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END:CIV - Resist or Die - WWW.ENDCIV.COM

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    - People often say that
    there's a war against nature
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    and that this is
    the third world war.
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    - It's getting more stark;
    it's getting worse and
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    the rate of change is accelerating,
    whether we're talking about the
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    extinction of species or
    the thoroughness of the techno-culture.
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    - The world right now is,
    frankly, very frightening.
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    For what we consider
    to be industrial civilization,
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    I would say is extraordinarily uncivilized,
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    actually quite savage.
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    - It's not an exaggeration
    to say that we're
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    living in an ecological apocalypse.
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    - Between years 1980 and 2045
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    we will lose more species
    of plants and animals than
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    we have lost in the
    last 65 million years.
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    We have two big-picture
    time pressures that really mean
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    we should be acting a lot
    more urgently than most of us have.
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    And one of them is peak oil,
    or energy collapse,
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    and one of them is climate change,
    or runaway global warming.
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    - I think that most people,
    even most scientists,
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    continue to underestimate how far
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    down the path to climate catastrophe
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    we've already travelled.
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    - For the most part,
    we're oblivious to it, we don't
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    want to know about it,
    we don't want to hear about it.
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    - The one thing I'm most afraid of
    is that we're going to
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    mount a tremendous campaign
    to sustain the unsustainable.
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    - At this point, scientists
    are saying that the Earth's
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    temperature may increase
    by as much as 10 degrees.
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    At that point, there may not
    even be bacteria left.
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    - When the oil starts
    to really run dry,
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    and when those in power
    have to assert their power
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    in a time of dwindling resources,
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    I think they're going
    to turn to much more
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    blunt and cruel methods
    of enforcing their power.
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    - The whole climate is
    changing: the winds,
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    the ocean currents,
    the storm patterns,
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    snow pack, snow melt,
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    flooding, droughts.
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    GAME OVER
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    Somewhere in northern California
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    - It's stunning how fast
    the destruction is proceeding.
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    Every day that passes,
    the world is in worse shape.
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    'The sad-looking man you see
    on the screen is Derrick Jensen.
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    Jensen is the best-selling author
    of several non-fiction books
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    including "A Language Older than Words"
    and "The Culture of Make Believe".
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    His books deal with topics such as
    surveillance, child abuse, the environment,
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    and something he calls "civilization".
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    But it's statements like these
    that make him so controversial:'
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    They're thinking of raising
    the Shasta Dam in California,
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    and the reason that
    Senator Feinstein gave was...
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    "It is Californians' God-given
    right to water their lawns."
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    You know, there is no way
    to argue with that...
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    ...except with explosives.
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    'That was Mr. Jensen in 2006, the same year
    he published a two-volume set called 'Endgame.'
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    In 'Endgame' , he argues that there is an
    urgent need to bring down civilization.'
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    - If people would have brought down
    civilization a hundred years ago
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    people in the Pacific Northwest
    could still eat salmon.
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    There's going to be people sitting
    along the Columbia fifty years from now --
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    they'll be glowing for one thing --
    but they'll be starving to death,
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    and they'll be saying,
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    "I'm starving to death, because
    you didn't take out the dams...
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    ...that killed salmon, and
    those dams were used for barging,
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    and for electricity, for alumninum
    smelters for beer cans, so
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    God damn you."
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    He lays out his case against
    civilization by enumerating 20 premises.
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    Due to time limitations and
    the fact that most people
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    would not tolerate a twenty-hour
    movie, we will explore
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    four of these premises,
    and accompany them
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    with real-life examples.
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    Premise I
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    Industrial civilization, civilization itself,
    but especially industrial civilization
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    is not, and can
    never be, sustainable.
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    It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure
    out that any way of life that's based
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    on the use of nonrenewable
    resources won't last.
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    But what is civilization?
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    Civilization is a way of life
    characterized by the growth of cities.
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    - So you've got groups of people living
    in a dense enough population that
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    the local landbase cannot support them.
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    What that means is you have to get
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    your basic resources from somewhere else
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    because you've used them up where you live.
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    So you're going to go out into
    the countryside and gather up
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    whatever it is you want,
    bring it back in.
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    If you require the importation of resources,
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    it means you've denuded the landscape
    of that particular resource.
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    - There's no way that in the
    long term you can continue
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    to destroy the land that you need for your survival,
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    or the waters that you need to drink,
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    and expect to continue to live.
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    - Industrial civilization requires
    ever-increasing amounts
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    of energy and ever-increasing
    amounts of land,
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    ever-increasing amounts
    of resources of all kinds
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    in order to perpetuate itself,
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    in order to continue to grow,
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    in order to just maintain itself.
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    And we live on a finite planet,
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    and those aren't available. Of course,
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    unfortunately for us and most living creatures,
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    that culture won't stop until
    it's consumed as much as it can,
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    or, of course, until we stop it ourselves.
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    - If you have a finite amount of anything,
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    if you start using it,
    eventually you use it up.
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    And so it would seem that if
    your entire culture is based on,
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    I don't know,
    let's take a random resource...
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    ...oil...
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    ...that you would think about
    what's going to happen
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    happen when the oil runs out
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    - We've found energy resources
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    that have allowed us to escape
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    some of the kinds of
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    limits that previous cultures
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    have had to face much more quickly.
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    They used to collapse because
    they ran out of resources,
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    easily accessible resources.
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    The limit being the distance that people
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    could travel with things like horses,
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    or other pack animals.
    That ended with the beginning
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    of the fossil fuel age; now
    they can go all over the planet
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    and take what they want.
    So globalization has only
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    accelerated this tremendously
    destructive process.
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    - We've poured our wealth into
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    building an infrastructure for daily life
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    that has no future. I do think that
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    oil problem is going to accelerate
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    within the next three to
    five years, maybe even sooner.
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    The numbers indicate that we've
    probably peaked in global production.
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    - Where do you find the break from that?
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    I mean, all of it is a giant machine or
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    ensemble that just moves forward.
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    Technology, for example, never takes a step back.
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    This whole thing just
    keeps going like a cancer.
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    - I don't know of any civilization
    that's been sustainable,
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    I don't believe there ever has been one.
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    Technology, at its essence,
    is really our culture's...
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    ...determination,
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    that comes from certain
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    philosophical and historical sources,
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    that we will be nothing else
    but more relentlessly technological.
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    - There is no clean green path to
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    living in a lifestyle that
    we're all used to in
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    industrialized nations.
    This way of life is OVER.
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    - Civilizations are often
    cutting their own throats,
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    very visibly, very obviously,
    but they just keep on doing it.
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    - Every civilization is defined by hubris,
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    it's defined by its denial
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    to recognize that it
    lives in a natural world.
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    As a matter of fact, every
    civilization, in its founding lies,
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    elevates itself above nature,
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    and claims that it is the
    controller of the whole world.
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    Figure 1
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    - The first written myth of this culture
    is Gilgamesh deforesting the plains
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    and hillsides of Iraq.
    When people think of Iraq,
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    what's the first thing they normally
    think of? Cedar forests so thick
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    that sunlight never
    touches the ground?
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    That's how it was, prior to the
    arrival of this culture.
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    Clearcuts
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    So, as a longtime, grassroots,
    environmental activist,
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    and as a creature living in
    the thrashing endgame of civilization,
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    I am intimately acquainted
    with the landscape of loss,
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    and have grown accustomed to
    carrying the daily weight of despair.
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    I've walked clearcuts that
    wrap around mountains and
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    drop into valleys and
    climb ridges to fragment
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    watershed after watershed,
    and I've sat, silent,
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    near empty streams that
    two generations ago
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    were lashed into whiteness
    by uncountable salmon
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    coming home to spawn and die.
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    - Here in BC, and across North America,
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    when they do industrial
    logging they actually take
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    and just remove all the trees.
    They level everything,
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    they leave nothing but
    stumps and slash piles,
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    and they burn the slash piles
    and they take out all the timber
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    and what's left is a wasteland,
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    and it's like they take a rainforest
    and turn it into a desert.
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    That's what a clearcut is.
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    They use them for pulp;
    they export them whole
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    to the United States and to Japan.
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    There's not very much milling
    that happens anymore in BC,
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    it's just getting exported for pulp and paper
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    and fibreboard, and plywood, and whatever else.
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    Not a lot of value added.
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    This tree has been
    selected to be cut and
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    usually the company will only clearcut
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    but this tree is in what they call
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    a stream-side selection zone.
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    they've got it marked blue,
    because it's a selection zone.
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    In a clearcut they don't paint the trees
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    that they're going to cut down.
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    They only paint the ones
    that they're going to leave.
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    - There's still a strong push to harvest
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    as much of the western
    red cedar as they can.
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    They're bringing in huge
    helicopters to do that.
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    And they're high-grading...
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    ...selecting only the really
    good, high-quality timber
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    and leaving the rest laying there...
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    ...in a junk heap.
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    So, that's why we keep on,
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    you know, fighting back.
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    I think the last straw was when
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    they wanted to log the Valley of Ista
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    because of its historical and
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    spiritual significance to our people.
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    But they log it in spite, you know,
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    just to make a point
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    against our resistance, against our
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    our overall position,
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    you know, with regard to treaties
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    or encroachment of industry development
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    in our territories.
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    - In a lot of these areas,
    like this clearing behind me
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    up on the hill,
    you can see the soil is exposed,
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    the ultraviolet kills
    off all the mosses,
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    the funguses that hold
    the soil together.
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    When the stumps rot
    and the roots die,
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    then the slopes slide,
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    and often there's not much regrowth,
    there's no regeneration of the forest.
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    They do some replanting --
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    it doesn't always work
    because there's no soil left:
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    it washes down into the streams,
    it kills the salmon,
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    it fills up the reservoirs,
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    all kinds of flood damage downstream.
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    - That's terrorism.
    Stripping down all the trees,
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    ripping out all the
    trees in the forest...
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    ...and now they're going
    to rip out the
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    guts of the land
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    looking for copper and gold.
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    And...
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    ... this has to have some
    kind of focus to it...
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    ...to address the
    injustice to our people,
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    the injustice to the land,
    to the water,
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    to the wildlife;
    the injustice to the
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    marine life and the salmon life.
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    And the injustice to the people
    that want to stand up for it.
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    - When we blocked the road --
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    these trees are very valuable
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    and the laws are all profit-driven,
    they're all driven by
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    the corporations,
    the police are there
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    to enforce the
    corporations' right to log,
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    not to enforce our
    right to stop them
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    and protect the ecosystem.
    There's so little
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    that's left of the
    old-growth forest like
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    this that we see on the sides here
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    that people are putting
    their bodies on the line,
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    they are willing
    to make huge sacrifices
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    to stop the forest from being sacrificed,
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    and the water,
    and the air quality,
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    and the global climate.
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    Premise II
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    Traditional communities do not often
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    voluntarily give up
    or sell the resources
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    on which their
    communities are based
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    until their communities
    have been destroyed.
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    They also do not
    willingly allow their
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    land-bases to be damaged
    so that other resources --
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    gold, oil, and so on --
    can be extracted.
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    It follows that those who want
    the resources will do what they can
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    to destroy traditional communities.
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    - Our people, we say, have been
    there since time immemorial.
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    - Prior to invasion
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    and conquest, colonization,
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    lands in North America were occupied by
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    populations of people
    that had a profoundly
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    different relationship with the land.
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    - They live with the land,
    all the ceremonies that have
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    come up have to do with
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    celebrating the renewal of seasons and
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    life and affirming all of that.
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    - One thing about indigenous peoples is that
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    there's always the idea
    that you have to live
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    in balance, you know, emotionally,
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    physically, spiritually,
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    you have to have balance,
    and so this same
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    philosophy was applied to the
    natural world that they lived in.
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    - The Tolowa, on whose land I now live,
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    weren't civilized,
    they didn't live in cities,
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    they didn't require the
    importation of resources,
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    they lived in villages, camps...
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    ...and lived there for 12,500 years if
    you believe the myths of science.
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    If you believe the myths of the Tolowa,
    they lived there since the beginning of time.
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    - I think that what we have had in
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    indigenous societies all along is a very,
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    kind of, common sense, a very practical
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    approach to why it's important to
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    treat the world around you,
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    the natural world, in a good way.
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    - Our people never exploited
    more than what we needed.
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    We respect the land, we respect the animals,
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    we respect the water, we respect the air,
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    the wind, the fire, all the sacred elements.
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    And we believe that they all are living,
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    living things, so...
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    ...I suspect that's the way
    it was before contact.
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    - The stories that we have
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    about our relationship to each other
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    and to the land and
    to any spiritual aspect,
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    any deities, arise from our relationship
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    with the land.
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    The salmon were considered to be our...
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    ...mentors, caregivers -- lifegivers.
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    They were equal to us, in fact,
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    all things that have
    form were equal to us.
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    We weren't about dominating.
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    - The spiritual relationship
    that our peoples had
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    prior to invasion
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    with all of creation,
    and recognizing that
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    all beings have a spiritual essence,
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    a spiritual entity,
    and that if we want
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    to live in this
    universe in a good way,
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    that it was absolutely essential
    that we learned how to
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    maintain respectful relations
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    with all of creation.
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    They made us many promises,
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    more than I can remember,
    but they never kept but one;
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    they promised to take our land,
    and they took it.
    -Red Cloud
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    When Europeans came to this land
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    it was with...
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    such a rapacious appetite
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    it still has not been sated.
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    - They brought Christianity,
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    they brought colonization,
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    and, certainly,
    they did bring civilization.
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    - They came in, and they
    were sent with this,
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    commission, they felt,
    apparently, to dominate the land
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    and it was just there for the taking --
    these people would accept
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    beads, or just kind
    of get out of the way,
  • 21:56 - 21:59
    and of course they had superior
    firepower at that time, too.
  • 22:00 - 22:03
    - Right off the bat,
    with Christopher Columbus
  • 22:03 - 22:05
    landing in the Caribbean
    region on what is
  • 22:05 - 22:07
    today Haiti and
    the Dominican Republic,
  • 22:07 - 22:10
    they initiated almost
    immediately a genocide
  • 22:10 - 22:13
    down there that
    depopulated most of the
  • 22:13 - 22:15
    nation, the Taino,
    and the Arawaks.
  • 22:15 - 22:18
    One of the main things that
    happened was the introduction
  • 22:18 - 22:22
    of diseases, which was
    basically biological warfare.
  • 22:22 - 22:24
    - The smallpox was spread through
  • 22:24 - 22:27
    tobacco and blankets
  • 22:27 - 22:29
    and given to the Indian people.
  • 22:30 - 22:33
    So it didn't take them long to be
  • 22:33 - 22:37
    decimated because they were pure.
  • 22:37 - 22:40
    And the smallpox was vicious,
    very vicious.
  • 22:40 - 22:42
    - When Europeans came,
    much of what they
  • 22:42 - 22:46
    were interested in was
    rapid resource exploitation.
  • 22:46 - 22:49
    They wanted to get
    wealthy in the new world.
  • 22:49 - 22:52
    And as they were seeking that wealth,
  • 22:52 - 22:54
    they worked with indigenous
    nations to undermine
  • 22:54 - 22:57
    traditional economies
    and undermine the
  • 22:58 - 23:00
    relationship that indigenous
    populations have with
  • 23:00 - 23:02
    the lands so that indigenous
    peoples could then do
  • 23:02 - 23:06
    do the work of resource
    exploitation and extraction
  • 23:06 - 23:09
    for the Europeans so that
    they could get wealthy.
  • 23:10 - 23:12
    - In imposing those things
    on indigenous peoples, of course,
  • 23:12 - 23:15
    they just destroyed indigenous
    peoples and their nations and
  • 23:15 - 23:18
    their way of life.
    Generally, indigenous peoples suffered
  • 23:18 - 23:22
    90% or more depopulation rate
  • 23:22 - 23:25
    upon having contact with Europeans.
  • 23:25 - 23:28
    It was a genocide, war for territory,
  • 23:28 - 23:31
    because the Europeans
    wanted to take the resources.
  • 23:39 - 23:42
    - Settler society has worked to destroy
  • 23:42 - 23:44
    what it needs to live,
  • 23:44 - 23:46
    and that's suicidal.
    It's a suicidal mission.
  • 23:46 - 23:50
    There's no way that it can be
    sustainable in the long term.
  • 23:58 - 24:05
    Premise III
  • 24:06 - 24:08
    - I gave a talk in Oregon a couple years ago,
  • 24:08 - 24:10
    and this guy afterwards said,
    "You know, you talk a lot about
  • 24:10 - 24:13
    this culture being based
    on violence, but I don't see it,
  • 24:13 - 24:15
    you know, I'm not violent".
  • 24:15 - 24:18
    I said, "Okay, first off, where is your shirt made?"
    He looked and it was made in Bangladesh.
  • 24:18 - 24:20
    I was like,
    "Look, do we even need to talk about that?"
  • 24:20 - 24:22
    - He's fucking faking he's dead!
  • 24:22 - 24:24
    - Yeah, he's breathing.
  • 24:24 - 24:26
    - He's faking he's fucking dead!
  • 24:27 - 24:28
    GUNSHOT
  • 24:29 - 24:31
    - He's dead NOW.
  • 24:31 - 24:34
    - Our way of living,
    industrial civilization, is based on,
  • 24:34 - 24:37
    requires, and would
    collapse very quickly
  • 24:37 - 24:41
    without persistent
    and widespread violence.
  • 24:43 - 24:45
    - A large explosion! A large explosion!
  • 24:47 - 24:48
    - Wow.
  • 24:50 - 24:53
    - I'll just take a couple eggs. How many you want?
  • 24:53 - 24:55
    - Two, two is good.
    Okay. Now what next?
  • 24:55 - 24:57
    - Some ham, tomato.
  • 24:57 - 24:59
    - Tomato, okay,
    how about that?
  • 24:59 - 25:01
    - Okay, some onion.
    Ooh, and cheese!
  • 25:01 - 25:05
    - Everything, then, right, you want everything.
    Okay. I understand, okay.
  • 25:05 - 25:08
    We'll just pop this on. Now watch!
  • 25:08 - 25:10
    I'm chopping the ham and veggies,
    grating the cheese,
  • 25:10 - 25:12
    and whipping the eggs all...
  • 25:12 - 25:14
    ...in three seconds.
    The machine that just made
  • 25:14 - 25:19
    those smoothies for Verna and Fred,
    can make an omelette.
  • 25:20 - 25:23
    There's not much time left to get
    this beautiful hope diamond necklace,
  • 25:23 - 25:25
    less than 50 seconds. Gillian?
  • 25:25 - 25:28
    - Absolutely, John, you're going
    to want to give us a call to get
  • 25:28 - 25:30
    this beautiful hope diamond necklace.
  • 25:30 - 25:33
    This is a 45.52 carat
    diamond surrounded by
  • 25:33 - 25:35
    16 white diamonds.
  • 25:35 - 25:38
    It has a platinum chain
    bearing 46 MORE diamonds.
  • 25:39 - 25:42
    - These are twelve four-ounce southern
  • 25:42 - 25:44
    barbecue chicken breasts.
  • 25:46 - 25:48
    These Stuffin GourmetÂŹĂ,
    farm-fresh chicken breast;
  • 25:48 - 25:51
    they come from the
    barnyard to your backyard.
  • 25:51 - 25:54
    They're wonderfully marinated
    and guaranteed to be tender,
  • 25:54 - 25:58
    juicy, and downright delicious.
  • 25:58 - 26:00
    - Fine-tune those measurements,
    we keep them on file.
  • 26:00 - 26:02
    They're saved,
    they're on our computer.
  • 26:02 - 26:05
    Go back into the section
    where you reorder,
  • 26:05 - 26:08
    and fine-tune those
    measurements for us.
  • 26:08 - 26:10
    And then we'll have
    a chance to send you
  • 26:10 - 26:12
    another pair of customized jeans
  • 26:12 - 26:15
    that we really believe are
    going to fit perfectly.
  • 26:17 - 26:20
    - We're going to do a countdown,
  • 26:20 - 26:22
    starting from 5.
  • 26:22 - 26:24
    Everybody got to help me out here,
  • 26:24 - 26:25
    5,
  • 26:25 - 26:26
    4,
  • 26:26 - 26:27
    3,
  • 26:27 - 26:28
    2,
  • 26:28 - 26:29
    1
  • 26:29 - 26:30
    (explosion)
  • 26:30 - 26:32
    Ho!
  • 26:36 - 26:38
    It worked!
  • 26:49 - 26:51
    Second, I said,
    "Okay, do you pay rent?"
  • 26:52 - 26:54
    He's like, "Yeah..."
  • 26:55 - 26:57
    I said, "Why?"
  • 26:57 - 26:59
    He said, "Because, I don't own."
  • 26:59 - 27:02
    I said, "No, no, no, what would
    happen if you didn't pay rent?"
  • 27:02 - 27:04
    He said,
    "Well, the sheriff would come and evict me."
  • 27:04 - 27:06
    I said, "I don't know what that means.
    What would happen?
  • 27:06 - 27:09
    He said, "Well, the sheriff would come
    and he would knock on the door..."
  • 27:09 - 27:11
    I said, "Okay, great, what happens
    if you open the door...
  • 27:12 - 27:15
    ...and you say,
    'Hey! I'm just finishing up making dinner.
  • 27:15 - 27:17
    You want some?'
  • 27:17 - 27:20
    And the sheriff sits down, you feed him
    you don't poison him
  • 27:23 - 27:25
    And then, after dinner you say,
  • 27:25 - 27:29
    you've been somewhat pleasant
    company, but not all that pleasant,
  • 27:29 - 27:31
    so I would like for you to leave
    my home now.' What would happen?
  • 27:31 - 27:33
    He said, "Well, the sheriff would
    pull out his gun and say,
  • 27:33 - 27:35
    'I'm here to evict you,
    because you didn't pay rent.'"
  • 27:35 - 27:39
    I said, "Ahh. So, the reason you pay
    rent is because if you don't,
  • 27:39 - 27:42
    some guy with a gun is going
    to come take you away."
  • 27:42 - 27:45
    He said, "I think I get it."
  • 27:45 - 27:46
    I said, "Well, let's try again.
  • 27:46 - 27:49
    What happens if you're hungry,
    so you go to the grocery store
  • 27:49 - 27:51
    and you just start eating.
    What's going to happen?"
  • 27:51 - 27:52
    "someone will call the sheriff."
  • 27:52 - 27:55
    I said, "Yeah, it's the same guy who's going
    to come with a gun and take you away,
  • 27:55 - 27:56
    he's a real asshole, isn't he?"
