Tournament: GSU | Round: 1 | Opponent: | Judge:
There just like any other,
Encouraged to increase financial incentives or reduce restrictions on energy production
But what does that mean for people of color all around the country living in abject poverty,
Living next door to neighbors with lung cancer because the smog is so thick in New York City that its hard to imagine a breath that doesn’t lead to death.
What about the black mother with her 3 kids with toxic slug smothered all over her lawn in Baltimore because they have become the subjects of a test experiment?
What about the families upon families living in New Jersey whose houses are built upon toxic contaminated land from dumping sites that have been there for decades.
So now their water is polluted and the father dies from cancer.
What about all 9 members of a black family who catch cancer from polluted drinking water living in Tennessee?
What about the millions of impoverished Black and Latino people around the country that die from rotting in prison because our legal system has discarded their bodies.
Are we supposed to count this off as a coincidence as we reach into our bag, open up a laptop screen and spread our SMR’s affirmative?
We are naïve if we think that the hundreds of black and brown deaths doesn’t stem from a system that has marked our bodies off as disposable.
Our dominant perspective of national energy security is rooted in economic rationality. Energy in the modern world is seen as an essential service and without it the survival of society becomes less certain.
Michael Steen in 2012 writes,
- “Energy Security and the Foreign Policy of Weak States: A Comparative Case Study of Georgia and Ukraine”; PG: 13-15 http://www.etd.ceu.hu/2012/steen_michael.pdf
The link between the insecurity dilemma faced by weak states and energy security can only be made if a form of coercion that can not only substitute military coercion but is also related to energy security. The discussion here seeks to demonstrate how this can be done through the use of the Copenhagen School and the concept of economic security in particular. The link between energy security and economic security is one that has been put fourth by a number of scholars, however the accommodation of energy security by the Copenhagen School’s sectoral approach is highly complex. Despite the fact that scholars such as Roberts have stated, “a failure of energy security means that the momentum of industrialisation and modernity grinds to a halt, and survival itself becomes far less certain,”54 the link between energy and economic security demands academic attention. This comes primarily as a result of the fact that, in the words of Ciut the subject of energy security has “received remarkably little conceptual attention.”55 The first indication of this link was best expressed by Valentine when he stated that “the dominant perspective of national energy security over the past few decades has been rooted in economic rationality.”56 This combined with his observation that “most nations exhibit a high correlation between economic growth and energy utilisation” is indicative of the ready link between energy security and the economic situation of a country.57 One of the most important areas of economic security highlighted by Buzan is as a crucial area is that surrounding the provision of “the national equivalent of basic human needs.”58 This particular section of Buzan’s work is particularly important due to the fact that scholars such as Valentine and Roberts have argued that one of the fundamental characteristics of energy in the modern world is that it is an “essential service”59 and that without it the survival of a modern society becomes far “less certain.”60 The fundamental importance of energy to the survival of the modern state means that it takes on such a significance that access to it “becomes an essential part of their [the states] economic security” and thus, places energy in a position of similar, if not equal, importance as that of the basic resources needed to feed a population.61 One of the obvious and most significant effects of this is that those without a sufficient domestic supply of energy and are looking to ensure their economic security, must interact with the wider environment. When faced with such a situation, “the logical security strategies are to ensure continuity of supply by expanding the state to incorporate the state to ensure the continuity of supply (by expanding the state to incorporate the necessary resources, or by cultivating stable trading systems), and to buffer vulnerabilities by stockpiling essential goods.”62 The current system and the existence of norms that ensure the sovereignty of states combined with the fact that few weak states have the capability to launch an invasion of another territory, means that attempts to ‘expand the state’ are both not an option or advisable for the majority of states. A fact best demonstrated by Iraq’s unsuccessful invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990’s. This situation leaves the only possible long terms strategy as the cultivation of stable trading links. This necessity to cultivate stable trading links with other states in order to ensure economic security speaks directly to the fundamentals of the discussion over energy security. This comes as a result of the fact that energy is a politically charged issue on both the international and domestic stage, an understanding revealed by the literature surrounding both economic and energy security. As Shaffer and others have argued, energy has become “a standard and legitimate tool of foreign policy” and as such, can be significantly affected by the political considerations of the supplier in particular.63 The noted importance of energy within international politics, combined with the fact that a failure in supply of goods that are