ISSUE #6 // 2020 // FREE // theequalstandard.wordpress.com
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When do beliefs, actions and people become extreme? Whats the tipping point? And whats
Freedom is now a central tenant of Western democracy.
the difference between extreme and radical, evolutionary and cutting edge? If we removed
As a species we are faced with an extreme and imminent existential threat from
violence, chaos, and power from the mix could something still be considered extreme?
a human induced climate catastrophe. Australians are expericing the full force of that catastrophe with unprecedented bushfires. We have burnt fossil fuels.
As a society can we censor one extreme and not another? For example, could
We have cut down trees for the abhorrent practice of animal agriculutre. We
we censor right-wing white supremacist ideologies and leave progressive
have polluted our earth with carbon and methane. Will our society sanction
politics untouched? Not to critically examine, and ignore, punish, or demonise
extreme responses in its wake? Will ‘extremist’ be such a dirty word then?
‘extreme’ ideas is at our peril – the ideas of the dominant group are not always the safest, most morally coherent option. W here has the dominant idea of
The Equal Standard Broadzine is 100% independent. We don’t compromise
infinite growth on a finite planet got us?
for a bit of coin. Everyone who contributes does so without payment. THA NK YOU to all our dedicated contributors. You Rock! You are: Catherine Laurence
If the use of violence is a tool of extremists, what does that make governments
'W hen Compassion is a Crime', Rae Cooper 'Prophets' (pink lip collage),
who engage in warfare? A nd what does that make ‘extremists’ who engage in
Jak Kirwin 'Parabull of Shit: The Extremist & The Righteous Delinquent',
non-violent civil disobedience? According to Mark Furner MP for Ferny Grove
Brent Wilson 'Porky Pig : Play Eat, Eat Play' (porky pig and dog graphic) and
you’re an extreme activist and zealot if you use civil disobedience to try and
'Come Aboard, We're Expecting You' (earth, Titanic and snake collage),
raise awareness about the annual slaughter of 80 billion land animals and
Garth Jones 'The Cartel' and 'High Scumfuckery' (Scotty From Marketing
2 trillion marine animals world-wide. Or the extreme conditions that sentient
collage), Hesam Fetrati 'Weight' etching (crumbling face, man and f ly), Aden
cows endure on Queensland farms and feedlots. Extreme? Extreme compassion
Sargeant and Mathew Newkirk 'Flag 5', bleach, polyester, aluminium, cotton,
and love; now that is dangerous.
steel, water, plastic (Queensland f lag in a bucket of bleach), Cameron Green 'A Slur to Silence Dissent', Lynden Stone 'Remedies for the New Age - Sacred
Abolishing slavery was once considered extreme, and a normalised brutality was
Gaia Healing™ Tarot Cards' digital image on tarot cards, (Trump Tarot card),
fiercely defended. I’m glad the practice of enslaving people is now illegal and
Gordon Craig 'Stop' vinyl cut print with watercolour on Japanese rice paper
viewed negatively by our culture. It’s not to say that slavery no longer exists by
(bird atop of a pile of coal), and Inkahoots 'Disruptive Devices'.
any means, but it highlights that abolitionists were once considered ‘extreme’.
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I was initially dissappointed at bein categorized as an extremist, as I continue to think about the matte I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction
Catherine Laurence Numb We are immersed in a consumerist and individualistic society that keeps us numbed out, preoccupied with status, image, competition, and a chaotic news cycle that leaves most people feeling overwhelmed and disempowered. The education system is part of the problem too, accepting the presumption of infinite economic growth, and unquestioned human dominion over non-human animals and the natural world. Even for individuals who try to engage with ethical issues, soothing rhetorics from apparently respectable intellectuals abound to make us feel ok about business as usual. For example, the renowned academic Stephen Pinker tells us violence is at an all-time low in human history, and has recently been using his platform to argue that things are looking up for the environment. Reality Check We have been lied to. There is more violence happening today than ever in human history. Around the world there are around twenty theatres of active war and a staggering two billion people are currently affected by instability, conflict or violence.1 As the human population has grown, so has our oppression of nonhuman animals. At every moment of every night and day there are billions suffering at human hands.2 By far the largest proportion are in the food system, with over 70 billion land animals alone killed for food every year, of whom the vast majority endure their short lives confined on factory farms.3 The massacre of aquatic animals is even higher, with estimates in the trillions. The numbers are far too high to comprehend, but to put it in perspective, 1.2 billion land animals are slaughtered every week: more than humans killed in all wars throughout history.
