EcoUnionist News #81 - The #COP21 Greenwash

By x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, December 15, 2015

Paris, France: COP21 has concluded, and the results could be summed up as less-than-inspiring, but just about what many of us in the green unionist movement (small thought it still is) expected: a complete and total capitalist greenwash designed to make it look like more business as usual was somehow a change from business as usual. Without going into all of the gory details, the so-called "agreement" which took two weeks to hammer out doesn't even rearrange deckchairs on the Titanic. It rearranges the fabric on the deckchairs on the Titanic while at the same time proclaiming to seal the breach in the hull and pump out all of the water, yesterday.

In short, the backers of the deal (capitalists, politicians, mainstream Big Green environmental NGOs, and all of the fossil fuel capitalists pulling the strings) are proclaiming that somehow this "achievement" is "groundbreaking" because it advises, suggests, or pleads (depending on which part of the thesaurus one chooses) that the capitalist class voluntarily reduces the world's GHG emissions to a point "substantially lower than" 2°C (but doesn't even specify what many believe to be the needed limit of 1.5°C).

Of course, there are no hard limits, no enforcement mechanisms, no penalties for "ignoring" the suggested reductions. Worse still, the agreement removes all references to the rights of Indigenous peoples, does not address the disproportionate effects of capitalist GHG emissions on the Global South, women, or the working class. The excessive hoarding of wealth and disproportionate emissions caused by the Global North are not referenced. No mention is made of agroecology (thus paving the way for capitalist driven "climate-smart agriculture" (read "privatization")). No limits are to be placed on air travel. Nothing is said of energy democracy or just transition.

Worse still, all of this deal making took place in the shadow of what has become a fascist police-state atmosphere in Paris, France, in response to the tragic bombings and attacks that took place on November 13, 2015. While capitalist delegates and their enablers were allowed to seal the fate of the rest of us with near impugnity, dissent was smashed by placing restrictions on where protesters could demonstrate, and several clmate justice leaders were placed under house arrest (though, at the end of the two week clusterfuck, many defied the bans anyway, but only after many of the NGOs had demobilized the 100,000s more that would've joined in had the ban not been in place). Meanwhile, other events that had nothing to do with protesting COP21 were allowed to happen with little or no restriction.

While this is not the worst possible outcome one could have envisioned, it still leaves an enormity to be desired, and all of the self-congratulatory fawning over it by Big Green and the capitalist class won't change that.

Fortunately, this is not the end of the story.  In spite of the capitalist greenwashing attempts, most climate justice activists are not buying the official line, and have declared, rightly, that the struggle doesn't end here. The power does not lie in the hands of the capitalists or their enabling delegates. It does not lie in the halls of state or the inside-the-beltway offices of the Big Green NGOs. It belongs to the many who make up the noncapitalist class of the world, and when we realize it, organize, and act accordingly, this sham of a deal, and the capitalist system that spawned it can be banished to the dustbin of history where it rightly belongs, and replaced by a truly effective and tranformative framework for achieving the systemic change that is needed. An essential part of that change will involve the workers of the world organizing as a class along industrial lines. While this is not the only part of the strategy, it is nevertheless an important one.

There are many stories to be told about COP21, and they simply cannot be summarized into a single article, certainly not without much reflection.

It will take days, weeks, or perhaps even months to sort out all of the threads surrounding COP21, but in the meantime, here are many of the more useful criticisms, declarations, observations, and actions that took place in Paris over the past two weeks:

