Anger Into Action - The Election Autopsy

Parliamentary politics has failed us. Dishonest, deceiving, morally bankrupt political leaders have failed us. A billionaire-backed, biased media has failed us. With the election of Boris Johnson, the furthest right wing of the establishment has been empowered. The country has become more divided. The country has become less kind.

I have always taken pride in calling myself British. I thought that it was positive that whereas previous generations of my family were quick to refer to themselves as English, I myself felt part of a larger, more inclusive community. I, perhaps naively, dreamed that one day my kids, or my kids’ kids, would call themselves European before British. The last three years of discourse in this country have made it abundantly clear that that will not be the case. A view of the voting maps from this election shows that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are tearing away from the majority of English voters.

Perhaps another Scottish independence referendum is now on the horizon. A hard Brexit in January now looks more likely than ever and should that happen the economic and political turmoil that will be felt in Northern Ireland is yet to be fully understood. A dormant political rupture is likely to spark back to life as those in Northern Ireland are torn between their British nationality and their European identity.

Maybe after the next five years the British identity will not be what I think it is today. In a union that is currently anything but united, I may not be able to call myself British in a meaningful way. The fractured politics of this island have not gone away with Johnson’s victory.

This is not about left or right. This is not about leave or remain, or old and young, or urban and rural. There were Tory members that stood against the lies and deceit that Johnson has peddled. There were Labour members that voiced a preference for Johnson over their own party leader. There were voters who saw Johnson as the lesser of two evils, there were those who saw no good choice for any of us, and there were those who fell for the lies. There were others who saw the lies and voted anyway. There were those that wanted this. This about standing up to them. This is about right and wrong.

In my lifetime, parliamentary politics has never represented me. I was too young to remember the meteoric rise of Tony Blair’s New Labour, and their betrayal of the platform they ran on. But I grew up in a world overshadowed by an illegal war that killed 500,000 Iraqi civilians, 179 British soldiers, and that continues to have far-reaching consequences in the collapse of Iraq and ISIS-inspired attacks across Europe. In 2010, I was too young to vote. I did, however, listen closely to the Liberal Democrats’ promises of scrapped tuition fees and a strong commitment to Europe. In 2012, at 18 years old, I joined the first cohort of university students hit with a £9,000 fee and watched the Lib Dems back a Tory government intent on scapegoating the EU as a cause of their own failings. I voted Remain in the referendum, and I lost. I voted Labour in 2017, and again yesterday. Again, I lost. The figures would suggest that my entire generation lost.

But we were not voting for a party yesterday. We were voting for an opportunity. An opportunity to show that alternatives to the current state of affairs were possible. I don’t, and never did, believe that Jeremy Corbyn had all the answers. In fact, there was much about the current Labour movement that felt very problematic. But I do firmly believe that it would have been a better option than putting the racist, classist, Islamophobic, misogynistic, homophobic, climate-denying, self-interested, deadbeat father with very suspect links to foreign actors in charge.

Boris Johnson stands against everything I believe in. I do not extend that feeling to his party; I believe that many Conservative voters and members want the same things I do, even if their approach to achieving them is different. That is fine. The capacity to debate the solutions to problems is key in any democracy. But with the cynical, deliberately fraudulent campaign run by Johnson and his media team, seemingly lifted unedited from the Donald Trump playbook, the current Tory leadership has demonstrated its contempt for the public on all sides of the political spectrum.

Like the Liberal Democrat betrayal in 2010, like the New Labour betrayal in 2003, like every political administration that I have lived through, the establishment of 2019 has demonstrated it will do what needs to be done to keep its stranglehold on the power of this country just firm enough to keep us quiet. It has no place for us in its plan.

Voting is one opportunity for the public to exercise their rights. It is a fundamental right and one that we must use whenever we are given the chance. But it is only one opportunity.

To those who voted yesterday in the hopes of making a difference to the lives of the most vulnerable, to those who feel that that possibility is now gone, now is the time to prove that the personal is political. Now is the time to show what kindness, togetherness, solidarity really is. Now is the time to live in a way that makes the world a better place.

Continue to expose the lies of the elite. Protest every policy that will make our lives harder. Fight for every inch of ground for those who do not have a voice. Fight for the homeless, fight for the families on food stamps, fight for the immigrants who remain in limbo, fight for those poorer, more vulnerable, and more in-need than yourselves. Fight for what is right.

Volunteer for local organisations that make a difference in your community. Reach out to friends, neighbours, community members. Show solidarity with disadvantaged groups. Join the chorus of voices calling for real change to tackle climate catastrophe. Stand up and be counted when others’ rights are threatened, because we are all that we have. Challenge those that want to divide us. Show what it means to be open-minded, be welcoming, be kind.

I want to live in a society where people of different religions, ethnicities, sexualities, classes, and genders can all feel welcome. I want to live in a society that does not define itself by what it is in opposition to, but by what it believes in. I want to live in a society that values its local communities, and still faces outwards to embrace the big wide world. I want to live in a society I can feel proud of. No political party can do that for me.

When the outside seems to get uglier every day, make your inside beautiful.

It’s the only thing we can do.

I want to be proud to be British again. Together, we can make that possible.

