"This movement is deeper than a solar panel. Don’t stop there. No, we’re going to change the whole system. We’re going to change the whole thing. We’re not going to put a new battery in a broken system. We want a new system." Van Jones
In a post-COP15 discussion paper What does Climate Justice in Europe Mean, Climate Justice Action reports: "The abject failure of governments to provide a political solution to the climate crisis in Copenhagen was unsurprising to those who, from the outset, understood the UN as an institution whose interests lie in extending the legitimacy of global capitalism and the nation-state. Those who placed their hope in the COP15, due either to naivety or necessity, left with a sense of disbelief. More and more are now coming to the realisation that it is social movements, not governments, that have the power to make the necessary changes to solve the climate crisis."Link
The paper concludes:
Climate justice means recognising that the capitalist growth paradigm, which leads to over extraction, overproduction and overconsumption stands in deep contrast to the biophysical limits of the planet and the struggle for social justice. The historical legacy of European expansion/colonialism is a root cause of the current geopolitical inequalities, in which the global North is consuming the global South. Climate justice means addressing the inequalities that exist between and within countries, and replacing the economic and political systems that uphold them. The status quo is maintained through unequal exchange via unjust trade policies and unequal access to technological capacity. On a global level Europe is a centre of capital accumulation and thus socio-ecological exploitation of the South, however, internally in Europe there are huge inequalities in terms of race, gender and class.
What began in the frigid streets of Copenhagen, where over 100,000 last December 12 marched for "systems change,not climate change," has exploded into a global awareness that the future of life on Planet Earth lies not in the hands of the world's governments, but in the ability of the world community to organize and demand recognition for equal rights for all living systems. Perhaps nowhere do we have the opportunity to register our support of this reality en mass than by engaging in promoting and participating in Bolivia's April 19-22 World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. Truly organized from the bottom up, lacking the infrastructure, the mega-corporate sponsorships, and the cost benefit feedback associated with attending a conference calling for paying climate debt, mitigation and adaptation, the Cochabamba conference organizers just recently succeeded in laying cable to ensure live feeds and potential virtual conferencing. Working groups are currently online and interactive for those who register for the conference, which is free.
Photos by Kim Conway, Copenhagen, Denmark. December 2009.
Systems Change, Climate Justice & Civil Disobedience
In an article this January, entitled Handcuffs, jail cells, rap sheets, and Climate Change, Brian Fitzergerald expounds on the need for operating outside the system to effect a truly big change.
"Right now, our elected leaders are failing to address the gravest threat our world has ever faced," he writes. "The longer the inaction prevails, the more action we’re going to see by civil society. More and more people, mostly, but not all, young, will choose to take non-violent direct action — because civil disobedience is a last resort. It’s what a movement does when the legal channels have been exhausted. When the courts and the politicians and the corporates have been asked, and failed to respond. The people who make that choice are not criminals. They’re heroes."
(snip)
"Rosa Parks was not a terrorist. Gandhi was not a terrorist. Law is made when law is broken, and truly big change seldom happens from within the system. Somebody has to throw the tea overboard to get things moving."
Systems Change & The 'Real' Climategate
A recent posting in Greenpeace's Climate Justice Weblog from Greenpeace India climate activist "Gene" Will the Real ClimateGate Please Stand up Part 1 and Part 2) appeared just two days after Greenpeace exposed the Koch Brothers $50 million investment in funding groups to prevent action being taken against climate change.
"It's now crystal clear - and every journalist, scientist and politician needs to know - that denial of climate change is not something based on healthy scientific scepticism and debate: it is manufactured and bears the "Koch" brand.
To put their financial commitment into context, from 2005-2008 the Koch brothers pumped in double the amount that even Exxon spent on undermining climate action over the same period." link
A selection from Gene's posting:
What do you do when patient petitioning, protest marches and court orders fail? What do you do when all the protocols and cheat codes of democracy fail? This is what you do: you reclaim the language of democracy from the twisted bunch that have hijacked, cannibalized and subverted it.
Pressuring politicians on climate change is not working. We saw that in Copenhagen. Three months later, we also know why. Which is why the global climate movement now must do course-correction. We need to shift targets and go after the real termites that hollowed out and imploded Copenhagen.
Not Barosso, Obama or Wen Jiabao, but the real obstacles to the climate deal this planet deserves and demands. The oil and gas mafia running loose in New Delhi. The coal magnates that have Canberra by the short and curlies. The petrochemical giants that have placed a firm jackboot on the EU's throat. The fossil fools and nuclear lobbyists that have Washington DC on speed-dial.
We need to hit them where it hurts most, by any means necessary: through the power of our votes, our taxes, our wallets, and more.
We need to be inclusive. We need to join forces with those within the climate movement that are taking direct action to disrupt the CO2 supply chain. We need to embrace the conservatives too, the ones that choose scientific rigour and court injunctions as their weapons.
And we need to inspire, engage and empower everyone in between... from the AirPlotters stopping the expansion of Heathrow by purchasing bits of the proposed runway to the volunteer activists that have been making life hell for fossil fuel lobbyists in the US.
Finally, we need to prove repeatedly, consistently, doggedly, that our alternative vision of a world that runs on clean energy isn’t just a prototype, it’s already in production.
(snip)
The proper channels have failed. It's time for mass civil disobedience to cut off the financial oxygen from denial and skepticism.
If you're one of those who believe that this is not just necessary but also possible, speak to us. Let's talk about what that mass civil disobedience is going to look like.
