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greece / turkey / cyprus / environment / other libertarian press Sunday July 30, 2023 15:47 byVarious Turkish anarchiss   text 14 comments (last - thursday march 28, 2024 22:52)

Akbelen forests are trying to be shredded and slaughtered with the cooperation of the capital and the state in Muğla, Turkey.

In order to supply coal to the two thermal power plants owned by Limak Holding and İçtaş Holding, whose association with the government is well known, efforts are being made to expand the coal mine in the region to swallow Akbelen forests.

If they happen to succeed, both the forest ecosystem with its thousands of living creatures, the villagers of İkizköy and the local people, and the whole world at this time when the climate crisis is a great threat, will suffer, as the capitalists and the state will enrich their wealth.

The people of İkizköy and ecologists from all over the geography have been resisting the state and capital for two years for their forests and nature. However, the severity of the attack on Akbelen forests increased significantly as of July 24. The gendarmerie, which has landed in the Akbelen forest with water cannon's and construction equipment, is attacking the resisting villagers and ecologists. The companies, on the other hand, are continuing to slaughter trees under state protection. The rapidly advancing tree massacre reached the guarding area of the people and the ecologists on the morning of 27 July.

Therefore, urgent action is required for Akbelen forests to survive. Every day, the people of Akbelen and the ecologists face detentions and violence by the police and gendarmerie in the area as they continue resisting. We call on everyone to support the Akbelen resistance alongside the ecosystems and peoples of the earth in order to save the Akbelen forests from the state-capital occupation.

international / environment / opinion / analysis Thursday March 23, 2023 06:26 byPink Panther   text 4 comments (last - sunday april 30, 2023 17:12)

An article examining the underlying link between disasters.

Disasters have always happened and always will. Sad, but true. Since they cannot be entirely avoided, the focus should be on whether a particular economic and political system exacerbates or creates more of them. We live under capitalism. It is a system built on profit-driven private ownership. Within this economic system, the state sometimes modifies the worst excesses that result from the profit motive, but basically exists to reinforce and maintain things as they are. I want to briefly examine how well capitalism stands up when it comes to the issue of disasters.

Take the Grenfell Tower fire in London, in June 2017, in which 72 people died, as an example.

The Grenfell Tower was built to the building codes at the time it was constructed in 1974. It had one stairwell to access the building and no fire sprinklers. The sprinklers were added later. So, too, were gas pipes. The problem was they were placed in the stairwell. The pipes supplying both water and gas narrowed the stairwell to the point it was inadequate in the event of a disaster.
Fire drills were conducted. However, unlike those in many other places, the advice was to stay put unless the residents were in an apartment that was on fire or in a surrounding apartment.

The reasoning behind this strategy is sound enough according to the National Fire Chiefs Council in the United Kingdom https://www.nationalfirechiefs.org.uk/stay-put-position). However, it is not flawless.

The solid construction of the Grenfell Tower meant the fire was unlikely to spread before firefighters arrived. Evacuating only those directly at risk from the fire ensured that the stairwell was not jammed full of residents trying to get out and fire crews trying to get in. However, the fire drills did not consider the closure of nearby fire stations due to restructuring. It also didn’t factor-in the possibility the fire might spread outside the building. So, by the time fire crews got to the Tower it was already well ablaze. This meant that many residents didn’t know what to do when confronted by fire coming from the outside the building.

While all these factors contributed to the death toll there were four key things that caused most of the deaths according to the article https://www.firedoorscomplete.com/news/has-fire-safety-changed-since-grenfell

1. Overconfidence in the ability of the building to withstand a major fire.

2. Decades of neglect. The result was that electrical fires and other maintenance issues were common enough to be highlighted as a potential cause of a fatal fire by the building’s tenant’s group in an article published in their newsletter in November 2016. That included fire doors that didn’t function properly and expired fire hoses and other equipment that didn’t work properly, if at all.

3. The use of cheap aluminium cladding on the exterior that wasn’t fireproof. For £2 per metre extra the owners could’ve installed fireproof cladding (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/16/manufacturer-of-cladding-on-grenfell-tower-identified-as-omnis-exteriors ).

4. Over-reliance upon the “stay put” fire drills without a second plan in the event the “stay put” option wasn’t possible.
It was a design flaw in the cheap cladding put on the outside of the building (to make it look nicer for the wealthy neighbourhood that surrounded it) that made it act like a chimney when it caught fire. A fire that started on the 4th Floor ignited the aluminium and flames raced up the side of the building and fanned out at the top. The result was it incinerated the top floors before the residents had any chance to get out.

Twelve years earlier in September 2005 an even bigger disaster that was decades in the making, occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States. The city was struck by Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 Hurricane. Nearly 2,000 people died and thousands more had their lives disrupted.

In the 1960s the United States Army Corps of Engineers built a network of levees to prevent the sort of flooding caused by hurricanes in and around New Orleans. Due primarily to being built by army engineers on a huge scale it was assumed the levees could withstand anything that nature threw at them. What most did not know was that the levees were never designed to withstand a hurricane the strength of Katrina, let alone a moderate-strength one.

During the inquiry into the hurricane and its aftermath, it was revealed the engineers who designed and built the dams did so to the most conservative estimates of the kind of flooding that a hurricane could cause. Saving costs and the construction of a little used canal to the Port of New Orleans both played major roles in turning Katrina into the deadly disaster it became. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/10/24/investigators-link-levee-failures-to-design-flaws/d6dc41b1-4c31-4040-a692-0b6ba9bfb36f/ )

This over-confidence in the structures built by the military led to the neglect of the levees. Maintenance was either minor or non-existent. Residents in the lower-lying wards began to report water seeping through the base of nearby levees. Despite this, their concerns were dismissed. More remarkably, when one of the companies responsible for levee construction highlighted problems with the ground upon which they were built, they were ignored.

Indeed, the Washington Post article pointed out that:
“Reports of problems with the soft underlayer began to surface even before the floodwalls were finished. In 1994, the now-defunct Pittman Construction Co., a New Orleans firm involved in levee construction, claimed in court documents that floodwall sections were failing to line up properly because of unstable soils. An administrative law judge dismissed the complaint on technical grounds in 1998, without specifically addressing the allegations about weak soils.”

Those failures largely occurred in the very wards where concerns about water seepage and other issues were raised.
The callous failure to evacuate those people who didn’t have their own transport – mostly working-class Black families and the poor – despite the fact there were vehicles that were available to evacuate them also contributed to the large death toll.

After the hurricane had passed through, those people went to evacuation sites, including a stadium. However, the destruction of water and sewerage infrastructure (which was partly the result of neglect) and the flood damage to road and rail links made it difficult to get food, water, and medical supplies to the evacuation centres.

After immense pressure, President George W Bush later admitted the failure of the relevant authorities to respond effectively to the disaster. In his own case, he had been on holiday when the disaster struck. Instead of immediately reacting to what had become “Baghdad on the Bayou”, he went to the opposite end of the country and didn’t even watch the aftermath on TV (Nick Bryant, ‘When America Stopped Being Great’, 2020, p.205)

In Aotearoa, we could get smug by thinking that such things could not happen here. The devastating floods that hit Auckland at the end of January 2023 and Cyclone Gabrielle only a couple of weeks later, showed that over-confidence, neglect through the failure to maintain facilities, and penny-pinching weren’t just confined to other places. Such tendencies are just as strong here.

No one could’ve predicted just how much rain would fall in Auckland in such a brief time. Likewise, how much flooding and landslides would be caused by Cyclone Gabrielle shortly afterward. However, like the two previous disasters discussed above, the factors that would lead to four deaths in the Auckland floods and eleven deaths (at the time of writing) as the result of Cyclone Gabrielle were decades in the making.

