http://www.climatejusticefast.com/index.php/blog/ en paulrobertconnor@gmail.com Copyright 2011 2011-03-16T05:51:36+00:00 http://www.climatejusticefast.com/blog/entry/greenpeace-rolling-faster-reflects-on-whether-or-not-fasting-is-an-appropri/ http://www.climatejusticefast.com/blog/entry/greenpeace-rolling-faster-reflects-on-whether-or-not-fasting-is-an-appropri/#When:16:42:52Z Greenpeace International's board chair, Lalita Ramdas, talks about her own personal form of solidarity action, a fast, in this email exchange with Sarah Burton, our Deputy Programme Director. From Greenpeace blog A moral response to an immoral situation Greenpeace supporters worldwide have been demonstrating their commitment to action on climate change with song, dance, pictures, non-violent direct action, petitions, letter writing, phone calls, "box populi" cartoon care-packages,and a glorious spectrum of other actions. Greenpeace International's board chair, Lalita Ramdas, talks about her own personal form of solidarity action, a fast, in this email exchange with Sarah Burton, our Deputy Programme Director. Sarah, along with other members of our Senior Management team, are participating in a "rolling fast" in support of the long-term fasters. Dear Friends, Here in India, it is just past midnight on Sunday Dec 6 and we are a few hours away from the start of the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change on Dec 7. Some of us plan to fast for a day, or two days or more in solidarity with a group of committed Climate Activists who are fasting for forty days from November 6th. I am writing this to share some reflections around the idea of a FAST – or Hunger Strike – and how the very idea has created intensive debates around the question of whether or not Fasting is an appropriate tool for political action. Interestingly the concept of a fast does shock some – even though it is intrinsically a non-violent, morally forceful and peaceful action. Many of my colleagues in Greenpeace as also other progressives and activists have had problems with the idea of fasting as a tool for projecting the moral arguments on Climate Change to the world leaders gathering at Copenhagen. Further, since the idea of a fast seems intrinsically linked in the minds of many, to Gandhi, and since I happen to be Indian, there have been requests suggesting that I would be an appropriate person to try to offer some explanation around the concept itself. My own decision to observe a fast was motivated by the need to take a form of individual action. Personally I have been moved and motivated by the group of climate fasters who came together around the idea of the Climate Justice Fast – and their effort to `emotionally engage’ both ordinary people and powerful world leaders, in what has been described as `a moral response to an immoral situation’. Most importantly for me fasting is a form of action that is very valuable in building internal discipline – while at the same time deriving its power from being a voluntary activity which is not externally imposed. I can determine the form and duration of the fast. Yes, it is true that people in some cultures and societies – such as in India have grown up with the idea that keeping a day/days of fast – for either religious, spiritual, health, self discipline or political reasons – is quite normal, almost natural. Spiritual leaders, monks, yogis and more recently, leaders like Gandhi, have successfully used the fast as a tool to persuade by personal example. In a sense, Gandhi’s appeal for me as a woman and a feminist, is also that he was among the first to combine the `personal with the political’, by the simple device of combining a moral ethical message of personal discipline with a strong political message But it is also true that the fast as an instrument of religious belief, ethical arguments and political protest has been used by people in many countries – be it Ireland in the pre-Christian era; in Islam; in Catholicism and Buddhism among other faiths over millennia. Ted Glick, Director of the Chesapeke Climate Action Network put it well in an address on Gandhi Today that he gave recently to the William Patterson University in New Jersey : “Fasting is a form of action that is very valuable in building the internal discipline and the deeply-felt understanding of what’s really important in this world that we individually need to stay true to our best ideals. When you fast for more than a few days, especially on a water-only fast, you are forced to think about the reasons for your fasting, why you are putting yourself through this. You spend time thinking about all of the people all over the world who “fast” involuntarily because of an unjust world order which is dominated by a relative handful of billionaires and multi-billionaires.” Unlike a number of my family and friends who do fast regularly – I do not! And I am wondering what it was this time that pushed me to do so? I am not traveling to Copenhagen [ too much CO2] – and I see all around me in my own country, millions who are about to become climate refugees in addition to all the other forms of want and injustice and violence they have endured. In a