essential to the “basic economic security of the state...threatens the political stability of the state,” demonstrates how energy security can affect regime security and therefore the foreign policy of a weak state. If the loss of energy security results in a level of political instability that destabilizes domestic politics to the extent that the government falls, in order to stay in power the regime must ensure that it secures not only a stable trading system but one that is cheap enough to satisfy the criteria for energy security as defined by Goldwyn and Kalciki.64 The fact that energy is such a prominent feature of international diplomacy, combined with the poverty of most weak states, means that the regime in question will most likely have to make political concessions to a foreign power. This situation allows one to understand how the topic of energy security can be incorporated into our understanding of the behaviour of weak states and the insecurity dilemma in particular. If a regime gains control over the access to energy supplies in a way that ensures economic security, then it can use a form of economic coercion over the populace in order to ensure that it stays in power. And thus, be substituted for the military coercion that currently dominates the literature on the insecurity dilemma. Should the regime rely upon an external power in order to gain this economic leverage over the population, then the regime becomes dependent upon the external power for regime security and therefore, ultimately indebted to that power to a point where they could be coerced into adopting certain policies.
Economic rationality is rooted in white supremacy. It creates an entitlement mentality placing humans over nature creating a platform in which we can link our energy policy with our quest for economic security. This mentality precedes and increases the drive for profit.
Wise, noted antiracist activist and former policy debater, in 2k6
(Tim, over 15 book publications, 400+ radio/TV appearances, in the line where you tell people who I am, that I was a twelve-time qualifier for TOCs in high school, on one of the top ten high school teams in the nation from 1985-1986, and ultimately quit debate because of its abstract way of looking at real world issues, immediately after reaching the CEDA finals at the University of Alabama in 1988."Paleness as Pathology: The Future of Racism & Antiracism in America," LIP Magazine, Summer 06)
"It is the American form of white supremacy, still, as with its predecessor rooted in the dichotomization of peoples into good/bad, responsible/irresponsible, which leads a nation such as the U.S. to believe itself entitled to the resources of the earth, be the oil reserves beneath the sands of Iraq, or coal deposits in a West Virginia mountainside. That entitlement mentality precedes the drive for profit, and helps to place it in its proper context. That same mentality then contributes to the world's ecological predicament, including global climate change, soil and wetland erosion, polluted drinking water and air, and the related health effects of all these."
We can no longer settle for traditional liberal procedural policies relying on negotiation or mitigation to address the disproportional impact of our current production system that is in its very structure discriminatory and non-sustainable.
People of colors voices are critical to the disruption of the economic rationalist mindset of status quo energy policies. We need an alternative base of knowledge among the lived experience of oppressed groups residing within these toxic contaminated communities.
HEIMAN Environmental Studies James Center @ Dickinson College 1996
Micheal K.-; Race, Waste, and Class: New Perspectives on Environmental Justice;ANTIPODE 28 (2): April; http://www.ejnet.org/ej/rwc.html
So, in the final analysis, this issue's contributors agree that the central issue for environmental justice involves community empowerment to further access to resources necessary to take an active role in decisions affecting one's life. In addition to participation in production decisions, this would include community responsibility for basic environmental monitoring and health surveys (Heiman, 1995). In this process, we must keep in mind that the common-sense knowledge about environmental equity, conflict resolution, fair-share allocation, negotiated settlement, and the other blandishments of the liberal reform effort tend to support the status quo, where officially sanctioned knowledge in a class-stratified society serves vested interests. Our goal then is to document and support an alternative base of knowledge among the lived experience of oppressed people residing and working among the toxic contamination of industrial society. If we settle for liberal procedural and distributional equity, relying upon negotiation, mitigation, and fair-share allocation to address some sort of "disproportional" impact, we merely perpetuate the current production system that by its very structure is discriminatory and non- sustainable. The road ahead will not be easy with the globalization of capital hindering solidarity and union formation, and a new conservative political climate giving corporate polluters the upper hand. Many of the national umbrella coalitions serving the grassroots groups are also downsizing for lack of funds (e.g., the Jobs and Environment Campaign, CCHW, and Greenpeace). Nevertheless the inherent contradiction for capitalism, one demanding structural change, will not go away. Ever more poor and working-class people are waking up to the realization that the current production process no longer serves their needs. In this climate there is no substitute for basic organizing as the best way to challenge corporate hegemony. The authors in this special issue provide abundant evidence for the wisdom of the alternative path.
