X
X
Contact Us
Many thanks!
Your message has been sent and we'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
This article was published over 1 year ago

Stockholm+50 Summit

Save The Planet From Profit & War

Photo: ISA

Fight For Democratic Planning And Public Ownership

Tuesday, 17 May 2022 12:51 (UTC)
Last Update: Wednesday, 1 June 2022 12:04 (UTC)
International Socialist Alternative
Print
547
X

Here we publish the text of ISA’s 8 point programme to fight against capitalism’s climate crisis, which will be a central part of ISA’s international mobilisation for the UN Stockholm+50 summit in Stockholm, Sweden in June.

The climate and ecological crises are the biggest threat to humanity in history! This comes on top of and is connected with a multitude of other crises: the horrible wars in Ukraine, Yemen and elsewhere, skyrocketing energy prices and inflation, the ongoing pandemic and the unbearable oppression that billions of people suffer everyday because of their gender, sexual orientation, origin or skin colour.

COP26 showed again that the ruling class, their governments and establishment institutions will not and cannot effectively fight the climate crisis, and Stockholm+50 won’t be any different. Instead of climate protection they create war and destruction. Why? Because the very system which they defend — capitalism — is at the root of all the crises and suffering.


The necessary fundamental changes however, are possible. The climate movement shows the enormous potential that we — young people, the working class, poor and oppressed — have if we get organized and fight to win.

ISA is an international organization of revolutionary socialists in over 30 countries on all continents. We fight for an end to capitalism and imperialism and against all the crises, wars and forms of oppression that this sick system produces.

Get active with ISA against war, climate destruction and capitalism. The time for international socialist change is now!

8 POINT SOCIALIST PROGRAMME

1) Invest in climate, healthcare and education, not in arms!

Militarization and wars kill people and the climate! Governments however, are spending billions on arms while the climate crisis is brutally unfolding in front of our eyes with raging fires, murderous floods and droughts to name just a few. We don’t need more weapons. We need an unprecedented public investment programme to cut emissions and protect us against climate-related disasters, as well as urgent and far-reaching action to stop the destruction of our planet.

This includes investments to create millions of sustainable and well-paid jobs; in renewable energy; in more, better and free public transport in both urban and rural areas; in ‘retrofitting’ buildings; in sustainable construction and quality housing for all and in recycling and repairing facilities.

We also need to immediately end all militarization and deforestation and instead penalize the arms industries and agribusiness billionaires. Moreover, we need to switch to sustainable agriculture and massively expand public services and infrastructure — such as fire services and flood defenses — to prepare to deal with the immediate impact of disasters.

2) For Green Affordable Energy! No to Fossil Fuel or Nuclear Expansion

The governments and ruling elites are ramping up fossil and nuclear energy production and increasing Liquefied Natural Gas imports under the veil of ‘energy independence’, which will have devastating and deadly effects for people across the globe. Instead, we need massive investments into affordable and sustainable public energy production to cut emissions and end energy poverty.

Everyone must be guaranteed a life free of poverty, oppression and climate destruction, a life which meets people’s needs and allows everyone to realise their creative and productive potential.

The wealth for this exists, but it is in the wrong hands — the world’s billionaires increased their fortunes by $5 trillion during the pandemic! As a first step, we need to tax the super rich, close down the tax havens and take the banks and energy corporations into democratic public ownership. Only if we, young and working class people, control and own this wealth and infrastructure, can we use it to save the planet, our lives and livelihoods.

3) Protect land and resources from corporate and imperialist exploitation

Pipeline projects, deforestation and imperialist exploitation of natural resources must be stopped immediately. These projects not only plunder environments in the name of multinationals’ profits, but are a nightmare for poor and Indigenous communities in the Americas, Africa and elsewhere.

From the Indigenous-led struggles “Stop Line 3” in North America and the “Struggle for Life” against the destruction of the Amazon in Brazil, all the way to the protests against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, and the Aboriginal fight against the Adani coal mine in Australia: The international climate movement must unite in solidarity with all those resisting these destructive imperialist invasions of crucial habitats and communities.

Working class people generally, their organisations and local communities, not corporate bosses, should have control over how land and resources are used. That way we can ensure the needs and rights of Indigenous and all working-class communities — including those who are financially dependent on existing fossil fuel projects — as well as guaranteed jobs for all workers.

4) Strike together against the system — rebuild a fighting climate movement

Organise grassroots climate strike committees of students and workers — organise and mobilise your community, school, workplace and union from below to build a coordinated movement of protests and strikes that paralyse the economy and force real changes. School strikes and youth-led actions to put pressure on elected officials are a step forward but are not enough. Only a movement which is linked to and based on the power of the organised working class can force the changes we need. The working class not only suffers the worst effects of climate change, but also has enormous power. Workers make society run — everywhere from schools to hospitals, delivery companies, supermarkets and factories. The pandemic has again made this crystal clear. By striking together, the working class can bring this system to a halt. But to do this, we need to get organised and rebuild a fighting climate movement interlinked with a fighting workers’ and trade union movement. A united struggle could link demands to fight the climate crisis, such as the need for free public transport, with other demands of workers for jobs, higher wages, housing and shorter working hours.

