‘A series of seemingly endless wars, waged in the name of peace and security, lead to greater instability.’
Animal instinct, part two: Nim Njuguna offers further polemic on the wolves at COP26
‘Genuine attempts to save the earth require an open dialogue.’
If I were a delegate at the twenty-sixth UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), there are six types of wolves I would be looking out for.
Capitalist wolves
In the absence of a level playing field, countries with the most power and wealth will send the most delegates to argue their viewpoint. Without shame, they will sit at the high table repeating that pious lie of solidarity: ‘We are all in this together.’ They actually have protective nationalistic tendencies – for example, they continue to hoard Covid vaccines, and the raw materials needed to make them. The pandemic has revealed disturbing limits in global solidarity. Economic inequality exacerbates environmental damage; the two issues are intrinsically linked. Profits are made in ‘developing countries’, but not by the people who live there.
Consumerist wolves
With a growth economy predicated on an individualistic, materialistic and spiritually-indifferent worldview, fighting for a fair and liveable future is paramount. This sectarian environmental battlefield is dominated by those who believe that every economic and social problem has a market solution. With false and misleading green marketing claims, ‘greenwashing’ inaccurately portrays products as environmentally friendly. Well-intentioned purchasers are misled. Such salespeople do not regard the accelerated loss of biodiversity, or climate change, as serious threat. They have no qualms about creating binge consumers in order to try to solve social problems that were created by the market in the first place.
‘A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth’ – Martin Luther King Jr.
Nationalist wolves
Assimilationists in the corridors of power reject multiple identities and different worldviews. With a disdain for socially inclusive approaches, they are unwilling to engage in meaningful intercultural dialogue. They promote triumphalistic and exceptionalistic narratives of culture, race and country, while turning a blind eye to the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual preference, age, and other power differentials. Hostile policies towards refugees, for example, sharpen differences and lock people in partisan warfare. Furthermore, these wolves deny the link between recent crises, downplaying post-colonial, economic and social power relations.
Media wolves
Dominant voices on social media reject the claim that the fight for survival is also a fight for justice. Environmental movements are demonised. Being unaccountable and largely unregulated allows nepotism, cronyism, wealth and power to shape what is promoted as newsworthy. Alternative views are ostracised. Often, these platforms are places of political manipulation, promoting conservative worldviews. Rich in both social capital and inherited wealth, these wolves are derisory towards those whose politics they do not share. They are intent on reversing the progress already made, constantly undermining the notion of living together in diversity.
Democracy suffers in all this. Readers withdraw into social amnesia.
Militaristic wolves
Driven by a pervasive ideology of ‘power over the other’, these defenders of the military seem to operate above the law. Their institutional violence seeks to subjugate other nations and people. A series of seemingly endless wars, waged in the name of peace and security, end up leading to greater instability. These wolves have spawned a multibillion-pound arms trade, both legal and illegal, exacerbating regional and global tensions with quick profits preferred to lives and human rights.
Underneath this is a neoliberal approach of responsible individualism, which undermines the state and slashes public services such as health, welfare, and education. This underfunding of public provision is matched with overspending on weaponry.
‘Remember your responsibility as citizens for the government of your town and country, and do not shirk the effort and time this may demand. Do not be content to accept things as they are, but keep an alert and questioning mind. Seek to discover the causes of social unrest, injustice and fear; try to discern the new growing-points in social and economic life. Work for an order of society which will allow men and women to develop their capacities and will foster their desire to serve’ – Quaker faith & practice 23.01.
Patriarchal wolves
The stubborn and universal persistence of patriarchy as a system results in much harmful stereotyping. From its suppression of the innate natural balance of our feminine and masculine creative powers, it creates privileges and social norms of oppression in legal, political, economic, social and sexual realms.
Patriarchal macho culture is not only deeply misogynistic, but is wedded to the masculinised institutions of capitalism and paternalistic thought forms. These offer distorted values in which prejudice towards race, ethnicity, religion and class gains legitimacy. Spiritual falsehood prevails alongside the political, and patriarchal values – as false as they are immoral – further endanger any society craving to be at ease with itself. Patriarchy is hostile to any attempts at self-empowerment among oppressed groups, yet offers loud platitudes in the public arena.
Glasgow will be a microcosm of our world, and we should look out for fellow travellers engaging with honesty and humility. The hubris of patriarchy, and its inherent violence, should be exposed. Its systems lead to the exploitation of natural resources, and to the marginalisation of those disproportionately affected by environmental injustice and climate change.
Genuine attempts to save the earth require an open dialogue. This must include the voices of all people working towards dismantling patriarchy and other systems of oppression. Existing patriarchal approaches address poverty, consumption and climate change in a way that tends to blur historical inequalities. This hampers opportunities for civic and political participation by the marginalised for the greater good.
‘When we turn inside or beyond ourselves to grasp some understanding of the divine, we discover through encounter that what we need to find we will find: a Something creative and renewing, overwhelmingly strong and passive, completely wise and innocent, living and dying, feminine and masculine. Our father, our mother, our light, which is in heaven and earth, holy is your name. Come’ – Patrice Haan, North Pacific Yearly Meeting.
Comments
Very valuable work
By Peter Juler on 23rd October 2021 - 17:01
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