sense, I see that we have little choice but to ACT in all the different ways and using all the imagination and innovation of which human kind is capable – be it the Nepali cabinet meeting at the foot of Mt Everest or the Maldives cabinet under the sea! So this is our small but genuine contribution to all those others out there. Lalita Ramdas ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: Lalita Ramdas From: Sarah Burton I wanted to thank you for this note which I am reading at just past 8 a.m. in Amsterdam on the day when I, like you, am taking this personal form of non-violent direct action of fasting. I feel as you do, the need to show the solidarity I feel with all of those around the world who have not got the choices that you & I have to eat, or not eat. To have a home, to have it disappear or be taken from me. To watch my child grow straight and strong, or to watch her fade and die from hunger. I have never faced such awful choices, but I have had and used the choices given to me to devote my professional life to work which I hope will have the impact of helping -- even slightly -- to end such terrible choices for others in the future. Those who purport to lead us, our political masters, appear to think that it is just fine to balance other choices, about certain levels of profits now against something that may happen to someone else in a faraway land or time. But those of us who are young enough or whose children or grandchildren are, to face the prospect of living in a climate changed world, or who have the imagination to see and feel that world, should realise there is no choice. This must be stopped. And now, here, today, tomorrow, this week, next week, we have created the opportunity to do that. Stop. Changing. the. Climate. This is what I think as I sit here reading your lovely message, Lalita. And this is why, today I choose not to eat. I hope you do not mind, Lalita, that I have also chosen to share our correspondence with some colleagues and friends, and with my straight and strong and beautiful daughter. Yours, in sisterhood and solidarity, Sarah 2009-12-11T16:42:52+00:00 http://www.climatejusticefast.com/blog/entry/i-am-not-an-activist.-so-why-am-i-on-a-hunger-strike/ http://www.climatejusticefast.com/blog/entry/i-am-not-an-activist.-so-why-am-i-on-a-hunger-strike/#When:07:08:50Z Building a climate movement is a complicated process. But finding an opportunity for individual action and acting on it was surprisingly straightforward, even if not easy.I'm amazed at the intensity that others in CJF - many of them younger - demonstrate and constructively harness to do more than their share of work to prevent catastrophic climate change. And at long-term activists' commitment, which looking at the environmental movement over a longer period has faced many setbacks; and the climate movement in particular seems so frantic (warranted) that its individuals risk burnout.So it was an honour to join the hunger strike, albeit a week late. I wanted to tie up an academic paper, and felt unprepared after learning of CJF barely a month beforehand. These reflect the fact that I am not as well informed and dedicated as my fellow fasters. I want to answer whether this was to be expected given my background. I hope other activists, and indeed everyone, will forgive me for it and for my limited involvement in the climate movement to date. The movement ought to accept members with open arms to all constructive involvement. I have not been an activist before. And nor can I see myself being a fulltime activist yet, though it seems there should be more - we need to see more action on the streets, more civil disobedience, more people writing letters, science-based policy, and politics standing up to business.  And if even more people were engaged, there may be no need for fulltime activists, and I may not be fasting. My skills are not in activism and organising. Except I'm doing well at fasting: I haven't eaten! I've lost only 6kg in 12 days. My mood is mostly up, and I'm mostly able to carry on with daily work.   How did I arrive at such an activity as fasting? I was a student campaigner on development issues. I first appreciated the gravity of climate change consequences in 2004. I had the idea to write a development paper on climate change consequences in 2007, but didn't find much material, nor interest from classmates. Only in 2009 did I earnestly try to relieve my ignorance. And so passed 6 months of listening to mp3 lectures, reading climate-related blogs, a couple of academic papers. I consider myself a broad reader, thinker and fairly flexible to different ideas and situations, so if it takes 13 years (since Kyoto) to be relieved of ignorance, and 5 years to get active, what will it take others whose situations are not as flexible and open as mine? Who are not in a learning environment, without financial or health pressures, or family to care for.  Drastic actions are required to dramatically shrink the timespan from individual awareness to action. I see my action as a very rational response to my experiences and my abilities.  