The London Bridge Attack - Everyday Heroes in Times of Crisis

The 29^th November 2019 marked another tragedy for the city of London, as terrorist Usman Khan stabbed five people and killed Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones, before being killed himself by police. By all accounts, both Jack and Saskia were kind and vibrant young people, dedicated to supporting rehabilitation of violent offenders and fiercely defiant in their beliefs of the inherent virtue of humanity.

What happened to them has led some to question that virtue, and it is certainly a horrific and unspeakable crime that was committed against them. But to write this off as another terrible day in a world that seems to be getting worse by the hour (if you were to believe your Twitter feed), ignores a significant part of the story.

To match Jack and Saskia’s generosity of spirit, when Khan attacked he was disarmed and held down by several brave members of the public, at great risk to their own lives. Some were also staff at the rehabilitation centre, sharing Jack and Saskia’s passion for the betterment of the human condition. Others, such as James Ford, were ex-offenders themselves, who stood up and took action when they knew it was the right thing to do. If they hadn’t acted when they did, who knows how much more damage Khan could have done?

And they are not alone. From spontaneous volunteers who delayed their own escape to support others in the aftermath of the Manchester bombing, to Paul Dadge, who helped to coordinate response efforts in London following the 7/7 bombings, to those who helped their neighbours escape the recent wildfires in California, people have repeatedly put themselves on the line to protect others at great risk to themselves.

Why do we do this?

I was fortunate to hear a presentation from Dr Chris Cocking at the International Disaster Response Expo on the 4^th December, who discussed this phenomenon of spontaneous volunteerism and everyday heroism in crises in detail. He calls those that act to support others in these situations “zero responders”, in reference to the fact that they are active on a scene before the emergency services, or first-responders, arrive.

Dr Cocking, and collaborator Dr John Drury at the University of Sussex, have done significant work in the area of crowd response to disasters, and the psychological evidence for how people act in times of crisis is more positive than you might think. The fallacy of “mass panic” suggests that crowds respond chaotically and in a self-interested way in response to traumatic events. In reality, more often than not, bystanders and victims of terror attacks or disasters respond collectively, often remaining in danger themselves in order to support others.

It is very easy to look at the events of the 29^th November and to fall victim to the divisive politics that such acts are designed to elicit. When all we see are terror attacks, gang violence, and seemingly senseless criminal activity on our TV screens and phones, we can be forgiven for thinking that the default human condition is one of violence and destruction. But what Jack Merritt, Saskia Jones, and Paul Dadge demonstrate to us is that this is not the case. Humans are capable of almost unimaginable acts of horror, but that does not define who we are. As Jack and Saskia so firmly believed, even those that have done bad in the past have the potential to do good in the future. James Ford, the convicted murderer who helped to stop Usman Khan from harming more people on London Bridge, might just be a manifestation of that belief.

Jack Merritt’s father said after his son’s death that Jack believed fundamentally in the goodness of the human spirit. So should we all. Acts of terror are designed to divide us, to scare us, and to make us think that there is nothing we can do to prevent tragedy from befalling us. But for every misguided terror advocate there are many more ordinary people who simply want to help.

I have no doubt that whilst those members of the public were fighting off Usman Khan, there were many more helpers tending to the wounded in the fish market, supporting those who were distressed, calling the emergency services and keeping others informed of the area where the danger was. For every Usman Khan, there is a Lukasz Koczocik, a Stevie Hurst, or a Thomas Gray. For every hate preacher spouting an ideology of division and death there is a Jack Merritt or Saskia Jones. For every unspeakable act of horror, there are a dozen quiet, unspoken and unrecognised acts of kindness.

As more details unfold regarding the events and people involved in this shocking attack, we should consider what this means for all of us. Are we agents of violence and anger, fuelled by hatred rather than by reality, or are we believers in the strength of humans to achieve the greater good?

Like James Ford, do we have the capacity to be both?

Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones believed that he, a violent convicted murderer, could become more than that. For a few short minutes in the context of chaos in the Fishmonger’s Hall at London Bridge, he was. Does that absolve him of his crimes? Absolutely not. Does that mean that he was any less of a hero in that particular instant than the other members of the public who threw themselves into harms way? I don’t know. But I do know that it complicates what we mean when we call someone a hero. It leaves us with uncomfortable questions about the very nature of humankind. It leaves us no closer to an answer as to what we are or why we do what we do, but I believe that Jack and Saskia were carving out an answer in their actions and with their words. It is up to us to follow their path.

In a world that feels increasingly hostile and dangerous, we should take a step back and think about what we really believe in. We must examine why people can be driven to commit such abhorrent acts of violence against those that do not deserve it. But we must also acknowledge that in the worst of times, occasionally we can catch a glimpse of the very best of us.

When there is a tendency to fear and distrust those that we do not know or whose culture we do not understand, we must push back against that with all our might. When it feels as though there is nothing that can be done to help in a scary and desperate situation, we must try to do something anyway. Social psychology tells us that most of us will.

In a world that fixates on anger and violence, we must be kind. And we must aggressively, unapologetically, believe in the kindness of others.

