[WSMDiscuss] Fwd: URGENT SIGN ON: Letter to Extinction Rebellion and the environmental movement (UK) / Debate on Extinction Rebellion (Tadzio Mueller)

Thu Apr 25 10:25:25 CEST 2019

Great discussion and reflections on Emerging social movements
We are in Solidarity and we support the XR, Social movement  for framing a
more radical discourse, on Climate justice rebellion  and with more
grassroots collective voice ,  Hopefully Ota Benga Alliance for Peace, can
start also building up this radical discourse of social justice movement
from the ground in East  Africa, Nairobi..Kampala , Kigali , as we connect
with ecological struggles in DRC, the public intellectuals on climate
justice in the social movement , must start analyzing their privileges, and
become organic intellectual  thinking and organizing  social movement
..Extinct rebellion  is great sparks ... for ecological justice movement
and the idea of Citizen/Peoples Assemblies...Here our Struggles ( Kenya’s
War Against the Poor – an interview with Gacheke Gachihi
http://roape.net/2019/04/05/kenyas-war-against-the-poor-an-interview-with-gacheke-gachihi/
Gacheke

On Thu, Apr 25, 2019 at 12:39 AM Matt York via WSM-Discuss <
wsm-discuss at lists.openspaceforum.net> wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> Just wanted to comment briefly on these current critiques of XR, and give
> a perspective from the ground.
> I was priveliged to stand with my XR brothers and sisters in Central
> London last week where I was arrested with over a thousand others. My very
> good friend is currently remanded in custody for a month and faces a
> significant jail sentence for his activism.
>
> I thought it might be useful for list members to know that the movement is
> organising in a truly leaderless way unlike many of the organisations who
> are co-signatories of this letter, and from what I have witnessed are
> acutely aware of their privelige. I was present at a Collective Visioning
> session (held in the centre of an occupied Oxford Circus) where we were
> addressed by a representative of La Vía Campesina. The participants then
> deliberated on how best their local groups might better engage in
> solidarity with struggles in the global South. These ideas have now been
> brought to our respective groups to be acted upon. I can report a real
> appetite and commitment to engaging in this solidarity work.
>
> I have no doubt the letter to XR will be received with humility and
> reflected upon contientiously by XR groups. I would however suggest we
> pause and reflect ourselves, from our often priveliged positions (whether
> that be in the North or South) and consider why we are not standing in
> solidarity with these brothers and sisters who are putting their bodies on
> the line for us all. Critique is important to be sure, but so is
> solidarity, and I question the motivation of some of the (far from
> leaderless) organisations who have so eagerly signed this letter.
>
> With love and solidarity.
> Matt
>
> --
> Securely sent with Tutanota.
>
>
>
>
> 25 Apr 2019, 03:16 by jai.sen at cacim.net:
>
> Wednesday, April 24, 2019
>
> *Climate in movement…, Ideas in movement…*
>
> [The movement called XR – Extinction Rebellion – is both spreading and
> also getting a lot of media attention, especially in the North.  In this
> context - and as I understand it from the letter I am posting here -,
> “Wretched of the Earth, a London-based collective of activists originally
> from the South” has written a letter to “Extinction Rebellion (XR) and the
> wider environmental movement in the UK/Global North”, asking some hard
> questions.  In turn, the post says,
>
> "Some grassroots groups across the movement in the UK [who] thought it
> was important to jointly suggest a different approach [have] drafted a
> letter which can be read here
> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/19DpVsXCDwQ9ODGIeS0ZJD0Qtmj_o3Ya6KHEhOUPtY7Q/edit>
> .”
>
> [I’m therefore posting here, for the information of those who have not
> seen this and for discussion, the Open Letter for sign-on that has been
> prepared by the latter group; in short, raising some hard questions of XR
> and the wider environmental movement in the UK/Global North.  This letter
> is already in some discussion on lists among concerned people in India, and
> perhaps also elsewhere.  (For those who might have wanted to sign on to the
> Open Letter however, I apologise for posting this a little late, but I now
> see that the deadline was this evening, British time.)
>
> [To know about Extinction Rebellion, see https://rebellion.earth/
>
> [Just to add some thoughts and questions, the letter I’m posting here
> seems to take the position that it also represents the views of Indigenous
> Peoples.  But I’m not quite sure – but only by looking at the list of
> signatories, which I know is not always an adequate way of knowing - where
> their legitimacy to do so is coming from.  Or, for that matter, to also
> represent labouring peoples in struggle across the South, in general, whose
> struggles are also invoked.  But since the claim of moral and social
> authority is there, in a subject like this this is a vital question.
