We should of course be angry at the right people at the right time and in the right ways (1). There has been an achingly successful campaign first to deny the existence of climate change, then to say that doing anything about it can either wait or would be massively expensive. We should be angry... Continue Reading →
What elite actors learn from issue attention cycles #SocialMovementFailure #climate
I am brewing a piece (rant) on the last 3 years, from the end of 2018 to now. The gist is that the trajectory of the "climate movement" was entirely predictable in the round. Yes, specific idiocies like the XR tube action, and getting hit by a pandemic were not in anyone's particular scenario, but... Continue Reading →
“Participation? Show don’t tell” #egofodder #insultation #AcademicCulture #ActivistCulture #Smugosphere
A few examples spring to mind. In 2007, while my eyes were opening wider and wider to the reality of Climate Camp, I was at an event in Manchester aimed at getting university students involved in the "non-hierarchical" organisation. And two self-described "non-hierarchical leaders designed the meeting that involved rather a lot of talking... by... Continue Reading →
On invitations to reflect, and how we de-rail ourselves…
The Buddhists are right, I think, about the ways in which longing and desire prevent us from learning, from seeing the world more as it is than as we would wish it to be. This is coming from a very revealing interaction this morning online, on a Twitter account I share the running of. The... Continue Reading →
Standard Public Meeting Syndrome and what to do about it.
Public Meetings are disastrously bad at achieving their goals. They are not the only reason that social movement organisations struggle to recruit or retain people, but they are a significant barrier to a Better World (tm). I have been writing and video-making about this forever (well, it feels like that). See here and here. To... Continue Reading →
So much podcasting and jaw-flapping, so little “this is how we bell the cat”-ting
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. I get that it is easier and safer to keep saying the cat should wear a bell. I get that it is easier to celebrate occasions on which the cat didn't get to kill quite so many mice. BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL... Why are people spending time on creating podcasts, or holding zoom calls... Continue Reading →
If I had kids, I’d be in a blind blind panic right now: On a public meeting of the “Australian Verdant Political Organisation” #Machiavelli #Smugosphere #Eargout #Egofodder
There are many topics on which I am a dreadful bore. On a subset of those I am a dreadful SMUG bore. On a subset of those I am a dreadful smug bore who will one day be thumped by a breeder. That subset is actually one item - the "I had a vasectomy in... Continue Reading →
Excuses, excuses (or “archive hunting for fun and zero profit”)
I am trying to be less chaotic. Or rather, I am bringing all the random memory sticks (there are lots) together in one place and will then do some light/heavy raiding. Yesterday I put up something from 2009. Today it's something from 2012. On 4th November 2012 I was clearly at some dreadful climate event... Continue Reading →
Copenhagen, Glasgow, and the impossibility (?) of seeing beyond
Here comes another international climate conference. We are very good at them now. Thirty years of practice will do that. I've made reasoned and reasonable arguments (i.e. ranted) at length about their worse-than-uselessness for social movements, and am relieved to be part of a group that is refusing the invitation to lobotomise itself. What has... Continue Reading →
GroundCop Day, over and over again. COP6, COP26, whatever.
The year is 2048. COP46, delayed twice already because of the ongoing Covid-43 pandemic, is due to take place in the Dutch archipelago. Activists are encouraging everyone to join in a canoe flotilla to shout at the plutocrats and securocrats as they meet to discuss who is going to get what compensation (nobody and nothing)... Continue Reading →
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