Aled Fisher writes.
I think it's time Green Left had a bit of a rethink of its position on Hugo Chavez. It's sad because, like many of you and others on the Left, Chavez was, at one point, a beacon of hope in Latin America - and it would still be wrong to criticise many aspects of his impressive social programme in education and health, and further improvements in local democracy and agriculture. Indeed, some of his foreign policy choices have been excellent, like supplying cheap oil to impoverished communities in the US and London.
However, I think we need to make our support a lot more critical, and in fact ruthlessly criticise some of his recent outbursts and strange announcements. For example, today he claimed that the US was behind the protests in Tibet, trying to disrupt the Olympics and the rise of China - see http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/25/sports/LA-SPT-OLY-Beijing-Tibet-Chavez.php for more.
The Green Party and Green Left rightly support the right to self-determination and resistance of the Tibetan people after years of occupation. Furthermore, I think we need to be as outspoken on the crimes of China as we correctly are on Israel, Sudan, Burma and other serious human rights abusers. However, here Chavez is acting like an apologist for a Stalinist regime that is one of the world's worst ecological and social abusers.I increasingly think that Chavez's revolution is going down the wrong path and is out of line with eco-socialism or Green socialism. As our founding statement makes clear, we oppose Stalinism and undemocratic, centralist socialism - but I'm worried that Chavez is now, more than ever, an authoritarian ruler cut in the Stalinist mode. A 'revolution' cannot be so dependent on one man without these kind of problems arising. I think we need to support more independence for trade unions, social movements, student groups and others in Venezuela so that they can be a check against his power and retain control over their own resources and the decisions that affect them. We certainly need to discuss how we want to term our position on Venezuela (as well as Cuba).
Cheers, Aled :)
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Tuesday, 25 March 2008
GREEN SOCIALISM-Is it a good idea?
Postings from mike Shaugnessy originally to the Red Peppper forum at
http://forums.redpepper.org.uk/index.php/topic,349.0.html
« Reply #10 on: Thu 13 Mar 2008 12:32 »
Green socialism (or ecosocialism) is slowly taking hold both inside and outside of Green parties. I saw Angela Davis speak at the London Women’s conference last week, and she said she will be voting Green in the US presidential election (I am told that she is a member of the US Green party). In the English Green party an group has formed called Green Left and I hear that Socialist Resistance (part of Celebrity Respect) have taken on board the writings of Joel Kovel, and call themselves ecosocialists. There was a recent meeting of Ecosocialism International in Paris, with representatives from many countries attending.Socialism needs to be ecocentric. Ecosocialist writers such as Kovel have identified capitalism’s ecodestructiveness as the second contradiction of capital, i.e. growth is finite due resources being so, and if the system continues, we are all f*cked. It seems to me that avoiding ecological destruction is impossible under a regime of capital. Which doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t press for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions now, rather like Trotsky’s ‘transitional demands’ (Trotsky was not green at all).From a pragmatic point of view, all the electoral space (certainly in the UK) is on the left, so it makes sense for Green parties to move over to fill the void
« Reply #13 on: Thu 13 Mar 2008 18:24 »
All the neo liberal parties (and I include NuLab in that) are aware that green issues, particularly concern over climate change, are becoming fashionable. So they develope 'greenwash' policies and the same can be said of their chums in big business, like BP having a flower as a logo. But their intention is not to be really green, but to make money out appearing to be green. The govt will raise green taxes, which will adversely affect the poorest most. The Lib Dems want to reduce income tax, and replace it with green taxes, again hitting the poorest most.We can see this clearly in the idea of carbon trading. The city institutions aim to make a fortune out of trading emissions permits. But this is like putting the lunatics in charge of the asylum, as these people have got us into this situation, so who can trust them to solve the problem?
Socialists and Greens have a common enemy - capital.
http://forums.redpepper.org.uk/index.php/topic,349.0.html
« Reply #10 on: Thu 13 Mar 2008 12:32 »
Green socialism (or ecosocialism) is slowly taking hold both inside and outside of Green parties. I saw Angela Davis speak at the London Women’s conference last week, and she said she will be voting Green in the US presidential election (I am told that she is a member of the US Green party). In the English Green party an group has formed called Green Left and I hear that Socialist Resistance (part of Celebrity Respect) have taken on board the writings of Joel Kovel, and call themselves ecosocialists. There was a recent meeting of Ecosocialism International in Paris, with representatives from many countries attending.Socialism needs to be ecocentric. Ecosocialist writers such as Kovel have identified capitalism’s ecodestructiveness as the second contradiction of capital, i.e. growth is finite due resources being so, and if the system continues, we are all f*cked. It seems to me that avoiding ecological destruction is impossible under a regime of capital. Which doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t press for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions now, rather like Trotsky’s ‘transitional demands’ (Trotsky was not green at all).From a pragmatic point of view, all the electoral space (certainly in the UK) is on the left, so it makes sense for Green parties to move over to fill the void
« Reply #13 on: Thu 13 Mar 2008 18:24 »
All the neo liberal parties (and I include NuLab in that) are aware that green issues, particularly concern over climate change, are becoming fashionable. So they develope 'greenwash' policies and the same can be said of their chums in big business, like BP having a flower as a logo. But their intention is not to be really green, but to make money out appearing to be green. The govt will raise green taxes, which will adversely affect the poorest most. The Lib Dems want to reduce income tax, and replace it with green taxes, again hitting the poorest most.We can see this clearly in the idea of carbon trading. The city institutions aim to make a fortune out of trading emissions permits. But this is like putting the lunatics in charge of the asylum, as these people have got us into this situation, so who can trust them to solve the problem?
Socialists and Greens have a common enemy - capital.
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