Author: Slingshot robot #1

By Carol

In September young people all over the world took to the streets, striking, rallying, and demanding that politicians acknowledge and address the climate catastrophe that we are facing. And their demands are real: yes, we need those in power to make change – but they aren’t moving fast enough, and meanwhile species are going extinct every day. What do we do in the meantime? We go to the climate frontlines. And the frontlines are everywhere: there are pipeline and forest struggles going on right now all over Amerikkka. One such frontline exists in Northern California, where the notorious timber wars of the 90s are flaring up once again. Here, on the Lost Coast, a chance encounter brought me into an environmental struggle that has since become central in my life.

I was groggy, still tangled in my sleeping bag, when I heard my comrade Embers’ shout. “They sent up a climber!” We woke everyone in camp and hurried north, towards phone reception. At first, we thought our comrade Rook, who had been aloft in a tree sit for seven days, was being extracted. But instead, the climber, armed with a chainsaw, cut down the buckets and jugs that held Rook’s water, food and gear, dropping heavy items just past their head and then leaving them without enough supplies to survive. Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC), the corporation that had taken over the timberlands of the notorious Pacific Lumber after PL’s bankruptcy, was trying to save face. They wanted Rook down, but instead of doing it by force, they were trying to manipulate them down through hunger and thirst.

For 20 years, forest defenders have put their bodies on the line to protect the Mattole watershed place, the ancestral home of the people now known as the Mattole and one of the last remaining areas of unlogged, mixed hardwood and Douglas fir forest in the bioregion.

The Mattole river winds through some of the most rugged terrain on the west coast, meeting the Pacific Ocean just south of Cape Mendocino, the westernmost point in California. Just offshore lies the convergence of three tectonic plates, making the area incredibly geologically unstable. Landslides dot the steep hillsides, and the crests of the ridges are painted with natural open prairies, a legacy of traditional fire management.

The state water board lists this as an impaired watershed, attributing the Mattole’s heightened temperatures and sediment loads to logging and road building upstream. Four decades ago, Mattole Valley residents recognized the declining salmon populations and began salmon monitoring and habitat restoration, and now, salmon populations are finally growing. Since HRC took over PL’s holdings in 2006, the forested ridges of the Mattole headwaters have seen four summers of aerial road blockades, tree sits, lockdowns and work disruption in opposition to HRC’s logging and herbiciding.

In 2014, when HRC began logging in the first of two contentious timber harvest plans (THPs) on Long Ridge, forest rebels began a several-month-long road blockade that prevented them from working there for the rest of the year. In response to broad local opposition to the plans, HRC cancelled hundreds of acres slated to be cut. Hell yeah!

In 2017, forest defenders discovered that HRC was killing native tanoaks and madrones with herbicides on Long Ridge, and blockaded the road again, preventing access for the rest of the dry season. HRC had to file extensions on their logging plans, admitting that the resistance had kept them from getting work done.

During the fall of 2017, with only two years left to complete work under their plan, HRC got desperate. They submitted a plan to build a new road – literally just to get around the blockade site. The road would have destroyed a sensitive wetland and beautiful grove of ancient Bay laurel trees, but a flurry of public comments and the threat of direct action forced them to cancel the road proposal in the spring.

The summer of 2018 saw a third blockade, and this time HRC escalated. They sent in private security guards from Mendocino county-based Lear Asset Management, who raided the blockade, threatening forest defenders with tasers, harassing blockaders and messing with aerial lifelines. Three folks were arrested. Curiously, HRC didn’t begin logging after the blockade was down, instead paying the security guards to sit around on the ridge for several months doing nothing. Avoiding the goons proved to be an entertaining diversion for forest defenders scouting during that period.

In November, the guards finally packed up and left, and promptly afterward, Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI), another multi-death corporation, showed up to log their slice of the pie, clear cutting dozens of acres that they “own” on the north side of Long Ridge. Forest defenders scrambled to respond, setting a tree sit and slash piles, and engaging with workers on the ground. They were able to stall SPI contractors, who fled the coming rain, leaving marketable logs behind.

This spring, forest defenders discovered the security guards had returned, once again desecrating a historic indigenous village site on Rainbow Ridge by parking their camper trailers, port-a-potties, and ATVs there. Then, on June 6, 2019, HRC contractors started falling trees. Because HRC and CalFire have repeatedly failed to publish necessary documents on time, the community only knew that work had begun because of forest rebels’ diligent monitoring.

And HRC was disregarding stakeholder concerns outright. During the summer of 2018, a year prior, Mattole valley residents had filed a grievance with the “sustainable” timber certifiers Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), contesting HRC’s FSC certification, and HRC had yet to address the demands required by that grievance process. The community was outraged, and the next Monday morning, security guards showed up to the main gate before dawn to find four septuagenarian residents of the Mattole valley, the same folks who had filed the FSC grievance the year before, blocking the gate with their bodies – and an accordion! They refused to stand down and were arrested.

