> Date: Saturday, 17 January, 2009, 2:11 PM
> Belem Ecosocialist Declaration: A Call for Signatures
> December 16, 2008
>
> This Declaration was prepared by a committee elected at the
> Paris
> Ecosocialist Conference of 2007 (Ian Angus, Joel Kovel,
> Michael Löwy), with
> the help of Danielle Follett. It will be distributed at the
> World Social
> Forum in Belem, Brazil, in January 2009.
>
> The Belem Ecosocialist Declaration
>
> ³The world is suffering from a fever due to climate
> change,
> and the disease is the capitalist development model.²
> ‹ Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, September 2007
>
> Humanity¹s Choice
>
> Humanity today faces a stark choice: ecosocialism or
> barbarism.
>
> We need no more proof of the barbarity of capitalism, the
> parasitical system
> that exploits humanity and nature alike. Its sole motor is
> the imperative
> toward profit and thus the need for constant growth. It
> wastefully creates
> unnecessary products, squandering the environment¹s
> limited resources and
> returning to it only toxins and pollutants. Under
> capitalism, the only
> measure of success is how much more is sold every day,
> every week, every
> year involving the creation of vast quantities of
> products that are
> directly harmful to both humans and nature, commodities
> that cannot be
> produced without spreading disease, destroying the forests
> that produce the
> oxygen we breathe, demolishing ecosystems, and treating our
> water, air and
> soil like sewers for the disposal of industrial waste.
>
> Capitalism¹s need for growth exists on every level, from
> the individual
> enterprise to the system as a whole. The insatiable hunger
> of corporations
> is facilitated by imperialist expansion in search of ever
> greater access to
> natural resources, cheap labor and new markets. Capitalism
> has always been
> ecologically destructive, but in our lifetimes these
> assaults on the earth
> have accelerated. Quantitative change is giving way to
> qualitative
> transformation, bringing the world to a tipping point, to
> the edge of
> disaster. A growing body of scientific research has
> identified many ways in
> which small temperature increases could trigger
> irreversible, runaway
> effects such as rapid melting of the Greenland ice sheet
> or the release of
> methane buried in permafrost and beneath the ocean that
> would make
> catastrophic climate change inevitable.
>
> Left unchecked, global warming will have devastating
> effects on human,
> animal and plant life. Crop yields will drop drastically,
> leading to famine
> on a broad scale. Hundreds of millions of people will be
> displaced by
> droughts in some areas and by rising ocean levels in
> others. Chaotic,
> unpredictable weather will become the norm. Air, water and
> soil will be
> poisoned. Epidemics of malaria, cholera and even deadlier
> diseases will hit
> the poorest and most vulnerable members of every society.
>
> The impact of the ecological crisis is felt most severely
> by those whose
> lives have already been ravaged by imperialism in Asia,
> Africa, and Latin
> America, and indigenous peoples everywhere are especially
> vulnerable.
> Environmental destruction and climate change constitute an
> act of aggression
> by the rich against the poor.
>
> Ecological devastation, resulting from the insatiable need
> to increase
> profits, is not an accidental feature of capitalism: it is
> built into the
> system¹s DNA and cannot be reformed away. Profit-oriented
> production only
> considers a short-term horizon in its investment decisions,
> and cannot take
> into account the long-term health and stability of the
> environment. Infinite
> economic expansion is incompatible with finite and fragile
> ecosystems, but
> the capitalist economic system cannot tolerate limits on
> growth; its
> constant need to expand will subvert any limits that might
> be imposed in the
> name of ³sustainable development.² Thus the inherently
> unstable capitalist
> system cannot regulate its own activity, much less overcome
> the crises
> caused by its chaotic and parasitical growth, because to do
> so would require
> setting limits upon accumulation an unacceptable option
> for a system
> predicated upon the rule: Grow or Die!
>
> If capitalism remains the dominant social order, the best
> we can expect is
> unbearable climate conditions, an intensification of social
> crises and the
> spread of the most barbaric forms of class rule, as the
> imperialist powers
> fight among themselves and with the global south for
> continued control of
> the world¹s diminishing resources.
>
> At worst, human life may not survive.
>
> Capitalist Strategies for Change
>
> There is no lack of proposed strategies for contending with
> ecological ruin,
> including the crisis of global warming looming as a result
> of the reckless
> increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The great majority
> of these
> strategies share one common feature: they are devised by
> and on behalf of
> the dominant global system, capitalism.
>
> It is no surprise that the dominant global system which is
> responsible for
> the ecological crisis also sets the terms of the debate
> about this crisis,
> for capital commands the means of production of knowledge,
> as much as that
> of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Accordingly, its
> politicians, bureaucrats,
> economists and professors send forth an endless stream of
> proposals, all
> variations on the theme that the world¹s ecological damage
> can be repaired
> without disruption of market mechanisms and of the system
> of accumulation
> that commands the world economy.
