Strategy

The strategy for a war must be devised based on the nature of the battle. At the end of the fourth set of writings making up this autobiographical archive I concluded that we in are a war over the well-being of planet Earth. At the end of the fifth set, I suggested that it is imperative that we understand the kind of war we face if we are not to fall into the trap of the extremes and the unlimited, suicidal madness of the enemy. We need to think about how to fight this war. We need a philosophy that can form the basis for a strategy of action.

The war for the future well-being of planet Earth, I suggest, that we are in a war of the soul between radical evil and radical grace. The embodied soul, mind, heart of planetary life is the Grround Zero point where radical evil is at war with radical grace, radical care of the soul, wholeness, gratitude or resentment. In his 2002 book, Radical Evil: A Philosophical Investigation, Richard J. Bernstein reflects on resentment:

Hannah Arendt, some 60 years ago after the publication of the Genealogy and, after the tumultuous evens of the first half of the twentieth century, invokes Nietzsche in her ‘Concluding Remarks’ to The Origins of Totalitarianism, where she speaks of the dangers of resentment with an obvious allusion to Nietzsche’s resentiment. She writes: ‘For the first disastrous result of man’s coming of age to that modern man has come to resent everything given, even his own existence – to resent the very fact that he is not the creator of the universe and himself. In this fundamental resentment, he refuses to see rhyme or reason in the given world. In his resentment of all laws merely, given to him, he proclaims openly that everything is permitted and believes secretly that everything is possible. And since he knows that he is a law-creating being, and that his takes, according to all standards of past history is ‘super-human’, he resents even his nihilistic convictions, as though they were forced upon him by some cruel joke of the devil. (origins of Totalitarianism,1951 edn, P. 438)

Here I want to turn to the future to suggest that Kate Raworth’s seven chapters in Doughnut Economics and the Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) constitute an invaluable outline of a strategy, a strategy not only of resistance, but of healing and alternative co-creation. As the Action Lab puts it, we need people, communities, societies, cultures, neighborhoods, corporations, states that are “turning the ideas of Doughnut Economics into practice.”

I believe that many of the names I have invoked in this archive are in fact doing just that, bringing their own many different perspectives to build richer, more powerful vision. In this way, whereas the Archive has looked back, the Strategy points forward. Here, now, in the present, between past and future, we meet ourselves in the mirror and see the Janus face, betwixt and between, described by Bruno Latour in the opening pages of Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society¸1987; described also by Hannah Arendt, in her essays in Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought¸ 1961.  

The Battlefield of the War of the Soul’s Gift of Life

Its Ambiguous Capacities

Between Gratitude and Resentment

This territory between past and future is Ground Zero, the point of maximum concentration of weight, force, attention. It is the point where maximum resistance, maximum counter-force is naturally concentrated – or, may give way unexpectedly so that the destructive force is suddenly off-balance. The point goes much deeper. It goes all the way down to the depths of the human soul, where the gift of life which makes us agents, world-making actors, players, stewards together with one another on behalf of one another, and where that gift is what also makes it possible for us to become world-destroying agents.  This is the battlefield of the soul, individual-collective. A lot is being packed on the battlefield of the soul.

Gramsci’s counter-appropriation of the idea of “hegemony” has made him a source of inspiration, hope, resistance, and new life for countless others, including figures like Phyllis Cunningham and Raymond Williams, from both of whom I learned of him. Briefly, “hegemony” refers not only to domination of the material territory of the enemy, but also to the mad totalitarian dream of conquest of the mind, heart, soul, and body of the enemy.  Gramsci’s insight, an act of his soul, is that this is a territory which can never be wholly subjugated, and therefore can always become a source of hope, resistance, and new life – Gramsci’s appropriation, I suggest, has itself been the inspiration for countless movements. Whether inspired by Gramsci or not, David Ciepley’s call to reappropriate the corporation as a steward or franchise of public, planetary authority, is surely one of the most important examples of a gestalt shift of mind, heart, soul, and body, that could alter the direction of the future.

I would remind readers of Naomi Klein’s overlooked Nation article on the inner obstacles to decisive action on behalf of climate well-being. See also the astonishing Wikipedia article on the global response to the call for Blockadia. Below is a list of topics and sources from that article suggestive of the scale and scope of movements.

From Wikipedia Entry For “Blockadia”

Blockadia is a global anti-extractivism movement;[1] and a roving, transnational conflict zone where everyday people obstruct development of extractive projects, especially in the fossil fuel industry.[1][2][3] Blockadia resistance movements differ from mainstream environmentalism by use of confrontational tactics such as civil disobedience, mass arrests, lockdowns, and blockades to contest perceived threats arising from extractivist projects’ contributions to global climate change and local environmental injustice. These movements are also sometimes referred to as “leave fossil fuels underground” (LFFU) movements.[4] Some researchers have concluded that Blockadia movements aim to contribute to a transition toward a more just society.[5] Increasing use of Blockadia tactics may indicate that more people are losing trust in capitalism’s ability to avert a climate crisis.[1][2]

While many examples of Blockadia movements exist worldwide, researcher Joan Martínez-Alier find that many include collective organizing against some or all of the following injustices: violation of human rights, contamination of water and soil, air pollution, unjust land and water acquisition, loss of biodiversity, health impacts, and poor working conditions.[4]

