Matt Huber: ”Instead of expecting climate mobilization to emerge from knowledge or experience of climate change, we should seek to orient climate action around the everyday material realities of the working class — the vast majority of society. Such an approach could build something the climate movement still lacks: a majoritarian political coalition with the power to confront fossil capital. While more and more surely are experiencing climate disasters, for most working people the primary obstacle to survival is the daily struggle to afford the basics of life like food, electricity, rent, and health care. … A working-class strategy would mobilize climate action on a decidedly positive platform of improving most people’s lives. And it is not as if these material needs are ‘distractions’ from the climate crisis. Food, housing, energy, and transport are the key sectors we need to decarbonize. … The Green New Deal represents a breakthrough in this respect — offering a climate program around public housing, a job guarantee, and, most recently, public power to, ‘establish electricity as a basic human right and public good.’ Still, for this strategy to work, you have to deliver these material gains in the name of climate action.”
27 July 2021