'It is no wonder that following the inspirational lead of Greta Thunberg, some have seen little option except to take to the streets through protest movements like Extinction Rebellion. The hope is that sustained nonviolent resistance can compel governments to take the urgent action necessary to transition rapidly to fossil fuel free societies.'
'But there is a serious faultline in this approach. XR suffered from a serious lack of joined-up thinking. It was not grounded in a comprehension of the climate crisis as a systems crisis, and therefore failed to explicitly link up climate action to other key systems such as austerity, food, water, politics, culture, and ideology. XR therefore failed to appeal to the working class and largely occluded people of colour and diverse faith groups.
The other faultline is that the target of action — national government — may well have missed the point. Governments are merely nodes in a wider system of power which they do not really control, but tend to pander to — a system of power which we are all to varying degrees and in different ways complict in.
It is precisely through governments that the prevailing system has, over the last several decades, carefully built-up a special resistance to the power of street protests. This is why the largest demonstrations failed to derail the Iraq War. Counterinsurgency doctrines fine-tuned in theatres of war have been increasingly applied in domestic settings to counter, disrupt and neutralise all forms of protest action. The fear of what Samuel Huntington once called the ‘crisis of democracy’ has meant that governments have dedicated themselves to ensuring that direct protest action has as little tangible impact as possible. Hitting the streets and hoping the powers-that-be do what you want is, therefore, not a viable strategy.
That doesn’t mean that XR shouldn’t be part of a wider strategy.
But right now there is no wider strategy, there is no cross-coordination between groups and sectors to create a more systems-level understanding of the crisis, and therefore enable a more systems-level vision of the solutions. And there is a very key reason for that. The response which sees ‘open rebellion’ as the only feasible form of reaction is a direct result of the degrading impact of a system whose entire design is to invoke a sense of helplessness and apathy in citizens.
We have been trained to believe that voting every once in a while in parliamentary systems suffices for effective democratic action that serves our legitimate interests. We now know that this is not enough. Our democracies are not just broken, beholden to special interests belonging to an interlocking network of energy, defense, agribusiness, biotechnological, communications and other industrial conglomerates dominated by a tiny minority.
Our democracies are in a state of collapse: incapable of addressing the systemic complexity of the crisis of civilization. As they fail, they are veering toward rejecting their own democratic ethos toward increasing authoritarianism — shoring up centralized state powers to ward off dangerous ‘Others’ and unruly citizens. And so it is only natural that we feel the most immediate response must be to react against this state of abject failure. Yet this response itself is a function of the same sensation of helplessness and paralysis induced by the system itself.
The problem is that liberal democracies in their current form are in a state of collapse for a reason: they are, indeed, incapable of addressing the systemic complexity of the crisis of civilization. No amount of nonviolent resistance will provide our existing political institutions with the capacity to address the crisis. Because the problem runs much, much deeper.
Until we address the question of transforming the very sinews and structures of contemporary neoliberal capitalism-as-we-know-it, the defining economic paradigm of our global civilization, we are speaking the wrong language.
But even here, this transformation is not simply a question of economics. It is a question of our entire paradigm of existence. And it is here — in recognising that the current crisis is calling us not merely to a fundamental transformation in our external relations, but one that is simultaneously co-extensive with our internal being — that the pathway for action emerges.
Over the last 500 years or so, humanity has erected an ‘endless growth’ civilization premised on a particular patchwork of ideological worldviews, ethical values, political and economic structures, and personal behaviours. This is a paradigm that elevates the vision of human beings as disconnected, atomistic, competing material units, which seek to maximise their own material consumption as the principal mechanism for self-gratification. This is the paradigm that defines how we live in our everyday lives, and constantly bleeds into how we end up conducting our relationships with our family and friends, in our workplaces, and beyond. It is the paradigm that has cemented our current trajectory toward mass extinction.
This is not just about external systems. It’s also about the internal systems of thought with which the external is co-extensive, and through which we have imprisoned ourselves. Our entire reductionist, mechanical model of what we think it means to be human needs to be re-written.