Meanwhile, in the backwoods, a plucky forest defender, Rook, had climbed into the canopy on Long Ridge, weaving a net between the branches of an ancient Douglas fir slated to be cut as part of a road construction project. The guards immediately set up camp under the massive fir, watching Rook at all hours. It was only a week into the tree sit when the guards sent their climber up to steal Rook’s supplies. When we heard, we stormed HRC’s office.

The following Monday, we were ready. Again, before dawn, forest defenders had arrived, and the goons found a 30 foot ladder blocking the main gate, with a forest defender dangling at the top. This must have been a bit much for them, because they called the Humboldt County Sheriff. The sheriffs showed up and immediately ordered those on the ground to move, contradicting the property lines that the goons had pointed out. When folks started to move, the two deputies lunged at and arrested three folks, the first two of which had cameras and were documenting the action. The deputies fractured one person’s rib and bloodied their face.

Rook remained aloft for two months all in all, witnessing from the canopy as the road building crew worked right up to their tree, then constructed the road around them and continued down the hill. They watched the trees downhill from them get hauled out. A Sonoma red tree vole, a tiny rodent that is an indicator species for old growth Douglas fir, moved into their bedding. They watched the goons, who maintained a 24 hour presence under the tree. On two separate occasions, forest rebels brought food and water, and the security guards chased them, arresting one, to prevent resupply. Finally, one rascal was able to sneak past guards and deliver supplies and a tarp just before rain. Eventually, because of mounting community pressure, HRC told their goons to give Rook small amounts of processed food and water.

While all this was going on, another forest rebel, Pascal, climbed a threatened ancient Douglas fir on the other side of the ridge. Pascal endured similar treatment – goons harassing them and keeping a close watch to prevent ground support from coming close, and chasing and arresting them when they finally did descend.

Over the course of the summer, four forest defenders were arrested in the woods, nine in town, and three received citations during roughly two dozen actions. Forest defenders ranging in age from 24 to 87 locked their bodies to cattle grates, to gates, to bicycles and to each other. A forest defender locked themselves to the machinery being used to build the road around Rook’s tree. Elders, veterans of the Headwaters struggle, came out and put their bodies on the line, turning away log trucks. Forest defenders disrupted work in the woods. Many dozens of people rallied at gates into the area, performing theatre, playing music, and speaking out. Folks took over CalFire’s office, stormed HRC’s office on multiple occasions and kept returning to block the road to the Long Ridge timberlands and the entrance into HRC’s sawmill.

When Rook descended on August 5, HRC execs mentioned that the tree they had occupied would remain – until HRC’s next round of logging in the area. At this time, the beautiful grove that Pascal defended also stands. In early September, HRC filed completion on their THPs, meaning that no more work will happen within these plans. But they have already pushed the next THP through the approval process – this one in the headwaters of the upper north forks of the Mattole. Meanwhile, on the neighboring Monument and Bear River ridges, a greenwashed company is pushing a massive wind farm that will threaten wildlife habitat and sacred sites of the indigenous Wiyot people. This is yet another false solution to climate change, and Wiyot officials, local residents, and environmental groups have already come out in opposition to the project.

Recently a veteran forest defender mused to me that in this work, all our victories are temporary and our losses are permanent. That certainly feels to be the case on Long Ridge, where the entire south side of the ridge is marred by fresh slash piles, skid trails and stumps, still fragrant with the sap the Doug firs exude to heal their wounds. Mattole defenders are mourning as we gather ourselves for the next battle. As we humbly continue this struggle now in its third generation, continuing to fight for what was left out of the 1998 Headwaters Agreement, we have to recognize that this is a different time.

People all over the world are rising up to call attention to this climate crisis. The science dictates our priorities: the carbon sequestration value and biodiversity of late seral forests makes their protection an imperative. At the same time, the emotionality of it – to fall in love with a ridge and a river so deeply that you are compelled to put yourself in the path of those who seek to destroy it – is powerful. What a joy to be small on a big, beautiful thing called Earth, and to dedicate oneself in service to keeping intact ecosystems whole, and healing those that are broken.

In a little box:

Earth First! Humboldt, which supports forest defense in the Mattole watershed, needs your support! Come to Humboldt and join us in the woods, donate to help us cover campaign and legal expenses, or plan a solidarity action or benefit event in your area!

Contact us to plug in: efhum@riseup.net

Stay in the loop: Instagram @blockade.babes and savethemattolesancientforest.com

Michael Diehl — a proud Berkeley wingnut in the finest way — was hit by a car and killed September 29. His death leaves a huge gap in the world and hundreds of friends in tears. Michael lived life totally on his own terms devoted to freedom, art, music and the underdog. He had a unique style which he applied in a variety of counter-cultural contexts — the Berkeley Free Clinic, 924 Gilman Street, People’s Park, OTO temple / Thelema Lodge where he was a priest, as a DJ at Free Radio Berkeley and Berkeley Liberation Radio, as a wise and calming street-level mental heath healer, an artist, a resident of several alternative households including Oz house, stalwart of Berkeley Mardi Gras and a most remarkable dancer. He wrote and did art for Slingshot and he was a frequent presence at the Long Haul where Slingshot has its office. In 2006 Slingshot awarded Michael the Golden Wingnut award for Lifetime Achievement. (see Issue#90) When asked why he deserved it he quipped “Because i’m crazy.”

