Thread by @TruNoStroFree

The Climate Strike in Edmonton? It's good, folks.

Should I bust out of my irony-coated shell and elaborate? I will bust out of my irony-coated shell and elaborate.

(I should add that this post contains my observations from Edmonton. I can't speak for anywhere else.) (1/25)

Obviously, the broad scope of the protest means that there's only so much revolutionary potential one can wring out of it. Sure, there are communists, socialists and anarchists, but there's also demsocs, succdems and your run-of-the-mill liberals. (2/25)

While marching through downtown, I heard somebody thank a cop for "protecting us as we peacefully protested," which... I mean, I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but cops aren't your fucking friends. (3/25)

The settler status of the majority (I think?) of the marchers means that they must soon come to terms with the fact that "decolonization" isn't just a platitude. It means that Canada will no longer exist when all is said and done. (4/25)

And, uh, I suspect that'll be a real point of no return for some. Frankly, even most leftists groups are pretty awful with regards to decolonization. Hell, I'm no expert. For all I know, I'm pretty awful too. (5/25)

Leftists in settler-colonial nations must reckon with this, because it's the biggest contradiction there is when it comes to making revolution in settler-colonial hell world. (6/25)

And I have mixed feelings about the repeated calls for a Green New Deal.

Which is to say, I think the potential for meaningful reform without revolution in an settler-colonial and capitalist society like Canada is limited at best. (7/25)

That's not to say a GND wouldn't help (everything I've read suggests it probably will, at least a bit!), but there's only so much it can accomplish when it could be undone by whatever Lib or Con government that inevitably gets voted in.

The GND can't be the end goal. (8/25)

With that said, I'm not as anti-electoralist as some leftists. I don't think it's unreasonable to want to hold off on seeing the most vulnerable in our society die in the streets because of the neoliberal machinations of those who hold the reins of power. (9/25)

Even if it's basically glorified harm reduction, voting for the most left-wing party takes like five minutes and isn't harmful except on a philosophical level, at worst. So basically, I vote for the NDP whenever an election comes up, because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (10/25)

(Side note: None of this is to say that I fault anybody for not voting. After all, they've correctly identified that the electoral system is, as Mao said, "a fuck". But I still don't think that my position is indefensible) (11/25)

All this to say that there's too much of an emphasis on electoralism in the CS.

I have other relatively minor problems too. Like the person holding up the sign that essentially read "debate the skeptics, it'll work!" on one side, with lies about wind power on the other. (12/25)

The focus on Jason Kenney as opposed to capitalism and settler-colonialism also irked me. As much of a slime ball as he is, he's a microcosm of a much bigger problem. (13/25)

(I've also heard not-great things about one of the central groups behind the CS, but as I have not yet done my research, I will not comment at this time) (14/25)

I know this sounds harsh, and I don't wanna turn anybody off the movement. Far from it! But it's important that we always remain skeptical/critical of movements that don't really have a class basis. Because they're vulnerable to being co-opted by opportunistic liberals. (15/25)

(Speaking of shitlibs, if you go to CS protests and still stan for Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party, you can absolutely go fuck your own face.) (16/25)

Now for the good. This might not feel as long, because this already feels like a novella and I'm tired, but I do think this is overall a positive movement. At least here in Edmonton. (17/25)

If I heard correctly, around 4000 people attended the protest. Which doesn't sound like a lot when you compare it to the Montréal protest (500 000), but it sure as shit ain't bad when you remember that Alberta is literally a petro-state. So, baby steps (18/25)

I'm glad that the organizers weren't being civility police about blocking traffic and insisting that cops not be spoken to. On a philosophical level, I don't agree with their commitment to nonviolence, but I wasn't expecting us to blow up the Legislature, so whatever. (19/25)

I also like that there was a decidedly anti-capitalist tone to both some of the speakers and some of the protestors (even those who weren't from Fightback or either of the ML parties). To be fair, some of it was probably just memes, but it's better than nothing! (20/25)

Young people engaging in politics as the life-or-death thing it is (as opposed to treating it as some sort of game that they can safely detach themselves from) has to be a net positive, right? It's at least a major step in the right direction. (21/25)

It's especially good when you already see Liberal politicians trying to capitalize on the CS for political brownie points when they-

*Inhales*

BOUGHT A FUCKING PIPELINE (22/25)

https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1177703438869774341?s=20

So perhaps those that are truly serious about the protest can at least see the Liberals for what they are and cast their gaze (far) leftward

(Also, hearing a bunch of high schoolers scream "compost the rich" is fun and fills me with something resembling optimism. Sue me) (23/25)

Lastly (because I have soul-crushingly redundant homework to get to), I hope I don't sound like some corny settler when I say this, but it was really encouraging to see that most of the people (by my count at least) at the forefront of the movement were indigenous. (24/25)

I heard a really solid critique of the CS from a black MLM YouTuber that I follow where he criticized the fact that these movements were entered around a white "eco-celebrity" (to use a bad, reductive term) like Greta Thunberg. (25/25)

As great as Greta is, she doesn't seem to talk very much about the BIPOC who are going to be, and have been affected by climate change long before someone like Greta will.

If anybody can prove me wrong on that front, awesome! I'd be glad to hear it! But that's my impression.

So it was really cool and good to see the discussion of climate change centred around indigenous issues, with many indigenous people and immigrants speaking, as opposed to a relatively small amount of white settlers.

Because at the end of the day, I think it's important that they take over leadership roles, even at the expense of somebody as dope as Greta Thunberg. They've been dealing with this shit for years already, so it's time to fucking listen to them.

(Now that I think of it, I should probably clarify that I'm not indigenous. My mom is a white settler and my dad is a Salvadoran mestizo refugee. So I'm definitely gonna have some blind spots, and if anybody wants to correct me on anything, feel free to do so.)

I wanna re-emphasize that this is my amateur analysis of my experience at one protest in a very big country. For all I know, all the positives that I saw were invisible in Vancouver or Montréal or whatever.

Frankly, the fact that CS organizers in Montréal let Trudeau march with them without tearing him to fucking shreds is pretty damning.

Hell, maybe somebody has a compelling point to make that the Edmonton protest was liberal trash. And I wanna hear that point!

But when a protest kicks off on a decidedly liberal campus with a self-described queer indigenous woman passionately calling on the crowd to refuse to let this be a one-time vanity project and declaring a class war on KKKanada, I can't help feeling a little optimistic.

Also, it was fucking cold, and that sucked ass.

I hope that whole mess was coherent and non-patronizing.

I'm gonna go back to mediocre despairposting now. That's relatively easy.