Zeitgeist

Either leaders of the global climate movement are reading this blog( doubtful) or we are all tapped into the zeitgeist. Two days after publishing our call for mass civil disobedience ( actually we've been advocating this for two years) I read this on Desmog Blog this morning: The “Break Free From Fossil Fuels” campaign, online at BreakFree2016.org, will involve acts of civil disobedience including forming human chains to block oil exports, interfering with coal mine operations and marching on the corporate headquarters of fossil fuel companies. Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International, described the strategy as launching “a billion acts of courage” and “intensifying new forms of resistance and struggle.” “Enough is enough, and no more. We are prepared to put our lives on the line, to go to prison if necessary,” in order to block new fossil fuel expansion projects around the globe, Naidoo said. In a separate article, authors Christopher Wright (U of Sydney) and Daniel Nyberg (U. of Newcastle) talk about the false promise of "green capitalism", very much on display in Paris at the moment.: "Such is the supremacy of our current capitalist imagery that it exacts a powerful grip on our thinking and actions. It is a grip strengthened by the promotion of every new “green” product, a grip tightened through the establishment of sustainability functions in business and government, a grip defended with every “offset” we purchase for a flight to a holiday destination. Ultimately, the “success” or otherwise of the Paris climate talks appears unlikely to challenge the fundamental dynamics underlying the climate crisis. Dramatic decarbonisation based around limits upon consumption, economic growth, and corporate influence are not open for discussion" Everyone from John Kerry to the Bob Inglis dude from my last post are promoting the pain-free common sense solution of continued consumption and growth and corporate control but with fewer emissions. Or as Rising Tide puts it, a world of "solar powered sweatshops". I went to a showing of This Changes Everything and stuck arounf for the discussion afterwards. I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the young activists have an anti-capitalist critique to compliment their environmentalism. Good news for the struggle ahead. My comrade Will asked last night how the move to mass civil disobedience affects the move from a quantitative to qualitative change, from a mere escalation to a shift or rupture? Stay tuned for theory on hegemony or the move from particular to universal.