The Ticking Time-Bomb In Europe

Earlier this month, France’s Emmanuel Macron warned of a “ticking time-bomb” in Europe. Referring to Bosnia-Herzegovina, he stated that the country was the greatest threat to Europe in the Balkans, due to the “problem of returning Jihadists” from Syria and Iraq. Following France’s successful blockage of negotiations for North Macedonia and Albania to start the EU accession process, Macron intimated that in fact it was not these countries – both with large Muslim populations – that posed a threat to the Union, but Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In the wake of political uproar in Britain and France over their own returning Jihadist populations – most notably the furore over the potential return of British school-girl Shamima Begum and calls from the families of French Jihadists to allow safe return for their family members as Bashar Al-Assad began to retake land across Syria – it seems strange for Macron to focus his attention on the small Balkan state. Certainly, as Muhamed Jusic, a spokesman for Bosnia’s Muslim community, stated in response to Macron “Some 300 Bosnian citizens, most of them women and children, went to the battlefields in Syria and Iraq compared to over 1,900 French”. It was reported in 2015 that France held the dubious title of being Europe’s largest exporter of jihadists. Again, with home-grown Syrian networks being linked to the Paris attacks, the threat of returning fighters to France seems much greater than the threat of returning fighters in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which despite ongoing ethnic tension has suffered very few terror attacks and in fact had seemingly managed to stem the tide of fighters travelling to and from Syria by 2016. (NB: I should also note here that the figures quoted are of French and Bosnian citizens who have gone to fight in Syria – these are not the figures for those fighters working with ISIS, Al Qaeda, or other fundamentalist radical groups – which could be much smaller).

The comparatively low number of Bosnian fighters compared with French does not detract from the overall point that Macron was trying to make with his comments. In reality, this statement was not really about returning fighters at all. There may be more Syrian fighters born in France and the UK than in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but BiH is a majority-Muslim country. And, as Macron has made clear with his blockage of North Macedonian and Albanian accession to the EU, countries with a prevalent Muslim identity are not to be considered part of Europe. Fortress Europe has spent a lot of money and sacrificed a lot of lives to make sure that refugees and migrants, many of them Muslim, are not allowed entry. South-Eastern European countries that share a belief system that differs from the Central and Western European norm have been extended the same courtesy.

These two policies have recently come to a head in a perfect storm of human suffering in Bosnia-Herzegovina. As refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa make their way towards the supposed safety of Europe they have found themselves trapped in camps in the rural north of Bosnia. Unable to enter Croatia (a predominantly Christian country, sharing “European values” and welcomed into the EU in 2013), the migrants meet the end of their journey in overcrowded, underserviced camps, desperately unprepared for winter and surrounded by landmines (an uncomfortable reminder of the two-decade old violence of BiH, in which the Muslim Bosniak population suffered genocide at the hands of Serb ethno-nationalist Ratko Mladic). With much less press coverage than the equally inhumane camps in Lesbos, aid agencies struggle to provide for the growing population of transitory migrants in a country already stretched to the limit to reach the needs of its own people.  

As Macron’s government struggles with how to define it’s own relationship with Islam – suffering a wave of home-grown terrorist attacks, banning the burqa (and later the “burkini”), then warning against stigmatising Islam or equating the religion with terrorism, and most recently turning its attention to Bosnia-Herzegovina as a threat to European peace and stability – BiH has quietly gone about repairing community ties between its Bosniak Muslim community and their former aggressors, following the worst incidence of ethno-nationalist violence in Europe since the end of World War Two. As France, and Europe more widely, struggles with questions of national identity, Bosnia-Herzegovina serves as a living, breathing, pilot project for peaceful co-existence in the aftermath of unimaginable violence.

If Macron was truly concerned about the threat of returning Jihadists, he would focus his attention on the much larger number of western European fighters who are currently fleeing Syria as the tyrant Bashar al-Assad reasserts his authority. If he truly was concerned about radicalisation in Bosnia-Herzegovina itself, he would do much more to alleviate the poverty and disenfranchisement still felt by many rural populations across the country. He would also encourage other EU states to support the refugees currently stranded in inhumane conditions as the bitter Balkan winter rolls in. He would stop the dangerous rhetoric and take action to improve the quality of life of groups that are scared, angry, and looking for a support network. He would open his arms, not close his mind.

Macron is unfortunately not alone in this dangerous misrepresentation of the realities of life in the furthest corners of Europe. Tribalism and Islamaphobia are driving ever-deepening divisions not just in France, but in the UK and the rest of the continent. Bosnia-Herzegovina is a country that knows all too well the dangers of letting the rhetoric of division spiral out of control. To be targeted by one of the key players in Europe because they do not fit the mould of what a European country “should be” must feel like several steps in the wrong direction.

Words matter, and framing a country still healing from bloody conflict as a threat, especially when the targeted population were the victims of a brutal genocide, is more than a throw-away comment.

Bosnia-Herzegovina continues its rocky journey towards sustainable peace, in extremely difficult circumstances and struggling with a new crop of refugees and migrants fleeing violence that mirrors the recent memories of many ordinary Bosnians. As it looks to the beacon of the European Union for support, it finds itself alone and in the cold.

The misplaced fears of Macron are symptomatic of a Europe obsessed with protecting its borders at a time of deep re-evaluation of its own identity. The threat of terror attacks and hate crimes in the western European states remains high, and fear abounds in both migrant and local populations. Politicians have for too long scapegoated “otherness” as a threat to national interests, and for many, turning people against each other has proven a successful tactic to gain and hold power. When we fear outsider groups, we fail to turn our attention to those in power who can cause us real harm. But the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina could already have told us that, if we had listened and learned from their story.