>
> But a person cannot serve two masters the integrity of
> the earth and the
> profitability of capitalism. One must be abandoned, and
> history leaves
> little question about the allegiances of the vast majority
> of policy-makers.
> There is every reason, therefore, to radically doubt the
> capacity of
> established measures to check the slide to ecological
> catastrophe.
>
> And indeed, beyond a cosmetic veneer, the reforms over the
> past thirty-five
> years have been a monstrous failure. Isolated improvements
> do of course
> occur, but they are inevitably overwhelmed and swept away
> by the ruthless
> expansion of the system and the chaotic character of its
> production.
>
> One example demonstrates the failure: in the first four
> years of the 21st
> Century, global carbon emissions were nearly three times as
> great per annum
> as those of the decade of the 1990s, despite the appearance
> of the Kyoto
> Protocols in 1997.
>
> Kyoto employs two devices: the ³Cap and Trade² system of
> trading pollution
> credits to achieve certain reductions in emissions, and
> projects in the
> global south the so-called ³Clean Development
> Mechanisms² to offset
> emissions in the highly industrialized nations. These
> instruments all rely
> upon market mechanisms, which means, first of all, that
> atmospheric carbon
> dioxide becomes a commodity under the control of the same
> interests that
> created global warming. Polluters are not compelled to
> reduce their carbon
> emissions, but allowed to use their power over money to
> control the carbon
> market for their own ends, which include the devastating
> exploration for yet
> more carbon-based fuels. Nor is there a limit to the amount
> of emission
> credits which can be issued by compliant governments.
>
> Since verification and evaluation of results are
> impossible, the Kyoto
> regime is not only incapable of controlling emissions, it
> also provides
> ample opportunities for evasion and fraud of all kinds. As
> even the Wall
> Street Journal put it in March, 2007, emissions trading
> ³would make money
> for some very large corporations, but don¹t believe for a
> minute that this
> charade would do much about global warming.²
>
> The Bali climate meetings in 2007 opened the way for even
> greater abuses in
> the period ahead. Bali avoided any mention of the goals for
> drastic carbon
> reduction put forth by the best climate science (90% by
> 2050); it abandoned
> the peoples of the global south to the mercy of capital by
> giving
> jurisdiction over the process to the World Bank; and made
> offsetting of
> carbon pollution even easier.
>
> In order to affirm and sustain our human future, a
> revolutionary
> transformation is needed, where all particular struggles
> take part in a
> greater struggle against capital itself. This larger
> struggle cannot remain
> merely negative and anti-capitalist. It must announce and
> build a different
> kind of society, and this is ecosocialism.
>
> The Ecosocialist Alternative
>
> The ecosocialist movement aims to stop and to reverse the
> disastrous process
> of global warming in particular and of capitalist ecocide
> in general, and to
> construct a radical and practical alternative to the
> capitalist system.
> Ecosocialism is grounded in a transformed economy founded
> on the
> non-monetary values of social justice and ecological
> balance. It criticizes
> both capitalist ³market ecology² and productivist
> socialism, which ignored
> the earth¹s equilibrium and limits. It redefines the path
> and goal of
> socialism within an ecological and democratic framework.
>
> Ecosocialism involves a revolutionary social
> transformation, which will
> imply the limitation of growth and the transformation of
> needs by a profound
> shift away from quantitative and toward qualitative
> economic criteria, an
> emphasis on use-value instead of exchange-value.
>
> These aims require both democratic decision-making in the
> economic sphere,
> enabling society to collectively define its goals of
> investment and
> production, and the collectivization of the means of
> production. Only
> collective decision-making and ownership of production can
> offer the
> longer-term perspective that is necessary for the balance
> and sustainability
> of our social and natural systems.
>
> The rejection of productivism and the shift away from
> quantitative and
> toward qualitative economic criteria involve rethinking the
> nature and goals
> of production and economic activity in general. Essential
> creative,
> non-productive and reproductive human activities, such as
> householding,
> child-rearing, care, child and adult education, and the
> arts, will be key
> values in an ecosocialist economy.
>
> Clean air and water and fertile soil, as well as universal
> access to
> chemical-free food and renewable, non-polluting energy
> sources, are basic
> human and natural rights defended by ecosocialism. Far from
> being
> ³despotic,² collective policy-making on the local,
> regional, national and
> international levels amounts to society¹s exercise of
> communal freedom and
> responsibility. This freedom of decision constitutes a
> liberation from the
> alienating economic ³laws² of the growth-oriented
> capitalist system.
