Apr 5, 2021
Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. As envisioned by philosopher OLÚFẸ́MI O. TÁÍWÒ, a coming age of climate apartheid will create a new kind of social division within countries and communities between those who can pay to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and those who cannot. On the global scale, climate colonialism will likewise exclude local populations from control over resources as those resources are secured for the world’s elites. In his discussion with political scientist Matthew Berkman, Táíwò describes how the institutions that undergird racial capitalism, including policing, will be used to buttress this growing form of inequality – and how we might imagine a politics that instead produces a more equitable world. Their discussion builds on Táíwò’s August 12, 2020 article in Dissent, “Climate Apartheid Is the Coming Police Violence Crisis.”