environment – Pike & Hurricane

YNTR – June 2020: George Floyd, Antifa, Ebola, and more

EditorChief — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 08:14:30 +0000

USA. On May 25, George Floyd (46) was arrested for allegedly using counterfeit money to buy cigarettes. He died as a consequence of a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on his neck for over eight minutes. Protests against racism and racist police violence have erupted throughout the USA, as well as abroad. Unlike as in many other cases, the officers involved in the murder of Floyd have been charged. The charges against Chauvin have been raised from third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter to second-degree murder. His previously uncharged colleagues are now accused of aiding and abetting murder. A few days after the killing of Floyd, hactivist group Anonymous released a video accusing Minneapolis Police Department of “a horrific track record of violence and corruption” in which the murder of Floyd was “merely the tip of the iceberg”.

France. Despite a police-ban thousands of people in France have protested against racist police violence after the murder of George Floyd. The case bares ressemblance to the killing of Adama Traoré (24) in 2016. Official reports claimed he had died of heart failure due to possible pre-existing health conditions. A second autopsy which had been requested by Traoré’s family, however, suggests he died due to the three police officers, that arrested him after he ran from them since e had no ID card with him, holding him to the ground with their bodyweight. They have not been charged. Two days prior to the killing of Floyd, the hashtag #MoiAussiJAiPeurDevantLaPolice has gone viral after singer Camélia Jordana had spoken out against police violence on TV. She stated that “there are thousands of people who do not feel save in the presence of a cop”.

France. Currently, a new law is being debated that would make it illegal to photograph or film police officers (in a manner that makes it possible to identify them). Diffusion of images of this kind could lead to a fine of 15 000€ and even one year in prison. The proposed law is criticised as disregarding the right to inform and making it even more difficult to hold police officers accountable for police violence. At the same time, French police has interrogated Mediapart journalist Pascale Pascariello who frequently reported on police violence and uncovered the lies of president Macron linked to a case of police violence. It is the fourth time in 18 months that police have tried to uncover the sources of Mediapart. Pascariello refused to answer the police’s questions during the one and a half hours of interrogation and criticised the police’s attempt to reveal her sources condemning “a climate of pressure on our profession and of intimidation vis-à-vis our sources”.

USA. In the wake of a disagreement between Donald Trump and Twitter, the US president threatened to introduce legislation that would weaken Twitter’s protection against liability for content by its users. Previously, Twitter had flagged a tweet by Trump on mail-in voting fraud as needing to be fact-checked and flagged another post as “gloryfing violence”. Yet, they decided to not remove the tweet as it is in public interest. The Trump administration had initially responded by retweeting the latter flagged tweet via the White House account which was subsequently hidden by Twitter.

USA. US president Trump has proposed to classify Antifa as a terrorist organisation. Antifa is a loosely organised anti-fascist movement that sees its roots in the radical left groups which resisted fascist dictators such as Hitler and Mussolini. However, Antifa conspiracy theories are wide-spread among groups and members of the political right. Due to its lack of characteristics typical for an organisation, legal experts view Trump’s plan as impossible and even unconstitutional.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In the DRC, the eleventh Ebola outbreak was announced on the 31st of May 2020 in the northwest of the country, while in the East the tenth outbreak is not over yet. In the district around the city Mbandaka, 4 people have died. Meanwhile, in the Kivu province the appearance of new case prevented the previous outbreak from being declared as over. The country is under travel restrictions to prevent a spread of the coronavirus. It is a measure which might now also be helpful to fight Ebola.

Russia/Siberia. Near the city Norilsk in Siberia, 15 000 to 20 000 tons of diesel fuel have been spilled into the Ambarnaya river. The waters are heavily polluted and the installed booms will only be able to collect a small portion of the oil that is polluting the environment. The Russian president Putin has declared a state of emergency in Norilsk. The cause is suspected to be the thawing permafrost, followed by the abnormally warm temperatures in the Arctic regions which made the platform sink deeper into the ground.

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How life will disappear if we continue to overexploit nature

Aimée Niau Lacordaire — Sun, 17 May 2020 14:35:59 +0000

The Amazonia and Australia’s fires, the coronavirus, and the invasion of insects in Africa: those four disasters that hit between 2019 and 2020 have one point in common; they are all due to the impact of humans on nature.

The extent of the damage

During the years 2019 and 2020, 4,700 square kilometers of the Amazonian forest burned, the equivalent of the size of 628 football stadiums. There are at least 1.6 million hectares of the Australian forest which burned and 2000 koalas that died during the fire. And more than 228 000 people have died of coronavirus in the world. Furthermore, East Africa is being invaded and ravaged by locusts. Due to the lack of information on the impact of the locust invasion, we don’t exactly know the extent of the damage, however, this greatly affected the harvests and therefore risks famine. But the worst is yet to come. Because these phenomena are only going to multiply if we continue to overexploit nature.

What are they due to?

In fact, the forest fires in Australia are the results of an exceptional drought and heat waves which are unquestionably linked to global warming. Likewise, the cyclones that hit Africa have favored the insects’ circulation and reproduction. It’s the extreme climatic variations that caused those cyclones, and so ideal conditions for these locusts. In Amazonia, the climate alone does not explain forest fires, but they are also due to humans who want to appropriate the land to cultivate it. In the 90’s, deforestation was principally due to agriculture, but now it’s the expansion of soybean plantations in order to feed livestock, which is the number one cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

The coronavirus were been transmitted to humans by a pangolin, and these animals are heavily poached, “researchers estimated in 2017 that between 400,000 and 2.7 million pangolins are now hunted each year in the forests of Central Africa to supply the Asian market”.This animal is on the verge of extinction, not only because of poaching but also because of deforestation, which made them lose their habitat. Moreover, the passage of virus from animals to humans is easy because of intensive breeding which makes it easier for the virus to move between species; as with the H1N1 flu. It has also been proven that the coronavirus causes higher mortality rates in regions with a high rate of air pollution.

What does the future hold for us ?

In Australia, temperatures and droughts peaked in 2019 and researchers have shown that if we do nothing about global warming, these high levels of heat will be the norm in a few decades. The forest allows the absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2). This is why the Amazon constituting the largest forest in the world is called “the lungs of the Earth”. Unfortunately, when the dynamics of tree mortality intensifies, the trees will no longer absorb but reject this CO2, and therefore contribute to global warming. Evidently, this leads to a devastating loop and therefore the death of thousands of plant, animal and human species.

If we continue to poach and eat wild animals more and more diseases will be transmitted to humans. In addition the food chain would collapse if animals were to disappear. And if we continue to consume as much meat as we currently do, and therefore encourage intensive farming, more viruses will be transmitted and cause more and more deadly pandemics.

We saw that nature takes over during confinement, animals have reclaimed the territory of humans, and pollution has slowed down. It is therefore possible to limit our impact on nature. It is therefore more than necessary to take drastic measures if we want to prevent the extinction of species. It is necessary to stop overconsumption, to stop animal exploitation, to fight against overheating. If no action is taken, thousands of plant species will disappear causing the death of the animals, we will face extreme weather, which will slowly destroy the human species, starting with those who already suffer from it, the poorest.

by Aimée Niau Lacordaire

Photo Credits

Koala, Mathias Appel, CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)

Fire, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region U.,S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Regio, Public Domain Mark 1.0

Sheep, Bernard Spragg. NZ, CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)

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Anthropocene: how humans shape life on Earth

Nina Kolarzik — Sun, 17 May 2020 14:30:03 +0000

What is the evolution of life actually? In its essence it is that a species has the best chance in reproducing itself and surviving the longest if it is the best at adapting to its environment. This is the same for all the different life forms, plants, animals… and also for humans (if you want a specific kind of animal) this was for a long time the standard. But is it still?

A group of researchers claim that the earth has entered a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. Since the last ice age around ten thousand years ago, humanity has lived in a very stable epoch, the Holocene. Compared to previous times, when the temperature of the earth has fluctuated much more and made living conditions far more difficult, the average temperature during the Holocene changed by plus-minus one degree celsius only.

As far as we know, this is the only epoch that makes life as we know it possible. But what happens when we move out of it? What happens if we cross the boundaries of our planet? According to the Anthropocene Working Group this is already happening as we enter the Anthropocene.

The human force

As explained by Johan Rockström, the development started around 1750 with the industrial revolution. In the beginning, humans still impacted the earth system little. The human pressure through greenhouse gas emission, extracting resources, overuse biodiversity etc. grew linearly. However, from 1955 onwards, the impact increased exponentially. The Earth today faces a geologic epoch in which humans define it more than any other species or natural process. The name “Anthropocene” says it: Other Earth systems in our geologic time period, the atmosphere, water systems, biospheres, are human-influenced.

The term proposed by the Anthropocene Working Group is not official in science yet, but there is increasing evidence that this is not just a symbolic name and that humans leave behind their geologic mark in stones and ice. If in the future researchers study sediments of our time, as archaeologists and geologists do today, they will find evidence of pollution, fertilizers, human waste, nuclear weapons and other signs of the human conquest. We are the force of change. The sun, any other living forms, seismic activities of the Earth… they all change the planet less than we do. Not only would it be the first time that we are witnessing a new era, but it is also the consequence of our own actions.

Acknowledging this is important to understand that the climate change the planet is currently experiencing is anthropogenic. But human impact on the Earth is not limited to climate change. It includes many more phenomena: urbanization and agriculture, mining and the production of new materials, loss of biodiversity and invasion of species, being some of them. Imagine cycling through Skåne and its agricultural fields. Imagine swimming in the sea and finding rubbish along the shores. Imagine walking through a forest nearby – the trees would not grow the way you see them if they were left alone. And when visiting the area around the Italian town Carrara, you can find that complete mountains disappear because they have been turned into one of the biggest marble quarries in the world. You see: nearly everywhere our environment is shaped according to human will. Can you imagine a place that did not carry any signs of human influence?

The Anthropocene argument has been criticised of its duality of human society and nature as reducing the world to simplistic binaries. It is challenged by the alternative understanding of a Capitalocene, that “signiﬁes capitalism as a way of organizing nature— as a multispecies, situated, capitalist world-ecology”. It describes the way we are attaching a monetary value to everything, we economise our world. The concept “Anthropocene” still needs to be developed and is not uncontested. However, it directs our attention to contemporary environmental concerns and raises an important question: Should we continue that way?

Local tip

The exhibition “Antropocen” in the Teknikens och Sjöfartens hus of Malmö Museer is taking place until the 7th of June. It is telling through photography and film the terrible beauty that science is warning us about.

by Nina Kolarzik

Photo Credits

photo 1, analogicus, no attribution required

photo 2, digital341, no attribution required

photo 3, dexmac, no attribution required

photo 4, MitchellShapiroPhotography, CC by-NC-ND 2.0

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YNTR – April 2020: Forest fires in Chernobyl, new fask force in Sahel, Maduro accused of drug trafficking, and more

EditorChief — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 08:50:27 +0000

Ukraine. Forest fires near the defunct nuclear plant of Chernobyl caused radation in the area to rise 16 times above the normal level. Police arrested a suspect who is accused of causing the fires that started in early April by setting grass and rubbish on fire. While the fires increased the level of air pollution in Kiev – located around 90km south of Chernobyl – making them the worst in the world, authorities claimed there was no rise in radiation levels in the Ukrainian capital. While reports said the fires were getting dangerously close to the nuclear power plant and waste storage facilities, the government assured that the fires were contained and under control.

Sahel. Eleven European states have formed a new task force, named “Takuba”, to fight terrorism in Mali and the Sahel. The states supporting the project are Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. The French-led task force is also supposed to support the French “Barkhane” mission in the Sahel as well as the joint troops of five Sahel states.

Venezuela. The United States are accusing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as well as other high-ranking politicians of drug trafficking and narco terrorism and offered a bounty of $15 million for the arrest of Maduro. According to US federal authorities, Maduro cooperated with dissident FARC members to “flood” the US with cocaine. The US government, which supports Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guidó, already imposed sanctions against Venezuela under Maduro for human rights abuses and argues that Maduro is responsibile for Venezuela’s economic and political crisis.

WHO. US President Donald Trump has accused the World Health Organisation (WHO) and European states of knowingly allowing covid-19 to spread beyond China. Consequently, hesuspended funding for the WHO. The UN agency had declared a global health emergency on Janaury 30. The day after, Trump announced a ban on all foreign nationals entering the US from China. He said: “Tragically other nations put their trust in the WHO and they didn’t do any form of ban and you see what happened to Italy […]”. Meanwhile, New York Times data suggests that almost 40 000 Americans and authorised travellers were able to enter the US from China since the travel ban was put into action on February 4 whereas Italy introduced a complete ban on all people travelling from China on January 31. The WHO criticised Trump’s travel ban for “increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit”, and Democrats and disease experts claim that the travel ban has little effect as the coronavirus had already started to spread within the US as well as internationally.