Around Berkeley the term wingnut applies to odd people and it can be both loving and a putdown. Michael was the good kind of wingnut. He was humble and giving to others and the community. Born in Massachusetts in 1955 where he was too young to be a Hippy but felt the sea change. He had a short stint at Antioch College where he was a part of a Gestlat Group and earned the nick name “Dancing Bear.” He moved to the Bay in 1977 during what he calls “The Summer of Hate.” He self-described himself about that time as being “Berkeley’s first Crusty punk. I had spikey hair and a sleeping bag and was living on the streets.” Michael was homeless on-and off throughout his life but largely lived collectively.

Michael was an activist and founder or core-member of several community projects that directly address the damage created by capitalism. He started the Peer Counseling Collective which provides alternative mental health services through the Berkeley Free Clinic. He was an early proponent of Radical Mental Health. He was a compassionate listener not only during office hours but on all fronts. A lot of his street-level activism was for the poor, homeless and those with mental issues and in the throes of a crisis. He was good at it because those on the streets related to him as one of their own.

Michael lived in a complex stew of opposites. Spiritual yet intellectual. Anarchist yet civicly involved. His deep fascination with Tibetan Buddism, WICCA, Paganism was tempered by a daily reading of the NY Times.

In the late 1980’s he joined the all-ages, volunteer run punk club 924 Gilman when it first opened. He joined the art committee painting murals on the blank walls but quickly found himself as the Head coordinator for a two year stint. He worked to make it a space more than just for entertaining people. He helped make it a collective and a non-profit. He fought off abuse from Nazi Skinheads and when YUPPIE neighbors and the city wanted to close Gilman down, Michael helped organize 150 punks to show up to the city zoning commission meeting. He also brought his gentle touch to the club making it welcoming to people who didn’t fit in. He would put on art shows and book unusual music and he constantly made iconic cut & paste fliers that were plastered all over town. The club was under financial hardships at the time of his watch so he responded by holding a magic ritual to make the club solvent. Not only is Gilman still here today but “100 clubs bloomed” globally as Michael proposed in one his manifesto fliers.

Michael did a series of benefit shows in support of People’s Park activists facing a frivolous lawsuit by University of California and never stopped defending the Park against development. He worked with Copwatch as well to try to limit the police abuse he saw on the streets that he knew so well.

Michael was a DJ for unlicensed Free Radio Berkeley 104.1 FM in 1995, and continued as a DJ when FRB became Berkeley Liberation Radio where he was known as DJ Adversary.

“Michael was a man with a big heart who had few earthly possessions yet gave constantly of his time and effort to help others. He was a soulful socialist who lived his life in an uncompromising way true to a heartfelt revolutionary joy.

Slingshot is an independent radical newspaper published in Berkeley since 1988.

It’s hard to not see life as an uphill battle, especially when your peers are all pushing a similar boulder up their neighboring hills.

Creating this issue has been a particularly interesting struggle for the few members of the Slingshot collective. Many of us spent the last few weeks involved in the global climate strike. Out on the streets we protested business as usual, demanding an immediate just transition from fossil fuels, and aimed to call attention to the climate emergency. We pushed the deadline back in an attempt to cover all that, but the mix of disappointment and joy we felt during the strikes is hard to understand fully or convey.

At the midnight hour, burnt out on articles not addressing the state of emergency, facing our own entanglement in the climate disaster, we are still left wondering if this issue is even worth it’s carbon footprint. Questions like:

• “How good does it have to be to justify using resources like trees and fuel during production?”

• “Are there other things that Slingshot could set its mind to that would be more useful in the long run?”

• Lastly, “What is Slingshot worth to people outside our bubble?”

The stuckness rippled when a collective member suggested to focus not just on the result but also on the possibilities to learn in the process.

Slingshot has, for awhile now, also been struggling with quality of content — wishing we could publish articles that offer exceptional clarity and insight. In this age of information overload, adding to the white noise will not help. Is it ridiculous to presume that Slingshot truly makes a difference? Reading radical lit has been transformative for many of us. We dream of publishing issues full of articulate, thoughtful pieces, but we can hardly get out of bed each day. Meanwhile, massive demonstrations are gripping the world on every continent.

Making the issue creates a unique context for people to meet, hangout and create together. Which sometimes feels sufficient justification to keep the project going. It is fun a well as exhausting and frustrating — but for sure different than regular life.

Even if you don’t think of yourself of a writer, consider authoring a piece for Slingshot. The best articles are about a subject the author is directly engaged in.

Slingshot is always looking for new writers, artists, editors, photographers, translators, distributors, and critical thinkers to make this paper. If you send an article, please be open to editing.

We’re a collective, but not all the articles reflect the opinions of all collective members. We welcome debate and constructive criticism.

Thanks to the people who made this: Alina, Dov, eggplant, Elke, Fern, Hannah, Isabel, Jesse, Jules, Kat, Nyx, Rachelle, Star, Sylvia, Talia, Tybalt, and all the authors and artists!