In Auckland, the stormwater drainage systems were known to be woefully inadequate and in desperate need of an upgrade. The planned upgrades were canceled in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of such work.

Elsewhere, similar problems with inadequate stormwater drainage systems, road networks that had often not been maintained for years (if not decades) and a privatised telecommunications and power network that was already struggling to cope with increased demand were known to people in charge of these essential infrastructures. The problem was those in charge were more concerned with reducing costs than maintaining or upgrading those services.

As a result, they all failed at the very time they were needed most. Indeed, with nearly all information being broadcast by the Internet or television it was impossible for people who had lost power – and therefore access to the Internet and phone networks – to access information or to call 111 or other emergency numbers.

None of these disasters were deliberate acts in the sense of anyone consciously causing them. Yet all three resulted in the loss of life that was largely preventable. All three disasters were the product of overconfidence in the ability of structures (and infrastructure) to withstand anything. This was despite decades of neglect resulting from that over-confidence and a penny-pinching mindset. This led to those organisations entrusted with maintaining these structures ignoring warnings. Why? It was cheaper to discredit the complainers than to fix the problems.

The Grenfell Tower was owned by the Royal and Kingsbridge Council. The levees are owned by the U.S. military. The stormwater drains and other infrastructure that failed in Auckland are owned by different councils. They were all neglected by various forms of government. The latter were convinced they knew what was best. They ignored warnings that, had they been listened to and acted on, would’ve reduced the level of destruction. Most of those who died wouldn’t have. However, governments have a long record of not listening or acting on what ordinary people say.

The three examples may look unrelated due to their relative scales and the geographical and chronological separation between them. However, there are links between how they were caused and how they played out. What occurred were not exceptions. There are many instances that could’ve been included here that would also have reflected the end result of a systemic obsession with the bottom line and indifference towards the mass of humanity. This isn’t about geography, nature, timing, or ‘bad people.’ It’s about a way of organising society that causes problems that either wouldn’t exist or otherwise greatly magnifies those that could be contained.

Is there an alternative? Could things be different?

Infrastructure isn’t easy to sort out. It can sometimes take years to see anything completed. It can be even longer to see the infrastructure subjected to the ultimate tests that nature and stupidity can throw at it. Housing, road, and rail networks; water and sewerage systems; telecommunications and electrical networks; and other infrastructure can’t be constructed and maintained by enthusiastic volunteers. There will be a need for professional and efficient organisation to deal with infrastructure that can handle the challenges posed by global climate change and population growth.

Anarchism is not a rejection of organisational structures. They will still exist in a free society. However, the people doing the work will do so because they see the need for it. The people directing what must be done will be doing so based on their expertise. They will only be directing things as long as the task at hand is being undertaken and the people taking direction from them agree to do so. Once the task is completed the experts cease to be directors. In short, there will be no managerial class.

Anarchism is not driven by profit, political expediency, or bureaucracy. So, many of the causes of deadly disasters would be eliminated. It does not shun expertise and values direct democratic control and collective ownership, so the quality and effectiveness of infrastructure would improve. We would look at the bigger picture by examining if other measures could be used to prevent disasters. Measures such as stopping the destruction of wetlands as wetlands can absorb a lot of water thus reducing (or eliminating) flooding in built-up areas. Another might be not building on flood plains and other areas prone to flooding. Another would be constructing buildings using fire-proof and sturdy materials that will do the job.

Scott Crow is an Anarchist who helped found the Common Ground movement that emerged in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina. His recording of this work provides an example of what can be achieved at a grassroots level. The group demonstrated that when governments and other official organisations fail, people can and do, mobilise, and focus on what’s important. Common Ground came from nothing and managed to build up a movement that provided shelter, food, medical care, and other short-term needs. Crow pointed out the challenges and what could go wrong with such organising.(https://blog.pmpress.org/2019/07/24/black-flags-and-radical-relief-efforts-in-new-orleans-an-interview-with-scott-crow/ ) Real life can be messy and the point is not that everything always goes smoothly. Nevertheless, it is one small example that proves our ability to deal with the challenges the system has created and provides the rudimentary tools for working towards something better.

To conclude, people are capable of a range of actions, from profit-seeking destruction through to basic mutual aid. The system of capitalism and the states that support it actively creates disasters in some cases and makes them worse in others.
Problems will continue to exist no matter what form of society we have. However, an improved society post-capitalism is one where greed will not overtake the common need for the basics of life such as safe shelter. It is one where infrastructure won’t be neglected to the point that preventable mass death-causing disasters occur. It is one that will acknowledge expertise but not permit unaccountable power imbalances. It is one that will put people and their own initiatives first. In short, its one that will be an improvement over the disaster that capitalism itself represents.

international / environment / opinion / analysis Wednesday September 14, 2022 22:32 byMACG   text 1 comment (last - friday october 13, 2023 12:11)

The unions in Australia today are a shadow of their former selves, led by cowards whose main job is to police their members to ensure that unions aren't fined out of business by the vicious anti-union laws. This needs to be turned around completely before workers will consider fighting for a Just Transition – but also for workers to defend working conditions, maintain health and safety and be adequately compensated for the inflation that is now ripping through the economy and devastating real wages. And to do that, we need to take on the union bureaucracy and beat them.

Each year, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases. Polar ice melts to an unprecedented degree. The Great Barrier Reef suffers worse and more frequent bleaching events. Droughts lengthen. Record breaking floods hit Pakistan. Unprecedented heatwaves bake China, Europe, India, West Asia or Australia. A polar vortex diverts icy storms deep into North America. And, behind the year-to-year variations, the global temperature trend climbs ever higher.

This is climate change. And what we're seeing is only the beginning. Even if an emergency transition is begun today, the planet will become a good deal hotter before it starts cooling. Scientists warn that every fraction of a degree of warming beyond 1.5ºC increases the risk of setting off runaway global warming that would wreck all known ecosystems, kill 80 to 90% of the human population and destroy industrial civilisation. This is the burning issue of our time. The fate of the biosphere and, within it, the human race, is in the hands of the people alive today.

In response to the growing threat of climate change and the inaction of capitalist governments, a great social movement has arisen. Millions are taking action to stop green house emissions. Unfortunately, the movement has no effective strategy. People's energy is being directed into activities that are only part-solutions, marginally effective or sometimes even counter-productive.

The problem: capitalism

Capitalism is the fundamental cause of climate change and the sooner we get rid of it, the easier it will be to eliminate greenhouse emissions and begin restoring a sustainable climate. Some major global capitalist industries are based on the production or consumption of fossil fuels, having two consequences.

Firstly, powerful countries, huge corporations and many billionaires have large fossil fuel investments protect. Even if they also invest in renewable energy, they would lose money by, for example, shutting a coal mine which still has coal that can be profitably extracted. The same goes for corporations reliant on consuming fossil fuels. A rapid switch to electric vehicles would make Ford's existing factories write-offs and force it to build EV factories decades before they are planned, purely to prevent its competitors taking its market share.

The second consequence is perhaps even more powerful. A political decision that huge corporations have to close down and billionaires be forced to write off their fortunes would be a terrifying example that threatens all capitalist corporations. The market must always rule and, while it may be tweaked, it can under no circumstances be made subordinate to the general good. If trillion-dollar corporations can be sent to the wall because society needs it, what capitalist is safe from having their fortune confiscated?