How collective intelligence can change your world, right now
An open source toolkit for self and social transformation
medium.com
To break this paradigm requires far more than making demands of broken institutions. Because, let’s just lay out our cards and be totally honest here, for most of the largely middle class white people that participated in the XR protests, it’s really not that difficult to do so. The biggest gap here is that it doesn’t necessarily require an act of transformative change on the part of the protestors themselves.
This is what is missing from our response to the crisis of civilization. Our responses are based on demanding change from the ‘Other’. Whether it’s governments, or philanthropy or business — it’s about calling to account everyone other than ourselves. The problem is out there, and we have to shout and glue ourselves to the ground to get Them to listen.
When are we are going to realise that They are Us?
It’s not that we shouldn’t protest or call for institutions to change. But far more than that, if we are really serious about this, the far bigger challenge is for each of us to work within our own networks of influence, to explore how we ourselves can begin changing the organisations and institutions in which we are embedded.
And it means grounding this effort in completely new frame of orientation, one in which human beings are inherently interconnected, and inter-embedded within the earth; where we are not atomistically separated from the reality in which we find ourselves as technocratic overlords, but are co-creators of that reality as individuated parts of a continuum of being.
Whatever happens out there in the world, the crisis out there is calling unto each of us to become who we need to be, truly are, and always were. And on the basis of that internal renewal, to take radical action in our own place-based contexts to build the seeds of the new paradigm, right here, right now.
How can we change some of the systems within our schools, our places of work, our places of play? How can we harness learnings from our personal practice and transformation as people and family units, and translate that into working with our local communities to galvanise place-based change in our own local contexts? How can we plant the seeds for new organisations, institutions, businesses, political approaches, through our own actions, even while we call on pre-existing ones to take urgent action, refusing however to simply wait idly for them to do so, by starting up ourselves? How can we, throughout these efforts, work toward seeding the recognition that the great task is to build a new post-growth, post-carbon, post-materialist paradigm?
Let us not simply go to a protest. Let us build our own capacity as individuals and members of various institutions to think and do differently within our own consciousness and behaviour, as well as across energy, food, water, culture, economics, business, finance. By doing so, we plant the seeds of an emerging paradigm of life and reality that redefines the very essence of what it means to be alive.
This is the conversation we need to begin having, from our boardrooms, to our governing councils — for those of us who have woken up to what is at stake, the real question is, how can I actually mobilise to build the new paradigm?'
medium.com/insurge-intelligence/escaping-extinction-through-paradigm-shift-83e33d4cb548
'But there is a serious faultline in this approach. XR suffered from a serious lack of joined-up thinking. It was not grounded in a comprehension of the climate crisis as a systems crisis, and therefore failed to explicitly link up climate action to other key systems such as austerity, food, water, politics, culture, and ideology. XR therefore failed to appeal to the working class and largely occluded people of colour and diverse faith groups.
The other faultline is that the target of action — national government — may well have missed the point. Governments are merely nodes in a wider system of power which they do not really control, but tend to pander to — a system of power which we are all to varying degrees and in different ways complict in.
It is precisely through governments that the prevailing system has, over the last several decades, carefully built-up a special resistance to the power of street protests. This is why the largest demonstrations failed to derail the Iraq War. Counterinsurgency doctrines fine-tuned in theatres of war have been increasingly applied in domestic settings to counter, disrupt and neutralise all forms of protest action. The fear of what Samuel Huntington once called the ‘crisis of democracy’ has meant that governments have dedicated themselves to ensuring that direct protest action has as little tangible impact as possible. Hitting the streets and hoping the powers-that-be do what you want is, therefore, not a viable strategy.
That doesn’t mean that XR shouldn’t be part of a wider strategy.
But right now there is no wider strategy, there is no cross-coordination between groups and sectors to create a more systems-level understanding of the crisis, and therefore enable a more systems-level vision of the solutions. And there is a very key reason for that. The response which sees ‘open rebellion’ as the only feasible form of reaction is a direct result of the degrading impact of a system whose entire design is to invoke a sense of helplessness and apathy in citizens.
