“The bottom line is this: not until we have a plan to heal the planet that also heals our broken selves and our broken communities do we have a hope of preventing this most dire of all crises, and our job is to begin to imagine - quickly - what that wholistic healing process might look like.”
Naomi Klein at Powershift 2012 in Ottawa (video, 30 minutes).
Watch the video a couple'a times; listen carefully to her; read that quote until you have got it straight; and then skip the rest of this gentle reader. Take a break. Meditate on it.
Naomi Klein, 42 years old. Here's her website.Scott Parkin (you can get to know him a bit better in this very short video) quotes Naomi: “The climate movement needs to have one hell of a comeback,” in Harnessing Rebel Energy – Making Green A Threat Again, 18 January 2013; from Counterpunch & Earth First News. Reading this prompted me to re-read the source: Capitalism vs. the Climate from The Nation, November 9, 2011.
Which led me (by a commodius vicus of recirculation) to the Power Shift video above - which then blew my mind. (!) My only criticism is that she doesn't mention population - hesitated to do it maybe, for obvious reasons.
An exercise in understanding is to read Scott Parkin's article, then Naomi Klein's essay, and then come back to Scott Parkin for a quick 'compare & contrast'. I file things in that Addenda thing because (for me who is easily distracted) the pop-ups and advertising shit get in the way of reading; and also so they won't disappear or have the URLs change quite so quickly; and one of the aspects of doing it is to have to read the text repeatedly, intimately.
In Capitalism vs. the Climate she references 'Cool dudes: The denial of climate change among conservative white males in the United States' by Aaron McCright & Riley Dunlap - several times in fact; so here (for the sake of completeness) it is at Science Direct for $31.50, or this free & open copy at University of Colorado Boulder.
I was not always a fan of Naomi Klein; in fact I was a grumbling-arsehole critic (a white male of a certain background & experience y'unnerstan). It started before No Logo, early-mid 90's sometime, some article of hers set me off, must have been when she was at 'This Magazine' ... and then later on I read 'No Logo' and was not impressed. Someone asked me why - and - I can't remember anymore. All my papers from those days have been lost and I don't have a copy of the book anymore either ... so. More recently I tried to read The Shock Doctrine and was put off by the ideology - she seemed to be so pretty and so certain, a bourgeois princess with perfect pitch in the key of politically correct.Then I saw her in 2010 during the G20 here in Toronto; and followed her, along with about 1,000 others, from Massey Hall up to Allan Gardens. She hit the grace note so perfectly, and so humbly, I could not resist: all she said was, "I'm going to take a walk up to Allan Gardens when this is over to see how it's going there, and if you want to come along, feel free." I began to change my opinion; and when I read her long article Capitalism vs. the Climate the first time in 2011 I was about turned around.
No one likes to change their opinion, especially when it is curmudgeonly and imperfect, maybe even shameful; but there you go, that's how this all happened as well as I can remember.
She is in the index here half a dozen times, so when it was all done and dusted I followed up on 'maybe even shameful' and went to have a closer look at the past, the trajectory.
Uh oh!
At least nine times it turns out: Wednesday September 9 2009, Saturday September 12 2009, Sunday June 13 2010, Sunday July 25 2010, Sunday March 27 2011, Wednesday July 13 2011, Sunday October 2 2011, Sunday October 9 2011, Tuesday January 15 2012.
Whew! What a struggle! Google Search don't work worth shit (using double quotes in the blog Search box has no effect). I was sure I had mentioned her Pied Piper routine at Massey Hall but ... can't find it. And Blogger has changed the way the <P> tag is interpreted so the posts I touched (to insert a link) all got gibbled and the HTML had to be repaired (follow the </P> with an ' ' non-breaking space, intuitively obvious) in many many places.
Another Odyssey: reviewing old opinions and statements (some of them quite scurrilous & loutish) can be humbling. Any lesson in humility is good I guess. See Negative Resilience below. Maybe someone else also remembers Brian Mulrooney saying, "we had to adjust our perceptions," during some election campaign.
I'm sorry gentle reader to have learned so little that I just ... carry on.
