<nettime> Precarious United for Climate Action in Copenhagen (COP15)

[Alex Foti <alex.foti@gmail.com>]

PRECARIOUS UNITED for CLIMATE ACTION        (PUCA)
www.euromayday.org

Fighting for Social and Climate Justice. Because Climate Change Makes
All Precarious.

The economic crisis has heavily hit the precariat -- the sum of those
working non-standard, temporary, part-time contracts in services and
industry -- worse than any other social class. Millions of precarious
youth, women, immigrants are being made redundant by the Great
Recession. Unemployment has skyrocketed from the US to the EU, from
Iceland to Japan. Those responsible for the crisis -- big banks,
investment funds, free-market economists and policy-makers --
whitewash and greenwash without shame as if nothing happened and go on
with business as usual. Governments are giving trillions to the
bankers and peanuts to the permatemps. Riots and protests are
spreading as a result, also targeting a new wave of racism and
xenophobia, but the pressure against political and economic power
hasn't yet been enough, although an Autumn of Rage lies in store and
this could change the equation.

Yet on the horizon of this historic capitalist crisis, an even larger
crisis looms: global heating and climate change due to fossil-burning
capital accumulation. Humankind is in danger, and by mid-century
millions and millions could be wiped out from Earth if overdeveloped
economies don't cut emissions, i.e. if we don't bring into line the
major carbon emitters (oil, coal, energy conglomerates, manufacturing
corporations and their logistics, the aviation industry, fast food and
agribusiness, luxury tourism etc.). Copenhagen in December is an
excellent opportunity to do so. On Dec 7-18, the UN Climate Summit --
COP15 -- will take place in the Danish capital, a city with strong
radical traditions and a current history of rebellious agitation. All
the state and economic élites from all the countries of the world will
convene at Bella Center in Copenhagen to seek a successor to the Kyoto
Treaty, including those powers like the US, China, India who hadn't
signed it.

The solution to the precarious question is not going to be found in
the return to the old speculative, overindebted, overdeveloped,
ecocidal, supremely unequal consumer economy of yore, the very same
that has been responsible for the lion's share of greenhouse emissions
deposited in the atmosphere over the last three decades, but in the
fight for a new economic and welfare system built around the social
and environmental needs of the precarious strata of society, ensuring
that each human being on Earth is entitled to the same share of carbon
emissions. To achieve this, we demand fiscal distribution via
capital, corporate and carbon taxation to pay for: basic income for
all adults and finance a reduction in worktime such as the 4-day week,
universal free access to online knowledge, publicly assisted p2p
social production and sharing, free public health and higher education
for all, subsidized green housing and green jobs for all unemployed
wishing to work, socialized banking funding renewable energy and
sustainable living community projects, urban and labor rights of
self-organization and self-unionization, the end of discrimination and
persecution of immigrants and asylum-seekers, right to solidarity
strike and statutory minimum wage of €10/$10/¥1500 per hour, and any
measure geared to giving back power and the possibility of making
power to the people. Redistribution of wealth and power toward the
precarious, growth of immaterial knowledge, cultural enrichment of
society and massive expansion of leisure are fundamental social
conditions for the horizontal, open-source design of a resilient
postcapitalist society, freeing the time to pursue ecohacktive and
permacultural activities, giving the time back to precarized and
frightened people to think collectively about their own future, also
cutting the need for quick consumption and instant satisfaction among
precarious service and knowledge workers in the currently time-starved
global society.

A strongly relational and solidaristic economy would fulfill many of
the needs today obviated by individualized market consumption. We
reject carbon trading (the cap&trade approach) as a non-solution to
the problem of emission cuts, as proved by the complete failure of the
EU emissions trading system. We expect adequate climate reparations
from the old industrial powers of the North to the underdeveloped
economies of the South. We hope the multigendered and multiethnic
precariat can be the social driver for local economies of cooperation,
exchange and mutual aid, food and energy production, just as the
immaterial precariat has been at the core of the climate camp
movement, to which we have participated enthusiastically.

The power of markets and corporations over our lives is backed by
petromilitarism. Fossil capitalism destroys environments as it
precarizes peoples. We must fight it in Copenhagen, all together, to
unmask Barroso's (let's hope the Irish manage to finally sack him) and
Obama's carbon trading and government bailouts for the rich. They'd
better spend that money in social transfers, green jobs and renewable
energy, because the Recession doesn't do discounts and the Earth
doesn't do bailouts: act for social change to avert climate disaster!

Climate Justice Action (CJA, www.climate-justice-action.org, follow
@actforclimate), the global movement network that for a year has been
organizing the December 12-16 protests, is calling all movements to
direct action in Copenhagen in the days from Dec12 (demonstration from
Parliament) to Dec16 (mass action at Bella Center).

On December 12, the precarious organizing the postcapitalist mayday of
precarious and migrants in many cities of Europe and Japan (and
Canada: no border, no precarity! www.euromayday.org) call onto all
friends and accomplices across europe+world to join forces behind the
"Precarious United for Climate Action" banner, joining the
anticapitalist block (http://nevertrustacop.org/Main/SecondCall) at
the big demonstration that will gather every single environmental
organization and activist group on the planet voicing the need for
climate justice  and the responsibility of global capitalism for
environmental disaster, marching from Parliament to Summit.

And on December 16, we ask all noprecarity activists to join the
pink'n'black PUCA block to push for climate justice at the
RECLAIM POWER! mass action painstakingly organized by the CJA Movement
Network around the Bella Center on that Wednesday. We will produce
postcapitalist subverts, crisis fortundising, ecohacking, climate
slogans, posters, wotnot, and exhort you to do the same. On Dec 13,
14, 15 look out for actions on production, borders, banks,
agriculture, north-south equity.

Movment Call for Mass Action on December 16:
www.climatecamp.org.uk/actions/copenhagen-2009
Climate Action Calendar  and Guide Toward Copenhagen:
http://www.climate-justice-action.org/news/2009/09/13/climate-action-calendar-and-guide-toward-copenhagen/
Twitter: @actforclimate
CJA site: www.climate-justice-action.org

FIGHT FOR SOCIAL EQUALITY: PUSH FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE!
quand le climat est précaire, les précaires se rebellent
quando il clima è precario, i precari si ribellano
cuando el clima es precario, l@s precari@s se rebelan
når klimaet er usikker, de usikre rebel
wenn das Klima ist prekär, die prekäre Rebellen
when climate becomes precarious, time for the precarious to act...
(german and danish are autoamtic translations, please check)






#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime>  is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: http://mail.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org