Comments on: An ecosocialist manifesto

By: Leftwrites » Introducing The Ecosocialist

Leftwrites » Introducing The Ecosocialist — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:24:43 +0000

[...] in 2001 Joel Kovel and Michael Lowy wrote an Ecosocialist Manifesto advancing a left approach to the deepening environmental crisis. Now some leftist environmentalists [...]

By: Shane H

Shane H — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:17:54 +0000

Hi Di

In response to your first question I’m not sure if you mean this manifesto or in general. This manifesto was drafted just after s11 and has led to a gathering of ecosocialists in Paris so it has got some people together around this set of ideas which is a start. More generally in the world (bleak tho it is in many respects) I think there is a groundswell of resistance by everyday people to neo-liberal policies — Venezuela springs to mind, South Africa and other places. Even the election of Rudd was at least the rejection of the worst of Howard’s IR laws and the recent rejection of electricity privatisation shows that people are starting to say “enough”.

I like analogies too when they help to clarify — and the other day I commented to someone that ecosocialists should be the midwives of the new world we want to see born. I used the analogy against people who think that having the right manifesto is the be-all and end-all when if fact we don’t give birth to the processes of change but can help push them along in the right direction.

I have a few problems with your analogy tho. High blood pressure is a sign that something is wrong in pregnancy but in the case of capitalism there’s nothing wrong. Its normal operation causes it to destroy Mother Earth. This ultimately means the destruction of both as you say, but the solution — which is to get rid of capitalism — is equivalent then to terminating the child. Is this what you meant to imply?

If there is a balance then it can be harmonious but it can’t be if the baby is a capitalist one (it will by, its nature, drive our blood pressure upwards). I think there are lots of ideas out there about what the future will look — so the seed of the new society already exists — but it does so at present in pretty unfertile soil — so we ecosocialists have to find ways to bring it through each stage. At present there is a lot going on (both developments and threats) which are like the early months of pregnancy (lots going on but not very visible), each stage gets harder as we grow, at the end the labour can be long and hard but the final transition is still harder. Giving birth to the new society from within the womb of the old is the biggest challenge. We don’t want to be competing siblings squabbling over the resources nor, do I think, we can really be an umbilical cord, but we can all be midwives I think.

By: di

di — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:54:33 +0000

So, where has this led us to over the last 7 years? Is there a ground-swell of political activation towards this goal. Does it have a goal, except in words? Activity/activism is not evident, as those with similar beliefs disappear into the bush, in their powerlessness against the strength of capitalistic governments, and the all-powerful mining companies. Which are the servants and which are the masters? I work best with analogy, and as a midwife, use the base of this discussion on that experience. I am not an economist, nor a learned academic, but see the simplicity of what is occurring.
The earth is the mother. Each landmass is a babe in the womb. As they grow within the mother, they are parasitic in nature. They are egocentric. I was just discussing with a pregnant woman, what occurs when high blood pressure is a result of that pregnancy. I see high blood pressure as a result of pure unguarded capitalism. It requires more and yet more, but in its desire for more, it starves the very product of its being. If this continues unabated, both mother and child are at risk of death. The baby by lack of vital oxygen and sustenance, and the mother by such high pressure that it closes down all vital life force. This is much worse in the case of a multiple pregnancy, which of course is the case with mother earth. Because each baby is so egocentric, it will take from its sibling to succour itself until that sibling is withered and unrecognisable as a possible entity. All one has to do is look to the shift of power and resources from one country to another to see this truth.
If there is a balance with mother and baby, the mother gladly gives unconditional love and the baby returns the favour with pure unconditional love. They are in tune with each other, in harmony.
What is written in the manifesto above says this so eloquently, but unless those who have deserted the cities to find self-sustainability, understand the cause and effect, with a sense of support from others, it will be useless.
A new babe is within the womb, it grows, it swells, but it needs sustenance, balanced and harmonious. Is ecosocialism the umbilical cord or just another sibling?

By: azure

azure — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:48:34 +0000

that’s quite magnificent writing…