Slingshot New Volunteer Meeting

Volunteers interested in getting involved with Slingshot can come to the new volunteer meeting on Sunday, December 8th, 2019 at 7 pm at the Long Haul in Berkeley (see below.)

Article Deadline & Next Issue Date

Submit your articles for issue 131 by January 1st, 2020 at 3 pm.

Volume 1, Number 130, Circulation 22,000

Printed October 11, 2019

Slingshot Newspaper

A publication of Long Haul

Office: 3124 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley CA 94705

Mailing: PO Box 3051, Berkeley, CA 94703

510-540-0751 slingshotcollective@protonmail.com

slingshotcollective.org • twitter @slingshotnews

Slingshot free stuff

We’ll send you a random assortment of back issues for the cost of postage. Send $4 for 2 lbs. Free if you’re an infoshop or library. slingshotcollective.org

Circulation information

Subscriptions to Slingshot are free to prisoners, low income, or anyone in the USA with a Slingshot Organizer, or $1 per issue. International $3 per issue. Outside the Bay Area we’ll mail you a free stack of copies if you give them out for free. Say how many copies and how long you’ll be at your address. In the Bay Area pick up copies at Long Haul and Bound Together books, SF.

Slingshot free stuff

We’ll send you a random assortment of back issues for the cost of postage. Send $4 for 2 lbs. Free if you’re an infoshop or library. slingshotcollective.org

Subscriptions to Slingshot are free to prisoners, low income, or anyone in the USA with a Slingshot Organizer, or $1 per issue. International $3 per issue. Outside the Bay Area we’ll mail you a free stack of copies if you give them out for free. Say how many copies and how long you’ll be at your address. In the Bay Area pick up copies at Long Haul and Bound Together books, SF.

By Alex Star

On Tuesday, June 4th, 2019, after fifty years of federal prohibition, the Oakland City Council unanimously voted to decriminalize all plants and fungi currently listed on the FDA Schedule 1 list. This list includes literally hundreds of species of plants and fungi known to have, either alone or in combination, profound spiritual and visionary effects when ingested by homo sapiens. This list includes the best known and most powerful substances: Ayahuasca, DMT, Psilocybin Mushrooms, Iboga, and Peyote Cactus.

All the plants and fungi included in the decriminalization measure passed by Oakland City Council, are what we in the activist community, have termed “entheogens”, a word which shares the same root as the word “enthusiasm” and essentially means “that which insights divinity or the divine experience”. You may already be aware of the sacred medicines Ayahuasca and Psilocybin Mushrooms, and but are probably more familiar with the more commonly used word “psychedelics”. “Psychedelic” is a catch-all term describing substances with profoundly expansionary impacts on human consciousness. However, we activists responsible for the measure passed on June 4th, felt the word “entheogen” to be more correct and also more palatable to the common person.

The power of the word “entheogen” is that it is a clear slate from which to have the conversation regarding their use.

Q: What is an entheogen, and what does it mean to decriminalize?

A: An entheogen, for the purposes of this article, is any plant or fungal body, and the derivatives thereof, with the ability to bring about profound spiritual experiences and mind-expanding perceptions when consumed by humans.

“Decriminalization” effectively means that, while entheogenic plants and fungi are still federally illegal, the City of Oakland has decided that the City itself, including the police department, will expend zero time, money, or resources in the prosecution of people for possessing, distributing, or growing any of the above listed plants and fungi.

We live in a society which seems utterly intent on destroying our own planetary ecosystems to the extent that human life can no longer be supported. The dominant human culture has forgotten the intrinsic connection we share with all life, and recklessly destroys millions of lives and the fragile systems supporting in order for the controlling members of our society to enjoy a few more years of limitless consumption and growth.

Entheogenic plants and fungal life forms, reconnect our consciousness to our own fundamental place as singular organisms within a much larger planetary system. At the same time as our society accelerates full-steam towards our own destruction, these mushrooms and plants, with the ability to heal the profound sickness of the human soul, have been declared illegal by the systems controlling our society.Few things in the world are more important than getting the power of entheogenic plants and fungi out to the masses. Sacred plants, fungi, and medicines, which we now call “entheogens” are, the most powerful method for reintegrating sanity into our mainstream culture. It was for this reason that an amazing group of activists, from all walks of life, including Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Susana Valadez, came together to tell the story of the power of sacred entheogens and the need to decriminalize before the Oakland City Council. In testament to the potential and power of this cause, in healing wounds and bridging social divides, every single council member present voted “yes” that night.

Full credit to the bravery of the Oakland City Council, they did not have to pass this measure, and certainly did not have to pass it unanimously, one or two council members could have easily said “nay” or even abstained from voting altogether. It is thanks to the unanimous decision by the Oakland City Council, that the Decriminalize Nature Measure, has now spread to almost one hundred cities across the United States.

This whole movement started when a few people came together around a small garden dedicated to entheogenic plants in Oakland, and has very quickly spread to a national movement.

The Decriminalize Nature team is made up of people from every demographic and walks of life, which really demonstrates the universal nature of the need to reconnect and the power entheogenic practice to inspire, heal, and empower people and communities.

