What Are We Going to Do?
The day after the Trump election, the New York Times wrote: “America stands on the precipice of an authoritarian style of governance never before seen in its 248-year-old history.” For many, the results of November 5th confirmed the view that we are in dark times. So, the big question is: what are we going to do? We can wallow in self-pity and depression, or we can find kindred spirits and organize and form alliances to not just resist the repression to come but promote progressive causes. As writer Rebecca Solnit says, “Not acting is a luxury those in immediate danger do not have, and despair is something they cannot afford. But despair is all around us, telling us the problems are insoluble, that we are not strong enough, our efforts are in vain, and no one really cares.” Hope, Solnit says, counteracts cynicism and pessimism.
Recorded at the University of Colorado.
Speaker
Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein is a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia, the founding co-director of UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice, and an Honorary Professor of Media and Climate at Rutgers University. She is a columnist for The Guardian. Her articles appear in leading publications around the world. The New York Times says, “She is that nearly extinct breed of activist: one who never stops questioning orthodoxies and interrogating her own beliefs.” She is the award-winning author of such bestsellers as This Changes Everything, No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, No Is Not Enough, and On Fire. Her latest book is Doppelganger.
robert dresdner –
Klein’s call here for activism is badly needed especially since the crack down on 1st Amendment rights by the AIPAC-controlled Congress in 2024. CU in the 70s was not a hot bed of progressive politics but at least there were lots of working class and lower income students in those days because CU was publicly funded and therefore affordable. Universities like CU were attacked by conservatives who cut public funding all around the US, which ensured that CU and other public universities were out of reach to the public.