Building a movement to save the biosphere requires more than fighting ecocidal capitalism.
Ecosocialism is a positive vision for a prosperous future for all humanity.
The viability of ecosocialism depends on the state in which capitalism leaves the planet. The sooner we implement ecosocialism, the more chances we have of reversing the path of destruction, including the possibility of nuclear annihilation.
Ecosocialism recognizes the limits of the biosphere and promotes sustainable production processes to satisfy human needs rather than seeking profit. The steady-state economy is what we should aim for, an ever-growing economy is neither sustainable nor desirable.
Energy consumption can be substantially reduced if, instead of a society dependent on the consumption of superfluous, useless and even harmful goods, products and services, we have a society based on the precautionary principle and a culture of sobriety.
The capitalist economy can be defined as an economy of waste production. The legitimacy of seeking profit by all means authorizes and encourages initiatives to stimulate consumption as an engine of economic growth regardless of the real value of what is provided to society.
The energy that is currently wasted in the production of superfluous goods, products and services, unnecessary night activities, misleading advertising, dysfunctional production methods, transport and distribution of completely disposable goods can be easily eliminated because they are not essential to the well-being of the populations.
Refurbish, reconvert, reuse and adapt existing infrastructure to the needs of the ecosocialist economy to provide free education, health and public transport, as an example.
Political decisions taken by an ecosocialist government must be authorized by an approved political program and whenever extraordinary measures are necessary, they must be democratically approved, preferably by the method of direct democracy.
The ecosocialist government governs in the interests of society and the country. Honesty, integrity and transparency are imperative for political trust between all stakeholders.
The small-scale economy, workers' cooperatives and other local economic activities are regulated, supported and controlled by the local community.
A substantial part of jobs in the capitalist economy adds negative value to society and has a destructive impact on the biosphere.
Advertising and marketing, insurance and private banking, weapons production, militarized police and a range of activities that, besides being profitable, do not add anything positive to society. Eliminating unnecessary activities frees people up to dedicate themselves to what they really like to do without being subjected to the dictates of a monetized and financialized economy and without contributing to ecocide.
The work must be remunerated based on the exposure to situations of danger and physical and psycho-emotional stress caused to the people who perform it. Boring and repetitive tasks should be rewarded above average. Citizens willing to carry them out voluntarily must be adequately compensated, or they will have to be carried out as democratically distributed community work.
The idea that a college degree should be rewarded with a secure, well-paying career is wrong.
People who have the opportunity to do what they like already enjoy the “privilege” of a fulfilled existence.
Education should not be seen as a social equalizer, just as an academic title per se is not indicative of utility for society, the case of economists is paradigmatic.
The use of numerus clausus to control student access to certain courses motivated by corporate interests must be abolished. What needs to be controlled is the quality of the course and that future professionals have the opportunity to deepen and update knowledge throughout their professional career.
Access to goods, products and services must be regulated by their social utility in compliance with the democratic rules.
Distortions generated by private interests and obscure agendas harm society as a whole, benefiting only a small group dedicated to the noble rent-seeking activity. Usury should be a crime, money is not a commodity, just another fallacious idea in the interest of the parasitic class that controls the financial world.
A form of UBI should be instituted as an instrument of social leveling.
For those who believe that the UBI is an instrument of enslavement that the globalists intend to impose in order to force us to accept CBDC’s, I only have one thing to say, with or without UBI, as long as financialized imperialist capitalism rules the world, society is condemned to become a transhumanist techno-fascist system.
Blame the communists, after all that's what people have been doing for decades.
A democratic society based on ecosocialist principles believes that citizens are part of society from birth to death, and the available resources must be shared democratically, the UBI is an easy-to-implement leveling instrument, not to say that there are no other solutions.
Many of the professions and functions considered normal are actually useless and, in certain cases, harmful, and the possibility of abolishing professions, roles and functions considered harmful on democratic grounds must be on the table.
Living in society requires reciprocity or we run the risk of having a system dominated by parasites, which is exactly the reality we have, with most living in a state of denial, we continue to be sucked in by those we worship and ridicule and demonize those who dare to demand change systemic.
Skilled work must be a voluntary choice and unskilled work must be distributed through allocation of quotas or done by people who find it satisfactory. Equality, justice, dignity, solidarity, fraternity and freedom only exist when society as a whole rejects outright that so-called "disadvantaged" citizens, that is, deprived of the means to live, should be at the disposal of "privileged" fellow citizens to do the less dignified jobs.
Privilege and entitlement as part of the reward system in the class society seems "natural", at least Social Darwinists would like us to believe the myth of "survival of the fittest", very useful to justify a dysfunctional system, just like the mathematical models used to justify the “accuracy” of the economics profession.
The truth is that this idea has been disseminated and normalized to intellectually underpin exploitation and meritocratic narratives.
Disposable income should not depend on a socially recognized professional activity and/or career, but rather on the real use it has for society. For centuries, millennia, domestic work, the responsibility of women, was never remunerated and, however, was essential for the survival of families.