Entheogenic mushrooms and plants are the very spirit of our Mother Earth reaching out to us, to heal our collective consciousness and help us to bring our existence into alignment with the greater planetary systems in which we are intrinsically a part.

This connection, if we reach out with all our strength, might just save us all.

By Jesse D. Palmer

The Global Climate Strikes by millions of people have been amazing — yet they are really just a start. Business as usual cannot continue — we’re on a suicide course. To achieve change equal to the scale of the unprecedented ecological emergency we are facing requires sustained organizing, unrelenting social pressure, collective creativity and openness to dramatic systemic and culture change.

No matter who you are, its time to get over your despair, paralysis, blame-shifting, self-doubt and instead focus on the overwhelming task at hand. Big protests are fine but we need to rapidly translate them into real changes to cut fossil fuel emissions to zero — which is overwhelming because everything about our lives involves burning fossil fuels.

The strikes were youth-led and it is key that the youth were asking for everyone to strike — they know it is past the time for just raising consciousness and symbolic actions. Yet most adults didn’t strike, which was a missed opportunity to really disrupt the system and change direction. At some point, we have to decide that at least attempting to save ourselves is worth a shot and that we need to stop worrying about short-term consequences.

Striking is a radical tactic — risky, difficult and for those up against the wall. The reason strikes were called is that strikes work. Without workers, those in power are fucked. When a strike is called, it means “don’t go to work” — and it may ruin your day, be scary, cause you to lose pay, and disappoint or piss off your bosses, students, clients, customers, co-workers and family.

But is it more reasonable to just keep doing your work? If human society goes extinct, your bank account won’t matter. We won’t get a second chance.

Ecological collapse — of the oceans, the birds, the bugs, the crops, the forests — is in progress and it eclipses everything. All our social justice goals are are on the verge of becoming impossible as we slide towards crop-failure, famine, mass-migration, scarcity wars, and other social consequences of climate collapse.

We desperately need new terminology. “Climate change” is far too passive and lacks urgency. Climate change implies that the climate just happens to be changing. But the real issue is that by digging up and burning billions of tons of fossil fuels — emitting 100 million tons of CO2 every day1 — human beings are actively, intentionally and on a corporate/industrial level committing mass social suicide, not to mention ecocide against millions of other species.

During the Global Climate Strike march in San Francisco, I kept noticing irreconcilable realities — concern about climate change has gone mainstream, yet actually reducing fossil fuel combustion is still considered radical. People either want someone else to make reductions, or they are looking for another magic solution that doesn’t require reorganizing the world very much. Can’t we just plant one trillion trees or something? We need to stay focused on how we can stop burning fossil fuels — the science and the numbers are crystal clear that combustion is the main activity that has to stop. Humans are harming the earth many ways which allneed to be addressed from plastics, to pesticides, to land use, etc. — but it is a mistake to get too distracted from combustion.

The CO2 released when you start a car or turn on a gas stove takes 20-200 years to be reabsorbed into the environment.2 That means casual acts are making very long-term commitments. In many contexts, we don’t have a choice — our system only gives us a fossil fuel option for living our lives.

But what about when we can choose? If you are able-bodied, you get to decide whether to drive 2 miles or walk or bike. Only you decide whether to hang your clothes in the sun or put them in the drier. Of course none of us can solve climate collapse just with our personal actions — we need system chance first and foremost which can only be achieved by collective action. But it is factually incorrect to say that fossil fuels burned by individuals during our day-to-day lives are irrelevant.

We need to focus on the difference between culture shifts and individual change. A single individual changing isn’t up to the scale of the changes needed. Culture shifts are different and more powerful – they involve millions of people changing the things we want, the pace of our lives, and what we consider normal, desirable and reasonable.

For cultural change to take root, we need to realize that cutting emissions isn’t giving something up, but rather it’s about getting back aspects of our lives we have lost, and that we miss.

Fossil fuel use makes the world faster, more homogenous, more centralized and less participatory as machines and companies do things people used to do for ourselves. A cultural move away from fossil fuel emissions will help recapture the grace, magic and attentiveness people had before industrial capitalism used fossil fuels to speed up our lives. Biking around is slower than driving and flying but you enjoy what’s along the way and you revive connections with the landscapes, people and creatures around you — smelling trees, hearing birds and spotting mushrooms.

In the US, 28.9% of greenhouse gas emissions are from transportation, and 59% of that is “cars and light duty vehicles.” 28% is from electrical generation, 22% industry, 9% agricultural, 6% commercial and 5% residential. (2017 figures;3 greenhouse gas emissions are measured in C02 equivalents — 82% of emission equivalents are actually CO2, i.e. burning fossil fuels.)

Some emissions can only be addressed on a systemic level. For instance, the 28% of emissions from electrical generation result from decisions made by a very few companies and governments. Emissions-free wind and solar electrical generation are now cheaper than fossil fuels in some areas4 — so for those emissions pressure on elites is spot on. It is possible to imagine zero emissions from electrical generation in 5 years if WWII-type efforts were applied. Looking at the numbers, agriculture contributes emissions, but not as much as other activities nor as much as many people think.