And still we refuse to listen.

Instead of the hoped-for support of an inclusive international community in Europe, the ticking time-bomb of reactionary ethno-nationalism continues to spread across the continent.

The UK General Election 2019 - Britain Does Deserve Better

Despite overwhelming political fatigue in the UK, the arrival of (yet another) general election means that we must once again consider our choices and head to the polls. This is perhaps the most important election of our recent history. But we must not view this as simply the "Brexit Election". The stakes are far higher than that.

The Tories have already warmed up their campaign with the “Get Brexit Done” mantra that seems to garner public support for a quick and clean exit from the European Union that can allow us to get back to business-as-usual. Frankly, three years on from the referendum I think most of us would accept any kind of Brexit resolution provided it meant we never had to hear about it again.

Unfortunately, the “Get Brexit Done” mentality is based on a lie. No matter what Boris Johnson’s eventual exit might look like, leaving is only the first step. The following excerpt from a Times report says it best: “Before us stretch long months of detailed and tortuous negotiations on our future trade relationship with the EU. Many simply do not realise this next chapter exists.” Our future relationship with the EU is not defined by a simple leave/remain, deal/no deal dichotomy, and it is naïve of us as a nation to have ever assumed any different. Whether we like it or not, any form of Brexit will continue to affect every aspect of political life in the UK for a long time coming.

As with many of Johnson’s pithy assertions, there is no evidence behind the claim that we can clap our hands together, say the magic word, and “get Brexit done”. As we all turn away from the news reports of yet more complicated, boring, and increasingly absurd political theatre, it is worth remembering that this massive blight on our national consciousness was caused largely by the same party that are now desperately trying to sweep its consequences under the rug. Prior to 2016, British attitudes towards the EU were decidedly muted, with few people seeing EU membership as one of the most important issues facing our country. Following David Cameron’s sabre rattling, and the meteoric rise of Nigel Farage and (you’ve guessed it) Boris Johnson, suddenly the whole country was frothing at the mouth fighting over that elusive £350 million a week that we were promised would go to the NHS (and then promptly told it wouldn’t).

What began as a sideshow to distract from the catastrophic impact of austerity on the UK quickly turned into a nationwide melt-down, and eventually into a farce that will damage our global reputation for decades to come. But the causes of the referendum, and arguably some of the attitudes that influenced its outcome, are far more important to be aware of than the results of the Brexit talks themselves. To demonstrate how we got to a point where our country is ready to tear itself apart, we should consider some of the following statistics that define the last 9 years of Tory leadership:

• The use of food banks has reached an all-time high, more than doubling since 2013.
• The number of children in ‘relative poverty’ has risen by 600,000 since 2012 (following the Welfare Reform Act, marking one of the high points of Cameron’s austerity manoeuvres).
• About 60% of those in poverty are in fact also working, with nearly 3 million children of working parents being classified as such.
• The average number of homeless people in England on any given night has risen from 120,000 in 2010 to 153,000 in 2017, with a 165% increase in rough sleeping and a 260% increase in those with unsuitable temporary accommodation in the same period.
• Growth in annual NHS expenditure has dropped from a post-1950 average of 4% to just 0.5% per year since 2010, at the same time that drastic cuts to social services have increased strain on the service.
• The poorest tenth of the UK population are by far the hardest hit by austerity measures, seeing a 38 per cent decrease in their net income over the period 2010-15. As a result, the UK remains the 6^th most unequal country in Europe, with the average household wealth of the richest Britons reaching 315 times that of the poorest.
• Recorded police reports of hate crime have risen 123% since 2007/8 (and while this data may be partially explained by a change of recording procedures, the fact that these figures align with a self-reported increase of racial prejudice within the UK suggests an altogether less welcoming environment for minority groups in the country).
• Despite almost a decade of austerity, the UK national debt remains as high as it was in 2008 (and a no deal Brexit looks set to send the national debt to the highest its been in half a century).

The reality of austerity-driven Britain is, as summed up by UN Special Rapporteur on Poverty Philip Alston, one where the public’s social safety net has been "deliberately removed and replaced with a harsh and uncaring ethos". Add to this the finding that Brexit itself is estimated to have cost the UK £66 billion so far, and that one of Brexit’s most ardent supporters, and our current Prime Minister, is plagued by claims that his financial backers stand to make money from a no-deal Brexit, and the reality of the chaos of the last nine years is suddenly much easier to understand.

Boris Johnson does not care about you or me. Neither does his party. The “strong and stable” Conservatives have systematically gutted the services of this country since day one. When public opinion began to turn against these divisive policies, they turned to scapegoating the “Eurocrats” of Brussels as the villains rather than face up to their own actions. When the public called David Cameron’s bluff and voted to leave the EU, the country imploded. £66 billion, three Prime Ministers, chaos in Parliament, and a whole load of international embarrassment later here we stand, with another election in just a few weeks’ time.

