Palestine is the central geopolitical and moral issue of our time.
By Prof Jem Bendell / living with metacrisis and collapse
Many of us are lucky that societal collapse is still only a concept. It can be our way of understanding the increasing difficulties we experience, or the increasing damage to the natural world, or can describe a future breakdown of basic services in our societies. However, for some people the collapse of basic systems for living has been happening for a long time. Moreover, some people are experiencing the daily risk of being killed, the pain of hunger, grieving loved ones, and coping with trauma from regular bombing and displacement. A military-induced collapse of society is one that could be stopped, unlike the wider collapse that unfolds due to environmental and other factors. Therefore any such volitional collapse is something we could try to prevent, or reverse. It is something that calls for our attention and action. That is especially so if our taxes are funding part of it or our financial savings are benefiting from it.
What I have just written seems self-evident. It should not need explaining. Therefore, it is heartbreaking that a few people who made the reduction of harm from societal collapse a major theme in their lives have been blocking people with a similar perspective from discussing how we might help people in need, with no transparency about that censorship, which means we develop a mistaken impression of the response of our fellow man. I am writing about it here because I think that with your help this situation can change, and with it, both systems and cultural dynamics will improve in the Deep Adaptation communities and movement.
Let’s look at one example. In April 2024, Freya tried posting to the main Deep Adaptation Facebook group.of 17,000 people, a Guardian article about the importance of seeds being preserved in Palestine, and not just for local food security: ‘They kept us alive for thousands of years’: could saving Palestinian seeds also save the world? The article reminds us how cultural heritage is a source of resilience and how wars destroy such valuable heritage. Of course, colonial violence against indigenous peoples is the exact opposite of what we need to do to help give humanity a better chance in the difficult times ahead. Destroying the agricultural heritage of Palestine in 2025 has sad echoes of centuries of criminal activity by occupying forces around the world.
It was therefore deeply unfortunate and concerning that a moderator of the main DA Facebook group refused to allow a post about that article. Freya told me the moderator wrote: “Interesting article, but talking about Palestine/Israel here is just a hornet’s nest and doesn’t further the conversation about Deep Adaptation.” This censoring of discussion of Palestine within what is the main online forum of the international Deep Adaptation community came to light when I published a guest article on Palestine on my blog. That article mentioned that a moderator of the DA Facebook group had claimed there was no censorship of this topic. It led Freya to share with me information on the rejection of her posts over a year ago. She wrote to the moderators back then: “It is disheartening that sharing a Guardian article is deemed too controversial. This is a shameful incident of censoring mention of Palestine at a time that a genocide of historic implications is occurring. I’m deeply disappointed in the forum.”
A society collapsing in the Middle East is as real as the one you live in. It might not feel that way to some of us, not just because it seems far away. It is also because of a numbness that has been cultivated within us by society. That numbness requires ‘othering’ of people as lesser than ourselves. It is a subtle and dangerous form of hatred, because it has staying power. I think we need to call it out so we can invite each of us back to dialogue and active compassion for all peoples.
Of course there are many other ways we can notice connections between the situation in Gaza and the broader trajectory and dimensions of societal collapse. Culturally, there is the collapse of civil dialogue in the West as ‘cancel culture’ is now so weaponised that people fear being shamed as racist for standing up for basic human rights and resisting war crimes. Politically, there is the collapse of international law, as the USA, UK, and Germany fund Israel to conduct military activities and blockades despite the official views of international courts. Economically, there is the collapse of the accountability of global corporations that have been aiding a plausible genocide, and profiting from it. These various breakdowns in humanity point to a bleak future. It would be short sighted to think that only brown people in far away lands will be targeted using Artificial Intelligence from US corporations, and with no protection from international law. Instead, what is happening in Palestine might be a future scenario in the rest of the world.
