Politics: A Survivor’s Guide: How to Stay Engaged without Getting Enraged

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We live in an age of fury and confusion. A new crisis erupts before the last one has finished: financial crisis, Brexit, pandemic, war in Ukraine, inflation, strikes. Prime Ministers come and go but politics stays divided and toxic.

Here Behr reveals with the clarity of spring water the logic with which Corbyn’s acolytes see Jews via Zionism as the enemy of socialism and therefore also of the “dear leader”. We have to more than double the national network of these areas to meet our targets by 2030," says Valérie Courtois, a member of the Ilnu Nation and director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative. "The only way that Canada is going to be able to do that is by enabling, supporting and financing the work of indigenous peoples." The Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at Cop15 made small steps forward by recognising and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples. But the agreement didn't incorporate indigenous people's demand for their lands and territories to be fully recognised as a specific category of conserved area – meant to protect them from land evictions and abuses. This exclusion leaves them at greater risk of human rights violations, according to human rights non-profit Amnesty International. His job was to report on how Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia transitioned from communism to a market economy. Indigenous protection models are not new, says Alison Woodley, senior strategic advisor for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, "But the elevation and recognition of [them] in society and by crown governments are fairly recent."The journalist’s first book is both a cool, irresistibly argued analysis of Britain’s lurch towards popularism culminating the country’s sleepwalk to Brexit, and a memoir about how the country’s politics turned being Jewish from a private, incidental thing into a frontline issue. Both sides of the political spectrum are skewered by Behr’s Reithian perspective, which gives opposing viewpoints equal consideration. And there would likely be many more – if the money was there. At the last intake, Courtois says demand for guardians programmes far outweighed available funding. In Canada, where there are feelings among many that colonialism is a historical problem but one still rooted in the present, centring conservation with the country's original stewards is allowing indigenous people to reconnect to their land and culture. It is also reshaping relations between indigenous nations and non-indigenous Canada, presenting an opportunity for genuine reconciliation.

In turn, Meness now offers medicine walks and workshops, and aims to play an integral role disseminating this knowledge to others in her community. Working as a guardian has enriched Meness' life with new experiences and knowledge. From elders she has learnt how to build birch bark canoes and identify medicinal plants. Once, in a remote camp, a woman had been burnt and Meness, given this expertise, was called upon to help. Gathering yarrow, which has cooling effects, and winter green, which soothes inflammation and pain, she mashed them together in a bowl, thinning the mixture ever so slightly with river water. A few minutes after applying the paste to the burn, the woman felt relief, says Meness. True, there were always “diligent antisemites” who pointed out Behr’s Jewishness irrespective of its irrelevance to him and his work. Despite existing for millennia and embodying a wealth of wisdom, indigenous knowledge systems often still struggle for recognition. Although the new forms of recognition in the Global Biodiversity Framework are a high watermark, it is by no means enough," says Holly Jonas, global coordinator of the ICCA Consortium, an international non-profit which supports Indigenous Peoples' and Community Conserved Areas and Territories (ICCAs).That appeal for nuance pervades this beautifully written, persuasive plea to bridge our political divides. It is also a warning of the dangers if we don’t. But it's not just about lines on a map," says Courtois. "What really matters is our relationship with those places." Stretching from the Pacific to the Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean and encompassing 15 terrestrial ecozones, Canada is blessed with ecological wealth. The country contains 28% of the world's boreal forest, while 25% of global temperate forests are located in the province of British Columbia alone. The country is home to an estimated 80,000 species, 25% of the planet's wetlands, 20% of global surface freshwater and the world's longest coastline.

A wonderful meditation on populism, nationalism, politics and truth - rich with imaginative aphorisms, alert to the most unusual connections across time and space - weaving the personal and the global - a great work of political analysis. - Rory Stewart, The Rest Is Politics podcast's Non-Fiction Book of the Year We can go to them and say: 'You're not doing your job properly, you're destroying creeks when you're logging, you're not following your own rules,'" says Meness. Over a period of one year, the device will collect data on the water's temperature, PH, salinity and conductivity. Serving as the "eyes and ears" on traditional territories, guardians are trained experts responsible for helping indigenous nations steward their lands and waters. Guardians manage protected areas and restore wildlife and plants. They are central to creating land-use and marine-use plans. And they test water quality and monitor resource development.The book is out! Politics, A Survivor’s Guideis about the infuriating toxicity of politics, how it got that way and how to resist the slide into cynicism and pessimism that are so corrosive of democracy. It’s also about identity, migration, nationalism (and how it is different to patriotism), the forces of belonging and trust that bind us to a political system, the feelings of dread and exile that spread when the bonds break down and how to recover. Witnessing their ancestor's knowledge in action was, she recalls, a profound moment that deepened her interest in medicinal plant knowledge. "We [once] used all these plants. That's what they were made for, to help us," she says. Meanwhile, indigenous peoples worldwide are still fighting for basic recognition of their rights and are frequently harassed, criminalised, assaulted or killed for defending their territories. But even before any data is gathered, Meness and her colleague are on the look out for indications that something is off. Seeing an unusually high amount of sand in streams – which leaks into the water from logging roads – is one sign they look out for, based on indigenous knowledge, says Meness. On average in Canada, when indigenous peoples are holding the pen, we see 60% plus protection of their landscape," she says.

Guardians programmes are also vital in connecting youth with elders, facilitating the transmission of indigenous languages, culture and traditional knowledge – helping indigenous nations to recover and reclaim what has been diminished by colonisation. Courtois hopes Canada can serve as a model to other parts of the world – on the art of the possible when it comes to decolonisation and reconciliation. But she cautions against the indigenous-led conservation movement being used to reinforce a colonial apparatus. If you want to understand what turned British politics toxic there is no better guide - or antidote. - David Baddiel People are actually listening now," she says. "Being a guardian means to me that [indigenous] people will never go away. We'll always be here. Stop trying to go against us and start working with us." Across the country, First Nations have proposed Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) – which are rooted in indigenous laws, governance and knowledge systems – that together could conserve over 500,000 sq km (193,000 sq miles), with more proposals continuing to be made.

Western science tends to say: 'We're fact-based, we should lead in decision-making,'" says Courtois. "There's not always a recognition of equivalency of indigenous science to that. And while some may say that they believe in indigenous science, where Western science and indigenous science clash, guess who wins in this system?" The Sun is sinking lower in the sky and there's a long drive home. Tomorrow will bring another day out on the land, stewarding the territory as her ancestors once did, and as generations to come will too.