DE Version hier
When I think of the word collapse, I picture the sudden destruction of a building, but that is not how the climate catastrophe is playing out. Yes, it has started and its impacts are uneven, but utter destruction is not the case. While we haven’t been successful thus far at reducing emissions overall, it doesn’t mean that we cannot in the future, in particular if we are willing to let go of strategies that don’t work and try new ones, as well as taking better advantage of opportunities. This approach does not mean we are suppressing the truth (Verdrängung), unless we keep doing the same thing and expect a new outcome instead of changing strategy based on the truth and context. Moreover, if we give up on climate protection, going through severe crises will only get more difficult. So it’s clear that both strategies are needed in parallel: Fighting for societal power and climate protection, as well as preparing for societal and ecosystemic crumbling. An either/or binary thinking misses the mark.
Furthermore, if we are talking about ‘’prepping in solidarity,’’ it seems that we have a responsibility to continue fighting the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. After all, the global North emitted the lion’s share of total global emissions and profited from it, while impacts are worse in the South and started there much earlier.
In addition to having a different view on the accelerating climate catastrophe, camps are just not my thing — I get overwhelmed by too many interesting people and workshops that I want to visit. But mostly I am tired of attending camps and rarely meeting other immigrants. The movement speaks so much about diversity and there has been progress, in particular with regards to LGBTQIA+ representation, but where is the working class, second-generation Europeans, people with disabilities and immigrants?
So, what convinced me to join in the end? The enthusiasm of one of the organisers, Tadzio Müller, and another dear comrade from the climate justice movement was infectious. How could I miss it? I scrambled to buy a ticket from someone at the last minute. Vioilà — after a 12 hour train ride from Switzerland, I arrived.
What was my experience?
It was wonderful to meet many old comrades and see lots of new faces. The vibe was extremely friendly and open. It was very well organised — lots of toilets; there were even showers and the kitchen collective kept us well fed with tasty food delivered quickly. I was pleasantly surprised by the intergenerational diversity and the number of children (I had volunteered the first morning to hang out with kids). Some people had been politically active for years, but not necessarily in the climate movement. For others this was the first time they had attended a camp.
The children’s corner made it possible for parents/children companions to attend workshops. The camp had been explicit about its focus on LGBTQIA+ representation. I leave it to comrades who are LGBTQIA+ to comment on how well the camp did. I saw very few immigrants and BIPoC, but when I did, we were elated to have met one another! I was a bit surprised to see that workshops about learning from the global South were led by Germans. Glaringly the camp was not barrier-free; I found it a shame that there was no barrier-free area and that sign language was not offered for some workshops. For a camp with a focus on solidarity within collapse, it seemed to be a major oversight. If this was too hard to organise now, what does it mean during an actual crisis?
There were quite a wide number of workshops — including the relationship between degrowth and disaster, how to grieve all that has been lost due to the climate crisis, how to use radio when mobile coverage breaks down and how to be resilient. A workshop that spoke to me and my political perspective is that led by Sanjay and Harry of Flooded People UK. While immediate assistance is important, their work focuses on organising communities to ensure that longer-term needs are met, ranging from advocating for better defence structures or the creation of community response kits.Their approach feels very empowering. It reminded me of work I did in India in the early 2000’s after natural disasters and religious riots. While some of the solutions Flooded People UK presented are very much along the lines of community members doing the work themselves, they also work to hold the government accountable with regards to flood policy, but also climate change.
There were a number of workshops on attaining practical skills; as much as I was interested, I didn’t attend because I am not very handy and knew I could not manage to attain proficiency in a short amount of time. For me the skills I would have liked to see more of would have been centred around political organising and turning solidarity into action. I was glad to see that there was an Organizing in Crisis training, but space was limited and my application was not accepted. The Stop the Bleed workshop was an example of bringing many strands together; the group from Sweden organised these workshops in response to a need in their community; they also support other communities to organise a response team and pass on the skills to them as well.
What I really missed were more political discussions about what solidarity really looks like and who should be a part of the discussion. I would have liked to explore how preparing for severe crises interplays with social justice campaigns to reduce emissions. While I had these conversations with some comrades, I wish there had been podium discussions that focused on bigger questions, as well as a larger assortment of workshops along these lines.
At times I found that some seasoned climate justice activists were overly critical of the camp; after all it was the first time that such a camp was being organised! On the other hand it also felt that some from the Orgateam were harsh with those who believed we could still successfully fight for social and ecological change. I don’t think this juxtaposition is useful and creates divisions that aren’t necessary.
Conclusion
I am glad I went to learn more about what people are thinking with regards to the climate catastrophe, meet new people and catch up with old comrades. I congratulate the organisers for their efforts to bring together so many people to grapple with the emotional aspects of the climate crisis, gain some practical skills for dealing with crises and have discussions. It was a great first effort.
Nevertheless, I currently find it hard to believe that a fairly homogeneous group, regardless of how well meaning they are, will be in the position to be in solidarity with the most vulnerable in society when needed. In my experience, this works best when you are in conversation and working together in advance to understand needs and offers. Yet the most vulnerable were barely present. In the Ahrtal flooding 12 people with disabilities died because connections were not made before the catastrophe. At an informal meeting at the camp on how to create a European wide Solidarity in Collapse Network,a number of participants did point to the need for discussions to define solidarity for whom, by whom and how it should look as a prerequisite to setting up a network. This gave me hope that we can expect more in terms of solidarity moving forward. I look forward to seeing how things progress. As for me, I am not giving up on fighting for a social-ecological transformation, but hope to find synergy with those looking to develop solidarity structures for responding to crises.
Thanks to Christopher Laumanns for editing the article.