    So, one of the reasons
  • 27:56 - 27:58
    we don't see a lot of the violence,
    is because it's exported.
  • 27:58 - 28:00
    Another reason we don't see a
    lot of the violence is because
  • 28:00 - 28:02
    we've been so metabolized
    into the system
  • 28:02 - 28:05
    that we've bought into this
    strange notion that it's okay
  • 28:05 - 28:08
    to have to pay to exist on the planet.
  • 28:08 - 28:10
    That's really, really weird.
  • 28:10 - 28:12
    And, if you don't pay,
    then some guy with a gun is going to come
  • 28:12 - 28:14
    and bad things are going to happen to you.
  • 28:14 - 28:19
    Figure II
  • 28:29 - 28:31
    A few years a go,
    I got a call from a friend of mine.
  • 28:31 - 28:33
    She's an environmental activist.
  • 28:33 - 28:35
    She was crying, and she said,
  • 28:35 - 28:38
    "This works just killing me,
    it's breaking my heart."
  • 28:39 - 28:41
    I said, "Yeah, I know. It'll do that."
  • 28:42 - 28:44
    Then she said,
  • 28:44 - 28:46
    "The dominant culture
    hates everything doesn't it?"
  • 28:46 - 28:48
    I said, "Yeah, it does. Even itself."
  • 28:48 - 28:51
    She said, "It has a death urge, doesn't it?"
    I said, "Yeah, it does."
  • 28:51 - 28:53
    She said, "Unless it's stopped, it's going
    to kill everything on the planet, isn't it?"
  • 28:53 - 28:55
    I said, "Yeah it is, unless it's stopped."
  • 28:56 - 28:58
    Then she said,
    "We're not going to make it
  • 28:58 - 29:00
    to some great, new,
    glorious tomorrow, are we?"
  • 29:08 - 29:14
    Green is the color of money
  • 29:18 - 29:21
    - 98% of the old-growth forests are gone.
  • 29:21 - 29:24
    99% of the prairies are gone.
  • 29:24 - 29:29
    80% of the rivers on this
    planet do not support life anymore.
  • 29:29 - 29:31
    We are out of species, we're out of soil,
  • 29:31 - 29:33
    and we are out of time.
  • 29:33 - 29:35
    And what we are being told
  • 29:35 - 29:37
    by most of the environmental movement
  • 29:37 - 29:40
    is that the way to stop all of this
  • 29:40 - 29:42
    is through personal, consumer choices.
  • 29:43 - 29:45
    - By simply purchasing our product,
  • 29:45 - 29:48
    the consumer can make a small,
    easy step to a greener Earth.
  • 29:48 - 29:50
    So, by taking that
    one roll, and buying
  • 29:50 - 29:52
    that one roll, you can
    help save millions of trees.
  • 29:53 - 29:57
    - I think we can really look at the history
  • 29:57 - 29:59
    of the environmental movement to tell
  • 29:59 - 30:01
    us a lot about why it hasn't been working.
  • 30:01 - 30:05
    There was a lot of pretty
    radical and militant environmentalism
  • 30:05 - 30:08
    happening, especially
    in the 70's and 80's.
  • 30:08 - 30:11
    In a lot of ways, that was kind of
    a heyday for environmentalism.
  • 30:11 - 30:13
    You know, Greenpeace was founded.
  • 30:13 - 30:17
    It started to become very mainstream in
    some quarters to be an environmentalist.
  • 30:17 - 30:20
    And then there was also
    a shift around that time when...
  • 30:20 - 30:22
    ...corporations realized that they could sell
  • 30:22 - 30:25
    a lot of things by calling them "green".
  • 30:26 - 30:28
    - Green-washing is an
    attempt by corporations to
  • 30:28 - 30:33
    put labels on their
    activity that are popular
  • 30:33 - 30:35
    and that appeal to
    people's sensibility about,
  • 30:35 - 30:38
    and concern for, the
    environment and for ecology.
  • 30:41 - 30:44
    - For the mast majority of
    people within society today,
  • 30:44 - 30:48
    there's a total sense
    of denial and disconnect
  • 30:48 - 30:52
    between what they
    think is good and right
  • 30:52 - 30:57
    and then their actions as a
    society or as a civilization,
  • 30:57 - 31:00
    especially as it relates
    to the natural world.
  • 31:02 - 31:07
    - I have a real problem with a lot of the
    "solutions" that are put forward by people
  • 31:07 - 31:10
    because they confuse what is
    real with what is not real.
  • 31:10 - 31:14
    What they do is take the
    industrial economy as a given.
  • 31:14 - 31:20
    "How can we save the industrial economy, and oh, it would be nice if we still have a planet."
  • 31:22 - 31:25
    - It doesn't matter if I buy,
  • 31:25 - 31:28
    hemp soap if there's a
    runaway greenhouse effect
  • 31:28 - 31:30
    and the planet becomes uninhabitable.
  • 31:30 - 31:32
    - The modern mainstream
    environmental movement of the
  • 31:32 - 31:34
    big environmental organizations --
  • 31:34 - 31:37
    Greenpeace, and Sierra Club,
    and the others --
  • 31:37 - 31:41
    is rooted in that very same cultural lie
  • 31:41 - 31:44
    that nature is resources.
  • 31:44 - 31:47
    Nature is things to be used and managed.
  • 31:47 - 31:50
    Nature is, as the philosopher
  • 31:50 - 31:53
    Martin Heidegger put it,
    just a vast gasoline station
  • 31:53 - 31:58
    that we can endlessly extract from.
  • 31:58 - 32:01
    They may say we need to
    manage it more wisely,
  • 32:01 - 32:04
    but as long as they maintain the mindset that
  • 32:04 - 32:07
    we are the lords of creation and
  • 32:07 - 32:10
    creation exists for us as resources
    to be transformed into commodities
  • 32:10 - 32:13
    for us to buy and sell,
    as long as they maintain
  • 32:13 - 32:17
    that perspective on what it
    means to be an environmentalist,
  • 32:17 - 32:20
    then they're working
    within the same framework of
  • 32:20 - 32:25
    an ultimately self-destructive
    path that the culture is on.
  • 32:26 - 32:30
    In May 2010, 21 logging companies signed a deal with several major environmental
  • 32:30 - 32:34
    organizations, including Greenpeace
    and the David Suzuki Foundation.
  • 32:34 - 32:38
    The deal, known as "The Canadian Boreal
    Forest Agreement" aimed to silence all
  • 32:38 - 32:41
    criticism of logging practices
    in the boreal forest.
  • 32:41 - 32:44
    The Marketplace is also
    going to be very important
  • 32:44 - 32:47
    Many cusomers have been pushing for
    change in the boreal forest.
  • 32:47 - 32:49
    The Forest Product Association
  • 32:49 - 32:51
    and its 21 member companies are
  • 32:51 - 32:54
    responding to the demand for greener products,
  • 32:54 - 32:57
    and that marketplace is
    going to pay close attention.
  • 32:57 - 33:00
    If the change isn't happening,
    then they're going to put
  • 33:00 - 33:02
    pressure on the parties who
    were part of the agreement --
  • 33:02 - 33:05
    the environmental organizations,
    the forest products companies --
  • 33:05 - 33:08
    to do the things that
    they've set out to do.
  • 33:08 - 33:11
    And the will reward the companies
  • 33:11 - 33:13
    when things begin to be implemented and
  • 33:13 - 33:16
    the change happens on the ground.
    I'm fully confident of that.
  • 33:16 - 33:19
    - One interesting piece of the agreement is
  • 33:19 - 33:23
    with Greenpeace,
    David Suzuki, Forest Ethics,
  • 33:23 - 33:26
    Canadian Parks and
    Wilderness on our side,
  • 33:26 - 33:29
    when someone else comes and
    tries to bully us,
  • 33:29 - 33:32
    the agreement actually requires
    that they come and
  • 33:32 - 33:35
    work with us in repelling the attack and we'll be
  • 33:35 - 33:38
    able to say, "Fight me, fight my gang."
  • 33:38 - 33:41
    - I personally have no use for large,
  • 33:41 - 33:44
    institutionalized environmental organizations;
  • 33:44 - 33:47
    I think they're more of a problem than a help.
  • 33:47 - 33:49
    They're just eco-bureaucracies.
  • 33:49 - 33:51
    And, you know, I won't name any
    because I don't like to badmouth
  • 33:51 - 33:53
    organizations, except for one, which I
  • 33:53 - 33:55
    feel that I can, and that's
    Greenpeace. And the reason I
  • 33:55 - 33:59
    can criticize Greenpeace is
    I am a co-creator of Greenpeace,
  • 33:59 - 34:03
    and therefore I feel like Dr. Frankenstein
    sometimes, and I feel that since I helped
  • 34:03 - 34:05
    create the thing I can certainly criticize it.
  • 34:05 - 34:07
    And I think that Greenpeace has become
  • 34:07 - 34:10
    the world's biggest feel-good
    organization now. People join it
  • 34:10 - 34:14
    to feel good, to feel, "I'm part of
    the solution, I'm not part of the problem."
  • 34:14 - 34:17
    Greenpeace brings in close
    to $300 million a year,
  • 34:17 - 34:19
    and what do they do with that money?
  • 34:19 - 34:21
    Generate more money. And the people who
  • 34:21 - 34:24
    are at the top of the totem pole
    now are not environmentalists --
  • 34:24 - 34:26
    they're fundraisers,
    they're accountants,
  • 34:26 - 34:28
    they're lawyers,
    they're businesspeople.
  • 34:29 - 34:31
    People are voting with their dollars at
    the checkout stands. It's because
  • 34:31 - 34:34
    they know the polling shows that the public cares,
  • 34:34 - 34:36
    and ultimately they're going to care about their
  • 34:36 - 34:40
    profit margin and whether they can sell products.
  • 34:40 - 34:43
    What's happened in British Columbia with the
  • 34:43 - 34:47
    environmental movement, it's been stalemated.
  • 34:47 - 34:53
    The big leaders there compromised;
  • 34:53 - 34:55
    they went in bed
  • 34:55 - 34:57
    and it snuffed out that movement.
  • 35:19 - 35:21
    - So what happened was there was direct action,
    there were blockades
  • 35:21 - 35:23
    there was an international market campaign
  • 35:23 - 35:25
    that put a lot of pressure on the companies
  • 35:25 - 35:27
    that were logging in the Great Bear Rainforest.
  • 35:27 - 35:29
    But the end result was that it all fed into
  • 35:29 - 35:32
    a closed-door negotiation with
  • 35:32 - 35:35
    Tzeporah Berman as chief negotiator
  • 35:35 - 35:38
    on the conservationists' side,
    where a lot of the groups
  • 35:38 - 35:41
    that actually did the work,
    the direct actions,
  • 35:41 - 35:44
    and did the market campaigns
    were shut out of the process.
  • 35:44 - 35:47
    Public oversight was removed
    and the protocol agreements
  • 35:47 - 35:50
    that were signed with First Nations
    and with conservation groups
  • 35:50 - 35:52
    were basically shunted aside.
  • 35:52 - 35:55
    So the protocol agreements gave
  • 35:55 - 35:57
    the negotiators a mandate to
  • 35:57 - 36:00
    negotiate for 40 to 60
    percent conservation
  • 36:00 - 36:03
    but what happened was
    they agreed to 20 percent.