WFP. Due to fundig shortfall the World Food Programme (WFP) was forced to reduce their support for refugees in Uganda by 30% and for Yemen by 50%. In Uganda, 1.4 million refugees rely on food rations distributed by the WFP. Activists fear that these cuts will make refugees’ lives in midst the nationwide shutdown due to the coronavirus even more complicated. A speaker of the WFP said that due to a critical lack of finances they had no other option but to reduce their aid for Yemen by half, despite the humanitarian crisis in the country. According to the UN, about 80% of the Yemini population is dependent on aid. Starting in mid-April they will receive support every second month as opposed to every month.

Syria. For the first time, the UN’s Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) explicitly names the Assad regime as those responsible for the poison gas attacks of 2017. They accuse the Syrian air force to have used sarin and chlorine gas in attacks on Syrian cities in late March 2017. Human rights organisations see the OPCW’s report as a milestone in the investigation of war crimes.

Israel. On the way of forming a new government, opposition leader Benny Gantz, who holds the mandate to form a government, has been asking for more time. This was denied to him by President Rivlin. The possibility of a unity coalition that was in sight is slipping away. Since no party has a clear majority, the mandate goes back to the parliament and a fourth election round in Israel could be the consequence.

USA. Senator Bernie Sanders ended his campaign for the nomination as presidential candidate, saying “the path toward victory is virtually impossible.” Thus, Joe Biden is the only remaining candidate of the Democrats. Sanders wants to leave his name in the ballot, but assured that he is supporting Biden in the political fight against Donald Trump. Sanders is known to not only run a presidential campaign, but to mobilise the US American progressive left and to have created a movement concerned with social and environmental justice.

Photo Credits

pi-IMG_5623, zhrefch, CC0 1.0

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YNTR – January 2020: Heat record in the EU, India’s Citizen Amendment Act, the cost of Australian bush fires, and more

EditorChief — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 17:44:49 +0000

Australia. As of January 6, 24 people and almost half a billion animals have died in Australia’s bush fires. Thousands had to be evacuated, almost 2 000 homes and vast amounts of land have been burned and the fires are still raging. A heat wave with a new temperature record followed the driest ever recorded spring contributing to this summer’s fires being particularly destructive. The smoke from the fires has made Sydney air quality one of the worst in the world on some days, and ash and debris threatens to contaminate drinking water, which without significant rain and tighter water restrictions might run out in Sydney by May 2022. The situation confirms scientists’ predictions that climate change will lead to more extreme bush fires, and has put focus on the Australian government, which is influenced by Australia’s mining history and the coal lobby, having failed to cut CO2 emissions. In December, protesters camped outside PM Morrison’s residence in Sydney demanding immediate climate change actions.

European Union. In the end of a decade of heat records, the EU has declared the climate emergency. The declaration includes a call for the Commission to ensure that all proposals are in line with the 1.5°C target, and urges EU member states to cut emissions so that European climate neutrality will be achieved by 2050, to “at least double their contribution to the international Green Climate Fund” and to stop all fossil fuel subsidies by 2020. The symbolic move is supposed to increase pressure on the upcoming European Commission to take a stronger stance in the fight against climate change. Yet, environmental campaigners warn that the declaration is not backed by sufficient action.

United Kingdom. In the UK’s third general election within 4 years, on 12 December 2019, the Conservative Party under the lead of Boris Johnson gained the biggest majority since Thatcher. Johnson had called for early elections in the hope to increase his parties majority in parliament and have his Brexit bill passed so that the UK will be able to leave the EU on 31 January 2020 which now is a likely possibility. The Scottish National Party (SNP) gained seats as well, whereas Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) lost votes so that now, nationalists are outnumbering unionists in Westminster for the first time.

Finland. After two weeks of nationwide postal-led strikes, Antti Rinne (Social Democratic Party) resigned from his post as Prime Minister following criticism voiced by his coalition government of how he handled the strikes. He was replaced by Sanna Marin who now is the world’s youngest serving PM. All five party leaders of the coalition government are women of which four are in their thierties. The government changes might have an impact on the EU as the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU is currently held by Finland putting the country in a central role in establishing the EU budget.

France. The nationwide strike against planned pension reforms that has caused major disruptions mostly to public transport is France’s longest strike since May 1968. Talks between unions and the government are scheduled for 7 January, yet Macron is intend to not back down on his plan that he argues is necessary to make the pension system fairer and more sustainable. Unionists warn that workers will lose out due to an increased age of retirement and decreased payouts. They call for blockades and mass protests from 7 to 10 January.

India. A citizenship law, the Citizenship Amendment Act, which excludes Muslims has sparked mass protests in India. PM Modi’s government has reacted with bans on protests, curfews and the shutdown of internet services. As of 31 December at least 25 people have been killed as police used water cannons, batons and live ammunition against protesters. Dozens were injured and more than 1 500 arrested by 21 December, among the detainees are journalists, activists and intellectuals. Some, however, see a positive development in the reluctance to discuss politics before the protests to a more open conversation about political matters.

USA. House Speaker Pelosi (Democrats) ordered an impeachment inquiry of Trump following allegations that the US president pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate the family of former Vice President Biden. On 18 December, the House voted to impeach Trump on grounds of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. A two-third majority of the Senate is still required. In the impeachment trial set for January, 20 Republicans would have to vote in favour of the impeachment along with all Democrats for it to go through.

Iran. The year 2020 wasn’t even a week old as the USA carried out an airstike in Baghdad that killed general Soleimani who is seen by many as a hero and revolutionary freedom fighter. Iran reacted by vowing revenge and pulling out of key agreements of the 2015 nuclear deal that the USA had already pulled out of in 2018. Trump, on the other hand, claimed to have acted to prevent a war and described Soleimani as “terrorist number 1”. He tweeted, the USA would attack 52 Iranian sites if Iran retaliated.

Photo Credits

pi-IMG_5623, zhrefch, CC0 1.0

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How Techno music can be militant

Aimée Niau Lacordaire — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 17:53:33 +0000

Techno is a form of electronic music that emerged in the United States in the mid-1980s. During the 1990s, techno developed into a real musical culture thanks to the welcome that England and especially Germany had for the artists of Detroit. Militant since its first days, the techno community has always used its influence to defend its vision of a more just and equal world. By relying on a worldwide network of sensitive music lovers and activists, techno has become a musical genre carrying socio-political avant-gardes.

