[Cja] [climate09-int] The Future of CJA ; dissolve or find a new course

[Olivier demarcellus]

Hello all,
First, I find it quite normal that CJA be a less dynamic network than 
before Copenhagen. Summits somewhere on the continent have always been 
more effective mobilisers than decentralised days of action. We love to 
swarm, its visible, empowering and fun. And automatically concentrates 
efforts and a feeling of urgency.

That said, ever since the days of PGA there has been a dialect between 
decentralised days of action and summit hops, in which the former - 
although infinitely less visible to the media - actually made possible 
the latter (if only because decentralised days of action in Seattle,  
Prague or Goteborg preceded summits there).

The problem with our decentralised days of action in the North is that 
we generally have precious little local strength and base. (Thus the 
Indians send half a dozen people to a summit and 50 000 to the local day 
of action, while we send maybe 20 and have a local demo with 200...) The 
most fundamental unmet challenge has always been to use international 
networking and mobilisation to build much stronger, broader social 
movements locally, here in the north.

 From that point of view, I think that the decision to call for a day of 
action on the 12th of october - stepping overtly away from the summit as 
to some degree an illusory political target -  is  new, bold and 
fundamentally correct.  It is the logical continuation of the 
spontaneous call for "peoples' assemblies" that came out of the one in 
Copenhagen. Saying: Hey, there isn't anyway we can make these States 
negotiate something correct. We have to build the local power to do it 
ourselves or be able to force the changes at a more local level. (So I 
basically agree with Mark, though he seems slightly daftly ambitious 
with the idea of organising soviets everywhere... That is our job sooner 
or later!)

How can a network like CJA help serve this purpose? For me, the 
*decentralised actions should be clearly aimed at building local power, 
attacking local issues, although of course making global connections.*

This rejoins more or less the line of thought on the global picture, 
that we started in a discussion  this summer with Tadzio and some 
friends, which I would resume thus: 
1)  With the economic crisis the capitalist  states  - in intense 
competition and betting on austerity - are going to pull back from any 
meaningful measures (see Copenhagen Accord or the US proposition of -4% 
CO2 for 2020!)
2) Cancun will thus be if anything an occasion to delegitimise their act 
(if they don't do it themselves).
3) And at least partially legitimise the Cochabamba propositions.
4) We can be in general agreement with these, but know that without 
support/pressure from popular movements both interrnally and 
internationally, the ALBA States will not be capable/willing to strike 
out in a really new direction (see all the neo-extractivism debate).
5) So its up to us to organise our local struggles, local evolutions or 
revolutions as part of a global one.
6) On the Climate Justice, global dimension, there was the idea of 
"twinning" local movements north and south. So as to be able to say, we 
don't just stop cars or whatever here, we exchange with, come to know 
and find material help for a particular climate movement in the South.

Call this commons building, peoples' assemblies, transition towns or 
whatever - it seems to me that nothing less will do. (Transition towns 
may look sort of comfortable petit-bourgeois, but they seem to get all 
sorts of people moving and talking. Maybe we should be acting in that 
sort of broad community sphere, instead of mostly only talking to 
ourselves or through the media? We might even learn how to be 
understood. And there is just no way that we are going to get the job 
done if we can't hugely broaden the base of people we are working with. 
Which doesn't mean that we have to abandon all radical talk or action.)

Anyhow, in Geneva, that is what we are trying to do (instead of hopping 
from Cochabamba to Amsterdam, as I would love to do): bring together the 
many often small groups working on degrowth, renewables and housing, 
eco-quarters, local agriculture, transport, etc. to launch a regional 
movement (Geneva and nearby France) to reduce CO2 by 40 % in 2020!

Hopefully, we will have something to show on the 12th of october!

