Between June 4 and June 6, the Emmy Noether Group organized an international workshop on the interlinkages between Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Palestine and fossil capitalism induced climate change. Just as the pulverisation of Gaza since October 7, 2023 is both a humanitarian crisis and an environmental catastrophe, the global fossil fuel industry drives both global climate change and Western support for the destruction of Palestine.
Many social movements all over the world rally around such an understanding of the destruction of Palestine and of the earth in the context of climate change as inherently interlinked, as both are situated within a long history of colonization and extraction. As a direct consequence, they face varying degrees of repression, ranging from accusations of antisemitism to violent police crackdowns.
Other social movements, in particular mainstream white climate groups, are falling apart over Palestine, with pro-Israel activists promoting the illusion of apolitical climate protection via supposedly technical market-based solutions and new green technologies.
In five panels, the 20 participants explored questions of energy imperialism, the destruction of Palestine, supposed tech-solutions to climate change, climate activism and the struggle for climate justice, and energy infrastructures and attempts at disruption.
Besides the Emmy-Noether-Team based at ABI, namely Benjamin Schütze, Charlotte Müller, Elia El-Khazen and Philipp Wagner - the following international colleagues were part of the workshop: Ahmed Tarek Alahwal (University of Freiburg / Germany), Noura Alkhalili (Radboud University, Nijmegen / The Netherlands), Hanna Al Taher (Technical University Dresden, Dresden / Germany), Saber Ammar (Transnational Institute (TNI), Tunis / Tunisia), Aya Bseiso (Bahaleen research group, Amman / Jordan), Samir Harb (HU Berlin, Berlin / Germany), Christian Henderson (Leiden University, Leiden / The Netherlands), Matan Kaminer (Queen Mary University of London, London / UK), Mostafa Lotfi (Rice University, Houston / USA (online)), Andreas Malm (Lund University, Lund / Sweden), Charlotte Rose (London / UK), Mohammed Usrof (Palestinian Institute for Climate Strategy & Georgetown University, Doha / Qatar), Dina Wahba (Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI), Freiburg / Germany).
Tabea Knerner, Isaac Lanan, Millicent Hughes and Maya Didoss supported the Arnold-Bergstrasser Institute with the organization and logistical implementation.