Bureaucratic union leaderships have a history of blocking struggle — we cannot expect them to lead the necessary fights. Instead we need to build among rank-and-file workers and union members to build pressure from below, win our unions back, and link grassroots climate committees in schools, colleges, workplaces and local communities. In this way, we can build a movement that goes much further than the 2019 climate strikes and has the power to achieve real gains.

5) Democratic socialist planning, not market chaos

From 1988–2015, 71% of industrial greenhouse gas emissions originated from only 100 companies. The technology and knowledge exist to transition to a carbon-free economy, but the interests of private profit and insane capitalist competition prevent the necessary steps being taken. ‘The market’ will not solve anything. A system based on private ownership, profit and competition can only further destroy, not save the planet.

No amount of ‘eco-friendly’ consumer choices can deliver the change we and the planet need. Since we can’t control what we don’t own, we need, as a first step, to take the key sectors of the economy into public ownership, with democratic workers’ control and management to ensure immediate changes in all major industries, and reorganize the economy to serve people and the planet. Under our ownership and control, we can use science, natural resources and technology to democratically plan for fast and effective reductions in emissions while guaranteeing a decent life and future for all.

We can end ‘planned obsolescence’, make things to last, repair and reuse natural resources. Slash expenditure on arms and the wasteful advertising industry. We also need to plan the adaptation of our societies to the unfolding impacts of the climate crisis, including protection against extreme weather events, as well as reforestation and ecological restoration.

6) Capitalism is destroying the planet, our jobs and livelihoods

The current system is based on the exploitation of people and nature, damaging both relentlessly. It breeds poverty, displacement and wars, racism and sexism, and countless other social ills. Contrary to the capitalist lie of ‘jobs vs. climate’, the unfolding climate catastrophe hits working class people especially hard, including those in fossil fuel industries. A publicly owned, planned economy with real democratic control by workers in those industries and society as a whole could create millions of well-paid and sustainable jobs and build a new green economy.

This is the only way to ensure that workers’ rights and past gains are protected, as part of a just transition for working people. Workers in fossil industries could be redeployed with no job losses or pay reductions, moving from environmentally damaging production toward projects that benefit society and the planet. In a democratically planned economy greed, corruption and competition would be replaced by an economic system that is based on the needs of the people. This is also a prerequisite to end wars and conflicts and give a real answer to people who are forced to flee from their homes as a result of the climate crises.

7) International workers’ solidarity instead of capitalist nationalist rivalry

Build the movement across all borders — there are no national solutions. The climate crisis is being weaponized by imperialism and the US and China in their great power rivalry. We say no to the new cold war.

As a result of immense global inequality, poorer countries currently bear the brunt of the climate crisis. To take first steps against this enormous injustice, all foreign debts must be cancelled and patents on crucial technology and knowledge scrapped. This can only be won through coordinated action by the international working class and poor for global revolutionary change and against national capitalist elites that defend their own interests.

In the Covid-19 pandemic, patents and ‘business secrecy’ have been used to protect private profits causing the deaths of millions, and “vaccine nationalism” has prevented a global pandemic response. Knowledge, skills and resources must be shared freely between workers and the poor in all countries on the basis of international solidarity and cooperation. This is especially important for medical and pharmaceutical knowledge and technology.

8) Change the World — Fight for International Socialism

We cannot rely on capitalist politicians to change this system. To fight for revolutionary change, we need to build a mass movement, but also a revolutionary organisation with a clear programme to link up struggles, fight capitalism and transform society. To win system change on a world scale, such an organisation must be built internationally, which is why International Socialist Alternative (ISA), an organisation of workers and youth, is actively fighting for socialist change in over 30 countries. To win the revolutionary change necessary to end capitalism, the destruction of our planet and all forms of oppression — Join ISA.

X
Solidarity Donation
Contact
Join
Report a Mistake
X
Report a Mistake
Found a mistake in the article? Found a broken link or an unloaded image or video?
We're absolutely committed to check the facts in all of our articles and reports in this website. If you find any factual inaccuracy, or also, any problematic typos or unclear parts, or any technical problem, please let us know and we'll take it into consideration.
Save The Planet From Profit & War (17 May 2022)

Thank you.
Your message has been sent and we'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
€11,193
2023 ISA Financial Appeal
Donate to Build a Movement on the Ground Against the War on Gaza, with an Amplified Socialist Voice