Work must be recognized for its real usefulness and "workers" who perform tasks that are particularly unpleasant but essential to the general well-being must be adequately rewarded, which may be in monetary value, or otherwise, for example, in time available for o developing personal projects with specific support, etc... Free time to be able to dedicate ourselves to what we like, even if it's just enjoying the right to leisure, is a fundamental democratic right. In a society where citizens live in a permanent state of uncertainty, isolation/social atomization and alienation, as is the case in the current capitalist society, the normal state is one of mental, cultural and ideological blockage, the feeling of impotence can become overwhelming.
Industrial agriculture, intensive and extensive livestock farming require deforestation and earth-moving, heavy machinery and infrastructure, chemical fertilizers and synthetic phytosanitary products, energy and water resources in abundance in order to be able to supply the global markets.
The food industry is controlled by a handful of mega-corporations, from the production of hybrid and genetically modified seeds to the production, processing and distribution of cereals and by-products of the milling and oil refining sectors.
The production of meat and derivatives, the capture of wild fish and the growing aquaculture industry to feed the world's population demands an enormous amount of resources that have to come from somewhere.
The debate should not centered on whether or not we should eat animal products, the problem lies in the illusion that we should have the freedom to eat and drink what we want without restrictions, and this is where honesty has to come into play. If we all want the same thing, the production side will be compelled to resort to every technological trick in order to manipulate and circumvent the rules of nature to produce the required products. This aberration has to end, human freedom ends where the right to existence of the remaining living community of the biosphere begins.
The close relationship between producers and consumers has never been so tenuous.
A significant portion of vegetable and fruit production is carried out in hydroponic and semi-hydroponic systems in technologically advanced greenhouses in order to supply national urban markets and international distribution centers.
Most agricultural production remains based on land use and needs abundant water, raw materials and infrastructure, dams and irrigation systems, refrigerated warehouses, greenhouses and energy that has to be extracted, produced, transformed and transported to be made available to the farmer so that he can produce the food and place it in the distribution chain. Complex systems almost always dependent on imported raw materials and an uninterrupted circuit of cargo movement around the globe by land, sea and air.
We find all this normal, and for many it is the source of sustenance. Ubiquitous surreptitious messages compels us to be ambitious, we must want to go further, be more competitive, become the winner and enjoy the spoils.
The legitimate purpose of accumulating wealth makes it acceptable to leave a trail of astutely disguised destruction, kept out of sight.
Most belong to the group of victims of the system, let’s use the sports analogy, the majority of those who practice sports, even in the professional category, will never become rich, but society resorts to the exceptions to spread the illusion that if we try hard enough and have talent we also can become winners. In fact, only a small minority reaches this level and no one takes away their merit and commitment, but wanting to pretend that it can be widely replicated is a blatant lie.
We can, we must and we will have to opt for ecological food production systems. Agroecology is a successfully used system, but it is incompatible with the modern way of life that requires immediate and massive availability of products to meet market demand.
Production models that respect the cycles of nature, the revitalization of the soil, the protection of aquifers and biodiversity cannot feed large human concentrations. Many of the products labeled as organic come from intensive production systems and despite respecting the rules of the organic production system, rules that can be changed for convenience in the market, resort to foliar fertilization to correct nutritional deficiencies, with products approved for this purpose, but incompatible with the romantic idea of organic production that we see on product labels.
The grains and transgenic soybeans used in the production of most animal feed require the use of industrial agriculture
Changing mindsets to change systems, less technofix and more social, ecological and ethical awareness, because adding more layers of technological complexity does not solve the fundamental problem, the unsustainable nature of today's society.
It is imperative to end capitalism, imperialism and militarism but it is not enough, productivist socialism reproduces, copies and mimics many of the mistakes of capitalism, for example the western consumerist lifestyle, the fashion and cosmetics and audiovisual and Electronic products are highly harmful to the environment, but we still believe it's important to follow fashion and buy the latest mobile phone model.
It is crucial to deconstruct the consumerist culture and move forward, accepting the cultural colonization of American imperialism is not a sign of cosmopolitanism, cultural sophistication or social status, it is a demonstration of how easily we are manipulated.
Intensive livestock farming managed by productivist, mercantilist logic resorts to animal husbandry methods and processes contrary to animal welfare. Animals are seen as merchandise and not as living beings.
Concentration camps style for higher productivity and turnover with lower production costs and profit maximization.
Economy of scale and unlimited growth, the ideal entrepreneur aims to become an exporter to the globalized market.
Acquisitions and mergers, creation of economic and financial monopolies controlled by oligarchs and plutocrats is the reality in which we live. People and communities are belittled, excluded or even expelled from the territories where they have lived for centuries.
Current financial mercantilism leaves no room for the subsistence family economy to flourish, people are forced to migrate to cities because life in villages is less and less viable and younger people are attracted by city life.
In the villages, job opportunities, social initiatives and cultural activities are scarce.
The trend towards an increasingly technological society, electronically monitored, more policed and with less autonomy for the exercise of individual freedom, more virtual transhumanist metaverse pseudo reality and less freedom of movement.
