Ok, this is going to be a very depressing post.
I know it really sucks, but we probably gotta stop talking about ‘preventing climate change’ as if we can still avoid a massive catastrophe. All we can do is limit the impact of it by now. We’ve fought to ‘prevent’ this for decades, but that’s a battle we lost. (And no, not just because this summer is hot. All the science is screaming that massive climate change is really happening)
We need to keep talking about CO2 reduction as something that limits the extend of the catastrophe, but we need a significant shift of focus. As activists, our conversations about climate justice need to focus way more on who is going to be hurt most by the things that are now inevitable. (& They should have been focused more on that years ago to be honest, but the mostly non-western, mostly people of color talking about it weren’t acknowledged.)
When it comes to climate justice, neocolonialism and borders need to be the two points at the top of our agenda.
We need to talk about neocolonialism because as parts of the world become significantly less inhabitable and natural disasters become more common, companies will be bottling the last drops of drinking water for profit and charging a fortune for life vests made at the sweatshop that is now under water.
We need to talk about borders because as parts of the world become significantly less inhabitable, the EU-US-AUS-CAN clusterfuck is putting higher fences and more weapons on its borders, building camps and preparing watch towers ready to shoot refugees, all to make sure that people effected by climate change stay in the country where they are and die there. To make sure that the guilty have to carry none of the burden of the mess they created.
You think the cruelty of companies and immigrant detention is bad now?
Give it 10 or 20 years and a few more natural disasters and you’ll see
real horrors. And the sham we call ‘democracy’ in it’s current form is probably going to let them because the people of
the EU-US-AUS-CAN clusterfuckwill have their own smaller disasters to deal with and will convince themselves that now is the time to worry only about themselves.
I know it’s scary. I’m scared too.
If someone has some uplifting words and ideas right now, I’d really love to hear them. I’m serious, I really would. But I can’t find comfort in denial.
The next climate deal just isn’t going to save us anymore.
Capitalism, borders and the states that maintain them need to go and we
are running out of time.And our activism should reflect that reality.
yes to all of this! i was literally talking about this yesterday. “preventing” climate change is no longer an option, all science agrees we’ve likely passed the point of no return. we NEED to shift our focus to adapting to climate change and building resilience.
i work in environmental justice research and it is a widely accepted fact that poor and marginalized communities (as well as countries) are largely more susceptible to the negative effects of climate change than the privileged, as they lack the resources to mitigate the destruction. for those of us lucky enough to come from privilege, we NEED to start making spaces for these peoples.
this includes, but is not limited to, gathering and sharing knowledge related to adaptation and sustainable consciousness (also social ecology); creating actual physical spaces for peoples affected by disasters, as well as social space in which they can operate; dismantling systems of oppression that are hindering these peoples’ access to resources, as well as using our own to help; and most of all working cooperatively in grassroots and local settings to help communities develop new modes of existence/subsistence that do not rely on global superstructures.
adapting to climate change will HAVE to be bottom-up. our strategies have to be as varied and unique as the environments we live in. top-down solution making will NOT work, and i think most people can see that’s already pretty clear. grassroots activism needs to start now!
and for all my witches out there, this is especially where we can help. our ability to attune ourselves to a specific place is KEY in developing sustainable systems. ecology is going to be changing so quickly that we’re going to need people like us to keep up with the changes so that our adaptations won’t become irrelevant within a couple years. plus a little help from the genii loci will always help, they want to protect their land just as much as we do. but remember, even spirits don’t know everything, and the amount of change that we are going to experience is unprecedented in earth’s history. once again, cooperation is going to be key. everyone is implicated in this disaster. we will need all sides to contribute if we are going to have a chance. but “all sides” is likely not going to include to government.
I have no opinions on witchcraft and related spiritual practices and know nothing at all about it but everything else in this reply sounds absolutely spot on completely right to me so ‘YES’ to my witchy comrades in this struggle.
Those are some hella good points to which I would add that we need to develop and widely share the skill and networks needed to break the law and get away with it, since the law is almost certainly going to be deadly to many of us. That lawbreaking should involve border crossings on a pretty massive scale, since the border is going to play a pretty big role in who lives and who dies. .
And the power to defend what we build from state violence, since our goals are very likely to be the opposite of governments and we can not be dependent on their mercy. And yes, the power to attack things that threaten our continued survival.
Thank you for all of this! I don’t want to ask too much, naturally you are free to refuse and I’m sorry if this is over the line, but do you know of any resources re the ideas listed here? Particularly the last point abt skill and networks needed to break the law?
Well, it probably starts with the awareness that the internet is not a particularly safe place, where hiding your identity so well that states can’t track it is very hard and where just reading or sharing materials about illegal actions can make you a target. As I am writing this response, I am calculated risks.
So a lot of information about how to do illegal actions is by definition shared through offline networks and within communities that already have a well thought out structure for sharing information safely.
Online, the first place to start is to learn to hide your identity. Like using Tails to search for information and using file encryption to store the information and using email encryption to exchange them. And remembering that every encryption can be broken or may be breakable in the future so if information can at some point get you in serious trouble, better to now share it via the internet at all.
There are some online places where information gets shared, like The Anarchist Library but also far less political places like the Tumblr shoplifting community (yes really) can be places to learn basic illegal skills. But remember that anyone can put information online and inexperienced people can put bad ideas online that aren’t well thought out, don’t work in every situation or are much more dangerous in some countries. And some information was only good before technology improved. Be critical. Use common sense.
Once you’ve got your Tails set up, you’re on an internet connection that can’t be traced to you and you understand the risks and limitations, you can also start searching for specific illegal things online, or just start with ‘The Anarchist Cookbook’ (old, in many ways outdated) and see if the sites that share works like that have other works on illegal action that are useful to you.
But you won’t find everything in places like that because few technique works for long if the cops can read about it too. Some information, like how to hide your identity, is often shared publically. Other stuff is not. Sooner or later, you’re going to run into the limits of what you can learn without an offline community committed to sharing this stuff.
Oh, and if you’re getting into learning to break the law and get away with it, also learn what to do if you do get caught. Don’t talk to cops. Understand your rights. Know which lawyer can help you. Have a plan about who will get your bail and medication and feed your cat if you get arrested. That sort of stuff.
Oh, and you’re going to want to read about activist Security Culture. Don’t brag. Don’t tell all your friends about the cool illegal stuff you found. The rush of experiencing that we can break the law and get away with it is great but we make the biggest mistakes when we’re celebrating a win and want to tell our friends about ir. State informants are real. Bugged phones are real. Snitches are real.
Take your time, take it seriously, start small. Take care of yourself and remember to have fun with it. We can’t survive this world if we don’t find joy in what we do to change it.