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1) Barack Obama's Second Inaugural Address (complete, 20 minutes), the bit on climate (1.5 minute clip from about 11:45), & the transcript; "We, the people ..." a rhetorical mantra ... Ommmmm ...
2) How serious is Barack Obama about climate change?, Suzanne Goldenberg, Monday 21 January 2013;
3) Obama under pressure after Nebraska governor signs off on Keystone XL, Suzanne Goldenberg, Tuesday 22 January 2013 7pm;
4) Obama stalls for time after Nebraska approves Keystone XL oil pipeline, Suzanne Goldenberg, Tuesday 22 January 2013 11pm;
5) Governor of Nebraska Backs Route for Pipeline, John Broder, January 22, 2013, which includes this sentence: "The decision came a day after Mr. Obama made an assertive pledge in his Inaugural Address to tackle climate change in his second term." The only victory here being in the structure of the sentence - that Keystone is now expected to implicitly connect with climate change.
6) A rally is being planned for February 17, President's Day, in Washington DC by 350, The Sierra Club, and the Hip-Hop Caucus. Another 17 hour bus ride? Dunno.
Margaret Wente, a lame self-serving woman of a certain age:
1) Global warming stopped 16 years ago, reveals Met Office report quietly released... and here is the chart to prove it, David Rose, 13 October 2012;
2) Whatever happened to global warming?, Margaret Wente, January 24 2013;
3) Debunking the Denial: “16 Years of No Global Warming”, Phil Plait, Monday, January 14, 2013;
4) Global warming over the last 16 years (2 minute video), John Cook, 7 January 2013;
5) Short term trends: Another proxy fight, Gavin Schmidt, 1 November 2012.
I really don't want to mention Ezra Levant - any publicity being good publicity in that realm - but this longish video is interesting on all sides. And if he is going to be mentioned, I guess it's fitting to couple him with Wente.
I would like to be able to encounter Margaret Wente or Ezra Levant, or that guy from the anti-wind group, Daryl Hemingway, and stand up to them - short answer is: I can't. Tom Flanagan is another one; he gets his oar in here: Native talks with the Crown challenge Canada’s very existence. By all means!
Boris Johnson, a lame hard-right wannabe:1) It’s snowing, and it really feels like the start of a mini ice age, Boris Johnson, 20 January 2013;
2) Boris Johnson says snow casts doubt on climate change science, Leo Hickman, Monday 21 January 2013.
2015 or 2020, not that much much to choose really:1) China and Australia top list of 'carbon bomb' projects, Oliver Milman, Tuesday 22 January 2013;
2) Point of No Return - The massive climate threats we must avoid, Ria Voorhar & Lauri Myllyvirta, January 2013.
UK vs. EU: "Fog in Channel: Continent cut off." (an island nation)
1) David Cameron's speech, 23 January 2013 (40 minutes); transcript, the offending remark: "... we need to examine whether the balance is right in so many areas where the European Union has legislated including on the environment ..." (somewhere in Principle #3);
2) EU referendum: Climate efforts could be 'collateral damage', warn MEPs, Arthur Neslen, Thursday 24 January 2013;
3) David Cameron's EU speech is grave news for our environment, Tony Juniper, Friday 25 January 2013;
4) Britain’s Prime Minister Defends Decision to Seek Vote on European Union, David Jolly, January 24, 2013 (which does not mention the environment);
5) United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) petition; UKIP Environmental policy (2008) "UKIP accepts that the world’s climate changes, but we are the first party to take a sceptical stance on man-made global warming claims."; European Citizens' Initiative petition "We Demand Affordable Energy!";
6) EU carbon price crashes to record low, Damian Carrington, Thursday 24 January 2013 - It fell to €2.81 ($3.81CDN) from ~€17 in 2010. So what? It had to be $1,000 & Fee & Dividend to do any good!;
OH MY, I knew right away, almost at the beginning that she wasn't gonna pull it off - as I watched that first interview (the first one I saw) and she played the money card; and Raymond Robinson cinched it.I didn't say, because I hoped - superstitious simpleton that I am - not for their deaths but for a ... miracle, understanding, on all sides. Some of my feelings are echoed in Naomi Klein's Globe article.