“Daughter of immigrants”

In the 80s, the birth and the impulse of techno and techno clubs in West Berlin contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall. More and more residents of East Berlin also wanted to be able to listen to and dance freely to the rhythm of techno that they were listening to illegally on Western radio stations. After the fall of the wall techno has also contributed to the reunification of young people from West and East Berlin because they could dance together without worrying about their different identities.

“The techno then releases a promise of freedom that echoes the fall of the wall. Where everyone can create his own universe.”

Techno for the gender liberation

Some clubs are developing the same freedom of techno, especially in Germany and in France. They proclaim a “safe space” where people can be who they want without being judged in particular regarding their sexuality or sexual orientation.

In France, Angel Karel, who is a techno DJ, created The Future Is Female, “a collective propelled by a desire to defend the place of women in the techno scene, hitherto too little emphasis on the local scene in Lyon. This community, in search of a space of freedom to express itself, makes a real turning point for the collective that proposes a first event without any gender rule or identity barrier.“

They organise a “No gender” party, which is a militant and activist, non-conformist event of the french scene, bringing together liberated souls in search of an alternative techno experience in a “safe” space where the rules are respect and tolerance. There, you can be dressed as you wish and free, to not wearing anything without the fear of being judged or touched without consent. Additionally, there is a darkroom where people can go to for privacy where it is forbidden to film or take pictures. This party is rhythm by a brutal and corporal techno, with artistic queers’ performances and only women or queer DJs.

More and more techno DJs are, claim to be politically engaged and militant, for example, Vikken who is a french trans-man and a militant against transphobia. Another example is “La Fraicheur”, a queer DJ and feminist who uses techno to deliver messages, like the speeches of “Angela Davis” in “The movement”. Her speeches denounce racism, homophobia, and transphobia. “Kiddy Smile” is a singer, DJ, producer, dancer and activist for LGBTQ+ rights. He played at Élysée with a T-shirt saying: “son of immigrants, black and gay”. These examples show that music is not only a way to make people dance but also to send strong messages which will make them move in the figurative sense.

These are just a few examples of an ongoing trend. More and more techno nights are queer or/ LGBTQ+ and participants are reminded of the rules (“No racism, homophobia, transphobia or sexism. No touching without asking and no means NO!“) under every facebook event of, for example, the techno club “Ved Siden AF” in Copenhagen.

If techno makes it possible to express who one is and to liberate oneself sexually, it is also a means of conveying political messages.

Techno for justice around the world

Sama is a young woman and the first Palestinian DJ. Her idea is to create “An area of artistic and political freedom”, to allow young Palestinians to forget the sadness of their lives on universal beats. Sama became a famous DJ on the European techno scene, because of her political engagement. In Palestine ,the Israeli state has subjected Palestinians to occupation since 1948, with several disastrous armed conflicts. In September 2018, they created the #DJsForPalestine campaign which marked the climax of this nascent relationship between techno and Palestinian resistance. Behind the hashtag, thousands of world-renowned artists, young DJs and alternative collectives around the world are now expressing their support.

In May 2018, in Georgia, one of the biggest techno clubs called the “Bassiani” in Tbilisi was subject of a big police raid. 200 members of the special forces, armed with machine guns raided the club during a legal event because of the recent drug related deaths of five individuals which the authorities claim are linked to Bassiani. But according to the director of the Bassiani this descent had no basis since none of the deaths occurred at the club. Instead it is believed that the deaths are being used to sustain a Soviet-era political regime. Georgia maintains “extraordinarily strict zero-tolerance drug policies.” Random drug tests by police are common, and small amounts of recreational drugs can get people into prison for years. To protest this, a group of hundreds of young people gathered in front of the parliament, demonstrating against the police operation and for their freedom: “we dance together, we fight together”! The most famous DJs from around the world have sent their support such as: “Ben Klock”, “Nina Kraviz”, or “Dixon”.

In France, on June 21st 2019, a techno fan named Steve Maia disappeared and was found dead in the Loire river after a controversial intervention by the police during a music festival. Every year in Paris, the Techno Parade is held. This year, on the occasion of its 21st anniversary, the Techno Parade wished to mount the sound “in a spirit more than ever militant and claiming“. It stood under the motto “Dance for Steve” and was a tribute to him and a way to protest against police violence and to ask for justice.

And for climate

Finally techno is now at the service of the fight against the climate crisis with some DJs who are engaged on the side of Extinction Rebellion (XR), to protest for a climate justice. For example “Inhalt der Nacht”, a German DJ, or the English duo “Orbital” show their support for Extinction Rebellion by mixing for XR Rave, techno nights to support Extinction Rebellion.

On the 1st November 2019, a Rebel Rave was organised. It was a warehouse party by Extinction Rebellion to celebrate and support the London Rebels who were arrested for showcasing the global climate emergency on the streets of London in April and October this year. All the profits of this event went towards legal aid for rebels awaiting court appearances and prosecution.

As the Palestinian DJ Sama said : “music will not bring peace but it unites people, it makes people think, it helps to understand.“

by Aimée Niau Lacordaire

Photo credits :

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The political playlist of 2019

Elena Wasserzier — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 17:39:11 +0000

What‘s most significant about 2019? It is arguably the rise in demonstrations. People marching on the streets for their political aims and beliefs. Especially the “Fridays for Future” movement grew in it’s dimension and is still finding more and more supporters.

Alongside demonstrations, what is another important form of expression through which we can gain consciousness? Right: music. 2019 is characterised by many new political hymns that deal with the climate change and issues of their respective countries, mainly immigration policy and treatment and gun violence.

Climate Change and what we can do about it

1975 & Greta Thunberg: The 1975

In the self-titled song by The 1975, the band features Greta Thunberg giving a speech about climate issues and what will happen, if we do not change our policies regarding the climate. The track opens up slowly with accoustic piano chimes and amplifies with Greta Thunbergs intense monologue about the current climate crisis. While explaining the ongoing issues she foreshadows what is going to happen, if we do not protect our Earth and climate and the respective consequences, but still offers glimpses of hope. She encourages us to take action and “rebel” through protests and voicing our opinion so the political agenda changes.

