I listened to excerpts of Donald Trump telling a screaming crowd of
supporters how successful his first 100 days were, and how much he has
accomplished. Although I believe that the worst is yet to come, what
Trump claimed to have accomplished is mostly hot air. After soundly
trashing the Mass Media, a lashing they richly deserve, but still,
it's the same Media that sucked up his every move and trotted his name
out before the public until the name Trump was so ingrained in folks
heads that they reached out and their hands automatically went to the
Trump lever, after damning them, Trump then told his fans the "real
facts".
What seems to be happening is that we are moving away from the
artificial economy we've created, into an even more unreal world,
created in the head of Donald Trump. There is only two possible
outcomes. Either Trump will drive this out of control presidency over
a cliff and destroy the world economy, or the working class will rise
up and remove the burden of wealth from the billionaires.
But for the moment, the cheering, wild crowds of "True Trump
Believers" ring in my ears.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/30/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://socialistaction.org/2017/04/28/how-can-we-fight-climate-change-all-out-for-the-april-29-climate-march/
How can we fight climate change? All out for the April 29 Climate March!
/ 2 days ago
May 2016 Global justiceBy BILL ONASCH
On the eve of the April 29 People’s Climate Mobilization in Washington
and other cities, Bill Onasch describes what working people and the
labor movement must do in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects
of climate change.
The working class faces challenges on many fronts today. But one crisis
is overarching. On both land and sea, Northern and Southern Hemispheres
alike, our planet is getting hotter. The scale and pace of this global
warming is unprecedented in human history. The last three years have
been the hottest since precise measurements began in the 1880s.
This heat is expanding the volume of oceans. Along with melting sea and
glacial ice in the Arctic, Antarctic, and Greenland, this is raising sea
levels. If not stopped soon it will eventually inundate coastal areas
that are home to hundreds of millions. The New York City penthouse at
Trump Tower would remain dry—but by 2050 the tip of Manhattan, including
Southport, Battery Park, and much of the World Trade Center would be
submerged.
Familiar weather patterns are being disrupted, leading to severe
droughts in some areas and giant floods in others. In February, 11,743
local record warm daily temperatures were recorded just in the United
States. The world has been hit by ferocious storms, like Cyclone Debbie
in Australia, and massive wildfires such as the recent one in Kansas
that killed thousands of livestock, consumed all of the hay supply, and
destroyed hundreds of farm structures.
In some regions of the world, such as eastern Africa, this early-stage
climate change has resulted in famine—and numerous climate refugees.
Pernicious liars like the president of the United States assert that
climate change resulting from global warming is a hoax, variously
attributed to either greedy climate scientists bilking tax-payers or the
Chinese government trying to wreck our economy.
Other deniers don’t challenge the validity of thermometer and sea level
readings but insist this is a natural cycle of our planet that will
eventually get back to what we consider normal. They see no cause for
alarm or need for drastic changes. In any case, they say there’s nothing
we can do to stop Mother Nature.
But the overwhelming majority of scientists accept irrefutable evidence
that the principal cause of global warming is the release of greenhouse
gases by the ravenous energy demands of industry, agriculture,
transportation—and war.
These emissions are still growing. The damage this causes to the fragile
biosphere that has nourished human civilization is irreversible. While
its worst effects will be felt by future generations, climate change has
been advancing faster than expected and requires urgent and far-reaching
countermeasures.
How capitalism fouls things up
After steam engines fueled by wood and coal gave a big boost to the
18th-century Industrial Revolution, the capitalist economy became
increasingly addicted to fossil fuels. Since the first modern oil wells
began pumping in Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, in 1859, the United States,
Britain, and other major powers have been exploring and conquering on
land and in the sea to satisfy the thirst of diesel, internal
combustion, and jet engines, as well as for raw material for production
of petrochemical products like plastic.
For some time now, the U.S. has had more registered cars and trucks than
licensed drivers. Big new markets have been carved out for products like
snowmobiles, all terrain vehicles, and motor homes. Once serene lakes
are now battered by racket and wakes of ubiquitous motorboats and jet
skis. And we shouldn’t forget those dirty, noisy two-stroke engines
commonly used to mow lawns.
While plug-in electric cars are now starting to appear, nearly 99
percent of the auto industry is still cranking out fossil-fueled cars
and trucks. More than 900,000 American workers are directly involved in
making parts and assembling these vehicles. Millions more earn a
paycheck by selling, maintaining, repairing, insuring—and ultimately
scrapping them. Hundreds of thousands of others are employed in building
and maintenance of highways and city streets. And, of course, auto is a
prime customer for the steel, rubber, and glass industries.
With zero redeeming social benefit, the fighters, bombers, tanks, cruise
missiles, and drones used in constant wars of intervention to advance
the interests of capitalist Globalization are also a huge greenhouse
polluter.
Of course, it has never been the intention of the capitalists to wreck
our biosphere. That’s collateral damage in the class war they wage,
which has made today’s American ruling class the richest in history.
Some of them favor measures they hope will slow down global warming so
that the next generations can figure out something better.
The bosses and bankers mainly promote ineffective schemes like carbon
price, carbon tax, and carbon offsets, which have been widely used since
the Kyoto Accords were adopted in 1997—but never implemented by Clinton
or Bush II.
Obama’s much hailed “Clean Power” initiative—which Trump is now trying
to dismantle—was the first American contribution to world efforts to
adopt goals to reduce carbon emissions. It was mainly based on inducing
many power plants to convert from coal to somewhat less carbon-polluting
natural gas. This hasn’t happened out of climate concerns by the
utilities. Gas has become cheaper than coal—mainly because of Obama’s
promotion of environmentally destructive hydraulic fracturing (fracking.)
