Eco-Socialism: Green New Deal

Readings

  1. https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/09/17/the-green-new-deal-a-fight-for-our-lives/ 
  2. https://truthout.org/articles/build-and-fight-the-program-and-strategy-of-cooperation-jackson/ 
  3. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/02/green-new-deal-four-freedoms-fdr

Questions

  1. Start by screening this: https://theintercept.com/2019/04/17/green-new-deal-short-film-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/
    1. What do you feel watching this? What images does this evoke?
      [Note: Someone can be writing down people’s answers on the board, that way people will feel more pressed to shout out answers and fill up the board]
    2. Do you find this effective in promoting the idea that we need to radically change our economy in a way that is democratic and ecologically viable? Why/why not?
  2. What were some of the wins in the New Deal? How did the New Deal reproduce certain inequalities in the United States? How does the GND propose to do things differently, and does it go far enough in doing so?
  3. The IPCC report, Klein writes, says we need more than “singular technocratic approaches”. Rather, the “high-speed pollution phase-out” we need “requires deliberately and immediately changing how our societies produce energy, how we grow our food, how we move around, and how our buildings are constructed”
    1. Why is it so important for socialists to propose an eco-socialist vision of this phase-out?
      (i.e. what is the alternative?)
      1. We often hear people denounce measures that would shift us to a less ecologically destructive world as posing limits to democracy and freedom. List some cases in which this could be true and examples which go against these assertions.
      2. Alternatively, how does ecological collapse curb our freedom and democracy?
    2. As eco-socialists, why is it important to promote organizing our workplaces and schools as we push to make this vision reality?
      (i.e. is it enough to mobilize a big rally or promote eco-socialist messaging on social media?)
  4. How would the Green New Deal radically change leisure time both in quality and quantity?
  5. In what ways might the Green New Deal be anti-imperialist? What role does anti-militarism play in the Green New Deal?
  6. How are the ways that we decide to finance the Green New Deal important?
  7. Why is democratic control of the economy fundamental to eco-socialism?
  8. What are some local examples of energy and environmental issues that you think could be different if working-class people had democratic control over the decisions that affect their communities and workplaces?