Ep. 81: How U.S. Media Pits Labor and Climate Activists Against Each Other
Added 2019-07-03 15:09:56 +0000 UTC"A growing, and likely irreparable, rift between elite progressive environmentalists," Forbes tells us. "Environmentalists need to reconnect with blue-collar America," The Hill explains. "Labor anger over Green New Deal greets 2020 contenders in California," Politico reports. "AOC's Green New Deal could have Dems facing blue-collar backlash at polls, some say," a Fox News headline reads.
One of the few times corporate media cares what "American labor" has to say is when they’re using them as wedge against other elements of the Left, namely environmentalists and activists calling for urgent solutions to climate change. The narrative they’re reinforcing: a broadly assumed––but largely baseless––premise that climate change is a boutique issue for wealthy liberals that real working people don’t care about.
For a media that still largely views the working class as a white-man-with-a-hard-hat caricature, this fits into a nice binary that undermines both efforts to take on fossil fuel companies and improve the lives of workers. But who does the false dichotomy serve? How does the media highlight and misconstrue real points of tension to undermine both groups, and what can activists do to resolve good faith differences without playing into power-serving “hardhats vs. hippies” cliches?
And what do we mean when we say “labor”? How do workers drowning in the South Pacific or displaced in South Sudan factor into our notion of what’s at stake in the "labor vs. environmentalist" debate about climate change?
We are joined on this episode by writer and editor Michelle Chen.
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Guest
Michelle Chen is a contributing writer at In These Times and The Nation, a contributing editor at Dissent and a co-producer of the “Belabored” podcast. She studies history at the CUNY Graduate Center. Follow her @meeshellchen.
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Show Notes
“Hardhats vs. Hippies”: How the Media Misrepresents the Debate Over the Green New Deal
Michelle Chen | June 18, 2019 | In These Times
Labor Unions Are Skeptical of the Green New Deal, and They Want Activists to Hear Them Out
Rachel M. Cohen | February 28 2019 | The Intercept
The Green New Deal is fracturing a critical base for Democrats: unions
Umair Irfan | June 19, 2019 | Vox
Labor anger over Green New Deal greets 2020 contenders in California
Carla Marinucci & Debra Kahn | June 1, 2019 | Politico
The AFL-CIO Has No Love for the Green New Deal
Paul Blest | March 12, 2019 | Splinter
Fox News discussed the Green New Deal more often than CNN and MSNBC combined
Ted MacDonald | April 9, 2019 | Media Matters
Even this conservative poll’s misrepresentation of Green New Deal is popular
Joe Romm | April 24, 2019 | ThinkProgress
Can the Working Class Change the World?
Michael D. Yates | December 23, 2017 | truthout
Trumpism: It’s Coming From the Suburbs
Jesse Myerson | May 8, 2017 | The Nation
Penny Lewis | September 2, 2013 | Jacobin
War Foes Here Attacked By Construction Workers
Homer Bigart | May 9, 1970 | The New YorkTimes
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Transcript
For a full transcript of this episode, go here.
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Comments
Bosses in USA Got Labor So Beaten Down Employee Has to Show Up with a Unicorn to Get 3 Weeks Paid Vacation https://wp.me/p3w8Se-1Ti
2019-09-02 15:31:55 +0000 UTCThe point about who counts as labor is critical. Don't forget healthcare workers! https://wp.me/p3w8Se-tI
2019-09-02 15:31:01 +0000 UTCI'm an socialist/environmental organizer in Philadelphia and I really appreciate you doing this episode! The environmental movement here has a terrible relationship with labor. Healing this rift is one of our primary goals so it's really helpful to hear your analysis.
Garett Miller
2019-07-09 18:41:50 +0000 UTC