  • 36:03 - 36:05
    - It's not strange to me
    when people tell me that
  • 36:06 - 36:08
    the former president of Greenpeace
  • 36:08 - 36:10
    now works for the logging industry of Canada.
  • 36:10 - 36:12
    The former president of Greenpeace Australia
  • 36:12 - 36:14
    now works for the mining industry. The former
  • 36:14 - 36:16
    president of Greenpeace Norway works for the
  • 36:16 - 36:20
    whaling industry. See, because it's
    just one corporate job to the next.
  • 36:21 - 36:25
    In 1975 Greenpeace launched
    its anti-whaling campaign,
  • 36:25 - 36:29
    confronting whaling fleets on the high seas.
  • 36:31 - 36:35
    In June 2010, Greenpeace agreed
    to a deal that would allow
  • 36:35 - 36:39
    nations like Japan to continue hunting
    whales for commercial purposes.
  • 36:44 - 36:46
    The only measure in which
    we'll be judged by those
  • 36:46 - 36:49
    come after is the health
    of the land and
  • 36:49 - 36:51
    the health of the water,
    the health of the Earth.
  • 36:51 - 36:54
    They're not going to give a
    shit as to whether we recycled;
  • 36:54 - 36:57
    they're not going to give a shit
    as to whether we wrote our legislators;
  • 36:57 - 36:59
    they're not going to give a
    shit as to how hard we tried.
  • 36:59 - 37:02
    What they're going to care about is whether they
    can breathe the air and drink the water,
  • 37:02 - 37:04
    whether the land will support them.
  • 37:04 - 37:06
    And they're not going to
    care how hard we tried,
  • 37:06 - 37:09
    they're not going to care about any of that --
    what they're going to care about is...
  • 37:09 - 37:13
    ...do we live on a living planet?
  • 37:19 - 37:25
    Figure III
  • 37:29 - 37:31
    OK, so...
  • 37:38 - 37:42
    ... I don't know if you know this, but
  • 37:42 - 37:46
    the original draft of the
    movie Star Wars was not
  • 37:46 - 37:49
    written by Lucas.
  • 37:49 - 37:52
    The original draft was
    written by environmentalists
  • 37:52 - 37:55
    and it's a little bit different.
  • 38:01 - 38:03
    For one thing, it wasn't
    actually called "Star WARS".
  • 38:05 - 38:08
    It was called "Star
    Non-Violent Civil Disobedience".
  • 38:08 - 38:11
    But the plot of Star Wars, for those
    of you who don't remember, is that
  • 38:11 - 38:15
    the Empire has created this
    giant machine called the Death Star.
  • 38:15 - 38:19
    And it's a machine that's
    capable of destroying entire planets.
  • 38:19 - 38:23
    In the movie the rebels find a
    way to destroy the Death Star,
  • 38:23 - 38:25
    and then at the very
    end, Luke Skywalker
  • 38:25 - 38:27
    uses the force to get past all the
  • 38:27 - 38:30
    tie fighters and to drop a torpedo
    down a thermal exhaust port,
  • 38:30 - 38:33
    and to blow up the Death Star.
  • 38:35 - 38:37
    Once again, the first draft
    of the movie written by
  • 38:37 - 38:39
    environmentalists was a bit
    different: the rebels
  • 38:39 - 38:43
    didn't actually blow up the
    Death Star. Instead they used
  • 38:43 - 38:47
    other methods to slow the
    intergalactic march of empire.
  • 38:47 - 38:51
    For example, they set up programs for
    people on planets about to be destroyed,
  • 38:51 - 38:54
    to produce luxury items like hemp
    hacky sacks and gourmet coffee
  • 38:54 - 38:56
    for sale to inhabitants of the Death Star.
  • 38:56 - 38:58
    Audience members will also
    discover that there are plans afoot
  • 38:58 - 39:00
    to encourage loads of troopers
    and other citizens of the empire
  • 39:00 - 39:02
    to take eco-tours of doomed planets.
  • 39:02 - 39:05
    The purpose will be to show to one and all
    that these planets are economically important
  • 39:05 - 39:07
    to the Empire and so should not be destroyed.
  • 39:07 - 39:11
    In a surprise move that will get
    viewers to the edges of their seats,
  • 39:11 - 39:13
    other groups of rebels will file
    lawsuits against the Empire,
  • 39:13 - 39:16
    attempting to show that the Environmental
    Impact Statement that Darth Vader
  • 39:16 - 39:19
    was required to file, failed
    to adequately support its decision
  • 39:19 - 39:22
    that blowing up this planet would
    cause "no significant impact".
  • 39:22 - 39:24
    Viewers will thrill to learn
    of plans to boycott items produced
  • 39:24 - 39:26
    by corporations that have Darth
    Vader on the board of directors,
  • 39:27 - 39:29
    and they'll leap to their
    feet in theaters worldwide
  • 39:29 - 39:33
    when they see bags full of letters
    written directly to Mr. Vader himself
  • 39:33 - 39:35
    asking that he please not
    blow up anymore planets.
  • 39:35 - 39:38
    Now, we all know that all
    would be enough not only to
  • 39:38 - 39:41
    bring the Empire to its knees,
    but to make a damn fine and exciting movie.
  • 39:41 - 39:43
    The thing is: there's more.
  • 39:43 - 39:46
    Thousands of renegade rebels,
    unhappy with what
  • 39:46 - 39:49
    they perceive as toadying on
    the part of the mainstream rebels
  • 39:49 - 39:52
    decide, in a scene guaranteed
    to bring tears to even the eyes
  • 39:52 - 39:54
    of the most cold-hearted
    theatergoers, to stand on
  • 39:54 - 39:58
    the planets to be destroyed, link
    arms, and sing "Give Peace a Chance."
  • 39:58 - 40:01
    They send DVDs of that
    to Darth Vader and his
  • 40:01 - 40:03
    boss the Grand Moff Tarkin, to whom they
  • 40:03 - 40:05
    also send wave after wave of loving kindness.
  • 40:05 - 40:07
    A the few rebels sneak aboard
    the Death Star and lock themselves
  • 40:07 - 40:09
    down to various pieces of
    equipment. And stirring debates
  • 40:09 - 40:12
    are held onscreen as to
    whether the rebels should
  • 40:12 - 40:14
    voluntarily surrender on approach
    of the troopers, or whether
  • 40:14 - 40:16
    they should remain locked down to the end.
  • 40:17 - 40:20
    And in a brilliant and
    brave touch of authenticity,
  • 40:20 - 40:23
    the rebels are never
    able to come to consensus.
  • 40:23 - 40:26
    But there's more. Once inside the Death
    Star, a splinter group breaks off,
  • 40:26 - 40:30
    they burn a couple of transporters,
    and they etch "Galaxy Liberation Front".
  • 40:30 - 40:33
    And then another group breaks
    off from that group and they
  • 40:33 - 40:36
    finally make it to Darth
    Vader's private room. And when
  • 40:36 - 40:38
    they get there, they sneak up behind him
  • 40:38 - 40:40
    and then they hit
    him with a vegan cream pie.
  • 40:40 - 40:43
    And the directors decided
    to cut that because
  • 40:43 - 40:45
    it was way too close to
  • 40:45 - 40:47
    a scene in another movie they
    were developing at the same time
  • 40:47 - 40:49
    called "The Plot to Pie Hitler".
  • 40:49 - 40:51
    As the Death Star looms directly
    overhead, a few of the rebels
  • 40:51 - 40:54
    advocate picking up weapons to fight back.
  • 40:54 - 40:56
    And those rebels are
    generally shouted down by
  • 40:56 - 40:58
    pacifist rebels who argue that attacking
  • 40:58 - 41:00
    those who run the Death
    Star is "just another
  • 41:00 - 41:02
    example of the Empire's harmful philosophy
  • 41:02 - 41:04
    coming in by the back door.'
  • 41:04 - 41:06
    "If we want to change
    Darth Vader," they say,
  • 41:06 - 41:08
    "we must all first become
    that change ourselves.
  • 41:08 - 41:10
    To change Darth Vader's heart,
    we must first change our own.
  • 41:10 - 41:13
    We must, above all else,
    have compassion for
  • 41:13 - 41:17
    Darth Vader, and remember that
    he, too, was once a child."
  • 41:17 - 41:20
    So finally Leia, Luke, Han, Chewbacca,
    and a couple of robots show up
  • 41:20 - 41:23
    and tell these others they've found a
    way to blow up the whole Death Star.
  • 41:23 - 41:25
    And the rest of the rebels,
    of course, are just horrified.
  • 41:25 - 41:28
    A scuffle breaks out between Leia,
    Luke, Han, and Chewbacca and the two
  • 41:28 - 41:30
    robots on one side and the
    pacifists on the other.
  • 41:30 - 41:32
    And the pacifists chase those four
    from the room and from the film
  • 41:32 - 41:34
    which is not a big deal because
    they are minor characters anyway.
  • 41:34 - 41:36
    But anyway, the way the
    movie ends is that
  • 41:36 - 41:38
    the Death Star looms closer
    and closer and then you see
  • 41:38 - 41:40
    the Death Star, and then
    you see the planet,
  • 41:40 - 41:42
    and then you see the Death Star,
    and then you see the planet,
  • 41:42 - 41:45
    and then you see the Death Star
    and you see the laser start to glow
  • 41:45 - 41:47
    this hellish red, and
    then you see the planet again,
  • 41:47 - 41:49
    and you see this little light --
  • 41:49 - 41:52
    and what that is: that's the environmentalists
    getting away before the planet gets blown up.
  • 41:52 - 41:54
    And then you see the Death
    Star again and then it
  • 41:54 - 41:56
    blows up the planet,
    and then, the final
  • 41:56 - 41:59
    shot of the movie, which reveals
    what complete triumph this was for the
  • 41:59 - 42:01
    rebels, is a still showing an
  • 42:01 - 42:04
    article on the lower left of
    page 43 of the New Empire Times
  • 42:04 - 42:07
    that devotes a full 3 sentences
    to the destruction of the planet.
  • 42:07 - 42:09
    So it's like, "Yeah we got some press!"
  • 42:11 - 42:16
    Premise IV
  • 42:19 - 42:22
    The culture as a whole and
  • 42:22 - 42:28
    most of its members
    are insane.
  • 42:30 - 42:33
    The culture is driven by a death urge,
  • 42:33 - 42:38
    an urge to destroy life.
  • 43:01 - 43:04
    - The public really needs
    to understand that no combination
  • 43:04 - 43:09
    of alternative miracle fuels,
    or biodiesel, or ethanol,
  • 43:09 - 43:14
    or nuclear, or sun, or solar,
    or used french fry potato oil,
  • 43:14 - 43:19
    no combination of these things is going to
    allow us to keep a happy, motoring society going.
  • 43:20 - 43:24
    - We are using up all the very
    easily accessed energy sources:
  • 43:24 - 43:28
    and we've really built this huge way
    of life based on cheap oil, essentially.
  • 43:30 - 43:34
    - The world as we know it, which
    relies entirely on oil to function,
  • 43:34 - 43:37
    is nearing its end.
  • 43:38 - 43:42
    - We are headed for the crash.
    That oil is not going to come again.
  • 44:00 - 44:09
    Fort McMurray
    Alberta, Canada
  • 44:16 - 44:19
    - The tar sands are probably one
    of the biggest industrial
  • 44:19 - 44:21
    projects in the history of mankind.
  • 44:22 - 44:24
    - The tar sands are the largest,
  • 44:24 - 44:27
    most destructive environmental
    project on the planet right now.