An additional consideration is more basic and applies to the entire relationship between capitalism and the environment, well beyond climate change. This is that capitalism is addicted to endless growth and can't survive in a situation where humanity has to live within planetary limits. This slows the efforts of those capitalists who do want to stop climate change and creates ever-more-frequent crises through habitat destruction, resource depletion and environmental pollution.

Current strategies

Until recently, the most common demand of the climate movement was for a carbon price. Set a ceiling on emissions, reduce it by a predictable amount each year and let market actors buy and sell credits to allow the market to find the least-cost path to decarbonisation. The political strategy which goes with this is electoral – vote in a government which will price carbon. This is total neo-liberalism and would force the price of decarbonisation onto the shoulders of those least able to bear the burden. The rich can continue their high carbon footprint lifestyles because they can afford it, while kids have to wear clothes they've grown out of because their working class parents spend all their money on petrol for driving to work.

We saw how this plays out in Australia a decade ago. The Labor Government and the Greens in 2010 introduced a carbon price, but they were crucified by the reactionary press for it. Their neo-liberal strategy drove the working class into the arms of the climate deniers and brought Labor to a heavy defeat. In short, carbon pricing can't work. If it doesn't have holes in it that negate its ostensible purpose, it will be politically unviable.

More recently, the movement has shifted to demanding that fossil fuel production be shut down. Usually, this is framed as a demand for no new coal or new gas. As an immediate demand it is inadequate (most existing reserves have to stay in the ground, too, to preserve a liveable climate). It is also, though, a threat to the jobs of workers in fossil fuel industries and the existence of communities reliant on them. As a coal mine is worked out, it is often replaced by a nearby one, sometimes operated by the same company.

This tactic is advanced electorally by the same people previously arguing for a carbon price, but it is also attracting supporters of more militant tactics. Here in Australia, we have Blockade Australia, while Britain has seen the emergence of Extinction Rebellion and, this year, Just Stop Oil. Direct action movements have emerged in Germany, the United States and Canada as well. All of them have come under heavy police and government repression, even the dogmatically pro-police XR. The Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group opposes all police repression against environmental groups. We are especially incensed at the campaign of police persecution and lies against Blockade Australia over a botched police operation in June this year and call for all charges to be dropped.

The MACG's issue with Blockade Australia and similar organisations overseas isn't that their disruptive tactics go too far. Instead, we think they don't cause anywhere near enough disruption. A network of small secretive affinity groups can only cause minor and sporadic interruptions to the corporations destroying the planet. Furthermore, the activists are targeted with massive penalties which far outweigh the impact of their actions. We support these protestors, because at least they're doing something, but this isn't how the movement will win. A better strategy is needed.

Class struggle

The people best placed to stop the capitalist death machine in its tracks are the people who keep it going on a day-to-day basis: the working class. When workers organise in the workplace to fight for their interests, they threaten the power of capital at its source. And when workers understand their power to fight, they can lift their heads and look at the uses their employers make of their labour. When it comes to climate change, the workers who are necessary for fossil fuels to be produced, transported and consumed are the ones who can stop it.

Working class action to stop climate change would have very different dynamics from the current movement. Instead of small groups of martyrs for the cause, we'd see workers acting en masse and being protected from police retaliation by sheer strength of numbers. The action would also dodge the trap of “jobs vs the environment” that the capitalist media love to set up, because the workers would be fighting for a Just Transition they designed themselves.

This program of class struggle is not a fairy tale. Instead, it's the only possible path forward. And it is possible, as demonstrated by the Green Bans of the NSW Builders Labourers Federation in the 1970s. Workers can and do take up radical social issues, provided it is an extension of the fight against the bosses. The Green Bans weren't imposed by workers who sacrificed their material interests, but by workers who fought for and won big wage rises, shorter hours and much improved health and safety.

The unions in Australia today are a shadow of their former selves, led by cowards whose main job is to police their members to ensure that unions aren't fined out of business by the vicious anti-union laws. This needs to be turned around completely before workers will consider fighting for a Just Transition – but also for workers to defend working conditions, maintain health and safety and be adequately compensated for the inflation that is now ripping through the economy and devastating real wages. And to do that, we need to take on the union bureaucracy and beat them.

Stopping climate change therefore requires re-building the unions in Australia from the ground up, in the teeth of opposition from the union officials and the entire capitalist class. The struggle for the environment is the same as the struggle for workers' immediate issues. So environmentalists who are members of the working class should join their union and start organising.

GREEN BANS FOR A JUST TRANSITION

*This article is from the newsletter of the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) ‘The Anvil” Vol 11, No 4, July-August 2022.

*If you want to download this issue go here: https://melbacg.files.wordpress.com/2022/08/anvil-vol-11-no-4-web.pdf

amérique du nord / mexique / environnement / opinion / analyse Tuesday May 24, 2022 06:45 byCEG   text 2 comments (last - friday december 01, 2023 13:22)

À l’été 2021, le gouvernement du Québec officialisait son rejet du projet d’usine de liquéfaction du gaz naturel de GNL Québec après avoir longuement persisté à le promouvoir. Cette volteface sur un projet évalué à 14 milliards $ est le résultat de plusieurs années de luttes écologistes. Concrètement, ce sont de petits collectifs populaires locaux, organisés sur la base d’assemblées, qui ont réussi à faire pencher la balance. Devant eux se dressaient un promoteur, un État et des élu-e-s qui ont dépensé des millions $ dans une bataille qui leur était annoncée gagnée d’avance par un gouvernement conquis à leurs idées.

Un article inédit du Collectif Emma Goldman à paraître dans la 2e édition du journal anarchosyndicaliste "Liberté ouvrière" au cours de l'été.

À l’été 2021, le gouvernement du Québec officialisait son rejet du projet d’usine de liquéfaction du gaz naturel de GNL Québec après avoir longuement persisté à le promouvoir. Cette volteface sur un projet évalué à 14 milliards $ est le résultat de plusieurs années de luttes écologistes. Concrètement, ce sont de petits collectifs populaires locaux, organisés sur la base d’assemblées, qui ont réussi à faire pencher la balance. Devant eux se dressaient un promoteur, un État et des élu-e-s qui ont dépensé des millions $ dans une bataille qui leur était annoncée gagnée d’avance par un gouvernement conquis à leurs idées. C’est une victoire historique à laquelle, on peut noter, les syndicats régionaux ont très peu participé – lorsqu’ils n’apportaient pas tout simplement leur appui au projet dans l’idée que des centaines d’emplois seraient « gagnés » pour la région. Alors que les médias ont constamment présenté les positions ouvrières et écologistes comme diamétralement opposées au cours de cette lutte, dans ce texte, je tâcherai de présenter en quoi elle constitue une victoire pour la classe ouvrière.