If you're one of those who have spent their lives undermining progressive climate legislation, bankrolling junk science, fueling spurious debates around false solutions, and cattle-prodding democratically-elected governments into submission, then hear this:
We know who you are. We know where you live. We know where you work.
And we be many, but you be few.
A video by Gene
No sooner had this item published than the big bad red machine zoomed down in a expertly executed fifth-generation-style cyber-blitzkrieg ... a Google search today using some words from the article "Emerging battle-bruised from the disaster zone", yielded over 3,630 results, most lynching Greenpeace (in one place referred to as "GreenPiss") for advocating violence.
Did I miss something? Advocating violence? And that would be where?
In response to the tsunamic magniloquence of the ultra-right codswallops, Greenpeace, la crème de la récolte for the slickly slimy attackers, issued a titillating transparent communique Where You Live.
Wherein, Andrew Davies, Greenpeace web producer, stands by his man. Davies correctly recounts that in no way, shape or form is the writer, though admittedly highly emotive, advocating violence. Nor has Greenpeace EVER advocated violence. In fact, Davies recalls only two occasions when the organization actually staged events at individual's homes: an arrest warrant served on Union Carbide's chairman after the Bhopal, India, plant explosion and, again, in 1997, when Greenpeace activists, shouldering solar panels, arrived at the Australian Prime Minister's house and installed the gifts on the roof.
"Personally, I think both of these protests were pretty cool," Davies writes "I've heard they were very controversial at the time though, and there was a lot of debate about whether we'd crossed a line.
"What do you think about cases like these?"
Am I the only one who sees an ironic parallel to Glenn Beck's chilling roll out of his 912 movement's "We surround them?" (unofficial map), reminiscent of the subliminally terrifying 2004 Bush wolf ad? Methinks,once again, the right is utilizing those ever so effective Rovian tactics: attribute to thine enemy those tactics you promulgate yourself? In this case, falsely accuse Green Peace of perversely and unethically abusing cognitive framing?
A short of Beck discussing his "We Surround Them Project:
Well,my answer to them? NOT WITH MY GREENPEACE YOU DON'T!!!
.
Let's take action. First, by Support Greenpeace; contributing comments to take control of the messaging at Greenpeace's update on this "Where You Live". Then, scour the net for venues to vent your support of Greenpeace armed and respond: "Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation acting to change attitudes and behavior, to protect the environment and promote peace." (Best search terms: "Emerging battle-bruised from the disaster zone".) And participate in a Twitter-Swarm: lets swell the ranks of Greenpeacefollowers to 50,000 by week end!
And last, but assuredly, not least:
Donate to Greenpeace
Donate to Greenpeace
Donate to Greenpeace
Social Media & Climate Activism
"Mass disruption, non-cooperation with destructive systems and alliances with strange bedfellows (progressive business and investment communities) are the only tactics that will be effective for the climate movement to match the urgency of the situation," says James Hanusa. "With social media the tools provide far more power than utilized by the movement today. In most cases the community has only moved it's old tactics online vs. creating a networked strategy to capitalize on the capabilities of the new technology."
Hanusa, along with Jamie Henn (350.org), Michael Leifer (Influence Xchange/EcoDads), and Antonia Juhasz (Global Exchange) will discuss strategies, tools, and tactics for online and offline organizing and visions of the future this Saturday, April 10, at San Francisco's Green Festival.
Bolivia's Consul General Marco Antonio Cuba will join the panel to discuss the upcoming conference in Cocabamba. The 1 p.m. training workshop "Social Media & Climate Change Leadership Campaigns: Strategy to Action" engages climate & social benefit campaigns such as Four Years. Go, Transition US, and Bay Localize in Q&A/Next Steps interactive sessions following the panel.
Follow the strategic flow of a flash mob unfolding.
Take Non Violent Action Now! A Primer
Follow, retweet and promote OrganicAluminum on Twitter, founded and operated by Daily Kos' StrandedWind.
Join Facebook's page for World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth
Follow and promote boliviaun on Twitter
Engage in OneClimateNetBoliva for livecasts, chats, resources & follow OneClimateon Twitter
Educate yourself on 'climate facts' at John Cook's Skeptical Science and Real Climate Change Wiki
Bookmark Permaculture.TV's Nicolas Robert's latest online publication, Climate Social Forum a news gathering and sorting website designed to hunt, gather and filter 'the signal from the noise.'
Volunteer your skills as a photographer, videographer or writer if you are planning on traveling to Cochabamba as a correspondent for WiserEarth's Bolivia410
Ecouter et répéter
"We be many, but you be few"
"Somos muchos, pero es pocos"
"Wir sind viele, aber Sie sind wenig"
"我們是很多,但是你不是"
"Siamo molti, ma lei è pochi"
"Nous sommes beaucoup, mais vous êtes peu de"
"Somos muitos, mas é poucos"
"हम कई किया जाना चाहिए, लेकिन आप कुछ किया जाना चाहिए"
سنكون كثيرين, ولكنكم تكون قليلة""
"Budeme mnoho, ale vy je málo"
"Vi är många, men du är få"
Photocredits:
System Change Not Climate Change" banner - United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP15 - Copenhagen, Denmark by kk+
dec12th-212x300
Greenpeace al Colosseo un messaggio per Copenhagen by greenpeace.italia
Arctic Sunrise in Copenhagen by Greenpeace International
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