High school Students connect the dots on climate change near Dallas, Texas in 2012. (Photo: 350.org)
Three years later, there is no question in people’s mind that the increasing devastation from extreme weather disasters are closely linked to our worsening climate. Today, there’s another set of dots that we need to connect: the dots between climate, racism, refugees and immigration.
I’m not the first to be saying this, by a long stretch. However, it hasn’t yet sunk in for many people the way the weather disasters have. Nevertheless, these dots are all connected.
Just as the Tahir Square uprising in Egypt was set against a backdrop of drought and high grain prices, the degenerative violence in Syria has a backdrop of a climate-change-fueled eight year drought, with 75% of farmers suffering total crop failure.[2] This drought forced many to flee the starving countryside to make for the cities, causing the pressure build up to bursting. The ensuring war is a result. The millions of refugees then followed.
These people are climate refugees.
We need to make these connections, understanding that caring about climate change means we also need to care for those who suffer from it now. Let’s review a few more dots...
In the past week I’ve seen a horrifying number of attacks on Muslim peoples (and people mistaken for being Muslim) in Toronto. There’s been at least 3 cases that made it into the media,[3] and likely many more that didn’t. Given Toronto is the most diverse country in the world, these attacks are even more chilling (tho this story warmed my heart a little). And this is just scratching the global dotty surface.
We’re seeing the rise of neo-Nazi groups across Europe, such as a Golden Dawn, who are increasingly attacking climate refugees and immigrants.[4] In Paris last weekend the police attacked protesters at a pro-refugee rally[5] and Turkey, Hungary, Austria, Germany and Sweden have recently closed their borders to refugees.[6] Canada, a country that used to be known as a refugee safehaven, is claiming it can’t even handle 25,000 refugees (I found this image particularly powerful). See the dots?
At the same time, the BlackLivesMatter movement struggles against the horror of white supremacism in the US (and elsewhere), and we’re seeing presidential candidates spewing more and more disgusting racism.[7] It seems we’re weekly hearing about another unarmed black person shot dead by the police with impunity.[8] Indeed, 350.org activists are increasingly getting involved in race struggle, calling for us all to “get off the fence”.[9] A white ally at a recent protest that faced gunfire recently commented, “If you’ve ever wondered what you’d do if you were alive during the civil rights era, now’s the time to find out.” More dots.
It’s time for us to connect these dots. Just as we would look strangely at someone today who claimed there’s no connection between climate change and extreme weather, we need to gain a similar understanding of the connection between the climate’s breakdown and the increase of refugees, the rise of extremist racism, and the violent clamp-down of borders.
For further reading (if you’re not done yet!) I’d recommend this excellent article that was posted yesterday: Why Migration Should Be Central to Paris COP21 Climate Talks. I’d also encourage you to watch this fantastic video “Erase the Borders” from Submedia, my favourite anarchist TV show.
Can you spot the difference between this pic and the one above?
[1] http://www.climatedots.org/
[2] http://www.preventionweb.net/english/hyogo/gar/2011/en/bgdocs/GAR-2011/GAR2011_Report_Chapter3.pdf, page 60.
[3] Picking up kids from school: http://globalnews.ca/news/2343508/muslim-woman-attacked-while-picking-up-children-from-toronto-school-police/
On the subway: http://globalnews.ca/news/2349876/2-women-wearing-hijabs-allegedly-verbally-physically-harrassed-on-toronto-subway/
Walking home, just 10 minutes walk from where I used to live: http://www.citynews.ca/2015/11/20/toronto-woman-assaulted-after-her-scarf-is-mistaken-for-hijab/
There was also the women and children attacked in October: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/muslim-convert-attacked-while-wearing-niqab-in-toronto/article26646425/
[4] This video shows how terrifying this racist group has become: http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2012/oct/26/golden-dawn-greece-police-video
[5] https://www.rt.com/news/323062-paris-clashes-refugee-protest/
[6] Look it up, there’s plenty of links: https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Atheguardian.com%20closes%20borders#q=site:theguardian.com+closes+borders&hl=en&tbs=qdr:y
[7] Video from a few days ago: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2015/nov/23/black-lives-matter-protester-donald-trump-alabama-video
[8] It’s more like 3/day. Check out how many people in this picture are black: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/100-people-killed-police-month-2015-officers-killed-suspects/
[9] http://350.org/time-to-get-off-the-fence/
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