Plane Stupid Blog: Reframing Race And Climate Change (Part 2)

Dan Glass, of Plane Stupid [1], provides the second part of his report for Ctrl.Alt.Shift - detailing how the movements against race and environmental injustice can be interlinked to overcome the barriers holding us down...

Reframing Race and Climate Change - How can we organise?

Amidst the increasing speed of consumerist society, a society that is supposed to bring all manner of blessings to our generation and the next, an unsettling stench is seeping out through the cracks in the walls of the information super-highway.

And people are starting to smell it.

What kind of life is it when cultures and communities become so segregated that they don't have a chance to share and communicate their concerns, their stories and their desires?

It doesn't have to be this way.

A chat with a neighbour over a garden wall, a passing joke with a stranger in the chip shop or down the market is sometimes all it takes to boot us out of our comfort zones, and to open us up to a whole new way of living.

'... nothing can be more scary (to the authorities and beyond) than unexpected alliances between resistance against injustice movements'

A movement can be born through lending an ear and standing in solidarity with people’s concern over their daily realities. We could be talking about actions like occupying a community swimming pool late at night to save it from turning into fancy flats, or standing in-between the police and a group of black youths being stopped and searched on the street. This is just the start.

Striving for a society where everyone can live in a clean environment, regardless of colour, age, ability, sexuality and gender could create a diverse and beautiful world which most can't deny they would like to inhabit. Creating a framework in our community organisation which celebrates multiculturalism and actively works to shift power structures on race, class and gender grounds would challenge the root cause of the problem at hand – individualism.

In times of some gobsmacking environmentally unfriendly corporate practices, projects which foster a culture of community self-defence against the racial inequalities of some capitalist industries can eradicate the interconnected systems of oppression. Every conversation, training and issue we address through taking action together and reflecting on its effectiveness will help build a united movement. Reflection on the beneficiaries of action for environmental justice is critical.

Amongst this it's important to remember to celebrate the magic created through the cross fertilisation of skills – through our art, music, creativity, militancy and the sharing of resistance strategies. Training in self defence, challenging anti-Islamic sentiment, legal advice for photographing the police for state accountability, addressing police misinformation, challenging media spin, activist legal support and sharing lessons learnt from local and global environmental injustice struggles will only serve to help us reach our goals.

'A movement can be born through lending an ear and standing in solidarity with people’s concern over their daily realities'

Energy is too often lost inside four grey walls. Hold institutions to ransom and demand from Scotland Yard and the Home Office answers on police and state misbehaviour, or face continuing pressure. Drive these points home by being there on iconic dates in history of structural oppression in the fight for environmental justice.

For example, you could have taken action in your own way – whether it was sending out an email or blogging about it to raise awarness - yesterday on November 10, when 15 years ago, Ken-Saro Wiwa and others who have died [2] challenging oil exploration in Nigeria and since inspired people across the world to stand up to oil companies.

The same goes for April 1, when Ian Tomlinson was caught in the whirlwind of police violence [3] at the G20 anti-poverty protests, and left for dead.

Keep at it – by strengthening dialogue with families and friends affected by repression and simultaneously with communities living with environmental injustice – will ignite the desire for accountability. Exposing the injustices with other people involved in tackling the unfair distribution of burdens from social and environmental exploitation will prevent people from being intimidated or deterred to seek justice and retribution.

23 years ago, Margaret Thatcher told us 'there is no such thing as society [4]' and today we are meant to believe we are one 'Big Society [5]’. In today’s society, it's important to be critical - to look at the root cause of injustice and to support one another in our collective right to protest.

It is important that we remember and appreciate moments throughout UK history when society has stood up, taken to the streets, and protested against injustices - from the race riots of the 80s to the street occupations of the 90s, to the factory strikes and carbon-heavy industry shut downs of the noughties. If we continue to act upon our beliefs, the state will find it difficult to compartmentalise our passions and concerns, to divide our struggles.

Refuse to believe that if you question state behaviour and the injustices around us, that you're a 'domestic terrorist', a 'community of suspicion' and the government are the law-keepers and, laughably, that "we (anyone who challenges the law) are all domestic extremists now [6]." Joining the dots between those who cause and contribute to climate change, environmental problems and social inequality can be very informative.

Building a movement that addresses inter-linked issues of injustice, like race and the environment, may not happen overnight, but it’s already starting to grow. And nothing can be more scary (to the authorities and beyond) than unexpected alliances between resistance against injustice movements.

Words: Dan Glass

Photo: First photo, Flickr user G20London2009 [7], of the G20 march in 2009.

Second photo, provided by Plane Stupid.

Disclaimer: This article was written by Dan Glass and is not necessarily reflective of Christian Aid and Ctrl.Alt.Shift values.

To read Part 1 of Dan's report, click here [8].

To enter Ctrl.Alt.Shift's Climate Fever competition, click here [9]!