The Climate Crisis is a Crisis of Capitalism, driven by the same mentality of greed and accumulation which is responsible for the ruthless exploitation of workers. Yet it is the poor, the working classes and the most marginalised who will be most impacted by the Climate Crisis.
"And this seething anger at climate injustice, energy injustice, environmental injustice and economic injustice in all their racial, gender and class manifestations, still occurring 27 years into our democracy at the world’s most extreme levels, is justified. Socio-economic degeneracy now worsening under capitalism’s climate crisis is the central reason why we in SAFTU are socialists, and why we encourage the rest of the society to look hard at whether we owe it to ourselves and our future generations to rapidly transcend the capitalist mode of production, the way other prior generations replaced outmoded feudalism with capitalism."
Download and read the full submission by SAFTU to the SA Government Climate Secretariat on the Nationally Determined Contribution here.
The Climate Crisis is a Crisis of Capitalism, driven by the same mentality of greed and accumulation which is responsible for the ruthless exploitation of workers. Yet it is the poor, the working classes and the most marginalised who will be most impacted by the Climate Crisis.
Karl Marx wrote that under Capitalism, "The executive of the modern state is nothing but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie." The South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, which routinely places the interests of mining and energy corporations above workers, communities and the planet, is a prime example of this. In September of 2021, GIWUSA President Mametlwe Sebei co-authored an article on the need to completely uproot our archaic energy and mining regime. (Free pdf available here)
Also in September of 2021, thousands of youth activists, civil society organisations, trade unions, grassroots and community-based organisations participated in actions across the country, in line with the campaign to fundamentally transform the DMRE and dismantle the Capitalist, extractivist mining industry.
On the 5th of June 2020, World Environment Day, the Climate Justice Coalition launched a campaign for a Green New Eskom. A digital rally was held to mark the launch of the campaign, with GIWUSA President Mametlwe Sebei in attendance as a speaker, to convey the support of GIWUSA.
The Green New Eskom campaign is a response to the fact that Eskom's old, unreliable and unsustainable coal-fired power stations, along with massive corruption, have plunged the country into rolling blackouts, sent electricity prices soaring and is deepening the Climate Crisis.
We are in dire need of a transformed Eskom which provides affordable, reliable and clean energy. This is a crucial component of a deep just transition towards a more socially-owned, renewable energy future. Download the booklet for more information on the Green New Eskom campaign.
In September 2019, SAFTU held a Climate Justice demonstration outside the Department of Energy. GIWUSA President Mametlwe Sebei addressed the protest and stressed that the Climate Crisis is first and foremost an an issue of the working class. And one that is not a natural disaster.
"It is those same parasites who are living off your sweat and your blood who are destroying the only planet where we can live."
This demonstration occured in the context of the worst draught on record in South African history, along with the displacement of Climate refugees on the African continent, which is ongoing even today. This is directly caused by a warming planet and the devestation brought about by this crisis is primarily felt by the working classes and the most vulnerable. The science is clear: if we do not dismantle the systems of Capitalism and Imperialism which have manufactured the Climate Crisis, it will lead to the ruination of the only planet we have.
It's Capitalism or the Planet!
On April 14 2021, at the Global Just Recovery Gathering, both Alex Lenferna of the Climate Justice Coalition and GIWUSA President Mametlwe Sebei were hosted for a workshop which centred around the crucial task of building coalitions between organised labour and the forces of Climate Justice.
The workshop reviewed reports from the Labour Network for Sustainability (LNS) and 350 South Africa. It allowed for joint reflection on experiences, in both South Africa and the United States, in building Labour-Climate coalitions within a common struggle against the destructive logic of Capitalism.
A coalition of civil society organisations, community-based organisations, trade unions and grassroot organisations.
For more on the Climate Justice Coalition, visit the 350 Africa.org website on the coalition. Click below to visit our webpage on this crucial front in the war we wage against Capitalist exploitation.
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