As more protests and rebellions roll out from Sunrise Movement, Youth vs. Apocalypse, and Extinction Rebellion, etc. please do something. You’ll feel better — you’ll meet new people — the loveliness of our lives on this lush world are worth long-shot, last ditch attempts at survival.

Leading up to the Climate Strike in September, I went to a swarming training in a park. Swarming is a tactic used recently by Extinction Rebellion in England where a tiny group of people create brief (under 7 minute) traffic blockades. It is “lower risk” and in fact if police arrive the idea at least at the training I went to was to quickly melt away.

As I biked away from the training, I felt better than I had in months — a light went on and I realized “this is exactly what I have been looking for.” Because I have been feeling depressed, hopeless, tired, discouraged, sad and fearful. It is a cliché but being a dad for my seven year old daughter makes me feel especially bad, because I can’t protect her — I can only offer her only a future filled with problems that my generation hasn’t been able to fix. All the animals in all the kids books are going extinct.

Going to the training brought me back to my activist roots as a teenager. Taking action outside my regular day-to-day life brought clarity and focus. Thinking and talking about solving problems isn’t nearly as meaningful as actually doing something directly to try to make a difference.

The day we swarmed in San Francisco, I was a drone. I went to each car caught in the blockade, waved to the driver and tried to engage them in a conversation. I tried to give them a flier. One flipped me off and a few ignored me and wouldn’t roll down their windows, but a surprising number spoke with me, took my flier and understood why I was there. A few even thanked me. I told trapped drivers that what we’ve been doing hasn’t been working and we need to increase the pressure by putting some sand into the gears.

Only a handful of people turned out for swarming — it was a sobering contrast to the thousands who turned out 3 days before for the Climate Strike and told me that most people aren’t ready for disruptive tactics yet.

People are stuck around the enormity of climate change because we feel like anything we try won’t be enough.

Maybe we should stop worrying about results so much. Perhaps we can re-focus on our feelings. It feels better to try rather than to curl up and repress our fear. We may have to trust that if we do what feels good, it might not be enough — it might not save us — but at least we can die feeling good and knowing that in the Sixth Extinction, we did something. We did everything we could do.

Or really, whatever works for you to get out and do something while you still can. If the 5 stages of grief make sense and you need to go through denial, anger, depression, bargaining, that’s fine but please hurry up. Al Gore’s movie came out in fucking 2006 so for at least that long it has been crystal clear that unless humans change most of our technology and systems, our society is doomed. How could it be that we are roughly at the same place we were 15 years ago?!?

This is a crisis of business as usual — doing things the way we’ve always done them so far will be deadly. Self-defense lies in disrupting and shutting down the system however and wherever possible.

Action in the streets, in the political realm — working on system change not climate change — is exhilarating. The best moments of my life have been in the middle of chaos and resistance — seizing Seattle through thick clouds of tear gas during the WTO 20 years ago or climbing on top of a semi-truck during Occupy Oakland’s port take-over.

Intense actions can be terrifying — I recall the first time I was arrested when I was 16 years old I was almost shaking — but even more confronting power and injustice is transformational. Once the cuffs go on, you’ll never be a spectator again.

Being in a direct action movement engages you with those around you. You never feel as close to other people as when you’re together occupying a building, seizing a street or evading a police line. Direct action involves a constant learning and training which we’re missing as we work repetitive jobs and live repetitive, predictable lives. So while there’s a lot to be lost to the climate emergency, might we regain lives that matter in the struggle to survive?

There is a purity in not compromising – not succumbing to what is realistic – but rather holding out for how things should be.

A general theory of disruption is to go after the most fragile and vulnerable points in the system where a small delay or obstruction by a small number of people can have large impacts. The system has numerous inviting choke points: pipelines, power lines, ports, railroads, airports — places where things have to operate just-so and minor problems can ripple outward.

So many people focus on why we can’t survive rather than how we can rise up against fossil fuel corporations and our own human sloppiness. Doom-fetishism amongst pampered people in the USA — “why do anything because we’re all fucked” — is the height of 1%-ish privilege because as climate change gets worse, the hardships will fall first and worst on the poorest people who are least responsible. Meanwhile the doomers living in the US will be protected by machine gun toting police while they eat the last food.

Climate crisis is not a movie with black and white outcomes — either we are doomed or we survive. Rather — while it is already too late to avoid mass species extinction and vast human suffering and displacement — getting to zero emissions faster will reduce future famines, floods and suffering. There’s no way to know if we’re already facing total social breakdown or if climate change will just make the current systems of injustice and oppression worse. Reducing emissions is harm reduction. If we know what is causing harm, we need to reduce the harm as much as we can, as fast as we can.

The reason I included the percentage breakdown of emissions sources in this article is because it makes sense to focus on the largest emissions sources first to avoid spending too much time on symbolic changes. 60% of US emissions are from transportation and electrical generation so those areas are top priorities. Air travel is just 3% of total US emissions. The number is growing fast — air travel has increased ten-fold in the last 50 years5 — but anti-flying campaigns alone won’t reduce emissions nearly as much as getting people to drive less or switch to electric cars.

