Even if you’re a Londoner, you probably didn’t notice that June 21st-29th was ‘London Climate Action Week‘ (LCAW). The seventh city-wide festival of its kind aimed to “harness the unique power of London for global and local climate action” and “mobilise London’s unparalleled ecosystem of climate and non-climate organisations to accelerate global climate action”. Lots of “action”, you see. But rather than “harnessing” or “mobilising” anything, the event consisted of little more than talk among a very small choir that needed no more preaching. Meanwhile the rest of the city carried on, oblivious to the local and global action seemingly unfolding amongst them. This is green politics in a nutshell.
It is something of an irony that an extended political rally that intends to be the point at which ‘action’ is ‘mobilised’ drew together the organisations that immobilised the city. The city’s extended Ultra Low Emissions Zone, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and a rash of cycle lanes – none of which were demanded by the city’s population who must suffer them – were sneakily imposed under cover of lockdowns. And they were designed and lobbied for by the constellation of ersatz ‘civil society’ organisations, which, as I’ve discussed here at length, are funded by a very narrow band of billionaire philanthropists.
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