by Max Wilbert / Counterpunch In his book Capitalism and Slavery, Trinidadian historian Dr. Eric Williams writes that “Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery.” Williams, like many others, argues that racism was created by the powerful to justify subjugation that was already in progress. In other words, the desire to exploit came first, and racism was developed as a moral system to justify the exploitation. ...
Editor’s note: The following is from the chapter “ A Taxonomy of Action” of the book Deep Green Resistance: A Strategy to Save the Planet. This book is now available for free online. by Aric McBay And here yet another temptation asserts itself. Why not wait until our cause becomes vivid and urgent enough, and our side numerous enough, to vote our opponents out of office? Why not be patient? My own answer is that while we are being patient, more mountains, forests, and streams, more people’s homes and lives, will be destroyed in the Appalachian coal fields. Are 400,000 acres of devastated land, and 1,200 miles of obliterated streams not enough? This needs to be stopped. It does not need to be “regulated.” As both federal and state governments have amply shown, you cannot regulate an abomination. You have got to stop it. ...
Featured image: Zapatista women convoke International Women’s Gathering. by Chiapas Support Committee CONVOCATION of the FIRST INTERNATIONAL GATHERING of POLITICS, ART, SPORTS, and CULTURE for WOMEN in STRUGGLE Communiqué of the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee, General Command of the Zapatista National Liberation Army To the women of Mexico and the World: To the original women of Mexico and the World: To the women of the Indigenous Governing Council: To the women of the National Indigenous Congress: ...
by Max Wilbert / Deep Green Resistance According to an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in July, the planet is in the midst of the 6th mass extinction event. Strikingly, the scientists who wrote the article call this a “biological annihilation.” This isn’t a random sequence outcome of a natural societal development. The dominant global culture (industrial civilization) is a culture of imperialism. We can define that as a culture that colonizes and extracts resources as a standard way of operating. ...
Featured image: animals steal the place of the Wretched of the Earth bloc at the People’s Climate March of Justice and Jobs. By Dominique Z Barron. This is the twentieth installment in a multi-part series. Browse the Protective Use of Force index to read more. via Deep Green Resistance UK In this run of five posts, I am assessing the environmental movement using the twelve principles of strategic nonviolence conflict as described by Peter Ackerman and Christopher Kruegler. [1] The principles are designed to address the major factors that contribute to the success or failure of nonviolent campaigns. Read more about the principles in the introductory post here . Read how the environmental movement relates to the first principle here, the second to fifth principles here and the sixth to the tenth here. ...
This is the nineteenth installment in a multi-part series. Browse the Protective Use of Force index to read more. via Deep Green Resistance UK In this run of five posts, I am assessing the environmental movement using the twelve principles of strategic nonviolence conflict as described by Peter Ackerman and Christopher Kruegler. [1] The principles are designed to address the major factors that contribute to the success or failure of nonviolent campaigns. Read more about the principles in the introductory post here . Read how the environmental movement relates to the first principle here and the second to fifth principles here . ...
This is the eighteenth installment in a multi-part series. Browse the Protective Use of Force index to read more. via Deep Green Resistance UK In this run of five posts, I am assessing the environmental movement using twelve principles of strategic nonviolence conflict. [1] The principles are designed to address the major factors that contribute to the success or failure of nonviolent campaigns. Read more about the principles in the introductory post here. Read how the environmental movement relates to the first principle here. ...
This is the seventeenth installment in a multi-part series. Browse the Protective Use of Force index to read more. via Deep Green Resistance UK In the next four posts I will assess the environmental movement based on the twelve principles of strategic nonviolent conflict that Peter Ackerman and Christopher Kruegler lay out in their book Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: The Dynamics of People Power in the Twentieth Century. The principles are designed to address the major factors that contribute to the success or failure of nonviolent campaigns. The authors stress that the principles are exploratory rather than definitive. Read more about the principles in the introductory post to this run of posts here. ...
Featured image: Candelaria residents erect a fence around the Suyul Lagoon to help protect it from intruders. (Waging Nonviolence/Sandra Cuffe) By Sandra Cuffe / Waging Nonviolence The reeds and grasses are as tall as Sebastián Pérez Méndez, if not taller. The vegetation is so thick it’s hard to see the water in the Suyul Lagoon that he and other local Maya Tzotzil residents are working hard to protect. Pérez Méndez crosses the road to point out where aquatic plants serve as a natural filter for the water as it flows out the lagoon, located in the highlands of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. ...
This is the second part of a series. Read the first part at Toward Strategic Feminist Action. By Tara Prema / Gender is War Developing an effective response to the worldwide crisis of male violence Strategic Feminism is a framework for collective action against patriarchal violence. The framework is based on acknowledging that the struggle for women’s liberation can – and must – adapt the lessons of asymmetric conflicts, such as guerrilla uprisings against occupying armies. We can apply the lessons of successful insurgencies to our aboveground organizing. And we must do so. It is a matter of life and death: every minute, men rape, abuse, abduct, and murder girls and women. Time is short – we must prepare for worse still to come. ...