[‘Inflatable barricades, Ende Gelände 2016’ Photo: Paul Levi Wagner / 350.org] In a recent interview Artúr van Balen of the Tools For Action (TFA) collective discusses the evolution of the now iconic inflatable barricades (née cobblestone), a silver foil inflatable cube which was recently featured in the Victoria & Albert Museum exhibition, Disobedient Objects (2014).… Continue reading Cube Tactics
Movement Media
[‘Verladestation, Ende Gelände 2016.’ Photo: Sumugan Sivanesan] Actions live off the images. So said one of the plenary speakers following the first day of action of Ende Gelände in the Lausitz, 2016. On the previous night an action primer was screened in the Zirkus Zelt. The short documentary featured video shot during 2015 occupation of… Continue reading Movement Media
A future much worse than the present
[‘Klaus Emmerich in Brown Coal Blues’ (2016) Photo: Vice] Brown Coal Blues (2016) is a documentary produced by VICE INTL that concerns mining in the Rhineland region, in which reporter Filipa Von Stackelberg interviews employees of energy corporation RWE who operate the Garzweiler lignite mine, alongside locals and mining opponents. Early in the program Von… Continue reading A future much worse than the present
Braun Kohle
[‘Garzweiler panorama’ (2013) Photo: Raimond Spekking] Lignite or brown coal supplies more than 25% of Germany’s electricity (Chazan and Foy, 2016). The soft peat-based rock forms close to the surface and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat content, low energy density and typically high moisture content. Lignite causes… Continue reading Braun Kohle
Ende Gelände: Here and no further
[‘Ende Gelände’ All photos: 350.org] Ende Gelände — stop the diggers — protect the climate. ‘Because I am not an activist. This isn’t what I do. I’m a relatively normal, middle aged chap who does clicktivism when he can find the time. Direct action is not my thing. I’m not cut out to be here, running… Continue reading Ende Gelände: Here and no further
Overland: ‘Power of assembly: On the New World Summit’
[‘Richard Bell, Callum Clayton-Dixon and Ilena Saturay, New World Summit Utrecht, 31 January 2016.’ Photo: Ernie Buts.] My short overview of the last New World Summit in Utrecht, January 2016 is now online at Overland. ‘Drawing on Rojava’s political experiment, the sixth NWS convened in Utrecht over the last weekend in January this year to… Continue reading Overland: ‘Power of assembly: On the New World Summit’
Runway: ‘Institutional Reform’
[Mathias Jud and Christoph Wachter speaking on the panel ‘Border Visions’ at Transmediale, Haus der Kulteren der Welt Berlin, February 2016.] A new article, ‘Institutional Reform: Art as Anti-Statecraft’ for Runway #30, Ecologies is now online. Institutions that facilitate the coming together of cultural objects, historical narratives, philosophical concepts, the wealthy elite and their political… Continue reading Runway: ‘Institutional Reform’
Counterpower
[‘Dilar Dirik, Sixth New World Summit, 29–31 January 2016, Utrecht.’ Photo: New World Summit] The late American historian and political theorist, Murray Bookchin (1921–2006), remains a prominent theorist of the peoples’ assembly. Bookchin pioneered the field of ‘social ecology,’ concerned with the inter-relations between social justice and ecological wellbeing. He considered collective face-to-face meetings as… Continue reading Counterpower
Prefiguration in the Present
[‘Freedom of Assembly, Protest at Zuccotti Park.’ Photo: Jason Lester] Paula Serafini begins her recent study of climate art-activists movements in the UK with the following statement: In the study of activism and social movements, prefiguration is seen as the creation of a future through present social relations (Serafini 2015, p. 195). She goes onto… Continue reading Prefiguration in the Present
Statecraft
[‘Abbot Point coal port, Queensland.’Photo: Tom Jefferson/Greenpeace] In a statement made in response to the announcement of The Paris Agreement, December 2015, Brian Ricketts, the head of the European coal lobbying association ‘Euracoal’, stated his industry would ‘hated and vilified in the same way that slave-traders were once hated and vilified.’ According to a report… Continue reading Statecraft