Lead Stories

• COP21 Concludes: Thousands Draw Red Lines Throughout Paris - By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance, December 12, 2015
• COP21: NGOs react to UN Paris climate deal - By Staff, Climate Change News, December 12, 2015
• Decrying Draft Deal that 'Fails Humanity,' COP21 Protesters Draw Red Line - By Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams, December 11, 2015
• In And After Paris: A Climate Justice Agenda - By Steve Breyman, Popular Resistance, December 11, 2015
• Twelve Days That Cooked the World: Combating the Climate Counterrevolution in Paris - By Candice Bernd, Truthout, December 11, 2015
• The Age of Extremes - By Arun Gupta, Telesurv TV, December 10, 2015
• The World is Broken and the Hypocrisy of COP 21 Isn’t Going to Put it Back Together - By John Foran, Resilience, December 10, 2015
• Latest Draft of COP21 Climate Agreement: A Slap in the Face - By Sohara Mehroze Shachi, EcoWatch, December 10, 2015
• The Insanity of the COP: We Must Adopt a Different Vision - By John Foran, Resilience, December 8, 2015
• Richest 10% are causing climate change, study finds - By Donald Armbrecht, World Economic Forum, December 3, 2015
• The Fossil Fuel Industry Is Bankrolling the Paris Climate Talks - By Tim McDonnell, Mother Jones, December 2, 2015; [related]: The corporate capture of the climate talks - By Pascoe Sabido, Red Pepper, December 2015
• At COP21, Victims of Paris Attack Mobilize for Climate Action - By Antonia Juhasz, Newsweek, November 30, 2015

Declarations

• A Paris view from the global South - By Joseph Purugganan, Climate Code Red, December 14, 2015
• Words without action: Seven takeaways from the Paris climate deal - By Oscar Reyes, Red Pepper, December 14, 2015
• CALL TO ACTION: The COP21 Paris Accord Failed Humanity - By Grassroots Global Justice, It Takes Roots Delegation, December 13, 2015
• COP21: The curtain falls on a masquerade - By Elina Bouchet and Solenne Garin, La Via Campesina, December 13, 2015
• Statement from Rising Tide North America on the Paris Climate Deal - By RTNA, Rising Tide North America, December 13, 2015
• COP21 An Opportunity For Climate Justice, If We Mobilize - By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance, December 13, 2015
• The People’s Demands To Achieve Climate Justice - By Staff, People's Test on Climate 2015, December 13, 2015
• Grand promises of Paris climate deal undermined by squalid retrenchments - By George Monbiot, The Guardian, December 12, 2015
• Paris Climate Deal is a Sham - By Friends of the Earth International, Global Research, December 12, 2015
• Canada and 1.5 degrees: Rhetoric or real change? - By Laura Cameron and Sam Quigley, Ricochet, December 11, 2015
• Climate Justice Movement "Extremely Disappointed" in COP21 Draft's "Failure to Step Up" - Chee Yoke Ling, Ruth Nyambura, and Kandi Mossett interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, December 11, 2015
• Reconciliation as Liberation of Peoples and Lands - By Wendy Lynn Lerat, 1492, December 11, 2015
• Voluntary Pledges Aren't Enough: Glaciologist Says Nonbinding Emission Reductions Won't Cut It - Jason Box interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, December 11, 2015
• Whose Lives Matter? A Crisis of Solidarity at the Climate Talks in Paris - By David Ciplet, Truthout, December 10, 2015
• Climate justice means energy democracy - By Adriana Swain, New Internationalist, December 9, 2015
• Naomi Klein Decries Climate Deal as Extraordinarily Dangerous; Backs Defiance of French Protest Ban - Naomi Klein interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, December 9, 2015
• Paris: World Agrees to Increase Emissions - By Jonathan Neale, Global Climate Jobs, December 9, 2015
• “We have no other way out than winning Food sovereignty” - By La Via Campesina, La Via Campesina, December 9, 2015
• Top Climate Expert: Crisis is Worse Than We Think & Scientists Are Self-Censoring to Downplay Risk - Kevin Anderson interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, December 8, 2015
• UN promoting potentially genocidal policy at World Climate Summit - By Dipti Bhatnagar and Dallas Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network, December 8, 2015
• We Will Draw Our Red Lines in Paris (and Across the World) - By Joe Solomon, Common Dreams, December 7, 2015
• Why big NGOs won’t lead the fight on climate change - By Belinda Rodriguez and Ben Case, RoarMag, December 6, 2015
• Paris climate negotiations won’t stop the planet burning - By Nafeez Ahmed, Middle East Eye, December 5, 2015
• Paris climate talks accomplish nothing to curb global warming - By Daniel de Vries, WSWS.org, December 5, 2015
• No Matter the Outcome of COP21, Counterterrorism Legislation Will Continue to Silence Frontline Environmental Defenders - By Bennett Collins and Alison Watson, Intercontinental Cry, December 4, 2015
• Climate Deception: Non-binding "Targets" for Climate, but Binding Rules on Trade in Services - By Deborah James, Huffington Post, December 4, 2015
• Indigenous Rights on Chopping Block of UN COP21 Paris Climate Accord - By Suzanne Dhaliwal and Dallas Goldtooth, Indigenous Rising, December 4, 2015
• End War(Ming): we need system change, not climate change - By Shawna Foster, New Internationalist, December 3, 2015
• No Climate Deal Is Better Than a Bad One - By Walden Bello, Foreign Policy In Focus, December 2, 2015
• A People's Pact to Protect the Planet - By Vandana Shiva, The Ecologist, December 2, 2015
• Darkening the White Heart of the Climate Movement - By Joshua Virasami and Alexandra Wanjiku Kelbert, New Internationalist, December 1, 2015
• For the right to demonstrate - Editorial, Socialist Worker, December 1, 2015
• The War on Climate Change - By Kate Aronoff, Jacobin, November 30, 2015