  • 44:30 - 44:32
    - It's oil extraction,
  • 44:32 - 44:35
    it's some of the dirtiest oil on the planet,
  • 44:35 - 44:38
    which means that it takes
    the most energy to extract,
  • 44:38 - 44:42
    and the reason that we're extracting this
  • 44:42 - 44:44
    this particular brand of dirty, dirty, oil
  • 44:44 - 44:47
    is because there's no other oil left to extract.
  • 44:47 - 44:49
    - Tar sands really aren't oil.
  • 44:49 - 44:51
    Effectively, the process by which you
  • 44:51 - 44:53
    mine and refine tar sands
  • 44:53 - 44:56
    is adding about a hundred
    million years of development
  • 44:56 - 44:58
    through a synthetic process.
  • 44:58 - 45:00
    The tar sands deposit
    is an area that covers
  • 45:00 - 45:03
    the size of the state of
    New York, or larger than England
  • 45:03 - 45:05
    is already considered the largest industrial project
  • 45:05 - 45:07
    in human history, and it's barely begun.
  • 45:09 - 45:12
    - They extract it from the sand by
  • 45:12 - 45:15
    steaming and heating water,
    basically boiling it...
  • 45:15 - 45:20
    ...so the oil sits on top of the water like a froth,
  • 45:20 - 45:23
    then they scrape it off, and that's the bitumen.
  • 45:24 - 45:28
    - There's mining processes
    and in situ processes,
  • 45:28 - 45:30
    and both of them are pretty
    much trying to extract
  • 45:30 - 45:32
    bitumen out of the sand.
  • 45:33 - 45:36
    - To produce one barrel of oil
  • 45:36 - 45:38
    you have to first, after
    you've cleared off the ground
  • 45:38 - 45:40
    and broken all the trees down
    and so forth, then dig a pit,
  • 45:40 - 45:43
    which can be up to two hundred feet deep.
  • 45:43 - 45:45
    For each barrel of oil, there's
    four barrels of water used,
  • 45:45 - 45:47
    in a process called a slurry
  • 45:47 - 45:49
    where you spin it at a high speed,
  • 45:49 - 45:51
    high velocity, with high
    temperatures of water,
  • 45:51 - 45:54
    to separate the bitumen,
    which is the pre-synthetic oil,
  • 45:54 - 45:57
    from the sands itself,
    and all the clays and silts.
  • 45:57 - 45:59
    But that's after you've already
    dug out what has to be
  • 45:59 - 46:01
    to be hundreds of tons of Earth.
  • 46:03 - 46:07
    - The energy that's required to
    actually do that is approximately,
  • 46:07 - 46:09
    people say for almost every barrel of oil you need
  • 46:09 - 46:12
    about a half a barrel of energy just
    to produce this,
  • 46:12 - 46:14
    so for every barrel of energy input,
  • 46:14 - 46:16
    two barrels of oil are produced,
  • 46:16 - 46:18
    whereas with conventional
    crude it was very,
  • 46:18 - 46:20
    very minor in terms of the energy
  • 46:20 - 46:23
    that's inputted to actually
    get the crude oil out.
  • 46:23 - 46:26
    So the ratio that's most important to
    talk about is a ratio you could use
  • 46:26 - 46:30
    in a country like Iraq, where for
    each barrel of oil you use to try to
  • 46:30 - 46:34
    get more oil you'll get about
    a hundred barrels back.
  • 46:38 - 46:43
    Fort Chipewyan
    Alberta, Canada
  • 46:53 - 46:56
    - The Athabasca River, which runs
    through northern Alberta,
  • 46:56 - 47:00
    where you have many different native
    communities living along the river,
  • 47:00 - 47:05
    is being sucked of its water to
    fuel the tar sands operations.
  • 47:07 - 47:10
    - Because of the contamination of the river
  • 47:10 - 47:13
    from oil sands discharges
  • 47:13 - 47:16
    of things like oil and grease and
  • 47:16 - 47:18
    untreated sewage into the Athabasca River,
  • 47:18 - 47:20
    and sometimes there's accidents,
  • 47:20 - 47:22
    spills of these toxic chemicals
  • 47:22 - 47:25
    directly into the Athabasca Rivers.
  • 47:27 - 47:29
    - The community of Fort Chipewyan,
    both the Mikisew Cree
  • 47:29 - 47:32
    and the Dene Chipewyan First Nation,
  • 47:32 - 47:34
    who have been fighting
    and really at the front
  • 47:34 - 47:36
    of raising the alarm about what's happening,
  • 47:36 - 47:39
    and their community has been seeing all of this
  • 47:39 - 47:43
    rise in rare cancers, autoimmune diseases,
  • 47:43 - 47:47
    arsenic in the land,
    the moose meat, the fish
  • 47:47 - 47:50
    are at high levels of
    heavy metals, mercuries,
  • 47:50 - 47:54
    basically the whole environment
    up there is contaminated.
  • 47:56 - 47:58
    - How this is effecting my community is that
  • 47:58 - 48:01
    it's killing off the people of Fort Chipewyan.
  • 48:01 - 48:05
    It's what I've called before
    "a slow, industrial genocide."
  • 48:05 - 48:07
    I buried my auntie,
  • 48:07 - 48:10
    I buried my uncle, I got
    an auntie living with it.
  • 48:10 - 48:13
    And this is a war for our lives,
  • 48:13 - 48:15
    because the government is allowing
  • 48:15 - 48:18
    the people of Fort Chip to die.
  • 48:18 - 48:20
    - The tar sands are not only fueling
  • 48:20 - 48:24
    the second fastest rate of deforestation
  • 48:24 - 48:26
    in the world outside of
    the Amazon River basin,
  • 48:26 - 48:28
    they're already the second fastest
  • 48:28 - 48:30
    contributor to climate
    change in North America.
  • 48:30 - 48:33
    And with the goals of production that
    they're talking about, the CO2 emissions
  • 48:33 - 48:35
    will make it so the only way
  • 48:35 - 48:38
    you could outstrip a
    climate change contributor
  • 48:38 - 48:40
    for North America would
    be to combine all
  • 48:41 - 48:43
    the coal-fired power plants from
  • 48:43 - 48:46
    Alberta to Arizona and in between,
    across all of North America.
  • 48:47 - 48:49
    - I think that the tar
    sands is the absurdity
  • 48:49 - 48:52
    of still desiring oil
  • 48:52 - 48:54
    when we know so well
  • 48:54 - 48:56
    that, for example, fresh water is just
  • 48:56 - 48:58
    an elemental part of human existence
  • 48:58 - 49:00
    and they're running full force towards
  • 49:00 - 49:03
    extracting these last little bits of oil
  • 49:03 - 49:05
    to sustain this plastic culture,
  • 49:05 - 49:07
    this plastic civilization,
  • 49:07 - 49:10
    to the destruction of the environment
    in which we can live.
  • 49:12 - 49:14
    - People say it's like the
    world's addicted to crack,
  • 49:14 - 49:18
    and this is like the dirtiest
    and most disgusting form of crack
  • 49:18 - 49:20
    that'll keep it addicted
    for a lot longer, right.
  • 49:20 - 49:22
    This is actually what it is.
  • 49:22 - 49:25
    It is the most insane
    thing that people are doing.
  • 49:31 - 49:33
    - We probably agree that civilization's
  • 49:33 - 49:36
    going to crash, whether or
    not we help bring this about.
  • 49:36 - 49:39
    If you don't agree with this, we
    probably have nothing to say to each other.
  • 49:39 - 49:42
    We probably also agree that
    this crash will be messy.
  • 49:42 - 49:47
    We agree further that since industrial
    civilization is systematically dismantling
  • 49:47 - 49:49
    the ecological infrastructure of the planet...
  • 49:49 - 49:52
    ...the sooner civilization comes down,
    whether or not we help it crash,
  • 49:52 - 49:55
    the more life will remain afterwards
    to support both humans and nonhumans.
  • 49:57 - 50:02
    Figure IV
  • 50:06 - 50:09
    - The genesis of Endgame, the book,
  • 50:09 - 50:12
    was really because I did some talks
  • 50:12 - 50:15
    around the possibility of fighting back.
  • 50:15 - 50:18
    And the response by the
    audience was really predictable.
  • 50:18 - 50:21
    If it was an audience made up of
    sort of mainstream environmentalists
  • 50:21 - 50:23
    and peace and social justice activists,
  • 50:23 - 50:27
    often, they would put up what
    I've taken to calling a "Gandhi shield".
  • 50:27 - 50:30
    Which is, they would say the names "Martin
    Luther King", "Dalai Lama", and "Gandhi"
  • 50:30 - 50:33
    again and again, as fast as they can,
    to keep all evil thoughts at bay.
  • 50:34 - 50:37
    And if it was grassroots environmentalists,
  • 50:37 - 50:39
    they would do the same thing
    but then they would come
  • 50:39 - 50:41
    up to me afterwards and they would say,
  • 50:41 - 50:44
    WHISPERING "Thank you so much
    for bringing this up."
  • 50:44 - 50:48
    Pacifying Resistance
  • 50:49 - 50:52
    - Especially in North America,
    the pacifists and non-violent
  • 50:52 - 50:56
    advocates have had a very defining role,
  • 50:56 - 50:58
    and even a censoring role, in determining
  • 50:58 - 51:00
    what other people's participation can be
  • 51:00 - 51:04
    in a whole range of social struggles, and
  • 51:04 - 51:07
    that the way that they've
    affected social struggles
  • 51:07 - 51:10
    has made it very much easier for the state
  • 51:10 - 51:12
    to control those social struggles,
  • 51:12 - 51:15
    that non-violence plays a function
  • 51:15 - 51:17
    of recuperating social struggles,
  • 51:17 - 51:20
    of taking out their teeth
    and making them harmless,
  • 51:20 - 51:25
    so that they can just exist in
    this cesspool of democratic plurality.
  • 51:27 - 51:30
    - I wonder, what happens to
    that kind of energy or
  • 51:30 - 51:34
    idealism or faith that something
    is about to change
  • 51:34 - 51:37
    when it's certainly not going to change at all?
  • 51:39 - 51:41
    - What are the false hopes that
    keep us tied to the system?
  • 51:41 - 51:43
    What are the false
    hopes that bind us to
  • 51:43 - 51:46
    unlivable situations and
    blind us to real possibilities?
  • 51:46 - 51:49
    Does anybody really think that
    Weyerhauser's going to stop,
  • 51:49 - 51:51
    deforesting because we asked nicely
  • 51:51 - 51:54
    that Monsanto will stop Monsantoing
    because we ask nicely?
  • 51:54 - 51:56
    I was talking to this person in the
    States several years ago and they said,
  • 51:56 - 51:59
    "If we can just get a Democrat in the
    White House, things are going to be OK."
  • 52:01 - 52:03
    - We've got a couple of myths
    on the left that I would
  • 52:03 - 52:06
    REALLY encourage us to get over.
  • 52:06 - 52:09
    The first is that social change
    happens by moral suasion.
  • 52:09 - 52:12
    It doesn't. It happens by force.
  • 52:14 - 52:17
    - The problem with persuasion
    as a strategy is that
  • 52:17 - 52:20
    it only works on people who can actually
  • 52:20 - 52:23
    be convinced, and who can be
  • 52:23 - 52:25
    relied upon to act from their position
  • 52:25 - 52:27
    after their minds have been changed.
