, and how to move the conversation in labor towards an internationalist, science-based and forward-looking perspective. For Tim, the
Obama-brokered "Copenhagen Accord" would have provided further evidence that only a "globalization from below" and fundamental social change can address the present challenges we face as a civilization. The banners in Copenhagen like those saying "Climate Change Needs System Change" could have been designed by Tim. We have lost a real friend and champion, but Tim's contribution has made us better equipped to face the challenges ahead.
Sean Sweeney
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