The recent decision by the Biden Administration to stop the years-long practice by the Department of Energy of rubber stamping proposed methane gas (LNG) export terminals was a definite victory for the planet and its peoples. It’s a “pause” for about a year, by no means the halt to ANY new fossil fuel projects called for three years ago by the International Energy Agency. But it is the latest sign of the growing political and organizational power of the US and worldwide movement for climate justice and urgent climate action.

This victory almost certainly would not have happened if that movement had not brought many tens of thousands of people into the streets of mid-town Manhattan in NYC on September 17^th. That mass demonstration, combined with 700 or so smaller actions around the world at the same time and hundreds of nonviolent direct action arrests in NYC before and after the 17^th, was not a policy victory but was definitely something which had a big political impact.

And there are other victories being won, such as in the state of New Jersey where I live and am politically active. Here, primarily because of the five-plus years of coordinated work by the Empower New Jersey coalition of 130 or so groups statewide, half of the 12 fracked gas infrastructure projects in the works five years ago when we were formed have been defeated, and two others are likely defeats. Only four of those 12 have been or are likely to be built and go into operation.

What do all three of these victories have in common?

-An EJ analysis: A very big one is a commitment to consciously working to have a broadly based coalition with an anti-racist, environmental justice lens and participation in decision-making from groups based in people of color and low-income communities. Sometimes those two things—a broad coalition and an EJ analysis/involvement—are in conflict, which then weakens the overall effort. But when there is success in doing both, experience has shown that there is an energy and a dynamic which yields positive, sometimes very big, results.

-A healthy internal process: Fortunately, more and more leaders of the many organizations fighting hard on the climate and other issues appreciate that organized efforts need a healthy, democratic internal process of decision making where the perspectives of frontline groups are given special consideration. Also essential is a commitment to listening to and involving young people, working class people, and lgbtq+ people.  This doesn’t mean that there aren’t disagreements and conflicts, sometimes pretty intense, but it does mean that when these develop there is a conscious effort to work to resolve them in an honest and upfront way.

-Multiple tactics: Over the five plus years of the Empower New Jersey coalition’s work there have been a wide range of tactics used, all of which have been necessary to achieve victories: outreach to and building relationships with mass media outlets—visible mass demonstrations—bird dogging those we are pressuring with our demands—nonviolent direct action involving risk of arrest—long distance, visible walks (we did a 50 mile one over five days)—lobbying of relevant elected officials—testifying, in person and online, at meetings of the relevant government bodies and agencies—and probably some more. The targets, the ones who have the power to do the right thing, need to be seeing and feeling us over and over again.

Sometimes, organizing is more like hanging on and refusing to give in despite very bad odds. Sometimes you are wondering much too often if there’s really much hope of defeating the bad things you are fighting. But history shows that if we don’t give up, little by little strengthen the core group of people taking action, increasingly involve significant numbers of people, and use our intelligence and creativity as best we collectively can, then yes, organized people really can defeat organized money backed by corrupt power.

And over time we can create a mass movement with the smarts and strength to bring about the systemic, revolutionary change so urgently needed in this troubled but wonderful world.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist, organizer and writer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21^st Century Revolution. More info can be found at https://tedglick.com. 

“Speaking theoretically, a strike in the electricity sector would effectively shut down society, creating the effect of a general strike, given that economic activity is impossible without electricity.”   p. 236

The main argument made by Matthew T. Huber in his book, “Climate Change as Class War,” is that virtually all of the other ways that climate/climate justice activists have been organizing and taking action on this issue over the last 20 or so years have pretty much failed. They’ve done so first, he says, because they haven’t had a working-class base and strategy and secondly, because they haven’t realized that the key to bringing about the urgent shift we need away from fossil fuels to other energy sources is through the organization of workers in the electricity industry. As the quote above indicates, he sees them as having the power to force change because of their strategic place in the overall economy.

I support organized efforts by those who have not just a class consciousness but a climate justice consciousness to do this work. Without question, an organized rank-and-file movement within the electricity sector supportive of wind, solar and other clean renewable energy sources would be helpful, potentially critical, in making the Green New Deal type of shift in the economy that working-class and other people need and which Huber supports.

However, there are some very big obstacles to be overcome if this electrical workers focus is to play anything close to the role Huber believes it can.

