Radio
Ecoshock January 14, 20111 (110114)
This is
Radio Ecoshock. I'm Alex Smith, with an
in-depth look at the works of deep green writer Derrick Jensen, an interview
with film maker Lopez, and a series of ugly questions for impossible times.
After we
learn a bit about the film's inspiration, Deep Green thinker Derrick Jensen, and talk with Frank
Lopez - I've left some time to let out a Net rumor (again!) that the U.S.
military might call home troops to put down people rioting in the streets, in
an upcoming economic collapse. Do
riots work?
The
friendly voice you hear in this week's program is Franklin Lopez. He created a video argument for ending
civilization. Kick it over - before we
kill again.
That all
came out in his new movie "End:Civ"
- standing for End Civilization.
Lopez is
fascinating. In one guise, he is "The Stimulator" - with a foul-mouthed
weekly video (and audio) podcast with underground news. Some of it is original film interviews shot
by Lopez.
He was
raised in the Puerto Rican independence movement. In New York, Lopez was a camera-man/producer for the Amy Goodman
and Juan Gonzalez alternative news program "Democracy Now!" As "The Stimulator" Frank gets
millions of views for his regular video podcast "It's
The End of the World As We Know It, and I Feel Fine".
Lopez
went to the latest Republican and Democratic Conventions, plus the Cancun
Climate Summit - to film the street action.
To get the outside story in. He
brings us activism, and voices that never make the mainstream news.
There is
a lot of irreverent fun in some Lopez productions, but in today's program,
you'll hear a serious, a very serious side.
For the
past many years, Lopez filmed his own video interviews with hundreds of authors
and activists. Many you will know, like
James Howard Kunstler. But Lopez
takes care to find alternative voices, from the streets and the woods. Women. Youth. Aboriginal people. The
homeless. The excluded.
End:Civ
is a master collection of them all. Zoe
Blunt from the Forest Action Network.
The late First Nations leader Qwatsinas. "Farmer" from Earth First! Critic John Zerzan, Paul Watson from Sea Shepherd, Dr. Michael
Baker, Stephanie Miller, grid-crasher Aric McBay - a long list of fast-moving
video shorts from the underground.
But the "star" of the show, the inspiration, is California author and philosopher Derrick Jensen. Before we go to our interview with Franklin Lopez, let's get an introduction to Derrick Jensen.
My own
feelings about Jensen are mixed. I
could say I "violently" disagree with some of Derrick's proposals,
but when Jensen uses the word "violence", he really means it. He thinks Greens - anyone who cares about
the Earth - should fight to stop the destruction of Nature. We are beyond the time of talk, he
says. Most famously, Jensen wants
someone to blow up dams in the Pacific Northwest, to save the beloved salmon.
Picturing relatively green hydro electric dams, I thought Jensen off-base, if not dangerously mad. But digging deeper, Derrick provides startling facts about thousands of useless dams, built and abandoned by early loggers and settlers, that continue to block many rivers. Governments have no workable plans to remove them, to restore the natural and valuable salmon fishery, and the freedom of the rivers.
The film
"End:Civ" goes further. Do we revere Gandhi - because ruling Oligarchs channel us
into peaceful protests? Were there other fighting
figures behind India's independence struggle?
Why don't we hear about them? Is
Martin Luther King accepted, while the Black Panthers are smeared, because it
suits authoritarian interests? What about
Greenpeace? Have we been managed?
What will we say to our children and grand-children, if
we let Earth go down, without a fight?
I have my
opinions on all this. You need to
decide for yourself.
As just
one example or Derrick Jensen's continuing influence, here is a quick clip from
another director and film-maker, Jon
Cooksey, as an example of the impact Derrick Jensen can have. I recorded this at a recent dinner party.
[Jon
Cooksey on Jensen]
"You
know, there's an article that's really been sticking with me. And it was just
an article about a guy named Derrick Jensen - who you probably know, and I sort
of knew his name - but what was interesting in that article, you know, a fairly
reasonable guy, wasn't acting like a big "doom and gloomer", crazy
person, in the interview.