>
> [I also find it striking, and worrying, that even as it raises some
> systemic and structural questions, this Open Letter does not mention the
> absence in what Extinction Rebellion is demanding – as far as I can see –
> of a critique of the military and of militarisation (and here, in terms of
> its impact on climate), on two grounds : One, where the US military for
> instance is by far the largest contributor to carbon emissions in the world
> (see, for instance, https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/23/72279/); and
> on the other hand, where - and even in terms of any serious and sustained
> rebellion against what is happening in our times - it is the military alone
> that already has a plan for how to contain the unrest that is already
> opening up as a result of climate changes (see, for instance,
> https://www.thenation.com/article/the-future-of-climate-change-is-widespread-civil-war/;
> and for the Pentagon’s plans,
> http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/jun/12/pentagon-mass-civil-breakdown,
> and also one of their own documents :
>
> CNA Military Advisory Board, May 2014 – ‘National Security and the
> Accelerating Risks of Climate Change’.  Alexandria, VA : CNA
> Corporation.  Accessed js 24.04.2019 @
> https://www.cna.org/cna_files/pdf/MAB_5-8-14.pdf
>
> [I’m also forwarding here, further on below, an as-always spirited
> critical engagement with XR by Tadzio Mueller, who is deeply engaged with
> climate actions in Germany including with two of the signatories, Ende
> Gelände and Hambach Forest occupations, and raises important questions.
> (Apologies to those on CJN! in particular, for repetition !) :
>
>
> *Letter to Extinction Rebellion and the environmental movement (UK) *Decolonising
> our minds, Platform Ende Gelände, London Latinxs, Healing Justice London, Reclaim
> the Power, Decolonising Environmentalism, The Leap, and others
>
> *Debate on Extinction Rebellion*
>
> Tadzio Mueller
>
>             Thanks for circulating the Open Letter, Souparna, and for
> your post, Tadzio !
>
>             JS
>
>
> fwd
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: *Souparna Lahiri* <souparna.lahiri at gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2019 at 23:35
> Subject: Fwd: [demandclimatejustice] URGENT SIGN ON: Letter to Extinction
> Rebellion and the environmental movement (UK)
> To: climate justice <indiaclimatejustice at gmail.com>, Coalition for
> Environmental Justice in India <
> coalition-for-environmental-justice-in-india at googlegroups.com>
>
>
> FYI
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: *Nathan Thanki* <thanki.nathan at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2019 at 05:25
> Subject: [demandclimatejustice] URGENT SIGN ON: Letter to Extinction
> Rebellion and the environmental movement (UK)
> To: demandclimatejustice at googlegroups.com <
> demandclimatejustice at googlegroups.com>
>
> Dear DCJ friends,
>
> Wretched of the Earth, a London-based collective of activists originally
> from the South, has written an open letter addressing Extinction Rebellion
> (XR) and the wider environmental movement in the UK/Global North.
>
> For those of you who may not be aware, Extinction Rebellion have injected
> newfound energy and enthusiasm into the climate debate in the North, but
> have also been heavily critiqued for their messaging, their strategy, and
> their failure to involve groups working on issues related to climate
> justice, such as housing, employment, health, migrant and refugee rights
> etc.
>
> Some grassroots groups across the movement in the UK thought it was
> important to jointly suggest a different approach and drafted a letter
> which can be read here
> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/19DpVsXCDwQ9ODGIeS0ZJD0Qtmj_o3Ya6KHEhOUPtY7Q/edit>
>
>
> They are now asking groups outside the UK to:
> 1. Comment on the draft letter and co sign as an organisation if you agree
> 2. Share ideas for how to address Extinction Rebellion if they engage
> 3. Reply before Wednesday at 5pm BST
>
> If you reply to me I can collect signatures, comments, and forward to
> Wretched of the Earth. Hope many DCJ members can engage as these trends are
> going to continue and possibly intensify.
>
> --
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>
>
> --
> Souparna Lahiri
> 143 Khirki Village
> First Floor
> New Delhi - 110 017
> India
> Tel (R) 91 11 29541502
> Mobile 91 9818147740
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> *From: *"Mueller, Tadzio" <Tadzio.Mueller at rosalux.org>
> *Subject: **[climate justice now!] Debate on Extinction Rebellion*
> *Date: *April 24, 2019 at 9:57:15 AM EDT
> *To: *Eduardo Giesen A. <cjn at lists.riseup.net>
> *Reply-To: *"Mueller, Tadzio" <Tadzio.Mueller at rosalux.org>
>
>
>
> Friends and comrades,
>
> there’s a spirited debate on some lists about the CJ-politics of XR (or
> lack thereof), and I wanted to get it going on this list, too.