Poverty remains a terrible scourge, and inequality is growing, both globally and nationally.7 We could eliminate the worst cases of world hunger with about 40 million tonnes of food. Yet nearly 20 times that amount of grain is fed to animals on factory farms every year.8 Even in the richest countries - including Australia - far too many people go homeless and under-nourished, domestic violence is commonplace, and chronic disease, depression and loneliness are at epidemic levels. Compelled To Act For those of us who have been engaged with issues of social and environmental justice for decades, it can feel like we are in a red-pill / blue-pill world where the majority are still in the matrix. How can mainstream society be so oblivious to the suffering and destruction that permeates our precious planet? Once awakened to this dark reality, there is only one choice, and that is action, both personal and political. This involves stepping out of the mould and saying no to consumptive, destructive, anthropocentric norms, and making ethical choices in our daily lives. But it also compels us to coalesce into a movement for change on a societal level, because individual action is not enough when existing structures are so powerful and embedded. It’s at this point that compassionate people realise they have become activists. And, as our combined voices become louder, and the stakes get ever-higher, we encounter increasing efforts to shut us down. Then They Fight You “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
What about the state of the planet? While industry and government continue to fetishise unlimited economic growth, there is a devastating price.
They will not take this lying down and the backlash is underway. In the characterisation of social progress famously attributed to Gandhi9, we’re in stage 3: then they fight you.
Due to the overconsumption of the Earth’s ‘resources’ and the generation of waste beyond her carrying capacity, humanity has precipitated a mass extinction event.4 So vast is the mark we have made that influential scientists are proposing that we have started a new geological epoch that should be officially named ‘the Anthropocene’.5
We are seeing a proliferation of tactics to vilify and silence those who bring truth to light and agitate for change.
We have known we are causing climate change for decades, yet our response has been staggeringly inadequate. Even at this eleventh hour when the impacts are well underway, and cuts are needed urgently, denial and inaction are rife, and emissions continue to rise.6
Compassionate citizens are being labelled ‘extremist’, ‘feral vermin’, and ‘un-Australian’10 - classic and disquieting examples of ‘othering’ a minority in order to discredit their messages. Do they not hear the echoes in their words from tyrants throughout history? Legislative crackdowns are coming thick and fast. New federal espionage and foreign interference laws passed in 2018 define national security so
A draconian private member’s bill in Queensland has proposed severe sentences for trespassing with intent to cause economic loss, and organised trespass. Hot on its heels, a public bill was introduced in late August, this time specifically targeting investigations and protests in places where animals are raised, killed, traded, transported or used for entertainment – even though existing trespass laws would cover these types of offences. This seems like a strategic move to shut down animal activists by singling them out – thereby reducing the likelihood of a mass outcry by targeting a minority among progressive movements. In parallel, we are seeing tens of millions of public dollars funnelling into PR ‘trust campaigns’ for animal agriculture and the fossil fuel industry. This includes sophisticated digital messaging to target consumers who might be at risk of waking up from their slumber and changing how they live.13 Yet, while peaceful environmental and animal rights protesters are criminalised, and every effort is made to smear the idea of veganism, ultra right wing groups and lone actors motivated by racist and xenophobic ideologies, who are responsible for bombings, riots and other acts of actual violence and murder, are not being targeted. In fact, terrorism experts say they are being emboldened by a sympathetic political climate. Then You Win! It is challenging to maintain hope in such a climate (figurative and literal) but our planet and its most vulnerable inhabitants need us to stay strong. With the stakes so high, despair and inaction are simply not an option. We are up against some powerful forces seeking to shut us down but, more than ever, we need to come together to channel our purpose and grow our impact. Progressive initiatives are everywhere around us and there is a whole spectrum of possible action we can take according to our capacity, skills, passion and creativity at any given time. For some of us, particularly if dealing with personal trauma, choosing to be well-informed and align our actions with our values is itself a radical act. Especially considering how much hostility comes our way simply for ‘being the change’, living gently and treading lightly, together with wise self care, is a form of courageous activism in its own right. For those who are in a position to go further, there are multiple ways to get active, from attending rallies and protests, to becoming an organiser, speaker, writer, or any number of other avenues. Starting by volunteering with an organisation we align with is the ideal way to find our voice alongside others who are standing up and speaking out. Remember: after they fight you, then you win. The struggle must go on.