He was
very reasonable, talking about statistics that you and I would both recognize
about oil and whatever.
His basic
point was: if there is going to be a habitat for the survivors, then we
should monkey wrench the system right now.
As much as we can. We should
bring down civilization.
So that
we don't overshoot the carrying capacity of the planet so much that there is no
habitat left for the survivors, whoever they may be.
And he
says that in full knowledge of the fact, that if you money-wrench the system,
billions of people will die in a short period of time. Like that was obvious. That's taken as a given. And no guarantee that you and I, and our
children, won't be part of that mass die-off by starvation.
That
logic has haunted me. I can't pick a
hole in the logic. Now I know there are
other criticisms of Derrick Jensen. But
the point is, he started from where we are, and he made a human emotional
argument - that got me... deep.
And I'm
the person who is constantly looking for the optimistic thing to root for! To present as a path. And it troubled me, because wow! Is that the most optimistic thing I can root
for? Should I tell everybody to go out
and monkey-wrench the system?
Is
that really the most realistic option that we have - is to provide for the
survivors, who ever they may be?"
That was
Jon Cooksey, a professional television producer, co-creator of the CBC series
"The Collectors", writer for diverse programs from The Disney Channel
to Comedy Central. Now he has a one-man
film about the journey to climate catastrophe, called "How to Boil A
Frog".
I
recorded Jon at an evening of artists and activists in Vancouver. Hear more about that in next week's Radio
Ecoshock Show.
You can
also find my short feature on Derrick Jensen produced in 2006. Here is the 20 something minute audio. And here it the
blog entry.
for blog.
I wrote
at that time:
"Caution: explicit expression of the environmentalism of
despair.
Do we
have to stamp out civilization to save the planet?
The
American author and activist Derrick Jensen thinks so, and offers his body to
defeat the organized beast that is stripping the planet of forests, soil, and
species.
There are
three main reactions to the developing collection of crisis here on Earth,
whether you think of frightening climate change, raped ocean life, polluted
slums, or economic unreality: Let's fix it, Let it fall, and finally the school
of "kick it over." Jensen is the prophet of slamming civilization,
hoping it will fall before doing irrevocable damage to nature. We'll hear from
a recent speech, list some tenets of his belief, and add books and web sources
for further exploration."
That was
in 2006. Now it all looks worse. The U.S. Midwest is powered by toxic goo
from the Tar Sands. The International
Energy Agency admits Peak Oil is past.
The climate has gone mad, slamming millions.
Derrick
Jensen is back.
To
introduce him, for our feature film "End:Civ" I run a quick summary of
Derrick's first 8 premises, in his own words, again from my 2006 podcast
"Kick It Over".
For the
rest of his premises, in rapid-fire order, just download the
free mp3 of "Kick It Over" from ecoshock.org. Find the link in this week's show blog, at
ecoshock.info.
The music
clips in between are from a benefit to stop a Canadian mining project in
Australia, and the destruction of the ancient Lake Cowal, performed by Combat
Wombat.
You also
hear a couple of clips from "End:Civ" the movie, but it really needs
the wild video clips Frank works in to get the full impact.
I think
we are ready. Let's talk with film
maker Franklin Lopez, about his multi-media ode to a work by Derrick Jensen:
"End Game". Available in
audio only.
=============
RE:
VIOLENCE - DO RIOTS WORK?
You have
just heard a sample of frustration, from the Anarchist camp, and echoing
throughout Western society. Riots, some
deadly violent, have broken out in European countries, and in North Africa.
Do
riots really accomplish anything?
Not
according to Forbes Magazine, the self-labeled "Capitalist
Tool". Their December 22nd article
"How
Riots Can Influence An Economy" carefully catalogs the economic costs
of violent protest. Forbes says, quote:
" Riots with clear economic proximate causes have fortunately become very
rare in the United States, though they were much more common in the early days
of industrialization and unionization and the protests that accompanied the WTO
conference in Seattle in 1999 were an uncomfortable reminder. (If you’ve been a
victim, your losses may be deductible. Find out how. See Deducting Disaster:
Casualty And Theft Losses.)"
It's all
tax deductible!
