Op-ed: Join the global climate strike to end fossil finance
By Tca | March 2“An important goal of the conversion to oil,” political theorist Timothy Mitchell writes, “was to permanently weaken the coal miners, whose ability to interrupt the flow of energy had given organized labor the power to demand the improvements to collective life that had democratized Europe.” In his seminal work “Carbon Democracy," Mitchell provocatively argues that transitions in global energy regimes are based less on inherent needs than transnational capital’s assault on democratic pressures from below. For a school that prides itself on its civic education and vast alumni network in public and international service, Tufts University has yet to take a committed stance on fossil fuels, whose contribution to climate change poses the gravest threat not only to liberal democracy but also to our very survival. With the conviction that Tufts should and is able to become a leading institution in shaping a greener future, we as Tufts Climate Action have teamed up with climate activist groups across Massachusetts to organize a climate strike on Friday, March 3, on Tufts campus at 10:15 a.m. at the Mayer Campus Center’s lower patio. We will then travel together to downtown Boston at 11:15 a.m. to join the city-wide rally.
