Will the Revolution Be Televised?
Will the Revolution Be Televised?
That depends. Will we have water? Electricity? Who will revolt and over what?
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You will not be able to stay home, brother
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and
Skip out for beer during commercials
Because the revolution will not be televised
In 1971, Gil Scott-Heron released the song The Revolution Will Not Be Televised from his album Pieces of Man. It was a ground-breaking song, a precursor to rap backed by the great jazz bassist Ron Carter, but more importantly it was a politically charged protest with relevance today, a cry against oppression, and an expression of anger against the mass media which was co-opting the civil rights movement while the Vietnam War raged on.
Gil’s sarcastic indictment of commercial culture at a time when the oppression of systemic racism blew up, rings true today, in the age of 24/7 brainwashing. The commercial-industrial entertainment complex races on, if anything more pernicious than 53 years ago, with journalism weaker than ever, and a proliferation of malevolent outlets of outright lies and propaganda, pioneered by FOX “news.” AM radio is filled with fringe lunatics. I occasionally turn it on during long car drives to get a pulse on crazy, and the internet is littered with similarly unhinged outlets.
Scot-Heron’s commentary had to do with the smoldering tension of systemic racial injustice following the race riots of the “long hot summer” of 1967 that engulfed the nation, and those lessons can be applied to the present. Racism tragically continues, but now the system has come for whitey, and whitey is finally trying to figure it out. But 30 percent of whitey is stupid and identifying the wrong enemy. That’s what January 6 was about. It hasn’t been about Democrats versus Republicans for a long time, it’s been about class warfare. When it comes to oligarchs, we’re ALL the same color. The bastards who were content with stealing wealth from minorities went up the food chain, and have been robbing wealth from the middle class ever since. Reaganomics was adopted from Milton Friedman’s vile Chicago School economics model that unleashed neoliberal economics in South America, destroying entire nations. Hundreds of thousands were imprisoned and disappeared. Here, it has been a slower, more insidious process.
The question now is, who is going to revolt, when, and what will be the reasons?
The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star
Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal
Revolt is a real possibility. It could come as early as the presidential elections from the far-right fringe falsely convinced of “stop the steal” should Trump not be re-elected, or it could come later from the inevitable implosion of the world economy from the effects of climate change. Both are gruesome, violent scenarios.
The revolution we need should be happening now, should have been happening years ago, an organized demand to end neoliberal economics, slash billionaire wealth and therefore power, to embark on a path of a non-growth, ecologically sustainable, steady state economy. Instead, we’ve been anesthetized by the commercial-industrial entertainment complex, the western world’s opiate of the masses. The planet is finite, and we are utter fools to not address this basic, obvious fact, but of course we have propaganda instead of truth. Also in 1971, our friends at Coca-Cola courtesy of powerhouse ad agency McCann Erickson, came out with an advertising masterpiece, and reality antidote in an ad and song, “I’d like to buy the world a Coke.”
I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow-white turtle-dovesI'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I’d like to hold it in my armsAnd keep it company
The Ohio River caught on fire in 1969, and American boys were returning home in body bags, but never mind about that, have a Coke, it’s the real thing. Just sprinkle flower petals about. The cynicism and genius of advertising can’t be denied.
Here unfortunately are some other things that can’t be denied.
Mexico City’s water system is in a life-threatening crisis
“Thanks to our good Lord!” she said. “The water has finally arrived!”
These are the words of Reina Cervantes Trejo reacting to a water truck arrival, where millions of Mexico City residents now have only intermittent running water — sometimes just an hour a week.
When the Spanish conquered Mexico, the soldier Bernal Díaz marveled at Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital set on an island in a vast lake. The Spaniards built Mexico City on the ruins of the city they destroyed whose floodwaters the Aztecs had kept at bay through a sophisticated system of dikes, levees and canals. 500 years ago, there was no water shortage where Mexico City stands. However, the Spaniards chose to drain the lake.
Once a water-rich valley, this city of 23 million, up from 15 million1 in 1990, is in a serious and life-threatening water crisis from poor planning, over-growth, and a deficient water system. The infrastructure of the city, like all cities, concrete and asphalt, inhibits the aquifers underneath from refilling, and the ancient water system leaks 40 percent of the water it collects. Repairing the pipes would cost billions of dollars. Yet 70 percent of the city’s water supply comes from groundwater which is being pumped faster than it can be replenished and 68 percent of the country is in moderate to extreme drought.
A quarter of the city’s water from comes from the Cutzamala system, a vast series of reservoirs, water treatment plants, canals and tunnels which is running dry, down to 28 percent of capacity. At 20 percent, the water becomes inaccessible. Without rainfall, this could happen by June 26, referred to as “Day Zero.”