We have been trained to believe that voting every once in a while in parliamentary systems suffices for effective democratic action that serves our legitimate interests. We now know that this is not enough. Our democracies are not just broken, beholden to special interests belonging to an interlocking network of energy, defense, agribusiness, biotechnological, communications and other industrial conglomerates dominated by a tiny minority.
Our democracies are in a state of collapse: incapable of addressing the systemic complexity of the crisis of civilization. As they fail, they are veering toward rejecting their own democratic ethos toward increasing authoritarianism — shoring up centralized state powers to ward off dangerous ‘Others’ and unruly citizens. And so it is only natural that we feel the most immediate response must be to react against this state of abject failure. Yet this response itself is a function of the same sensation of helplessness and paralysis induced by the system itself.
The problem is that liberal democracies in their current form are in a state of collapse for a reason: they are, indeed, incapable of addressing the systemic complexity of the crisis of civilization. No amount of nonviolent resistance will provide our existing political institutions with the capacity to address the crisis. Because the problem runs much, much deeper.
Until we address the question of transforming the very sinews and structures of contemporary neoliberal capitalism-as-we-know-it, the defining economic paradigm of our global civilization, we are speaking the wrong language.
But even here, this transformation is not simply a question of economics. It is a question of our entire paradigm of existence. And it is here — in recognising that the current crisis is calling us not merely to a fundamental transformation in our external relations, but one that is simultaneously co-extensive with our internal being — that the pathway for action emerges.
Over the last 500 years or so, humanity has erected an ‘endless growth’ civilization premised on a particular patchwork of ideological worldviews, ethical values, political and economic structures, and personal behaviours. This is a paradigm that elevates the vision of human beings as disconnected, atomistic, competing material units, which seek to maximise their own material consumption as the principal mechanism for self-gratification. This is the paradigm that defines how we live in our everyday lives, and constantly bleeds into how we end up conducting our relationships with our family and friends, in our workplaces, and beyond. It is the paradigm that has cemented our current trajectory toward mass extinction.
This is not just about external systems. It’s also about the internal systems of thought with which the external is co-extensive, and through which we have imprisoned ourselves. Our entire reductionist, mechanical model of what we think it means to be human needs to be re-written.
How collective intelligence can change your world, right now
An open source toolkit for self and social transformation
medium.com
To break this paradigm requires far more than making demands of broken institutions. Because, let’s just lay out our cards and be totally honest here, for most of the largely middle class white people that participated in the XR protests, it’s really not that difficult to do so. The biggest gap here is that it doesn’t necessarily require an act of transformative change on the part of the protestors themselves.
This is what is missing from our response to the crisis of civilization. Our responses are based on demanding change from the ‘Other’. Whether it’s governments, or philanthropy or business — it’s about calling to account everyone other than ourselves. The problem is out there, and we have to shout and glue ourselves to the ground to get Them to listen.
When are we are going to realise that They are Us?
It’s not that we shouldn’t protest or call for institutions to change. But far more than that, if we are really serious about this, the far bigger challenge is for each of us to work within our own networks of influence, to explore how we ourselves can begin changing the organisations and institutions in which we are embedded.
And it means grounding this effort in completely new frame of orientation, one in which human beings are inherently interconnected, and inter-embedded within the earth; where we are not atomistically separated from the reality in which we find ourselves as technocratic overlords, but are co-creators of that reality as individuated parts of a continuum of being.
Whatever happens out there in the world, the crisis out there is calling unto each of us to become who we need to be, truly are, and always were. And on the basis of that internal renewal, to take radical action in our own place-based contexts to build the seeds of the new paradigm, right here, right now.
How can we change some of the systems within our schools, our places of work, our places of play? How can we harness learnings from our personal practice and transformation as people and family units, and translate that into working with our local communities to galvanise place-based change in our own local contexts? How can we plant the seeds for new organisations, institutions, businesses, political approaches, through our own actions, even while we call on pre-existing ones to take urgent action, refusing however to simply wait idly for them to do so, by starting up ourselves? How can we, throughout these efforts, work toward seeding the recognition that the great task is to build a new post-growth, post-carbon, post-materialist paradigm?
