Create a piece of writing that uses specific writing structures, tones, or organizational methods to enact or embody your position.
Excerpts from a conversation with Nick Anim. Nick is an environmental activist who I know through Extinction Rebellion (XR) and one of the directors of Transition Town Brixton. He is an academic, currently at UCL doing a PhD entitled “Green, But Mostly White: Exploring The Perennial Challenges of Inclusion And Diversity In Environmental Glocal Social Movements”. The full conversation was 1hr 9mins.
Nick: We have to change— you have to change the narrative […] And you have— and this is— this is the thing as well. What, erm, environmentalism or environmentalists tend to have is empathy. Good. But they don’t have deep empathy. Deep empathy is the ability to— to— to— to— to not just, erm— imagine how somebody else’s life would be, you know, but the ability to feel, you know, feel what other people’s lives are, you know, and I’m talking about the people living at the moment because— in this system, as— as— as it is, there are people absolutely heading for extinction every single fucking day. You know, and we’re not talking about, you know, extinction of species, extinction of bees, and extinction of, erm, you know, we’re talking about human beings. You know, we’re talking about knowledge systems, we’re talking about about about cultures and so on, every single day are under threats from— from the, erm, dominant system that we live in. We’ve got to somehow convey all of this in a three second– hah, And it’s got to mean something to, you know… So somehow we’ve got to get deep empathy into the conversation, we’ve got to get radical love into the conversation.
[…]
Daisy: But in terms of these big questions that I’m asking of, like, what— how— how can graphic design be used to kind of like further, erm, instil empathy or communicate these deep, complex narratives and those sorts of things? This is— it’s so experimental and it’s so early days. And like whether we will ever have answers, I don’t know, but that’s really exciting, being able to be in that space and ask those questions of it.
Nick: Mmmm should I tell you something quite disappointing?
Daisy: Haha, I’m never going to get answers?
Nick : No. No— because, because, you know, we are so fluid as individuals and as a culture and as society and so on and so forth, we always have to shift. But the key thing is and I think this is part of what you are trying to do is to— is to— to control the narrative in some sort of way, or to help control, help shape the narrative, because the narrative at the moment is shaped by corporations. You know, the meta—narrative of how we organize ourselves and how life should be, etc, etc. It’s not even shaped by our government, it’s really by corporations who control our governments in many respects. You know, tied of course, tied of course, to this GDP thing we started off talking about, you know. So somehow we’ve got to reclaim the narrative. And—
Daisy: Yeah
Nick: That is a very, very powerful thing. And reclaim the narrative also is within XR and other environmental movements, You know, we have to reclaim this narrative that’s environmentalism is not just about green and pleasant lands. It’s about the people, you know. And if we don’t have deep love for those people, then we’re not going to achieve anything.
[…]
Nick: It has to be about justice. It has to be about justice. I mean, no matter how you look at it, you know, whether you look at it through a telescope or binoculars, it has to be about justice. You know, if we’re looking at some justice for future generations, who will be inhabiting this earth when we’re gone, or if we’re looking at people who are inhabiting this earth right now in different spaces and places, who are catching fire, who are catching hell, who are catching floods, you know, it has to be about justice. So, if there was anything I would say to take away, [it] is that your entry point should be justice, you know. Your entry point should be justice, erm— and then you can sort of frame it however you wish to. But it is messy. Justice is messy, but justice starts with recognition, actually.
Daisy: Yeah
Nick: That’s what people don’t get, you know, I’ve been told, you know, I’ve been told a few times in different ways, that erm, justice, you know the focus on social justice or racial justice, etc, focuses on difference, and that is a problem. You want to see what unites us, not what makes us different, but then if you don’t recognize my— my lived experience, as different, I’m not going to come on board, because you’re not recognizing that I’ve been— I’ve been through, I’m going through, I’m going to go through this shit.
References:
Nick Anim’s Work
Anim, N. (2021) ‘Reflections from the frontline: Does environmental sustainability have a problem with social justice? (Part 1)’, The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, 1 April. Available at: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/dpublog/2021/04/01/reflections-from-the-frontline-does-environmental-sustainability-have-a-problem-with-social-justice-part-1/ (Accessed: 31 May 2021).
Anim, N. (2021) ‘The What Next Summit: a pivotal moment for social justice in Transition?’, News, 21 May. Available at: https://transition-bounceforward.org/the-what-next-summit-a-pivotal-moment-for-social-justice-in-transition/ (Accessed: 31 May 2021).
TransitionTowns (2020) Green, But Mostly White. Why? 10 Dec. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPBSifJTCFM&t=179s (Accessed: 31 May 2021).
References proposed in the conversation
- Simon Anholt
- On place/nation branding
- The Good Country Equation
- ‘Which country does the most good for the world? https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_anholt_which_country_does_the_most_good_for_the_world
- Rob Hopkins (founder of the Transition Towns movement)
- From What is to What If’: Unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want
- Phoebe Tickell
- Nora Bateson
- Joanna Macy
- Timothy Snyder
- The Road to Unfreedom
- The politics of eternity