In this revealing interview, journalist Vincent Bevins discussed his newly released book If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, based on his research of a wide range of social movements between 2010 and 2020. Beginning with an analysis of the "Yellow Vest" protests in France, the discussion focusses on the challenges, nuances, and lessons of building broad social movements—with particular lessons for the climate movement. Vincent highlights the transformative power of social media but also its limitations in fostering genuine, long-lasting change. He underscores the drawbacks of decentralized movements and ambiguous goals identifying potential pitfalls. Drawing from his on-the-ground experiences in Brazil, Vincent emphasizes the significance of recognizing the worldwide repercussions of local endeavors. He also stresses the need for activists to work with governments and state institutions rather than rejecting them, emphasizing that radical change does not necessarily always mean being anti-government.
Vincent Bevins is an award-winning journalist and correspondent. He covered Southeast Asia for the Washington Post, reporting from across the entire region and also served as the Brazil correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, also covering nearby parts of South America. He has written for are the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, the New York Review of Books, the New Republic, and more. His previous book is the Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade And The Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World.
Episode 71: Interview with evolutionary biologist, Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris
Episode 70: Interview with Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth Systems Science, UCL, author of The Human Planet
Episode 69: Interview with Marc Ventresca and Michele Scataglini
Episode 68: Interview with Rachel Dreskin, US Executive Director at Compassion in World Farming
Episode 67: Interview with Ann Pettifor, director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics (PRIME)
Episode 66: Interview with author and filmmaker Helena Norberg-Hodge, founder and director of Local Futures
Episode 65: Interview with Martin Kirk, co-founder /The Rules
Episode 64: The importance of behaviour change to reduce CO2. Interview with CEO of Rare, Brett Jenks
Episode 63: Interview with Peter Barnes, author of Capitalism 3.0
Episode 62: Interview with Daniel Pinchbeck, author of How Soon Is Now: From Personal Initiation to Global Transformation
Episode 61: Interview with Carlota Perez, Centennial Professor of International Development at the London School of Economics
Episode 60: Interview with Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist
Episode 59 Interview, with Ian Gough, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at University of Bath on the need for new eco-social policies to deal with the environmental crises we are now facing.
Episode 58: Interview with Gillian Caldwell, CEO of Global Witness
Episode 57: Interview with Jeremy Lent, author of The Patterning Instinct
Episode 56: interview with Dr. Jason Hickel, author of The Divide
Episode 55: Professor Daniel Nyberg discusses the challenges companies face maintaining their sustainability commitments to climate change over time
Episode 54: Dr Steve Cohen talks about the Sustainable City
Episode 53: Deep dive on sustainable agricultural supply chains with Tobias Webb, founder of the Innovation Forum, a sustainability events and publishing company based in London.
Episode 52 Interview with Professor Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey and Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP)
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