“We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis, and we need to call it what it is: an emergency. We must acknowledge that we do not have the situation under control… We must admit that we are losing this battle. We have to acknowledge that the older generations have failed. All political movements in their present form have failed, but Homo sapiens have not yet failed…We can still fix this. We still have everything in our own hands, but unless we recognise the overall failures of our current systems, we most probably don’t stand a chance…”

Lil Dicky – Earth

The charity single “ Earth” by Lil Dicky and numerous famous artists was discussed a lot by the broad public as it draws attention to the climate issue with its music video depicting each celebrity as a wildlife animal that will be endangered in the future, if we humans do not act against climate change ( e.g. Justin Bieber as a baboon or Ariana Grande as a zebra). The lyrics are somewhat controversial and ambiguous but basically just want to emphasise that those animals are endangered in their survival.

“What up, world? It’s your boy, just one of the guys down here. Well, I could be more specific. Uh, I’m a human, and I just wanted to, you know, for the sake of all of us earthlings out there, just wanted to say: We love the Earth, it is our planet/ We love the Earth, it is our home…“

Under the official YouTube video one can find a link to get more information on how to tackle climate issues, as well as measures to reduce your own carbon footprint and how to take action.

Our differences unite us

MARINA – To be human

“To be human” is a song by MARINA about trying to break down emotional walls between people, signifying that we are all the same and representing a longing for unity.

The music video offers a compilation of historic events worldwide and sequences of protests. It appeared on her LOVE+ FEAR album of 2019. Marina herself described it as the following:

“To Be Human is probably the most important song on this record for me, because thematically it sums up the head space that I’ve come from in the past 3 years. I think the subject matter is really important, it talks about unity. I name-check a lot of places around the world São Paulo, Verona, Angola, Chicago, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Greece. When I was writing that I wanted to create this picture of humanity, because in our political climate we are constantly being made to see other people as ‘other’. If you’re from a different culture, you’re seen as different and potentially dangerous and I really hate that. I really think that’s a sad way to see humanity. So I wrote this song really thinking about that, and for that reason it really forms a core part of the record.”

Furthermore the first verses and the chorus mention several places, their characteristics and culture.

“There were riots in America/ Just when things were getting better/ All the things I’ve done and seen/ Still I don’t know what life means

All the people living in, living in the world today/ We’re united by our love, we’re united by our pain (ooh)/ All the things that I’ve done and I’ve seen/ Still I don’t know, don’t know what it means.”

The song symbolises that even throughout our differences we should be looking at each other as the same, as humans.

Discrimination and gun violence in “the Land of the free”

The Killers – Land of the free

The song “Land of the free” by the American rock band The Killers is a political song, talking about many issues of the United States which is often referred to as the “Land of the free” because of the American belief that people are free and able to pursue whatever dreams they have, a patriotic slogan which is sarcastically apprehended by The Killers. Their stance on the US biggest issues, like gun violence and the hatred and reluctance towards immigrants is made very clear. The music video displays several scenes from refugee camps, protests and many people from Central America at the border.

Within the first verse front man Brandon Flowers explains that he himself is from an immigrant family, originally from Lithuania, who were seeking the american dream for which in order to make it happen they worked in coal mines.

The second verse rather emphasizes racial discrimination and comments on the different treatment of citizens in the USA. The song mentions how having a different skin colour affects you in everyday life gives examples of police violence in the American justice system and suggests that incarceration seems like a “big business” nowadays.

“When I go out in my car, I don’t think twice/ But if you’re the wrong color skin (I’m standing crying)/ You grow up looking over both your shoulders/ In the land of the free/ We got more people locked up than the rest of the world/ Right here in red, white and blue/ Incarceration’s become big business/ It’s harvest time out on the avenue”

Gun violence is mentioned by the musician through his utter sadness while asking “So how many daughters, tell me how many sons/ Do we have to have to put in the ground before we just break down and face it/ We got a problem with guns”

Furthermore he mentions the many issues of migration and how president Trump is aiming to build a wall at the border to Mexico. The constant repetition of the phrase “land of the free”, especially in the chorus, accentuates that America should be “the land of the free” as everyone should be able to live their American Dream. However, the core values, the USA was once based on are not anymore represented in “the land of the free”.

The front man Brandon Flowers said, he wrote the song in regard of the aftermaths of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting 2012 and in regard to several recurring mass shootings, police brutality, injustice towards immigrants, thereby dishonouring the values the US was founded on and is supposed to act on.

Lana del Rey – Looking for America

Lana del Rey had a similar approach to discuss the Politics of the United States, specifically towards gun control and regulations. She wrote “Looking for America” as a direct response to two separate mass shootings, which led to 32 people dying on the first weekend of August 2019, one took place in El Paso, Texas and the other one in Dayton, Ohio.

She voices her dream of a better America, “one without the gun, where the flag can freely fly” and mass atrocities through guns are not happening anymore. She feels the constant fear of having to think twice before going to certain places and dreams of how it used to be when she was younger. She is melancholically dreaming about this notion of a gun free America.

“No bombs in the sky, only fireworks when you and I collide/ It’s just a dream I had in mind/ It’s just a dream I had in mind”

The arising of a new protest wave against political and global issues of atrocities and climate change?

A new wave of political songs in order to protest governmental actions and climate issues emerged. But we should not forget that music has always existed as a medium to express emotions and feelings, especially about social injustice and unfair policies. Take Bob Dylan´s “The Times They Are A- Changin´” or Tracy Chapman´s “Talkin´Bout a Revolution” as examples. And it is so important that it stays that way and that new artists come up with songs tackling current issues to make the broad public eye aware of certain issues. It does not get easier than raising awareness through 3 min long songs that everyone can listen to repeatedly.

by Elena Wasserzier

Photo credits:

Greta Thunberg in Paris, february 22th, stephane-p, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Land of the Free, Kevin Spencer, CC BY-NC 2.0

Too late, Andrew Gustar, CC-BY ND 2.0

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Veganism, vegetarianism: trend or real awareness?

Pauline Zaragoza — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 12:48:19 +0000

Festivals, restaurants and even butcher’s shops… Vegan and vegetarian lifestyles have gained ground over the past decades. Videos on animal cruelty and deforestation show the terrible side of our industrial society. It all raises attention on our consumer behavior, facing environmental issues, and our eating habits. But do these diets really reflect an understanding of contemporary issues or are they a new business trend?

Veganism, vegetarianism – what does that mean?

Depending on the person, the vegan or vegetarian lifestyle can be influenced by various motivations such as animal wellbeing, health issues or even religion. The vegetarian lifestyle was born in 1847 with the Vegetarian Society; the word comes from the Latin “vegetus” which means healthy, fresh and alive. From this word, the term veganism was coined in 1994 by Donald Watson, co-founder of the Vegan Society created in the United States in 1948.