An ecosocialist political economy system applied to agriculture must divide food production into at least two large groups. The group of foods that are easy to produce in an agroecological, small-scale and sustainable way and the group of foods that require large-scale production, heavy agricultural machinery and chemical fertilizers, such as cereals.
Anyone who argues that it is possible to feed the current population without resorting to fossil fuels does not know the reality on the ground.
We have to be realistic and understand that nobody wants to go back to archaic working methods, because they are painful and not very productive.
The issue is to establish clear limits, such as, for example, prohibiting the use of transgenic seeds, limiting the growth of cities, prohibiting intensive livestock farming and rationing the consumption of animal products. Develop, support and subsidize small-scale projects and agroecological cooperatives, cultivate and consume seasonal products, reduce energy waste with transport, storage and refrigeration. This is the right path to food sovereignty.
It is imperative to implement new production and distribution methods and change consumption habits based on the development of social and ecological awareness.
Shared local, community and national planning is essential for policies to be effective and needs met.
The capitalist logic of seeking profit at any cost, contrary to the image that is sold to us, is inefficient and generates enormous amounts of waste.
Goods are not produced for the social value they represent, but for commercial interest, even when they are useless and harmful, marketing and advertising manage to convince consumers to buy what they don't need with money they don't have, contributing to the continuity of an unfair system.
Integrated democratic planning seeks to encourage methods and processes that take into account the satisfaction of immediate needs and storage needs in accordance with the principle of food sovereignty and respect for the limits of the biosphere. Satisfying social needs and protecting the environment replace the pursuit of profit as the engine of economic activity.
Capitalism exists to funnel profits upwards and economic growth is dependent on new debt.
Most of the money that enters the economy is created with the act of accepting a new bank credit. And this is true for individuals, families, companies and governments.
The privately controlled financial system holds the power to decide who has access to money, the famous quote attributed to Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812) founder of the House of Rothschild “Let me issue and control the money of a nation and I care not who writes the laws” reveals the power held by private banks and investment houses.
The issuance of money must once again be controlled by the national treasury, banking must be public, there is not a single positive reason to hand over control of the financial system to the private sector, other than the loss of sovereignty and the impoverishment of the population.
The ecosocialist political economy is an ideology of rupture with the capitalist system, but during the transition period it is essential to ensure the stability of society.
Order, law and security are essential for the stability of society, but for the purpose of defending citizens from abuses, threats and crimes.
Feelings of uncertainty, powerlessness, fear, insecurity and alienation are a constant in today's society and the fascistic far-right tries to take advantage of the current political discredit, cultural muddle and social ambiguities to reach power.
Ecosocialism should be the unifying banner of anti-capitalists, anti-imperialists, anti-militarists, environmentalists and ecologists to create an alternative democratic political movement capable of opposing the current techno-fascist/techno-feudalist leaning.
The ecosocialist political economy is based on state control of the means of production, which does not mean that all decisions depend on centralized power.
The small economy must be decentralized, but property management must be public and administered at the local level.
The production and distribution of energy, the pumping, treatment and distribution of drinking water, waste collection and treatment systems, sewage and basic sanitation, general infrastructure must be public and managed in order to serve local interests.
All systems must incorporate technology that allows saving energy to better serve the population and protect the environment.
Rational and integrated resource management has to be the default mode.
Environmental protection has to be integrated into the management of economic policy, the economy is a subsystem of the ecology. The territory is the common heritage of a living community of which human beings are just a part, the idea of having the right to explore, develop, alter, pollute, destroy, expel in the name of economic development, which in the capitalist case prioritizes private profit and the corporate interests of multinationals with more economic power than many sovereign states is wrong and perverse.
Control of resources should be done by local communities with the support of the national government.
The working class and citizens of all walks of life that somehow feel their lives could be more useful, make more sense and be more interesting have to try to visualize what would be the system of political economy that could provide a sense of community that does not exist in the current context.
Developing and deepening class consciousness is the first and most important step towards a path of liberation from myths and prejudices that keep us prisoners of narratives that only make sense because they dominate our subconscious.
The development of class consciousness helps to smooth out the sharp edges of cultural identity divisions. The class struggle does not explain everything, but class origins always aggravates the other problems that society is struggling with and anyone who denies this is because they have not yet realized the centrality of the class issue.
It is no coincidence that the class issue is ridiculed, devalued, distorted and even denied.
When we realize the centrality of the class issue in the repressive, exploitative and discriminatory structure of the hierarchical system, the myths and fallacious narratives about meritocratic virtues fall to the ground.
The capitalist system resorts to all the tricks of diverting attention from what really matters to what is secondary, so that we never seriously focus on the core of the problem.
Internationalism is fundamental as part of the revolutionary struggle and organized resistance to overthrow capitalism in the process of transition to ecosocialism.
If we want to be serious, we realize that the common denominator is the hierarchical class system and we don't go beyond it by going into denial.
The struggle for a classless society must be at the heart of the ecosocialist movement. The feeling of superiority and the prejudice of privilege that gives some people the right to exploit, discriminate, enslave and even annihilate based on a system that guarantees impunity.