  • 52:27 - 52:30
    And the problem is that we're not dealing with
  • 52:30 - 52:32
    individuals who can be convinced or persuaded,
  • 52:32 - 52:35
    we're dealing mostly with large,
  • 52:35 - 52:39
    abstract, social organizations,
    and corporations which are
  • 52:39 - 52:43
    basically sociopaths made out
    of huge numbers of people.
  • 52:45 - 52:48
    - You can't argue with psychopaths,
    you can't argue with fascists,
  • 52:48 - 52:50
    and you can't argue with those
  • 52:50 - 52:54
    who are benefiting from an economic system.
  • 52:54 - 52:56
    You have to stop them through
    some form of force,
  • 52:56 - 52:58
    and that force can be violent or nonviolent.
  • 52:58 - 53:01
    Could you have stopped Ted
    Bundy by peaceful means?
  • 53:04 - 53:07
    - The Left, to a large extent subconsciously,
  • 53:07 - 53:09
    has as its primary role
  • 53:09 - 53:12
    to make resistance harmless.
  • 53:12 - 53:15
    States have recognized that
  • 53:15 - 53:18
    resistance will never disappear,
    that struggles will never disappear
  • 53:18 - 53:21
    and in the past they
    tried suppressing struggles
  • 53:21 - 53:25
    the first time that they
    showed their heads, that there was
  • 53:25 - 53:27
    any sign of them, and
    that proved ineffective.
  • 53:27 - 53:30
    So nowadays that way
    that states rule is by
  • 53:30 - 53:33
    accepting the inevitability
    of conflict and resistance,
  • 53:33 - 53:36
    and just trying to manage it permanently.
  • 53:36 - 53:39
    "Keep the march going,
    there's nothing happening here!
  • 53:39 - 53:42
    There's nothing happening,
    just one more line of police,
  • 53:42 - 53:45
    so please keep the march going!"
  • 53:46 - 53:49
    - Social movements in North America are locked
  • 53:49 - 53:53
    into this pacifist doctrine that is imposed by
  • 53:53 - 53:55
    the middle class reformists
  • 53:55 - 53:58
    who want to control
    the movement and dictate
  • 53:58 - 54:01
    how it conducts itself.
  • 54:04 - 54:07
    - Advocates of nonviolence
    frequently say that nonviolence
  • 54:07 - 54:09
    works, and the principal
    examples that they use of that
  • 54:09 - 54:12
    are Gandhi in India and Martin
    Luther King in the U.S.
  • 54:12 - 54:15
    The problem with that is,
    this constitutes a really great
  • 54:15 - 54:19
    historical whitewashing,
    that in fact the resistance in
  • 54:19 - 54:21
    India was incredibly
    diverse, and Gandhi was
  • 54:21 - 54:23
    a very important figure
    within that resistance,
  • 54:23 - 54:27
    but the resistance was by no
    means pacifist in its entirety.
  • 54:28 - 54:31
    - Gandhi gets used as a way
    to shut down conversation.
  • 54:33 - 54:36
    - Especially in the West,
    Gandhi is used as a way
  • 54:36 - 54:38
    to quell any ideas of
  • 54:38 - 54:41
    either direct action or what's
    perceived as violence or,
  • 54:41 - 54:43
    sort of, you know, resistance that
  • 54:43 - 54:46
    goes beyond what is seen as a sort of a
  • 54:46 - 54:50
    pacifist or a peaceful means of resistance.
  • 54:50 - 54:53
    - For years, I really bought into the whole
  • 54:53 - 54:56
    Gandhian myth that is really sort of
  • 54:56 - 55:00
    forced down the throats of
    activists in the United States,
  • 55:00 - 55:03
    and the people who disabused
    me of that myth were
  • 55:03 - 55:05
    when I first actually
    met some people from India.
  • 55:05 - 55:08
    The people I talked to
    certainly didn't deify him,
  • 55:08 - 55:11
    and many of them despised him.
  • 55:11 - 55:14
    And they felt he was a
    collaborator and he was somebody
  • 55:14 - 55:16
    whom the British could work with.
  • 55:20 - 55:22
    - Gandhi's very well known in the West,
  • 55:22 - 55:25
    but when you go to India, there's
    a freedom fighter and revolutionary
  • 55:25 - 55:27
    leader called Bhagat Singh,
  • 55:27 - 55:31
    who's in India probably
    almost as well known as Gandhi
  • 55:31 - 55:33
    as a part of
  • 55:33 - 55:36
    the independence movement and a
    leader in the independence movement.
  • 55:36 - 55:40
    But in the West, most people
    probably have never heard his name.
  • 55:40 - 55:43
    And the reason why that is, is that he used
  • 55:43 - 55:45
    direct action tactics.
  • 55:45 - 55:48
    There were generals of the
    British army that were killed;
  • 55:48 - 55:51
    there was a bomb thrown
    in a British assembly to
  • 55:51 - 55:54
    basically attract the
    attention of the public;
  • 55:54 - 55:58
    there were weapons that people
    were getting off of railway cars.
  • 56:01 - 56:03
    - With Gandhi and the
    Indian National Congress,
  • 56:03 - 56:06
    where you had the moderates
    and the extremists,
  • 56:06 - 56:09
    the moderates were legal;
    constitutional reform
  • 56:09 - 56:11
    was their only method,
  • 56:11 - 56:15
    and they were criticized for
    being a middle class clique,
  • 56:15 - 56:19
    for being too slow,
    for being too legalistic,
  • 56:19 - 56:21
    and for being basically ineffective.
  • 56:21 - 56:24
    The extremists, on the other
    hand, were accused of being
  • 56:24 - 56:28
    too aggressive, of being too fast
    and reckless and irresponsible.
  • 56:29 - 56:32
    - Gandhi basically got negotiating power
  • 56:32 - 56:36
    from the fact that there were
    other elements in the struggle
  • 56:36 - 56:39
    which were even more
    threatening to British dominance.
  • 56:39 - 56:42
    So the British specifically
    chose to dialogue with
  • 56:42 - 56:45
    Gandhi because he was,
    perhaps for them, the least
  • 56:45 - 56:48
    threatening of the important
    elements of resistance.
  • 56:48 - 56:52
    - Gandhi came in as
    being the middleman.
  • 56:52 - 56:55
    His theory of nonviolent,
    passive resistance
  • 56:55 - 56:59
    seemed to be a bridge between
    the extremists and the moderates.
  • 56:59 - 57:02
    - The British were bled white after WWII,
  • 57:02 - 57:05
    and didn't have the
    morale left anymore for
  • 57:05 - 57:08
    a big fight, and they
    helped choose somebody
  • 57:08 - 57:10
    that they could work with.
  • 57:10 - 57:14
    They knew a revolution was coming and they
    wanted to blunt it as much as they could.
  • 57:14 - 57:17
    - India went from being
    a colony to a neocolony.
  • 57:17 - 57:20
    The British were still able to
    maintain their interests, less directly,
  • 57:20 - 57:26
    with Indians being in
    positions of management.
  • 57:31 - 57:33
    - My problem isn't with
  • 57:33 - 57:37
    somebody doing nonviolent
    actions, it never has been.
  • 57:37 - 57:39
    I mean, I say all the
    time that we need it all.
  • 57:39 - 57:42
    My problem is that
  • 57:42 - 57:46
    so many pacifists, especially
    in the United States,
  • 57:46 - 57:50
    end up not supporting
  • 57:50 - 57:52
    more radical or militant work.
  • 57:54 - 57:57
    - The problem when this
    debate comes up is that
  • 57:57 - 58:01
    you can't just assume
    that people that are
  • 58:01 - 58:04
    resisting and are using
    a means of resistance
  • 58:04 - 58:07
    haven't thought about what
    they're doing. And that's what
  • 58:07 - 58:09
    I think is often the
    problem. When people
  • 58:09 - 58:12
    decide to take certain actions
    and when people decide
  • 58:12 - 58:14
    that, "Hey, you know,
    our marches aren't enough,"
  • 58:14 - 58:16
    or they're doing this or doing that,
  • 58:16 - 58:18
    there's this assumption
    by a lot of people that
  • 58:18 - 58:22
    want to toe the Gandhi line that,
    "Oh, they're just not thinking about it."
  • 58:23 - 58:26
    - What most states will choose
    to do in similar circumstances
  • 58:26 - 58:29
    is to find the elements
    of the resistance
  • 58:29 - 58:32
    that are most easy to control
    and most easy to co-opt,
  • 58:32 - 58:36
    to negotiate with them, and then
    to hand over power to THEM in order
  • 58:36 - 58:39
    to continue the system
    that had already existed.
  • 58:42 - 58:44
    - So again, you have the state
    doing the same thing it did
  • 58:44 - 58:47
    with Gandhi and Martin Luther
    King it does with, for example,
  • 58:47 - 58:50
    the environmental movement. So
    it invites the responsible leaders
  • 58:50 - 58:53
    of the environmental
    movement into inquiries,
  • 58:53 - 58:57
    government commissions,
    debates. It recognizes them --
  • 58:57 - 58:59
    they're the legitimate leaders --
    because again,
  • 58:59 - 59:04
    it doesn't want the movement to begin to
    adopt more militant resistance tactics.
  • 59:04 - 59:07
    - The powerful do not ever
    give up without a struggle.
  • 59:07 - 59:09
    Those are the famous
    words of Frederick Douglass
  • 59:09 - 59:12
    when he said, "Power concedes
    nothing without a demand.
  • 59:12 - 59:14
    It never has, and it never will."
  • 59:22 - 59:26
    Figure V
  • 59:28 - 59:32
    If we use more efficient electricity,
  • 59:32 - 59:34
    appliances, we can save this much
  • 59:34 - 59:37
    off of the global warming pollution that
  • 59:37 - 59:40
    would otherwise be put
    into the atmosphere.
  • 59:40 - 59:43
    If we use other end-use
    efficiency this much,
  • 59:43 - 59:46
    if we have higher-mileage
    cars, this much.
  • 59:46 - 59:48
    And all these begin to add up:
  • 59:48 - 59:51
    other transport efficiency,
    renewable technology.
  • 59:51 - 59:54
    We have everything we need,
  • 59:54 - 59:57
    save, perhaps, political will.
  • 59:57 - 60:00
    But you know what, in
    America, political will
  • 60:00 - 60:02
    is a renewable resource.
  • 60:05 - 60:07
    - When we see solutions,
    all the so-called solutions
  • 60:07 - 60:09
    put forward to global
    warming, the thing
  • 60:09 - 60:11
    they all have in common
    is that they take
  • 60:11 - 60:14
    industrial civilization
    as a given, and they take
  • 60:14 - 60:18
    the natural world as
    the dependent variable.
  • 60:18 - 60:20
    It's all about saving civilization.
  • 60:20 - 60:22
    And that's entirely backwards.
  • 60:22 - 60:25
    What it should be is:
    we need to do whatever
  • 60:25 - 60:29
    it takes to save
    life on the planet.
  • 60:31 - 60:33
    - In the next 40 to 50 years,
    we're going to see the
  • 60:33 - 60:36
    extinction of more species
    than we've seen in the past
  • 60:36 - 60:38
    65 million years.
  • 60:38 - 60:41
    That, to me, is a red light,
  • 60:41 - 60:45
    and a siren going off
    as a call to people
  • 60:45 - 60:47
    who will cut through the crap and
  • 60:47 - 60:49
    do what is necessary
    to protect the Earth
  • 60:49 - 60:52
    for here and now, and
    for future generations.
  • 60:52 - 60:54
    It is you that are going
    to have to answer to your
  • 60:54 - 60:56
    children, 50-75 years from now
  • 60:56 - 60:59
    when they ask what you
    did during the eco-wars.
  • 60:59 - 61:02
    And in that sense,
  • 61:02 - 61:05
    each one of us has to live the life
  • 61:05 - 61:08
    today, at this very moment, doing the things
  • 61:08 - 61:11
    that we would be proud to tell our ancestors about.
  • 61:12 - 61:14
    If we are serious about saving life on Earth
  • 61:14 - 61:17
    we've got to start fighting back
  • 61:17 - 61:21
    in the ways that people do
    when they realize they need
  • 61:21 - 61:23
    to form a serious resistance movement.
  • 61:24 - 61:27
    - Most indigenous populations
    who maintain any
  • 61:27 - 61:30
    sense of a traditional worldview
  • 61:30 - 61:34
    know that the way of life that
  • 61:34 - 61:37
    settlers society has imposed on this
  • 61:37 - 61:39
    land is unsustainable.
  • 61:39 - 61:42
    Yet, there has been a sense
  • 61:42 - 61:44
    that we really need to kind of
  • 61:44 - 61:46
    wait until it collapses,
  • 61:46 - 61:49
    or wait until they're done doing,
  • 61:49 - 61:51
    or they've reached their
    limit and they can't
  • 61:51 - 61:54
    continue the way that
    they've been going on,
  • 61:54 - 61:56
    and be patient.
  • 61:57 - 62:03
    Fuck patience
  • 62:11 - 62:14
    I think really the big problem is power,
  • 62:14 - 62:16
    and that's something liberals
    have a lot of trouble kind of
  • 62:16 - 62:18
    thinking about or wrapping
    their heads around.
  • 62:18 - 62:20
    And the problem is that
    this culture has
  • 62:20 - 62:23
    clearly defined hierarchy.
    There are people
  • 62:23 - 62:26
    who are clearly in power,
    and who benefit
  • 62:26 - 62:28
    from power, and benefit
    from destroying the planet,
  • 62:28 - 62:31
    and who benefit from
    exploiting other people,
  • 62:31 - 62:33
    and they've been doing
    that for a long time.
  • 62:33 - 62:37
    And their power is more important
    to them than anything else.
  • 62:37 - 62:40
    - There is no personal
    consumer choice that is
  • 62:40 - 62:43
    going to dismantle the systems of
  • 62:43 - 62:46
    power that are behind the
    destruction of our planet.
  • 62:46 - 62:49
    What we need is organized
    political resistance.
  • 62:49 - 62:51
    - You cannot just simply ask
    the state for these reforms,
  • 62:51 - 62:53
    or for any kind of gains or concessions,
  • 62:53 - 62:55
    you have to force them to do it.
  • 62:55 - 62:57
    And that's the power of disruption.
  • 62:58 - 63:00
    It was a bloody day at the Mohawk Indian
  • 63:00 - 63:02
    community in Oka, Quebec, near Montreal.
  • 63:02 - 63:04
    "Provincial police in riot gear stormed
  • 63:04 - 63:06
    the barricades the Mohawks had set up.
  • 63:06 - 63:09
    There were clouds of tear
    gas, a hail of bullets,
  • 63:09 - 63:11
    and in the midst of the battle, a policeman
  • 63:11 - 63:14
    was killed. All this because of
  • 63:14 - 63:17
    a dispute over a piece of
    forest the Indians claim is theirs,
  • 63:17 - 63:20
    a forest town council wants to bulldoze
  • 63:20 - 63:22
    to expand the local golf course."
  • 63:22 - 63:24
    "Police retreated as
    abruptly as they'd attacked,
  • 63:24 - 63:27
    leaving behind their cruisers.
    They also left a heavy
  • 63:27 - 63:29
    front-end loader which the Mohawks
  • 63:29 - 63:31
    immediately put to their own use.
  • 63:31 - 63:33
    The police cruisers, crushed and useless,
  • 63:33 - 63:35
    became barricades themselves."
  • 63:36 - 63:39
    We treat these trees and
    the land like our mother.
  • 63:39 - 63:42
    These people are raping our mother.
  • 63:42 - 63:45
    What would you do if
    they raped your mother?
  • 63:47 - 63:49
    - These politicians are servants of the
  • 63:49 - 63:52
    system; it's their job to keep
    it going, it's their job
  • 63:52 - 63:54
    to keep profit rolling
    in for the ruling class.
  • 63:54 - 63:57
    And they will never, ever, act in the
  • 63:57 - 64:00
    people's interests or the interests of the planet.
  • 64:00 - 64:02
    It doesn't matter what we say,
  • 64:02 - 64:04
    the only thing that they
    will respond to is
  • 64:04 - 64:06
    force, and the threat
    of social disruption.
  • 64:06 - 64:09
    And if we allow them to stay in power,
  • 64:09 - 64:11
    they will always take back any gain
  • 64:11 - 64:13
    that we manage to get from them.
  • 64:13 - 64:15
    - It's really important
    to recognize that
  • 64:15 - 64:17
    no struggle is done,
  • 64:17 - 64:19
    that there's not any possibility
  • 64:19 - 64:22
    of any lasting victory
    as long as the state
  • 64:22 - 64:24
    still exists, but we can
    definitely see in the histories
  • 64:24 - 64:26
    of struggle, small gains have been won,
  • 64:26 - 64:28
    and ways in which we've
    empowered ourselves
  • 64:28 - 64:30
    by the use of all tactics, and I think
  • 64:30 - 64:33
    it's not even important to
  • 64:33 - 64:36
    really say if a particular tactic is
  • 64:36 - 64:38
    violent or not because this is just
  • 64:38 - 64:41
    kind of a moral category
    meant to restrict action.
  • 64:41 - 64:43
    I think it's more important to look
  • 64:43 - 64:46
    at which tactics can be empowering,
  • 64:46 - 64:48
    and liberating, and useful.
  • 64:52 - 64:55
    - Purely above-ground
    means are designed to
  • 64:55 - 64:58
    facilitate the expansion
    of global capitalism.
  • 64:59 - 65:01
    - These are serious power structures
  • 65:01 - 65:03
    that are making vast sums of money.
  • 65:03 - 65:05
    They are backed up by
  • 65:05 - 65:07
    the power of the armed
    state in every way imaginable.
  • 65:07 - 65:09
    They've got armies on
    their side, they own
  • 65:09 - 65:12
    the mass media, the banks,
    all the money is on their side.
  • 65:12 - 65:15
    - If there's any doubt
    about the leadership that
  • 65:15 - 65:18
    our military is showing,
    you just need to look at
  • 65:18 - 65:20
    this F-18 fighter
  • 65:20 - 65:23
    and the light-armored vehicle behind it.
  • 65:24 - 65:26
    The army and marine
    corps have been testing
  • 65:26 - 65:30
    this vehicle on a mixture of biofuels,
  • 65:30 - 65:33
    and this navy fighter jet
  • 65:33 - 65:36
    appropriately called the "Green Hornet"
  • 65:36 - 65:39
    will be flown for the first time in just
  • 65:39 - 65:41
    a few days, on Earth Day.
  • 65:41 - 65:44
    - Crazy Horse one-eight,
    request permission to engage.
  • 65:44 - 65:46
    - Picking up the wounded?
  • 65:46 - 65:48
    - Yeah, we're trying to
    get permission to engage.
  • 65:49 - 65:51
    - Come on, let us shoot!
  • 65:52 - 65:54
    - Bushmaster, Crazy Horse one-eight.
  • 65:57 - 65:59
    - They're taking him.
  • 66:00 - 66:02
    - Bushmaster, Crazy Horse one-eight.
  • 66:04 - 66:06
    - This is Bushmaster seven, go ahead.
  • 66:06 - 66:10
    - Roger. We have a black SUV,
    or Bongo truck picking
  • 66:10 - 66:12
    up the bodies. Request
    permission to engage.
  • 66:15 - 66:19
    - Bushmaster seven, roger. This is
    Bushmaster seven, roger. Engage.
  • 66:19 - 66:21
    - One-eight, engage. Clear.
  • 66:21 - 66:23
    - Come on!
  • 66:25 - 66:27
    - Clear.
  • 66:44 - 66:46
    So if the law will
    not do the right thing,
  • 66:46 - 66:49
    other people will have
    to do the right thing,
  • 66:49 - 66:51
    and they'll have to do the right thing by
  • 66:51 - 66:53
    breaking the law. And that
  • 66:53 - 66:55
    precedent has been set many times
  • 66:55 - 66:57
    throughout our history: the people
  • 66:57 - 66:59
    who saved the Jews
    from the German Nazis
  • 66:59 - 67:02
    broke the law for
    higher ethical purpose.
  • 67:02 - 67:04
    The people who liberated slaves in our
  • 67:04 - 67:07
    country through the
    underground railroad system
  • 67:07 - 67:10
    to protect them from slave masters and a
  • 67:10 - 67:13
    very barbaric law in
    the United States at that time.
  • 67:13 - 67:15
    They did the right thing.
    They broke the law
  • 67:15 - 67:17
    for higher ethical purpose.
  • 67:20 - 67:22
    - We need to start and get out there
  • 67:22 - 67:27
    and go beyond hitting "Like" on
    Facebook and signing online petitions.
  • 67:27 - 67:30
    We need to be out there
    in the real world fighting back.
  • 67:31 - 67:33
    - I think one of the things
    that we really have to accept
  • 67:33 - 67:36
    and internalize is that
    the majority of institutions,
  • 67:36 - 67:38
    and the majority of people,
  • 67:38 - 67:40
    are never going to be on our side.
  • 67:41 - 67:43
    And so we have to sit down --
  • 67:43 - 67:45
    as individual activists
  • 67:45 - 67:47
    and as communities of resistance,
  • 67:47 - 67:49
    as a culture of resistance --
    and we have to say
  • 67:49 - 67:53
    "Okay, well, what will it take to stop
    this culture from destroying the planet?"
  • 67:53 - 67:55
    You know, part of the
    answer is obviously that
  • 67:55 - 67:58
    persuasion hasn't worked and persuasion
  • 67:58 - 68:01
    is not going to work.
    If we want to be...
  • 68:01 - 68:04
    ...successful, then we have to
    look at what resistance
  • 68:04 - 68:07
    movements in the past have done,
    and what they've learned
  • 68:07 - 68:09
    and kind of the different phases
  • 68:09 - 68:11
    that they've gone through
    as they've tried to
  • 68:11 - 68:14
    assert themselves and
    try to be successful.
  • 68:15 - 68:17
    - When I say "organize
    political resistance,"
  • 68:17 - 68:19
    I mean we need to
    face power head-on.
  • 68:19 - 68:21
    Once you name power,
  • 68:21 - 68:23
    you will find that
    power is sociopathic,
  • 68:23 - 68:25
    that the people in
    charge will do whatever
  • 68:26 - 68:28
    it takes to shut you up.
  • 68:29 - 68:31
    - The thing about when
    you enter into a greater
  • 68:31 - 68:33
    period of social conflict,
  • 68:33 - 68:36
    what you don't want
    is people promoting
  • 68:36 - 68:38
    non-violence because
    that's going to disarm
  • 68:38 - 68:41
    the people -- it's going to
    disarm the people in the face
  • 68:41 - 68:43
    of an aggressive enemy,
    and in the face
  • 68:43 - 68:45
    of hard social conditions.
  • 68:45 - 68:48
    You want them to have
    a stronger fighting spirit
  • 68:48 - 68:50
    because without a fighting spirit,
  • 68:50 - 68:52
    you lack the will to resist.
  • 68:56 - 68:58
    - The smartest thing the Nazis did was
  • 68:58 - 69:00
    they made it so that at every
    step of the way, it was in the Jews'
  • 69:00 - 69:02
    rational best interest to not resist.
  • 69:02 - 69:04
    Would you rather get an ID card,
  • 69:04 - 69:06
    or do you want to resist
    and possibly get killed?
  • 69:06 - 69:08
    Do you want to move to a ghetto,
  • 69:08 - 69:10
    or do you want to resist
    and possibly get killed?
  • 69:10 - 69:12
    Do you want to get on a cattle car,
  • 69:12 - 69:14
    or do you want to resist
    and possibly get killed?
  • 69:14 - 69:16
    You want to take a shower,
  • 69:16 - 69:18
    or do you want to resist
    and possibly get killed?
  • 69:18 - 69:20
    At every step of the way,
    it was in their
  • 69:20 - 69:22
    rational self-interest
    to not resist.
  • 69:23 - 69:25
    But I'll tell you
    something very important,
  • 69:25 - 69:28
    which is: the Jews who participated
    in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
  • 69:28 - 69:31
    had a higher rate of survival
    than those who went along.
  • 69:32 - 69:36
    - I think that if any of us were
    alive in Nazi Germany right now,
  • 69:36 - 69:39
    we would know what a resistance
    movement should be doing.
  • 69:39 - 69:41
    And we need to think about
  • 69:41 - 69:44
    the culture of industrial civilization
  • 69:44 - 69:47
    as if it's a culture of occupation,
  • 69:47 - 69:49
    because it is.
  • 70:06 - 70:11
    Figure VI
  • 70:21 - 70:24
    - If Nazis or other fascists
    took over North America,
  • 70:27 - 70:29
    what would we all do?
  • 70:31 - 70:34
    What would we do if they implemented
    Mussolini's definition of fascism:
  • 70:34 - 70:36
    "Fascism should more appropriately
    be called corporatism
  • 70:36 - 70:38
    because it is a merger of
    state and corporate power."
  • 70:48 - 70:50
    What if this occupied country
    called itself a democracy,
  • 70:50 - 70:53
    but most everyone understood
    elections to be shams,
  • 70:53 - 70:56
    with citizens allowed to choose between
    different wings of the same fascists,
  • 70:56 - 70:58
    (or, following Mussolini, Corporate) party.
  • 70:59 - 71:02
    What if anti-government activity was
    opposed by storm troopers and secret police?
  • 71:02 - 71:04
    Would you fight back?
  • 71:04 - 71:07
    If there already existed a resistance
    movement, would you join it?
  • 71:09 - 71:13
    Would you resist if the fascists irradiated
    the countryside, poisoned food supplies,
  • 71:13 - 71:15
    made rivers unfit for
    swimming and so filthy
  • 71:15 - 71:17
    you wouldn't even dream
    of drinking from anymore?
  • 71:19 - 71:22
    If fascists systematically
    deforested the continent, would you join
  • 71:22 - 71:25
    an underground army of resistance,
    head to the forests, and from there
  • 71:25 - 71:28
    to boardrooms and the halls of the
    Reichstag to pick off the occupying deforesters
  • 71:28 - 71:31
    and, most especially, those that
    give them their marching orders?
  • 71:37 - 71:39
    Give me a threshold.
    Give me a specific point
  • 71:39 - 71:41
    at which you'll finally take a stand.
  • 71:41 - 71:45
    If you can't or won't
    give that threshold, why not?
  • 71:47 - 71:52
    Directed, filmed, produced, and edited
    by Franklin Lopez
  • 71:52 - 71:56
    Inspired by Endgame
    Volumes I and II by Derrick Jensen
  • 71:57 - 71:59
    LYRICS: When I face the page,
    I place the rage,
  • 71:59 - 72:02
    place it into stasis
    rather than erase it.
  • 72:02 - 72:04
    That's the basis
    cover all the bases,
  • 72:04 - 72:07
    watch what you say on the cell,
    they gonna trace it.
  • 72:07 - 72:09
    Stacked deck
    don't expect any aces,
  • 72:09 - 72:12
    camera eyes watch you
    in public places,
  • 72:12 - 72:14
    and I hate this,
    so I take this
  • 72:14 - 72:16
    mic and I write
    like these words,
  • 72:16 - 72:18
    and my legs and they walk me through my paces,
  • 72:18 - 72:21
    people chase it, glittery lights but I've seen the heights.
  • 72:21 - 72:23
    My time is not wasted, I'm tracing the sky,
  • 72:23 - 72:25
    I read all the smoke
    that I toke to meet
  • 72:25 - 72:27
    all the spaces of mind in time.
  • 72:27 - 72:30
    Look, just face it,
    this life is mine,
  • 72:30 - 72:32
    that's why I'm not
    racing the finish line.
  • 72:32 - 72:34
    Will come the time, the moment designed
  • 72:34 - 72:36
    to shine i won't replace it
  • 72:36 - 72:39
    So I take my time, grind it up and break it,
  • 72:39 - 72:41
    roll it up so fine, light it up and blaze it.
  • 72:41 - 72:43
    Smoking blunts, smoke 'em up,
    end times
  • 72:43 - 72:45
    on the grind training for the signs
  • 72:45 - 72:47
    Take your fist and raise it up to the sky.
  • 72:47 - 72:49
    See the fire in her eye.
  • 72:49 - 72:51
    Do or do not do there is no try.
  • 72:51 - 72:54
    Hard to find what's true, that is no life.
  • 72:54 - 72:56
    They clipped your wings, how you gonna fly?
  • 72:56 - 72:59
    You gonna lie?
    You gonna die,
  • 72:59 - 73:01
    so until that day,
    are you gonna try?
  • 73:01 - 73:03
    One by one
    we multiply.
  • 73:03 - 73:06
    Eyes to the sun,
    just let it shine now.
  • 73:06 - 73:09
    Now get into it
  • 73:09 - 73:11
    Now choose
    your side
  • 73:11 - 73:13
    We got
    to do it,
  • 73:13 - 73:15
    The time
    is right
  • 73:16 - 73:19
    Now get into it
  • 73:19 - 73:20
    Now change
    your life
  • 73:20 - 73:23
    Only you
    can do it
  • 73:23 - 73:25
    The time
    is right
  • 73:34 - 73:36
    Anymore pollution
    and you're
    going to fry,
  • 73:36 - 73:39
    so get into it,
    it's do or die.
  • 73:39 - 73:41
    Without action,
    factions of crews
    divide,
  • 73:41 - 73:44
    but you can't
    be stupid
    if you
    choose to ride.
  • 73:44 - 73:46
    And you can't
    ride the fence,
    better choose
    your side.
  • 73:46 - 73:48
    Keep doing
    what you're told,
    or do
    what's right.
  • 73:48 - 73:51
    You going
    to roll over
    or you going
    to fight?
  • 73:51 - 73:53
    No justice
    no peace,
    the war's
    tonight,
  • 73:53 - 73:56
    and I'm a
    poltergeist,
    you know,
    a violent spirit,
  • 73:56 - 73:59
    the product
    of a world
    with too much
    violence in it.
  • 73:59 - 74:02
    So many
    people, trees,
    animals are
    dying a minute.
  • 74:02 - 74:04
    Can't ask
    them to stop,
    they ain't trying
    to hear it.
  • 74:04 - 74:06
    Until we get
    physical,
    they ain't
    gonna fear it.
  • 74:06 - 74:09
    To go to war
    with the machines,
    start tryin' to kill it.
  • 74:09 - 74:11
    Until it dies,
    everyday's
    a violent day.
  • 74:11 - 74:14
    And they
    expect you
    to protest in
    silence and stay
  • 74:14 - 74:16
    pacifist and
    uneffective
    while we die
    and decay.
  • 74:16 - 74:19
    We need
    to rise up,
    fuck kneeling
    to pray.
  • 74:19 - 74:21
    Preachers
    and teachers
    lead us astray,
  • 74:21 - 74:23
    politicians
    and cops
    all they say is:
  • 74:23 - 74:26
    "Obey your
    corporate masters,
    buy what
    they've got on
    display."
  • 74:26 - 74:29
    Stop buying
    their shit
    and start
    making
    them pay.
  • 74:29 - 74:31
    To hell
    with their
    games --
    we ain't
    gonna play.
  • 74:31 - 74:34
    Let's fight
    them 'till
    they kill us or
    they take us away.
  • 74:34 - 74:36
    Start throwing
    molotovs,
    stop throwing
    bouquets.
  • 74:36 - 74:39
    Take it to
    those bastards
    like Ted Kaczynski.
  • 74:39 - 74:41
    Monkeywrench machines
    and write communiques
  • 74:41 - 74:44
    on walls with spraypaint
    just big circle A's!
  • 74:44 - 74:46
    Now get into it
  • 74:46 - 74:49
    Now choose your side
  • 74:49 - 74:51
    We got to do it
  • 74:51 - 74:54
    The time is right
  • 74:54 - 74:56
    Now get into it
  • 74:56 - 74:59
    Now change your life
  • 74:59 - 75:01
    Only you can do it
  • 75:01 - 75:03
    The time is right
Title:
END:CIV - Resist or Die - WWW.ENDCIV.COM
Description:

http://endciv.com
END:CIV examines our culture's addiction to systematic violence and environmental exploitation, and probes the resulting epidemic of poisoned landscapes and shell-shocked nations. Based in part on Endgame, the best-selling book by Derrick Jensen, END:CIV asks: "If your homeland was invaded by aliens who cut down the forests, poisoned the water and air, and contaminated the food supply, would you resist?"

The causes underlying the collapse of civilizations are usually traced to overuse of resources. As we write this, the world is reeling from economic chaos, peak oil, climate change, environmental degradation, and political turmoil. Every day, the headlines re-hash stories of scandal and betrayal of the public trust. We don't have to make outraged demands for the end of the current global system — it seems to be coming apart already.

But acts of courage, compassion and altruism abound, even in the most damaged places. By documenting the resilience of the people hit hardest by war and repression, and the heroism of those coming forward to confront the crisis head-on, END:CIV illuminates a way out of this all-consuming madness and into a saner future.

Backed by Jensen's narrative, the film calls on us to act as if we truly love this land. The film trips along at a brisk pace, using music, archival footage, motion graphics, animation, slapstick and satire to deconstruct the global economic system, even as it implodes around us. END:CIV illustrates first-person stories of sacrifice and heroism with intense, emotionally-charged images that match Jensen's poetic and intuitive approach. Scenes shot in the back country provide interludes of breathtaking natural beauty alongside clearcut evidence of horrific but commonplace destruction.

END:CIV features interviews with Paul Watson, Waziyatawin, Gord Hill, Michael Becker, Peter Gelderloos, Lierre Keith, James Howard Kunstler, Stephanie McMillan, Qwatsinas, Rod Coronado, John Zerzan and more.
more » « less
Video Language:
English
Duration:
01:15:51

English subtitles

Revisions

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