This election will decide who will govern the UK for the next five years. Those five years are of utmost importance to our national development and security. Of particular importance is the fact that those five years will take up half of the time that the IPCC says we have left to make drastic change to our environmental activities in order to halt climate change below 1.5C of warming, which would avert the most dramatic effects of the climate crisis. That’s important, because having the wrong government in place over that period will drastically reduce our chances of doing what needs to be done to avert global catastrophe. Boris Johnson has almost always voted against measures that reduce climate change (and incidentally has also voted regularly against bills that would promote human rights and equality, and appears decidedly ambivalent on reducing tax avoidance). The Conservatives at large have also announced no new funding for renewable energy projects until at least the mid-2020s, and cut solar subsidies whilst continuing to push for new fracking projects. This is not the leadership we need to take us into the decade of climate do-or-die.

A decade of Tory leadership has left us poorer, more divided, with access to fewer services, and sick to death of hearing any more about politics. We cannot afford to let this continue.

Over the last nine years, the Tories have presided over a country in catastrophic freefall. They have time and time again demonstrated that they are incapable of, or unwilling to, govern in a way that puts the needs of the British population first. If we’re being kind, this is incompetence on a scale that goes largely unmatched in British history. If we consider the worst, it is a callousness and indifference to the lived experience of British citizens that is unforgivable. You are about to hear a whole lot more bluster and bullshit from our lying, morally bankrupt, self-interested Prime Minister. As we go to the polls this Christmas time, remember the seemingly unironic and uncharacteristically honest campaign slogan chosen by the incumbent party who got us into this mess:

“Britain deserves better”.

Register to vote and make you voice heard on December 12^th. Clearly, I’m biased here, but do your research, find the party and local candidate that most closely aligns with your views, and make your voice heard. It’s more important now than ever.

The Cost of Doing Nothing - An Urgent Call for a Better World

According to the recently published Cost of Doing Nothing report from IFRC, the approximately 108 million people worldwide requiring humanitarian assistance as a result of climate-related hazards annually could rise to 200 million by 2050, assuming there is no global drive towards climate adaptation. This would take the annual humanitarian cost of disasters – not including long-term recovery or private sector impact – to $20 billion. As the latest ALNAP State of the Humanitarian System report demonstrates, current record levels of investment in the humanitarian sector are still outmatched by unprecedented levels of global need. The humanitarian system is already stretched far beyond its limits, and further investment in response and recovery activity will be outstripped by the exponentially rising cost of damages as a result of a more unpredictable climate.

More frequent and more extreme storms, droughts, wildfires, and increasing water scarcity will lead to unprecedented levels of human displacement and suffering.

The cost of doing nothing to tackle climate risk is simply too high.

But this is not to say that there is no hope. Rather, IFRC’s report is a call for more sensible action in response to the climate crisis. Focusing on recovery is inherently a reactionary activity. And, as Hurricane Dorian has most recently demonstrated in the Bahamas, when nature gets to land the first punch, it hits hard. We cannot afford to stand back and allow our most vulnerable populations to be beaten and brutalised by the increasingly frequent mega storms devastating coastal communities on all corners of the globe.

The good news is, we do not have to stand back and wait for the next big one. IFRC estimates that for each $1 spent in prevention and mitigation activities, $4 are saved in the recovery process. For 25% of the cost, you can also dramatically reduce loss of life and protect livelihoods, enabling a faster economic recovery post-disaster.

There are two forms of preparatory activity for climate-related disasters: mitigation and adaptation.

Mitigation activities involve reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and slowing environmental degradation, in attempts to limit humanity’s impact on the planet. Movements such as the global climate strikes, extinction rebellion, and UN-led awareness movements such as the recent IPCC reports that gave us 12 years to avoid climate catastrophe, focus on mitigation efforts. Cutting the use of fossil fuels, preventing deforestation, limiting the use of harmful substances such as unrecyclable plastics, and lowering meat consumption are all fundamentally important mitigation activities that can serve to slow climate change and limit the impact of rising temperatures, which are largely responsible for the increasingly precarious climate conditions.

However, even if we completely eradicated greenhouse gas emissions and stopped our planet-changing activity tomorrow, the world would continue to warm. The carbon already in the atmosphere acts as a warming blanket over the Earth, and will continue to do so for decades to come. Several climate research organisations have therefore claimed that at least 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming is now locked in, and whilst there is debate around this, the consensus is that additional warming will occur. And we can expect more storms, more droughts, and more extreme temperatures to accompany that.

It is therefore necessary that we not just engage in mitigation activities, but also focus on climate adaptation. As the IFRC Cost of Doing Nothing report demonstrates, we will be unable to cope globally with the new climate reality by 2050 if we do not start to adapt our infrastructure, livelihoods, and homes now. Resilience must become a much greater focus of all of our lives. Weather will become more unpredictable and more severe. Businesses, communities, and countries will find themselves disrupted more often, and having to deal with greater consequences of climate-related hazards. The Global Commission on Adaptation argues that adapting to the new global climate requires a revolution on three fronts: a revolution of understanding, by educating and training all members of society to identify risks and to prepare against them; a revolution in planning, to better prepare for disasters, to design infrastructure and cities in ways that make them resilient, and to put response action plans in place long before they are necessary; and a revolution in finance, to mobilise the resources necessary to achieve this before it is too late.

This means that the time for climate scientists, national governments, and environmental activists to argue these points and to make small changes to policy is over. This means we all must do what we can to increase our resilience, within our homes, within our communities,  within our countries and across the globe. This requires me, you, and everyone we know to start paying attention.

But, and this is important to stress, this is not simply a dire warning of a future that sees us at the mercy of an angry and out-of-control Mother Nature.