Observations

• Protesters Are in Agreement as Well: Pact Is Too Weak - By Alissa J Rubin and Elian Peltier, New York Times, December 12, 2015
• Women are getting a bum deal from the Paris climate talks - By Clayton Aldern, Grist, December 11, 2015
• Beyond Paris, Climate Movement Plans Global Swarm for Future of Humanity - By Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams, December 10, 2015
• COP21 Treaty Draft Excludes Gender Equality Even Though Women are Most Impacted by Climate Change - Mary Robinson interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, December 10, 2015
• The Cops of COP21: Arrests at the Paris Climate Talks - By Danica Jorden, TruthOut, December 10, 2015
• "It's Going to Burn Our Planet": Hundreds Protest "Unacceptable" Draft Climate Accord Inside COP21 - By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, December 10, 2015
• Indigenous rights taking back seat to trade investment at COP21 - By Brandi Morin, APTN, December 9, 2015
• The Paris climate agreement won’t call for keeping fossil fuels in the ground - By Ben Adler, Grist, December 9, 2015
• Suicidal Tendencies: How Saudi Arabia Could Kill the COP21 Negotiations in Paris - By Antonia Juhasz, Newsweek, December 9, 2015
• Climate Denialists in Paris Claim They Are Being Shut Out of COP21, While Shutting Out Journalists - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, December 8, 2015; [related] Heartland Institute Kicks Journalists Out of 'Public' Climate Denial Event in Paris - By Kyla Mandel, DeSmog Blog, December 7, 2015
• Paris talks: indigenous people and small farmers say rich are setting the agenda - By John Vidal and Terry Slavin, The Guardian, December 8, 2015
• Report from the ground at COP21: End of week 1 - By Diane Connors, Rabble.Ca, December 8, 2015
• Activists Dragged Out of Climate Expo for Protesting Corporate Influence over COP21 Negotiations - By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, December 7, 2015
• COP21: Paris climate talks slow to a crawl as obstructionists threaten the deal - By Luke Kemp, The Ecologist, December 7, 2015
• Despite ban on protests, climate activists in Paris plan to hit the streets - By Katie Herzog, Grist, December 7, 2015
• False solutions and real alternatives at the UN climate talks - By Sam Lund-Harket, Global Justice Now, December 7, 2015
• The Paris agreement won’t do anything to protect climate refugees - By Julian Spector, Grist, December 7, 2015
• “No more false solutions. We don’t have time” - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, December 7, 2015
• "We Do Not Want to Die in Silence": Indigenous People Demand Rights as Draft Climate Deal Reached - By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, December 7, 2015
• 'Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground: A Declaration for the Health of Mother Earth' - By Jon Queally, Common Dreams, December 6, 2015
• Things I Have Learnt Since Being at the Paris Climate Talks - By Kevin Smith, Common Dreams, December 4, 2015
• COP21, Round One: Battle Lines Are Drawn: A Report on the Global Climate March and the Opening of the Paris COP 21 Negotiations - By John Foran, Paris Climate Justice, December 3, 2015
• Paris vs. climate change, or Paris vs. the climate? - By Gareth Bryant, Progress in Political Economy, December 3, 2015
• Vulnerable Communities Reject Proposed COP21 Accord - By Jaya Ramachandran, Eurasia Review, December 2, 2015
• International Community Attempts to Negotiate with Nature in Paris - By Nat Parry, Common Dreams, December 1, 2015
• People & Planet goes to COY11 - By Admin, People & Planet, December 1, 2015
• Hundreds of the world’s small-scale farmers join together at COP21 - By Confédération Paysanne, European Coordination Via Campesina, La Via Campesina, November 30, 2015
• Our Fight for Survival - By Andreas Malm, Jacobin, November 29, 2015

