This is the Crisis
the term climate justice
is used to describe how the climate
crisis is social
political and economic rather than just
a physical process
discussions of climate justice are
therefore considerably better
at discussing racism within a climate
context and climate within a context of
race
when these ideas are adapted by the
climate movement here in the uk
and i imagine other similar countries
much of this centers on how the crisis
is playing out particularly on how it
disproportionately impacts on poor
people of color
black indigenous lgbtq plus and disabled
people
and those at the intersections of
oppressed and marginalized identities
activists and individuals experiencing
this firsthand have been telling us for
decades
that those least responsible for causing
the climate crisis
are those who are being affected first
and worst
it’s a bit late but it has been good to
see the wider movement here
embracing these conversations my concern
however
is that it’s not engaging with the issue
of racism in full
when climate groups start talking about
the cause of the crisis
they point to unrelenting capitalism as
the problem
which of course it is but capitalism
does not exist without racism this is
the conversation we are still failing to
have
early on in this talk i want to
acknowledge that everything i’m speaking
about
i’ve learned from those who have and are
directly experiencing systemic racism
and those who are on the front lines of
the crisis i also acknowledge my
privilege in being able to learn these
things
rather than experiencing them myself and
my general privilege by virtue of my
whiteness my nationality and my class
when i came to the climate movement last
year it was after a decade of
learning and being involved in activism
around america’s
prison industrial complex or the pic
this refers to the industrial scale and
functioning of the prison system
where the interests of the government
and corporations are indistinguishable
from each other the pic sees the police
surveillance and imprisonment
as the best ways to respond to problems
that are inherently
economic social and political things
like mental health
homelessness and gender violence
learning about just how extensive this
system and way of functioning is
and how it manifests according to
systemic racism
has informed shaped and inspired my
activism and my actions
every day when i came to the climate
space i was drawn to the newer groups
that were emerging
that i thought were demanding the system
change i too so desperately wanted for
the world
i find it helpful to think about the
system in this way
our economies institutional and
political practices
personal beliefs and behaviors our
policies and our culture all interact
with each other
to maintain a social political and
economic
hierarchy where class race gender
sexuality and other identities
define one’s position and experience
members of the dominant group or groups
enjoy privileges
the oppressed and marginalized groups do
not and these same oppressed groups also
experience specific
disadvantages that the dominant group
does not
the reason there are dominant and
oppressed groups is not accidental
dominant groups need oppressed groups to
stay oppressed
so they can stay dominant the prison
industrial complex in america
is a living breathing example of this
and it can also help us
understand how this is replicated
throughout society more widely
in america slavery was abolished in 1865
and ratified into the american
constitution as the 13th amendment
about a decade later the country was
deep in an economic crisis
having just lost its main and free
workforce
having possibly foreseen this the white
men in power
had written a loophole into the 13th
amendment
which stated that slavery was abolished
except
for criminals who were considered legal
slaves
they capitalized on this by creating new
laws to target black people
for example being unemployed the obvious
reality for many previous slaves
became illegal this meant they could be
arrested
reinstated as slaves and set to work
this amendment is still in the
constitution
today incarcerated people in the u.s
are still legal slaves and companies are
still
using this loophole to provide free or
almost free labor in their production
lines
the pic more generally is a for-profit
business
whilst only eight percent of prisons in
america are privately owned
a hundred percent of prisons use private
companies to provide
all of their supplies food clothing
handcuffs
even gym equipment prisons need people
in them
to keep that profit going and growing
and whilst this is the case
those in power will continue to exploit
black people
and poor people of color along with the
poorest white people in the country
to enable the prison economy at the very
heart of it all
sick racism and a drive for profit and
they work
in tandem in fact what we see is that
racism
produces profit and so whilst there is
money to be made
there will always be racism if we look
back in history
we see that racism actually came first
and so when we moved
into capitalism racism was seen as the
key
to its success america’s prison
industrial complex
is just one example of this in action
but every system and institution
works like this in every country at
every level
i’m convinced that the pandemic alone
has revealed for many who had yet to
truly see them
the fractures vulnerabilities and deeply
entrenched injustices of a system
designed in this way
now with the current black lives matter
uprisings happening in all 50 states in
america and across the globe
it’s clear that even more people have
come to realize this than we could ever
have imagined
it seems though that there are still
some people who have not quite engaged
with this
when the pandemic hit i saw calls from
climate activists for
governments and the general public not
to forget that there is
also a climate crisis to deal with i’m
now hearing this again with black lives
matter
and the idea that these issues are
distinct and separate
i find this truly bewildering
this is the crisis when i talk about the
climate situation as a crisis or an
emergency
i’m usually referring to three things
one
the physical devastation caused by the
increase in number and strength of
extreme weather events like flooding
and earthquakes alongside drought that’s
leading to failed crops and polluted
water supplies
two the economic and socio-economic
consequences
of these events and finally three
both the physical and the socioeconomic
processes that are causing these things
in the first place that is part of the