Both wealthy and poor residents are increasingly dependent on water delivery trucks that may or may not show up on schedule. This situation, existing for years, is growing worse with poor communities the most vulnerable.
Last year was Mexico’s hottest and driest in at least 70 years. Climate change, urban sprawl and deteriorating infrastructure have pushed Mexico City to the brink of profound tragedy. Human-caused climate change has warmed the country around 1.6° C (2.9° F) since pre-industrial times, the urban heat island effect pushing parts of the city 3° to 4° C warmer. Deaths from dehydration and exceeding wet bulb temperature are happening.
India is experiencing a killer heat wave
In India, summer falls between March and May. In recent years, the summer heat has come earlier, temperatures have risen higher, and heat waves have lengthened. Yet again, the country is suffering a life-taking heat wave. On May 28 India’s capital, New Delhi, where 20 million people live, recorded its highest-ever temperature as reported by CNN of 49.9° C (121.8° F), Reuters, slightly higher, at 50° degrees C (122° F), and The Guardian, 49° C (120° F), with 25,000 victims of heatstroke.
Accurate fatality figures vary, but it can safely be assumed to be in the hundreds. Wikipedia pegs deaths as of June 3 at 219, a figure that will inevitably rise. Note, that the high temperature listed in Delhi on this page of 53° C is inaccurate, the result of a faulty temperature sensor. However, 50° C seems like adequate jeopardy, does it not?
As this killer heat has broiled India, like Mexico, authorities have been forced to impose water rationing. As parts of Delhi struggle to access water, others have none at all. Regions that were receiving water twice a day have had their deliveries cut to one in an attempt to even the problem. However, even with the rationing, supply lasts only 15 to 20 minutes a day, according to the Indian Express. Another mortal problem for the small percentage that have air conditioning, lengthy power cuts and outages are common as millions running the units push electricity demand to all-time highs. The units break as well, not designed for such extreme conditions. Poor households resort to gathering beneath fans and covering themselves with wet rags.
Tripti, a social health worker who lives in an impoverished enclave, lives the harsh reality of having no water. She says:
“People have to wait for two to three hours in the queue for just for the couple of buckets of water. The increasing temperature has made it worse. As the heat is increasing, we need more water, but the supply is in fact decreasing. We are suffering badly and heat is making it impossible to live.”
Hospitals offer ice baths and air conditioning, but can help only a handful of the millions of people who have no choice but to work in the heat to earn a living. If they get heatstroke and don’t get to a hospital quickly these conditions lead to a mortality rate of 60 to 80 percent.
People have been urged to stay indoors and wear light, loose cotton clothes – advice that is impossible for the millions who can’t afford to cool themselves down or are forced to work outside in construction, market stalls or other laboring jobs.
One person who didn’t survive the conditions was only 40 years old, a migrant who worked in a factory in Delhi. Living in a room with no cooler or fan, he developed a fatal body temperature, shooting up over 107° F (41.5° C).
A vegetable vendor, Sameer Prakash, stands outside next to his cart until about 2pm, splashing water on his vegetables to keep them from wilting, and on his head to avoid heatstroke, waiting for customers to emerge from air-conditioned homes.
“What’s the choice? No one is going to feed my children unless I take some money home, are they? Work is work. It just has to be done,” he said. “The sun just kills the vegetables, so I buy less than usual from the wholesale market because if I don’t sell them, they will rot.”
The future is troubling, but we still have a chance
Conditions in Mexico and India are growing more dire by the day, and of course are far from the only places experiencing severe effects from climate change. Warming is locked in by greenhouse gasses already in the atmosphere, in the case of CO2, for hundreds of years to come.
These conditions are already forcing desperate migrations, and will lead to violence from the same desperation for those that have the strength to fight. Martial Law was used in the 1967 riots. Governments everywhere will resort to similar measures.
Economies are destined to collapse, because ultimately all our wealth and well-being is tied to a healthy planet. We have reached the end of growth. Solar farms and wind turbines may be able to support civilization, but not the one which the developed world has become accustomed to. And what builds and maintains that so-called green infrastructure? Fossil fuels, a serious Catch-22.
We are at the dawn of a new era. Human success has always been built on more. Can we learn to have success with less? We did before the discovery of fossil fuels. We had families and lives and culture. Degrowth is coming one way or another. Planned degrowth would be far better than a chaotic one from refusing to embrace reality.
The Washington Post and New York Times disagree on this number which I find bizarre. Is it 22 million or 23 million?
Water wars are coming. Food wars will follow. It doesn't help that all the world leaders and celebrities use private jets and cruise ships are horrific. This doesn't end well for anyone🫠
"The revolution will not be televised" is such a great statement. I love that song.