Un tel projet n’aurait tout d’abord pas suscité autant d’enthousiasme partout. Le Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, qui devait l’accueillir, est considéré comme une des régions périphériques du Québec. En terres Ilnuat volées du Nitassinan, depuis la colonisation, son développement économique s’est centré autour d’industries qui ont su profiter des ressources naturelles du milieu. « Chaque pays développé, écrivait l’économiste Samir Amin, a créé en son sein son propre pays sous-développé [1] ». Il s’agit des divisions spatiales générées par le capitalisme, autrement dit du développement inégal. Cela se répercute en règle générale entre autres choses sur la diversité économique, les conditions d’emploi, les taux de chômage et une forme de dépendance à l’endroit des marchés extérieurs. Ainsi, les 1100 emplois directs et indirects promis par GNL Québec, dont près de 250 bien payés durant la phase d’opération, sont certainement arrivés comme un signe d’espoir inattendu pour la classe dirigeante régionale – peu importe les sommes exorbitantes accordées à l’entreprise en subventions directes et indirectes. Celle qui discourait depuis des décennies sur la nécessité de « diversifier l’économie », comme si les gens étaient plus dupes qu’ailleurs, avait maintenant trouvé un filon à soutenir. Les médias et des syndicalistes n’ont pas tardé à les suivre là-dedans, notamment via un faux mouvement citoyen « Je crois en ma région ». Celui-ci était formé par la création paramunicipale de l’ex-maire Jean Tremblay, Promotion Saguenay, ainsi que des associations de parcs industriels et des chambres de commerce. À travers une idéologie régionaliste appelant au sentiment d’appartenance, une vision manichéenne et interclassiste était diffusée pour présenter l’opposition aux grands projets inutiles comme des menaces aux intérêts soi-disant communs de la région. L’ouvrier de la région était selon elle l’otage de groupes écolos exogènes et marginaux. C’est sans surprise que l’on a pu voir un appui ouvrier considérable aux projets dans les sondages commandés par les industriels ou affichés dans les grands médias.

Le soutien offert par plusieurs syndicalistes au projet n’était guère plus surprenant. Après plus de 30 ans de domination du modèle du syndicalisme d’affaires, nos syndicalistes sont plus souvent enclins à entretenir de cordiales relations avec les directions qu’à les confronter. On a d’ailleurs dorénavant l’habitude de les voir discourir en chœur de la nécessité de préserver la prospérité des entreprises. C’est l’idée reçue que la croissance économique favoriserait la prospérité de tous et de toutes par un effet de ruissellement. Or, force est de remarquer que les surplus engrangés dans les quarante dernières années n’ont pas été répartis à l’ensemble de la société, ont été concentrés pour former des fortunes sans précédent dans l’histoire et ont généré une croissance extrême des inégalités sociales. Professionnel-le-s de l’encadrement de la main-d’œuvre, ces pontes syndicaux sont en définitive devenu-e-s des partenaires dans le « développement du sous-développement » (pour reprendre l’expression d’André Gunder Frank).

Les conseils de bande, organismes de gouvernance des communautés Autochtones instaurés par le colonialisme canadien, ont quant à eux cherché à négocier leur part du gâteau. Faisant fi du rejet du projet par une partie considérable de leurs membres et du péril qui guettait le fjord et les écosystèmes tout au long du pipeline gazier de 780 kilomètres, cette petite élite bureaucratique misait sur une Entente sur les répercussions et les avantages (ERA) pour s’en mettre plein les poches en catimini. Heureusement, plusieurs ont activement dénoncé leurs manigances. À cet égard, le Collectif Mashk Assi, formé de membres des Premières nations qui défendent le territoire et vivent sur celui-ci de manière à perpétuer les traditions ancestrales, s’est maintes fois exprimé. Ce groupe a pris part à la lutte de ses premières à ses dernières heures. Il portait une vision différente du territoire et de son utilisation en opposition à l'extractivisme et aux emplois qui en découlent. D’autres membres des communautés Autochtones ont également été nombreux et nombreuses à prendre part aux manifestations contre le projet, l’une d’elles, à Mashteuiatsh, ayant par exemple rassemblé plus d’une centaine de personnes.

La victoire écologiste a été un affront fait à la communauté régionale des affaires. Le rejet du projet de 14 milliards $ fait rupture avec leurs modes de pensée et leurs « solutions » à court terme qui ont historiquement façonné le mal-développement de cette région périphérique. Au-delà des clichés véhiculés par la classe dominante, cette lutte exprime une conscience qui doit continuer de s’épanouir. Nous n’avons pas à marchander la santé de nos organes vitaux et celle de nos enfants contre leurs bilans économiques. Il y a autre chose qui a de la valeur que ce qui est produit dans les usines. Face aux marchands de pacotilles de nos rues commerciales vivotantes, face à une classe politique vendue aux intérêts des multinationales, les travailleurs et travailleuses et les moins nanti-e-s de notre région peuvent avoir un pouvoir ensemble en faisant voler en éclat le faux consensus régionaliste : en arrêtant la machine. Plutôt que de plier éternellement aux menaces de fermeture et d’exodes du patronat, on pourrait commencer à se dire qu’il serait possible de s’organiser bien autrement sans les monopoles, Rio Tinto-Alcan et Produits Forestiers Résolu, que les travailleurs et les travailleuses peuvent effectivement prendre le contrôle de l’économie. Et si la fumée devait cesser de sortir des cheminées des usines, ce sera parce que l’on aura choisi ensemble qu’elles ne répondaient pas à un besoin.

Pour une décroissance libertaire

Pour les marxistes orthodoxes du siècle dernier, écrit le philosophe Pierre Madelin, « l’émancipation du prolétariat passait par l’appropriation et la socialisation des moyens de production, sans remettre en cause ni la nature de ses moyens de production, ni l’idéal productiviste qu’ils devaient servir, ni même la nécessité d’une centralisation de leur gestion [2] ». Sortir de la crise écologique et se libérer du capitalisme implique aussi de se libérer de la dépossession (de notre puissance, de nos facultés, de nos capacités) dont il nous afflige et de la subordination du moindre aspect de nos vies à sa logique marchande. L’idée de l’emploi à tout prix, astronomiquement subventionné et destructeur du territoire, doit être définitivement balayée. La mise en marche sous autogestion ouvrière d’un projet comme GNL Québec n’aurait guère plus de sens pour nous. Pas plus qu’une mine à ciel ouvert exploitée au milieu d’un village par une coopérative de mineurs autogérée. C’est à ce propos que le sociologue John Holloway écrivait : « la révolution ne consiste pas à détruire le capitalisme, mais à refuser de le fabriquer [3] ». La satisfaction des besoins ne saurait se réduire à la production de biens. Il faut sortir de cette obsession idéologique de la production à l’infini de nouvelles marchandises simplement pour faire rouler artificiellement une économie de la rapidité et de l’éphémère. La prise de conscience des enjeux liés aux écosystèmes dans notre rapport au monde à travers l’écologie, ainsi que les savoirs, réalités et modes d’organisation propres aux Premiers Peuples sur le territoire desquels nous habitons, nous appellent à un dépassement de perspective. Tout en développant de nouveaux rapports de complicité avec les communautés Autochtones, les impacts environnementaux liés à l’augmentation des gaz à effet de serre devraient nous inciter à envisager la nécessité d’une décroissance libertaire. Il ne s’agit pas là d’arrêter le développement de nouvelles technologies qui facilitent et améliorent nos vies, mais plutôt de mettre un terme à la fabrication de marchandises qui alimentent cette société consumériste et qui nécessitent de plus en plus de ressources bien souvent exploitées dans les pays du Sud. Dans le développement de communautés résilientes, conviviales et en harmonie avec le territoire, nous pouvons ici et maintenant préfigurer une forme d’auto-organisation ouvrière pour sortir du marais de la dépossession. Ces expériences ne sont pas fatalement condamnées à l’isolement, à être enfermées sur elles-mêmes et pacifiées. On a qu’à penser aux mobilisations contre GNL de petits producteurs bio et artisans du fjord, aux zones à défendre (ZAD) en France ou aux caracoles zapatistes au Mexique.

Par où commencer?

