Liberal-&Amp;-Radical

The third meeting of the DGR Santa Barbara book club was held on Sunday, May 7th at the Eastside Library. We discussed chapter 4 of Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet. The following questions were posed to inspire discussion: How did the “Alternative vs. Oppositional Culture” comparison affect your understanding of this distinction and your understanding of political action? Do you believe that an alternative culture built around the project of an individualistic experience (whether spiritual or psychological) can create a resistance movement? Where have you seen millenarianism in political movements? How does this affect the effectiveness of those movements, especially ones you have been a part of? Do you see a culture of resistance forming in this country, in this state, in Santa Barbara? How could we help to encourage a culture of resistance here? How does the dominant culture teach us to ignore the wisdom of our elders? Do you agree with the analysis presented in this chapter that resistance movements need both the young and the old to succeed? What was your favorite part of the reading? A couple people agreed that this is their favorite chapter in the entire book because it really clarifies the difference between the alternative culture of, for example, the hippies, and an oppositional culture. Alternative cultures cannot create a true, effective resistance movement because they do not challenge the structures of power that maintain the status quo. This distinction is really valuable, especially for young people exploring different groups and discovering what they want to do with their lives. ...

The second meeting of the DGR Santa Barbara book club was held on Sunday, April 9th at the Eastside Library. We discussed Chapters 2 and 3 of Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet. The following questions were posed to inspire discussion: Do you think civilization, industrial or otherwise, is redeemable? Why or why not? How did the “Liberalism vs. Radicalism” comparison affect your understanding of this distinction and your understanding of political action? How has your understanding of any of the four main categories of action discussed in Chapter 3 (legal remedies, direct action, withdrawal, and spirituality) changed? Do you think an underground movement should mobilize to dismantle civilization? Do you think it is ever appropriate to use violence as a political tool? What was your favorite part of the reading? After the DGR members present at the meeting described our definition of civilization, nobody agreed that it could be redeemable. Civilization is inherently unsustainable, because cities–the defining features of a civilization–require the importation of resources. This means that civilization is not synonymous with culture or community; for the majority of humanity’s history we did not live in cities, but we still had communities and various cultures. The rise of civilization severed humans’ connection to the land and led to widespread cases of what are known as the “diseases of civilization:” cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc. ...

by Charlie Mountain / Deep Green Resistance Santa Barbara The Environmental Status Quo Mainstream environmental organizations have largely praised the Obama administration as environmentally friendly. Ed Chen, the national communications director for the National Resources Defense Council, described Obama as “the greatest climate change-fighting president in history.” The Environmental Defense Fund hailed Obama as “a leader committed to clean energy, climate progress, and protecting our natural heritage” who “leaves a better, cleaner, more sustainable world for all of our kids.” ...

The Women’s March took place on January 21st, the day after Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, in Washington, D.C. Upwards of 500,000 participated in the march, over twice the anticipated 200,000 and three times the estimated 160,000 in attendance at the inauguration. Sister marches also occurred throughout the U.S. and across all seven continents; a total of 673 marches were organized. Political scientists have estimated that somewhere between 3.3 million and 4.6 million people marched in the U.S., making it the largest protest in the country’s history. The highest turnout was in downtown Los Angeles, where over 750,000 people filled the streets. ...