Indeed, the adaptations and mitigation efforts that are required to protect vulnerable communities from climate-related hazards are not just good, humanitarian interventions. They also represent a unique opportunity for urban growth globally. As Urban Transitions highlight in their new report Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity, “A transition to zero-carbon cities offers an immense opportunity to secure national economic prosperity and improve quality of life while tackling the existential threat posed by climate change” (p22).

A more climate-resilient world requires that we build better, more sustainable infrastructure in all countries. It requires that we enhance our disaster response and recovery plans, to ensure that the humanitarian sector can achieve as much as possible with the resources they have. It requires that we listen to indigenous groups, vulnerable populations, and citizens of small island states most at-risk of natural hazards, to ensure nobody is left behind. And it requires that we work cross-borders, because natural hazards do not respect human-made boundaries. An effective climate risk reduction plan necessitates that every person becomes more socially conscious, less wasteful in their personal activities, more generous in their support for those in need, and more aware of the potentially harmful policies and actions of governments and global corporations.

We are all in this together. And, for the first time in human history, we have the capacity to respond as one global entity to tackle something that concerns everyone.

The issue is clear. The evidence is there. And the solutions are within our reach.

It’s up to us.

Let’s turn the climate crisis into a global opportunity.

This Concerns Everyone - Naomi Klein and and the Climate Generation

Naomi Klein’s stirring call-to-arms on climate action, This Changes Everything, lays out the realities that we face in “decade zero”, the period of time that we currently have left to make significant changes to the way we live in order to prevent a climate catastrophe. In matter-of-fact terms, it lays out the science, details the myriad obstacles that humanity must overcome in order to avert a crisis, and then highlights many of the actions that every one of us can take to change the current trajectory of ecological breakdown and pollution.

Perhaps most interestingly, it details the most pressing concern for climate activists (and those of us who want our planet to remain habitable for generations to come): the absolute necessity of changing the current mentality of neoliberal, de-regulated, growth-at-all-costs capitalism that pervades nearly every culture and country on Earth.

Our economies require permanent growth in order to remain viable. Company share prices are often not based on the current earnings of the product or service they provide, but the potential for the company to grow and earn in the future. Extractive industry players like fossil fuel companies determine their worth not by the amount of oil they are currently pumping, but by the amount of dirty fuel that sits in land they own, waiting to be extracted and refined. Shell and BP are not absurdly wealthy because of the barrels of oil they create today, but because thanks to their reserves they are guaranteed to be able to keep producing for the next thirty or forty years, even with no further discoveries of new oil fields. And still, they're digging. Renewable energies be damned.

So the calls for climate action represent a very real threat to the future of Big Oil, but also the economy as a whole. If we cannot continue to churn out new phones every year, wear cheap clothing made in factories half a world away, buy seasonal foods all year around, or transport goods to our doorsteps via dirty ships and dirtier aeroplanes, it seems as though our whole world will collapse. We are all complicit in the hubris of humanity believing that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want, with no consequences.

For those who make a killing on polluting and extractive industries, the words and deeds of climate activists may therefore seem like an existential threat. In reality, ignoring those words and deeds will be the nail in the coffin for our current way of life.

But that won’t stop those who have invested so much in neoliberal capitalism from defending their cause to the grave.

Like a cornered animal, they will snarl and snap back at those that threaten them. Which is why Brexit campaigner Arron Banks sits at home and tweets gleefully about the possibility of an "accident in the Atlantic" that might befall Greta Thunberg on her journey to the UN, or Julia Hartley-Brewer can respond to Thunberg's informed and well-articulated arguments with the sort of petulance you might expect from a schoolchild. The science is accurate. The international community are finally waking up to our new climate reality. And the climate deniers and free-market preachers are absolutely terrified. 

As the elite often do when their power is threatened and they sense their time is drawing to a close, they will double down on the extractive, polluting activities that have made them rich over the previous decades. Much like the European powers’ spiteful slash-and-burn campaign that crippled Africa during decolonisation, the climate deniers will squeeze the system dry while they still can, not just for profit, but also for revenge. Jair Bolsonaro will burn the Amazon to the ground, and ravage the Indigenous people that stood against his heartless pro-business policies. Donald Trump will attack Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez's "Green New Deal" as economically impossible whilst his own policies send the US debt spiralling to new heights. Neoliberal converts will continue to denounce socialist agendas as global austerity continues and inequality continues to widen. 

This is the vicious bite of a dog that doesn't want to admit that it's scared. The ideology that built the modern world is now killing it, and those that benefitted most from the way things are don't know what to do anymore. As Klein puts it, we have a choice; overhaul our entire political and economic system in order to prevent a global climate catastrophe or wait until that catastrophe does it for us. 

Which is the key message in this debate. “Green new deals” and shifts to renewable energy are not revolutionary acts against the status quo. The status quo is going to change. The question is whether we want to do something about it now, as key UN institutions, global governments, and increasing global grassroots movements are urging us to do, or whether we want to stand back and watch the world burn until the flames reach our doorsteps.

People don't like change. Especially change that forces us to reconsider everything we believe in. But change is necessary if we are to avert a world-threatening crisis.