« Tout commence le jour où ils font une assemblée sans les bonzes du syndicat ».
- Extrait du journal Rosso, Groupe Gramsci de Milan sur les ouvriers et ouvrières des ateliers de Mirafiori à Turin (1973) [4]

Nous voulons tout pour tout le monde et rien pour nous seul-e, mais évidemment, sur « le plancher des vaches », par où commencer? Il n’y a pas de recette toute faite pour le changement que nous voulons. Toutefois, nous pouvons partager quelques constats pour éviter certains écueils. L’autonomie et l’auto-organisation en dehors des institutions a certainement fait la différence dans la lutte contre GNL Québec. Plutôt que de reposer sur la quête de soutiens de grandes organisations syndicales ou sociales, la lutte contre GNL s’est structurée à partir du bas, dans les débats en assemblées et dans les actions directes autonomes. Les grandes structures ont démontré qu’elles n’étaient pas en faveur d’initiatives telles qu’un blocage ferroviaire, l’occupation des bureaux de GNL ou l’installation d’un mini gazoduc rempli de merde devant les bureaux de Promotion Saguenay. Mais l’attente et l’inaction dans une lutte nous réduisent à l’impuissance. Nous avions vu cela en 2012 lorsque le Mouvement des associations générales étudiantes, le MAGE-UQAC, tentait par tous les moyens de pacifier et de faire cesser une grève combative hors de son contrôle, impulsée et animée de manière autonome par les membres de plus d’une dizaine de programmes d’étude. Nous l’avions ensuite vu dans les années subséquentes, lors du lock-out des employé-e-s de garage des concessionnaires du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean. Campé-e-s sur le bord de la route durant près de trois ans, les syndiqué-e-s de la CSD étaient sommé-e-s par leur chef de se vautrer dans leur chaise, tout en essuyant passivement les provocations patronales. La nécessité de construire un rapport de force malgré l’arsenal légal et répressif à la disposition du patronat était une évidence pour bien des travailleurs et travailleuses de la base. Il y a eu des actions autonomes de la base et nous en avons également réalisé solidairement en dépit de la condamnation de ces gestes par le syndicat. Ces actions ont au moins nourri le moral des lockouté-e-s dans les temps durs et servi à augmenter la pression sur des patrons qui laissaient leurs employé-e-s geler sur le bord du chemin.

S’organiser de manière autonome dans une lutte ou un mouvement permet de dépasser la réduction de ceux-ci à une négociation dans laquelle les propositions de changement social sont dès le départ évacuées. Force est de constater les dommages qu’ont faits des décennies de concertation, de collaboration et d’affairisme au sein des mouvements sociaux et syndicaux : la priorité n’est plus du tout à la lutte et au pouvoir des travailleurs et travailleuses. Au-delà de quelques discours annuels, les chefs des centrales syndicales ont bien intégré leur position de cadres hauts placés dans la société capitaliste à la manière d’apparatchiks soviétiques. Par l’autonomie, nous pouvons reprendre du pouvoir collectivement et individuellement dans des actions que l’on décide et assume ensemble. Nous ne sommes pas des marchandises. De plus, nous n’avons pas besoin des moyens financiers des syndicats pour lutter. Eux se permettent de payer des publicités à coup de centaines de milliers de dollars, mais refusent de payer les contraventions des ouvriers et ouvrières trop rebelles pour leurs bureaucrates. La bataille contre GNL a bien prouvé qu’un projet de 14 milliards $ pouvait être battu sans grands moyens. Cela fait que oui, pour commencer, on pourrait bien s’organiser par nous-mêmes, sur nos milieux de travail ou de vie et dans la complicité avec les gens qui sont solidaires, pour passer outre l’attente et la pacification et faire des victoires. Créer des réseaux, des espaces libérés, des milieux alternatifs et relier tous ces archipels en lutte pour construire notre monde sur les ruines de celui des capitalistes. Enfin, c’est faire le constat de la nécessité de prendre des moyens en adéquation et en cohérence avec les objectifs : renforcer la capacité des individus et des communautés à assurer eux-mêmes leurs reproductions matérielle et symbolique, à se libérer collectivement des systèmes de domination, à faire la révolution sociale.

Collectif anarchiste Emma Goldman (Saguenay sur le Nitassinan)

[1] Samir Amin. « Le développement inégal : essai sur les formations sociales du capitalisme périphérique », Éditions de Minuit, 1973, p.318.
[2] Pierre Madelin. « Après le capitalisme : Essai d’écologie politique », Éditions Écosociété, 2017, p.55.
[3] John Holloway. « Crack Capitalism : 33 thèses contre le capital », Libertalia, 2016.
[4] Marcello Tarì. « Autonomie! : Italie, les années 1970 », La Fabrique Éditions, 2011.

international / environment / opinion / analysis Tuesday January 04, 2022 19:26 byMelbourne Anarchist Communist Group   text 3 comments (last - thursday march 14, 2024 20:16)

Not every step that is necessary is suitable for solving at the level of the individual workplace. Cities need a massive expansion of public transport and improvement of facilities for active transport modes like walking and cycling. Mobilising public transport workers alone, however, would be insufficient to achieve the power necessary to get the system expanded to the degree required. These questions, and some others, would have to be resolved at the society-wide level by the labour movement as a whole.

Capitalism can’t stop Climate Change

COP26, the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow, was a monumental failure. It was supposed to be the forum where the world finally committed to emissions reductions sufficient to meet the target of the Paris Agreement: keeping the global temperature increase to only 1.5° Celsius. No less an establishment figure than the Prince of Wales described it as humanity’s “last chance saloon”, but the results fell a long way short of what is necessary. According to the prestigious scientific journal Nature (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03431-4), global emissions must fall 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Instead, the commitments at COP26 will make emissions 14% higher by 2030.

The majority of the capitalist class recognises in theory that climate change is a grave problem requiring drastic steps, but each government wants to protect their own capitalists. The Australian Government is conspicuous by being on the list of bad guys at almost every point. Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison signed up to a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, but only after almost every other advanced country (and many others) had done so. However, its 2030 target is only a 26-28% reduction from 2010 levels. Even without lifting a finger it will definitely achieve 30% and possibly 35%, so the refusal to promise more is ferociously political.

In sectoral negotiations, 40 countries promised to phase out coal, but Australia was not one of them. More than 80 countries pledged to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030, but Australia was not one of them. Neither were other big natural gas producers (and therefore producers of fugitive emissions) Russia and Iran. And the Australian Government’s zeal in funding expansion of fossil fuel exports is joined with almost matching enthusiasm by the main opposition party, Labor. Similar stances have been taken by other large fossil fuel exporters, including Canada.

There is a reason for this. Capitalist governments exist, first and foremost, to protect the interests of their own capitalist class. There is enormous sunk capital invested in fossil fuels and the industries using them as inputs. So mining and oil companies fund climate denialism, they promote political parties that oppose addressing climate change and, where necessary, they fight hard to establish loopholes for themselves from any general policy. If a political party proposing serious action against climate change comes to power, or even threatens to, they run vicious and mendacious campaigns to stop it. These companies may have been cutting jobs for decades, but they will cry crocodile tears over the threat to their workers’ jobs. And they may have undermined their local communities by introducing fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) workers, but suddenly they’ll be backing community groups who think that the only way to defend their community is to oppose climate action.

Just to defend themselves, governments want to protect investments in fossil fuels to the maximum extent possible. So when a problem is identified and specific action is required to address it, the governments that could make the biggest difference are ones least likely to sign up to it. And on the rare occasion where a government that can make a big difference signs up (as Brazil has over attempts to stop deforestation), it is an attempt at fishing for international assistance that won’t have to be returned if targets aren’t met.

What is at stake?

