Environmental Racism: How do we fight for both the environment & social justice?

Locally, nationally, and internationally, the capitalist class continues to push forward with extracting as much natural resources as possible in the name of profit. As climate change worsens, fracking, and the building of oil refineries continue, it's clear that indigenous people and communities of color will be affected the worst. As Chris Williams recently stated in his article on environmental violence, "One cannot be a social justice activist without equally being an ecological justice activist; and link arms with all those fighting racist environmental violence the world over." Join the ISO Mission branch along with Chris Williams for a discussion on environmental racism and the need to fight for an eco-socialist revolution.

Chris Williams is a long-time environmental activist and author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis (Haymarket, 2010). His writings have appeared in Z Magazine, Green Left Weekly, Alternet,CommonDreams, ClimateAndCapitalism, ClimateStoryTellers,Counterpunch, The Indypendent, Dissident Voice, International Socialist Review, Truth Out, Socialist Worker, and ZNet. He also recently reported from Warsaw on the most recent round of climate talks in November 2013.

Azibuike Akaba is based in Oakland, California and he is working at the Public Health Institute as an environmental policy analyst and as a researcher on climate change, public health, air quality, land use and transportation planning. He managed the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (EIP). It is one of many community-based organizations working on environmental justice, economic development and civil rights. Additionally, Azibuike has been a staff scientist at Communities for a Better Environment for 8 years. He has lead many successful environmental campaigns such as: Ban MTBE, Dioxin, and others.