This debate should be evaluated based on who has the best methodology for liberation of the oppressed.
Kevin and I deploy Hip-Hop Social Justice Pedagogy as a method of disrupting the dominance of economic rationality encompassing balancing the emotional and cognitive components of the learning process, acknowledge and support the personal while illuminating the systemic, creating a safe and secure classroom that is representative of the students, utilizing reflection and experience as tools for student-centered learning, and value self-awareness, personal growth and social change as outcome of the learning process
Hall, Social Justice dictation scholar, 2k11
Marcella Runell; ”Education in a Hip-Hop Nation: Our Identity, Politics and Pedagogy”: PG 91-94
The principles of Social Justice Education originate from “multiple pedagogical traditions and epistemologies including: laboratory and intergroup education, community organizing, women’ studies, black studies, adult literacy education, experiential learning, and social and cognitive development models” (Adams, 2000, p. 30). Social Justice Education principles include five important elements.
The first is balancing the emotional and cognitive components of the learning process. This element acknowledges a holistic approach in working with students (Akom, 2009). This is especially important in utilizing Hip-Hop as pedagogy because, Hip-Hop culture often provides an outlet for students that is separate from the traditional educational experience (Hallman, 2009). The mis-use of Hip-Hop as a manipulative lure (Paul, 2000) to other subject areas, or an overzealous critique of Hip-Hop, could disrupt the students’ ability to find comfort or understanding in their private consumption of Hip- Hop culture (Rodriguez, 2009).
The second element is to acknowledge and support the personal (the individual student’s experience) while illuminating the systemic (the interactions among social groups). This is reflective of how students learn best (hooks, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1997, Nieto, 1999) because students are able to reflect on their own stories, as well as how their lived experience is part of the Cycle of Socialization (Harro, 2000). The Cycle of Socialization allows for an extensive examination of how elements of oppression such as racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, religious oppression, and gender oppression are manifested in individual interactions, cultural norms/values and how systemic inequities are created or reinforced through laws, policies and institutions.
The third is attending to social relations in the classroom, meaning that all students need to feel safe, secure, and represented in order to learn. For students to find value in any learning environment, they have to be in schools that are functioning properly on all levels. Many urban public schools in the U.S. are plagued with unsanitary, dilapidating, crime-ridden environments that do not properly address the needs of their students or teachers. A student cannot feel safe and secure in a classroom that is part of a “broken” system (Noguera, 2008). Utilizing a Hip-Hop pedagogy cannot address this issue, however, utilizing diverse artists texts such as “They Schools” by Dead Prez (2000), may provide students with an opportunity to begin assessing the socio-political of their community and their school. Additionally, teachers are also responsible for tone setting in the classroom, and creating learning environments that are conducive for all students (Ladson-Billings, 1997).
The fourth principle of Social Justice Education is utilizing reflection and experience as tools for student-centered learning. “Teaching that begins from the student’s world view and experiences as the starting point for dialogue or problem posing” (Adams et. al., 2000, p.43) is optimal in Social Justice Education. Curriculum and pedagogy that are reflective of students’ lives is fundamentally more useful for all students. However, since there is an obvious disconnect between the social identities of the mostly white public school teachers (90%) and students of color (41%) (Ladson- Billings, 2001); it is unlikely that knowledge of, and/or inherent appreciation of Hip-Hop as a legitimate source of curriculum and pedagogy will exist, however it can be taught (Baszile, 2009). Noting that Social Justice Hip-Hop Pedagogy necessitates an understanding that meeting the students where they are, and finding common ground, is the priority i.e. using Hip-Hop to connect only if that is what students are interested in, not forcing or assuming their interest.
