Let them Drown, the Violence of *Othering

Vivienne with Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein

Last night, Vivienne and CR were invited to attend Naomi Klein’s Edward W. Said London Lecture at the Royal Festival Hall.

Naomi, of course, focussed on the climate crisis and “the central role that systems that rank the relative value of humans – including but not limited to white supremacy, patriarchy and Orientalism – have played in creating and deepening that crisis.”

“It is not about things getting hotter and wetter but things getting meaner and uglier, unless we change the corrosive values that are pitting people against each other.”

(*Othering: the process by which large swathes of humanity are cast as sub-human, a status used to justify violent expulsion, occupation and invasion: Edward Said)

The territory of the lecture was wide ranging – geographically, scientifically and historically. This century sea level rise could wipe out our major coastal cities and the history and culture they embody. This century the Middle East will “likely experience temperature levels that are intolerable to humans.”

Naomi emphasised that we need “integrated solutions” to bring down emissions, create good jobs and deliver “meaningful justice to those that have been most abused and excluded under the current extractive economy.” And this last point is key:  othering must cease, a coalition must be built including social and food justice organizations, indigenous people, labour organizations, Black Lives Matter, those suffering most in our society. Only then do we stand a chance of winning this fight for our home – the planet earth.

Naomi’s full speech will be available very soon. Many of these ideas form the basis of the Leap Manifesto which Naomi and her husband Avi Lewis have been working with others to establish in Canada – and the ideas are now spreading to many countries throughout the world.