Having a treats related meltdown.
Invidious link: https://vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=e8fDM60MS84
i guess ive had enough symbolic actions that result in harm for poc. and if this is purely about messaging far far more normies are gonna be turned off by this than for it. now see i dont care about messaging so who gives a fuck, but if thats literally the only point of what your doing it should be effective in its one goal, and its so clearly not look at any comment section or just ask a normal person. also we have enough far far far more shocking bloody videos of policy brutality, we truly do not need anymore. no one who isnt already radicalized is getting radicalized by watching people block a road and then get arrested for it. not trying to be overly negative, I just think this shit is genuinely so harmful and useless. all anyone cares about is spectacle especially leftist. I truly think we would make HUGE progress if everyone wasnt so singularly obsessed with internet clicks and veiws. also whats wrong with degrowth.
also we have enough far far far more shocking bloody videos of policy brutality,
True, after Floyd it is absurd to continue with just that action. But some white individual eco people do retain the way of Gene Sharp and a reduced non violence discourse which doesn’t build power.
Though blocking Burners from their festival is quite a bit of fun.
This is liberal of me but degrowth is just not possible politically. It’s like how a general strike sign or Twitter post doesn’t do anything, because a general strike needs unions to help strikers stay fed and housed, but 100x worse. If you tell people that they can’t have a hot shower every day, because the energy required to heat the water of every person on earth would cook the earth too much, they will not give up hot showers. You cannot implement degrowth without coercion from a socialist state which, at best, gets legitimacy from most people saying “well I hate doing this, but the only way for the planet to survive is if we all sacrifice together”. Under capitalism it’s a nonstarter of course, people won’t even wear masks during a pandemic let alone make sacrifices. But there is not going to be a socialist state with this kind of power in the US for decades, if ever.
You can probably get some half-assed solution where people accept things that nudge them in the direction of less consumption. Bikeable cities. Showers that turn off every few seconds, like the ones at campgrounds, to encourage you to use less hot water. But actual degrowth is so far from possible right now, in the complete absence of any ecosocialist power, that asking for it seems like putting the cart before the horse to me.
It’s kind of like veganism. Some people are tenderhearted idealists like me, but if you look at a group of individuals they’re not going to give up eating flesh for anything immaterial. Can we get state pushed/mandated veganism? Well, not without a state. And we can’t rally around the final goal because by definition it’s not popular yet (otherwise we wouldn’t need a state to do it), so must start with other vegan goals. Curb the worst excesses of the climate criminals, build up a movement. Slow down growth. Then we can try to implement degrowth.
I can’t rip on them too much because they’re out there doing shit and I’m in bed on my phone. But this is why I don’t like degrowth. Conceptually it’s ok.
P.S. also it is basically full communism, in terms of how vigorously capital will oppose it. GDP is basically 1:1 with energy consumption
1.I think we understand degrowth very differently
- there has been a problem of self described communist opposing degrowth under communism
3, I mean My hope Is that the global south will get together, build socialism and bring the imperial core crashing to its knees. I want every drop of resources to be used for the betterment of people in the global south and only after every need has been met they will sell their leftovers to the imperial core at ridiculously exorbitant rates forcing degrowth upon them. but thats just what i fantasize about.
Degrowth is sometimes lumped in with eugenicist talking points which can trigger reflexive pushback. I always like to reply to “overpopulation” concerns with “let’s start with white Americans to get the most bang for our buck”
It’s a relatively small portion of humanity living unsustainable lifestyles, and if we removed the profit motive that would be even smaller.
The conversation is moot though, degrowth is happening whether we like it or not. Laihana is degrowth.
