Planetary Realism
Did a climate catastrophe really have to happen for people in the Global North to develop a planetary consciousness? Perhaps. However, ‘we’ should not fall into the misconception that it is ‘our’ own invention. If ‘we’ have always claimed to be the vanguard of civilization and expected everyone to follow ‘our’ lead, then ‘we’ must acknowledge that many peoples we have labeled as ‘underdeveloped,’ such as Indigenous peoples, have always had a planetary consciousness. What can ‘we’ learn from them today? What role do the arts play in this context? What would a reflective, decolonial approach to technologies that enable such awareness look like? How can these lessons ultimately feed into planetary realism that could serve as the nucleus and expression of political subjects of a better tomorrow?