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