Breaking Together

(em português, com links: sol2070.in/2024/11/livro-breaking-together-jem-bendell/ )

In “Breaking Together” (2023), English researcher Jem Bendell summarizes the current catastrophic socio-political-environmental situation and suggests proposals for mitigation and regeneration for what remains.

Yes, “for what remains”, because in his analysis the unfolding of a general gradual collapse is not only inevitable, but has been underway for years.

The first half of the book is a presentation of detailed evidence of both the collapse and the practical improbability of its reversal, in the economic, energy, biosphere, climate and food areas.

An excerpt:

The arguments in the first half of this book could be regarded as simply an observation of data, rather than a theory or opinion. If some scientists might wish to claim that I'm analytically wrong in my identification of ongoing societal collapse, then I invite them to show us all the data on a multi-year consistency of greenhouse gas emissions coming down, combined with greenhouse gas concentrations in our atmosphere coming down,863 biodiversity losses coming down and ocean acidification coming down. I invite them to show us data indicating a multi-year consistency of an increase in the Human Development Indicators in a majority of countries. Without that, then they might retort that modern societies cannot be collapsing because “the cash machines still work, the TV turns on and the supermarkets are still open.” But as scholars, we must not just focus on the façades of systems that scientific analysis has identified are already breaking.

The other half contains his proposals for dealing with the situation. That's where the book's title comes in. Instead of merely “breaking apart”, we can “break together”, in the sense of community, of uniting in the face of disaster. For example, in organizing and combining social movements, and in restoring the connection with the land and nature.

He sets out his vision, which he calls “ecolibertarianism”, unrelated to capitalism and Marxism, as well as decentralizing proposals for politics and economics.

I found his vision of degrowth interesting. The idea is generally criticized for implying a forced reduction of the economies of the richest countries, since this activity is inseparable from environmental destruction. However, it would never be self-implemented, as no rich country would accept a course of “impoverishment” — in quotes because this only refers to GDP, which does not measure the true wealth or poverty of a nation. But the degrowth of these countries could be forced by a union of the poorest countries, through trade barriers and other such measures.

Jem Bendell is far from the only researcher who advocates recognizing the current collapse and its practical irreversibility. But it is a thought considered radical and “catastrophist” not only by the dominant ideology, but also among the political left, since the common point of these two currents is growthism. Accepting the bankruptcy of this model would be unacceptable or even inconceivable, even with so much data and evidence.

I share the author's vision to a large extent, but I don't see a general collapse of civilization as we know it in 20 or 30 years as certain. I only think it's possible, and perhaps it will take longer due to merely delaying measures, if there isn't a radical transformation of the entire structure.

The standard thinking is to classify this as defeatist, pointless, “you have to think of solutions” etc. But there is a very obvious utility in simply admitting what is right in front of our eyes. After that, the alarming realization is just a matter of extrapolating into the future, considering the socio-political-economic probabilities of radical changes of course.

Jem jokes that he has reframed the “doomster” label he was given. Sometimes he wears a T-shirt with the phrase “doomsters have more fun.” I think so too. At least there's no denialism, reality is seen head-on, and then we can devote ourselves to what's really important, instead of dreaming up some miraculous techno-optimism.

Many climatologists already agree in part with the most negative predictions: the climate system is not going to go back to the way it was for decades, perhaps centuries, even if all emissions stopped now; there is bound to be a worsening of the climate emergency. What needs to be done is to prevent an even more extreme worsening, mitigate, reduce the damage of what is to come, prepare and adapt.

Bendell is known for an influential academic article: “Deep Adaptation”, from 2018. It even became a movement and influenced others, such as Extinction Rebellion.

The article predicted a “societal collapse” in a short time, 10 or 15 years, due to factors such as the climate emergency. In the current book, he corrects some positions. He admits that he wasn't clear about what “societal” meant and corrects this. He also says that he was wrong about when the collapse would start. According to the revision of the latest data, made by the team that helped him research the book, it would have already started in 2016 in some parts of the world. The text, considered extremely catastrophist at the time by his peers and the media, is now even timid in relation to the way the climate emergency is unfolding.

Disappointment However, there is a downside to “Breaking Together” that is hard to ignore. Towards the end, the author uses the Covid pandemic as an example of how even sectors that are considered progressive or left-wing end up supporting measures that benefit corporations like big pharma. He criticizes the measures that were taken, such as mass vaccinations, the use of masks and lockdowns.

I almost couldn't believe what I was reading. His main criticism is of the immense influence that pharmaceutical giants and other corporations have over governments, but he ends up exaggerating when he mentions the supposed ineffectiveness of vaccines or lockdowns.

It was a huge disappointment, because if he's wrong about vaccines, why wouldn't he be wrong about everything else?

However, I don't think the rest of the book is nullified by this horrendous slip-up. It was still one of the most important non-fiction books I've picked up in recent years.

The book is available to download from the author's website ( jembendell.com/2023/04/08/breaking-together-a-freedom-loving-response-to-collapse/ ).