Revolution or Death is a three-part collaboration between Peter Gelderloos and subMedia. Part 1, 'Short Term Investments,’ examines the official response to the climate crisis and how it's failing.
In Part 2, ‘Heads Up, the Revolution is Already Here’ we talk with movements around the globe that provide inspiring examples of what realistic, effective responses look like.
Part 3 ‘Reclaiming the World Wherever We Stand’ will focus on how we can all apply these lessons at home.
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Part 1: subMedia looks at the push for green capitalism, and questions the common-sense assumptions of its cheerleaders. Bolstered by unwavering, uncritical support from NGO’s, energy corporations portray themselves as cutting edge innovators in green energy technology while hedging their bets and maintaining diversified portfolios – packed with fossil fuel investments.
Part 2: State and market solutions to the ecological crisis have only increased the wealth and power of those on top, while greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Nearly all the experts and professionals are invested, literally, in a framework that is only making things worse.
With so much power concentrated in the very institutions that suppress any realistic assessment of the situation, things seem incredibly bleak. But what if we told you that there’s another way? That there are already people all around the world implementing immediate, effective responses that can be integrated into long-term strategies to survive these overlapping, cascading crises?
We spoke with three revolutionaries on the front lines resisting capitalist, colonial projects. Sleydo' from the Gidimt'en clan of the Wet'suwet'en nation, in so-called British Columbia, Isa from the ZAD in the west of France, and Neto, a militant with the Landless Workers’ Movement based in the northeast of so-called Brazil.
They share their experiences gained from years of building collective power, defeating repression, and defending the Earth for all its inhabitants and for the generations still to come. They share stories of solidarity spreading across a continent, of people abandoned to poverty and marginalization reclaiming land, restoring devastated forests, and feeding themselves communally, stories of strangers coming together for their shared survival and a better future, going head to head with militarized police forces and winning. And in these stories we can hear things that are lacking almost everywhere else we look: optimism alongside realism, intelligent strategies for how we can survive, love and empathy for the world around us and for the future generations, together with the belief that we can do something meaningful, something that makes a difference. The joy of revolutionary transformation.
We learn about solutions. Real world solutions. Solutions outside of the control of capitalism and the state. The Revolution is Already Here.
Coming in Part 3: how do we make it our own?
For more of Peter Gelderloos’ work check out They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us and The Solutions are Already Here. Both from Pluto Books https://www.plutobooks.com