Ready to Confront Anti-Capitalism?





Anti-capitalism has been an avoided controversial topic for years. People would rather prefer to argue about corporate power or corporate rule or neo-liberalism, but anti-capitalism was barely the topic of serious conflict. However, according to an article on Rabble, change is coming.

The article quotes BBC News, New journalist George Monbiot, who said, ‘What we have to do is the big structural, political economic stuff. We have to overthrow this system which is eating the planet with perpetual growth. We’ve got to go straight to the heart of capitalism and overthrow it.’

The author of the book, ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate,’ Naomi Klein, published a tweet about Mr. Monbiot's appearance on television, appreciating his astonishing comment.

Perhaps the reason why we are standing at this point is the way the environmentally-friendly consumerist choices are growing infamous among people gradually.

Klein made a comment, that, ‘After years of recycling, carbon offsetting and light bulb changing, it is obvious that individual action will never be an adequate response to climate crisis. Climate change is a collective problem, and it demands collective action.’

The Canadian government under Trudeau is currently up for trying to convince citizens that tax on carbon is a vital step to control the worsening climate breakdown. However, according to a professor in the School of Environment and Resource Management at Simon Fraser University, Mark Jaccard, after looking at the numbers, this point simply cannot be considered to be true. He says meeting the government’s target of reducing carbon emissions till 2030 by 30% from 2005 levels, would actually require taxation on carbon, starting at the least amount of $30 for a tonne, and by 2030, it should become $200 per tonne.

Presently, the federal carbon tax is only $20 dollars per tonne, and projected at $50 by 2022,  but not more. This means, it’s inadequate and will not help reach the goal.

Recently, in an article in the Guardian news entitled, ‘Ending Climate Change Requires the End of Capitalism’ Phil McDuff wrote that carbon tax would not make it.

For anyone who is not oblivious to the small measures taken by the Federal Liberals, while concurrently carrying out massive projects like spending a whole of $4.5 billion on a tar sands pipeline etc, this is not a surprise.

It’s now evident that the liberals won’t be able to conceal their hypocrisy anymore. The public has recently responded outrageously to the decision of the Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, to give $12 million to Loblaws grocery store owned by Weston, to buy new freezers.

One of the founding members of Extinction Rebellion, Stuart Basden, said that ‘the climatic breakdown is a symptom of a toxic system of colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, class hierarchy etc.’

Years back, Antonio Gramsci wrote that the crisis is in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born. That observation is totally applicable in this political situation. She also wrote that telling the truth is revolutionary. There is a little hope in Monbiot’s comment on a talk show on BBC News, that maybe a broader political shift is around the corner and that this shift could lead to a revolution, getting rid of capitalism and the climate issues.


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