Let us not simply go to a protest. Let us build our own capacity as individuals and members of various institutions to think and do differently within our own consciousness and behaviour, as well as across energy, food, water, culture, economics, business, finance. By doing so, we plant the seeds of an emerging paradigm of life and reality that redefines the very essence of what it means to be alive.
This is the conversation we need to begin having, from our boardrooms, to our governing councils — for those of us who have woken up to what is at stake, the real question is, how can I actually mobilise to build the new paradigm?'
medium.com/insurge-intelligence/escaping-extinction-through-paradigm-shift-83e33d4cb548
EMERGENCY PROGRAMME OF SOUTH AFRICA’S PROTESTING COMMUNITIES
We are communities of Soweto, Freedom Park, Wedela (Carltonville), Orange Farm, Palm Springs and Thembelihle. We had a meeting on Saturday 4 May 2019, at Thaba Jabula Senior Secondary School, Pimville-Klipspruit (Soweto) to discuss our problems. We called our meeting Unfreedom Day, One Action, One Rebellion, Free Quality Services for All.
We resolved to write this emergency programme because we can no longer tolerate the problems and hardships of working class life in the townships and shack settlements of South Africa. That is why we are always protesting.
We want emergency steps to be taken to address our problems and to end our misery and suffering. We are addressing this to the government and to the capitalist bosses who control the country’s wealth. We say: enough is enough!
We call on all communities all over South Africa who feel our pain to join us by adding their demands to this emergency programme. Instead of protesting individually and separately, we must use the tactic of the united front. Every community must support the Emergency Programme.
The time has come to speak with ONE VOICE, the time has come to take ONE ACTION, the time has come to have ONE REBELLION. We need to gather the power to force the rich and powerful to listen and act on our demands.
4.1 EDUCATION
We are suffering because of these problems:
expensive education in schools and universities
two systems of unequal education: public and private schools
no safety in student school transportation
children in crèche are not safe
bad behavior by some teachers e.g. corporal punishment
We propose the following solutions:
subsidies for creches must not be limited to ASHA creches only
register all school transport operators
monitor and impose loading limits for school transport
improve communication between parents, teachers and school transport operators
evaluation of teachers
We demand the following:
stop overloading of school transport
one equal education system for all
free quality education from crèche to university
scrap all school and university fees
phambili #FeesMustFall
4.2 CRIME
We identify the causes of crime as:
unemployment
lack of education
drug abuse and peer pressure
corruption
lack of positive community values
We are sick and tired of these problems:
gangsterism
housebreaking
community does not feel safe anymore
murder rate is increasing
criminal records increase
lack of humanity
We propose the following solutions:
neighbourhood watch and street committees
churches must be involved
recreation centres must be built
affiliate with Community Policing Forums
We demand the following:
jobs for all
stop corruption in the police, government and private sector
Ours strategy:
communication: build community solidarity through meetings, forums and workshops
mobilise, conscientise the community about the conditions we are forced to live in
use local radio stations and pamphlets to spread the message of unity
4.3 LAND AND HOUSING
We are sick and tired of:
homelessness
living in shacks and backyards
empty promises
poor quality RDP houses
We suggest the following:
we should refuse to vote until we get land and houses
the waiting period for housing must be shortened
We demand:
land and houses for all
free water and electricity
quality healthcare and other services
Our strategy to win our demands:
take action, demonstrate, fight for our right to land and housing
block economic roads
occupy private land and empty spaces
communities must elect local leaders who will lead the struggle
