As part of the Radical Summer School, Róttæki sumarháskólinn, I will be giving the following 1 hour talk, August 31st in the Peace House:
Avoiding Climate Authoritarianism
Scientific reports about climate change are terrifying: We have a very short time to do dramatic changes to all areas of society if we want to prevent global disasters and catastrophic climate change. Some scientists are even talking about societal collapse and the possibility of human extinction. This knowledge causes wide-spread „climate anxiety“ in the general public and we can see the effects on the current culture through the growing popularity of apocalyptic tv-shows.
While there is certainly every reason to take things very seriously and demand immediate action, there is also a problem with this mentality. A fear of impending disaster is generally not conducive to democratic and egalitarian solutions. In a state of panic people tend to feel powerless and look for protection and action from a strong leader who can make radical decisions without constraints. It breeds authoritarianism. Ironically, authoritarianism and centralization is the exact opposite of what we need in order to survive climate change.
In this session I will argue that climate change will (probably) not bring about some sudden global-scale collapse of civilization. We have already seen some of the effects of climate change, and we have seen how the political and capitalist system has responded to those effects. From those events we can make a projection into the future. Such a projection does not indicate a collapse of social order, but – sadly – an entrenchment of the current world order and a reinforcement of existing hierarchies. There are also other movements in the present though, that can provide more hope and show the direction: Movements based on community and solidarity. These are what we should look towards if we want to find inspiration for action, rather than petrifying fear.
The question is: How can we avoid Climate Leviathan (the authoritarian state) and help create Climate Communism?