{"id":220720,"date":"2021-08-16T18:23:19","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T18:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/?page_id=220720"},"modified":"2021-09-17T17:51:07","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T17:51:07","slug":"cop26-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/cop26-2\/","title":{"rendered":"COP26-2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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1. What does ‘system change’ mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Given the climate crisis, a lot of well-meaning people are demanding ‘system change’.<\/p>\n

But they often don’t say what they mean.<\/p>\n

It’s certainly a radical-sounding phrase<\/strong>, but that doesn’t tell you much.<\/p>\n

We want global ‘system change’ too, and this page will try to explain exactly what we mean by that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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2. What is \u2018the system\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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It’s capitalism, a globalised system where wealth is in private or state hands<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Competing businesses<\/strong> produce goods which are pushed out onto the market in the hope of selling them at a profit<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Those profits are then reinvested<\/strong> to create further profits in a never-ending cycle<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This cycle, with its scant regard for externalities, is what is driving global warming and species extinction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cFor most of my adult life, I\u2019ve railed against \u201ccorporate capitalism\u201d, \u201cconsumer capitalism\u201d and \u201ccrony capitalism\u201d. It took me a long time to see that the problem is not the adjective, but the noun\u201d – George Monbiot – The Problem is Capitalism<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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3. Can we \u2018green\u2019 this system?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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To make capitalism green would mean contradicting its own internal law of motion<\/strong> – the need to grow.<\/p>\n

In order to grow, and not go under<\/strong>, capitalists have to do two things.<\/p>\n

First, they have to make a profit by exploiting workers<\/strong>, essentially by not paying them the full value of what they do.<\/p>\n

Second, they must reinvest part of that profit<\/strong> in future production.<\/p>\n

On and on without stopping, and regardless of the consequences<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The end result is what we’re seeing, a global tragedy of the commons<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We desperately need to manage our planet and its resources responsibly, but this is simply incompatible with how capitalism works<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Green investing ‘is definitely not going to work<\/strong>\u2019, says ex-BlackRock executive. His conclusion: the climate crisis can never be solved by today\u2019s free markets. \u201cIt\u2019s not because they are evil, it\u2019s because the system is built to extract profits.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Guardian, March 2021<\/a><\/p>\n

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4. Why it’s not a single issue<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Many environmentalists, like XR and the Greens, tend to look at the climate crisis in isolation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So proposals are offered which leave other factors<\/strong> out of account.<\/p>\n

Like the Green New Deal<\/a><\/strong>, which is based on an unrealistic view of economics.<\/p>\n

Or the argument for personal lifestyle changes<\/strong> like veganism, which are peripheral to the real problem.<\/p>\n

Or the idea that there are just too many people<\/strong><\/a>, which overlooks important factors and countervailing trends.<\/p>\n

People have treated all kinds of social ills, like war, hunger and poverty, in this same single-issue way<\/strong>, but they never get any better<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The only solution is a holistic one: capitalism is the real problem, and must be abolished<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIf market solutions naturally greened the world, we wouldn\u2019t be where we are. Clearly there\u2019s been a market failure.\u201d<\/strong> Kwasi Kwarteng, UK business secretary<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n


\nTimes, 15 Sept 2021<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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5. Why it’s no use asking governments<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Governments only exist to administer capitalism<\/strong>, a global system that exploits the 99%<\/strong> and rewards a tiny class of voracious business owners for plundering the planet<\/strong>.They’re certainly not going to do anything that threatens capitalism, even if capitalism threatens our very survival.<\/p>\n

Global warming has been recognised for the last 50 years<\/strong> at least, and governments have not acted<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It’s time we stopped appealing to leaders to save us, and started creating the alternative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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6. What\u2019s the alternative?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The alternative is post-scarcity common ownership<\/strong>, also known as socialism, communism and the resource-based economy.It has nothing to do with soviet-style dictatorships, which were never socialist to begin with.<\/p>\n

It has everything to do with abolishing scarcity and making everything free.<\/strong>
\nCapitalism’s greatest success<\/strong> is that it has made scarcity unnecessary<\/strong> – it continues to perpetuate scarcity only to keep prices and profits high.<\/p>\n

With modern technology and know-how, we can sustainably produce<\/strong> what people need in order to live comfortable lives.<\/p>\n

We do this by turning the world into a giant voluntary cooperative<\/strong>, where there is no private or state ownership.<\/p>\n

Everything is shared, so there are no markets, no money, no production for profit<\/strong>, the main things ruining the planet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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7. How to run a fragile planet<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This section still to do<\/strong><\/span>
\nMainstream capitalist economics is based on an absurd falsehood: that people’s wants are infinite<\/strong>, hence scarcity is inevitable.<\/p>\n

In fact, humans are rational animals with rational needs<\/strong>, like food, clothing, housing, etc. that are largely unvarying and predictable over time<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So while the casino economics<\/strong> of competitive capitalism creates frenzied booms and slumps, gluts and shortages<\/strong>, cooperative production for use could be ‘steady-state<\/strong>‘, using consumption figures as a guide.<\/p>\n

Extensive storage and warehouse buffering<\/strong> would replace fuel-guzzling Just-in-Time delivery systems.<\/p>\n

As an analogy, think of a constant, low-level current<\/strong> rather than intermittent heavy power surges<\/strong> that threaten to blow the fusebox.<\/p>\n

The emphasis would be sustainable, high-quality production<\/strong>, not cheap rubbish designed not to last, and involving pollution, waste and non-recyclable materials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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8. What to do next<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Don’t just take our word for any of this, go and check the facts for yourself.<\/p>\n

If you think we’re right, tell your friends, and find out more\u00a0here<\/a>
\nGet in touch<\/strong> with us at spgb@worldsocialism.org<\/a>, or check out the free 3-month sub<\/a> to our journal.Or apply to join<\/a> right now.<\/p>\n

We can’t afford to put up with the waste and destruction of capitalism<\/strong> any longer.<\/p>\n

There is a system that’s better, safer and more sustainable, but it needs all of us to make it happen<\/strong>.
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1. What does ‘system change’ mean? Given the climate crisis, a lot of well-meaning people are demanding ‘system change’. But they often don’t say what they mean. It’s certainly a radical-sounding phrase, but that doesn’t tell you much. We want global ‘system change’ too, and this page will try to explain exactly what we mean … <\/p>\n

Read more “COP26-2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2605,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-fullwidth.php","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-220720","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/220720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2605"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220720"}],"version-history":[{"count":92,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/220720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222211,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/220720\/revisions\/222211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}