88. CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #88, AUGUST 15, 2022
Chris Hedges and George Monbiot. The Ruling Class Must Be Replaced.
João Pedro Stedile. “Defending Our Planet Will Require Collective Measures.”
Louise Guillot. “Extinction Rebellion Activists Glue Themselves To European Commission HQ”
Chris Hedges and George Monbiot.
The Chris Hedges Report, “The Dawn of the Apocalypse.” July 24, 2022. Conclusion: “The greatest existential crisis of our time is to at once be willing to accept the bleakness before us and resist. The global ruling class has forfeited its legitimacy and credibility. It must be replaced. This will require sustained mass civil disobedience, such as those mounted by Extinction Rebellion, to drive the global rulers from power. Once the rulers see us as a real threat they will become vicious, even barbaric, in their efforts to cling to their positions of privilege and power. We may not succeed in halting the death march, but let those who come after us, especially our children, say we tried.”
See George Monbiot’s reinforcing essay, “Days of Rage.” The Guardian (July 19, 2022). [Thesis] System change is – and has always been – our only realistic means of defending the living planet. [Monbiot’s Conclusion:] “But while [environmentalists] have been playing patience, power has been playing poker. The radical right insurgency has swept all before it, crushing the administrative state, destroying public protections, capturing the courts, the electoral system and the infrastructure of government, shutting down the right to protest and the right to live. While we persuaded ourselves that there is no time for system change, they proved us wrong by changing everything.” --Dick
João Pedro Stedile. “We Only Have One Planet—Defending It Will Require an Organized Mass Movement .” MR (July 5, 2022).
As climate change and the deforestation of the Amazon alters conditions of life across Latin America, it is clear that planetary defense will require an organized mass movement of all working people against the levers of global capital. | more…
Louise Guillot. “Extinction Rebellion Activists Glue Themselves To European Commission HQ.” Politico. Popular Resistance.org (6-21-22). A group of 10 Extinction Rebellion climate activists on Monday glued themselves to the entrance doors of the European Commission's Berlaymont building in Brussels. Around 25 activists in total, coming from Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands and Italy among others, were present to call on the EU to do more against environmental damage and to criminalize ecocide — the deliberate and systematic destruction of ecosystems. "We want [EU countries] to criminalize ecocide and the Commission could start doing that," said Amelie, a member of Extinction Rebellion Berlin, while her... -more-