Children’s word of the year
Ten years ago, with Despicable Me at the forefront of children’s minds, “minion” was chosen as the first Children’s Word of the Year (CWY).
Today, 6-to-14 year-olds are not afforded such innocence. Of the 3,000 children surveyed, one third stated that “climate change” was the word of 2023.
Children are fully aware of the danger of the climate crisis. And many are rapidly moving away from ideas about individual responsibility, and are instead blaming capitalist politicians for wrecking their futures.
This generation has only known crises: austerity following the 2008 financial crisis, collapsing schools, the pandemic, and of course war (the runner up CWY for 2023, with 31% of the vote).
As communists, we recognise that a socialist-planned economy is the only way to truly fight the climate crisis.
Let a new generation of youth join the fight for revolution, so that “climate change”, “war”, and “anxiety” are consigned to the history books.
Zac, Oxford Communists
Mass extinction
The first ever State of the World’s Migratory Species report was released last month, followed by a UN-led international wildlife conservation conference in Uzbekistan.
The report is predictably bleak: 44% of species listed are showing population decline and 22% are threatened by extinction, rising to a staggering 97% of fish!
Extinction in itself is not unnatural. Our ‘normal’ extinction rate is somewhere between 0.1 and 1 species per 10,000 species per 100 years. Yet the World Wildlife Fund estimates that the current rate of loss is 1000 to 10,000 times higher!
The world’s wildlife population has plummeted by two-thirds in the last 50 years. In the American tropics, it’s up to 94%. 49% of all marine life has been lost in 40 years.
A ‘mass extinction’ is a rare, catastrophic anomaly, in which at least 75% of the world’s species are wiped out in a small period of time.
Unlike mass extinction events of geological history, however, this one is unique in that the report suggests that the blame lies wholly on a single species – ours. (We would add that it is the richest 1% of our species that is to blame.)
Despite this stark warning, the Uzbek summit concluded with yet more milquetoast measures, resolutions, and guidelines.
The UN is incapable of enacting the fundamental changes necessary to tackle urgent issues. It is inseparable from the capitalist governments and institutions that make up its membership – all of which defend the economic system that exploits both the planet and the working class.
There are earnest attempts to channel profound collective anger around the climate through individualistic direct action. But, as communists, we have no illusions in this strategy. Instead we base ourselves on the collective action of the working class, with the aim of overthrowing capitalism.
With a planned economy, under workers’ control, we could immediately set about bringing our planet back from the brink, and bring about harmony between society and the natural world.
So much has been lost. But there is still so much to fight for. So young environmentalists: Lose your thousand-yard stare! Join the communists and fight!
Ambika Bates, Cornwall Communists
Fossil fuel lobbying
It’s been found that the oil industry has been lobbying governments in Europe and the US for well over 50 years to stop subsidies for solar panels, electric cars, and heat pumps.
Fossil fuel firms have argued that such incentives would “distort the free market”. All the while, they themselves benefit from generous state handouts in the form of subsidies and tax credits.
Quelle surprise! Hypocrisy has always been the capitalists’ strong suit.
This latest episode only underlines how these corporations – and the capitalist state that supports them – cannot be trusted to do anything to tackle the climate crisis.
Some researchers have defended the big polluters. They say it will take time to transition to green technology. After all, they say, “gas lighting companies…fought the arrival of electric street lights and canal companies, [and] protested against new railways”, but we got there eventually.
But time is running out! This is the definition of fiddling while Rome burns – literally and figuratively.
The only solution is to fight for a planned system of production, incorporating the best clean technologies available, and replacing the anarchy of capitalism.
Diyar Albertsson, North London Communists.
Big business greenwashing
It was recently revealed that the World Wildlife Fund shelved a report about pollution in the river Wye to keep Tesco happy.
The supermarket chain is indirectly responsible for the poor practices of chicken farms that dot the riverside. But it is also a big sponsor to the charity.
Oh well! It’s clear that charities and philanthropy are, at worst, a way for corporations to launder their reputation. At best, they are a sticking plaster that barely hangs onto the gaping wounds of our society.
We have no faith in these organisations. They are linked via a million threads to the ruling class. We must rely on our own strength, as workers, and organise to build a better world.
Tommaso, Tooting and Balham Communists