Well not
all. There is damage to business
property, and some economic activity is curtailed, while rocks and police fill
the streets. It's hard to do one's duty
as a consumer, when the stores are closed.
Some tourists stay away, while others come for the opportunity to riot,
or at least watch.
And I
love the slightly cynical summary Forbes Magazine gives to this tactic. Quote:
"By
and large, there is very little evidence that rioting “works” in the sense of
leading to any lasting redress of grievances. If anything, many governments
tend to respond to riots by enacting more draconian laws and beefing up the
budgets of those charged with suppressing trouble. When governments do
respond, it usually just with temporary solutions designed to pacify the
protesters and get them off the streets; vague promises of redress,
government-sponsored reforms, or temporary subsidies (particularly in the
case of food or fuel riots) will often mollify the crowds, but seldom lead to
any lasting improvement in the quality of life of the people."
I suppose
that's true enough, until the crowed overwhelm the government, as happened in
Iceland. After tossing the debt of less
than a hundred bankers on to the people of Iceland, the government was tossed
out. Every few hundred years or so,
this does happen.
Then
again, the poor peasants of France suffered poverty and hardship for several
hundred years before rising up in their famous revolution. There is nothing to indicate North
Americans will not take another hundred years to revolt.
American
right-wing radio is rife with rumors the American military is waiting in the
wings, to wade into any riots coming out of the economic crisis. Two years after the original Pentagon study,
that fear finally leaked off the Internet, into mainstream TV, while you were
Christmas shopping. It's instructive to
follow the gossip, especially since the Pentagon has already announced a kind
of Net information war-fare, which might include planting false rumors. Or are they subtly announcing a threat to
jobless Americans?
The
sliver of information leaked out through cable news, on CNBC. The date is uncertain, although the Net
video says November 19th, 2010. Glenn
Beck on Fox News quoted the same CNBC story, on December 8th, 2010.
Conspiracist
radio host Alex Jones had a field day with
it. And Ultra-Conservative or
Christian Militarist Net radio stations, with names like "The
Warning", "MorningStar", and "Liberty Bell" blurted
out the fearsome news. The troops who
trained kicking in doors in Iraq, are coming home. To rule us. They say.
Here
is the essential clip, with reporter Eamon Javers.
And that
came courtesy of this site.
If we
riot, the Pentagon has apparently already got plans to put it down. They have war-gamed it in a project called
"Unified Quest 2011."
AND A
MILITARY RESPONSE ON UK STREETS AS WELL?
And Paul
Watson, the British mirror of talk show host Alex Jones, says the same
plans for a military take-over are ready in the UK as well. Watson is drawing from
this article in the UK Daily Express.
To save you an hour of Googling time, here is the scoop, on the American "Unified Quest".
That’s
where something called Unified Quest comes in. Every year, the Army’s chief of
staff instructs talented mid-career and senior officers and senior enlisted
(wo)men to evaluate where the service is falling short — and propose remedies.
On Tuesday, about 120 soldiers and their civilian and foreign-military friends
(and even some Marines) swarmed onto the manicured northern Virginia campus of
mega-consultant Booz Allen Hamilton to kick off the first four-day debating
bull session for Unified Quest 2011, to figure out how best to cultivate the
next generation of Army leaders."
End
quote. Ackerman claims to be the only
blogger allowed in, providing he did not mention any names. We wonder why HE was let in. Spook abound. And the implied date in the article is wrong. The "what-if" war-games party in
Fort Monroe, Virginia started July 15th.
There are official Army documents available on the Web about the time
and location, but not the contents.
And the
project appears to have continued at least later in the Summer, and perhaps
until the present day.
CNBC
quotes the trade journal "InsideDefense.com" as THEIR source for the
same quotes that went out everywhere.
The
abstract reads:
Army
officials met outside Washington last week for a thought experiment about the
implications of a large-scale economic breakdown that would force the Army to
absorb significant funding cuts and prepare the service for an increased role
in keeping domestic order amid civil unrest. 323 words"
The same
few words, found all over the Net, came from this simple abstract, rather than
the full article, hidden behind a rather low pay wall. Actually, you can get it for free as a
sample. Or
download it free as a PDF here.
