Amandla! magazine | Issue 84

CLIMATE CRISIS

pay for the last Ukrainian willing to
die fighting the Russians. Saying this
is not in any way to justify the Russian
invasion, although these “democracies”
have their own longer histories of similar
invasions. But it does underscore that the
governments of North America, the EU
and Britain, are, for short-term economic
and political reasons, eager to spend
the money on Ukraine. This is the same
money they claim not to have to spend on
the climate crisis and other essentials.
These governments are further
prepared to expect their populations to
pay for and suffer the consequences of
their hypocritical opportunism. They
have made clear COP commitments
for the necessary transition away from
fossil fuels. Yet they have sanctioned the
increased usage of oil, gas and coal.
Indeed, the EU has given notice
to its biggest energy users that, unless
new non-Russian fossil fuel sources
can be found quickly, they will impose a
compulsory energy reduction. So the EU is
prepared to take the very action required
by the climate crisis which they said was
unrealisable.
What these governments have made
clear is that putting Russia in its place
is far more important than the climate
crisis.
The sobering truth is that saying
something reassuring when faced with
the latest “extreme weather event” is
good for advertising and media coverage

for politicians. But action remains a

disposable extra.

So, what is to be done?

The need for boldness

George Monbiot addresses the need for

boldness well:

We’re facing the greatest

existential crisis that humanity

has ever faced ... In response,

we want you not to use so many

plastic bags, and to replace your

cotton buds which have got

plastic shafts with ones with

paper shafts, and stop using

plastic straws.

I’ve begun to see that

mainstream environmental

movements have made a terrible

mistake ... Their strategy ... goes

something like this. There is too

little time and the ask is too big

to try to change the system. ...

So the only realistic approach is

incrementalism ... After years of

persistence, the small asks will

add up to the comprehensive

change we seek and deliver the

world we want.

But ... the radical right

insurgency has swept all before

it, crushing the administrative

state, destroying public

protections, capturing the courts,

the electoral system and the

infrastructure of government,

shutting down the right to

protest and the right to live.

While we persuaded ourselves

that there is no time for system

change, they proved us wrong by

changing everything.

System change

System change is now accepted by the

mainstream of the broad Left in South

Africa and other places in the world. This

wasn’t the case, for instance, in 2011

when the Cape Town-based Alternative

Information and Development Centre

(AIDC) took the initiative in calling for

what became the One Million Climate Jobs

Campaign.

Capitalism is often named as the

system in need of change. But there are

many different and often conflicting

understandings of capitalism. The main

challenge remains how to turn the slogan

into action. To my knowledge, no one

anywhere has yet offered a viable strategy

for how to inspire and mobilise the active

involvement of the 25% of the population,

said to be needed for any societal change.

Various reasons are given for the

50-year failure of the UN to deliver on what

it knows must be done. Human stupidity,

ignorance, complacency, greed, political

Climate change is now a reality to many South Africans.

The deadly and devastating floods in and around Durban this

year are not forewarnings of climate change. They are the lived

nightmare of those who survived them.