Read on Twitter
Um. "Tribalism" is bad, also 'socialist greens' are white supremacists. Seriously? This is awful stuff.
I absolutely any guarantee any effort to subject this claim to scrutiny will lead to a second article about how a filthy Twitter mob did a pile on. https://twitter.com/annabelcrabb/status/1196595799674671105
I absolutely any guarantee any effort to subject this claim to scrutiny will lead to a second article about how a filthy Twitter mob did a pile on. https://twitter.com/annabelcrabb/status/1196595799674671105
Probably time for said scrutiny.
OKAY. Here we go.
First - the 'White man's coal will save poor brown people' thing emerged from the US coal PR in 2014, under the banner of 'Advanced Energy For Life'
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/advanced-energy-for-life-campaign-launched-to-build-awareness-and-support-to-end-worlds-number-one-human-and-environmental-crisis-of-global-energy-poverty-247238131.html
Filled w/ pics of brown kids who NEED to be saved
OKAY. Here we go.
First - the 'White man's coal will save poor brown people' thing emerged from the US coal PR in 2014, under the banner of 'Advanced Energy For Life'
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/advanced-energy-for-life-campaign-launched-to-build-awareness-and-support-to-end-worlds-number-one-human-and-environmental-crisis-of-global-energy-poverty-247238131.html
Filled w/ pics of brown kids who NEED to be saved
The 'Advanced Energy' campaign (run by big PR firm Burson Marstellar) embarked on a massive 'fake follower' project on Twitter, buying hundreds of thousands to pad its social media presence:
http://tcktcktck.org/2014/11/big-coal-fakes-social-media-campaign-pressure-g20/ https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/552642411613011969
http://tcktcktck.org/2014/11/big-coal-fakes-social-media-campaign-pressure-g20/ https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/552642411613011969
Peabody Coal's messaging very successfully filtered through into the world of lobbyists and fossil fuel advocates.
Eg - Gary Johns, another ex-ALP member, who claims that "Adani" means 'civilised' (nicely relevant to Emerson's article) in "Indian" (there's no such language).
Eg - Gary Johns, another ex-ALP member, who claims that "Adani" means 'civilised' (nicely relevant to Emerson's article) in "Indian" (there's no such language).
And now, @DrCraigEmerson, who lobbies on behalf of fossil fuel orgs, is taking that messaging a very serious and significant step further, declaring that those opposed to selling fossil fuels to developing countries are "white supremacists":
https://www.farmonline.com.au/story/3378227/csg-industry-snaps-up-connected-staffers/
https://www.farmonline.com.au/story/3378227/csg-industry-snaps-up-connected-staffers/
This is really, really, really galling. As someone who gets this kind of stuff every day - the image below is from THIS MORNING - to see someone misusing such a serious issue really gets to me.
First of all, climate change deniers (and conversely, the advocates of expanding fossil fuel extraction and usage) tend to be measurably more racist than everyone else.
https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/1074191265632153600
https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/1074191265632153600
It is absolutely no accident that Australia's worst climate change deniers was granted power off the back of an explicitly xenophobic voter base. The venn diagrams of white supremacists and climate change deniers overlap, both quantifiably and qualitatively.
This is a smaller point, but as I pointed out y'day, even the word 'tribal' is a throwback to gross, racist attitudes
What would they say if a PoC told them this? "This is identity politics gone mad! This is what got Trump elected!!" https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/1196355148999745536
What would they say if a PoC told them this? "This is identity politics gone mad! This is what got Trump elected!!" https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/1196355148999745536
So, to co-opt the project of opposing white supremacy as part of a public relations campaign to advocate for a product that WE KNOW will harm people in developing countries far more than those in wealthy countries is extremely gross.
You can't moan about the enlightenment, rationality and scientific debate while ignoring the reams of science that illustrate that it is my own relatives living in India who will bear the absolute brunt of climate impacts
https://skepticalscience.com/co2-limits-poor-poverty.htm
https://skepticalscience.com/co2-limits-poor-poverty.htm
It is a-scientific to expand FF usage. It is racist to declare that white Australians should dictate the energy futures of poor, dumb Indians who need guidance, gas and coal.
It is something else entirely to label that project as anti-racist and scientifically justified.
It is something else entirely to label that project as anti-racist and scientifically justified.
And yes, there are rivulets of v bad attitudes within Greens / Left enviro movements - particularly the 'population growth' meme. But that isn't what Emerson is critiquing here. https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/1176409296604749824
If rationality and enlightenment are so important, why doesn't AFR publish an op-ed by a climate scientist instead?
The same reason Hildebrand gets column inches, instead of scientists and experts: it isn't *actually* about rationality (or racism). https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/1180747191226376192
The same reason Hildebrand gets column inches, instead of scientists and experts: it isn't *actually* about rationality (or racism). https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/1180747191226376192
If the AFR *did* give space to scientists, its readers would be faced with experts who simply point out that reducing emissions means we stop pulling fossil fuels from the ground:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0337-0?WT.feed_name=subjects_environmental-social-sciences
https://www.nature.com/articles/517150a?proof=true&draft=collection
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-worlds-fossil-fuel-reserve-must-stay-buried-prevent-climate-change-study-says
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0337-0?WT.feed_name=subjects_environmental-social-sciences
https://www.nature.com/articles/517150a?proof=true&draft=collection
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-worlds-fossil-fuel-reserve-must-stay-buried-prevent-climate-change-study-says
If the AFR gave space to people of colour in Australia or from developing countries, its readers would be faced with activists and campaigners who point out that climate justice means acknowledging how developing countries bear the brunt of impacts:
https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/10/11/20904791/young-climate-activists-of-color
https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/10/11/20904791/young-climate-activists-of-color
Dropping key words like 'tribalism', 'anti-intellectualism', 'enlightenment' and 'rationality' are far better than actually giving space to people who can speak, with nuance, experience and expertise on climate science, or climate action.
Anyway. It makes me mad. Because I woke up to a tweet from an Australian flag profile pic guy telling me to "Go back to pissing in your own backyard".
White supremacy is a real thing, and it's getting worse every single day. So it really cuts, to see it adopted by lobbyists.
White supremacy is a real thing, and it's getting worse every single day. So it really cuts, to see it adopted by lobbyists.
Rant OVER.