crisis itself
what all these elements have in common
is systemic racism
and a drive for profit oil is a good
example of this
when ceos of oil companies want to make
the most profit possible
they will choose the cheapest way to
drill for it this means they will build
pipelines
through land that the system considers
worthless
and moreover where those who live on it
are considered
disposable this is usually on indigenous
land or in communities of color
in other words already oppressed peoples
when this oil is then released into the
atmosphere as a fossil fuel
it contributes to the increase in global
warming we know that this exponential
increase in global temperatures is
disrupting the careful balance of our
natural world
leading to more and worse extreme
weather events which again
hit the land and people with the least
responsibility for causing the problem
with the least resources to respond to
these events
and which are least protected in the
first place
then there’s the aftermath of a disaster
where homes
businesses possessions and
infrastructure are destroyed
the economic consequences are often
insurmountable
the way the coronavirus pandemic is
playing out is vastly
similar it’s a physical health problem
that is directly affecting
millions of people around the world and
of those people
we know that the most oppressed are
being disproportionately affected
in the uk people from non-white
communities are twice as likely to die
from coping 19
and in the usa black people are up to
seven times more likely to die
than white people in both countries the
reasons are the same
long-term systemic racism means people
from these communities are more likely
to be working in front line jobs
like bus drivers and health workers
they’re also experiencing this virus on
top of
centuries of housing and healthcare
inequality which has led to them being
more physically susceptible to the kinds
of underlying health conditions
that lead to higher rates of death with
the virus
housing inequality also means that
they’re more likely to live in confined
conditions that make social distancing
difficult or even impossible the
socio-economic
impacts of a lockdown also hit those
least equipped to deal with it
those already living in vulnerable
circumstances and those struggling to
find the resources to survive
this pandemic has not created something
new
it has simply made systemic racism
inequality and injustice
starker and more obvious than they
already were
though we may now be feeling quite
accustomed to the changes that this
pandemic has struck down upon
us just take a moment to think back to
that first month
the shock and suddenness of everything
how overwhelming and terrifying things
felt
part of that overwhelm was thinking
about the immediate and the long-term
economic and therefore social political
and personal
effects of the virus we have created a
world
where human well-being public health and
literal survival
are so deeply intertwined with this
extreme version of capitalism
that when our delicate system starts to
fracture the consequences are
so vast and uncontrollable that we are
incapable of preventing tragedy
though those of us who call for
dismantling the system are criticized
for being dramatic and idealistic
this pandemic has proven us to be the
opposite as we consider how the system
we’ve built is devastating so many
people around the world
in the face of this pandemic and so many
other interconnected crises
i don’t think it’s merely ideological
thinking to call for the end of
neoliberal capitalism
however what we must also recognize and
start to integrate into
everything we do particularly in the
climate space
is that we are not living in a system of
just capitalism
but a system of racial capitalism a
system where usually black and brown
people and those from other oppressed
groups
must be exploited in order for others
usually white people
or people in white dominant countries to
thrive
that is not a system we should ever want
to live in
this pandemic has shown us how close we
are to collapse
and the alarming realities of the world
we have created
but it has also shown us that it’s
possible for the system to be jolted
past recognition we must not forget that
the impossible happened
and we must refuse to accept that it
can’t happen again
rebecca solnit wrote a piece at the
start of lockdown that articulated the
words i was a lost to find myself
to proud phrase she starts by quoting
something patricia colors from black
lives matter wrote
which states that the movement exists to
provide hope
and inspiration for collective action to
build collective power
to achieve collective transformation
rooted in grief and rage but pointed
towards vision
and dreams rebecca solnit says this is
beautiful
not only because it is hopeful but
because it acknowledges that hope can
coexist
with difficulty and suffering hope is
not optimism
that everything will be fine regardless
hope offers us
clarity that amid the uncertainty ahead
there will be conflicts worth joining
and the possibility of winning some of
them
and one of the things most dangerous to
this hope is the lapse into believing
that everything was fine
before disaster struck and that all we
need to do
is return to things as they were
ordinary life before the pandemic was
already
a catastrophe of desperation and
exclusion
for too many human beings an
environmental and climate catastrophe
an obscenity of inequality
it is too soon to know what will emerge
from this emergency
but not too soon to look to start
looking for chances
to help decide it
now i don’t know exactly what the future
looks like but i do have an idea of what
it will take
to get there it will take more activism
than we’ve ever seen before
it will take people who wouldn’t even
consider themselves activists to join in
in fact it will take us to stop calling
ourselves activists because there cannot
be
separation the world is standing at the
precipice of
total system overhaul and if we mobilize
and organize right
we might actually be able to achieve it
the only way to do this
is to recognize that it is not possible
to address systemic racism
white supremacy and climate separately
they are all the same thing
we have a responsibility to learn what
this really means
and to call for the system that created
and perpetuates it to be dismantled
it’s crucial that alongside those
experiencing systemic oppression
those who benefit the most from the
system also resist it
reject it and call for its abolition
this is the moment to be learning and
taking action
this is the revolution