Last year about 3 percent of the world’s population flew on a plane. Because most Americans routinely fly and think nothing of it, flying seems “normal”, but from a global and historical perspectively, flying is very unusual. Corporations offer air travel and many other fossil fuel intensive options, but we don’t have to buy what they are selling.

Nevertheless, we need to stop thinking we can just focus on fixing one thing or blaming corporations or big consumers or someone else. Shifting blame is taking up energy we need to use on actually changing stuff.

A big problem with the idea that we have to change everything is that the pace of capitalist / technology change is already overwhelming — we are tired of all this constant change — yet the only way out of this mess is even more and widespread change.

This is what makes me really pessimistic and filled with despair. People do what feels right and it is comfortable to cling to the things we’re used to. But doing so will surely kill us.

During the Climate Strike march in San Francisco marching with so many thousands, at certain moments I felt a surge of hope: “maybe we can all get together and do something.” But as soon as I left the crowd, I was back in a sea of car and business as usual.

What keeps me going is how lovely the world still is — and people with their complex consciousness and diverse cultures are a part of the loveliness even if we’re also like a cancer. We need to hold these contradictions in our hearts, avoid distraction and division, and focus on what we can do rather than what seems impossible.

 

SIDEBAR CHART

Emissions from Transportation:

Cars and light duty vehicles – 59%

Medium and heavy duty trucks – 23%

Airplanes 9%

Trains 2%

Ships and boats 3%

Other 4%

Endnotes:

1. www.scientificamerican.com/article/co2-emissions-reached-an-all-time-high-in-2018

2. www.ipcc.ch/report/ar4/wg1/

3. epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-green house-gas-emissions

4. irena.org/newsroom/pressreleases/2019/ May/ Falling-Renewable-Power-Costs-Open-Door-to-Greater-Climate-Ambition

5. data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.AIR.PSGR

By Michael Leung

In mid-September I met friends at Lok Fu metro station at 7:30 pm, and together with thousands of other people, we started a 495-metre (1624-foot) ascent up Lion Rock — a lion-shaped mountain that overlooks Hong Kong. Due to the narrow paths, some of which only allowed one person to enter at a time, for most of the evening we were queuing up chatting with new friends, shouting slogans, singing songs and wondering how much further we had to go. We arrived at the peak at 3 am, to an atmosphere of celebration, body odour and fatigue.

I rested somewhere on the Lion’s back and looked at the lasers beaming from those people on top of the Lion’s head. It brought me back to August 7 when an impromptu party was organized in response to off-duty police officers arresting a Student Union member for purchasing ten laser pointers a day before. Lasers have played a key part in the anti-extradition movement: identifying police and agitators, obscuring CCTV and police cameras, and for entertainment—often illuminating government buildings.

In February 2019 the Hong Kong government proposed amending the Extradition Bill to include China, Macau and Taiwan (at present it includes 20 countries). The murder of a Hong Kong pregnant woman named Poon Hiu-wing, by her boyfriend Chan Tong-kai in Taiwan, was used to justify the government’s proposed amendment (their “Trojan Horse”) because Hong Kong does not currently have extradition agreements with Taiwan.

The proposed bill amendment alarmed people in Hong Kong people because it allows extraditees to bypass public inspections by the Legislative Council (Hong Kong’s parliamentary chamber that questions the government). This could result in Hong Kong citizens facing unfair trials in China where unjust inprisonment and attacks on freedom of expression are common and enforced with structural violence under China’s authoritarian regime. Hong Kong — home to 7.4 million people — was as a British colony from 1841 until it was transferred to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1997. It maintains a separate government and economic system from the PRC under the Hong Kong Basic Law, which is supposed to permit a legal system, legislative system, and people’s rights and freedom for fifty years. The Basic Law is in stark contrast to the authoritarian surveillance state right next to Hong Kong in the PRC.

The Anti-Extradition Bill movement in Hong Kong began with demonstrations against the bill in March and turned into a continuing mass movement involving thousands of people in June As of September, calendars of upcoming protests arrive weekly via Telegram in Chinese and English.

This article shares some of my personal observations and thoughts from the past weeks on how artists and designers have engaged the movement. These interventions are shared chronologically to help communicate how the protests are evolving, in parallel to the increased police violence, government’s inaction and participation from triad gang members and spycops.

The third anti-extradition bill protest was on Sunday 9th June 2019 and saw over one million people march from Victoria Park to the government headquarters. In the following days it became obvious that the protests would take on a different form compared to the Umbrella Movement five years ago which was a static 79-day occupation in four locations. On 12th June protesters climbed tall road signs and reappropriated them as watchtowers, at times adding their own signage to communicate which roadblocks had police presence and required more protesters (要人, ‘need people’ in English).

