amandla issue23

7/26/2019 Amandla Issue23

1/68Capitalist crisis deepens | Malema: not dead yet | Simphiwe Dana in brief

ISSUE NO. 22/23 DECEMBER 2011

TAKING POWER SERIOUSLY

South Africas new progressive magazine standing for social justice.

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Visit www.amandla.org.za for additional articles, news and views.

Editorial

02 |Two minutes to midnight

Letters

04 |Letters to the editor

News briefs

06 |News briefs

Q & A

08 |Q & A with Pablo Soln

ANCYL

10 |Economic freedom in our lifetime:

a timely wake up call

11 |Malemas disciplinary: too soon to write

the youth leaders obituary

COP 17: Conference ofPolluters?

13 |Durban COP 17: failures in the making

15 |The triumph of King Coal: hardening our

coal addiction

17 |The climate change White Paper: the

right colour for South Africa?

19 |Carbon trading: licence to pollute

21 |Green capitalism: profiting from nature

23 |Nukes to cost the earth

25 |The One Million Climate Jobs Campaign

30 |Trade and climate change

32 |Against Shells fracking arguments

33 |Another shale gas scandal fracking the

Quebec

34 |Undermining Africa:

Africas role in the global uranium

economy

35 |Indigenous people: a key to

environmental rescue

National

38 |NHI Green Paper: vital first step forward

40 |Land reform Green Paper: not much food

for thought

International

42 |Whos really South Africas foreign policy

master?

44 |Gaza in siege: interview with Raji Sourani

The crisis reloaded

47 |The crisis comes home

48 |Europe's fall, South Africa's crash

51 |South African economy: the penny drops

53 |The EU debt and the crisis

54 |The G20: hung by its own petard

56 |China cannot save the world from the

economic crisis

Arts & Culture

59 |Another Brick in the Wall: a short

biography of the great struggle song

60 |What on Earth is World Music?

Myth or Reality

Reviews

61 |Book reviews

62 |Film reviews

In focus

64 |Simphiwe Dana in brief

11

12

46

contents

44 |Gaza in siege: interview with Raji Sourani

59 |Arts & Culture

Front cover illustration:

This issue was inspired by the forthcoming COP 17,the 17th

Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Will it be a

veritable Conference of the Polluters? Or will significant steps be

made for climate justice?

Credit: Donovan Ward

38|NHIGreen Paper: vital first step forward


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Global collision ofthe ecological andeconomic crises in is a symptom of a much widercrisis of the global system. It is not onlya crisis of the neoliberal model, but alsoa deeper crisis of the over-productivist,endless-growth, financial-speculativemodel which puts humanity and theplanet at great risk. We are confrontedby a simple but stark reality, namely, thatan economic system based on unlimitedgrowth contradicts a limited planet.

Tis dilemma is increasingly evidentas humanity and the biosphere areconfronted by a series of intersectingcrises. Crises around energy, food, waterand the climate place resource depletionand constraints at the forefront of globalattention. It is not just that we are facingpeak oil and peak carbon the problemis that we are, metaphorically speaking,two minutes to midnight and the clockis ticking.

A global problem callsfor global solutions

.Unless there is a reduction ofemissions from developed countriesby , the runaway climate changeof degrees will ensure unimaginabledevastation and disruption to life onthe planet.

In this context, it is impossible toleave the problem of the environment tothe environmentalists. Recall how theslogan think globally, act locally arosefrom the challenge of integrating issues ofglobalisation into locally based activismfor social justice. oday, the threats ofclimate change impel popular forces toexpand their visions and programmesto integrate environmental justice intotheir strategies.

Marketisation, afalse solution

Sustainable Development (launched in) the United Nations FrameworkConvention on Climate Change and a hostof multilateral processes were establishedto arrest the environmental crisis. Almost years later, the situation is worse. TeUNFCCCs Conference of the Parties andthe discussions in preparation for Rio+are in danger of shifting away fromregulating the market. On the contrary,powerful transnational corporationsand business councils, over-representedin negotiations, press for the dramatic

expansion of the commercialisation of theenvironmental and life services.

We are made to believe that the veryprocesses that have brought us the crisis extreme marketisation can somehowovercome the crisis. Te green economyand extreme technologies (such as geo-

engineering) under the monopoly controlof giant corporations are promoted asinstruments to solve the ecological crises.Tis is done instead of paving the way

towards a low carbon economy.Since we cannot increase the capacityof the environment to bear the economic,population and resource burdens placedon it, it follows that the adjustment mustcome entirely from the operating andstructuring of the global economy.