The global dominance of the current free-market Neoliberal thinking since the collapse of the Soviet Union has led many to believe there is no other possible option for healthy, and wealthy, societies. But our economic and political systems change constantly. For a proletariat worker in 1950s Moscow, the possibility of another form of economic or political system in the USSR would be unthinkable. For a medieval Parisian peasant, the feudal system of landowners and serfs was just the natural way of life.

But the Berlin Wall came down. The French revolution overthrew a feudal monarchy and ushered in a modern Republic. Even our comparatively stable western Liberal systems transformed from socialist and Keynesian economic prospects built on Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal and Clement Attlee's Post-World War Two drive for social security (which included the creation of the much-lauded NHS, at the time supported by those on all sides of the political spectrum) into systems of free-market, deregulated hyper-capitalism. Ideologies and economic doctrines came and went, fought wars for supremacy that were supposedly resolved, and the so-called “end of history” never came. 

The drive towards global democracy and liberalism that was promised in the 1990s is now under serious threat, as western countries see the return of authoritarian beliefs and regimes, African and Asian states fail to transition to the European model (as the liberal system expected would happen), and global movements of cooperation such as the EU stumble and falter. History isn't over, and for the first time since the ordinary people of the world decided that they wanted that iron curtain torn down, we are once again gearing up to exercise our will. The climate crisis is the most important issue we face today. And, as Klein expertly outlines, it has the potential to be a rallying cry for a new system that works for everyone, not just the few. 

Change cannot come unless we change everything. That means being more aware of our own habits and changing our behaviours where we know we can do better. But more importantly, that means changing the system so that it is forced to work for us. The political elite and the invisible hand of the market won't drop everything to reduce inequality, limit carbon emissions, or offer workers a fair wage and social security net unless we force them to. The current state of affairs is proof enough of that. 

We are more informed, more connected, and therefore more empowered today than at any other point in human history. We are also at greater risk of disaster than any generation before us.

We are all implicated in the self-mutilation of our only home. But we know how to create an economic and political system that benefits all of us, one that does not fetishize growth at the expense of wellbeing and community. The very things we need to do to stop the destruction of our natural resources and slow pollution, are the things that can benefit those of us who are struggling right now.

Climate change will affect the global rich and poor in vastly different ways, and if you care about those less fortunate than yourselves, you care about this. Neoliberalism built the modern world we stand in today. It made the rich much richer whilst widening inequality across the board. It moulded us into individuals whilst stripping away the community and family ties we once held dear. It allowed humankind to, briefly, play God with the natural environment in the name of economic growth. And now it stands to tear down the very temple it built.

The fight for the climate is not just about scientific fact and an abstract, dystopian future should we not act responsibly. It is about every issue we face in the modern world. Human-made climate change is the result of the way we humans act towards each other and towards the Earth right now, so that is what we have to address.

If you're angry at the destruction of rainforests, coral reefs, and wildlands in the search for more fuels to burn, join the climate fight.

If you're angry at small-scale farmers and fishers around the world losing their jobs to global industrial megaliths with which they cannot compete, join the climate fight.

If you’re angry at the treatment of thousands of economic migrants and refugees trapped in camps in the Mediterranean, at the US border, and across the world, join the climate fight.

If you’re angry at the massive number of homeless people struggling on the streets of your town, join the climate fight.

If you’re angry that CEOs can receive millions of pounds in bonuses when their workers don’t receive a living wage, join the climate fight.

If you don’t want to see Indigenous peoples, refugees, the urban poor, workers, poor youth, and minority groups discriminated against and marginalised, the you must join the climate fight.

The ideological battle for the planet starts now. 

Read Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything for an excellent analysis of where we are at in terms of climate change, how we got here, and where we might be going depending on how we respond right now. For examples of individual changes you can make to lower your own environmental impact, see here. To help the change the system to help benefit all of us, follow the lead of Greta Thunberg’s School Strike for Climate and the Extinction Rebellion, make your voice heard and stand up for the planet. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbours.

The People at the Heart of Change in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is a Southern Indian state of phenomenal natural beauty and vibrant cultural heritage. From the bustling mega-city of Chennai, where the land meets the turquoise sea of the Bay of Bengal, to the rolling hills that give way to rural in-land villages, you will find people who are welcoming, friendly, and living colourful and interesting lives even in sometimes difficult circumstances.

Me with some of the students at St Antony's.

But Tamil Nadu is also a state that faces many significant challenges. Successive dry monsoon seasons have resulted in a serious drought that has led Chennai, the state’s largest city, to run out of water. The city’s 10 million inhabitants are now dependant on government deliveries of water from neighbouring areas, but across the state the water crisis is deepening, and rural, more sparsely populated areas should not expect the same government response to their need. Widespread corruption and mismanagement, both at the state and national levels, has left vast swathes of Tamil Nadu with little faith that they can count on any support as they struggle to find clean drinking and bathing water, or grow crops and feed livestock, on their parched land. Whilst the state’s economy is rapidly growing, this is at an uneven rate and inequality is rising, leaving many – particularly those in rural areas – behind.

One of Chennai's four main reservoirs - completely drained of water due to several weak monsoon seasons. Photo credit: The Independent.