As I mentioned before, I don't think my skills match a fulltime activist's tasks, as broad as they are. I donate, but I want to be more personally engaged. And why fasting in particular; put another way, what other drastic measures can one take? The hunger strike is one of the most powerful forms of moral protest. In The Art of Moral Protest, Jasper writes, "the gift of protesters is that they create controversy, [which]... leads to the weighting and testing of perspectives and values."  The last 3 posts on this blog have related personal accounts of how this occurs, and why it is neccessary. This is exactly a part of what we hoped to achieve. In a short amount of time. 2009-11-24T07:08:50+00:00 http://www.climatejusticefast.com/blog/entry/daniel-goes-to-a-party-to-learn-about-international-solidarity/ http://www.climatejusticefast.com/blog/entry/daniel-goes-to-a-party-to-learn-about-international-solidarity/#When:20:22:41Z Inspired by a post by fellow faster Mikayla, on friday night I went to a party. There was drinking, dancing, cross-dressing and occasional fighting. They were almost all journalists. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it became an excursion into the real world.It was a normal party of 40 or so people. There was drinking, dancing, cross-dressing and occasional fighting. Heeding the advice that I wouldn't be able to dance with my legs, on arrival I planned out a voyage through the rooms so as to minimise the temptation to flail my arms, and maximise contact with the most interesting looking people. It was difficult since they were all dressed up as another member of their group. They are Mundus Masters students of journalism, and some had already racked up impressive fulltime journalism experience: CNN, Jakarta Post, academia in Mozambique, interviewing state presidents.I was on day 8 of my fast, and I still get hungry at the sight of food. (Smells I can deal with, pleasing and satisfying my senses). It wasn't long before I had to sit down to avoid the sight of homemade cookies and chips. I ended up next to a quiet man from New Delhi, and had my first serious conversation about the life of the Indian poor. I came away struck by the naivety of my thinking, exacerbated by 2 years of studying economics. I proposed, "The people need energy from somewhere, and that's why they're building the dams?""No. The politicians want the dams. A few handful of people, for the well-off in cities to use the energy." Megawatt-pride is easier translated into dollars and votes, than the lives of a few tens of thousands of people in the villages, which lie in the valleys flooded by the dams."But every economist says GDP is correlated with energy use," I countered, thinking of the new "Indian middle class" that has been a darling of the capitalist system."The concept of GDP is a western concept," he said. "Where is does this idea of GDP come from?" Economists. Supported by politicians giving them a nice office to pontificate in. Supported in turn by wealthy businessmen. Started being used only in the 1940's! (Invented by Kuznets). That's a bloody short time, even for the inillustrious 'scientific' discipline, not even reaching back to the depression on which we're trying to base our plan to get out of the current financial crisis.   "What the majority of the Indians care about is being able to live. Their land. Their livelihood. Their traditions."And the relentless focus on GDP has made so many rural people into the urban poor, who of course just want to survive. And when one lives in a city, as destitute as can be, it's still increasing GDP. It's incredible how one can forget the perversity of such matters; even when one is fasting and just that little bit closer to the global poor than one's everyday comforts: cookies and chips. And taking part in the economy. 2009-11-21T20:22:41+00:00 http://www.climatejusticefast.com/blog/entry/fasting-at-the-40th-hour/ http://www.climatejusticefast.com/blog/entry/fasting-at-the-40th-hour/#When:19:22:31Z There were 40 hours from burial to resurrection, and also in the modern working week. But it will be far longer until I feel revived or feel like our work is done.I started my water-only fast 40 hours ago, and from starting this blog to finishing it, my mood has shifted from content to jittery. Jittery from stomach sensations. I was warned it wouldn't be easy (though it seems easier than I'd prepared myself for). Yesterday, at the end of my first day fasting, I was having serious doubts about the whole project - couldn't even pull myself together to blog. A group of journalism students in Aarhus started expressing interest in the fast, without my trying to engage them at all - I was just interested in borrowing a video camera.  One student has been great with filming. And others look promising. It tells me that I haven't been doing enough work to date - to let the relevant outlets know about the fast.  There are probably many more I should find. Their engagement and willingness to film or interview confirms to me that CJF can contribute much to the movement. From spiritual leaders to factory employees, the requirements are the same. We need to sacrifice, and work for it. And more than 40 hours if we can. 2009-11-14T19:22:31+00:00