With global north leaders meeting in Glasgow to greenwash the climate crisis, we still need a Plan C. This leaflet was distributed at the London demonstration on 6th November 2021. A PDF version is available to download at the end of this article.
PLAN A IS KILLING US.
Over the past 400 years, capitalist exploitation of labour and nature in pursuit of profit has been catastrophic for both.
The governments of rich nations are recognising that as more of the world becomes uninhabitable there will be millions more refugees. Their response is more militarised borders and more incarceration. A system of exploitation is becoming even more brutal.
Capitalist companies and their shareholders have belatedly recognised that climate change is a serious threat to the continuation of their system of profit. They are hoping to greenwash their operations enough to take advantage of the coming disaster while preserving enough stability for survival. Their vision of a new world retains all the old world’s colonialism, exploitation and prioritisation of profit.
PLAN B WON’T SAVE US.
If we rely on a model where we ask the Government politely for small changes, we will not avert this disaster. For years we’ve marched, protested, and written to the papers, and they haven’t listened to us because they depend on capitalist investment to bankroll them.
Nations are competing with one another to buy their way out of climate change while making the smallest possible adjustments to their economies. A ‘just transition’ with expectations of continued GDP growth relies on a Eurocentric silencing of the suffering of the South.
This is a problem that can’t be solved by better governance. The climate catastrophe exposes the reality of capitalism: it is voracious, inhuman and impossible to negotiate with. Attempts to create a kinder, softer capitalism are doomed to fail.
WE NEED A PLAN C.
In fact, most people on this planet consume very little. We could easily meet the needs of all if resources were managed rationally. There are many projects all over the world where people are using techniques of farming, energy production, and building which show the way for a sustainable future on this planet.
We may not yet know how to achieve this on a worldwide scale. But we can move in a spirit of exploration. We can share the knowledge we have and the questions we have for one another.
We are called Plan C because we want to find an alternative to capitalism that is non-hierarchical, pluralist, liberatory and not led by any party. Today, we march and demonstrate our refusal to endorse this murderous system. But what’s more important than any march is what we build after today.
This march will fail, but this movement will not.