The capitalists, being conflicted, can only move to address climate change at a glacial pace, but we need to move at emergency speed. As the world heats up, systemic tipping points will be passed – first the ice cover in the Arctic, then the Siberian permafrost, then the Antarctic ice cap. There are others. At each point, the world risks shifting into runaway global heating, where temperature rises release more greenhouse gases, which in turn fuel further temperature rises until all stored carbon is released and the world has warmed by 7°C or more. We can forget about polar bears and the Great Barrier Reef – these temperatures are incompatible with the survival of industrial civilisation. Droughts, cyclones and other climate related disasters would devastate agriculture and create billions of climate refugees. The tropics and, in summer, much of the sub-tropics would become simply uninhabitable because of the heat. And, without the infrastructure of an industrialised society, 80-90% of the world’s human population would die. The capitalists are playing Russian roulette and they’re not even spinning the barrel in between pulls of the trigger.

So what do we do?

Around the world, many organisations, large and small, have formed to push governments to do more on climate change. Most are doing good work, but so far it has not been enough. Not nearly enough. Faced with the implacable opposition of capital to suffering serious losses, we need to mobilise a force which is strong enough to override it.

There is one and only one force on Earth strong enough to beat the capitalist class when it comes to something of vital importance. That force is the working class, so the burning question is how to mobilise it. We are fortunate that many union movements around the world have taken half-way reasonable positions on paper relating to climate change, but this is only the first step on a long and difficult road.

The fundamental need is for workplace groups to form and start discussing climate change and how it relates to their workplace and their employer. As they develop, they can formulate action plans that will vary according to their situation.

Groups in unsustainable industries will have the most difficult task, but also the most important. They can draw up plans for a Just Transition and campaign for them within their industry and the broader union movement.

Other groups could focus on their employer’s role in propping up unsustainable practices, or their links with fossil fuel producers. Public servants and other office workers could press for more energy efficient buildings to work in. Bank workers could object to their bosses financing fossil fuel companies. Construction workers could press for the use of zero carbon concrete in the buildings they put up. Almost any employer can be pressured to swap electric vehicles for their current fleet of internal combustion engine powered ones. The possibilities are endless.

Not every step that is necessary is suitable for solving at the level of the individual workplace. Cities need a massive expansion of public transport and improvement of facilities for active transport modes like walking and cycling. Mobilising public transport workers alone, however, would be insufficient to achieve the power necessary to get the system expanded to the degree required. These questions, and some others, would have to be resolved at the society-wide level by the labour movement as a whole.

Depending on the circumstances, workplace groups could be single-employer or multi-employer in the same industry. They should seek to be active in the unions, but they could be single-union or cross-union as necessary and needn’t be afraid to form in ununionised areas of the economy. Where a single unsustainable employer (e.g. a coal mine) is the economic backbone of an entire community, the group will need to work closely with its community. Big environmental groups can assist by putting their members in the same industry in contact with each other. What counts is flexibility of tactics and maintaining the autonomy of each workplace group.

Behind these groups and giving them their power is the possibility that workers could take the workplaces away from under the feet of their bosses and restructure the economy more sustainably by direct action. Think of it as the threat of green bans taken to the next level. Workers can challenge and ultimately defeat the logic of capital. And, in doing so, we will make a movement which can challenge the capitalists over not just the unsustainable practices of capitalism, but the existence of capitalism itself.

This is the program for which Anarchist Communists should fight. Are we up to it?

WORKERS CAN STOP CLIMATE CHANGE

*This article is from the current issue of 'The Anvil', newsletter of the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG). It can be loaded from here: https://melbacg.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/anvil-vol-10-no-6-web.pdf

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f2cdwgrwyaekrcv.jpg imageAKBELEN FORESTS ARE CALLING EVERYONE FOR RESISTANCE Jul 30 15:47 by Various Turkish anarchiss 14 comments

Akbelen forests are trying to be shredded and slaughtered with the cooperation of the capital and the state in Muğla, Turkey.

In order to supply coal to the two thermal power plants owned by Limak Holding and İçtaş Holding, whose association with the government is well known, efforts are being made to expand the coal mine in the region to swallow Akbelen forests.

capitalism.jpg imageCapitalism Is the Disaster Mar 23 06:26 by Pink Panther 4 comments

An article examining the underlying link between disasters.

images.jpg imageThe burning issue Sep 14 22:32 by MACG 1 comments

The unions in Australia today are a shadow of their former selves, led by cowards whose main job is to police their members to ensure that unions aren't fined out of business by the vicious anti-union laws. This needs to be turned around completely before workers will consider fighting for a Just Transition – but also for workers to defend working conditions, maintain health and safety and be adequately compensated for the inflation that is now ripping through the economy and devastating real wages. And to do that, we need to take on the union bureaucracy and beat them.

À Tadoussac imageGNL Québec : Les gains matériels d'une lutte écologiste May 24 06:45 by CEG 2 comments

À l’été 2021, le gouvernement du Québec officialisait son rejet du projet d’usine de liquéfaction du gaz naturel de GNL Québec après avoir longuement persisté à le promouvoir. Cette volteface sur un projet évalué à 14 milliards $ est le résultat de plusieurs années de luttes écologistes. Concrètement, ce sont de petits collectifs populaires locaux, organisés sur la base d’assemblées, qui ont réussi à faire pencher la balance. Devant eux se dressaient un promoteur, un État et des élu-e-s qui ont dépensé des millions $ dans une bataille qui leur était annoncée gagnée d’avance par un gouvernement conquis à leurs idées.

Credit: https://www.mamamia.com.au/school-climate-strike-australia/ imageCapitalism can’t stop Climate Change Jan 04 19:26 by Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group 3 comments

Not every step that is necessary is suitable for solving at the level of the individual workplace. Cities need a massive expansion of public transport and improvement of facilities for active transport modes like walking and cycling. Mobilising public transport workers alone, however, would be insufficient to achieve the power necessary to get the system expanded to the degree required. These questions, and some others, would have to be resolved at the society-wide level by the labour movement as a whole.

global_fossil_fuel_emissions.png imageCapitalism is destroying the climate Nov 03 18:55 by MACG 2 comments

What is necessary is to create workplace climate groups that link up with the School Strike for Climate. These groups will discuss the way the climate crisis affects their industries, the responsibility of their bosses for aggravating climate change and what possible solutions could be. They would develop the School Strike for Climate into a Workers’ Strike for Climate. In the process, workers would need to become capable of acting independently of the union officials and of defeating them when these officials try to dampen down action.

textSelf Organisation Or Chaos Sep 16 15:09 by Anarchist Federation (Gr) 0 comments

A statement of Anarchist Federation (Gr) about the ongoing forest fires and the disastrous handlings of the Greek State

download.jpg imageΗ βιβλική καταστ`... Aug 07 21:14 by Αναρχικοί από την Εύβοια 0 comments

Οι εκλογές δεν αποτελούν τίποτα παραπάνω από ένα μηχανισμό του συστήματος για να ανανεώνει τον εαυτό του, απλά αλλάζοντας το προσωπείο της καταπίεσης. Ανεξάρτητα από το ποια θα είναι η επόμενη κυβέρνηση, το Ελληνικό καπιταλιστικό κράτος θα έχει ακριβώς τις ίδιες ανάγκες για συνεχή ανάπτυξη και θα εξακολουθήσει να αφήνει τα βουνά μας να κατασπαράσσονται από τη φωτιά. ... Συμπατριώτισσες και συμπατριώτες να είστε δυνατοί και να μην έχετε αυταπάτες. Δύσκολες μέρες έρχονται. Οργανωθείτε οριζόντια και διεκδικήστε το ανθρώπινο δικαίωμα για μια αξιοπρεπή ζωή.