Actions

• See aerial images of climate activists doing funky things in Paris - By Staff, Grist, December 12, 2015
• Climate Angels Shut Down Engie’s Paris Headquarters during COP21 - By Ducky Slowcode, Global Justice Ecology Project, December 11, 2015
• Climate Games challenge Paris protest ban with peer-to-peer disobedience - By Kate Aronoff, Waging Nonviolence, December 11, 2015
• COP 21: Migrant Justice Action: Over 200 Activists March In Solidarity - By It Takes Roots, La Via Campesina, December 11, 2015
• Paint it Yellow: 30 Greenpeace Activists Scale Paris’s Arc de Triomphe in Renewable Energy Protest - By Staff, Russia Times, December 11, 2015
• Activists to defy protest ban with giant civil disobedience at end of Paris climate talks - By Martin Lukacs, The Guardian, December 10, 2015
• Climate Activists Announce Global Campaign of Civil Disobedience to "Break Free From Fossil Fuels" - By Brendan DeMelle, DeSmog Blog, December 10, 2015
• COP21: Social movements and allies call for transformation of food systems - By Staff, La Via Campesina, December 10, 2015
• Indigenous Leaders Slam Brown At COP 21 - By Dan Bacher, The ECOReport, December 10, 2015
• Activists Target Louvre in #Fossil Free Culture Protest - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, December 9, 2015
• Art, oil and arrests in Paris - By Jess Worth, New Internationalist, December 9, 2015
• Climate protesters target coal ports in Newcastle, Port Kembla and Brisbane - By Staff, Australian Broadcasting Company, December 9, 2015
• US Fracking Opponents Disrupt Leaders In Paris Talks - By Christian O'Rourke, Sustain Us, December 9, 2015
• Via Campesina Defies Ban, Holds Protest in Paris Against Danone - By Staff, Telesur TV, December 9, 2015
• Activists plaster Paris with posters of climate villains - By Katie Herzog, Grist, December 7, 2015
• Exxon Under Pressure in Mock Trial in Paris - By Carol Linnitt, DeSmog Canada, December 6, 2015
• Police and activists clash at Paris climate summit protest - By Alex Pashley, Climate Change News, December 5, 2015
• With Protests Banned in Paris, Climate Activists Embrace Other Forms of Expression - By Lucie Aubourg, Vice, December 1, 2015
• Hundreds Of Thousands March For Climate In Record-Breaking Day Of Action - By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, November 30, 2015
• 10,000 people in Paris and over 600,000 Worldwide Take to the Streets for Peace and Climate Justice - By Preeti Mangala Shekar, It Takes Roots, November 30, 2015
• Videos: Paris police clash with climate protesters - By ROAR Collective, RoarMag, November 29, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.