My colleague Matthew Slater was a founding team member of the Deep Adaptation Forum. He explained in his article that only when we normalise discussion of atrocities within our various social circles can the conversation move on to ideas about practical solidarity to reduce harm. That is probably why there is the effort through various forms of online censorship to keep us atomised in our exasperation. I now realise I succumbed to that pattern of behaviour. For 18 months I complained on my own social media and debated with individuals. I assumed that there wasn’t a place for the Palestine/Israel issue in circles of environmental activism or Deep Adaptation. I was wrong to assume that and could have looked closer. Now I realise that my view that I was relatively unusual was partly the result of being manipulated by people with the unaccountable power of hidden censorship.
My post of Matthew’s article to the Deep Adaptation Facebook group was rejected by the moderators. They sent me an explanation which didn’t make any sense in light of the blanket ban that appears to have been in place (from their answer to Freya). Unfortunately the moderators have not answered my request for further information on the amount of censoring they have done over the past year. I know that many fellow participants in the Deep Adaptation movement have been campaigning for Palestinian rights, both in the past and since the awful events of October 7th 2023. I also know that many of my Jewish friends have condemned the actions of the Israeli government. Therefore, it is essential that we independently discover the extent of the censorship of this topic in Deep Adaptation spaces, so that we better understand the impact on our awareness of views of fellow deep adapters. Therefore, if you have had a post or comment in an online Deep Adaptation space blocked or deleted, please share information on that HERE.
The explanation I received from the moderators was as painful to me as their initial censorship. I am saddened by this situation but also know that we betray each other the moment we betray the universal values that brought us together and regress into the tribalism of a friendship group, nation, or religion. I know that true friends and colleagues in any community or movement express hope in each other when they don’t accept a problematic behaviour and seek a change. Therefore, my interaction with the moderators led me to wish to reiterate the following ideas about how we can be serious about reducing harm in the face of, and during, societal collapse.
First, the collapse of modern societies will be hastened or slowed, accentuated or softened, by how governments respond at various levels. Therefore, although party politics is not a helpful topic for deep adaptation discussions, sharing of views on political dimensions of collapse is relevant, especially if exploring what might be done differently in future. It is deeply unhelpful for a small group of moderators to deploy establishment ideas about what is too radical, controversial or political to censor our awareness of what people in the movement are thinking.
Second, many of us are moved to give our lives to more collectively-minded activities due to our acceptance of societal collapse. Many change our careers, volunteer more, and increase our activism. The field of activism for social change in the face of collapse is incredibly broad, and we can welcome hearing about its varieties, so long as it is not advocating violence. Therefore, once again, it is deeply unhelpful, and serves the destructive status quo, for us to be prevented from hearing what people in the movement are thinking and doing.
Third, whereas chronicling bad news about climate, disease or war can serve as a distraction from integrating awareness of these sad situations into how we change our lives, that does not mean we ignore sad news when it’s shared to explore possible ways we can try to reduce harm. For instance, if seafloor methane is being released, this changes the timeframe and scale of damage, so it would be worth discussing. Or if AI is becoming used to target civilians with weapons, this is important to know about in order to discuss responses. Why? Because we know that many of the reactions to collapse will be authoritarian and violent.
In sum, the DA communities were never intended to become digital group hugs for privileged people to feel less bad. Instead, DA communities can be outward looking and ready to act in solidarity with people in more difficult circumstances. For instance, I was inspired to hear the DA community in Southern India organised to help the stranded migrant workers in the local town at the start of lockdown in 2021. They did that rapidly partly because they’d already been talking about how they’d try to help others practically in a collapse scenario. The prerequisite was being able to discuss life as we find it, not police our conversations to whatever keeps emotions light and controversy low.
I think there has been an oppressive ‘nannying’ tendency sweeping the liberal professional classes in the West. Some people think we need to have our access to information controlled for our own good. They think that people should be protected from being triggered. They think we aren’t to be trusted to debate issues ourselves. Three years ago I rebelled against that sentiment in my song ‘Love and Rage’ where I called for us to “take back our freedom to care”. It is also why I articulated a different approach of eco-libertarianism in my book. For that reason we can’t accept people interfering with us hearing from each other. That’s why I shared ideas on how to address the power of podcasts today without censorship (‘No Rogan On a Dead Planet’).
