Street roots., June 23, 2017, Page 7, Image 7

Street Roots • June 23-29, 2017
KLEIN, from page 5
I think there definitely is an argument for an
independent party that has one foot in and one
foot out. It’s a rigged system, so vote splitting
is a real problem. It is a structural problem that
you would not have if you had an electoral
system - be it that wasn’t first-past-the-post
(winner take all, such as in the U.S.) - whether
it be coalitions, and if there was a system like
that it would be an absolute no-brainer to keep
the Democratic Party, but that’s not the system
that is. It’s a really complicated question, and
anyone who claims it’s not is, I don’t think,
paying attention closely enough.
E.G.: I wanted to touch on “racial capitalism. ”
In Oregon, we have heard from the agriculture
sector that the Trump administration’s
immigration stance is exacerbating the already
drastic shortages we have in migrant labor - they
think they might not have people to pick the cherry
trees this season.
N.K.: The crows will be really happy.
E.G.: Do you think capitalism and across-the-
board fair treatment of workers can coexist?
N.K.: This phrase, “racial capitalism” - the
late Cedric Robinson, a Marxist theorist, used
it to describe the fact that you really can’t
separate systems of white supremacy from the
birth of modern capitalism, and that the
modern capitalist system was born with the
Industrial Revolution. And, two major inputs of
the Industrial Revolution, that created the
excess capital, were stolen Indigenous land and
stolen African labor. In order to do that, there
needed to be the creation of a hierarchy of
humanity that would justify the theft of that
land and the theft of those people.
That created the context for the Industrial
Revolution and the birth of the U.S. economy,
which was at the same time. The modern
version of this is how neoliberalism has been
sold in this country, through using race as a
wedge, systematically, at every turn.
One of the details about the Portland
stabbing I feel didn’t get enough attention was
what the attacker was saying to those women.
He was saying “go back to where you come
from,” but he also said, “get off this bus, you
don’t pay taxes.” Which is a really key part of
the messaging that has advanced these
News
Page 7
economic policies.
At every stage, “people of color are
exploiting the system, they are abusing the
system.” Whether it’s the Welfare Queens
invented by Ronald Reagan, or Jeff Sessions
today talking about how the reason why
Chicago and New York’s systems are
overburdened is because immigrants are taking
advantage. This has been the way neoliberalism
has been sold in this country, by pitting whites
against blacks with this idea that people of
color are exploiting the system.
It’s worth noting that was what (Jeremy
Christian) was saying, “you don’t have a right
to be riding the bus, because you don’t pay
taxes.” That’s very telling about what racial
capitalism looks like.
E.G.: You wrote in “No is not Enough” that
people must be careful not to come together
around lowest-common-denominator demands,
such as “Impeach Trump” or “elect Democrats”...
N.K.: No one’s listening to me (laughs).
E.G.: I f people read this interview or read your
book or see the Leap Manifesto and think, yeah,
that’s something I really want to get behind, what
should they do?
N.K.: There seems to be some local interest.
A local youth “leap” group forming, and it
doesn’t matter if it’s called “the leap” or not.
There are some great examples, like Portland
Just Energy Transition initiative, which is
bringing together the racial justice movement
with the climate movement in a really
meaningful way, calling for a key part of the
just transition. We often focus on the “just”
piece of it being either workers being included
in the transition or communities of color
getting resources, but we often don’t focus
enough energy on the flipside of this, which is
that the people who are most responsible for
the climate crisis have to do more, have to pay
their fair share. This is often glossed over by
the big green groups who feel that would be
too divisive.
The two pieces of just transition are the
people who got the worst deal are first in line
to benefit from the transition, and the people
who did the most to create the crisis need to
pay the most. And (Portland Just Energy
Transition) is a great example of bringing those
two demands together and getting the largest
businesses to pay a significant part of the
justice-based transition. So if people want to
get involved locally, I would say, get involved in
that. Get involved - Portland has some of the
most bold transition policies on the books to
get to 100 percent renewable energy, and this
is in the Leap, but the question is how is that
going to happen?
When we drafted the Leap Manifesto, we
were inspired by this slogan by a group in the
Bay Area called Movement Generation, which
is, “Transition is inevitable, justice is not.” The
justice piece has to be fought for.
It’s possible for the transition off of fossil
fuels to be done in a completely brutal way.
There is prison labor that is making solar
panels right now.
If the jobs are going to be union jobs, if the
jobs are going to pay a living wage, all that has
to be fought for. If the transition doesn’t
replicate the same divisions, that has to be
fought for.
I would also encourage people to go to
leapmanifesto.org and check out the living leap
(theleapblog.org) with just examples of what
people have done with this vision, whether it’s
incarcerated youth, postal workers, local city
council, students - there’s lots of examples of
people taking this broad-strokes aspiration of
the society that we want, instead of the one we
have now.
The Portland Just Energy Transition is a
coalition of environmental and social activists
who have joined forces with City Commissioner
Chloe Eudaly to get Portland Clean Energy
and Justice Measure on the ballot. According to
Eudaly’s Chief of Staff Marshall Runkel, they
are hoping to send it to Portland voters as early
as May 2018.
The measure proposes a gross receipts tax on
businesses that have both global gross sales
receipts of $1 billion or more and Portland gross
sales receipts of $500,000 or more. According to a
city Revenue Division report released Friday, as
written, the measure would raise between $35 and
$51 million from the 732 businesses with sales in
Portland. That money would be used for a just
transition off fossil fuels, investing in renewable
energy projects in a way that puts marginalized
communities first.
Email Emily at emily@streetroots.org or follow
her on Twitter @GreenWrites
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