In an online article, cartoonist and designer Jason Li documented memes and art featured on placards that adapted popular images from Marvel’s Avengers series, Game of Thrones and Godzilla. Metahaven’s 2013 book Can Jokes Bring Down Governments?: Memes, Design and Politics remains timeless, and is now visible in the placards distributed by illustrators Joanne and Ah Li (known as All Things Bright and Beautiful), and in the surprising reincarnation of American alt-right icon Pepe the Frog — who is no longer a racist mascot but now wears a yellow hardhat and is part of the anti-extradition bill resistance. Unfortunately the “heartbreaking irony” of Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom screened in 29 locations across Hong Kong may have fueled some nationalistic thought in the form of a new Hong Kong “national anthem” called Glory to Hong Kong, as well as street art that oddly incorporates the Celtic cross — a symbol reappropriated by Neo-Nazis.

Photojournalists documenting the protests have become more active on Instagram, especially one from Japan with the handle @kodama.jp. Kodama captures the protests using 35mm film with short descriptions. His beautiful and thought provoking photos remind me of Takashi Hamaguchi who photographed Sanrizuka, the Tokyo Narita Airport struggle in the 1960s and 70s. In a different part of Japan, graphic design duo ITWST showed their solidarity with Hong Kong and condemned police violence in their yellow and black poster, which was on display during the three-day Hong Kong International Airport demonstration (9-11th July 2019).

The anarchist monogram in the poster nods towards the multiple anarchist threads that exist and thrive within the anti-extradition bill movement: those abroad (Out of Control – Hong Kong’s Rebellious Movement and the Left by Ralf Ruckus), those in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Anarchists in the Resistance to the Extradition Bill on CrimethInc.) and those becoming.

Those becoming are the anonymous and determined protesters that we see in the media, who have been part of this leaderless and decentralised movement — always in black bloc and unaware/unfamiliar with anarchism. At each rally, bilingual insurrectionary graffiti appears on different surfaces. The graffiti also shows solidarity with other struggles such as the squats in Exarchia, and the anti-pipeline movement in North Dakota, where ‘Water is Life’ was spray painted on the roadside — intentionally merging both movements together (“Be Water” being the formless and flashmob strategy of the movement, inspired by martial artist and philosopher Bruce Lee).

The Hong Kong Artist Union, who advocate for artists’ rights and have over 300 members, organized a long list of cultural workers, artists and artist groups to strike on 12th June, the second day of the bill reading. The union later gathered artist objects and printed matter at an exhibition called Bicycle Thieves curated by Hanlu Zhang at Para Site, an independent art institution in Hong Kong (29th June to 1st September). One of the exhibits was a zine titled Documents of a Movementmade by 12 contributors that include artists, designers, teachers, craftspeople and cultural workers. The second zine is in progress and will include 17+ contributors, some of which travelled to Hong Kong to support the movement with small interventions, such as bringing supplies and decorating the streets. The zine will include anti-capitalist feminist perspectives that resonate with Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya and Nancy Fraser’s book Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto, further problematising the aforementioned “Trojan Horse,” taunts at police and their partners (predominantly towards policemen’s wives) and the 46+ reported cases of sexual violence towards protesters (41 against women and five against men).

Anti-extradition bill-related artworks could be seen simultaneously elsewhere. Alexander Wong’s Masters in Visual Arts graduation work titled Archive Extradition Bill, gathers videos from the 9th, 12th and 16th of June and places them into a digital sphere for the audience to navigate, watch and learn more about the movement. The work was part of the coincidentally named graduation show ‘Flow’ at the Hong Kong Baptist University (6-20th July 2019), which aligns with the strategy of the movement, “Be Water.” Being water for the past 14 weeks makes me recall the critiques towards the ‘feet-dragging’ zombie-like marches in the book Now by The Invisible Committee and the Theory of the Dérive by Guy Debord, where protesters are writing their own psychogeography and reclaiming (public) space all over Hong Kong — from sterile but welcoming shopping malls to Hong Kong’s only international airport, which surprisingly resulted in more than 160 flights being cancelled on 11th August 2019 (An Extinction Rebellion Hong Kong?).

Owing to the guerrilla and ephemeral nature of the protests, design objects such as “Buddhist barricades” blocking the Hong Kong Police Headquarters in Wan Chai and the interactive airport trolleys equipped with laptops and printed matter only exist in documentation — unless they manifest again in future protests. One unique and impromptu “design object” was the three-person slingshot, which involved two people holding a rubber cord whilst one person launched a projectile towards the government headquarters. Independent curator, writer and university lecturer Yeung Yang wrote in her open letter that, ‘We [artists] need to become not only protesting bodies, but also supple and sensuous ones: drawing, painting, dancing, moving, jumping, touching, laughing, whistling, dreaming, day-dreaming, questioning, thinking… All these that we have been doing enrich our capacities to rule ourselves better’ (Facebook, 14th June 2019). As the anti-extradition bill protests continue all over Hong Kong, I know that we will see more creative forms of resistance from those protesting bodies — learning, sharing and flowing towards a better future for Hong Kong.

Editor’s note: as Slingshot goes to press, police are using live rounds, rubber bullets, beanbags, water cannons and tear gas against protesters. When the Hong Kong government tried to ban masks on Oct 4, protesters instead turned out en mass wearing masks, which are not just for anonymity but also protection against tear gas.