In your book, American Resistance, you wrote about distributed organizing a bottom-up approach to organizing that relies on technology to mobilize and connect people. What lessons can be learned from distributed organizing and how could it be used effectively by climate organizers? That is such a great question. The challenge of distributed organizing is using the technology to connect people in ways that then matter on the ground where we live as well as digitally connecting us to a global network of activists. If we look at what Greta Thunberg started and the Fridays for Future folks have continued by connecting people digitally, connecting them to call for an action,. But notice that besides during COVID, those actions were in person where people actually
From the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter, activists have long sought to bring pressing issues into the public consciousness. Climate activism is no different. This past Earth Day spawned a new ripple of climate activism. Activists protested at the headquarters of BlackRock in New York City, smeared paint on the casing around an Edgar Degas statue and even tried to block the entrance of the White House Correspondents dinner in DC. But that’s not the only style of activism that’s happening. Some are working from within big institutions to effect change. So what actions really move the needle?
Guests:
Dana Fisher, Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland
Rose Abramoff, Earth Scientist and Climate Activist
Ilana Cohen, Lead Organizer, Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard
For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices