How can communities find a path forward through the intersecting crises surrounding the current Covid-19 pandemic? For the past few weeks, Movement Generation has offered some much-needed clarity through its “Course Correction: Just Transition in the Age of COVID-19” webinars. MG is a project that supports grassroots justice and ecology by engaging in transformative action towards the liberation and restoration of land, labor, and culture. The 4 session workshops dive deep into implementing strategies to move forward from the Coronavirus crisis into real solutions for a better world. MG recognizes this pandemic as a time of possibility to act collectively to make the ecological and economic shifts we need in order for our world to become more just for all. The same root causes that got us into the climate crisis have also been fueling the conditions for the unnatural disasters we find ourselves in. The hosts of these virtual sessions model the kind of radical inclusivity we need by opening with thoughtful groundings, making time for mid-session breaks and utilizing ASL and Spanish interpreters, live captions, and inclusive language. Although sessions 1-3 have already passed, recordings of the sessions are available online to view at any time HERE.
Movement Generation’s session 4 was on July 14, 2020. MG created a Small Group Discussion Guide you can use in other groups.
The first session addressed the ecological and economical context for pandemics and how our financial system led to such a horrible Covid-19 emergence and outbreak. They discussed what the processes are that create sites of emergence and the value of understanding these processes so that we can turn complex problems into strategic interventions which ultimately leads to new conditions and opportunities. In this session they dived deeper into the pandemic feedback loops which balance the things that are destroying land life, labor, and the web of life.
Session 2 was a Black-led conversation about translocal strategies for a just recovery on restoring labor and capital to self-determined communities. They stress that social inequality is a form of ecological imbalance that will inherently result in ecological erosion. In order to bring a regenerative economy forward there is a need for community ownership and governance which enforces divestment from the market and the state which are systemic forms of oppression and reinvestment into the commons.
Session 3 discussed bioregions and bioregional governance. They define bioregions as localized territories established by geography and ecology, rather than political boundaries. Bioregional governance allows people to take control of their homes and determine what their community looks like. It is essentially a return to Indigenous practices, in which various tribes lived in one territory and worked to take care of that ecosystem. It is necessary for people today to focus on their bioregions, and build right relationships with place and with themselves.
In Session 4 , Movement Generation detailed how we achieve a just transition, from the perspective of people in the year 2050 looking back on what has already occurred. It will provide a vision of the future, and how we get there.
UUMFE is so grateful to Movement Generation for hosting this incredible series. They are educational, inspirational, and an overall must-see for those seeking climate justice. UUMFE encourages everyone watch them all.