“Clean Power” also relied on the cooperation of states to develop carbon
markets and quotas—much like Obama’s Affordable Care Act counted on
states doing the right thing. And because this “historic” plan was
introduced through an executive order, it can be modified and perhaps
even nullified by order of the current Denier-in-Chief.
Real solutions are available
Since burning fossil fuels is the main culprit in creating the
greenhouse effect driving climate change, a total solution is simple and
obvious—quit burning them, leave them in the ground. We in fact don’t
need them. There are clean, renewable energy sources available free for
the taking everywhere on Earth—sun, wind, and water.
We can replace dirty, inefficient internal combustion and diesel engines
that consume fossil fuel with electric motors. We can conserve energy
and reap many other ecological benefits by reversing urban sprawl,
reclaiming the forests, wetlands, and farm lands that once surrounded
and nurtured many of our cities before being wrecked by irresponsible
“development.”
To facilitate population return to our depleted, long neglected urban
cores will require using craft workers now building pipelines and
fracking wells to be put to work rebuilding and renovating quality
affordable housing and a sustainable infrastructure. Safe, reliable,
electric-powered mass transit would be a high priority project.
Climate change is a global crisis. No country can escape its impact—not
even the U.S., the richest country in history. A large part of this
American wealth—of which the lion’s share is controlled by about
one-tenth of one percent of our population—is accumulated through
exploitation of other nations, leaving them “underdeveloped” and
polluted. There is not only a moral obligation but also a vital
self-interest for the world economy to finance climate stabilization
projects in the poorest countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
But we need to offer more than money—it’s also essential to lead by
example in action. Sustainable restructuring of the world’s biggest
economy can convince the whole world that there is now a road to
development far superior to our history marked by unintended ecological
destruction.
But we need a plan—pronto
When American capitalism decided to go all-in for the Second World War,
they didn’t try to induce industry to build unprecedented numbers of
ships, planes, and tanks through tax credits or other fiscal and market
measures. Instead, the government essentially took control of the entire
economy and dictated products and production quotas. This project of Big
Government was the most successful crash mobilization of economic
resources in history.
To be sure, this is a far from perfect analogy. The end use of that
production led to 70 million deaths and the beginning of the era of
nuclear war. We want to end wars and war spending, not make them bigger
or more efficient.
Nor is it realistic to expect a capitalist government to carry out such
planned economy to combat climate change. The capitalists were rewarded
handsomely for their compliance with the government’s World War II plan,
and the U.S. victory led to opening up vast new markets to U.S.
domination—which from their point of view made the slaughter and
destruction more than acceptable. They will not make any sacrifices to
eliminate the most important sources of profit.
The only force in society with both the potential power and material
interest to challenge destructive capitalist rule is the working-class
majority. With the same sense of wartime urgency, our class that does
nearly all the work, in alliance with scientists and environmentalists,
can take charge of a planned rapid restructuring of a sustainable
economy and run it democratically.
Some hopeful signs from labor
The only class-based mass organizations in the USA are the trade unions.
This movement has long been divided over climate and environmental
issues. But today a number of important national unions are educating
and mobilizing their members around climate as well as class justice.
Those making that connection include the Amalgamated Transit Union,
American Federation of Teachers, American Postal Workers, Communications
Workers of America, National Nurses United, Service Employees
International Union, and the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers.
Some of these unions are part of the labor/environmental Blue Green
Alliance. All are affiliated with the Labor Network for Sustainability,
which is doing valuable work in hammering out a program for “Making a
Living On a Living Planet.”
Most have also joined the global Trade Unions for Energy Democracy.
Among other demands, TUED favors socialization of all energy under
worker management—a goal Socialist Action heartily supports. But to
secure the needed massive restructuring plan, we think socialization
will need to also include at the very least the financial and
transportation sectors and, because of its central importance, the auto
industry as well.
Both the LNS and TUED strongly support the application of Just
Transition—a topic of an article in the February issue of this
newspaper. This long standing working-class principle holds that when
workers lose their livelihood for the better good of society we have a
collective obligation to give them income, retraining, and relocation
support until they can find suitable new jobs.
Unlike Trump’s phony promise of putting miners back to work digging
coal, we can honestly and confidently guarantee Just Transition to the
millions of workers who will be affected as we replace climate-wrecking
jobs with sustainable ones. At the same time as we save our biosphere,
we will generate full employment with a decent standard of living for
generations.
As the working class replaces the present capitalist ruling class, we
can use some of their ill-gotten wealth to also provide generous
solidarity grants to nations exploited by the old rules, so that they
too can be part of making a decent living on a healing planet.
This, of course, won’t be done overnight. While climate change
relentlessly advances, the struggles for both climate and class justice
are in their early stages. There are no short cuts. We need to continue
to educate and motivate around the urgent need for climate action while
helping the working class recover from class identity theft. Periodic
mass demonstrations, along with education in union halls and workplace
break rooms, and teach-ins on college campuses, remain essential
Scientists and environmentalists have done their job well in explaining
the climate crisis and offering ways to satisfactorily resolve it. But
the necessary alternatives require taking political power away from the
climate-wrecking class. That won’t be done until the working class
breaks the two-party political monopoly that allows this tiny
destructive minority to rule. The need for a mass working-class party in
the United States—likely arising from our unions—is every bit as urgent
as the climate crisis itself.
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April 28, 2017 in Environment, Labor.
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