Labor Strikes Will Save The World
Labor Strikes Will Save The World
A Podcast Preview
Today I published a new podcast episode all about labor strikes! I interviewed trans climate activist Shré Jethwani (they/she), who you can follow on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok), all about their roadmap for a national general strike.
You can also read their book, “The People’s Climate Labor Handbook: A Political Roadmap Through 2025 For Every American”, for free on the People’s General Strike website.
Below is the introduction to the episode. Listen to the full documentary for the full story. You can also listen to my full, uncut interview with Shré by becoming a Patron of the show.
Thanks for reading!! <3
Let’s dream together for a moment…
The year was 2023. After decades of exploitation, hate violence, rising rent costs, global temperature increases, and dealing with disaster after disaster without any government relief, everyday Americans decided they were fed up. They started small, talking to their neighbors for once, and they quickly realized that not only did they have a common enemy in the form of climate collapse, they realized that they had all the skills AND all the technology they needed to demand change.
They decided enough was enough, and threatened to stop the economy in its tracks in an attempt to get rich corporations and politicians to listen. Leaders stepped up in every town from sea to shining sea, stockpiling food, keeping track of who needed care and who could provide that care, planning fun events like block parties and concerts, buying generators so nobody would be left without power, and everything else they needed to make sure that everyone could be taken care of when their paychecks stopped coming.
It wasn’t perfect. We made a lot of mistakes along the way. Most of us didn’t know what the country would look like on the other side of all this, and there was a lot of infighting and struggle.
But it worked.
After only a month of nobody going to work, the government was brought down to its knees, begging for the machinery of American life as they knew it to keep churning. But we came with demands: No more rent increases. A freeze on evictions until further notice. A redistribution of wealth from the rich back to the people who earned them that wealth. And a reinvestment in climate tech and decarbonization.
The world wasn’t fixed overnight; it was messy. UBI checks came late, companies tried to use loopholes to get out of paying their share, and some were even successful. But because we were all united, and we finally had the financial freedom to focus our energy on collective action, we flipped the electoral system on its head, getting OUR people in charge, and making even bigger changes.
Closing those loopholes. Implementing massive infrastructure changes. Decarbonizing our energy grid, moving away from fossil fuels, investing in clean energy and public transportation…all under the leadership of Black and Indigenous folks who’d been screaming for decades about how to use the land and how to redistribute the wealth. After just a couple of years, it felt like we had it all.
And it turns out the whole “American exceptionalism” thing wasn’t a total farce after all; after everything went down, other countries used us as a model. Leaders around the world stepped up and everyday people got their power back and won their own freedom.
The Climate-Labor Revolution of 2023 went down in history as a turning point for the whole world.
…
Didn’t that sound nice?? Wouldn’t you rather dream of possible futures instead of wallowing in doom??
Here’s the thing folks. You don’t need me to explain the severity of the climate crisis. If you’ve been paying any attention to climate-related news in the past ten years, you already know that we are amidst a crisis. The only development that’s relatively “new”, at least to white Americans, is that climate change isn’t a potentially-bad thing on the horizon; it’s here. Extreme temperatures are already leading to disruptions in the food supply chain (through dead crops and farm animals who couldn’t survive the heat), deadly working conditions in everywhere from UPS trucks to factory floors, never mind the other effects of climate change like ocean acidification, increased frequency of natural disasters, and total economic and social collapse.
Climate change is here to stay, and it will get worse before it gets better.
How does that make you feel? Does that make you feel terrified, hopeless, disempowered, gasping for air? Would you describe these scenarios as “apocalyptic”?
What if I told you that there’s a way out? That there IS hope, that we CAN make the world a better place? That there are things we can do right now to build our resilience against climate change?
Luckily, I know just the person who can give us a much-needed dose of hope. Shré Jethwani (they/she) is a New York City-based organizer, activist, and author! They’re a passionate advocate for queer/trans issues, environmental restoration, and climate justice, and their new book is a step-by-step guide for how we can flip the system on its head and start a climate-labor revolution.
Welcome, dear viewer, to Rule 63, the transfeminist podcast where we outline the barriers to ending systemic oppression and where we imagine better futures for ourselves.
So! Without further adieu, my name is Anna Marie, PhD, and welcome to Rule 63!
A “proper” newsletter will be available on Sunday, as per usual. In the meantime, have a nice weekend!
In solidarity,
-Anna