Yet, it is the dynamics of this systemthat have set humanity up against thelimits of the plane. As fish need water andhumans need air to survive, the marketeconomy needs increasing profit ratesand unlimited growth. It is the averagecompound economic growth of

that is breaching planetary boundaries.Te process of neoliberal globalisationaccelerates this process while creatinginequality and polarisation between andwithin countries.

Shifting the crisis to the poor economic crisis, triggered by the /financial crisis, is not receding. Short-lived recoveries give way to outbreaksof contagion in new parts of the world without being contained to these areas.Even though economic liberalisation and

market fundamentalism are increasinglyseen as the causes of the economicturmoil, elites push the costs of thecrisis onto the shoulders of the poorand marginalised.

All the while, the social crisisaffecting the majority of the populationbecomes worse. Mass unemployment,the dispossession of land and essentialservices through privatisation, thedumping of toxic waste on poorcommunities, disorganisation ofcommunity through ghettoisation andslumification of working-class living

spaces are some of the most obviousmanifestations of the current crisis.For women who have to bear theresponsibilities of sustaining everyday life,this situation compounds their efforts tosurvive the violence of the economicsystem and the consequent socialtensions burst out in intensified formsof domestic violence to further brutalisethe already unequal relations betweenwomen and men.

South Africa in the crisis

and pressing problems. It is impossible tobuild a united and cohesive society withthe current obscene levels of inequality,poverty and unemployment. wo worldsseparate township and suburban lifeand an even greater divide separateslife in the former Bantustans from the

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major metropolitan cities. We faceextreme difficulties in dealing with massunemployment and poverty.

Economic decline the decline of the South African economy.At the heart of this decline are three inter-related factors: SAs declining resource base; Weak internal markets and demand for

consumer goods; A policy framework that has

encouraged an open and externallyoriented economy thatfacilitates financialisation andcapital flight.

While the post-apartheid

literature has focused on boththe structural weaknesses of theSouth African economy and theneoliberal policy frameworkas barriers to sustaineddevelopment, less focus has beencentred on SAs declining resourcebase. However, unless economicgrowth is decoupled from risingrates of resource use and negativeenvironmental impacts, economicdevelopment will suffer withnegative consequences for societyand the environment.

Resource degradationand the energy crisis common pattern of resourcedepletion across a wide rangeof key resource sectors, such asenergy, minerals, water (by , of the total water resourcehad already been allocated) orsoil fertility (land degradationhas already occurred on of cultivated land). Even SouthAfricas biodiversity is under

extreme stress from industrialprocesses and climate change.Te depletion of these sectors willhave an adverse effect on SouthAfrican exports and drive up theinput costs of locally produced goods,further undermining the economy.

Against the background of the globalcrisis, South Africas vulnerability toexternal shocks from the global economyhas been successively demonstratedthrough currency crashes, capital flight,export declines and massive job losses.During the Great Recession of /, a

million jobs alone were lost.In these circumstances, the

government has developed a new growthpath and established the Ministry ofEconomic Development to drive itsimplementation. A major concern ofthis new economic policy is the creation

of jobs: million over the next years, in what it calls the greeneconomy. Green jobs will be created in therenewable energy sector, manufacturing

and in rural development.However, these good intentions arecontradicted by the governments plan toaddress the current energy crisis wheredemand is overtaking supply. South Africais listed as the th biggest emitter ofcarbon dioxide in the world, producingannually a total of metric tons per

year. Te decision to commission two ofthe biggest coal-fired electricity plants,

Medupe and Kusile, will dramaticallyincrease South Africas already very highper capita CO emissions. Te Medupepower station alone will put out about million tons of CO into the atmosphereper annum, which is greater than the totalemissions of countries.

On a global scale, the South Africaneconomy is uniquely electricity intensive,

with levels of consumption comparableto those of rich industrialised countrieslike Britain. Yet, household consumptionconstitutes a fraction of electricity use.Most electricity is consumed in mining,mineral processing and related industries.Coal is responsible for over of the

primary energy needs ( converted toelectricity, into oil).

Te energy crisis of , which sawa number of blackouts, and which has

led to a new energy plan and a massivebuild-programme for increased electricitygeneration, reduces renewable energyto the margins of overall generation andsupply. Essentially it is business as usual.

