Turn Left for Earth

Written on September 23rd, 2014 in politics Comments Off

Published on War is a Crime (also on David Sanson’s BLOG – and on ZNet), by David Swanson, Sept 21, 2014.

… I’m in favor of mixed-use protests, not just urban developments. Don’t just let the conservative marchers know about opportunities for more direct protest, but get them involved. Take a safe march to a resistance action, where its size will keep it safe and its members will be energized. Let the crowd demonstrate within sight and sound of the people it is petitioning for a redress of grievances, and let those who are ready join in disruptive protest actions.  

Of course turning left in order to go where needed makes a nice metaphor for what our whole culture must do if it is to cease destroying the earth’s climate. Paul Krugman figured out this week that green energy pays for itself, but he seems to imagine that therefore it will be created, as if the corrupting influence of the fossil fuel profiteers just doesn’t exist. We need to turn so far left that we abandon such naiveté, stop yammering about transition fuels, abandon all talk of “peak oil” as if existing oil isn’t sufficient to kill us all, and forswear all pointless pursuit of the political “center.”

Naomi Klein’s new book does a much better job of identifying the corrupting influence of profiteers. She also points out that the sooner we act to slow down climate change the less radical our actions will need to be. The longer we wait to take meaningful action, the more drastic our actions will have to be when we finally do something. Green energy, Klein’s book makes clear for anyone who was unaware, is not failing in a marketplace. It is being killed by political corruption, loan conditions, corporate trade agreements, penalties and disincentives, and the subsidies given to the fossil fuel corporations.

Klein notes that activist movements around trade and climate have, oddly, progressed while virtually ignoring each other. Klein comes closer than most environmentalists to not ignoring another big question, that of war. The military is the elephant in the room in terms of both economics and climate destruction, but is largely ignored by activists and the broader public … //

… Congress members have skipped town in order to avoid voting on war. You can find them in their districts. November 6th will be the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. The two movements named in this holiday should be combined and our actions should escalate. A slight left turn won’t be enough to save us.

(full text).

Links:

on Gesundheit – Santé – Health, Sept 22/23, 2014:

Labour conference: pay cut for ministers, child benefit cap, but more NHS cash, on The Guardian, by Patrick Wintour, Sept 22, 2014: Shadow chancellor Ed Balls unveils plans for next parliament, while Ed Miliband highlights wages, health and 50p tax band …;

We’ve forgotten the lessons of the Civil Rights movement, on ZNet (first on Washington Post), by Charles Cobb, Sept 21, 2014;

On Scottish Independence, on Zvideo, 29.39 min, (first on YouTube, uploaded by Stuart Platt’s channel), by Noam Chomsky, Sept 20, 2014;

Turkish security troops clash with Kurds, as thousands flee ISIS (VIDEO), on Russia Today RT, Sept 21, 2014;

The Narcissism Epidemic, on The Confluence, by riverdaughter, Sept 20, 2014;

Rosa Luxemburg: Economics for a New Socialist Project, on NewPolitics, by Ingo Schmidt, Issue Vol:XV-1 Whole #: 57, Summer 2014.

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