There are a hundred ways to practice those diets: ovo, lacto, ovo-lacto, veganism, raw veganism, fruitarianism, Buddhist vegetarianism, Jain vegetarianism, Jewish vegetarianism… But the main and more marked difference between vegan and vegetarian is the lifestyle. A vegetarian person doesn’t eat any product from slaughter such as meat, fish, or even gelatin. However, vegans stop eating all types of animal products such as milk, honey, eggs, fish and meat. And if you want to look further as a vegan, in addition to the diet you have to cut your consume of animal products such as clothes (fur or leather), make up, or any product derived from animals.

An environmental issue

The vegan and vegetarian lifestyle became significant thanks to a heightened media coverage. Especially Netflix, the giant media which gathers more than 139 million subscribers, offers a lot of documentaries about environmental issues linked to food on its platform: “What the Health”, “Food Matters”, “Cowspiracy”, “Forks over knives”, … the list is long. This raises the question on the role of Netflix regarding food and environmental awareness which has for sure increased these past years.

In fact, those revelations have foundations. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has recognized the impact of the livestock sector as the largest user of agricultural land, through grazing and the use of feed crops, but also its influence on climate change, management of land and water, and biodiversity.

Figures show that farming is responsible for 14,5% of greenhouse gas emission and 63% of Amazonia’s deforestation. Moreover, according to the Harvard Medical School a huge reduction of meat consumption would be as efficient as halving the world’s car fleet. On average, we need 4,660l of water to make 1kg of vegetal protein instead of 7,900l of water to produce 1kg of meat. Also, farming is responsible for water pollution, especially due to pisciculture which releases chemical products, pesticides, antibiotics and hormones into the water. All in all, the livestock sector is responsible for 80% of acid rain.

A bobo trend?

But we can question some aspects of those diets. There is a growing trend of celebritiessuch as Joaquin Phoenix, Pamela Anderson, Natalie Portman, Jared Leto, Ellen DeGeneres, and, more surprisingly perhaps, Bill Clinton whot follow a vegan diet. Today, 5% of the world’s population, namely 375 million people, are vegan or vegetarian. The countries where the most vegan and vegetarian people live are India (38%), Israel (13%), Italy (10%) and finally Germany and the United Kingdom (both 9%). That represents a huge business area, and therefore the vegan/vegetarian label has become a new marketing tool.

McDonalds, KFC, Stella McCartney, Lidl, Adidas and others have conceded to the sirens of the veganism/vegetarianism trend. In France, this market increased by 24% in 2018. In the United States, according to Forbes, consumers spent nearly $1.9 billion on plant-based milks and $3.3 billion on plant-based foods in 2018 which represents a huge potential for business, even more so since the number of vegans in the United States jumped from 1 percent in 2014 to 6 percent in 2017.

Plant based foods are now offered in trendy coffee shops, plant based fast foods, vegan restaurants, major league baseball stadiums and even by vegan butchers, which was named a top new job trend for 2017 by Time Money.

Nevertheless, the product and place access is still concentrated and unequal. Most of the people in Western countries which adopted a vegan/vegetarian diet live in big cities. Paris and Lyon, two of France’s biggest cities, are more inhabited by vegans and vegetarians than smaller cities and towns. Therefore, veganism and vegetarianism are an urban trend and practiced mainly by the middle and upper class.

A sustainable movement?

Despite various positive effects for health, environment and animal wellbeing, veganism/vegetarianism is not without its negative sides. In fact, plant-based food can lead to vitamin deficiencies such as vitamin B12 deficiency (B12 is primarily found in animal products) and sometimes hide eating disorders. Vegetarian diets do not cause eating disorders, but “may be selected to camouflage an existing eating disorder. In addition, sometimes veganism isn’t tolerated by some bodies.”

Those plant-based diets can also have a bad impact on the environment as shown by the avocado controversy. During the past years, not only the number of vegans and vegetarians has increased, avocados have become the latest trend of the Western world’s diet. However, their industrial production is also harming the environment by the use of energy, water, fertilizer and pesticides.

Moreover, there is what we can call vegan extremism. Recently in France, we’ve seen an increase in attacks against butchers, and sometimes those attacks have been violent. These attacks are motivated by a vegan ideology named antispecism. According to this concept, the human species isn’t superior to the animal species but equal.

Some intellectuals expressed their position on the matter. One of them is the essayist Paul Ariès who considers “the alternative is not between the shitty meat produced in inhumane conditions and fake meat prepared by biotechnology.” For Ariès, we have to go back to being conscious eaters, in other words, we have to switch to small farmers who respect animals and support biodiversity.

In a more trivial expression the French sociologist Jocelyne Porcher denounced veganism which according to her will bankrupt traditional farming and favorize the false meat industry. She thinks that “vegan people are not revolutionary but idiots useful for capitalism” because it makes us more dependent on industry.

The comeback of normal human consumption: flexitariansim

Before the World Wars humans did not eat meat every day. The overconsumption of meat only came with the rise of the industrial modern society. What we can be sure of is that most agree on the fact that animal wellbeing matters and that reducing meat consumption is better for one’s health.

But we shouldn’t fall into the black and white thinking that all carnivores are bad people. Everyone has to take responsibility for facing those issues. Maybe the solution is to go back to the way we used to behave: being flexitarians. And the good news is, this lifestyle is growing.

To conclude, we have to act for a better future, planet, food consumption, animal care, health and, most importantly, we should stay tolerant and respect everyone’s choices.

by Pauline Zaragoza

Photo Credits

Vegetables Avocado, Jill Wellington, Pixabay

Sheep, Couleur, Pixabay

Bar Coffee Restaurant, Free-Photos, Pixabay

Chicago Fur Free Friday 2010, Jovan J, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Breakfast Food Eating, Free-Photos, Pixabay

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Politics of fertility

EditorChief — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 12:37:30 +0000

Is the state planning your family for you?

As many political historians or demographers would confirm, state interest in the fertility of its citizens is not merely a recent phenomenon. But when can we speak of interest and where does it cross the boundary of interference? How does the state influence or limit our choices, directly or indirectly, and what are the consequences of it to the individual or a group of people? The level of interference does not have to reach the horrors of the work of Dr. Mengele, or equal the dystopian fiction envisioned in The Handmaid’s Tale, to be of significance to the life of a citizen, a family, or even a specific demographic segment. Should our right to family life be a private or a public matter?

