N° 19 décembre 2021 The mountain of climate promises "brings forth a mouse" laments the UN.
A few days before the end of COP26, the United Nations Environment Program laments the lack of ambition in the countries' commitments. No wonder! This is the result of the clashes within imperialism as the interests of the multinationals are huge and demand domination for the control of resources and labor power under conditions always allowing the highest rates of profit. Capitalism is an aggressive system, it is unleashed on the world with unprecedented violence, it is unable to meet the needs of humanity, it is not its goal: its goal is profit and accumulation of capital.
The talk about greenhouse gas emissions that are supposed to be the cause of climate change, refer mainly airplanes, cars, textiles, etc... According to a 2020 report, the impact of the carbon footprint of military activities is considerable: 25% of emissions in the world come from military activities.
In their view, war is a means like any other to achieve their objectives which are, let us recall, profits and accumulation of capital through the exploitation of wage labor. The US authorities have been pushing for military emissions to be excluded from comprehensive assessments by the United Nations. At a time when representatives of the international community gathered in Glasgow are supposedly trying to limit the consumption of fossil fuels:
* Combat aircraft (like the Rafale for example) consume more than 110 liters of fuel per minute. They consume 2,200 liters of fuel per flight hour, more emissions than a French city! They emit around 20 kg of CO2 per km, a Leclerc tank produces 4 kg of CO2 per kilometer…
* More generally, the Department of Defense of the United States emits annually, adding the emissions of "war operations and major exercises", on average 66 million tons of CO2, that is to say the annual emissions of 14 million passenger cars.
* The British military-industrial sector emits more greenhouse gases each year than sixty countries like Uganda.
The sector intends to capitalize on this green wave to sell "green" weapons; thus Lockheed Martin which sells solar submarines, MBDA (subsidiary of Airbus) is highlighting its new missiles which generate less pollution! Ammunition will be with reusable packaging. The climate crisis has become a selling point. On June 10, 2020, the head of Dassault (Rafale fighter jets) indicated that a zero carbon hydrogen plane was unthinkable for the Rafales because "they continue to sell well." The arms industry prioritizes profit over the future of mankind. In the Paris Agreement, rich countries pledged to give $ 100 billion a year to mitigate climate change; not even 10% of this amount was paid. These same countries have found over a trillion dollars to invest in arms. In a single year, world military expenditure is 1,732 billion euros (source Sipri).
Capital is preparing for climate change while preparing for war.
* Italy hosted the G20 but also another international event that was overlooked: the NATO nuclear war maneuver Steadfast Noon, in the skies of Italy, under US command; the air forces of 14 countries of the Atlantic Alliance participated for seven days in these maneuvers with dual nuclear and conventional fighter-bombers.
* The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) confirms in 2021 that "the Italian Air Force is assigned nuclear attack missions with US bombs, kept in Italy under US Air Force control; their use in war must be authorized by the President of the United States”. The Aviano and Ghedi bases have been restructured to accommodate F-35 fighters armed with the new B61-12 nuclear bombs tested last October in Nevada; 30 Italian F-35A fighters are ready for attack under US command with 60 B61-12 nuclear bombs.
* Great Britain, which hosts the COP26 to "save the planet from global warming", also contributes to the arms race which could lead the world towards nuclear catastrophe. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned: "We are one minute from midnight and we need to act now" against global warming which is destroying the planet; but in March the same Boris Johnson announced the ramping up of the British nuclear attack submarines: the Astutes (cost $ 2.2 billion each), armed with US nuclear missiles with a range of 1,500 km and 12,000 km, with more than 120 nuclear warheads. British nuclear attack submarines cruise deep along Russia's coasts, they also sail along the coasts of China, departing from Australia to which the US and UK will provide nuclear submarines.
In an article of October 27, 2021 we wrote: « Au stade où en sont arrivés les monopoles et l’énorme accumulation du capital, ils ne peuvent rechercher le développement des profits que dans un affrontement de plus en plus dur allant de la guerre commerciale à la guerre tout court... ». (Monopolies and the enormous accumulation of capital have reached a stage where they can seek the development of profits only through an increasingly harsh confrontation ranging from trade war to war itself).
A war with such weapons would lead to nuclear winter: the extinction of most plant and animal species, with devastating effects also on agriculture. Cold and starvation would reduce the survival capacity of the few survivors, bringing the human species to its extinction.
There is no other solution than the struggle for peace and disarmament by showing the responsibility of imperialism in the ongoing confrontations and in those that are brewing. The struggles for a healthy environment, for peace and human rights are linked. This requires a drastic reduction in global military expenditure and the elimination of nuclear weapons which pose a mortal danger to mankind.
A policy of exchange and collaboration between peoples on an equal footing must be practiced, with respect for their independence; a policy of peace with an end to the militarization of the economy and the end of wars.
There is only one way: the class struggle on a national and international scale to wipe out this predatory capitalist system and replace it with a society free from the exploitation of Man by Man. This is our party’s struggle.