The fifth is to value self-awareness, personal growth, and social change as outcomes of the learning process. Understanding that there are multiple ways to measure student success, beyond simply utilizing test scores (Noguera, 2008) allows for a more liberatory learning process for students (Love, 2004). While it may require more imagination and creativity to find multiple modalities of assessment (Akom, 2009), it ultimately creates a learning environment that fosters ingenuity because various learning styles (Kolb, 1984) and intelligences (Gardner, 1993) are celebrated and valued. Noting that public school teachers may still have to “teach to the test” but they can still find engaging ways to do so.
Our style of debate has direct out of round impact. Debaters from the Baltimore UDL utilized the skills and education they received from participating in our style of debate to create a community think tank called Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, in which they seek to change Baltimore City through tangible concrete political solutions. They hold public community meetings in which they discuss issues of education, incarceration and other issues facing the black community.
REMEMBER OUR METHOD HAS PURPOSE.
Polson, Co-Director, teacher, and founder of ConneXions Community Leadership Academy, 2k12
Dana; ““Longing for Theory:” Performance Debate in Action”; PG: 234-236
I think that the talented tenth is actually the wrong metaphor for leadership in the performance debate community. Du Bois, later in his life, sharply criticized and disavowed a reliance on the black elite to lead, believing that they were more preoccupied with individual gain than with group struggle, and willing to work within current structures rather than calling for radical change. They were becoming Americanized, Du Bois believed, and deradicalized. This deradicalization “occurs when more privileged African Americans (re) align themselves to function as a middle class interested in individual group gain rather than race leadership for mass development” (James, 1997, p. 24). Instead of his youthful belief in the black elite, “Gradually, black working-class activists surpassed elites in Du Bois’s estimation of political integrity and progressive agency. He democratized his concept of race leaders through the inclusion of the radicalism of nonelites” (James, 1997, p. 21). The young people who have emerged, as leaders in the performance debate community were definitely not those Du Bois would have identified as the Talent Tenth in 1903. Du Bois was talking to and about the Black elite, the educated middle class. Earlier in Du Bois’s life, he assumed that those people, college educated, were the natural leaders. My participants who might be seen as potential leaders do not come from such backgrounds. Many do end up going to college and becoming potential leaders, but they are privileged through this process rather than prior to it. In addition, their focus is most definitely political as opposed to cultural. Nowhere in my research did I hear a Bill Cosby-esque injunction for black people to shape up and work harder. Instead, the critique is focused on “uplift as group struggle” for continued liberation. Finally, these young leaders are most definitely radicalized as opposed to interested in incremental change that rocks no boats. From CRT and their open critiques of white supremacy to their willingness to call for change openly in debate round, these young leaders are contentious and bold.
Two of my participants, and many of their former debate peers, are involved with a Baltimore group called Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS). The website of the LBS established their identity:
We are a dedicated group of Baltimore citizens who want to change the city through governmental policy action. Our purpose is to provide tangible, concrete solutions to Baltimore’s problems and to analyze the ways that external forces have contributed to the overall decline of our city. (“Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle”, n.d.)
As we see in this statement of identity, then, LBS as one model of leadership is focused on the political and on an analysis of external influences; this focus is very different from a racial uplift position, and their model of leadership very different from the Talented Tenth. LBS has developed platforms regarding jobs, education, incarceration, and many other issues facing Black people in the city. They hold monthly forums for discussion of these topics, inviting guests and discussing the topics themselves. Further, one of the LBS members ran for City Council this year. He lost, but plans to run again. The training my participants discuss, therefore, is not in the abstract: it is training for the real world, for their own empowerment and that of their communities. This work is extending into local high schools, as well, and Paul Robeson High School now has students involved in LBS. They attend events and meetings not only to help out but as a form of leadership training.