Olivier

Mark Barrett wrote:
> Dear CJA
>  
> Unfortunately I shan't be able to make the international climate 
> meeting - which as I understand it is a CJA one? - this weekend in 
> Holland. Anyhow, in terms of future course, this is what I was going 
> to suggest there, if I had been able to afford the journey.
>  
> I would like to suggest CJA definitely does not dissolve (well, at 
> least, not in the sense intended) but rather takes full advantage of 
> its amazingly diverse international reach and radicalism. Definitely 
> we should stay together and we should develop itself strategically as 
> a global network, but I think we should widen our appeal while also 
> staying true to our radicalism. 
>  
> With this in mind I strongly believe we should be uniting under one 
> banner that goes beyond, but includes Climate Justice. The sanctity of 
> the environment requires a localisation of political economy, while at 
> the same time globalisation requires a grassroots movement for 
> democratisation / people power with which to transform the 
> increasingly hegemonic forces of state and capitalism. We should set 
> our sights there and put it into the environmental and wider context 
> in one move. 
>  
> Therefore we should accept that the seizure, or reclaimation of power 
> by the people in each and every neighbourhood, workplace and/or other 
> institutions across the world is, and always has been the aim of the 
> global justice movement, and we should therefore be brave, and 
> purposefully put ourselves as a group on the line with that express 
> medium to long term aim.
>  
> It may seem like an impossible task but what other alternative is 
> there, and what other network is remotely in a position to work toward 
> that? We may seem dispersed, but we will have allies (aswell as 
> enemies, and those who are unsure of what side to be on) in each and 
> every community - those believing in community, people power and 
> equality, aswell as environmental guardianship are everywhere and we 
> need to join the dots for people to see these are all of a piece.
>  
> So it may seem like an enormous and impossibly ambitious task, but 
> just by making it clear what we stand for, and getting started on it 
> we will be moving forward together and magical things will happen, 
> inshallah. 
>  
> Therefore, we should get our politics in order (see below for some 
> suggestions drafted by myself and colleagues in the UK below) and then 
> start organising at whatever scale we feel appropriate to our local 
> conditions (township, city, nation, local neighbourhood) Peoples 
> Assemblies (or whateve you want to call them, for want of a better 
> word, Soviets.. :-) ) and actually begin that process of collective 
> united struggle for the democratisation and ecologification of 
> globalisation. By communicating to each other our successes, failures, 
> needs and what we have to offer - via emails, video blogs, skype 
> conference calls, actual meetings we can then begin to build a genuine 
> solidarity, and really use this and othe international lists, and web 
> services to the amazing purpose to which they lend themselves...
>  
> These are extraordinary (and dangerous) times in which anything is 
> possible. Country-wide, worldwide, Europe wide, if we work 
> strategically and do not allow ourselves to dissipate we really can do 
> this now. If not now, when? If not us, who? 
>  
> Here in London and the UK some of us have been working on the idea of 
> uniting under the banner of Peoples Assemblies. After occupying 
> Parliament Square for 3 months as "Democracy Village" (with Peoples 
> Assemblies, discussions, decisions and direct actions takling place 
> every day) we were eventually evicted by the Mayor of London. Here a 
> lot of the energy was put into the campaign to get the troops out of 
> Afghanistan, but also the camp was an eco-village, and we were 
> consciously linked, and spoke about in the media, the International 
> community of climate justice activists and the call for PAs that had 
> come, albeit shakily from CJA. Since our eviction the authorities have 
> boarded up the whole of Parliament Square, but Democracy Village 
> Peoples Assembly has been meeting in Victoria Tower Gardens and we are 
> now planning a Democracy Rally and Peoples Assembly in Trafalgar 
> Square in October. We are also calling on the growing domestic 
> anti-cuts alliance to see the importance of decentralised organising 
> in communities, Peoples Assembly structures as both a way of helping 
> one another (and the environment) in the community, resistance to 
> state-capitalist solutions and building the new society all in one go.
>  
> Here are some of the thoughts on PAs, and the idea of Democracy 
> Village, including political ideology that have been put forward in 
> the UK. For an iconic symbol that can be recognised and replicated 
> (and also drawn upon according to local conditions) some people are 