>
> Here’s an opening salvo:
>
> I've been watching XR in germany quite intently, and would *summarise
> their potential* (whatever their actual reality, which varies a lot, even
> between local base groups in different cities): in northern countries where
> there is a tradition of more or less legitimate *climate* disobedience
> (UK: climate camps; Germany: Ende Gelände; etc...), XR can play the
> super-important role of expanding the space of disobedience to include a
> far larger sector of society than had previously been open to a politics
> that breaks rules. in other words: whereas ende gelände (like climate camp)
> managed brilliantly to organise 'activist social movements', and bring
> their powers to bear on climate change, the majority of society remained
> spectators. this was partly due to the fact that the folks who started
> climate camp and ende gelände came out of years of activism organising in
> radical subcultures, complete with discourses and cultural practices that
> give us coherence, but leave many outside of our cultures with a sense of
> 'i'd rather not play with them'.
>
> then came the epochal change that is our saint greta (i'm not being
> sarcastic, i'm being vaguely hegelian ;)) and f4f: a call to the rest of
> society to also get its asses in gear, and not leave protecting the climate
> to a small set of activist specialists.
>
> and THAT's the space that XR can step into: tactically low-level blockades
> (as opposed to tactically much more challenging pit- or digger-blockades)
> in urban spaces (so no need to travel out of town to shut down a pit), that
> concerned but not overly radical folks can join for an hour, a day, or
> however long they see fit.
>
> and secondly, they can connect their practices with the discoursive
> radicalism that F4F have injected into the debate, whereas us old-school
> CJ-folks tend to remain stuck in a climate discourse from a time before F4F.
>
> to be honest, and this is where i'd really like to pick up the baton of
> what tetet said: are we sure that we're not just defending our own business
> as usual? what is it that F4F and XR have ahead of us, why, if it's so
> 'superficial', 'catastrophist', unaware of the all-important justice
> dimension or whatever other traditional critiques of XR we might
> articulate: why are they sweeping the floor with us in terms of
> mobilisation and media attention? and what can we learn from them?
>
> i lived and was 'an activist' in the UK for many years, but last year in
> november, seemingly out of the blue, XR managed to pull something off that
> no other group had managed in about two decades: to mobilise some 5000
> people for a blockade of london's bridges. the tactical planning seemed to
> have been awful, but the important thing was: totally new people joined the
> blockades, people who'd never done such a thing.
>
> and today, much of the coverage (whether in the FT or the guardian) of XR
> focuses on this 'totally normal people are doing this'-dynamic.
>
> what can we learn from them, then, seems to me the more interesting
> question than 'what are they getting wrong?'.
>
> best
>
> tadzio
>
>
> ______________________________
>
> Jai Sen
>
> Independent researcher, editor
>
> jai.sen at cacim.net
>
> Now based in New Delhi, India (+91-98189 11325) and in Ottawa, Canada, on
> unceded Anishinaabe territory (+1-613-282 2900)
>
> Current associations : www.cacim.net / http://www.openword.net.in
>
> CURRENT / RECENT publications :
>
> Jai Sen, ed, 2018a – *The Movements of Movements, Part 2 : Rethinking Our
> Dance*. Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press
> <http://www.pmpress.org/>
>
> Jai Sen, ed, 2018b – *The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us
> Move ?*, Indian edition. New Delhi : AuthorsUpfront, in collaboration
> with OpenWord and PM Press.  Hard copy available at MOM1AmazonIN
> <https://www.amazon.in/dp/9387280101/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522884070&sr=8-2&keywords=movements+of+movements+jai+sen>
> , MOM1Flipkart
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> and MOM1AUpFront <http://www.authorsupfront.com/movements.htm>
>
> Jai Sen, ed, 2017 – *The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us
> Move ?*.  New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA : PM Press.  Ebook and
> hard copy available at PM Press <http://www.pmpress.org/>
>
> Jai Sen, ed, 2016a  – *The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us
> Move ?* and Jai Sen, ed, 2016b – *The Movements of Movements, Part 2 :
> Rethinking Our Dance* (both then forthcoming from New Delhi : OpenWord
> and Oakland, CA : PM Press), open access *ADVANCE PREFINAL ONLINE
> MOVEMENT EDITIONS @ www.cacim.net <http://www.cacim.net>*
>
>
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