As the environmental crisis unfolds across the state, community leaders are standing up to educate and advocate for those individuals that the system has forgotten. Ordinary people are making real change at the ground level every day, and through my role as a trustee of The Kanji Project, I was fortunate enough to meet some of these community leaders over the last two weeks as we celebrated the 25^th anniversary of St Antony’s Matriculation School. Founded in 1994 by Maria Rayappan and now run by her nephew Lourdusamy Michael, the school has grown from a two-room building with 3 teachers and 40 students to a campus that now educates over 1,500 students from surrounding villages and employs over 100 local people as teachers, drivers, cooks, groundskeepers, and more. St Antony’s Foundlings (SAF), the charity responsible for the school and for Shanti Lumin Children’s Home, run by Maria and now home to 40 girls, many of whom are orphaned, also provides meals to local villagers who are unable to support themselves, and has taken its mission to educate outside of the school walls and into the streets.

Through St Antony’s Eco Club, over 100 students have planted more than 1,500 trees in the school grounds and in their villages, as well as engaging in recycling education campaigns and taking part in marches to teach local people about water preservation. Following Cyclone Gaja, which tore through southern Tamil Nadu last year, Lourdusamy used his local and school connections to provide immediate humanitarian relief to the worst-affected villages, driving five hours to deliver food and shelter to those that had lost everything. This was viewed not just as a charitable act for those caught in the storm, but an educational opportunity for the students at St Antony’s who saw several of their teachers heading off to help in any way they could, and who helped to stock the relief vehicle. Alongside their usual English, maths, science, and other lessons, the values of compassion and collective action are being instilled in these remarkable students.

Planting trees is one of the best ways to combat the looming climate emergency that grips Tamil Nadu (and many other areas worldwide)

Down the road in Pudupalayam, another village in Thiruvannaamalai district, about 12km from Kanji, stands the campus of Idhaya College, an all-girls university run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (known colloquially as the Rose Sisters). The Rose Sisters also operate the Sunshine Special School from this campus, supported by The Kanji Project. Providing day care and education to 16 physically and mentally disabled children, the Special School gives its students a chance to grow and to develop, learning not just Tamil but English, as well as learning creative activities and skills that will set them up for regular schooling and to cope with life as they grow up. This support for disabled people from the Sisters extends to the surrounding villages, where they advocate for disability rights, aid individuals in achieving government grants for support, and setting up cooperatives to increase community awareness and connectedness.

This theme of empowerment runs through all of the Rose Sisters’ work, particular through their children’s and youth parliaments, where they organise children and young people from the villages to discuss and act on issues affecting them. As with St Antony’s, tackling the environmental crisis and severe water shortage is of key importance, with children learning about the issues and then advocating in their communities for water preservation, appropriate waste disposal and recycling. The young people also lobby local government to make changes to support their neighbours and friends. In addition to this, the Rose Sisters have set up women’s cooperatives and groups to help vulnerable women to manage finance and learn skills that can make them less financially dependant on men, giving greater opportunities to escape abusive relationships and to survive alone in a culture in which it is in many ways still very difficult to be a woman.

Some of the young people from The Rose Sisters' Children's Parliaments

St Antony’s Foundlings and the Rose Sisters are making real change every single day, with very little resources and with very little outside support. We at the Kanji Project, and our partners in Enfants de Kanji in France, provide what we can to keep these programmes running, but with what is frankly very minimal financial backing, these amazing individuals are not only educating young people and advocating for those who need support, but they are changing the lives of thousands of people across the district.

Every student that attends St Antony’s or participates in the village children’s parliaments, every girl that gets a second chance at Shanti Lumin, and every disabled child at the Sunshine School and adult supported by the Rose Sisters is exposed to new possibilities and a brighter future thanks to a handful of inspirational, humble, and hardworking people.

Community-led projects like these are not just helping young and disadvantaged people. They are building the future. Life in Tamil Nadu has its challenges, and some of them are significant. Not least the environmental degradation, water shortages, government corruption and widespread poverty are all serious obstacles for the people of Thiruvannaamalai district to overcome, but with SAF and the Rose Sisters leading the charge to build a new generation of environmentally conscious, politically aware and compassionate citizens and community leaders, the future of the villages looks bright.

I was extremely fortunate to see first-hand the immeasurable impact that just one or two dedicated people can have on an entire community.

To Lourdusamy, Maria, all of the teachers and staff at St Antony’s and Shanti Lumin, the Rose Sisters and their supporting staff at the Sunshine School and in the villages, and to every single student and community member that welcomed me into their neighbourhoods and homes and told me their stories, I want to say thank you.

Henna drawings on the kindergarten children at St Antony's

It is tempting to see the current state of the world and think that positive change is impossible. What difference can one person really make? But one person can inspire many others, and with a little support that inspiration can build a community, and that community can build a movement. And that movement can change lives, change neighbourhoods, and eventually can change the world.

It was an honour to spend time with such incredible and dedicated people. It doesn’t take a million pounds to make a real difference. It takes compassion, it takes time, and it takes humanity.

This short introduction to my experience in Kanji cannot even scratch the surface of the amazing work being done by our fantastic partners in India. They are truly inspirational. We at The Kanji Project are just a tiny cog in the machine that truly changes lives across Tamil Nadu and is driven by local people working in very difficult circumstances. We want to be able to continue to support their projects as best we can, and for that we need your help. Please check out our website, follow us on Facebook, spread the word and if you can spare anything at all view our donations page (94% of all donations go directly to the projects supported in India). Thank you.