Come and learn with me #3
An ongoing exploration of how we dismantle the old and build the new
Following is a snapshot of what I’ve been reading, watching and doing over the last few weeks on the topic of how we can dismantle the old and build the new.
Reading:
I’ve been a little slower reading lately, so I’m still working my way through Mark Boyle’s Drinking Molotov Cocktails With Ghandi, which I am loving. Boyle makes a compelling argument against the common narrative that any resistance “must be non-violent!” in light of the inherent violence that exists within the system already. While I think it’s an important read, precisely because I don’t necessarily agree with it, and Boyle lays out his case exceptionally well, ultimately I think I’ll find myself in the same camp as George Monbiot on this one. Monbiot’s position is summed up in his review of Andreas Malm’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline:
I will support people who have already committed coherent and targeted acts of sabotage in defence of the living planet that do not endanger human life. But I won’t encourage anyone to do so, because I’m not prepared to do it myself.
- George Monbiot, ‘Careful Now’
In the last few weeks I have also picked up a copy of Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein (useful for ‘building the new’) and Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins (to ‘dismantle the old’ we need to understand it) at a second-hand book store. Perkins’ story describes how, during his time as an economic hit man, his job was to:
… encourage world leaders to become part of a vast network that promotes U.S. commercial interests. In the end, those leaders become ensnared in a web of debt that ensures their loyalty. We can draw on them whenever we desire — to satisfy our political, economic or military needs. In turn, they bolster their political positions by bringing industrial parks, power plants, and airports to their people. The owners of U.S. engineering/construction companies become fabulously wealthy.
- Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins p. xiv
I am looking forward to using these resources in a couple of things I am working on.
The article ‘“Bandt could not survive our attacks” - Advance’ summarising Atlas network member, Advance’s, disinformation campaign against The Greens in Australia’s recent Federal election is illuminating. An older article titled ‘Meet the Shadowy Global Network of Right-Wing Think Tanks’, is insightful for more on right-wing/multi-millionaire funded Atlas Network and their worldwide disinformation campaigns and far-reaching influence on policy.
I love this section of Mark Boyle’s book The Way Home: Tales From a Life Without Technology, describing the ‘Deep Time Walk’ hosted by Stephan Harding at Schumacher College, Devon, UK:
On another occasion we go out with resident scientist and author Stephan Harding on what he calls a ‘Deep Time Walk’. This is a 4.6-kilometre walk around the surrounding woods and coastline, with each step of the journey representing one million years of the earth’s history.
Not much happens at first, as we reflect on the enormity and incomprehensible beauty of the earth’s life thus far, but by the time we reach the Devon coast, halfway through the walk, Stephan is already explaining to us how life has slowly begun forming and cascading into its myriad, enchanting forms. As the ocean crashes against the cliffs below us, a number of the students are clearly having a profoundly moving experience, their own lives put into clear perspective against the spectacular expanse of existence.
The final millimetre of the 4.6-kilometre walk, Stephan tells us, contains industrial civilisation, and in that one millimetre we are in danger of wiping out much of what came before it. What the next millimetre, metre and kilometre have in store for planet earth and ourselves, none of us pretends to know.
- The Way Home: Tales From a Life Without Technology, Mark Boyle, chapter 5: Autumn.
Finally, the Financial Times has often pleasantly surprised me, with out of character articles such as the one linked below, which highlights that capitalism is the cause of:
… intensifying climate change, species extinction, habitat destruction and chemical pollution. We need to explore changes to the shape and structure of the model of shareholder primacy, unfettered global trade and laissez faire government policies that have been in place since the 1980s.
- ‘Why management research needs a radical rethink’, Financial Times 6/7/23
and this piece on the need for government investment and legislation to avoid catastrophic climate change:
The Financial Times surprised me again this week when the editorial board signed their name to this rare (for mainstream media) and welcomed piece of accurate reporting on the genocide currently taking place in Gaza: ‘The West’s Shameful Silence on Gaza’:
After 19 months of conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and drawn accusations of war crimes against Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is once more preparing to escalate Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The latest plan puts Israel on course for full occupation of the Palestinian territory and would drive Gazans into ever-narrowing pockets of the shattered strip. It would lead to more intensive bombing and Israeli forces clearing and holding territory, while destroying what few structures remain in Gaza.
This would be a disaster for 2.2mn Gazans who have already endured unfathomable suffering. Each new offensive makes it harder not to suspect that the ultimate goal of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition is to ensure Gaza is uninhabitable and drive Palestinians from their land. For two months, Israel has blocked delivery of all aid into the strip. Child malnutrition rates are rising, the few functioning hospitals are running out of medicine, and warnings of starvation and disease are growing louder….
- Image and quote above are both from ‘The west’s shameful silence on Gaza’, The Financial Times (now paywalled).
What the article doesn’t mention is that the ‘west’s shameful silence’ is due to US hegemony that has been in place for decades. See Jason Hickel’s The Divide, Vincent Bevins’ The Jakarta Method and the aforementioned Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (John Perkins) for more on this topic. It should go without saying that we can’t ‘dismantle the old’ by ignoring genocide, ongoing colonisation and imperialism which is such an intrinsic part of the current - but flailing - system.
Watching:
The Settlers documentary by Louis Theroux is the words of the Israeli settlers themselves. You can watch the full documentary here.
I’m very interested in “low” technologies and ancient technologies that we could use in a low energy future. I watched this video on the Persian Yakhchāl recently (image at the top of the page), explaining how ice has been made and stored in the desert for millennia.
Doing:
Over the last few weeks I have cooked enchiladas with black beans as the filling, ‘the BEST vegan moussaka’, this shepherd’s pie with TVP, vegetable stock, soy milk and nuttelex replacing the animal products, burgers with satay marinated tofu as the ‘meat’, and this hemp seed slice. I also made this lemon oil to use as a face cleanser.
In case it’s not clear how what I’m cooking is linked to the topic of ‘dismantling the old and building the new’ here are a couple of resources on the colonial nature of the standard western diet and how eating a plant-based diet is an act of resistance: 1, 2, 3. Here are a couple of resources on the violence inherent in animal agriculture: 1, 2. And there’s always that fact that industrial animal agriculture is the main reason why we are breaching planetary boundaries.
"As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields." - Leo Tolstoy
I am also in the process of reevaluating my career. I’d like to work in alignment with my values, rather than in the growth-of-things-and-money economy, which I was doing prior to having my children. Unfortunately working in ‘sustainability’ (I use this term loosely) doesn’t appear to be an option for me, so I’m exploring other options. More on this in the coming weeks and months.
I’m trying something a little different. ‘Come and Learn with Me’ is a fortnightly, or perhaps monthly, newsletter sharing the things I’ve been reading, watching, listening to, doing and the people I follow and learn from with a focus on colonialism, imperialism, class domination, degrowth, climate, veganism, activism, community and organising.
Erin Remblance is a Sydney-based researcher and writer, focusing on the topics of degrowth, climate, veganism and social change. She is a co-creator of PROJECT TIPPING POINT.
https://open.substack.com/pub/fcolom/p/como-hacer-hielo-en-el-desierto?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2irufy
I enjoyed reading this so much. Thank you