In reality, a shift in policy by theSouth African government will requireadvocacy and the mobilisation of publicopinion on a very high level, given theweight of the mineral energy complex in

shaping energy and economicpolicy. In the current IntegratedResource Plan , SouthAfricas energy strategy for the

next years, the countrysenergy needs are overestimatedand the possibilities for reducingenergy wastage underestimated.Te Plan reinforces the role ofcoal and of nuclear in providingfor SAs energy needs whileminimising the potentialof renewable energy. Tereproduction of the minerals andenergy complex that has beenso detrimental to South Africasdevelopment, especially for poorcommunities, is a convergence of

interests of a new elite anxiousto use its political influence toaccumulate wealth and an oldelite heavily invested in theminerals, energy and financesectors of the economy.

Another energy perspectiveis necessary. One that coincideswith an economic policy orientedto overcoming poverty, inequalityand unemployment.

Yet the alliance of the elitesis closing off possibilities fornew policies to emerge. Rather

than breaking with the Mbekiadministration, the Zuma regimehas given greater space for elitecapture and accumulation. Tefailure to deal with the structural

crises gripping the South African socialformation is fuelling the very sametensions in society that emerged underthe Mbeki government. Tese are madeworse by the impact of the global crisis.Fundamental economic and energyalternatives are urgently needed to putSouth Africa on a different trajectory.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in the articles do notnecessarily reflect those of the AlternativeInformation & Development Centre, or theAmandla! Editorial Collective.

It is the dynamics of this system that have set humanity up against the limitsof the planet. As fish need water and humans need air to survive, the marketeconomy needs increasing profit rates and unlimited growth.


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While the socialist left are playing theirviolins our townships are bleeding

DearAmandla!At what stage is the left going to respondto the horrendous killings that are a

daily feature of life on the Cape Flats?Are you not losing an opportunity tointervene in a meaningful way when youdont open dialogue with the communityorganisations who try to address theseissues? One gets the impression that thedetails of the working class peoples livesare sacrificed at the altar for the latest sexyGrand National Campaign when oftenthe potential of building alliances withthe immediate issues affecting the poor isright under our noses.

Is it not ironic that many on theleft who lambasted and attacked the

UDF in the s now crave a similarmovement but refuse to get their handsdirty? Tey rather choose shortcuts andlofty manifestos and declarations whilelacking any real relationship with thosethey claim to represent.

I will refresh your memories on thebuilding of the UDF: it was a long, slowgrind-along that got down and dirty aboutthings like young people and gangsterism it never solved it but it contained it.Partially because it provided a politicalanalysis of how the system breedsgangsterism and conditions that kill

the poor on so many levels. Progressivemovements in the slums of Rio, MexicoCity and Bogota recognise the mobilisingnecessity of fighting the scourge ofgangsterism so why not us?brief timeline of the bleeding onthe Cape Flats:

November :Bonteheuwel one-year-old baby caught in the crossfire whengangsters open fire on a family member

October :Wagieda Jabaar, , killed incrossfire while on her way to hospital

October :Hanover Park young

mother of two killed in open field October :Lavender Hill William

Borens is shot outside his home androbbed of R

October :Carmelita Martin killedafter being hit in the neck by a straybullet outside her home

July :Hanover Park ShamielNeil, gang member, killed outsideHanover Park taxi rank after survivingassassination a week earlier.

Born in the struggle,Mariam, David, Hoosein, Angela UDF

Sport is political

DearAmandla!How come your very informative

magazine never covers issues related tosport? Ronnie Kasrils wearing a Springbokrugby jersey does not count (Amandla!Issue , October ).

Sport is increasingly related to politics,finance and the broader economy. Iwould like to read intelligent analysis ofsporting events. But I would also like toread about why womens sport receives

such miniscule coverage in the mediaand support from the state. Why is it notpossible forAmandla!to write about thecrisis of schools sport? Surely if we wantto transform our sporting codes and havemore working class and black playersplaying at the highest levels then it would

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Sport is political and reflects the inequality of the broader society.


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or organisational greed. It is rooted in thesystem.

Tank you,Anonymous

Letter from Hanover Park: we must notgive up on our youth!

