Thread by @aldatweets

I have 2 essays about #ecoapartheid in Brazil this week. 1st is about Bolsonaro’s menace to Amazon (& most Brazilians), esp the insidious threat of low-carbon #ecoapartheid, where fumbling climate progress and racial violence go together dissentmagazine.org/online_article… Thread 1/

Then there’s this piece about São Paulo’s historic drought, which could return. I push back against the optimism that lots of progressives have that climate disasters will solve their problems by teaching ppl a lesson. Don't believe it ijurr.org/spotlight-on-o… 2/

Really excited that this water piece is in a @ijurrresearch "Parched Cities" collection, also feat. the brilliant @liquidperson, @maliniranga, @suraya_scheba, @nate_millington, Megan Peloso, @disrumpere, Leila M. Harris. Edited by @lizaweinstein ijurr.org/spotlight-on-o… 3/

Less excited that São Paulo Cantareira reservoir has less water now than it had this time in 2013, before its epic drought; and that national politics are even more fucked now than they were then (which was already pretty fucked)
nivelaguasaopaulo.com 4/

Also not so excited that Bolsonaro is intent on burning the Amazon, and that I’m arguing that to save it, a big part of strategy is old school consumer boycotts and shaming of fancy agribusiness, even tho this will probably be really important and make a difference 5/

For me, #ecoapartheid a crucial concept bc it de-centers an unrealistic, distant, abstract, universal apocalypse that kills everything—and conveniently avoids worrying about capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism, etc - hi, white climate doomism! 6/

(We are not doomed! Fierce, egalitarian, and feminist political choices can decarbonize the economy fast enough, and ruggedize our world enough, for most ppl to live well in a better world in the 21st century thenation.com/article/mainst…)

#ecoapartheid obviously names the ways that state-sponsored violence and racialization combine to enforce brutal inequalities in who has access to environmental harms, and who gets the benefits of greening 8/

A more insidious #ecoapartheid *also* describes the way that a climate-friendly transition can yoke the costs of change onto poor and racialized people, enforced by violence (from dissentmagazine.org/online_article…) 9/


In my essay on water crisis, I argue that—insidious, again—#eco-apartheid doesn’t result from some nefarious conspiracy, but elites fighting hard to maintain their privileges in short term, in context of increasing eco crisis (fr ijurr.org/spotlight-on-o…) 10/

#ecoapartheid doesn’t just police color lines and class lines. Most important, it polices a (racialized) division between rival *political projects*—project to maintain current privileges, vs a democratic ecologies project to attack inequality and climate change at same time 11/

Democratic ecologies a clumsy term. #ecosocialism more exciting. I like democratic ecologies because nicely names unsexy process of slowly building trust in a new coalition of environmentalists & indigenous, econ, racial, gender, social justice movements 12/

We have to act fast, and build slowly at same time. 🤷🏻‍♂️ / 💪🌱🌹 That’s why winning is hard. Also, left projects usually only win when elites are divided. Rn they are deeply divided. My @dissentmag essay on Bolsonaro talks about this a lot 13/

We can beat #ecoapartheid. I think we will beat it. Yes, it’s the shitty road we’re on. But most people want something better. We are many, and we have the best dreams. Knowing we’re not fighting against an apocalypse in many years, but #ecoapartheid right now, might help 14/

Knowing that #ecoapartheid is global might even make it easier to see how closely struggles in North America, Brazil, and all over the world are connected 15/

Last thing; all thought has infinite sources. But my thinking on #ecoapartheid in built environment, as a term, esp inspired by @antwiakom and Melissa Checker, and (w slightly different terminology) @maliniranga. 🙏🏼. /fin