Capitalism

Click here for this leaflet distributed by Vancouver Ecosocialists.

Jan. 10, 2019

The Canadian right has taken symbolic and practical control over the carbon-tax debate. To understand the ease with which this has happened, just look at the significant differences between the yellow vest movement in France and the co-optation of those vests here with protests against Trudeau, carbon taxes, and immigration in this country.

December 31, 2018  

The onslaught of extreme weather and the increasingly stark scientific assessment leave no doubt that we face an ecological and civilizational emergency. But in the year since the 23rd annual Conference of the Parties (COP23) in Bonn, Germany, a constant stream of headlines and reports have confirmed that governments are not on track to meet their climate commitments.

There have been millions of conflicts that reflect the fundamental antagonism between the working class and capital: in workplaces, in politics, in most of the institutions that help make the system tick. Through struggles, workers, sometimes in alliance with peasants, have won markedly better working conditions, protective laws, extensive social welfare provisions, even, in a few cases, sweeping revolutionary transformations. They have fought against racism and sexism and the destruction of Mother Earth. Indeed, the working class has significantly changed the world.

December 14, 2018

The term “political revolution” is an odd one. Bernie Sanders never said that voting for him or building his campaign would overthrow capitalism (the traditional meaning of “revolution” in the socialist movement). The idea was radical but vague. It was rightly inspirational while what was actually asked of us was within the sphere of voting and elections, and in the Democratic Party at that.

The images from the streets of Paris over the past weeks are stark and poignant: thousands of angry protesters, largely representing the struggling French working class, resorting to mass civil unrest to express fear and frustration over a proposed new gas tax. For the moment, the protests have been successful. French President Emmanuel Macron backed off the new tax proposal, at least for six months. The popular uprising won, seemingly at the expense of the global fight against climate change and the future wellbeing of our planet.

December 12, 2018 

Thinking in siloes about the climate and about our planet’s people puts us at risk of increasing climate disruption and massive loss of life. This year the climate meeting, COP24, is in Katowice, Poland, from December 3 to December 14.

Prepared for: COP24, Katowice, Poland; December 3-14, 2018

After more than a decade of speeches and assurances from global elites, the “green growth” approach to climate protection has failed to make any meaningful progress in addressing the climate crisis. Renewable energy is on an upward course, but overall energy consumption has continued to rise even faster; as a result, fossil fuel use continues to expand, emissions continue to rise, and nearly every major country is off-track to meet their Paris commitments.

‘If you’ve got any wealth in Vancouver, you have to be fearful,’ says investor.

After Jean Swanson is done cleaning out the “dust and the mousetraps” from her new office in City Hall, she’s thinking of hanging two sheets of paper on the wall with words of guidance from her friend Kshama Sawant.