>
> To avoid global warming and other dangers threatening
> human and ecological
> survival, entire sectors of industry and agriculture must
> be suppressed,
> reduced, or restructured and others must be developed,
> while providing full
> employment for all. Such a radical transformation is
> impossible without
> collective control of the means of production and
> democratic planning of
> production and exchange. Democratic decisions on investment
> and
> technological development must replace control by
> capitalist enterprises,
> investors and banks, in order to serve the long-term
> horizon of society¹s
> and nature¹s common good.
>
> The most oppressed elements of human society, the poor and
> indigenous
> peoples, must take full part in the ecosocialist
> revolution, in order to
> revitalize ecologically sustainable traditions and give
> voice to those whom
> the capitalist system cannot hear. Because the peoples of
> the global south
> and the poor in general are the first victims of capitalist
> destruction,
> their struggles and demands will help define the contours
> of the
> ecologically and economically sustainable society in
> creation. Similarly,
> gender equality is integral to ecosocialism, and women¹s
> movements have been
> among the most active and vocal opponents of capitalist
> oppression. Other
> potential agents of ecosocialist revolutionary change exist
> in all
> societies.
>
> Such a process cannot begin without a revolutionary
> transformation of social
> and political structures based on the active support, by
> the majority of the
> population, of an ecosocialist program. The struggle of
> labour workers,
> farmers, the landless and the unemployed for social
> justice is inseparable
> from the struggle for environmental justice. Capitalism,
> socially and
> ecologically exploitative and polluting, is the enemy of
> nature and of
> labour alike.
>
> Ecosocialism proposes radical transformations in:
>
>
>
> 1. the energy system, by replacing carbon-based fuels and
> biofuels with
> clean sources of power under community control: wind,
> geothermal, wave, and
> above all, solar power.
> 2. the transportation system, by drastically reducing the
> use of private
> trucks and cars, replacing them with free and efficient
> public
> transportation;
> 3. present patterns of production, consumption, and
> building, which are
> based on waste, inbuilt obsolescence, competition and
> pollution, by
> producing only sustainable and recyclable goods and
> developing green
> architecture;
> 4. food production and distribution, by defending local
> food sovereignty
> as far as this is possible, eliminating polluting
> industrial agribusinesses,
> creating sustainable agro-ecosystems and working actively
> to renew soil
> fertility.
>
> To theorize and to work toward realizing the goal of green
> socialism does
> not mean that we should not also fight for concrete and
> urgent reforms right
> now. Without any illusions about ³clean capitalism,² we
> must work to impose
> on the powers that be governments, corporations,
> international
> institutions some elementary but essential immediate
> changes:
>
>
>
> * drastic and enforceable reduction in the emission of
> greenhouse gases,
> * development of clean energy sources,
> * provision of an extensive free public transportation
> system,
> * progressive replacement of trucks by trains,
> * creation of pollution clean-up programs,
> * elimination of nuclear energy, and war spending.
>
> These and similar demands are at the heart of the agenda of
> the Global
> Justice movement and the World Social Forums, which have
> promoted, since
> Seattle in 1999, the convergence of social and
> environmental movements in a
> common struggle against the capitalist system.
>
> Environmental devastation will not be stopped in conference
> rooms and treaty
> negotiations: only mass action can make a difference. Urban
> and rural
> workers, peoples of the global south and indigenous peoples
> everywhere are
> at the forefront of this struggle against environmental and
> social
> injustice, fighting exploitative and polluting
> multinationals, poisonous and
> disenfranchising agribusinesses, invasive genetically
> modified seeds,
> biofuels that only aggravate the current food crisis. We
> must further these
> social-environmental movements and build solidarity between
> anticapitalist
> ecological mobilizations in the North and the South.
>
> This Ecosocialist Declaration is a call to action. The
> entrenched ruling
> classes are powerful, yet the capitalist system reveals
> itself every day
> more financially and ideologically bankrupt, unable to
> overcome the
> economic, ecological, social, food and other crises it
> engenders. And the
> forces of radical opposition are alive and vital. On all
> levels, local,
> regional and international, we are fighting to create an
> alternative system
> based in social and ecological justice.
>
> * * * * *
>
> ³We, the undersigned, endorse the analysis and political
> perspectives
> outlined in the Belem Ecosocialist Declaration, and support
> the
> establishment and building of an Ecosocialist International
> Network.²
>
>
>
> * Ian Angus, Canada
> * Joel Kovel, USA
> * Michael Löwy, France
> * Danielle Follett, France
>
> (To add your name to the list of signatories, email your
> name and country
> of residence to [email protected])
>
> <*>
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