Blog: Pathways to a sustainable & just post-capitalist world
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Welcome! I created this blog to research and discuss issues that obstruct or improve humanity’s chances for creating a sustainable & just post-capitalist world, something we could and should have seriously committed to 50 years ago. While there is still no sign that governments will start to take the decisive action required to end the use of fossil fuels and limit the global temperature rise, climate breakdown is beginning to accelerate and we are facing an escalation of natural disasters and resulting suffering and death of humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Entire ecosystems are on the brink of collapse and large areas will become uninhabitable because of floodings and desertification. There is an increasing urgency to hit the brakes, not just on our use of fossil fuels, but on our exploitative and destructive obsession with economic growth more generally. It is crucial that we keep envisioning pathways towards a better future, where humans can live in balance with nature and with each other, so that we can choose the best courses of action to get there.
I will use this blog to examine the various problems we are facing and to critically evaluate potential solutions and strategies for system change. Sadly, many people are still blissfully unaware of the immense devastation humans are causing to this planet, partly because ignorance is easy and partly because those responsible for this devastation keep it skillfully out of sight of the general public wherever possible. At the same time, people who are committed to change are often misguided by fake solutions that fail to address the roots of the problems. In a time that our attention spans are under attack by social media and our ability to judge legitimacy of information is becoming clouded by pervasive misinformation campaigns, I hope to bring in a little bit of balance and a bridge between science, news, and activism.
Topics that I want to cover include: the damage done by resource extraction, intensive agriculture, and polluting industries, the ongoing colonial exploitation of the Global South, escalating economic inequality and power of the wealthy, attacks on democracy and human rights, the externalization of social and environmental costs, the potentials and limitations of the green & circular economy, degrowth’s utopian promises, ways to pursue environmental & climate justice, opportunities for activism and building social movements, redistribution through caps and taxes, strategies for policy changes, approaches to job guarantee and universal basic income, the role of small entrepreneurship, the value of communal eco-living as models for the future, the design of financial systems and possibilites to pay for the transition, and even more! Plenty of interests and ideas, so little time…
My aim is to inform and mobilize, both myself and my readers. As I have become disillusioned with my own professional trajectory and efforts to make a difference, I have decided to recommit myself to research and writing to whatever extent I can afford to. The blog is an excuse to properly dive into these topics, to investigate thoroughly, so that I can make informed decisions on where I can realistically and effectively make a contibution to the eradication of capitalism. I hope readers will also feel inspired to try to engage in their own way. While change can be scary, many people don’t quite realize how terrifying not changing will be. We have a fast closing window where we can still have some influence towards positive change before we become overwhelmed by disasters and can only still reactively deal with the symptoms. Let’s make sure we keep our eyes on the ball!
Support the Resistance
This page is a living, growing document where I list and continously add current fundraising initiatives by grassroots groups of people resisting extractive industries. If you feel enraged, yet powerless, about the climate crisis and the destruction of the planet, and you have some money to spare, this page is for you! One way to contribute to the resistance is to donate to the indigenous and local communities on the frontlines. They can use all the financial support they can get for organizing, for raising awareness, for civil disobedience actions, and for legal support.
Artivism Part 2: Paper-Mâché & Paint
In the past years, every time I planned to join a climate action, I asked myself whether I could do something creative beyond writing an improvised sign with marker on a shoddy piece of cardboard in the train on the way to the event, but I never found the time or inspiration. I consider artivism not just a valuable way to strengthen a social movement, but also as resistance against those capitalist forces pushing us all into the straightjacket of obedient, productive, and mindless consumerism and citizenship. So as soon as I found a window of time, I did some research and got creative at home for the next climate action! In this blog post, I describe my recent experiences building a big paper-mâché vampire head and making a protest sign, with practical tips.
Artivism Part 1: Introduction & Examples
Ever since I started joining climate protests, I have been intrigued by the role of visuals and creative actions. Activists regularly come up with funny costumes, crazy constructions, beautifully made signs, and catchy slogans. Sometimes there is even a choreographed performance or a band singing protest songs. All this creativity adds strength to the movement, for example by conveying a sense of urgency, pointing to outrageous power relations, or revealing how ridiculous things we take for granted can be, doing so in ways that really grabs the attention. Such combinations of art and activism are often referred to as artivism. In this blog post, I discuss artivism and share some inspiring examples and helpful resources.
A rant about the need for resistance & change
Last Saturday, during an XR-NL protest in The Hague against the €39.7-46.4 billion annual fossil fuel subsidies by the Dutch government, a police officer broke the ribs of a peaceful rebel by pushing a knee on his chest, first on one side, then on the other… Peaceful climate activists who are rightfully concerned about the future and who demand government action to stop escalation of the climate crisis are regularly being described as criminals and there are increasing calls for a tough police response and fines.
In Bezwaar tegen Bomenkap
In januari 2023 kwam ik erachter dat de Gemeente Hoeksche Waard 13 grote essen in een straat in mijn dorp wilde kappen. Niet overtuigd van de noodzaak voor de kap heb ik in het afgelopen jaar bezwaar aangetekend, een verzoek voor een voorlopige voorziening (vovo) ingediend bij de rechtbank, gesproken met bomenexperts, politici, en de media, een jurist ingeschakeld, een second opinion onderzoek laten doen, en een hoorzitting van de bezwaarcommissie bijgewoond. Ik heb ontzettend veel geleerd en wil dit hier graag delen met anderen die onnodige bomenkap in hun gemeente willen proberen tegen te houden.
Concrete Action for System Change
Let's assume you are motivated and eager to make a contribution to much needed system change in order to build a sustainable and just post-capitalist world, but you wonder where on earth to even begin. Welcome to the club! It's rather easy to say that we need to change the goal of our capitalist system from GDP growth to sustainable well-being, that we need progressive income taxes, that we need to put limits on resource extraction, and that we need to punish pollution of the environment, but what can you and I actually do to help make that happen?
Frustrated Idealisms
Apart from the polished professional blurb about myself, I want to get a little bit more real here and share some of my struggles throughout my professional trajectory. My CV may seem fascinating and somewhat impressive, or so I have heard, but the format hides a path filled with frustrations and rejections in my efforts to pursue a meaningful career. We don't often talk about these things, because we feel shame in failure and rejection.
Cognitive Dissonance and Opportunities for System Change
Like so many people, I am incredibly frustrated with humanity at the moment. We are trapped in a system that keeps promoting and rewarding immensely exploitative and destructive greed by a relatively small group of powerful wealthy people at the expense of everyone else and of the natural world. Despite decades of pressing signs that there will be devastating consequences for life on this planet, we mostly just continue business as usual, as if ignoring the symptoms will make the disease go away.