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Title: The Environmental Crisis Author: Workers’ Solidarity Federation Language: en Topics: class struggle, ecology, environment, South Africa, syndicalist, technology Source: Retrieved on January 1, 2005 from http://www.cat.org.au
The world is facing a very serious environmental crisis. Key
environmental problems include air pollution, the destruction of the
ozone layer, vast quantities of toxic waste, massive levels of soil
erosion, the possible exhaustion of key natural resources such as oil
and coal, and the extinction of plants and animals on a scale not seen
since the death of the dinosaurs 60 million years ago. We think that
this crisis is likely to have catastrophic effects in the future. Even
today, the negative effects of the crisis are evident in the form of
growing deserts, increased rates of cancer, and the loss of plant
species which could hold out cures for diseases for diseases such as
AIDS etc.
We disagree with those environmentalists who blame the crisis on modern
machine production. Many dangerous, environmentally destructive
technologies and substances (for example, coal power stations,
non-degradable plastics which do not rot in the ground) can be replaced
with safer and sustainable industrial technologies (for example, solar
technology, starch-based plastics). We think that modern forms of
production have many potential advantages over small-scale craft
production. Such as greatly increasing the number of essential products
like bricks produced, and freeing people from unpleasant toil. We also
disagree with the argument that says that workers and peasants cause the
crisis by consuming “too many” resources. Most goods consumed in the
world are consumed by the middle class and ruling class.
Instead, the real blame for the environmental crisis must be laid at the
door of capitalism and the State. These structures create massive levels
of inequality which are responsible for much ecological devastation.
How? The accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of the few is
associated with excessive and unjustifiable high levels of consumption
by the ruling elite. The poverty caused by the system also creates
environmental problems. For example, by forcing the poor to cut down
trees for firewood, exhaust the tiny bits of farm land that they own in
a desperate attempt to provide food, pollute rivers because they lack
proper plumbing facilities etc.
Capitalists also build many goods to break as soon as possible (forcing
people to buy replacements), thus resulting in unnecessary waste. Many
goods that are produced are deliberately destroyed in order to keep
prices up, such as the 200 million tons of grain stockpiled world-wide
in 1991. 3 million tons could have eliminated all famine in Africa that
year. Capitalists have developed safe, alternative technologies, which
can replace environmentally destructive processes and substances. But
they do not want to install these new technologies, or even proper
safety and monitoring equipment, because this costs money and cuts into
profits. They prefer to leave ordinary people to suffer pollution.
Capitalists also promote inefficient and resource-wasting products in
place of those which are more suited to sustaining the environment. For
example, they promote private car ownership (which consumes massive
amounts of petrol per person), in place of public transport systems
(which minimise fuel consumption).
The State defends and supports these practices. It does not want to
impose strong environmental protection laws in case this hampers
profit-making. In addition, the military activities of the State area
major cause of the environmental crisis. Massive amounts of resources
are wasted on the building the repressive arm of the State: world-wide,
about $900 billion dollars is spent on the military every year. Weapons
such as nuclear bombs have been developed which are capable of
destroying all life on earth. Often, the knowledge acquired in making
these weapons is applied to industry, resulting in very dangerous
technologies such as nuclear power (from research on nuclear bombs), and
pesticides (from research on chemical weapons).
We think that environmental issues are directly relevant to working
class, poor and working peasant people. These oppressed classes are the
main victims of the environmental crisis. It is the workers who have to
work in the factories that spew out toxic waste, who have to spray the
pesticides which poison the land and water. It is the communities of the
poor which are built next to the polluting industrial areas. It is the
working peasantry whose land is destroyed by soil erosion. The
environment is not just the veld and the wild animals, it is also where
people live and work. A safe environment is thus a basic need for the
masses. Only the masses have a direct and immediate interest in fighting
against the environmental crisis: the ruling class benefits directly
from the capitalist and State system which caused the crisis, and is
able to shield itself from many environmental hazards in its luxury
suburbs and air-conditioned boardrooms.
We therefore think that the way the environmental crisis must be dealt
with in a class-struggle manner. Clearly, capitalism and the State are
by their very nature destructive of the environment, and are thus a
potential threat to the very survival of life on Earth. It is only the
working masses, who are the main victims of the crisis, and who are the
only force capable of defeating the ruling class, which can halt the
environmental crisis.
In fact, because most environmental damage takes place at the point of
production (for example due to dangerous technologies, poor plant
maintenance, hazardous operating procedures, and poor worker training),
the powerful trade unions can play the key role in fighting for the
environment in the here-and-now. We have already seen in this in South
Africa where the Chemical Workers Industrial Union organised against the
importation of toxic waste by Thor Chemicals. In the long-term, the
trade unions can move beyond just defending the environment to saving
it, by taking over the factories, farms and mines and introducing safe
technologies.
A worker-peasant revolution will help the environment in several ways.
It will remove capitalism and the State, the main cause of the problems.
It will eliminate the wasteful and excessive consumption of the rich. It
will redistribute the land and end poverty. It will restructure
production in an environmentally sustainable manner.
In the immediate term, the Workers Solidarity Federation argues
forworkers in polluting factories to enforce safety rules and monitor
pollution. We support actions by workers and communities to reduce and
stop pollution. Where factories cannot be made safe, they should be
closed down, but their workers should get re-employed at the same pay
and skill levels in the same area. The environmental question needs to
be related to the issue of land redistribution by pointing to how the
legacy of racist land allocation in South Africa has resulted in the
ecological devastation of the homelands.
While we think that nature reserves should be retained, we recognise
that such reserves were often set up under Apartheid at the cost of poor
communities, resulting in much bitterness. Therefore we call for these
communities to have some access to grazing, dry wood and other
resources. We think that local communities should receive a portion of
the reserve’s earnings. We call for the unionisation of workers at such
facilities.
We oppose all testing of atomic, biological and chemical weapons in all
circumstances and support direct action and union campaigns against
these tests. We oppose the testing of medicines and other products on
animals. These practices are unnecessarily cruel, and scientifically
flawed as results obtained on one species (e.g. cats) are not applicable
to other species (e.g. humans). It is the oppressed classes who suffer
the effects of exposure to unsafe medicines.
We call for strike action against companies “strip mining” forests, in
order to force them to reforest and manage extraction. This preserves
both jobs and the environment. We call on unions to establish their own
environmental monitoring systems, and to publicise and organise actions
against companies that expose workers and the community at large to
toxic substances, pollution etc. Within unions, we raise the issue of
pressurising industry to use recycled products where necessary and to
find alternatives for products or by-products that harm the environment.
This should be backed by industrial action.