Climate Crisis And Democratic Movement
By Farooque Chowdhury
15 August, 2010
Countercurrents.org
Climate crisis (CC), an output of capitals’ accumulation process, is in the agenda of democratic movement in all hemispheres. Climate skeptics’ powerful propaganda is backed by a section of capital with shrewd brains to lobby and stronger arms to manipulate. Despite their propaganda CC induced changing weather pattern and altering coast lines are having implications in geography, economy, society, and are influencing people’s struggle for survival, part of democratic struggle.
As the mother earth is facing a future unknown a Great Migration is in the offing, economies are going to take brunt of a planetary crisis to the level never experienced by this earth system, life on this now-not-so-green-planet is in peril, The coming climate conflicts and incidents, is apprehended, will have no parallel in the annals of this earth. These will be affecting peoples’ lives and livelihood. Hence democratic struggle cannot ignore the issue of climate crisis.
Climate crisis is ultimately the product of this unequal world system that directly stands against all the people in the world. Climate imperialism is worsening the climate situation, and hindering any type of progress in finding out steps to face the crisis. On the other hand, a section of capital, the cleverer section, is seeking strong and smart energy and climate policies that help that capital win “clean” energy race, increase competitiveness so that it can emerge stronger and climate imperialism’s energy, economic and national securities improve. This section of capital is trying to accumulate from climate crisis market.
This reality is a part of the perspective of the present day democratic struggle, global and within national boundaries, as the climate victim is, as Chavez referred in Copenhagen, “the crushed countries, as if a train ran over us in history.” Climate imperialism’s all out thrust is to materialize the dream at the cost of this planet.
Economy, and environment, ecology and climate spaces are inseparable, and these are inseparable from politics. The links between these are inviolable. Unequal distribution, high carbon emission by the absolute minority classes, harder life for the energy-poor majority classes, and absence of the majority’s participation in decision making process aggravates the climate crisis reality, a reality in essence the same from the metropolis of the world system to the emerging economies with their rising nouveau rich to the poor economies dominated by plundering lumpen capital: appropriate, squander, destroy. This influences, at core, people’s endeavor for democracy, democratic life, and democratic movement as people loose control and right over public property, as people’s voices are muzzled down by the plundering masters, as people are dispersed from their domain, as they loose survival space, as people have no access to decision making process in areas that affect and is affected by climate.
The global climate crisis reality is not less cruel: a global system ever-thirsty for non-renewable resources leading to subversions, wars, and invasions, and ultimately crippling people’s effort to build a peaceful and prosperous life. Climate crisis not only deeply and gravely, but also irreversibly impacts lives of common people, especially those primarily depending on nature and environment including farmers, fishers, and persons relying on forest and marine resources. Ordinary persons’ spaces for livelihood get narrowed down as plunderers and encroachers intrude and skim the public property including forests and rivers. This act of trespass and plundering increases pressures on climate already under crisis.
Geopolitics, and ruling elites’ relationship with the world system impact on, and make difficult, sometimes make it impossible, people’s capacity to cope with climate crisis. Appeasements are made and bargaining positions are compromised in exchange of elites’ interests. Climate diplomacy bears evidences to the appeasements with and sale offs to climate imperialism.
Elitist approach to climate crisis and people’s approach are fundamentally different: one depends on intrigues, bribes, coercion, while the other stands on people’s democratic rights and duties.
These aspects have made the climate crisis issue an integral part of program for democratic struggle. The pressing climate situation thus makes it an imperative to include climate related demands in the program for democratic struggle.
The historic World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, held in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba in mid-April and hosted by the Plurinational State of Bolivia, showed that Bolivia is not betraying people. Democracy makes betraying people impossible. Democracy, direct participation of people in an atmosphere free from vested interest influence, is one of the tools for facing climate crisis. The crisis cannot be faced without mobilizing people and their participation, a task of democratic struggle. No sphere, from local to global, should be devoid of democracy. “The only thing that can save mankind from a [climate] tragedy is the exercise of global democracy,” said Pablo Solon, Bolivia’s United Nations ambassador.
All democratic struggles, struggles opposed to climate imperialism, share this fight as peoples’ fight for a better life cannot be betrayed, and humanity’s survival space cannot be lost. It is the urgent task, the foremost task.
The urgency for saving humanity, a task democratic struggle cannot forsake, was pronounced by Chavez in the climate conference hall in Copenhagen: “It’s up to us, raising the banners of Christ, Mohammed, equality, love, justice, humanity, the true and most profound humanism. If we don’t do it, the most wonderful creation of the universe, the human being, will disappear….We are capable of not making this Earth the tomb of humanity. Let us make this earth a heaven, a heaven of life, of peace, peace and brotherhood for all humanity, for the human species.”
[Farooque Chowdhury, a freelancer from Dhaka, contributes on socio-economic and geopolitical issues. He edited the book Micro Credit, myth manufactured. The Age of Crisis is his latest book.]