The international organizations on the matter

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights offers information related to sexual and reproductive rights, but addresses these rights largely from the perspective of gender-based discrimination against women. Amnesty International, without distinction to location or status, demands that “all the decisions made about your own body should be yours.”

Certainly, many choices related to human fertility have to do with the female body, which is why limitations to the access to e.g. sex education and family planning; contraceptives; legal abortion and professional reproductive health services; protection from forced marriage, sterilization or pregnancy; help for victims of rape; can all lead to an unproportionate private burden. Whether the limitation is a question of means or culture is perhaps indifferent to the ones affected.

China and the extreme example of family planning policy

After over three decades of the well-known one-child policy, China is maintaining its interest in the fertility of its citizens, and examining the outcome of the 2016 introduction of the two-child policy. It appears, the loosening of the restrictions on family size, however, has not resulted in the desired increase in birth rates. The official Year of the Pig stamps release one year ago even led to speculation whether the Chinese government has further policy reforms in mind.

In addition to the former policy, the changes in the Chinese society, the fierce competition for success, as well as the increased quality of life and education, have contributed to the decrease of the desired family size. One child per family was long strictly enforced and gradually became accepted as the norm. There is further criticism that China is not changing its legislation for the freedom of the people, but as a means to an end: to experiment with its population and to keep the wheels of the economy spinning at a desirable rate.

For those who lived their reproductive age under the one-child policy, the only child may represent the sole hope for the future. The loss of an only child is devastating, and has been estimated to have been the fate of one million of aged Chinese parents by 2015, expected to reach 11 million by 2050. There’s even a Chinese term to describe them, they are shidu fumu (“bereaved parents”). There are suggestions that the shiduers suffer from a more intense form of grief due to the importance of family in Chinese culture, and seem to even have developed strategies to spend family holidays in the company of others who’ve suffered the same fate.

The right to abortion – an ongoing discussion

Whereas the above discussed limitations on family size are an example of direct state interference with fertility, there is an ongoing debate about the legal rights of women to terminate an unintended pregnancy. When Brett Kavanaugh was nominated the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, many feared what his nomination could mean for millions of women. The speculation on whether he could help overturn Roe v. Wade peaked after the vote on abortion legislation in Alabama.

The vote in Alabama also brought up questions on intersectionality. Rightfully so, as the votes in favor were cast by white males. Those facing the direct impacts of banning legal abortion in the state are women, often of lesser means, and of color. Using the CDC Abortion Surveillance data from 2015, in the United States nearly half of the voluntary terminations of pregnancy were requested by black women, the Hispanic at a slightly higher rate than the white.

Social inequality leads to reduced access to proper medical care and contraception, which goes hand in hand with increased demand for safe medical help in termination of unintended pregnancy. By denying the access of disadvantaged women to the latter, a situation occurs where the same basic right is in fact denied twice. The results of the policy having the potential to become fatal for many.

The policy of lack of policy

Beside the obvious interventions in female reproductive behaviour, it is possible to affect our family size through subtle policies and decisions. Logically, it seems to matter whether and how the state incentivizes parenthood by paid parental leaves. Or whether we feel our concerns for the future are adequately answered by the state in order for us to have a family of our own.

The University of Lund hit a nerve when it published a 2017 study on the four lifestyle choices of the individual that would significantly reduce one’s carbon footprint. The study concluded that in developed countries the most effective way to reduce individual carbon footprint is to have one less child, with the reservation that if overall national emissions decrease, so would the value on cumulative emissions from descendants.

The study did not comment on refraining from having any children at all but compared the effects of different types of reduction. The reaction of some was to conclude that voluntary childlessness is the most environmentally friendly choice to make.

A Finnish climate correspondent, journalist and mother commented on the idea and asked whom are we saving the planet for if not a future generation. Similarly, she argued that her personal carbon footprint has in fact decreased as a mother, due to increased interest for the environment and decreased interest in consumerism. But what if the inaction many governments have recently been accused of, in response to climate change, is reason enough to see the world as too uncertain to become a parent?

The future, an open-ended question

As a response, to defend its interests of a “demographically balanced” population structure, it may be a dire necessity for the state to come up with renewed strategies to stimulate and not simply regulate the behaviour of its citizens. And as much as the state impacts our reproductive behaviour, it is certainly not the only one. Without getting into a debate about the role of culture in our individual choices, it is relevant to recognize that there are concurrent developments with those dictated by the state. Yet, as intrusively personal as the question might be, the state will without a doubt continue asking you: Are you going to have children?

by Johanna Laaksonen

Photo credits

Heron, Pixabay

Her duty, Gauthier Delecroix, CC BY 2.0

Counter March Pro-Choice Rally, Zhu, CC BY-NC 2.0

Hand Earth to Next Generation, Pixabay

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Environmental horror and utopia

Merle Emrich — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 12:29:51 +0000

It is not even 3 a.m. as the first activists leave their tents getting ready to establish the blockade at the Großer Stern (Great Star) roundabout not far from Extinction Rebellion’s (XR) climate camp in Berlin. In the following week there will be blockades on streets and bridges, glue-ons and lock-ons at ministries, the governing Christian Democrats’ (CDU) headquarters and Vattenfall to protest against inaction, or at least insufficient action, against climate change. At the roundabout, what is to become a small arch later in the day is guarded by the police who don’t want the climate activists to build their symbol of climate justice on the street, and by protesters who fear the police might confiscate their building blocks. Some of them, forming a human chain around the disassembled arch, have locked their arms onto metal pipes from which only they can free themselves without destroying the tube. “It feels a bit like being crucified”, jokes one of them, his breath rising up in clouds made orange by the street lights.

Throughout the morning more activists arrive at the blockade at the Großer Stern that will last for 58 hours is accompanied by more actions throughout the city including swarmings and the occupation of Potsdamer Platz, which the police soon tries to disband. Yet at 10 p.m. a mic-check at the Großer Stern, where the activists get ready to be moved but are willing to keep up the blockade, announces: “The police at Potsdamer Platz has given up. Tonight it belongs to us!”

October 9, sees several bridges occupied for several hours for up to two days. Throughout the week there are protests, glue-ons at several ministries and at the CDU headquarters, swarmings and other actions including a picnic organised by XR Youth. Meanwhile, similar actions happen in many other major cities, and around 40 cities, including Stockholm, declare climate emergency.

