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

Thu Apr 25 19:18:20 CEST 2019

Hi All,

I am fairly new to the group hence attempting a short post because it seems
relevant.

I spend a few months in India working with indigenous communities living,
protecting and conserving the forests of India. What indigenous communities
in India have been doing since the 18th century is fighting against the
massive destruction of forests through mining, "developmental projects",
offsetting the emissions of the global north etc. This fight has become
only more intense in the last few decades. They have been fighting against
climate change without it being called so. There is growing understanding
that the fight against climate change has to include the knowledge, actions
and leadership of the indigenous communities across the world...and India
is no exception.

A few of us have formed a loose group call Peoples Climate Network to
amplify the voices of these indigenous communities. We would also like to
sign (will confirm with the co-volunteers) and if possible include a bullet
point of amplifying the voices of the indigenous communities.

Thanks
~Somnath

On Thu, Apr 25, 2019 at 12:02 PM Jai Sen <jai.sen at cacim.net> wrote:

> [Am ‘re-posting’ this reply of mine to Matt York, since I managed to try
> and do my post from a defunct id !  A slightly embarrassing situation.
> Apologies for any duplications…
>
> Thursday, April 25, 2019
>
>
>
> Greetings Matt
>
>             Thanks for this comment and for your report from on the
> ground.  First, I appreciate very much what you have said and how you
> have said it.  I know that what you said was not addressed to me as such,
> but I take your points well – and especially when taken along with the
> posts that Tadzio made in his post.
>
>             It’s also very good to know that La Via Campesina was there
> with you all in Oxford Circus (how the world has changed !  Peasants
> speaking in a space so redolent of empire such as Oxford Circus – and that
> has been liberated and occupied !) and that the assembly then focussed on
> how to better engage in solidarity with struggles in the global South; and
> that this discussion has now spread out within the movement.  This is
> great to know.  Please do post more on all this, as and when you can,
> from and on the ground.
>
>             In solidarity with you and all those of you who are taking
> this stand, on the ground !
>
>             Jai
>
> On Apr 25, 2019, at 3:36 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.
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
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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
> <https://www.flipkart.com/the-movements-of-movements/p/itmf3zg7h79ecpgj?pid=9789387280106&lid=LSTBOK9789387280106NBA1CH&marketplace=FLIPKART&srno=s_1_1&otracker=search&fm=SEARCH&iid=ff35b702-e6a8-4423-b014-16c84f6f0092.9789387280106.SEARCH&ppt=Search%20Page>,
> 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/>*
>
>
> *SUBSCRIBE TO World Social Movement Discuss*, an open, unmoderated, and
> self-organising forum on social and political movement at any level
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>
>
> ________________________________________
> ** Inspired by the World Social Forum, WSMDiscuss – the successor to a
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>
> ______________________________
>
> 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
> <https://www.flipkart.com/the-movements-of-movements/p/itmf3zg7h79ecpgj?pid=9789387280106&lid=LSTBOK9789387280106NBA1CH&marketplace=FLIPKART&srno=s_1_1&otracker=search&fm=SEARCH&iid=ff35b702-e6a8-4423-b014-16c84f6f0092.9789387280106.SEARCH&ppt=Search%20Page>,
> 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>*
>
> *SUBSCRIBE TO World Social Movement Discuss*, an open, unmoderated, and
> self-organising forum on social and political movement at any level
> (local, national, regional, and global).  *To subscribe, simply send an
> empty email to wsm-discuss-subscribe at lists.openspaceforum.net
> <wsm-discuss-subscribe at lists.openspaceforum.net>*
>
> ________________________________________
> ** Inspired by the World Social Forum, WSMDiscuss – the successor to a
> list named ‘WSFDiscuss’ started in 2005 - is an open, unmoderated, and
> self-organising forum for the exchange of information and views on the
> experience, practice, and theory of social and political movement at any
> level (local, national, regional, and global), including the World Social
> Forum.  Join in ! **
> _______________________________________________
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