Holly is at the doctor's today trying to sort out her health issue so unfortunately we can't physically be involved in today's climate strike. The Extinction Rebellion Autumn uprising begins on October 7th so what with a week of climate strikes starting today and the XR campaign the next few weeks are going to see some serious eco-activism in London.
To coincide with the uprising we plan to submit a letter before action to Viridor over the next few days. On October 8th the petition to take enforcement action on Viridor will be heard at council committee.
Gaia Fawkes HERE are going to have a satire field day especially with the recent counter terrorism classification of XR (HERE). The leader of XR, Roger Hallam is in prison before anything has even started (HERE). Mark Avery is covering things HERE and the strikes are being supported by most environmental organisations around the globe.
What will all this achieve? Who knows? I suspect there will be fanatical martyrs, a lot of noise, a release of frustration and despair, comradeship and new friendships, a flexing of community muscle but ultimately I suspect the main outcome will be a slow realisation of the crystallised capitalist dictatorship, the inevitability of climate breakdown, social chaos and the dangers that will bring and the powerlessness of the majority over minority rule. The bigger and more radical the environmental movement becomes the stronger the grip of the Capitalists will tighten and in turn the dark realities of Capitalism will be exposed to more and more people who will seek change .
There is still a fuzzy ideology behind climate and ecological politics and very few organisations are calling out fundamental flaws in society as the underlying cause. There's a popular notion that radical change can occur without radical changes. Comfort politics seek to advocate that simple changes and displays of emotion can make big differences rather than individual big changes and fundamental societal/political structural changes and technological advances are what make big differences. That realisation of both the weakness of mass movement and the darkening of capitalist minority rule as humanity hurtles towards a bottle neck should bring a more advanced and mature approach to dealing with this crisis- the requirement for complex regeneration networks to form, technological advances, the need to strike deeply into the heart of capitalist power and to develop advanced sustainable democracies. At the moment it's all a bit of fun and games. Not for much longer maybe?
There is still a fuzzy ideology behind climate and ecological politics and very few organisations are calling out fundamental flaws in society as the underlying cause. There's a popular notion that radical change can occur without radical changes. Comfort politics seek to advocate that simple changes and displays of emotion can make big differences rather than individual big changes and fundamental societal/political structural changes and technological advances are what make big differences. That realisation of both the weakness of mass movement and the darkening of capitalist minority rule as humanity hurtles towards a bottle neck should bring a more advanced and mature approach to dealing with this crisis- the requirement for complex regeneration networks to form, technological advances, the need to strike deeply into the heart of capitalist power and to develop advanced sustainable democracies. At the moment it's all a bit of fun and games. Not for much longer maybe?
3 comments:
I intended to join the youngsters protesting in Oxford but since my darling Linner died (1912) I continue have a heavy heart and now feel that with her passing the strength that we drew from each other is missing , in fact when we were together I felt well able to take on the World - thank goodness I have the most incredible children (Neety and Gav) who along with my Grandchildren (Archie, Holly and Madzie) oh! and one more on the way.
I so much appreciate and admire the "noise" the kids are making and so much wish that the greedy capitalists will take heed before the future we owe them is gobbled up by the self serving twats.
It is inspiring to see a more political minded generation emerging - they seem a lot more mature than I was at that age!
Sorry to hear about Linner but great to hear about the kids and grand children.
I'll be in Oxford a lot more from late October so be great to meet up!
I will look forward to saying 'hello' again along with Alan Larkman - I'm sure you and he will have interesting fat to chew. Sorry for mistakenly saying 1912 when it should have been 2012 on the previous post.
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