Young black British spoken word artist Weyland McKenzie explores the ambiguous relationship between Black and Green politics: the untold story of their longstanding political relationship and also (tellingly) their mutually ambivalent relationship today, between grassroots political movements Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion, a movement BLM activists criticise as decidedly white, idealistic and middle-class; XR having sometimes dismissed what they’ve called ‘identity’ politics as too parochial in terms of looming climate disaster.
Drawing on his own musical background, Weyland will explore the deeper history of Black politics’ relationship to green ideas and the radical ecology movement in the 1960s and 70s. As radical movements, both have their roots in 1960s protest and activism.