> suggesting blank placards
>  
> A. http://www.aworldtowin.net/frontline/BuildPeoplesAssemblies.html
> B. Peoples Assemblies and the world we believe they can bring about
>  
> Values:
>  
> Equality - each person is able to speak and be listened to -  there is 
> no elite platform
> Difference - we learn from each other's perspectives; we may disagree, 
> but we listen to one another respectfully and our views become refined 
> through the experience 
> Solidarity - we are together because we believe in the existence of a 
> common agenda. In spite of our differences, we pursue and find 
> consensus over ideas and shared actions
> Sharing - we believe in a society in which sharing and co-operation 
> trump competition. We freely share food and other gifts at our meetings
> Secularity - we respect and are happy to learn from different belief 
> systems but are committed to the ideal of secularism
> Ecology - we believe in a new, really democratic society with a very 
> low/zero carbon footprint
> Self-determination - we struggle for a new kind of freedom based on 
> community nurturing true individuality, and vice versa - "It takes a 
> village to bring up a child"
>  
> Democratic Processes:
> (1) Peoples Assemblies make decisions horizontally
> (2) Peoples Assemblies are interested to learn about, try out and 
> embody new democratic practices
>  
> Core Aims:
> (1) Real Democracy - PAs should find ways to campaign for a really 
> ecological, democratic society at local, national and global levels
> (2) Decentralisation - to bring this about sovereignty should be 
> vested at the neighbourhood / community / workplace level
> (3) Internationalism - PA communities link up in solidarity and 
> support across the world
> (4) Ideals - we are interested to bring about a world based on a 
> Reclaimation of the Commons, Truth, Peace, Sustainability, Justice and 
> Compassion above all things and we are willing to fight non-violently 
> to this end
> (5) Peoples Assembly movement - to bring these aims about we are 
> calling for a movement based on the idea of Peoples Assemblies
>  
> Ideology:
> (1) local, democratic not private or state led provision of public 
> services (the real third way)
> (2) really democratic, people powered globalisation not capitalist or 
> state-led (the real third international)
> (3) a new appropriate political economy to match
> C. 
> http://gco2e.blogspot.com/2010/08/geoarchy-goal-of-peoples-assmeblies.html
> D. http://www.peopleincommon.org/archive/C421.html
>  
> Up the global revolution
>  
> Mark
>  
> On 24 August 2010 10:49, Peter / GroenFront! <peter at groenfront.nl 
> <mailto:peter at groenfront.nl>> wrote:
>
>     Dear friends, 
>
>     The next meeting op Climate Justice Action should, in my view ,
>     have just one agenda point. Dissolve the network of not. 
>
>     Climate Justice Action was formed to mobilise for Copenhagen. In
>     2009 it was a lively, planet wide network that was powerfull
>     enough to make a stand in the streets of Copenhagen. In all the
>     stress and rush to prepare for that event, we forgot to think
>     about the future of the network itself. As a result many people
>     dropped out after the Copenhagen summit. Discussions at the last
>     two meetings have focused on finding a cause to keep the network
>     alive. The standard recipe of global day of actions was brought
>     up.  But that's not enough to keep people motivated and keep the
>     network alive. 
>     The meeting in bonn only had 30 people, the next meeting in
>     Holland looks to be even smaller. Tasks taken up  in Bonn haven't
>     been done. 
>
>     Apperently the time and energy to keep the network alive isn't
>     there any more. Most likely because the network is missing a
>     concrete common goal. A battle to prepare for. 
>     I think it is time to face facts, and dissolve CJA as it is at
>     this moment. 
>
>     I would be good to keep the mailing list up, to make contacts
>     easier, or maybey organize a conference on Climate justice in
>     Europe. But to keep dragging the burden of an international
>     network would be a mistake. It will drain the time and energy
>     needed elsewhere, and give people the false hope that we are able
>     to mobilise large amounts of activist for future actions. 
>
>     I ofcourse hope to be mistaken, and see lot's of angry people at
>     the next meeting to oppose my proposal. If not come over to have a
>     drink at the campfire. I hope anyway to see you all on the
>     barricades , somewhere, sometime. 
>
>     Peter Polder  
>
>
>     -- 
>     skype:peterpolder
>     www.groenfront.nl <http://www.groenfront.nl/>
>
>
>
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> -- 
> "We hear men speaking for us of new laws strong and sweet /Yet is 
> there no man speaketh as we speak in the street.”
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