One is the reality that the primary electrical workers union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), as is true of almost all the construction unions, has not been historically a big supporter of shifting to renewables. They support coal, methane gas and nuclear power, as well as renewable energy—the all-of-the-above approach. They support very problematic carbon capture and sequestration. Perhaps as renewables and electric cars/trucks/buses/trains grow and displace those polluting and climate destabilizing 20^th century energy sources, the IBEW will change, but as of now it’s a definite problem.

Then there’s the reality that electrical unions are part of the sector of the working class that is most conservative politically, in general. Workers in this industry are high-income in relationship to most of the working class. Historically and today, the construction unions are the least progressive, the most white and male, compared to unions in sectors like health care, transportation, retail, agriculture and government.

This doesn’t mean that organizing among this sector of the working class is not important. It can be. For white activists and organizers in particular, we have a responsibility to put ourselves in workplaces and communities where we can develop relationships and talk with white and male working-class people from an anti-racist, anti-sexist and progressive standpoint. Huber doesn’t write about this, but it’s definitely an additional reason why work in the electrical unions could be valuable.

A major weakness of Huber’s book is its downplaying of the environmental justice (ej) movement. At some places he speaks positively about it but at others it’s hard to understand why he’s saying what he is. Here’s one example, on p. 74: “Many justice-centered approaches lack a theory of power. . . [it is] focused on centering the most marginalized and vulnerable communities. . . While this is certainly morally important, and these struggles over livelihood are working-class struggles, these populations are defined by their social weakness.” He goes on from this to ultimately identify electrical workers as the sector with the potential power that he doesn’t see ej communities as having. Given the history of the trade union movement since after World War Two, this position is more ideological, almost “faith-based,” than one based on historical and present reality, although we are finally seeing a thankful resurgence of the union movement.

There is one place in the book where the word “intersectionality” is used, on page 22, and it is used in the context of Huber articulating that a “production-rooted theory of class” is the correct approach, that “these forms of oppression [race, gender, sexuality] are not separate from but constitute class power.” In other words, everything is all about class.

In my book 21^st Century Revolution I address these issues, particularly in a chapter entitled “US Class Structure and Revolution Making.” After analyzing some of the interrelationships between class, gender, race and sexuality and putting forward my analysis of the seven class groupings, three of them sectors of the working class, I conclude in this way:

“It is essential that there be significant involvement of working-class leaders in the leadership of the alliance. There will be other classes part of it, farmers, professionals, small businesspeople, ministers, others. In the absence of a conscious commitment to have a broadly-based, multi-racial, multi-gender, multi-issue leadership representing not just the different movements and sectors of the population but especially the different sectors of the working class, ¾ of the population, the potential of the alliance will not be realized.

“With such an alliance, and with sound strategy, tactics and methods of organizing, we can truly create another world.”

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist, organizer and writer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21^st Century Revolution. More info can be found at https://tedglick.com. 

“A solution of the present crisis will not take place unless men and women work for it. Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Even a superficial look at history reveals that no social advance rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals. Without persistent effort, time itself becomes an ally of the insurgent and primitive forces of irrational emotionalism and social destruction. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”  Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p. 197

Three days from now, January 15, will be the first day of the 95^th year since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born. It’s a federal holiday, won through the years-long struggle decades ago of many people who organized for it to be so. Because they did that work, for the last 39 years and for decades to come, young people and all people in the USA learn about Dr. King at this time, are exposed to some of his ideas, and without question this contributes to the building and strengthening of movements for justice, equal rights and peace.

People need examples of clarity and courage to be so themselves.

However, King’s quote above should deepen our understanding of what our responsibilities are as people trying to change the world for the better. Substantive change, change that is desperately needed, doesn’t happen without hard work, without “sacrifice, suffering and struggle.”

Frederick Douglass is famous for something similar that he said on August 4, 1857:

“Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are those who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

King and Douglass were not saying that our lives need to be constant work, constant struggle against the racist, rich and regressive, predominantly white men with whom we must do battle. Both of them were part of an African-grounded culture in which singing and community-building were central. The civil rights movement of the 1950’s was a movement where singing was essential to the ability of that movement to ultimately win major victories, after years of struggle and sacrifice. And it wasn’t just singing in churches at rallies. People sang in jail. People sang when demonstrating right next to white racists. Singing gave them power.

2024 is a big year for us. Our grandchildren and great grandchildren and the seven generations to come need us to work hard and together on the major issues of the day, to defeat Trump and the MAGA fascists, elect genuine progressives, and in so doing, lay the basis for the systemic, justice-based change the world urgently needs in this climate emergency time.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist, organizer and writer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21^st Century Revolution. More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.