New report on climate migration; summer delights & provocations; two new jobs
The Platypus is still in its enviable summer hibernation period but briefly surfacing to share a few things:
The Roosevelt Institute just published a major new report by Deepak and Rich Stolz: The Statue of Liberty Plan: A Progressive Vision for Migration in the Age of Climate Change. One of the main effects of climate change is the accelerating forced migration of people across borders, a megatrend that will reshape economies and politics in this century. Against that backdrop, the report proposes a dramatic expansion of immigration levels to make the U.S. the most welcoming country on earth for migrants and refugees, doubling the foreign-born share of the population from 15% to over 30% and admitting 75 million new migrants over a decade.
The report argues that the failure by many liberals and progressives in the U.S. and Europe to articulate a coherent vision for future migration has had disastrous political consequences and has enabled a dangerous feedback loop between nativist authoritarian politics and mass migration to take hold. Across the world, authoritarian movements and parties are using refugee crises to build popular support — and too many progressives have chosen to duck the issue or adopt right-wing frames, harming migrants while also undermining the broader social democratic agenda. Being against the most egregious policies – like putting children in cages or chasing and whipping migrants on horseback — is not enough. We need a bold vision for the role of immigration in the country’s future.
The report proposes a new narrative about migration — turning the focus away from the merit or worth of immigrants and instead asking what our immigration policy says about the receiving country’s character. Given the disproportionate role of the U.S. in causing climate change, the report argues that the U.S. has a profound moral duty to help climate refugees — someone who burns their neighbor’s house down has an obligation to welcome them when they knock on the door seeking refuge.
Consistent with work examining the deep history of U.S. racism, the report reframes mass migration as the result not of choices by worthy or unworthy individuals, but as a response to a long history of extractive economic policies, military intervention, neo-colonialism, and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. The report contends that a broad coalition of forces can be mobilized to build a “welcoming culture” in the U.S. and that expanded migration can be positioned as a key to civic and economic renewal.
Rich and Deepak benefitted from discussions with dozens of immigrant, climate justice, and racial justice activists and scholars across disciplines and hope the report contributes to a fresh debate about north star goals for our movements in a new era. You can read the report here.
Two Great Jobs
The Colin Powell School at City College of New York is hiring two Distinguished Lecturers who will be associated with Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice, which Deepak co-chairs with Gara LaMarche. We hope to recruit outstanding practitioners and movement leaders (advanced degrees not required) who have an interest in teaching at CUNY and building programs focused on training social justice leaders. Here is the application link. The jobs are open until filled, but applications will be reviewed beginnig on September 15th. You can go here for more information about Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice.
Summer Delights & Provocations
We’ve read, seen, and heard a lot this summer that moved and inspired us. Here are some highlights:
The Tony and Pulitzer-winning Broadway musical A Strange Loop is Michael R. Jackson’s wrenching, hilarious, incomparable exploration of what it means to be “big, Black, and queer” in America today. We were lucky to see it on a recent afternoon at the Lyceum Theater, when the lead role was played by understudy Kyle Ramar Freeman, who is an astonishing talent.
The Prophetic Imagination, by Walter Brueggeman, argues that challenging empire and “the royal consciousness” requires a prophetic approach that combines acknowledgment of grief, critique of the dominant society, affirmative vision, and hope. The book made us reflect on the prophetic role that our leaders, movements, and organizations must play in our current civilizational crisis – fully feeling the grief and moving beyond critique to inspire hope in alternative visions.
The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change, by Aldon Morris, is a classic historical study that argues persuasively that the Civil Rights movement succeeded because of a combination of deep organizing and mass membership organizations through “movement hubs,” as well as support from “movement halfway houses” that provided training and support. It’s instructive to read today, as our movements must reinvigorate traditions of deep organizing.
“How Black Churches Can Change the World,” an interview of Rev. Edwin Robinson by Stephanie Luce, is full of insights about the role of the church in social change and the centrality of Black communities to the progressive movement.
Find Me, by André Aciman. This novel by the author of Call Me By Your Name weaves together two beautiful love stories and brings a sense of the sacred to the interior lives and relationships of its protagonists.
“We are in a time of new suns,” a podcast interview with adrienne maree brown, is among the most inspiring, visionary conversations we’ve heard – a call for radical imagination and for finding new and healthier ways to be in conflict with each other in our movements.
Ezra Klein spoke recently with Moshin Hamid about his latest novel, The Last White Man. Their conversation ranged widely, dealing with “race, identity, algorithmic thinking and how to envision optimistic futures in dark times.” We were especially impressed by Hamid’s lucid critique of the our era’s cruel mania for border enforcement.
Based on this hard-hitting excerpt from the Guardian, we look forward to reading science writer Gaia Vince’s new book Nomad Century: How to Survive the Climate Upheaval, which echoes and adds new reportorial details to the argument Deepak and Rich Stolz make in their new report.
The HBO documentary The Janes, by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, tells the little-known story of courageous women in Chicago who organized an underground abortion network in the days before Roe, powerfully illustrating the connection between mutual aid, consciousness change, and policy change.
The Immoralist, by André Gide. This classic tragedy is moving and captivating, telling the story of a man who chooses desire over obligation in a world hostile to gay love.
The Sandman on Netflix is a beautiful, imaginative, and absorbing fantasy series adapted from Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel.
Freedom Dreams, by Robin D. G. Kelley, is a must-read book about the centrality of vision to social movements and how they incubate new visions for society. Jordan T. Camp’s conversation with Kelley on the Conjuncture podcast applies Gramsci’s ideas to our present historical conjuncture and borrows its title, “Against Pessimism,” from an essay Gramsci wrote as fascism was on the rise in Italy. While we don’t agree with all of Kelly’s conclusions, it’s a fascinating exchange.
In “How to Beat the Psychology of Fear,” a commencement talk he delivered in 2016, Eli Pariser reflects on big topics — fear, recognition, self-worth, and doing good — that are relevant to our current political predicament.
Sea of Tranquility, a novel by Emily St. John Mandel, the author of Station 11, weaves together inter-planetary time travel and plagues in a lovely, gripping fugue.
At The Forge, Deepak Pateriya has just launched “What’s Your Power Analysis?,” a new series of interviews with organizers and movement leaders, starting with “An Interview with Doran Schrantz.” Doran illuminates the big, hard questions about building real governing power in states. She says,
We have to take some responsibility for seeing where we do not have power in the real world. Every frustration is a revelation. Public life is extremely exposing and it is an effort to see clearly where we are positioned and rigorously check ourselves around telling ourselves comforting stories about our own rightness. I struggle with this, and it helps to have a real practice in your own organizations or formations to have at least one of your lenses be: what are we learning about how much power we have? What is our evidence? What did we test ourselves against? It opens up pathways to action and possibility.