4.4 WATER
We are facing these problems:
installation of water prepaid meters
water cuts create many problems for us
if there is no water: no drinking, no cooking, no washing, no gardening
if a fire breaks out there is no water
water is not purified properly in some areas: danger of
We propose these solutions:
we must bridge the prepaid water meter
unity is power, those facing water problems must unite
We demand:
no to prepaid water meters
Rand Water must purify all water and build dams/reservoirs
Government must return the money lost due to corruption
Our strategy to win these demands:
Unite and take action
Boycott payment for water until our demands are met
4.5 ELECTRICITY
We have these problems:
Prepaid electricity meters
Load shedding and power failures
No notification for load shedding
Electricity surges damage electric appliances
We suggest:
Each area and zone must elect two people to attend meetings
We demand:
No to prepaid electricity meters
Free quality services for all
Our strategy:
We must have bridging teams for each area and community
We must buy whistles (iimpempe) to stop ESKOM from penalizing those who bridge
Mass action to remove electricity meters
Leaders and pensioners must march in front in peaceful action
Leaders must get information but not treat themselves as Gods of the community
Workshops must be conducted in all areas
4.6 HEALTH CARE
Our problems:
Poor service: long queues, too many staff teatimes, lack of medication
Not enough doctors and nurses
We suggest:
Building of more clinics
Clinics must open 24 hours for emergencies
There must be standby ambulances
Monitoring of doctors and nurses at work
Employ more doctors, nurses, physiotherapist trainees and other support medical staff
Supply enough medicines and drugs
We demand:
Free quality health care for all
More staff
More equipment
More medication
Our strategy:
Unite and protest peacefully
Mobilise communities around health care
Branch leadership to visit health care facilities every week to monitor
4.7 JOBS
Our problems:
Unemployment is increasing
Jobs go to relatives, also bribery and sex for jobs
Jobs go to members of certain organisations and parties
Local projects but no local involvement in planning, execution and employment
We suggest:
Community involvement and control of local economic projects
Jobs don’t belong to councillors
Community must not rely on government on jobs, do it ourselves
No age limit must be put on jobs e.g. only 25-35 years old can apply
No experience must be demanded for jobs
We demand:
End corruption, nepotism, partyism and sexism in job allocation
Jobs must belong to the community
Jobs for all
A living wage for all
Please discuss in your community, add and subtract, then contact any one of the organisers of the Emergency Programme:
Thami Hukwe 0623090468
Princess Majola 0627842846
Ntando Maphungwane 0787174817
Trevor Ngwane 0790307657
UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL! FIGHT UNTIL WE WIN OUR DEMANDS!
We are communities of Soweto, Freedom Park, Wedela (Carltonville), Orange Farm, Palm Springs and Thembelihle. We had a meeting on Saturday 4 May 2019, at Thaba Jabula Senior Secondary School, Pimville-Klipspruit (Soweto) to discuss our problems. We called our meeting Unfreedom Day, One Action, One Rebellion, Free Quality Services for All.
We resolved to write this emergency programme because we can no longer tolerate the problems and hardships of working class life in the townships and shack settlements of South Africa. That is why we are always protesting.
We want emergency steps to be taken to address our problems and to end our misery and suffering. We are addressing this to the government and to the capitalist bosses who control the country’s wealth. We say: enough is enough!
We call on all communities all over South Africa who feel our pain to join us by adding their demands to this emergency programme. Instead of protesting individually and separately, we must use the tactic of the united front. Every community must support the Emergency Programme.
The time has come to speak with ONE VOICE, the time has come to take ONE ACTION, the time has come to have ONE REBELLION. We need to gather the power to force the rich and powerful to listen and act on our demands.