rtx73uz7.jpeg imageDeath or Renewal: Is the Climate Crisis the Final Crisis? Jul 13 22:36 by Wayne Price 130 comments

Classical socialists, both anarchists and Marxists, have written of the eventual end of capitalism--either through a popular revolution creating a new society or through the self-destruction of capitalism. Global warming raises the question of whether humanity is now facing such a possible total crisis, of choosing between socialism or social ruin.

minamata.jpg imageMovie Review: 'MINAMATA' (2020) Jun 14 21:16 by LAMA 0 comments

A review of a movie about a Japanese village that suffered from industrial pollution.

beehive.jpg imageWellington Climate Strike Report Apr 23 19:22 by AWSM 0 comments

A report on the recent Climate Strike action in Wellington, Aotearoa.

textRotorua Climate Strike Report Apr 12 12:27 by LAMA 0 comments

A brief report on recent action in support of the Climate Strike in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

textAgroecologia e anarchismo organizzato: Un'intervista con la Federazione Anarchica di Rio d... Feb 07 03:14 by Un membro della sezione di New York di Black Rose Anarchist Federation 0 comments

In risposta al modello industriale e capitalista di produzione alimentare che ha decimato i modi di vita rurali e la nostra madre terra, i movimenti sociali di tutto il mondo hanno identificato l'agroecologia come la loro proposta alternativa per lo sviluppo rurale. Fondata sulle conoscenze contadine e indigene, sulle lotte per la sovranità alimentare e sulla riforma agraria, l'agroecologia è intesa dai movimenti sociali come "uno strumento per la trasformazione sociale, economica, culturale, politica ed ecologica delle comunità e dei territori". Questa intervista che Black Rose ha condotto nell'estate del 2020 con un militante del Fronte di Lotta Contadina della Federazione Anarchica di Rio de Janeiro (FARJ), esamina il loro lavoro con alcuni dei movimenti sociali del Brasile che lottano per l'agroecologia e la sovranità alimentare. Provenendo da un contesto con movimenti sociali contadini molto sviluppati, FARJ condivide importanti intuizioni da cui i militanti anarchici possono imparare.

101905482_1358437274345467_8524878269019743096_o700x525.jpg imageAgroecologia e Anarquismo Organizado Feb 04 19:25 by Militante de BRRN 0 comments

Em resposta ao modelo industrial capitalista de produção de alimentos que dizimou modos de vida rurais e nossa mãe Terra, movimentos sociais ao redor do mundo identificaram a agroecologia como sua proposta alternativa para o desenvolvimento rural. Baseadas em conhecimentos camponeses e indígenas, lutas pela soberania alimentar e reforma agrária, a agroecologia é compreendida pelos movimentos sociais como “uma ferramenta para a transformação social, econômica, cultural, política e ecológica de comunidades e territórios.” Esta entrevista que o Rosa Negra conduziu no Verão de 2020 [no hemisfério norte] com um militante da Frente de Luta Camponesa da Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro (FARJ), mostra seu trabalho com a luta de alguns movimentos sociais brasileiros por agroecologia e soberania alimentar. Em um contexto de movimentos sociais camponeses altamente desenvolvidos, a FARJ compartilha questões importantes para o aprendizado dos militantes anarquistas.

textAgroecología y anarquismo organizado Feb 04 07:06 by A member of BRRN's NYC local 0 comments

En respuesta al modelo de producción de alimentos industrial y capitalista que ha diezmado las formas de vida rurales y nuestra madre tierra, los movimientos sociales de todo el mundo han identificado la agroecología como su propuesta alternativa para el desarrollo rural. Basada en los conocimientos campesinos e indígenas, las luchas por la soberanía alimentaria y la reforma agraria, la agroecología es entendida por los movimientos sociales como “una herramienta para la transformación social, económica, cultural, política y ecológica de comunidades y territorios”.

Esta entrevista, que Black Rose realizó en el verano de 2020 con un militante del Frente de Lucha Campesina de la Federación Anarquista de Río de Janeiro (FARJ), explora su trabajo con algunos de los movimientos sociales brasileños que luchan por la agroecología y la soberanía alimentaria. Viniendo de un contexto con movimientos sociales campesinos altamente desarrollados, la FARJ comparte ideas importantes que pueden servir de inspiración de la militancia anarquista.

farjbrrn.jpeg imageAgroecology and Organized Anarchism: An Interview With the Anarchist Federation of Rio de ... Feb 04 06:45 by A member of Black Rose Anarchist Federation’s New York City Local 1 comments

Repost from the Black Rose Anarchist Federation

green_new_deal.jpg imageΈνα Πράσινο New Deal Jul 14 21:31 by Wayne Price 0 comments

Στον θόρυβο που έχει δημιουργηθεί στις μέρες μας σε σχέση με την κλιματική αλλαγή μπορούν και πρέπει να ειπωθούν πολλά. Το παρόν κείμενο του Price είναι ένα κείμενο σημερινό (δημοσιεύτηκε το Γενάρη 2019 – πριν γίνει ο μεγάλος ντόρος) το οποίο μας δίνει τη μεγάλη εικόνα από την άλλη μεριά του Ατλαντικού. Οι αναγνώστες ας έχουν κατά νου ότι αντίστοιχο με του αμερικανικού «Πράσινου New Deal» πάει να επιτευχθεί και σε επίπεδο Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (οι προτάσεις έχουν ήδη κατέβει στο ευρωκοινοβούλιο). Αυτά σαν μια προσπάθεια κατανόησης της πρεμούρας των αστών για το κλίμα σήμερα…
Το κείμενο είναι “σημερινό” ωστόσο τα ζητήματα αυτά οι Αναρχικοί, ανά τον κόσμο, τα έχουν στην ατζέντα τους εδώ και πολλά χρόνια. Σε θεωρητικό επίπεδο τίποτα δεν έχει αλλάξει· το ζήτημα της οικολογίας παραμένει στην επιφάνεια, μαζί με την αναγκαιότητα καταστροφής του συστήματος της ατομικής ιδιοκτησίας.

article_australiafiresnearme2159748_1.jpg imageΗ Ανατολική Αυστ`... Dec 26 14:39 by Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) 0 comments

Η Αναρχική Κομμουνιστική Ομάδα Μελβούρνης πιστεύει ότι το Κίνημα Απεργιών στα Σχολεία για το Κλίμα έχει μεγάλες δυνατότητες και ότι θα πρέπει ολόψυχα να ενωθούν μαζί του τα συνδικάτα. Οι σχολικές απεργίες πρέπει να μετατραπούν σε απεργίες των εργαζομένων. Στην Αυστραλία, η επόμενη ημέρα παγκόσμιας σχολικής απεργίας πρέπει να είναι η ευκαιρία μαζικών συντονισμένων απεργιών από εργαζόμενους από όσο το δυνατόν περισσότερες βιομηχανίες και κλάδους, με στόχο την οικοδόμηση μιας γενικής απεργίας. Η δύναμη του κεφαλαίου δημιουργείται στο χώρο εργασίας και μόνο με την οργάνωση εκεί μπορούν οι εργαζόμενοι να ανατρέψουν αυτή την εξουσία, να την αφαιρέσουν από τους καπιταλιστές και να την χειριστούν οι ίδιοι.

article_australiafiresnearme2159748.jpg imageEastern Australia on fire Dec 25 18:16 by Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) 0 comments

The Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group believes that the School Strike for Climate movement has great potential and that it should be joined wholeheartedly by the unions. School strikes should be turned into workers’ strikes. In Australia, the next global school strike day should be the occasion for mass co-ordinated strikes by workers from as many industries as possible, with the aim of building towards a general strike. The power of capital arises in the workplace and it is only by organising there that workers can wrench that power away from the capitalists and wield it themselves.

newslinksstrike092019.jpg imageStrike for a sustainable climate Nov 13 19:08 by Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) 0 comments

The general strike for a Just Transition will be the beginning, but not the end of the matter. We will open up a debate about the dimensions and shape of the Just Transition. As the struggle progresses, more workers will come to realise that the only Just Transition is a transition away from capitalism. Two facts will drive this. First more people will see the existing capitalist class is so invested in fossil fuels that it has to be swept aside for humanity to achieve sustainability. The understanding will also emerge that eternal growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. Only by abolishing capitalism can we disconnect living standards from resource consumption and adopt a circular zero waste economy.

a2druck1.jpg imageFIGHT FOR FUTURE! Klima retten heißt: Kapital – entmachten, enteignen, überwinden! Sep 17 08:19 by die plattform 0 comments

Am 20. September startet der globale Klimastreik. Der Aufruf von Fridays for Future richtet sich dieses mal nicht nur an Schüler*innen, sondern an “Kolleg*innen und Arbeitgeber*innen, an Eltern und Nachbar*innen, an Lehrer*innen und Wissenschaftler*innen, Sportler*innen und Arbeitssuchende, Kreative und Auszubildende…”

amazonia.png imageLas llamas de la Amazonía y el avance del capitalismo. Sep 10 02:04 by El Mirlo Pardo 0 comments

Expandir fronteras agroganaderas mediante la quema de un cierto territorio (técnica de rose y quema) es una práctica antigua y recurrente en muchas culturas a lo largo de la historia. Usualmente se la considera una técnica “primitiva”, propia de aquellas sociedades mal llamadas “de economía de subsistencia” . No obstante, paradójicamente, es dentro del capitalismo moderno donde esta técnica ha tomado dimensiones desproporcionadas que han provocado la destrucción irreversible de ecosistemas así como el masivo etnocidio hacia pueblos indígenas que viven dentro de aquellos territorios deseados por la burguesía rural y el Estado.

69209318_2271482926239881_625954353399726080_n.jpg imageΓια την άμυνα του &#... Sep 05 20:19 by Dmitri 0 comments

Τα στοιχεία του Εθνικού Ινστιτούτου Έρευνας (INPE) έδειξαν σημαντική αύξηση των πυρκαγιών από τις 10 Αυγούστου και ιδιαίτερα στους Δήμους Novo Progreso και Altamira, οι οποίοι περιλαμβάνονται τόσο στο πρόγραμμα ROUTE BR-163 όσο και στo πρόγραμμα αποδάσωσης εκ μέρους των «αφεντικών» της περιοχής του Αμαζονίου. Σύμφωνα με το INPE, ο Novo Progresso διαθέτει στοιχεία για 124 αρχικούς πυρήνες πυρκαγιάς κατά τη διάρκεια της «ημέρας της φωτιάς», δηλαδή αύξηση κατά 300% σε σχέση με την προηγούμενη ημέρα. Την επόμενη μέρα υπήρχαν 203 πυρήνες. Στη Altamira, οι δορυφόροι ανίχνευσαν 194 πυρήνες στις 10 Αυγούστου και 237 την επόμενη ημέρα, μια εντυπωσιακή αύξηση κατά 743%.

cab_amazon_1.jpeg imageEn caso de incendio, queme al terrateniente y al imperialismo: ¡en defensa del Amazonas! Sep 04 04:31 by Coordenación Anarquista Brasileña 0 comments

En agosto, la sociedad brasileña e internacional se vio sorprendida por un aumento del 50% en la deforestación y un 70% más de incendios en el Amazonas. La Ministra de Agricultura del Gobierno de Bolsonaro, Tereza Cristina, conocida como “la musa del veneno”, se apuró para justificar el fenómeno, culpando inmediatamente a las condiciones climáticas de la región. Rápidamente fue elegido el villano principal, la misma naturaleza: el verano y el comienzo de la estación seca en la selva tropical del Amazonas. [Português]

cab_amazon.jpeg imageEm caso de incêndio queime o latifúndio e o imperialismo: em defesa da Amazônia! Sep 04 04:26 by Coordenação Anarquista Brasileira 0 comments

No mês de agosto a sociedade brasileira e internacional foram surpreendidas pelo aumento em 50% do desmatamento e de 70% nas queimadas na Amazônia Legal. A Ministra da Agricultura do Governo Bolsonaro, Tereza Cristina, apelidada de musa do veneno, correu para justificar o fenômeno depositando de imediato a culpa nas condições climáticas da região. Rápido se elegeu o principal vilão, a própria natureza: o verão e o início do período seco na hiléia amazônica. [Castellano]

extinction.jpg imageCan Extinction Rebellion Aotearoa NZ help save the world? Mar 13 12:29 by AWSM 0 comments

AWSM are encouraged by the fact that the movement [Extinction Rebellion] has managed to tap into the sense of alarm over climate change... but we feel that there is a conversation that needs to be had about some of their demands.

2019_02_21___2.jpg imageΕνάντια στους εν^... Feb 01 21:50 by BA 0 comments

Ας συνδυάσουμε όλο τον πλούτο που έχουμε γεννήσει τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες. Την αυτοοργάνωση, τον αντιφασισμό (θα βρούμε πολλούς πατριώτες μπροστά μας, να μην αφήσουμε στους φασίστες χώρο), την κριτική στον σπισισμό και την καταστροφή της φύσης, την μάχη ενάντια στην πατριαρχία (η απληστία και η αδιαφορία για τη φύση είναι συγκροτητικό της πατριαρχίας), τις πρακτικές άμεσης δράσης. Και ας δοκιμάσουμε αυτό που τόσο συχνά λέμε. Την συνδιαμόρφωση με άλλους, έξω από εμάς, παράλληλα με την δικιά μας παρέμβαση.

p_18_11_2016.jpeg imageA Green New Deal vs. Revolutionary Ecosocialism Jan 02 18:49 by Wayne Price 4 comments

The idea of a "Green New Deal" has been raised in response to the threat of climate and ecological catastrophe. Two such proposals are analyzed here and counterposed to the program of revolutionary libertarian ecosocialism.

pollution.jpg imageSouth Africa’s polluting giants: it’s about profits and class Dec 07 19:20 by Shawn Hattingh 0 comments

When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, South Africa falls within the 15 biggest polluters in the world. But there is also a class dimension when it comes to pinning down which sections of society are responsible for air pollution – the major polluters in South Africa are the ruling class (capitalists, politicians and top state bureaucrats) and their state and corporations (including state corporations), continuing an economy based on cheap black labour, mining and externalising costs. State-backed”empowerment” firms — for Afrikaners from 1948, and blacks from 1994 — are deeply involved.

theblast363x480.jpg imageΜετά την καταστρ_... Aug 16 05:42 by provo 0 comments

Μακάρι να γίνει αυτή η νέα καταστροφή πέρα από αφορμή πένθους και επίδειξης εθελοντισμού και κοινωνικής αλληλεγγύης (που πρέπει να ειπωθεί ότι είναι ανέλπιστα συγκινητική) και αφορμή προβληματισμού. Βαθύ προβληματισμού γύρω από την ποιότητα και την ιεράρχηση των κοινωνικών αξιών. Γιατί από τις προηγούμενες μεγάλες καταστροφές το μόνο που έμεινε ήταν δυστυχώς περισσότερα αυθαίρετα.

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