Change the system, not the climate — the case for rebellion and revolution

Feeling powerless is common in today’s world

Jay Fletcher | Green Left Online | 19 February 2010

So much change is needed: injustice, inequality and poverty seem worse than ever. Wars fought in Third World countries make corporations rich while ruining millions of lives.

Even our future is under threat. Dangerous climate change is taking place in frightening ways right now. Much worse consequences are likely to occur within our lifetimes.

Many young people understand this reality and want action. But young people, and billions of ordinary people around the world, are forced to watch without voice while a tiny minority make decisions that affect the whole of society.

World leaders met in Copenhagen in December last year and people hoped they would decide to tackle the climate crisis. Faced with nothing less than the fate of the planet and all of its inhabitants, the world waited for decisive action.

But Copenhagen was a tremendous failure, with no commitments to deep emissions cuts, no promise of large investments in renewable energy or sustainable industries, not even a pledge to peak emissions and stop digging up and burning fossil fuels.

It showed that for the wealthy and powerful, short-term profits are more important than solving the climate crisis.

It showed that the safety of billions of people is being sacrificed by lying politicians and greedy corporations. Our future is being destroyed in the interests of profits and power.

Climate change is the result of an economic system that needs limitless expansion and worships short-term gain.

Under capitalism, decisions about production and technology, about the way wealth and resources are used and distributed in society, are made by the super-rich.

Capitalism is inhumane and irrational. A small number of huge corporations hold power and enrich themselves off the backs of everyone else — exploiting people and the environment to boost profits.

In 2008, Forbes magazine said 1125 billionaires existed worldwide and had a combined wealth of US$4.4 trillion. In comparison, the combined gross national product of all sub-Saharan African nations was just $987.1 billion.

In 2009, the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated that 1.09 billion people were undernourished worldwide. UNICEF said in 2005 that nearly 30,000 children die from hunger and preventable illness every day — almost 11 million a year.

But capitalist governments, like the United States, Britain and Australia, spend money on brutal wars and occupations to secure the world's natural resources. They feed big business, not the oppressed and hungry.

In 2008, $1.4 trillion was spent on the military worldwide. That's roughly $202 for every person in the world. But almost half the world's population live on less than $2 a day.

Even in rich countries like Australia, many people suffer severe social and economic disadvantage.

Young people pay a significant portion of the cost of a system that exploits and divides groups in society. They often struggle more financially and are entitled to less rights and protection.

Youth allowance is painfully below Australia's poverty line. Students are often forced to live in poverty to get through university, and access to education gets harder and more expensive all the time.

Living costs are rising for everyone, but rising rent prices and a severe lack of low-cost student accommodation affects an alarming number of young people.

A report released by the National Youth Commission in April 2008 said 36,000 people under 25, including 22,000 teenagers, are homeless on any given night. It also said half of them would be turned away from emergency shelter because of underfunding.

Unemployment is always higher for young people. And the work on offer is mostly in casual, low-paid jobs with poor conditions and few entitlements.

Despite all of the hardship so many ordinary people face, most have next to no say in how the country is run. Elections once every three or four years offer a choice between one pro-capitalist party over another. The federal Labor government of Kevin Rudd has proven to be little different to the loathed John Howard.

The real priorities of the capitalist system were revealed with the response to the “great financial crisis” that began at the end of September 2008.

In the US and Europe, billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money was suddenly found to bail out the corporations that helped cause the crisis.

Even though the future of the planet is at stake, we’re told it would be too expensive to rapidly move to a low carbon economy. But when it comes to saving this polluting, warmongering, oppressive and destructive system, the ruling elite is prepared to spend big.

There is so much that needs to change. And nothing short of radical action, that involves the majority of people, can put an end to the inequality, violence and environmental destruction that is inherent in capitalism.

Capitalism is powerful, but the people united are stronger. We need a revolutionary and democratic movement that can take power away from those ruining the planet for profit.

The revolutions sweeping Latin America, in countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba, are examples of what is possible when people are empowered to make decisions about their lives and society.

Working to create socialism of the 21st century, the achievements of ordinary people in these countries provides examples that show it’s possible to run society based on the principles of solidarity, equality and grassroots democracy.

The only way to end war and environmental destruction is to take power away from the warmongers and corporate polluters, and give it to the people.

The only way to end sexism, racism and homophobia is to take power away from those who benefit from it most, and give it to the oppressed.

That’s what being a socialist all is about. There is no better way of finding hope and making a difference than to get involved in a positive, constructive and organised rebellion against injustice — and joining Resistance is a good start.

[Jay Fletcher is a member of Resistance’s national executive.]

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