We need to wake up from “wake up” rhetoric

Quickly, because looong day (but good one) and my guilty pleasure Michael Connelly awaits.

THIS SORT OF THING PISSES ME OFF.

It implies that “world leaders” are asleep, not aware what is going on.

a) that is horseshit

b) if it were true, what would it say about the efficacy of 30+ years of academic, scientific and activist work?

It

a) let’s the state operators off the hook – poor little innocent petals are simply uninformed. Oooh, here come the heroic People Of Good Faith to wake them up, then everything will be okay. What a nonsense narrative

b) it foregrounds “information” instead of the material realities (yes, the two interact, imbricate blah blah)

c) it ignores the importance of POWER, of capital, of the imperatives around capital accumulation. It implies that “humanity’s” enemy is ignorance when in fact “our” enemies are legion, and far more powerful than we dare imagine.

It’s the perfect narcissistic, moronic and short-sighted “message” for our narcissistic, moronic and short-sighted times, I guess.

Bugger, now Humbug has climbed back on board, and so I am forced to keep typing. May as well address the “well, what’s your bright idea” then.

How about

“If we keep mobilising in ways that make building movements harder, we are gonna keep losing”

or

“Our Lords and Masters KNOW the planet is being murdered. The point is to stop them speeding the murder up.”

or

“Wanna live? Innovate in your activism. Build movements.”

Anything but this “wake up” drivel; it is WORSE than useless.