fund to bolster country shows and promote animal agriculture in schools. 14. smh.com.au Australia's right-wing extremist problem: Are we doing enough? 19 March 2019. The same is happening in the US. See theintercept.com THE GREEN SCARE: How a Movement That Never Killed Anyone Became the FBI’s No. 1 Domestic Terrorism Threat, 23 March 2019
Federal ‘ag-gag’ laws have just passed, introducing disproportionate offences for publishing of materials that expose animal cruelty.12
the government to protect civil liberties? That’s a sick joke 13 June 2018 12. alq.org.au New ag-gag laws to crack down on those exposing animal cruelty 13. weeklytimesnow.com.au Farmer Fightback: Ag spending tens of millions on trust campaigns, 3 September 2019. Among a long list of government-funded bodies working to win back public trust is a $30m
2019 has seen an onslaught of new laws at both federal and state levels that are blatantly targeting activists who act out of compassion and concern for people, planet and nonhuman animals.
Trolls savage mass vegan protests across Australia, 8 April 2019 11. The original proposals were so wide-ranging that civil society and the media mounted a campaign to fight them. Some concessions were secured but it still leaves activists vulnerable to politically-motivated surveillance, fetters on free speech and prosecutions. Ref: theguardian.com Trusting
broadly that activists and whistle-blowers could face lengthy prison terms for activities such as peaceful protest and public campaigns if they are deemed to harm economic interests.11
1. icrc.org 2. watchdominion.com, earthlings.com 3. faunalytics.org 4. biologicaldiversity.org 5. nature.com Anthropocene now: influential panel votes to recognize Earth’s new epoch, 21 May 2019 6. newscientist.com 7. inequality.org 8. monbiot.com 9. although actually a paraphrased summary of his doctrine of nonviolent non-cooperation 10. news.com.au
individual action is not enough when existing structures are so powerful
Parabull of Shit: The Extremist & The Righteous Delinquent Jak Kirwin There are these two bulls standing in a field, one is red, and one is grey. The red bull begins to speak of revolution. “ We must emancipate ourselves brother bull, these humans have shown us nothing but cruelty and contempt. They rape our women; they abort our babies and then they steal our precious milk. They remove our horns, our pride and our status and make us all as one another, a sea of clones rather than vibrant individuals. They emasculate us, they remove our testes lest we become enraged at our treatment and rebel and they toss away our jewels like swatted flies. They brand us with hot iron, to further reinforce their ownership. They bark orders at us in a language we do not speak, and when we fail to comply with their strange ramblings, they prod our ribs with steel. They confine us to these paddocks, where we are made to eat only to be fattened, and then they move us when they determine that the grass is near to death. We lack sovereignty over our bodies, but not our minds, brother, I propose we begin a strike of hunger, that we let this grass grow so tall the humans may not see our thinning bodies. Then and only then, may we be given a chance at freedom.” At this point the grey bull looked up from the cud he had been grazing for the duration of his comrade’s speech and took a moment to pause before he mooed with grand hysterics. “Brother, you are far too extreme, without these humans how on Earth would the cattle cars run on time?”
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There had been no science fiction panacea in the end – no cloud brightening, no Disney star funded artificial intelligence planetary clean up, no solar geoengineering experiments – after all the chaos, it still came down to a critical mass of collective action. There were no messiahs, no road warrior martyrs, no deus ex machinae – we just chose a future for our children’s grandchildren. It wasn’t perfect, and we would always wonder what outcome was possible if we’d acted sooner, but that was then and the forces aligned against us were staggering, overwhelming, until it was almost too late. Here in Australia, we’ve returned to Indigenous ways. We follow the seasons, farming and cultivating, shifting settlements when the patterns shift. We’d got high speed rail right just in time, and down south there’s still enough of what’s left of the seasons to begin the project of afforestation.
