XR Eugene highlights the Climate Justice Flotilla
Presenter: The program ‘Talk Is Cheap’ interviews a volunteer with Extinction Rebellion Eugene. Independent KEPW producer Curtis Blankinship:
Curtis Blankinship (KEPW, Talk Is Cheap): All right, so I’m here at the table. It says, ‘First Conference Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels.’
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: We are trying to get the word out about the Climate Justice Flotilla which started in St. Maarten and sailed through the Caribbean, stopping at key ports in Dutch Caribbean islands in Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, and then arriving at Santa Marta [Colombia, the conference site].
And along the way, they were collecting the stories of the people who are living in those frontline communities, finding out what kinds of struggles they’re facing, and bringing those concerns to the First Conference Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels and demanding climate justice.
And a just transition away from fossil fuels, that we not just think about reducing overall emissions, but we think about what’s happening to the countries that are currently dependent on fossil fuels, because of the extractivist countries that have colonized that area.
So the demands of the flotilla include a just transition, include reparations for not only the damage that the hurricanes like Irma have caused, but also for the damage that’s been done to their economies. Because they were colonized, the economies were made into fossil fuel (economies), made into extractive economies.
Curtis Blankinship: They were made dependent instead of…
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: They were made dependent. Exactly. And so they’re trying to bring that message to the conference to make sure that those voices aren’t glossed over. So that’s the gist of what the Climate Justice Flotilla is doing—
Curtis Blankinship: So, let me clarify though. You’re showing all, you’re both showing what the effects of our extreme use of fossil fuels (Exactly) and our damage to the climate has done to these global south countries.
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: Right, right.
Curtis Blankinship: But you’re also showing how the policies—
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: Right, what the current policies miss in terms of understanding all of that, making that part of the picture. Not just focusing on overall, ‘We are going to reduce our climate emissions by,’ or ‘our greenhouse gas emissions by 50%.’
Curtis Blankinship: But I mean, the elephant in the room is that these corporations are going down there and exploiting these people (Exactly) and we, and all these corporations are licensed here in the United States.
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: And in other major, wealthy countries.
Curtis Blankinship: Wealthy countries (Yes) that they have the power to do something about them and they refuse to. (Exactly.) Even though their constituency seems to indicate that they should do something about it.
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: Absolutely. I mean, I don’t think that the people in power right now care a whip about what the constituency or the people in this country think. You know, I think that they’re absolutely just serving fossil fuel interests at this point.
As a matter of fact, the United States didn’t even go to COP 30. They didn’t even bother to attend, and COP 30 was held in a major petrostate, Brazil.
And that’s one of the really cool things about this First Conference is they’ve done away with the UN rules that allowed wealthy countries to veto and to stall and to stop progress on climate change because it doesn’t serve our interests and things are going to be done by majority vote. So there is no opportunity for countries like the United States to absolutely stall the transition process.
Curtis Blankinship: All right, so what do you need for support?
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: People can donate to the Climate Justice Flotilla if they like. The major thing that we want is to get this information out there. That’s what the Climate Justice Flotilla is doing, is, it’s collecting these stories, it’s bringing them to the world stage. It’s trying to just get the stories out there and that’s what we’re trying to do.
Curtis Blankinship: I don’t think I’ve even heard about this on NPR.
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: No, nobody’s covering it at this point.
Curtis Blankinship: Nobody’s covering it at all. So this is very important and for children too, ’cause it’s to their, they have the most to gain and the least to lose.
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: Exactly. Yeah.
Curtis Blankinship: The most to gain of this. (Yeah.) Alright. Extinction Rebellion, you guys are always doing these awesome little culture jam actions.
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: Thank you.
Curtis Blankinship: And I think it’s awesome.
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: Thank you.
Curtis Blankinship: Is there any problem—you’re not worried about agent provocateurs so much? (No) Because it’s easy to join Extinction Rebellion. There’s no problem joining Extinction Rebellion.
Presenter: Yes, exactly. So, you know, one of the things that, CDLC talks about in the ‘Know Your Rights’ and the security culture trainings is the idea that we are all being infiltrated.
There’s just no way to stop that kind of infiltration. So you just have to assume and act accordingly, you know, like if you’re doing, you know, kinds of activities where people are likely to get arrested, which is: Absolutely not. But if you are doing those kinds of actions, nonviolent direct action, it’s on a need-to-know basis. So—
Curtis Blankinship: Then you should know the people you’re working with.
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: Exactly, exactly. Absolutely closely.
Curtis Blankinship: It’s Extinction Rebellion Eugene.
Extinction Rebellion Eugene volunteer: So you can follow us on Bluesky—@XREugene at Bluesky Social, on Instagram at Extinction Rebellion Eugene. And then, our email address:
Curtis Blankinship: Right—XRJusticeEugene@protonmail.com. Okay. All right, thanks very much. (Thank you.)
Presenter: You can hear Curtis Blankinship and Talk Is Cheap every Saturday at 4 p.m. on KEPW 97.3 Eugene PeaceWorks Community Radio.
