When: to coincide with the European Social Forum and related grassroots events in London, 14-17 October 2004
Oil fuels the engine of economic growth. When that oil is burnt, it becomes the CO2 that is screwing up the weather as well as the lives of the world's (poorest) people. We live in a system that values profit above all else, and this insane outlook is undermining the long-term stability of our planet.
In recent years, millions have marched in opposition to a war that was motivated in part by a western need to secure Middle Eastern oil supplies. Meanwhile, the deeply flawed Kyoto business deal on climate change has been proclaimed by European politicians and many large green groups as a good thing, sabotaged only by the cynical manoeuvrings of an oily US President.
But this is a myth that has to be exposed. As well as being time to reject capitalism's wars for oil and its climate change, it's also time to understand and reject its so-called solution to the problem. That 'solution', as outlined in the Kyoto Protocol, involves turning the atmosphere into a giant commodity to be bought and sold like barrels of oil by traders, governments and corporations, further deepening the world's already gaping imbalances of power and not even effectively reducing CO2 emissions into the bargain. (www.tni.org/ctw/)
Let's get rid of these double-dealing hypocrite politicians, and get rid of energy corporations
of all kinds, whether they deny climate change in public, (ExxonMobil), or spend millions on public relations to manufacture a thoughtful, friendly public face (Agip, BP, Repsol,Royal Dutch/Shell). They're all wading knee deep in the blood of countless living beings, in the way they steal the blood of the earth from those that live on it, and in the way they profit from climate chaos, which will swoop down hardest on the world's poorest.
The October action days are a time for people who see climate change as a symptom of this screwed up system also known as capitalism to draw strength from a widespread show of simultaneous unity-in-diversity. You could be explaining the realities of climate chaos to a roomful of schoolkids, you could be running a low-energy local café, you could be finding a better use for a petrol station or you could be playing with the traffic: whatever you plan, and whatever you achieve, we'd like to hear from you.
As the ESF and loads of other more horizontal, less party political events take place in London,
here's a chance to kickstart a Europe-wide network of resistance to the fundamentally flawed and failed fossil fuel experiment. This as-yet unnamed network would embrace the principle of
'climate justice', ie. that climate change is as much an issue of social justice as of the environment. That means it is a problem caused by and profited from by the world's elites, with its effects felt most powerfully by those with the least power and wealth.
We hope that this call-out might also trigger more of a debate about ways to cross-fertilise campaigns on issues like racism, gender, class and borders with campaigns against the oil
industry and climate chaos.
Time is a commodity that has very nearly run out - unlike oil, all of which we absolutely must not burn.
Leave the oil in the ground. Let our communities own and run their own renewable energy supplies. Dismantle capitalism and Big Oil, in October 2004 and everyday in various diverse ways. Spread hope.
It's always been the case, but never more so than today: the time to act is now.
Contact:london@risingtide.org.uk
Tel: 07708 794665
c/o 62 Fieldgate Street, London E1 1ES
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