I will not blame individuals, and not seek or welcome any resignations of volunteers. Instead, I think moderators of the DA Facebook group have a really tough job, and had served us all well for years before the dreadful mistake of censoring discussion of Palestine. I have learned that exposure to constant troubling news can make people numb to suffering and averse to discussion of it. That is why, when setting up the main DA FB group in 2019, I asked moderators to limit their time on the group, to receive emotional and skills support, and refresh the membership of the moderator team, so there would be a gradual turnover of personnel. It appears that this has not happened in recent years.
I appreciate that some would prefer deliberation between the people in disagreement about this censorship. However, after my complaint, the moderators confirmed their position, refused any dialogue, told me I was being unkind, and that they were moving on.
What, therefore, should I do?
I sense that the context is urgent, as an enforced mass starvation is occuring in Gaza. The consequences of censorship are real and, we now know, ongoing for over a year. The lack of transparency enables that situation. Sometimes we can be kinder to people we respect to find ways to encourage them to see their blind spots and change their behaviour. To prioritise further attempts at private deliberation with those using moderator power in unhelpful ways would be a self-involved approach, reflective of privileged people who view others’ suffering as primarily a conceptual issue. Instead, I’m alerting the Deep Adaptation movement so you can consider this issue and make your voice known to the moderators as well as the people coordinating the Deep Adaptation Forum (the weavers circle and general circle).
I therefore emailed this commentary to the subscribers to the Deep Adaptation Review, as most are also members of the main Facebook group. I invited them to consider signing the following statement.
In light of past censorship of commentary on the conflict in Gaza in the main Deep Adaptation Facebook Group, we ask the General Circle of the DA Forum to:
– immediately direct the moderators to stop censoring the topic of Palestine and Israel
– investigate the extent of censorship and report on it publicly
– create more transparency, by instigating a new system for moderators to list on a public space the links or commentary they are blocking from the group (e.g. a public googledoc)
– clarify with the moderators the broad spectrum of content that can be posted, including non party political commentary on matters of political or cultural dispute
– work with the moderators to rapidly achieve a more racially and religiously diverse moderation team for the main DA FB group
– regard this an opportunity for learning about improving systems and supporting volunteers, rather than commentary on the beliefs or characteristics of individuals involved in this disagreement
– to communicate this response to all other DA online space moderators and invite discussion if there is disagreement.
If you are interested in signing, and are subscribed to the Review, please check your inbox for that (including spam, as who knows how our communications are interfered with). If you aren’t subscribed, do so here, and then I will email new subs with the link to endorse this statement.
If you haven’t already, please read Matthew’s article and consider pushing for discussion in your own social circles about new ways to reduce complicity, stem the violence, seek justice, and learn from the tragedy. If you disagree with a point he makes, then check his sources and give your honest feedback by leaving a comment at the end of this post. It’s possible to disagree without insinuation of motive or wild speculation on potential effects.
Although I am the founder of the Deep Adaptation ethos, and of the forum, I am just one voice. Deep Adaptation is an ethos and framework for anyone to use. The communities are anyone’s to try to build and shape. So if you have a concern about this matter, or any matter, please speak out, as we need the various tools and networks in the DA movement to serve us all. And if any one claims I’m just showing up now to interfere after years away, please know that is nonsense. I’ve stayed active on positive responses to collapse through my organising of hundreds of scholars to advocate, training hundreds of people in leadership on this topic, producing regular essays, hosting interviews, publishing the Deep Adaptation Review, researching for 2 years to produce the book Breaking Together, and giving speeches around the world, as well as many interviews. Over the years I’ve directed people to the DA Forum and Facebook group, as catalysts not governors of the DA movement. For now, I will continue to do so. However if any tools and hubs in this movement begin to degrade into self-serving clubs, or risk being hijacked by factional interests, then it would betray all of us if we just watched that happen. Instead, we can take these moments of disagreement as inspiration to help create the networks and communities we want.
Warmly, Jem
Free Palestine!🇯🇴