Gene McGuckin, Member of the Vancouver Ecosocialists
After the Heat Dome Killings, What Is to Be Done?
Thursday, July 22, 2021
Greetings,
I am speaking to you this evening from the traditional territories of the Quay Quayt and Kwikwetlem First Nations in a place otherwise known as New Westminster, BC.
In a capitalist society, there is always a good explanation for your poverty, your meaningless job (if you have a job), your difficulties and your general unhappiness. You are to blame. It is your failure. After all, look at other people who do succeed. If only you had worked a little harder, studied a little more, made those sacrifices.
Haley Pessin interviews Benoit Renaud and Jessica Squires about the formation of a new activist organization in Quebec, Révolution écosocialist, which launched in December of last year. The organization is part of efforts to unite revolutionary socialists within the left-wing political party Québec solidaire and the radical social movements that have developed since the mass student strikes of 2012—the so-called Maple Spring.
Abstract: The capitalist system, driven at its core by the maximization of profit, regardless of social and ecological costs, is incompatible with a just and sustainable future. Ecosocialism offers a radical alternative that puts social and ecological well-being first.
[Webpage editor's note: One red-green position that challenges other red-greens on various questions, e.g., significance of Paris/COP, role for market mechanisms (carbon taxes), red? content of "transitional" demands, 'Blockadia'...]
Those of us who inhabit planet Earth in the 21st century face a huge problem. Our own species, homo sapiens (modern humans), are trashing the planet at an ever increasing and more destructive rate.
British Columbia is at the confluence of several crises: the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn; the ongoing housing, homelessness, and drug overdose crises; the climate and ecological crises; and the crisis of colonialism for indigenous peoples, which has been ongoing since the beginnings of settler society.
British Columbia is also in the throes of an election campaign. The election pits the BC NDP led by Premier John Horgan, against the BC Liberals led by Andrew Wilkinson, and the BC Green Party led by Sonia Furstenau.
TransLink has been cutting bus service for years. This Labour Day most cutbacks are in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond and North Vancouver.
Totally suspended until 2021 are Route Nos. 32, 44, 143, 258, and 480.
Frequency on other bus routes will be cut back by 10 to 33%. (Changing from every 10 mins to 15 mins or from every 20 mins to every 30 mins is a 33% cut.)
[Very interesting. I'm wondering when the other shoes might start dropping. Those shoes could include evolving employment insurance into a "benefit" too small to actually live on, thus forcing people to take low-wage jobs. Or, it might transform, slowly or quickly, into what right-wingers want--a catch-all payment that replaces free health care, education, and other social services, which can then be privatised and charge fees. Gene McGuckin - ecosocialistsvancouver.org]
