This has all the hallmarks of a shakedown:
The mother of Ella Kissi-Debrah – the nine-year-old girl whose fatal asthma attack may have been linked to illegal levels of pollution – has said there is a lack of representation in climate activism.
People living in parts of London with high proportions of black, mixed or other ethnic groups are disproportionately affected by air pollution compared to those in areas with a high proportion of white people, according to research by the Mayor of London.
In the days of industrialised cities it was true that the poor neighbourhoods were situated downwind of the factories so their air quality was noticeably worse, but today? The pollution in London (and I suspect most modern cities) comes from vehicle exhausts and domestic and commercial boilers (.pdf); what’s the mechanism by which this worsens air quality in boroughs with lots of ethnic minorities?
Yet people from BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) backgrounds are often invisible in climate protest, says Rosamund Kissi-Debrah – who is due to speak at the World Health Organization on Monday.
That’s because it’s predominantly a western, white, middle class female movement which ropes in a lot of hen-pecked husbands and their idiotic Millennial offspring. You might as well complain Chinese are invisible at cricket matches and there are no Indian women at bluegrass jam sessions.
Ms Kissi-Debrah, who lost her daughter in 2013, says black or ethnic minority people care about climate change as much as other groups.
Either this is untrue, or the palefaces erect a phalanx around climate change protests to keep out the swarthy hordes demanding to take part.
Echoing Ms Kissi-Debrah’s comment is Professor Akwugo Emejulu – a sociology lecturer at the University of Warwick specialising in women of colour’s activism in Europe.
A professional race-baiter, in other words.
She says the main reason for what she sees as their lack of representation in activism lies in some of the tactics used by action groups, such as Extinction Rebellion.
That group that popped up out of nowhere a month or so back?
One of the strategies adopted by Extinction Rebellion during their 10-day demonstration in April was to get as many activists as possible arrested.
Prof Emejulu says some black campaigners are put off this approach because they fear violence and hostility from the police.
Because it’s impossible to campaign against climate change without being arrested. It’s either Extinction Rebellion and jail, or nothing.
Samantha Moyo is the coordinator for Extinction Rebellion Together – a section within the group that provides training on diversity.
Meaning the group accepts people from Eton and Harrow.
She says it took a lot of effort to overcome her fear of police when joining protest campaigns.
“I don’t know what it is about being black that makes you feel scared around police,” she said.
Their general incompetence?
“I’ve always got a feeling of, ‘they’re going to get me – out of everyone here, they’re going to come for me’.”
And have they? Or is this just paranoid delusion (or flat out lying) on your part?
Ms Moyo says she only felt safe from police at the latest protests because she was “holding hands with a fellow protester, who was white”.
As the great Chris Rock said, “get a white friend”.
She says police could help to reduce the fear sometimes felt by people of colour if they behaved in a more approachable way.
“Something as simple as a smile. Or maybe something like a declaration from a police department, saying: ‘We admit this has been a problem’, that would be quite healing.
I take it this diversity and policing expert has never seen the MacPherson report.
“Or even allowing or creating spaces for people who are traumatised by police to share their stories.
Have you tried blogger.com?
A lot of people of colour are traumatised.”
Two of them being your parents upon reading this article, I expect.
Kids of Colour – a platform for young ethnic minority people to explore identity and “challenge institutional racism” – says climate protests do not always allow for the realities they face.
To be fair, climate protests are pretty divorced from reality full stop.
School students around the world recently went on strike to demand action on climate change, but some at Kids of Colour question how inclusive the protests were.
Greta Thunberg did look a bit white supremacist-y, didn’t she?
“The school strikes have been fantastic to witness, but it is also a privilege to be able to skip school,” says one representative.
“Many young people of colour feel a pressure to succeed in education because society does not work in their favour.”
If your complaint is that only the spoiled brat offspring of wealthy parents get to flunk school with no consequences, I’m right behind you. But I’m not sure this has a whole lot to do with race.
Economic inequality can be another barrier for people of ethnic and minority backgrounds who are affected by climate change, says Ms Kissi-Debrah.
“Can you imagine giving up 10 days [of work] to sit in central London? It is absolutely not feasible for those in low-paid jobs.
Or any job.
“I’m not saying everyone in Extinction Rebellion is in a privileged situation, but a lot of them were in jobs that make it easier for them to take time off work.”
Such as in academia, NGOs, and the public sector.
The Wretched of the Earth, which describes itself as “a collective of grassroots indigenous, black, brown and diaspora groups”, wrote an open letter to Extinction Rebellion asking the group to rethink its tactics.
Environmentalists often warn that climate change will result in bitter wars over limited resources. What they fail to appreciate is the climate change movement has delivered much the same thing by itself.
While commending Extinction Rebellion’s successes, the letter said ethnic and minority voices were missing from the movement and need to be included early on, in order to effectively challenge systems upholding “racism, sexism and classism”.
To think, this article began with a little girl dying of asthma.
Referencing Miss Thunberg’s “house on fire” analogy, the group said: “Our communities have been on fire for a long time and these flames are fanned by our exclusion and silencing.”
How dare they attack an autistic schoolgirl!
People from BAME backgrounds need to be taken into consideration from the very start, says Prof Emejulu.
Especially when handing out money, power, and privilege.
“It’s not about organising in your own terms and then trying to draw people in. You have to be embedded in the communities with the people that are affected by this.
We can’t be bothered organising ourselves, so we demand you include us in your own activities right from the start.
“It’s also about democracy – if democracy isn’t reflected in your activism then that’s a problem.”
Democracy in this case meaning random, race-hustling outsiders get to tell you what to do.
Ms Moyo says Extinction Rebellion is working on taking action to ensure that people of colour are not being left out.
By including their parents’ housekeepers on the roster?
“I’m excited about what we’re doing,” she says, “because we’ll be raising awareness and providing training around racism, colonialism, systemic trauma and other important issues.”
With a pink yacht on Oxford street.
Greens of Colour is part of the Green Party, aiming to represent BAME members. And Friends of the Earth (FoE) has also acknowledged there is a problem with diversity in climate debates.
How diverse are the donors, I wonder?
In particular, says an FoE spokeswoman, groups need to be better at recruitment and “bringing people in that the sector hasn’t done very much to interest”.
Sane people?
FoE now gives potential supporters a variety of ways to join and tries to make sure they see their experiences reflected in campaigns.
A campaign against polar bear extinction from the perspective of a middle class race-hustler from London would be worth watching, I feel.
The spokeswoman adds: “But we own that we have a long way to go.”
And you always will, because it will never be enough. For my part, I’m delighted by this development: the more these idiotic progressives fight among each other, the better. More please, and faster.
In London they’ll just end up in squats, under bridges, or in slum housing. Sadiq Khan knows that by declaring that “London is open” he is making a bad situation worse, but he does so anyway so he can look good in the eyes of the dim and deceitful. A serious country would never even have let this man become mayor of its capital city, let alone behave as he does.
