All life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly
In 2016, the Center for International Environmental Law published a trove of newly released patent record office documents. They held the smoking gun: evidence that oil companies had actively pursued research into technologies to cut carbon dioxide emissions from the 1960s yet had done nothing about. They had patented technologies to strip carbon dioxide out of exhaust pipes, and improve engine efficiency, as well as fuel cells. They also conducted research into countering the rise in carbon dioxide emissions – including manipulating the weather. They had early versions of the batteries now deployed to power electric cars such as the Tesla.
But the American Petroleum Institute, the main oil lobby, had other ideas. It opposed government funding of research into electric cars and low emissions vehicles, telling Congress in 1967: “We take exception to the basic assumption that clean air can be achieved only by finding an alternative to the internal combustion engine.”
This is just one year before the assassination of Dr. King. The civil rights movement, and anti-war movement of which he became a central part, predated the environmental movement by a decade or so. King did not live to see the consequences of Big Oil’s vested interests as our 21st century planet burns, but he was clear-sighted in his take on technology.
We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
We can be sure, had he lived longer, he would absolutely have been speaking out on climate change for the racial, economic and environmental justice issue it is.
CHRISTMAS EVE 1967
Dr. King’s last Christmas sermon, preached at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on 24th December 1967 in Atlanta Georgia, is as powerful, prophetic and passionate a ‘manifesto’ on the human condition as any of Dr. King’s speeches.
Through our work on military spending and emissions and the associated links to climate change and development we wholeheartedly believe in the present-day relevance of Dr. King’s prophetic warnings of the triple interconnected evils of economic exploitation, racism and militarism. He was right in his belief that all three must be tackled together if you are to make progress on any one.
And inside the term ‘economic exploitation’ belongs the end result of the ultimate economic exploitation of people and planet– the climate emergency, together with all its myriad inequalities, brought about as a result of rich-world excess underpinned by the threat or application of fossil fuel powered militaries.
To listen to MLK’s last Christmas sermon with a 21st century ear, we hear ‘war’ as war of course, but it can also be heard as a profoundly moving metaphor for ‘climate change’ for it is through climate change that war has been declared on humanity and our home planet, with ‘weapons’ as oil (and other fossil fuels).
We desperately need the peace that Dr. King appeals for in this, his final sermon. Titled “Peace on Earth’’ King considers a world rattled by the threat of war, challenging us to strive instead for peace and unity and to embrace a nonviolent approach to solving conflict. But as the reality of our present-day climate-changed world becomes ever harsher, any ‘system change’ means the ‘peace’ of harmony has to triumph. We must rediscover what generations before us knew and which many cultures today still know – we are but one link in a chain that binds all life together.
And, as Dr. King preached, we are at our best when we move through this world with respect and love.
Dr. King’s vision and activism, rooted in his radical faith, was hugely influenced by his travels around the world and the encounters he had with people of all faiths, cultures and heritage. Were he alive today he would surely be saluting the efforts of all faiths and none and across generations, coming together as they do, around the world, showing solidarity in the ever urgent push for climate justice – and ‘system change’.
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Tipping Point North South is hosting two MLK events at St John’s Church Waterloo as part of its Black History Month programme ‘Exploring Spirit‘. Both are free but booking is essential.
Sun 22 Oct 5-7pm: MLK Sermon read by Adjoa Andoh & Paterson Joseph. Discussion follows with Prof Robert Beckford, Dr. Shanon Shah, Dionne Gravesande and Adjoa Andoh. Info here
Thur 26 Oct 5.30pm: Film From Montgomery to Memphis 5.30pm. Constructed from a wealth of archival footage, this film is a monumental documentary that follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1955 to 1968, in his rise from regional activist to world-renowned leader of the Civil Rights movement. Info here.
MLK Global 