War is reshaping our world. Will we harness that urgency for climate action or succumb to a final, deadly oil and gas boom?
By Naomi Klein, The Intercept
Nostalgia for empire is what seems to drive Vladimir Putin — that and a desire to overcome the shame of punishing economic shock therapy imposed on Russia at the end of the Cold War. Nostalgia for American “greatness” is part of what drives the movement Donald Trump still leads — that and a desire to overcome the shame of having to face the villainy of white supremacy that shaped the founding of the United States and mutilates it still. Nostalgia is also what animates the Canadian truckers who occupied Ottawa for the better part of a month, wielding their red-and-white flags like a conquering army, evoking a simpler time when their consciences were undisturbed by thoughts of the bodies of Indigenous children, whose remains are still being discovered on the grounds of those genocidal institutions that once dared to call themselves “schools.”
This is not the warm and cozy nostalgia of fuzzily remembered childhood pleasures; it’s an enraged and annihilating nostalgia that clings to false memories of past glories against all mitigating evidence.
All these nostalgia-based movements and figures share a longing for something else, something which may seem unrelated but is not. A nostalgia for a time when fossil fuels could be extracted from the earth without uneasy thoughts of mass extinction, or children demanding their right to a future, or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, like the one just released yesterday, that reads, in the words of United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, like an “atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.” Putin, of course, leads a petrostate, one that has defiantly refused to diversify its economic dependence on oil and gas, despite the devastating effect of the commodity roller coaster on its people and despite the reality of climate change. Trump is obsessed with the easy money that fossil fuels offer and as president made climate denial a signature policy.
Recent Posts
The U.S. Is Creating New Categories Of Deportable Migrants
January 30, 2025
Take Action NowTrump’s promise of widespread deportations won’t happen without defining a wave of new ‘illegals’ into existence.By Anna…
Does Donald Trump Actually Want To Start Denuclearization?
January 30, 2025
Take Action NowLittle noticed remarks from Davos should get more attention.By William Hartung, Responsible StatecraftThroughout his…
Organizers Report Longtime ‘Loyal’ Dem Voters Fed Up With Party’s Inaction As Trump 2.0 Takes Hold
January 29, 2025
Take Action Now Leaders of the grassroots group Indivisible said voters are eager to beat the Trump agenda, and called on Democratic leaders to act…
In Gaza, Assessing Destruction On An Unimaginable Scale
January 29, 2025
Take Action NowOver 80 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza since the ceasefire took hold, 49 of them in Rafah alone.By Abubaker…