{"id":48209,"date":"2021-02-21T16:15:51","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T16:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=5eff136ffd94d5e58875b67dc9851830"},"modified":"2021-02-21T16:15:51","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T16:15:51","slug":"white-supremacy-set-the-stage-for-texas-miserable-disaster-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/21\/white-supremacy-set-the-stage-for-texas-miserable-disaster-response\/","title":{"rendered":"White Supremacy Set the Stage for Texas\u2019 Miserable Disaster Response"},"content":{"rendered":"\"A<\/a>

In order to make sense of the natural and human-induced disaster that has struck Texas, the nation will first need an accurate picture of who lives here. Yes, Texas has its oil barons, fossil-fuel lobbyists, and opportunistic political \u201cleaders\u201d who have extracted wealth from the state at the expense of the environment and human needs. But the real figure that should stand out is 17 million people.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s roughly the Latinx, Black, Indigenous, and Asian population of Texas<\/a>, which comprises nearly 60 percent of the state. Only 3 states and 69 countries have a larger total<\/em> population. Denmark, Finland, and Norway combined<\/a> do not total 17 million residents. Of the 13 cities in the U.S. with populations above 900,000 today, five are in Texas<\/a> (Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth) and only 25 to 48 percent \u201cnon-Hispanic whites.\u201d Thus, any story of Texans freezing, dying or hospitalized from carbon monoxide poisoning, losing power for vital medical equipment, or suffering without water or pipes bursting is more than likely occurring among the states BIPOC majority.<\/p>\n

Outrage has erupted in Texas and throughout the nation, perhaps building on the momentum of the 2020 uprisings against white supremacy and police-perpetrated violence. Coming on the heels of the Trump-fueled mob attack on the Capitol and GOP refusal to hold the former president accountable, the catastrophe in Texas may be similar to the many \u201c100-year\u201d or \u201c500-year\u201d events that have now become commonplace. Floods, wildfires, freezes and heatwaves wreak havoc today but provide a preview of much worse effects to come from the compounded effects of industrial pollution and capitalist consumption.<\/p>\n

As a result, three long overshadowed problems are now being widely discussed.<\/p>\n

First, after the popular revolts of the 1960s, global powers responded with neoliberal restructuring designed to heighten the free reign of capital while weakening the collective power of workers and unions. This is what the Zapatistas called the Empire of Money, and it\u2019s the mentality behind the deregulation and privatization of energy markets and utilities that leaves people literally in the cold when rapidly changing realities overwhelm systems designed to cut corners for immediate profiteering.<\/p>\n

Second, Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s spurious scapegoating of renewable energy<\/a> for the power outages\u2014a perfect exposition of what Naomi Klein has called \u201cdisaster capitalism\u201d\u2014has escalated demands for a Green New Deal. More broadly, it has exposed the need for an immediate and transformative response to the climate crisis rooted in principles of climate justice that empower and uplift peoples in the global South and the most oppressed sectors of the global North bearing the brunt of the crisis.<\/p>\n

Third, Ted Cruz\u2019s \u201clet them eat cake\u201d vacation to Cancun was a visible reminder of the cruelty of our political system \u2014 a system that rewards politicians propped up by corporate money, right-wing lies, and racist ideologies for blaming others and evading responsibility. The elites most responsible for the disastrous effects of climate change, racism, ableism, and poverty would have us believe that it is always others who must suffer instead of their own families.<\/p>\n