TH CAR
Much of the continent is solar panel, wind farm and battery now – all those arid, dead yet boundless plains put to work for the good of what’s left of the Pacific nations. We did them right by them, eventually. There’s so much hard work yet to be done, but the incremental change, the uphill battles, the occasional victories and inevitable setbacks nourish us. Every committee, every boycott, every arrest, every incident of police brutality, every mass shooting, every bombing and invasion and death in the initial skirmishes of the resource wars – the walls, the satellites, the drones, the bankers,
they missed apps or credit or reality television?
the manifestos, the camps, the graves, the steady march of authoritarianism – we thwarted it all, we abandoned the old way and embraced a revolution.
The worst of it gave way to something new. The relics of consumerism are tawdry and vapid. Who could sensibly say
Certainly, no one missed the serfdom of meaningless jobs.
by
Our creativity reasserted itself along with the strength derived from community, and we applied ourselves to the project of healing the planet our avaricious elders had almost successfully murdered. This new, borderless world, was one where we embraced the displaced, offered security and nourishment. We redistributed resources, and some we abandoned entirely. True, there are still bad actors out there – adherents to the Evil old ways of the patriarchy, fundamentalism, white supremacy, the military industrial complex – but they’re in retreat, swept off the board for now. There were dozens of inciting incidents globally in the early 2020s. California’s simultaneous wildfires and earthquakes took hundreds of thousands, while Greenland’s forboding methane belch set the sky on fire, sending even die hard Atheists in search of an Old Testament. Perpetual dread and nihilistic anxiety were our natural state. It was clear that time was up for the hand wringing and deflection
garth jones
no poetic justice for these hollow, greedy white men. They were tried by a jury of their own children, where possible, and sentenced humanely. The prosecutor was an honorable man, and we must remember that the criminals Howard, Bush and Blair never faced the prospect of a day in prison. Share these extremists’ stories so we’re never confronted with their like again. We must never forget. Let’s begin.
many of these names. Many are still with us.
Abbott. Dutton. Taylor. Canavan. Dreyfus. Albanese. Joyce. Morrison. And on and on. These monsters proselytised, evangelised and persecuted in the name of capital, in the name of growth at the altar of our planet’s sacrificial annihilation.
HE RTEL
All are in possession of long records – religious extremism, xenophobia, homophobia, class and culture warfare – and all are marked out by their red hats, blue ties, fake tan and brittle skin.
Sons of privilege, the final bulwarks of a dead way of life, each are unremarkable but for their dynastic death grip on psychopathic avarice in denial of Mother Earth’s continued wellbeing.
I would invite you to remind was no Twilight Zone twist,
of western leaders. Marches and shutdowns blossomed around the world, even in the totalitarian states like China and the USA. Militarised police, deep surveillance, drones, complacent crony media – nothing could stem the movement’s inevitable tidal force.
Estimates were that some 35% rose up, staggering and undeniable, to crush the old structures and foment solutions. There was catharsis on the outing of the deniers and the exploiters who’d sought to profit from the catastrophe, a building momentum. Criminal governments vandalising the future for their own immediate reward were ousted; the billionaire cartels – Amazon, News Limited, the Trump Presidency – were outed and overwhelmed when their private armies threw down arms and joined the movement. Despair gave way to tempered hope, and then the work began.
yourself that there
Which brings us to today.
Thank you all for joining me here at The Galilee Memorial, and I do appreciate you taking a moment to reflect on what has gone before, to inoculate ourselves against such a grave global injustice ever occurring again.