This
shines a sad light into journalism.
Months, or even YEARS, after the event, the same few phrases are
released as news, without even an hour of investigation.
And there
are earlier versions of the same tale of "the Army is Coming" for
years previously. Jim
Meyers wrote "U.S. Military Preparing For Domestic Disturbances"
on December 23rd, 2008. His source was
a paper titled "Known Unknowns: Unconventional 'Strategic Shocks' in
Defense Strategy Development" by former Army lieutenant colonel Nathan
Freier.
Freier
wrote: "Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the
defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic
domestic order … An American government and defense establishment lulled into
complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest
some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly
expanding human insecurity at home."
Maybe
that's the good news! The
Administration finds a face-saving way to bring the troops home, citing the
need for domestic security, i.e. putting down mass riots. Instead of the embarrassing loss of funds,
or belief in the U.S. dollar abroad.
American can't afford all those bases anyway.
Going
with Jim Meyers selection, quote, "The Army College report states:
"DoD might be forced by circumstances to put its broad resources at the
disposal of civil authorities to contain and reverse violent threats to
domestic tranquility. Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include
use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States.
"Further,
DoD would be, by necessity, an essential enabling hub for the continuity of
political authority in a multi-state or nationwide civil conflict or
disturbance."
He
concludes this section of the report by observing: "DoD is already
challenged by stabilization abroad. Imagine the challenges associated with
doing so on a massive scale at home."
Yes
indeed.
But why
rely on second hand sources? This
super-secret document is available as a
free .PDF download from the Strategic Studies Institute, at army.mil. Or buy the book for $9.99 cents from ... the
online book publisher with no name. You
know, the big online book company who buckled to State Department pressure in
the Wikileaks scandal.
Army
think-tanker Nathan
Freier writes, quote:
"Thus, there is perhaps no greater source of strategic shock
for DoD than operationalizing that component of the oath of service in a
widespread domestic emergency that entails rapid dissolution of public order in
all or significant parts of the United States.
While likely not an immediate prospect,
this is clearly a “Black Swan” that merits some visibility inside DoD and the
Department of Homeland Security. To the extent events like this involve
organized violence against local, state, and national authorities and exceed
the capacity of the former two to restore public order and protect vulnerable
populations, DoD would be required to fill the gap. This is largely uncharted
strategic territory.
Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the
defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic
domestic order and human security. "
Just for a little icing on the cake, on how crowds can surge into
the street due to an economic break down, I've added a quick clip from
the BBC about riots in Bangladesh, when their stock market plunged.
I urge you to listen to that report, maybe a couple of times, and
just translate the whole commentary to the UK, a European country, South
America, or simply New York or Chicago.
The very same thing could happen here. Many say it will.
My initial reaction to all the conspiracy talk and outrage from
the far right is "Duh!" Of
course the military and civilian governments have always had backup plans to
use the army to suppress rebellion.
They would be derelict is they didn't.
It would not be news at all, except the economic crash, plus weird
climate and high energy prices, are creating a nervous herd. It's news because the risk is rising.
That is one objection to the strategy of violence. It breeds more violence, and
repression. The American society, and
most modeled after it, have specialized in force as an export product. But the troops can always come back home.
With the federal government already impotent, it isn't hard to
imagine a series of riots. The shop-keepers
and some of the public long for public order.
A magnetic figure, or an unknown Army officer, pops up to fill this
longing. After decades of support for
military dictators abroad, the United States attempts to prolong the dream of
empire, with a decade or two of military rule.
Rome did it. Why can't we?
And hey, the U.S. Armed Forces appear to understand that both Peak
Oil and Climate Change are realities that can't be denied. The Army, Navy and Air Force are looking for
more and more alternative energy, being far ahead of their own government.
Sad to say, but some desperate Greens might welcome a "war-time" style project trying to save civilization.
Derrick Jensen says "Civilization is the problem."
I'll be
in the hills growing potatoes, if you need me.
I'm Alex
Smith, for Radio Ecoshock.
Visit our
web site, at ecoshock.org