<
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/09/08/we-wasted-20-years-fighting-war-terror-instead-climate-change>
"The push for militarization has been used to shut down exactly the left-wing
political ideas that are vitally needed to curb the climate crisis. As I argued
in February 2020, U.S. wars have repeatedly been used to justify a crackdown on
left-wing movements. World War I saw passage of the Espionage Act, which was
used to crack down on anti-war protesters and radical labor organizers. The
Cold War was used as pretext for crackdowns on a whole host of domestic
movements, from communist to socialist to Black Freedom, alongside U.S. support
for vicious anti-communist massacres around the world. The War on Terror was no
different, used to justify passage of the PATRIOT Act, which was used to police
and surveil countless protesters, including environmentalists. The Global
Justice Movement was sounding the alarm about the climate crisis in the late
1990s, and was not only subjected to post‑9/11 government repression, but was
then forced to refocus on opposing George W. Bush's global war effort.
The War on Terror also makes it nearly impossible to attain the kinds of global
cooperation we need to address the climate crisis. It is difficult for
countries to focus on making the transformations needed to curb climate change
when they are focused on trying to survive U.S. bombings, invasions, meddling
and sanctions. And it's difficult to force the United States to reverse its
disproportionate climate harms when perpetual war and confrontation is the
primary American orientation toward much of the world, and the vast majority of
U.S. global cooperation is aimed at maintaining this footing."
Via
libramoon@pluspora.com.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
