Doug Ford Jr has a message for Elizabeth May, Caroline Lucas and all the Greens!

Sat at a computer in the library, I am aware that the woman looking at the screen next to me is becoming increasingly agitated.  She gasps and swears, as her annoyance grows; other library users are becoming alarmed.  I glance at her monitor, she is searching for news stories on the recent election in Ontario, Canada and is obviously upset by what she finds.  Last week, Canadians elected Doug Ford, of the Progressive Conservative Party, with a landslide, ending 15 years of Liberal rule.  Ford is the brother of disgraced Rob Ford, former mayor of Toronto, whose crack cocaine habit eventually saw him ousted.  Doug Ford is another right-wing populist, elected on promises to cut taxes, slash regulation and, above all, to end cap and trade policies aimed at reducing climate change.

It is no surprise that some people including the library user next to me have been dismayed, even devastated by Ford’s victory.  Doug Jr may be distasteful to many of us, but he is popular, and his victory should make those of us care about the environment, equality and diversity think deeply.  I would go as far as to say that Doug has a message for Greens.  From UK Green MP Caroline Lucas to Elizabeth May, leader of the party in Canada, Doug has something to say to green politicians.  They may not like his message but, I would argue, if they don’t listen they may be in trouble.

Doug Ford has declared that climate change is less importantthan ‘bread and butter’ issues and has declared that he will abolish theLiberals’ cap and trade scheme which aims to lower emissions.  As the news on climate change becomes more worrying by the day, politicians who either deny that climate change is occurring at all or say that it is a trivial issue that should be ignored, are coasting to victory.  Donald Trump is the most famous example, but mini Trumps are sprouting up like little mushrooms the world over.  In Central and Eastern Europe, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have all seen Trump-like politicians voted into office in recent times. Indeed the recently re-elected climate denying Czech President Milos Zeman, responded to Friends of the Earth’s attempts to prevent the logging of a national park, by stating he would respond to them in a “good old medieval way: burn them, piss on them and salt them”

Environmental protection is being demolished by Trump. He is opening national parks to oil exploration, has put a climate denier in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency and is making it legal to shoot hibernating grizzly bears.

 Ford seems less gung ho but is hostile to environmental regulation, seeing it as damaging to business.  In Australia, as temperature rises challenge farmers, the right-wing government are increasingly supportive of the coal lobby,  Right wing populists garner support through promoting conspiracies and demonising minorities.  As their efforts to outlaw climate policies accelerate, the damage from climate change will, via extreme weather and rising sea levels, generate more and more migration as communities flee disaster.  Fear of the other, converted into racism, will be used to gain more votes for right wingers.  The reality of climate change is leading to increasing denial by politicians who exploit its effects to gain higher votes.

The message of Ford, Trump and their ilk is that all of us who care about the environment, including Green Party politicians, need to get strategic.  Being for good things and against bad things is not enough, pointing to the absurdities and cruelties of the populist right, which is rising globally, is inadequate in combating their power.

Green politics is the politics of survival, climate change threatens humanity, so greens of all kinds need to think much more deeply.  Green politics has been based on key principles, most famously outlined in the German Green manifesto of 1983, in terms of ecological sustainability, nonviolence, grassroots democracy and social justice.  Principles in practice achieve nothing without strategy.

While Greens may be more focused on condemning Trump-like vandals than on seeking to understand where their power lies, universities abound with academics theorising about political change, for example, social movement scholars, political ecologists, environmental sociologists, radical geographers and others come to mind.  

Academic work is though too often hidden behind obtuse jargon and paywalls that make sure journals are protected from being read by those who might find them useful.  More on the paywall scandal here.

I am reminded when I think of the agitated woman scanning a lurid photo of the victorious Doug Ford Jr., of the words of the great philosopher Spinoza.  Writing in the 17^th century, he argued that condemning tyranny and hatred doesn’t get us very far in combatting it, noting ‘Do not weep. Do not wax indignant. Understand’. 

Greens need to get better at understanding and analysing what stands in the way of protecting the planet.  Analysis is a first step to effective action, and action becomes more and more vital with each day as CO2 emissions rise.

Greens need to think deeply about how change can be achieved, how the right can be challenged and how green policies can be made real.  

Green politicians and green parties, indeed all of us who want an ecological future need to put energy into thinking about how to change society and using some strategic analysis to create practical action.  Morality is empty without means.

And academic work needs to be accessible, both intellectually and economically, the approach of open ecologically engaged researchers is vital, Elinor Ostrom comes to mind here.

Being right is no alternative to achieving political change, and for political change to occur some deep thinking, followed by precise action, is necessary.  

Indignation is not enough!