Activism

An invitation from the Mobilization for Climate Justice coalition

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This post introduces the U.S.-based Mobilization for Climate Justice, as well as similar critiques and activism associated with this Climate Justice coalition. As I indicate, the organizers in and around that coalition also address a range of energy & carbon issues (including tar sands pollution, and biofuel land grabs) — along with interrelated and more apparent global warming concerns. Their approach to these ecological issues is based on prior environmental justice critiques and activism, as well as wider opposition towards corporations, and other international market structures.

Keep Left!

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Histories of left-wing politics tend to focus on major parties and movements as well as individual leaders and influential theorists. A small number of professional politicians and intellectuals thereby usually dominate the picture. The new book by labour movement historian John Charlton has the considerable virtue of looking at the movement’s rank and file at ground level, in this case, the North-East of England and particularly Tyneside. The Left’s real soul is to be found amongst those many thousands, if not millions, of unsung individuals, inspired by some sort of socialist vision, who, in their workplace or local neighbourhood, have fought against exploitation and oppression.

China and the world – Oct 2

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-Communist China celebrates 60th anniversary with instruments of war and words of peace
-China vows to crack down on industrial overcapacity
-China, U.S. risk rifts in Middle East: former Chinese envoy
-Nigeria and China’s oil deal still a secret
-Parades and protests mark China’s National Day

Solutions & sustainability – Sept 30

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-Can one woman save Africa?
-Africa doesn’t need a green revolution. It needs agroecology
-Human-made Crises ‘Outrunning Our Ability To Deal With Them,’ Scientists Warn
-The Australian town that kicked the bottle
-Energy executives offer ideas on stimulus

Common environments, Diggers, and Climate Campers

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Thoughts on the relationship between food issues, rural movements, and Climate Camps. To be more specific: this post mainly compares the distinct focuses and limitations of the Diggers’ movement toward agricultural autonomy, and the Climate Campers’ rallies and interventions against coal plants, airport expansion projects, and other commercially-driven operations.

Dreaming a life

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A few months ago, I had an email exchange with Bill McKibben about the commonly perceived but, we both agreed, false distinction between lifestyle changes and political acts. Those of you who have read _Depletion and Abundance_ know that I spend a good bit of time on just this subject – on the idea that our ordinary daily activities are not political acts, or that we can resolve our problems in a way that isn’t whole, that doesn’t include our personal way of life *along* with our political and community activism.

Daydreams of Destruction

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The troubled future of industrial society has become tangled up in our collective imagination with a dizzying array of hopes and fears. Will the end of our age bring more meaningful and fulfilling lives to the survivors, as some people insist nowadays, or have daydreams of destruction become an inkblot onto which too many people project fantasies of redemption?