Extinction Rebellion

[NineBerry]

More than 85% of Venice was flooded, authorities said, including the historic basilica and many of its squares and alleyways. While the water level dropped slightly on Wednesday morning, a further torrent of water, whipped up by high winds, is forecast to sweep in later in the day, reaching a level of 1.60 metres.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... n-50-years

It's not a problem, but a benefit. It means, the cruise ships can in future drop anchor at St Mark's Square directly.

[Brian Peacock]

Extinction Rebellion founder’s Holocaust remarks spark fury

A co-founder of Extinction Rebellion has sparked anger in Germany after referring to the Holocaust as “just another fuckery in human history”.

Roger Hallam has been accused of downplaying the Nazis’ genocide of 6 million Jews by arguing in an interview that the significance of the Holocaust has been overplayed.

In the interview with the weekly Die Zeit, in which he referred to the Holocaust several times, Hallam said: “The fact of the matter is, millions of people have been killed in vicious circumstances on a regular basis throughout history.”

He listed other mass killings in the past 500 years, including the Belgians’ slaughter in the Congo. “They went to the Congo in the late 19th century and decimated it.” He said that seen in this context, the Holocaust was “almost a normal event … just another fuckery in human history.”

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, was among those to condemn Hallam’s remarks, saying the systematic state-sponsored killing that wiped out two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population between 1939 and 1945 could not be referred to as “just another fuckery”....

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... spark-fury

Both tactless and insensitive Roger?

[JimC]

There is a small section of the environment movement that basically states that humans need to go extinct for the benefit of the world's biota...

[Brian Peacock]

And who's going to pay the biota's wages if we do? Eh?

[JimC]

The biota will heave a collective sigh of relief, and get back to the interesting task of evolving, hopefully without producing that nasty sapience thing...

[Seabass]

Well, he's not wrong. It was hardly humanity's first genocide. We just don't have most of them on video...

[Brian Peacock]

It's not that he right that worries me, but his tactlessness and insensitivity. How many times have we heard the right braying on about how the Holocaust wasn't that bad because Stalin killed 18 million or the Spanish gave an entire continent a fatal dose of flu etc in order to downplay/normalise that kind of violence?

[Seabass]

The right's braying has no relevance to the question of whether or not the Jewish holocaust was an aberration or a one-off.

[pErvinalia]

Has he been called an anti-semite yet?

[Svartalf]

There is a small section of the environment movement that basically states that humans need to go extinct for the benefit of the world's biota...

let them start the movement and hope the nobility of their example will induce the rest of mankind to follow.

[Svartalf]

roger hallam,one of the founders, just flubbed majorly a comm op in Germany, by toning down the shoah as "just another fuchery in human history", and by comparing it to other genocidal events... the local branch says he'll never be welcome again there.

[JimC]

Yeah, Svarty, Brian mentioned it a few posts back - certainly not well-chosen words...

Going to an introduction meeting for our local group this afternoon. We're hoping to gain a few extra members. Also, next Friday I'll be heading to the city for another climate change protest march

[Scot Dutchy]

An opinion article from someone on the inside.

We’ve already got a climate crisis – let’s not turn it into a culture war

Shouting slogans won’t change anyone’s mind. We activists must engage even with those whose views we find abhorrent

Just 2% of the election debate was spent discussing the climate crisis. That includes the second Jeremy Corbyn gave it in his opening statement. When it was finally discussed – for a scant 45 seconds in the last 10 minutes – Corbyn was heckled after highlighting the effects our changing climate would have on the world’s poorest, with a jeer of “Oh, here we go!”. For those of us who work on raising awareness and finding solutions to the climate crisis, it was chilling. Corbyn himself looked shocked and seemed to gesture to the audience as if to say, “See what I’m working with?”

[JimC]

Yeah, Svarty, Brian mentioned it a few posts back - certainly not well-chosen words...

Going to an introduction meeting for our local group this afternoon. We're hoping to gain a few extra members. Also, next Friday I'll be heading to the city for another climate change protest march

An excellent introductory lecture, well worth attending...

[Brian Peacock]

What were the good bits Jim? We're currently revising our Intro and Heading for Extinction talks to be a bit more sciencey and relevant to the local area. I'd be interested to know what you think works for you, and maybe what doesn't.

:thumbup: