All these people on Climate Twitter, spouting variations of information deficit, or hope deficit or anger deficit. All of them studiously avoiding the key (imo) question - what do social movement organisations need to do DIFFERENTLY, given that for the last 30 plus years, they have not managed to slow the acceleration of the destruction... Continue Reading →
Things we can’t see, don’t have the language for, that MATTER (the mechanics of social movement organisations etc etc)
We can't, usually, 'see' carbon dioxide. But we know it is there. Since the 1950s very very accurate measures of its concentration in the atmosphere have been kept (thanks to Uncle Sam and his military industrial complex). While dickheads - to use the technical academic term - like ex-Prime Minister Tony Abbott scoff at "invisible... Continue Reading →
Hypocrites, Zealots and (in)activists – a cartoon (and inevitably unhelpful rant)
I asked my brilliant friend Marc Roberts if there were a cartoon in this blog post, and this is what he came up with. It is in the latest issue of Ethical Consumer Magazine, and it is genius, I am sure you agree. The problem is that the reality is EVEN WORSE THAN THIS, because... Continue Reading →
Martin Luther King – “Perhaps we shall not overcome after all.” (#satire)
"Our Dumb Century" by the folks at The Onion is a staggering satirical achievement. Lots more to say, but this fits my current mood (see the Cher, incentive structures and our inevitable doom post etc)
If you open a space, you better set some rules, and keep ’em…
I have seen it so often - a meeting that could ("should") be about "what can we DO" instead becomes a "the world is so unfair" kinda thing. Don't get me wrong, people need to be able to vent, to feel recognised, to have their anger and pain acknowledged. Trouble is, in the absence of... Continue Reading →
No numbers, no infrastructure, no clue – the death of XR
Various people have called me several shades of cunt for my take on XR. They either ignore, or never bothered to find out, that back in 2019, when it was kicking off, I conducted and posted interviews with participants on Manchester Climate Monthly, offered to put together a private event with old and new activists... Continue Reading →
City Green – Manchester Green Party newsletter. Copies from 1987 to 1992
The Working Class Movement Library is a fantastic place (does precisely what it says on the tin). It's in Salford, about 20 minutes cycle from where I currently live with one wife, three cats and several thousand (10? 15?) books. Last June I went on a bit of an archive binge at the WCML, tracking... Continue Reading →
Brilliant 1991 book about sterility of left culture and what to do instead…
We've all been there (or been it) - the tinpot little dictator who wants to enforce the One True Way of Thinking about issue x or y or z, and the dictator's followers and enablers enthusiastically enforcing that OTWOT in order to a) prove their reliability and b) suppress any doubts they may have c)... 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 →
#Community and 3 unspoken theories of change – Our mental models are Jeff Winger wrong…
““There's no such thing as "Single Malt Platinum Boobs and Billiards Club"? Aw, I guess I never said it out loud.”Jeff Winger in the Community episode “Remedial Chaos Theory” (1) We bumble through life like a blind drunk bull in a china shop. We have un-examined and under-examined assumptions about how the world actually is... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 