Saturday, April 22 is designated as Earth Day by the United Nations, and in keeping with its underlying purpose to protect the global environment and particularly to fight climate change, there will be rallies, demonstrations, meetings, and a host of other kinds of events all over the world that day.
Among the top ten events listed on the website for Earth Day is the ‘Big One’ – a four-day series of protests, rallies, and events in London. The chief organiser of this London extravaganza is Extinction Rebellion, and they list a whole series of activities across four days, with an expected participation of over 30,000 people.
There is a growing awareness internationally that global warming is a threat for the near future, not for some far-off century. Almost every day there are new revelations about the scale of climate change, and its effects, and it is difficult even to keep up with the number of grim reports coming out every day.
Yesterday the Guardian reported on record-breaking temperatures in Asia: over 41oC in Laos, 45o in parts of Thailand, over 40o in Bangladesh, with similar heatwaves in India and China. Today, the BBC website reports on new research showing an ‘accelerating’ scale of melting of Greenland and Antarctic ice, both of which will add significantly to sea level rises.
These are not minor issues: they represents a challenge to the continuation of human civilisation as early as the closing decades of this century. It is understandable, therefore, that there is so much anger, particularly among young people, over the complacency and inactivity of governments across the world, and towards those who are so much in thrall to the big fossil fuel companies.
Here, the Tory government have made themselves a justifiable target for anger from anyone interested in climate change. incredible as it may sound, there are still ‘climate deniers’ on the Tory parliamentary benches and among ministers. There are still those who are so well-endowed with prejudice and greed, but so scientifically-illiterate, that they refer to climate change as a ‘scam’.
Tories in the pockets of the fossil fuel giants
The government has effectively revamped its ‘net zero’ plans – which were never more than a hope and a prayer anyway – to such a degree that there is no longer any real plan at all. As in regard to all aspects of government policy, the Tories are in the pockets of big business, and far from limiting fossil fuels, they are extending incentives to those who are blithely trashing the planet.
The Tories have decided:
- To grant new licenses for oil and gas exploration and development in the North Sea
- Not to force oil and gas companies to stop ‘flaring’ by 2025, as was recommended by their own climate review earlier this year.
- Not to give Ofgem powers to impose zero targets on the energy sector
- Not to force housebuilders to fit rooftop solar panels or high insulation standards to new housing.
- Not to initiate any nationwide programme for home insulation
In keeping with the ‘greenwashing’ policy of the big fossil fuel companies, the government is suggesting, as an alternative, a major role for ‘carbon capture and storage’ (CCS). We should be clear on this, because it is an issue raised even on the left of the labour movement. CCS is a fig-leaf and no more than that. It is untried on any scale, and on a large scale it is unlikely to be a viable technology. However, for some, it appears to offer a ‘solution’ at some vague, undefined point in the future. It is, in reality, no more than a fine-sounding, ‘technological-based’ pretext and an excuse to go on pumping oil and gas now.
Labour movement should support protests on climate change.
So the organisation of protests across London this coming weekend has to be welcomed. The labour movement should support in broad terms the aims and purpose of such events and, indeed, there are speakers at some of the rallies from trade unions and the Labour Party. Every trade union and Labour Party conference has passed resolutions on the importance of polity to fight climate change.
For their part, it appears that Extinction Rebellion have come a long way from their strategies of the past. They seem to be making a real attempt to publicise the issue of climate change and to convince people and that is to the good. “[The London event] is going to be nice and busy” an XR spokesperson, told the Financial Times, “but it is not intentional disruption in the way you have seen from XR in the past.”
If this is a permanent change of strategy, it can only be welcomed, because disrupting the lives of ordinary workers is counter-effective in terms of raising awareness. It gives the right-wing press an excuse to talk about ‘eco-yobs’ and to continue ignoring global warming.
Disrupting commuters by climbing on top of tube trains, or vandalising snookers table in mid-tournament, does nothing positive at all. It the latter case, it merely gave the media an opportunity to highlight the privileged lifestyle of the climate activist concerned (“a student”, “rich parents”) at the expense of the issue itself. More heat is generated than light.
In the organisation of the Big One, Extinction Rebellion have reached out to as many supportive organisations as possible, including the Green Party and similar organisations. It is supported by charities like War on Want, by many Church and religious groups, and by trade unions like Equity and PCS. Speakers at some rallies include Labour figures.
Links between climate activists and the trade union movement are to be welcomed, but it is important that the suggested support by XR for striking pickets – which the spokesperson speaking to the Financial Times described as an “escalation” option – should be done only on terms dictated by the trade unions involved.
Mile-wide streak of naivety
Although we should support in general terms the aims and purpose of the ‘Big One’, we cannot let it pass without noting the mile-wide streak of naivety that runs through all of the publicity associated with Extinction Rebellion. The idea of “moving beyond politics” is wrong. The call for the government – this of all governments – to roll over and organise a “Citizens’ Assembly on Climate and Ecological Justice” is like asking the Devil to renounce Sin. It just isn’t going to happen, and the leaders of XR really ought to be honest about that. It is exactly the same with the call for the government to introduce a “Climate and Ecology Bill”.
In fact, the whole idea of “going beyond politics” is impossible and flies in the face of what Extinction Rebellion themselves put forward. The huge social and economic revolution which is necessary to save the planet – and we agree that it cannot be avoided – involves almost by definition political processes. It is absolutely correct that the emphasis in the XR literature has shifted away from the personal and individual responsibility for climate action. But by moving into the sphere of ‘People’s Assemblies’ and bills in parliament, it has entered the political stage.
There should be no more pretending about “going beyond” politics. The next process in the evolution of climate activism must be looking at precisely what political steps are required, what policies need to be enacted, and which social and political forces would be supportive and which are going to oppose the necessary actions.
Civil disobedience is a time-honoured tactic used by the labour movement in the past for all those struggling for democracy and human rights. But if the government refuses to organise a People’s Assembly – and there is not a cat in Hell’s chance that it will – it would be the height of folly for Extinction Rebellion to return to the sort of ‘civil disobedience’ aimed at the everyday lives of workers. The targets have to be the big fossil fuel companies, those who bankroll them and the politicians who are in their pockets.
We have long argued that climate change, as important as it is, is a political issue that stands alongside other pressing issues, not least the unprecedented attack on living standards that most people face. According to YouGov polls, the economy (that is, living standards) and the NHS are the two most important worries in the minds of voters.
Climate change needs to be addressed by a raft of political and economic policies specific to its needs, but it cannot be seen as a ‘stand-alone’ issue, somehow outside or above all the other worries and concerns workers have.
Big fossil fuel companies will go on trashing the planet for profit.
The sad fact is that this society is run on the basis of greed, corruption, and the enrichment of a tiny minority of the population. The giant fossil fuel companies are operated for profit, not for social need. They are the people trashing the planet and they have politicians and governments in their pockets. They will continue to do that as long as it is profitable to them, and as long as they have to power to do it.
Until the energy sector as a whole is in public hands and run for the benefit of the whole of society, then there is no solution, and this would have to include energy distribution, and industry and finance as a whole, because they are needed for investment in renewables. That is why it is ultimately a task for the organised working class, supported by other sections of society, not least the young who have the most to gain from fundamental change.
It is to be hoped that the ‘Big One’ in London is a success and that this event, like all the others across the globe, plays an important part in raising awareness of climate change. But if Earth Day is going to mean anything, it should mean a commitment, not to tinkering around the edges, but to a fight for a completely new kind of society, both economically and politically.
