Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore
"Future Hope" Column
By Ted Glick
Michael
Moore’s “molotov cocktail to the system” movie, Fahrenheit 11/9, has a
number of good things to say and good sections. I was particularly
appreciative of the sections on lead poisoning criminality in Flint,
Michigan, recent progressive electoral victories and campaigns within
the Democratic Party, and the West Virginia teachers strike. His
critique of the Clinton/corporate/dominant wing of the Democratic Party
was also on target.
However,
I was appalled that there was virtually nothing about the climate
crisis. Out of the two hours, there might have been a literal total of
10 seconds of footage about something related to that huge,
world-overarching issue.
For
example, the struggle at Standing Rock was nowhere to be found in this
progressive movie about US politics and progressive activism since 2016.
15
years ago I began my transformation from a progressive activist and
organizer primarily working in the arena of independent politics into
someone primarily working on the climate crisis. The impetus for that
life-change was a disastrous heat wave in western Europe in August of
2003. 35,000 or more people died as a result of it. This unprecedented,
massive human tragedy caused me to spend the next several months
studying the reality of global heating, how bad it is, how relatively
close we are to climate tipping points, and who was working against this
looming world catastrophe.
I
was disturbed to learn that almost no one on the left and not that many
within the environmental community were doing so, at least on a
consistent basis. And so, in January of 2004, I started doing work in
this area, co-founding with Fr. Paul Mayer the Climate Crisis Coalition
and staying active ever since.
It
has been encouraging to see the growth of an activist climate movement,
an anti-racist climate justice movement and an inclusion of the climate
issue as a major one on the part of many groups within the progressive
movement. It was very significant that in his history-making
Presidential campaign in 2016 Bernie Sanders spoke about this issue
consistently and strongly. And there couldare to climate tipping points, and who was working against this
looming world catastrophe.
I
was disturbed to learn that almost no one on the left and not that many
within the environmental community were doing so, at least on a
consistent basis. And so, in January of 2004, I started doing be other positive examples.
So is Michael Moore’s climate blindspot in this movie an exception to the prevailing reality on the left?
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