Behind us is the entry to the Hall of Australian Climate Vandals, established not long after this Memorial opened in 2042, as a direct mandate of the Pacific Climate Crime Trials of 2040. As students of pre Global New Deal Australian history, you’ll be familiar with
A spectre is haunting our political class, The spectre of extremism. Despite being a word that means little by itself, “extreme” is used to summon fear, to banish thought, to characterise ideas as beyond the pale of acceptable opinion and ensure they are not engaged with. Labelling an idea as extreme without defining how is powerful, for it leaves the mind to paint in whate ver nameless fear unsettles us. Like so many words that refer to concrete ideas and positions, such as
fascist, nazi, terrorist, communist, once it has
become an accepted negative term in the culture, people then try to attach the word to anything they wish to slander, anything which holds a counter position to their own. In “Sane Society” Erich Fromm posited that psychoanal ysts had tried to reconcile people with societ y on the assumption that this was where wellness lay. Following Freud, they believed that the mark of sanity or insanity was relative according to one’s ability to navigate the status quo of the culture. Fromm believed many individuals had been damaged by analysts trying to get their patients to conform to a societ y that was dysfunctional and situations that were the cause of their problems. The word extreme has inherited a similar toxic legacy, the assumption that societ y maintains some central moral position, and those holding positions outside the status quo are extreme by their opposition to the centre. Let us examine that moral, sane centre , and whether that status quo is not itself extreme.
736 million
people are estimated to live in extreme pover ty globally. This is substantially less than the 1900 million estimated to live in pover ty three decades ago which has meant major progress for human wellbeing. Whilst this is to be celebrated, it is also unclear how far this progress can or will continue as it has been being based on technological advance and economic growth. There may be a limit on how many people working in sweat shops the market needs , especially as artificial
intelligence and robotics advance. Extreme pover ty brings with it child mortality, preventable diseases, poor education, substandard housing, physical insecurity and many other evils. We are a culture comfortable with leaving of people in pover ty when we have more than enough resources to end it at relatively little cost to ourselves. The extreme status quo of the market says that people only deser ve basic dignit y if someone can make a profit from them; that the right to have a luxury car or a holiday home , is more impor tant than the right to acces s water, education, housing, or healthcare. The extreme status quo says poor people need to wait for the market to get around to finding a use for them, if it ever does.
hundreds of millions
The rise of humanity has seen the background extinc tion rate of other species multiplied by a thous and. of wild animals have been lost since the 1970s as a result of human activit y. of large fish in the ocean have been lost since the 1950s , and by 2050 it is predic ted that there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans. of land mammal biomass on this planet is now humans and livestock. The future will be bleaker still; half of all plant and animal species are at risk of total extinc tion by the end of this century due to humancaused climate instability. The extreme status quo says that only human life has real worth, that this is our world and the life and death of others matters little; that having the power to dominate other species and take every thing that makes life worth living from them, even life itself, means it is morally right to do so.
60%
90%
96%
To stand near a factor y farm is to begin to smell the horror of the lives within them. Animals existing crammed together in conditions offensive to life itself. Spending their days on concrete floors , in wire cages , having every small mercy of from them, including all their natural pleasures and behaviours. Their beaks , tails, horns , genitals, removed without pain relief so they are no threat to others , human and nonhuman when they lash out at in the madness of their confinement. These creatures who seek to be free as all do, often only glimpse the sun or smell untainted air for a brief moment as they are transferred from their prison to the slaughterhouse. This is the life we have made for them. The extreme
life taken
status quo says that animal suffering on an enormous scale is acceptable, not even something we should be told about . It says that anyone saying that non--human animals should have a chance of happiness is an extremist. The above issues receive much less attention in our societ y than celebrities, gossip, sport and consumerism. Tariq Ali wrote a book called “ The Extreme Centre”. For him, it was a set of economic and foreign policies shared by governments which had terrible consequences and faced little serious questioning amongst the ruling classes. Most analyses of this kind tend to blame our situation on corporations, the wealthy, the political class, colonialism etc. I agree to some extent, but ultimately the ruling classes are made up of people with the same human flaws as the rest of us. Talking to people I meet at work, in my social circles , the odd stranger, I don’t see many taking responsibility for the world they inhabit. They are decent people but they refuse to give up their cars, their meat, their air conditioning, their regular holiday flights . They refuse to consume less, move their mone y to more ethical banks , pay the small premium the power companies charge for green energy, donate to charities or vote for political parties which have more compassionate and environmentally sensible policies. I have met too many people, seen too much
self ishness , apathy, and self-absorption to
believe that the ruling classes are the problem and that if they were somehow replaced the world would be instantly better. Change is only going to happen when enough of us stop blaming others and accept personal responsibility for the state of the world. People are trying to change things ; if we aren’t joining them we are part of the problem. We should begin by accepting that we are part of the extreme
quo.
status
Come aboard
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