Just in time for the COP29 summit, where a group of self-congratulatory world leaders will meet in Baku, Azerbaijan for photo-ops, catered meals, and of course discussion of climate goals that they don’t intend to meet, subMedia, in collaboration with Peter Gelderloos, is pleased to release part one of a three part series: It’s Revolution or Death.
The first installment of the series takes a look at the push for green capitalism, and questions the common-sense assumptions of its cheerleaders. Bolstered by unwavering, uncritical support from NGO’s, energy corporations portray themselves as cutting edge innovators in green energy technology while hedging their bets and maintaining diversified portfolios – packed with fossil fuel investments.
The coming two installments will discuss Indigenous and anarchist struggles for land and autonomy and how local communities can get organized to build resiliency in the face of worsening climate catastrophe.
The effects of runaway climate change are already here. If the past 50 years of gas-lighting have made one thing abundantly clear, it’s that the politicians and entrepreneurs leading the charge for green energy will never prioritize the interests of life on earth in their pursuit of profits. So what are we going to do about it?
For more of Peter Gelderloos’ work check out They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us and The Solutions are Already Here. Both from Pluto Books www.plutobooks.com
State and market solutions to the ecological crisis have only increased the wealth and power of those on top, while greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Nearly all the experts and professionals are invested, literally, in a framework that is only making things worse. With so much power concentrated in the very institutions that suppress any realistic assessment of the situation, things seem incredibly bleak. But what if we told you that there’s another way? That there are already people all around the world implementing immediate, effective responses that can be integrated into long-term strategies to survive these overlapping, cascading crises?
We spoke with three revolutionaries on the front lines resisting capitalist, colonial projects. Sleydo’ from the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en nation, in so-called British Columbia, Isa from the ZAD in the west of France, and Neto, a militant with the Landless Workers’ Movement based in the northeast of so-called Brazil. They share their experiences gained from years of building collective power, defeating repression, and defending the Earth for all its inhabitants and for the generations still to come.
They share stories of solidarity spreading across a continent, of people abandoned to poverty and marginalization reclaiming land, restoring devastated forests, and feeding themselves communally, stories of strangers coming together for their shared survival and a better future, going head to head with militarized police forces and winning. And in these stories we can hear things that are lacking almost everywhere else we look: optimism alongside realism, intelligent strategies for how we can survive, love and empathy for the world around us and for the future generations, together with the belief that we can do something meaningful, something that makes a difference. The joy of revolutionary transformation.
We learn about solutions. Real world solutions. Solutions outside of the control of capitalism and the state.
The Revolution is Already Here.
Next up: how do we make it our own?
The third and final installment of the series seeks to bring the lessons learned in the first two episodes home. This segment features an interview with Peter Gelderloos in which he describes his experience working to build transformative infrastructure in Catalunya.
Not all of us are so lucky to live near a large and organized movement like those described in part two, and that’s ok. For us to be truly organized as a global community, we need do work wherever we are. As Neto reminds us in part two, “We need to start from where we’re standing and from a reality that we recognize.” There are no answers, only strategies. This video seeks to provide guidance to anarchists just getting started organizing around the climate crisis. Different strategies work in different locales, social conditions and contexts.
Peter shares three urgent suggestions for those looking to organize around these issues:
Urgent Suggestion #1: A complete and Total Rejection of All the Institutions Responsible for This Disaster
Relying on those responsible for this crisis to save us is the worst thing we can do. It’s time to act collectively outside of the state and capital’s stranglehold over our lives to try to carve out spaces and networks that will give us the best possible chances of survival. Relying on nonprofits, elections, or authoritarian left movements has failed time and time again. We cannot afford to continue to misplace our trust in institutions that will not save us.
Urgent Suggestion #2: Pick a Project of Transformative Survival
The hour is seriously late. The sooner we get involved in organizing for survival, the better. If people in the territories you reside in are already working towards similar goals, it may be better to join them than to try and build a movement from the ground up. Sometimes we need to create new projects where there is a need for them and people willing to get them going. Building our collective autonomy may not appear to be directly related to our chances at surviving the climate crises, but it is! Any time we build our collective power outside of the state and capital we build power that is combative to the institutions that created this disaster, and that gives us the means to survive it.
Urgent Suggestion #3: Connect your project to a revolutionary web of solidarity
The climate crisis is a worldwide issue. We need to have a global response. Networks of people organizing around these issues exist all over around the world. We need to build an international web of solidarity and the more connections a web has, the stronger it will be.
Download the Screening Packets here:
Readable
Printer Friendly