Topics

Blockadia and carbon emissions

State-corporate crime

Differences with mainstream environmentalism

History

Examples

The Environmental Justice Atlas has complied several examples of Blockadia campaigns from around the world.[7][9]

Civil society in South Africa has restructured its challenges to state-supported extractivist projects with Blockadia tactics in response to the Marikana massacre of mine workers in 2012.[10]

Blockadia and health advocacy

Human-nature bonds and Indigenous teachings in Blockadia movements

In popular culture

References

  1.  Chen, Sibo (2021-12-02). “The rise of blockadia as a global anti-extractivism movement”. Local Environment. 26 (12): 1423–1428. doi:10.1080/13549839.2021.1969352. ISSN 1354-9839. S2CID 238736509.
  2.  Bradshaw, Elizabeth A. (2015). “Blockadia Rising: Rowdy Greens, Direct Action and the Keystone XL Pipeline”. Critical Criminology. 23 (4): 433–448. doi:10.1007/s10612-015-9289-0. ISSN 1205-8629. S2CID 254412504.
  3.  Chen, Sibo (10 March 2021). “‘Blockadia’ helped cancel the Keystone XL pipeline — and could change mainstream environmentalism”. The Conversation. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  4.  Martínez-Alier, Joan (2023-12-12), “Blockadia and climate justice: LFFU movements”, Land, Water, Air and Freedom, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 313–349, ISBN 978-1-0353-1277-1, retrieved 2025-03-27
  5.  Thiri, May Aye; Villamayor-Tomás, Sergio; Scheidel, Arnim; Demaria, Federico (May 2022). “How social movements contribute to staying within the global carbon budget: Evidence from a qualitative meta-analysis of case studies”. Ecological Economics. 195 107356. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107356. hdl:2445/183207. ISSN 0921-8009.
  6.  “CO2 Emissions in 2022 – Analysis”. IEA. 2023-03-02. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
  7.  Martínez-Alier, Joan; Owen, Alice; Roy, Brototi; Bene, Daniela Del; Rivin, Daria (2018-07-20). “Blockadia: movimientos de base contra los combustibles fósiles y a favor de la justicia climática”. Anuario Internacional CIDOB: 41–49. ISSN 2014-0703.
  8.  Klein, Naomi (2014). This changes everything: capitalism vs. the climate. London. ISBN 978-1-84614-505-6. OCLC 890974047.
  9.  EJOLT. “Blockadia: Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground! | EJAtlas”. Environmental Justice Atlas. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  10.  Finkeldey, Jasper. “Lessons from Marikana?: South Africa’s sub-imperialism and the rise of Blockadia”. South Africa’s sub-imperialism and the rise of Blockadia. doi:10.4324/9780203732809-12. S2CID 188588702. Retrieved 2023-01-28. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  11.  Arteaga-Cruz, Erika; Mukhopadhyay, Baijayanta; Shannon, Sarah; Nidhi, Amulya; Jailer, Todd (2020-08-17). “Connecting the right to health and anti-extractivism globally”. Saúde em Debate. 44: 100–108. doi:10.1590/0103-11042020S108. ISSN 0103-1104.
  12.  Navas, Grettel; D’Alisa, Giacomo; Martínez-Alier, Joan (2022-03-01). “The role of working-class communities and the slow violence of toxic pollution in environmental health conflicts: A global perspective”. Global Environmental Change. 73 102474. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102474. ISSN 0959-3780.
  13.  Tenenbaum, David J. (April 2009). “Oil sands development: a health risk worth taking?”. Environmental Health Perspectives. 117 (4): A150–156. doi:10.1289/ehp.117-a150. ISSN 1552-9924. PMC 2679626. PMID 19440479.
  14.  Hanaček, Ksenija; Tran, Dalena; Landau, Arielle; Sanz, Teresa; Thiri, May Aye; Navas, Grettel; Del Bene, Daniela; Liu, Juan; Walter, Mariana; Lopez, Aida; Roy, Brototi; Fanari, Eleonora; Martinez-Alier, Joan (2024-11-01). “”We are protectors, not protestors”: global impacts of extractivism on human–nature bonds”. Sustainability Science. 19 (6): 1789–1808. doi:10.1007/s11625-024-01526-1. ISSN 1862-4057. PMC 11543721. PMID 39526229.
  15.  Cloud, Quanah Yellow; Redvers, Nicole (2023-01-01). “Honoring Indigenous Sacred Places and Spirit in Environmental Health”. Environmental Health Insights. 17 11786302231157507. doi:10.1177/11786302231157507. ISSN 1178-6302. PMC 9941589. PMID 36825244.
  16.  Antje (2021-02-10). “How Defeating Keystone XL Built a Bolder, Savvier Climate Movement”. The Commons. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  17.  Nilson, Geoffrey (2020-09-22). “”It was always what was under the poetry that mattered”: Reading the Paratext in Once in Blockadia by Stephen Collis”. Canadian Literature (242): 79–100.
  18.  Lombardi, William V (2017). “Energy Fabulations”. Gale Academic OneFile.

External links