In their pursuit of profits at all costs, capitalist enterprises have long been at the centre of the brutal extraction and destruction of the natural world as well as the oppression and exploitation of billions of people.
One would be naive to believe that the delegates at last year’s COP27 summit had any intention of taking radical, coordinated, urgent action to avert climate catastrophe and realise climate justice. As the summit sat in Egypt, the clock continued to tick on the time bomb manufactured by capitalism, colonial plunder and imperialism.
This clock has been ticking since the first COP summit sat in 1995 and again and again it has fallen on the deaf ears of the capitalist class and the states which protect their interests.
As the gears of capital have continued to turn, the levels of carbon in the atmosphere have continued to rise. Average global temperatures, sea levels and the frequency of extreme weather events have risen in step. In their pursuit of profits at all costs, capitalist enterprises have long been at the centre of the brutal extraction and destruction of the natural world as well as the oppression and exploitation of billions of people.
As a direct result, our planet now faces the threat of total collapse while all our people find themselves thrown into one of the most decisive moments of human history.
Those who have paid little to no part in the creation of the climate crisis will be most affected by it, with the disproportionate impact exacerbating existing inequalities.
The effects of rising global temperatures are visible and alarming.
Extreme weather events and the increasing frequency of natural disasters are already here. In 2021, the total number of registered internal displacements increased by 38 million, 23.7 million of which were triggered by natural disasters.
In South Africa last year, devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal caused mass death and destruction. Just a few months ago, 33 million people in Pakistan were affected by enormous floods which submerged a third of the entire country. Consequently, millions of people were displaced. As natural regulating factors like the oceans and forests are ravaged by industry and continue to collapse, the changes to the climate will become more rapid, unpredictable and disastrous.
Across Africa, the effects of climate change and the extractive activities which drive it are causing devastation to the lives of millions.
The tropical forests in the Congo Basin, the second largest in the world, are decreasing ...