Horror

But why did all these activists come to Berlin? Arriving from all over Germany and as far away as the Nordic countries, including a delegation from Skåne and more than 200 Swedish activists, prepared to camp for a week and sleep on roads under the open sky, some of them willing to be taken into custody… What is it that drives them to take to the streets? “I fear many environmental catastrophes and that we will have a great deal of flooding, just as it has happened in the last few years. And then, on the other side, that in the really dry countries things start to burn because it is way too dry”, explains Lili, a young activist from Saarland. And her horror scenario for what the future holds is shared by others.

“My horror scenario is just the eco system collapsing, all the animals dying and we’re dying, too. But my absolute horror scenario would be that we could survive but no one else. Everything would be sterile and the world would be dead and we’re just walking around like prisoners”, Elsa from XR Skåne says. To which Sasha adds that social collapse will follow ecological collapse: “A lot of people are starving and then just rich white men oppressing everyone even more than they already do, and the divide between privileged and minority groups getting bigger. It’s going to be very bloody and very ugly.”

These worries are not only shared by the young generation but also by the generations before them. Sipping on warm tea provided by the camp volunteers, Ulrike and Jens stand under the colourfully foliated trees on the edge of the climate camp. “The first thing that comes to my mind as a horror scenario is that the people who are where the climate catastrophe hits harder than by us lose their home, and that they then come here and we don’t really have any capacity left”, says Ulrike. “And I realise that here in the north, where it is still fertile at the moment, people already don’t want to take in those who arrive anymore and racism and xenophobia are getting worse.”

It seems to be hard to imagine a future standing in the October sun while all around people are chatting, laughing, as they participate in workshops, queue for warm soup and busily carry around colourful flags and banners. But once one listens to what they talk about, reads their banners and pays attention to the topics of the workshop – once one remembers why they are here, it is less unimaginable. “I am of course scared that as a consequence [of the catastrophe we are headed towards] there will be further destruction and more wars and conflicts”, agrees Jens. “To begin with, what already happens, is that powerful groups decide on how to deal with resources of others. That is, not share the natural resources of the world with everyone but control our destinies egotistically and capital- and profit-oriented.”

It is clear to him that if environmental degradation and climate change are not stopped, an increasing number of people will be forced to leave their homes. “I have worked for over ten years as a development aid worker in various regions of the world and I know the internal migration that already exists due to similar reasons. We know of many who must leave because they lost their basis of life.”

Citizens’ Assemblies

The activists worries and frustration, but also their hopes and ideas, do not only find expression on the streets but as well two times a day in small-scale models of the citizens’ assemblies that XR demands on a national level. During the expert talk of the citizens’ assembly on Climate Justice, Sea-Watch captain Carola Rackete and Kathrin Henneberger, co-founder of the Institute of Environmental Justice, voice some of the same concerns that are prevalent among many XR activists.

“There is a danger that the politics that already now let people drown at their borders goes even further”, Carola Rackete says in her talk on climate refugees. “The criminalisation of me and Sea-Watch is not a single case.” But apart from this criminalisation and EU policies aimed at securing borders instead of saving lives, there is another problem, she explains. The collapse of the ecosystem will lead to an increase in global poverty and eventually to ‘climate apartheid’. “There must be a legally defined protection for [climate refugees].”

Kathrin Henneberger brings up yet another issue: “The climate crisis is not a classical problem that we can solve if we regulate the economy a little bit.”. cThe effects of climate change do not affect all people equally”, she elaborates. Whereas powerful industrialised countries such as Germany where some of the biggest European sources of CO2 can be found are the main emitters of greenhouse gasses, those who are hit hardest by climate change often have little agency and decision-making power. “Especially women are often disproportionately affected”, Henneberger argues. But simply bringing in more women, not only because they are often more vulnerable but because they possess valuable skills and knowledge, won’t do the trick: “We can only solve [the climate crisis] if we fundamentally change the economic system and power structures.”

Dialogue

The effects of climate change are not bound by national borders, and neither are their causes. On October 11, a group of mostly Swedish XR activists heads towards Vattenfall’s Heizkraftwerk Reuter where some of them glue themselves to a gate in protest against the use of fossil fuels and to send a signal to the Swedish government. “Vattenfall is a state-owned company”, one of the activists explains, “thus, the Swedish government has more possibilities to regulate Vattenfall and press for a faster transition to sustainable energies than is the case with private companies.”

“We have already changed a lot and need to continue”, says Stefan Müller, Vattenfall’s Director Media Relations & Editorial Germany. Accroding to him, this goes beyond the question of energy production and includes issues ranging from hydrogen and electric cars to reducing the offering of meat in Vattenfall’s canteen. Some of the XR members present doubt, however, that Vattenfall is changing fast enough. Müller replies to the activists’s concern that Vattenfall’s sustainability strategy was within the framework of the Paris Agreement but also says that there can be, and might need to be, a discussion about Vattenfall’s transition.

Utopia

In light of the horrors of climate change – potential and already existing – what would be the best case scenario? “Anarchy!” replies Elsa, intentionally or unintentionally echoing a line from Irie Révoltés song Utopie. In the same song they sing: “Utopie, tu me donnes la force pour continuer” (Utopia, you give me the strength to continue). And of course, the activists of XR all have their own visions for the future that they fight for. “My best case scenario is getting out of fossil fuels now, reducing our animal agriculture by a lot, organising locally, farming locally and organically, organising in flat hierarchies and communes”, says Sasha. And when it comes to our cityscapes, Lili has a clear picture in mind: “It would be nice if everything would become much greener, if we didn’t have as many concrete buildings – and on those you can of course grow plants and make everything a bit greener that way.”

“I see the positive that I wish for in small signs, for example in social behaviour as it is fortunately lived again or rediscovered primarily by the young generation and that therein a lot of creative possibilities are created through which people can live together no matter their background, no matter their origin”, says Jens. “And that is also why I am here. Because I want to support this dream myself.” Yet, despite the presence of these small signs not all have come to the conclusion that change needs to happen. “I experience this sometimes even among my friends who are environmentally aware”, elaborates Ulrike. “When it comes to giving up certain things they somehow say ‘Nah, I want to continue living as I did until now,’ and I wish that, without a catastrophe having to happen here or that there are bans, they’d say ‘Well, I thought about it, I need to change.’”

“The best moment to stop the climate crisis was 30 years ago. The last moment is now”, Kathrin Henneberger said in her talk. “But first of all”, says Jens, “a big fight is important and will happen.” Judging based on the rapidly growing support for XR within less than a year and the activities of other environmental movements and organisations such as Fridays For Future and Ende Gelände, the fight has already begun.

XR Rebellion Week photo story: here

by Merle Emrich

Photo Credits

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