4.1 EDUCATION
We are suffering because of these problems:
expensive education in schools and universities
two systems of unequal education: public and private schools
no safety in student school transportation
children in crèche are not safe
bad behavior by some teachers e.g. corporal punishment
We propose the following solutions:
subsidies for creches must not be limited to ASHA creches only
register all school transport operators
monitor and impose loading limits for school transport
improve communication between parents, teachers and school transport operators
evaluation of teachers
We demand the following:
stop overloading of school transport
one equal education system for all
free quality education from crèche to university
scrap all school and university fees
phambili #FeesMustFall
4.2 CRIME
We identify the causes of crime as:
unemployment
lack of education
drug abuse and peer pressure
corruption
lack of positive community values
We are sick and tired of these problems:
gangsterism
housebreaking
community does not feel safe anymore
murder rate is increasing
criminal records increase
lack of humanity
We propose the following solutions:
neighbourhood watch and street committees
churches must be involved
recreation centres must be built
affiliate with Community Policing Forums
We demand the following:
jobs for all
stop corruption in the police, government and private sector
Ours strategy:
communication: build community solidarity through meetings, forums and workshops
mobilise, conscientise the community about the conditions we are forced to live in
use local radio stations and pamphlets to spread the message of unity
4.3 LAND AND HOUSING
We are sick and tired of:
homelessness
living in shacks and backyards
empty promises
poor quality RDP houses
We suggest the following:
we should refuse to vote until we get land and houses
the waiting period for housing must be shortened
We demand:
land and houses for all
free water and electricity
quality healthcare and other services
Our strategy to win our demands:
take action, demonstrate, fight for our right to land and housing
block economic roads
occupy private land and empty spaces
communities must elect local leaders who will lead the struggle
4.4 WATER
We are facing these problems:
installation of water prepaid meters
water cuts create many problems for us
if there is no water: no drinking, no cooking, no washing, no gardening
if a fire breaks out there is no water
water is not purified properly in some areas: danger of
We propose these solutions:
we must bridge the prepaid water meter
unity is power, those facing water problems must unite
We demand:
no to prepaid water meters
Rand Water must purify all water and build dams/reservoirs
Government must return the money lost due to corruption
Our strategy to win these demands:
Unite and take action
Boycott payment for water until our demands are met
4.5 ELECTRICITY
We have these problems:
Prepaid electricity meters
Load shedding and power failures
No notification for load shedding
Electricity surges damage electric appliances
We suggest:
Each area and zone must elect two people to attend meetings
We demand:
No to prepaid electricity meters
Free quality services for all
Our strategy:
We must have bridging teams for each area and community
We must buy whistles (iimpempe) to stop ESKOM from penalizing those who bridge
Mass action to remove electricity meters
Leaders and pensioners must march in front in peaceful action
Leaders must get information but not treat themselves as Gods of the community
Workshops must be conducted in all areas
4.6 HEALTH CARE
Our problems:
Poor service: long queues, too many staff teatimes, lack of medication
Not enough doctors and nurses
We suggest:
Building of more clinics
Clinics must open 24 hours for emergencies
There must be standby ambulances
Monitoring of doctors and nurses at work
Employ more doctors, nurses, physiotherapist trainees and other support medical staff
Supply enough medicines and drugs
We demand:
Free quality health care for all
More staff
More equipment
More medication
Our strategy:
Unite and protest peacefully
Mobilise communities around health care
Branch leadership to visit health care facilities every week to monitor
4.7 JOBS
Our problems:
Unemployment is increasing
Jobs go to relatives, also bribery and sex for jobs
Jobs go to members of certain organisations and parties
Local projects but no local involvement in planning, execution and employment
We suggest:
Community involvement and control of local economic projects
Jobs don’t belong to councillors
Community must not rely on government on jobs, do it ourselves
No age limit must be put on jobs e.g. only 25-35 years old can apply
No experience must be demanded for jobs
We demand:
End corruption, nepotism, partyism and sexism in job allocation
Jobs must belong to the community
Jobs for all
A living wage for all
Please discuss in your community, add and subtract, then contact any one of the organisers of the Emergency Programme:
Thami Hukwe 0623090468
Princess Majola 0627842846
Ntando Maphungwane 0787174817
Trevor Ngwane 0790307657
UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL! FIGHT UNTIL WE WIN OUR DEMANDS!
All over the world, people are standing in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples in Brazil who are fighting for their rights and to protect the forest.
Stand with the guardians of the forest to save the Amazon: act.gp/2UQNgjS
#SavetheAmazon #NoForestNoLife #TerraLivre
Stand with the guardians of the forest to save the Amazon: act.gp/2UQNgjS
#SavetheAmazon #NoForestNoLife #TerraLivre
Quick video
Extinction Rebellion Mzansi
South African XR rebel, Chris Engelbrecht, explains why this movement is so vital to our survival on earth
Dispatches - Channel 4
Behind the billions of pounds in warplanes and weapons the UK supplies to Saudi Arabia, Dispatches investigates the thousands of British contractors helping keep the Saudi planes in the air.
With so many Yemeni civilians being killed by Saudi Arabian airstrikes, is this Britain's hidden war?
