ONLINE EVENT - Climate Change is a Class Issue

The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is honoured to host Sarah Glynn and John Clarke to launch their book Climate Change is a Class Issue as the first installment in the school’s brand new webinar series!

The capitalist system, which sees everything in terms of profit, is exploiting the planet to destruction with the same ruthless logic that it exploits workers. The threat from climate change, and from capitalism’s treatment of the planet as an infinite resource, is so large that our societies seem afraid to confront it; but when we understand that this threat comes from the same capitalist forces that dominate our everyday lives, the way forward becomes clear. The fight against the system that is destroying our planet, is the same as the fight against the system that is producing ever more mind-boggling inequalities.

This small book – or booklet – is addressed, primarily, to a working-class audience because most books on climate change ignore working-class concerns; because the working class will be affected first and worst, despite being least responsible; and because the people most responsible for climate change are too vested in the current system to countenance significant disruption, while the combined power of the working class is the force that can bring the world to its senses.

All are welcome to join us for this special online book launch as we hear from the authors and discuss the pressing issues raised by the book. A free e-book is available now via climateandclass.net.

When: 14 January 2024 - 6pm (EST) - 11pm (GMT) - 12am* (CET) *15 Jan
Where: Online - via Zoom
How: Register for free to receive the Zoom link

Sarah Glynn is a writer and activist. She is now based in Strasbourg, where she works for the Kurdish Freedom Movement and writes a weekly column on Kurdish news. Sarah played a central role in the establishment and running of the Scottish Unemployed Workers’ Network (SUWN), which combined grassroots support with campaigning.

Sarah is author or author/editor of: Righting Welfare Wrongs: Dispatches and Analyses from the Front Line of the Fight against Austerity (for the SUWN, Glasgow: Common Print 2016), Byker: Newcastle upon Tyne (Canterbury: Categorical Books 2015), Class, Ethnicity and Religion: A political history of the Bengali East End (Manchester University Press 2014), and Where the other half lives: lower-income housing in a neoliberal world (London: Pluto Press 2009). She has also published many articles, both academic and popular, which you can find on her website: www.sarahglynn.net

John Clarke came to Canada from Britain in the late 1970s and settled in London, Ontario, where he became active in trade union struggles as well as the formation of a Union of unemployed workers. In 1990, John moved to Toronto to become an organizer with the newly formed Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP). He remained in this role for 28 years. In 2018, John was offered the position of Packer Visitor in Social Justice at Toronto’s York University. He is presently teaching a course (hosted by the LPSSE) for union and community activists.

John remains active in anti-poverty struggles and is part of an organization called 230 Fightback, which is resisting gentrification and fighting for social housing in Toronto’s Downtown East. He also writes regularly for various publications on a range of issues related to working class resistance and popular struggles.

We very much hope you’ll be available to join us to celebrate this very accessible and much needed new book!

In Solidarity,

The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education

Date:

Tuesday, January 14, 2025 - 15:00