With the planet on fire, it seems odd to be having to write about the decline of the climate "movement" - but given what is going on in the UK and Australia, the countries I know best - it seems reasonable to do so. The point has been made to me well, that the existing academic work... Continue Reading →
After the Goldrush: 11 theses (and 15 songs) about Extinction Rebellion and “what next?” #oldfartclimateadvice
Preamble The numbers tell the story, or a story. The numbers attending the latest Extinction Rebellion rebellion were far lower than a) last years two efforts and b) their private hopes. The emissions reductions are far higher than we would have thought this time last year, but that’s a) not enough to hit this year’s target... Continue Reading →
Climate scientists attacked for 30 plus years. Sure, so what is to be done? #action #climate
So, as per my recent Conversation article, the climate scientists have been attacked for (more than) thirty years. The UNFCCC is a hopeless case (see slightly-less recent Conversation article). It is easy to talk about how everything is fubarred, and what am I against. This below expands on the theme of attacks on climate scientists,... Continue Reading →
On the tribal barriers to cat-belling
Think in systems, dammit. When I am frustrated (i.e. always) with the "left" endlessly reheating and repeating the same things ("wasn't 1970s social democracy great?", "the main problem is we don't have enough diverse voices" (1) ) through truly wretched online events that are every bit as stultifying and wrist-slashingly excruciating as their meatspace equivalents,... Continue Reading →
Of activist self-care and the need to think in systems and #Freud #Darwin etc
I attended portions of a zoom seminar this morning on "activist self-care." Portions not because I flounced (this, as those who know me will attest, does happen) but because of technological issues and my steam-powered laptop not letting me into the break-out groups. So my "criticism" of the seminar (which was on the whole good!)... Continue Reading →
Interview with Rosemary Randall, psychoanalyst and author of brilliant #climate novel “Transgression”
A superb novel about climate activism (and much more) was released earlier this year. It is by Rosemary Randall, a retired psychoanalyst who has written a great deal (of extremely useful) work on the psychodynamics of meetings, and on climate change. You can read a 2013 interview I conducted with her for Manchester Climate Monthly.... Continue Reading →
Activism, patriarchy and still saying goodbye to all that 50-ish years on…
Dr Manuel Cervera-Marzal, the author of a book chapter - "Ordinary Resistance to Masculine Domination in a Civil Disobedience Movement" - very kindly sent me a copy of his work. It's ... really good, and everyone doing activist work should read it. It escapes that most common of academic-studying-activists traps, the uncritical puff-piece extolling the... Continue Reading →
6 articles in search of an author to write about them
The tl:dr - six more articles, each with something of use for scholars or activists (and sometimes, for both). You should know the drill by now (one, two, three). Edwards G (2008) ‘The Lifeworld’ as a resource for social movement participation and the consequences of its colonization. Sociology 42(2): 299–316. Horton, J., & Kraftl, P.... Continue Reading →
Who sticks around, who doesn’t? Maps, member-tracing and validity issues
When it comes to "successful" social movements the questions are usually "how big was the demo?"(1) or "how do we get more people along to our next meeting?" This is of course, wrong-headed. (Some of) the relevant questions are - "Who drops out?" "Why?" "Who sticks around?" "Why?" "What does "sticking around" even mean,... Continue Reading →
Activists and “narrative” – of academia, words and deeds. Oh, and Paul Kelly did it better
The TL:DR - Follow my "adventures" as I read a bunch of articles and only narrowly escape rabbitholitis. Conclusion - there ARE useful things to be had in reading about activism, useful for "movements." But you need to know a lot, have been through a lot, be able to theorise and act before you can... Continue Reading →
