Collapse Chat—Banality, Good, and Evil—Divide & conquer, Earth Strke, and Stratfor—Ashes Ashes #89
Channel: Stop Fossil Fuels
Date: 14/04/2020

Another week, another collapse chat! This week we explore bullshit jobs through a listener email, dive into the upcoming Earth Strike event through interviews with activists and organizers, and take a look at the playbook of the forces who want to stop activism at all stages. There's a lot to learn as we jump through all these different topics so settle in and enjoy the ride!


Our most sincere apologies for the sound quality in some of these interviews, sometimes you just have to roll with what you're given.


Podcast by Ashes Ashes, reposted under CC License. Browse episode resources & read full transcript at https://ashesashes.org/blog/episode-89-collapse-chat

Stop Fossil Fuels researches and disseminates effective strategies and tactics to halt fossil fuel combustion as fast as possible. Learn more at https://stopfossilfuels.org

CHAPTERS
0:34 Lawrence's BS Job
15:38 Earth Strike
21:41 Earth Strike NYC
39:03 Earth Strike UK
47:25 Corporate Wars and Activists



Some good discussion near the end of Stratfor's divide & conquer strategy to neutralize activists. Machine-translated transcript excerpt:


Daniel Forkner:

[51:16] It's is a Formula still used today by PR firms who advised corporations on how to dismantle opposition to the activities and it's it's a pretty simple formula. It seeks to take activist nonprofit organizations and other groups and categorize them into four different types you have radicals. Idealist realist and opportunist the three-step duchin formula is then to First isolate the radicals. And then cultivate the idealist and educate them into becoming realist and then finally Co-op the realest into agreeing with industry. Okay now so what are these for subtype so first you have the radicals these are the people who are the most threatening to Corporation. They want systemic change they are typically anti-corporate in their fight and they want an end to the evil that they see. And radical kind of has a political connotation and it's been framed a certain way in media but, these are usually people born out of a necessity to fight it could be a rule farmer who is having his soil poisoned by a nearby chemical company or it could be an indigenous community living in the rainforest, well companies raise their land and set fire to their homes or could be like the Puerto Rican communities that Jacob was mentioning or other groups were trying to defend their home.

[52:39] These people are the most likely to organize direct actions against companies and they're not going to compromise. The next most threatening groups these corporations is the ideal it and these people according to the pr strategy, have a moral or emotional reason for their position they want what is right and what is just and fair in according to duchin himself, quote idealist what a perfect world because of their intrinsic altruism however they have a vulnerable point, if they can be shown that their position is an opposition to an industry and cannot be at the CLE Justified they will change their position and quote. And then finally you have realist and realist are able to quote live with trade-offs willing to work within the system. Not interested in radical change pragmatic the realest should always receive the highest priority in any strategy dealing with a public policy issue.

[53:37] And quote. Of course you do have the opportunist those are just people who they'll side with whichever entity gives in the most advantages of the forces most powerful and corporations can generally, rely on them to support their cost so those are the four subtypes in it and it's important to know how corporations categorize these activist because. Like I said there's a very clear and direct strategy of divide and conquer where again from the corporate perspective the most important thing is to isolate those radicals first and foremost. Write those indigenous people having their Forest burned down we'll just cut them off from communication or turn them into the bad guys so no one will listen or trust them. Because those are the ones that aren't going to compromise it's important from the corporate perspective to separate them from anyone else but they don't want them to influence other people's perspectives.

[54:32] And once they've done that the goal is to educate quote on quote the idealists these are the people at the moral compass right. And try to try to get them to see you know of course you want a better world but look we need to think more realistic and more pragmatic if you're not willing to compromise and you're not going to get any of your objective saw. And kind of push them into the realist perspective and then once you have them in the realest category. It can be pretty simple to compromise with people ultimately so that no fundamental change to your business ever happy. And you can continue business as usual.