Theresa Spence & Raymond Robinson folded, gave it up for some bullshit bureaucrat's blancmange; here, read it and weep: Declaration of Commitment - January 23, 2013. "First Nations: Working Towards Fundamental Change," thirteen points (A daemonic parody of Lucky '13? Is that it?) ... Bah! And Bob Rae gets his ol' clamdigger in there (reported in the Globe & Postmedia/Canada.com/Regina Leader-Post). Bollocks!
BUT this does not diminish that they opened a door. Curious; I used that phrase 'opened a door' with someone I know and she thought I meant opening a door into native culture or 'ways' or something - which is not it at all.
What I mean is that they demonstrated the power of courage combined with an effective tactic (including someone trustworthy at your back).
And they did their best, in the face of the full force of bourgeois inertia, external & internal, bore the brunt. Too bad it's not about one version or another of 'economic development' aka growth. Close but no cigar, oh well.
CALL TO ACTION! NO LINE 9!
A hardy handful showed up at City Hall, some familliar faces. When it wound up, three of us decided to walk over to Moss Park en route to Allan Gardens.
Several hundred, maybe 500 by the time the march got underway, were gathered at Moss Park. A percussion corps played while people ate the delicious hot lunch provided free, coffee too. We were joined by another smaller rally of teachers before we got to Allan Gardens.
Another handful, more familliar faces, were waiting at Allan Gardens with a banner and some large bird puppets wearing 'NO LINE 9' accessories.
Someone told me there were 30,000 in the rally by the time we were on our way to Maple Leaf Gardens and this has been repeated by the social media - so maybe it was 10-15,000.
For a few moments in front of Maple Leaf Gardens the crowd roared, as one. I had never heard such a thing before - it felt louder than a football crowd in the Maracanã. Awesome! Hit me right in the 0'th chakra.
The short answer is that (in Toronto) 10-20, maybe 50, will come out for the environment, 500 or so will muster for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), and an order of magnitude or two more for Sid Ryan (Doh!?) and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL). There were about as many anti-wind placards in the OFL march as there were to stop Enbridge's Line 9 reversal! Disheartening.
So. ... There are a number of lessons to be learned here. Many of them are impertinent so I'll spare you. Anyway you should be able to figgure them out for yourself. F'rinstance, ask (quietly and to yourself of course): Exactly what do the civil service unions want?
There was something going on up at Yonge & Finch too but no idea how it turned out; more later maybe ... Ah! Some pictures of it here (thanks to Amelia for letting me know): Stop Line 9.Loose Ends:
I want to find out who paid for that OCAP lunch and give them some support.
Greg Renouf and his photographer sidekick Frank showed up at the OCAP rally - and for some reason I do not understand they were asked to leave (on the ridiculous charge of 'security'), they didn't. I am wondering about this ...
"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so," (Thomas Jefferson, slave owner).
Syllogism: An argument expressed or claimed to be expressible in the form of two propositions called the premisses, containing a common or middle term, with a third proposition called the conclusion, resulting necessarily from the other two (OED). Or check out Wikipedia. Sort'a like means & extremes. Out-of-date in some circles, old fashioned.
Justice or Just Us? Couple'a tunes for y'all: Neil Young Bound For Glory & Leonard Cohen (watch out for the ad) Always.
Negative resilience: This could be two posts in one: A vanishing point, to beyond the zero vs. a possibility for change & even a kinda-sorta feasible prescription for it. The internal landscape is so reduced and bleak that anything short of orgasm doesn't register and any hiccup locks the gates. A Heisenberg uncertainty principle of the soul. The merest hint of a hiccup, even a hypothetical hint, and the wheels fall off. Or I go out and Give 'er! and barely manage to crawl back here on broken feet to an empty inbox. Can't hardly walk today and gotta take the garbage out. (Boo Hoo. :-)
“We'll be goin' down so deep the river's gonna weep and the mountain's gonna shout, "Amen!"”
It's all good gentle reader. Be well.
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Down.
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