DearAmandla!I am a mother and a community activistat the forefront of organising aroundsocial issues affecting Hanover Park.Along with other women we rally thecommunity to address the scourge ofgangsterism, drugs and unemployment.Tere are many reasons for the recentsurges of violence: peer pressure, lack ofhope, broken families, idle youngstersand unemployment Schools dont

accommodate our young people whodisplay learning problems or arentacademically inclined; kids are bored byschool and very often feel left out andfrustrated. Who are the gangs? Tey areour youth, and instead of condemningthem I regard them as our people, peoplethat need help. Tey are very vulnerableto the temptation of drugs and gangs,

very often coming from single-motherhomes where things are hard, where theylack affection and love. Tey get drawn tocompany that destroys them, people withno self worth. Our coloured communities

were devastated by apartheid and it hasntended, it continues in horrible ways.I have been in Hanover Park for

almost years. I came here as a teenwhen we were forcibly removed fromLansdowne, when it was declared white.Although there was gangsterism backthen, it was not like now. I was involvedas a young person in youth clubs, musicand lots of activities. It seems to bedifferent for young people today: even ifextra-murals are offered, the kids dontgo. I feel sorry for them, they have noambitions. Tese young gang members

touch my heart and must not be given upon. My husband and I started a projectcalled the Ecosoundmusical Forum togive hope to young people. We boughtmusic instruments ourselves and starteda brass band and the kids respond well. Itkeeps them off the streets. I wish schools

be necessary to develop school sport andput much greater energy and resourcesinto this?

Like most other things in this world,sport is political, of interest to millionsof working class and poor people andreflects the inequality of the broadersociety. Surely this lends itself to regular

features, articles and columns?John Dawes

Corruption is rooted in the system

DearAmandla!South Africa is a country that has so manypandemics that have entangled it, in away that we cannot see society withoutthem. Tey are entrenched in the mindsetof our citizens. Te main three are HIV/AIDS, unemployment and corruption.Corruption is this a South African

problem only? Is this a new problem thatonly started after the false-independence?We can debate these questions till thykingdom come.

Most of our focus is on stateinstitutions only, when in fact corruptionis everywhere. You find corrupt officialsin the labour movement, cooperatives,NGOs and in the business sector. Tere isno sector or individual that is immune tocorruption. We can track this in SA wayback to or when Dr Mandelawas still the president. I am not implying

that he was implicated in the arms dealsaga, but he held the highest office in SA.Is it because money in itself corrupts

and breeds greediness in those whohave power over it? Well this is anotherquestion I am going to open widelyto theAmandla!readers. I have beenreading about other countries besidesSA and international institutions wheregovernment-related or independentcorruption has been the main problemthat its leaders have been trying to curb.

All I am saying is that money is theroot of corruption. Money (bank notes)

in itself is corruption. Do we think wewould have corruption if there was nomoney? Would we have a corrupt officialif the Minister of Human Settlementwas given bricks and cement and all thenecessary equipment to build houses?Te problem is deeper than individuals

could offer these things: many of our kidsare practically minded and enjoy workingwith their hands and doing creativethings. Our house has become a haven forsuch children, they fix tings like bicyclesetc. but it is still not enough. We try.

Oh how I wish people would realisewhat the gang leaders are doing! Tey

prey on the weakest kids, which is so sad.Tere must be community efforts to rid usof these people but also to build hope inour area.

Tank you,Debbie Hofmeister from Hanover Park

Let us not forget Linton KwesiJohnsons awful political record

DearAmandla!In Andre Maraiss appraisal of LKJ inthe previous issue ofAmandla!he very

conveniently appropriates LKJ as afellow socialist while ignoring the veryreal inconsistencies in LKJs brand ofsocialism. We must not allow the euphoriaaround the recent British riots to blind usto the awful political record of LKJ andparticularly his involvement with DarcusHowe andRace oday.

As Andre Marais very well knowsbut prefers to omit from his article,during the Brixton Riots, LKJ andRace odayrefused to campaign for thearrested black and white rioters. Rather,they insisted on holding blacks-only

meetings, and in doing so they passed upthe chance to build black and white unityagainst the police. Similarly, LKJs stanceon the miners strike was in politicalterms abstentionist. He and DarcusHowe did not recognise the strike as themost significant political struggle at thattime, and did not show any organisingsupport.Race odayand LKJ got much oftheir inspiration from the ex-rotskyistCLR James and the new wave of writersinfluenced by black, nationalist ideas.It was this understanding and analysisthat paralysedRace odayin relation to

genuine working class struggles and evenon day-to-day race issues.Troughout the s they continued

on this route, ignoring the struggles thatinvolved organised and unorganisedblack workers on strike. Is it not LKJthat attacked the British white left forbeing the worst kind of white liberalracists (Independent Intavenshan)?Also, according to the song, the whitetrade union movement was completelycontaminated by racists. Johnsonsassertion that West Indian culture isa radical political act in itself invited a

justifiable ticking off on television once bythe late Michael Smith, the late Jamaicandub poet. A healthy reassessment of LKJis therefore necessary.

Tanks,Marius

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Who are the gangs? they are our youth, and theydeserve our help.


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in their own battles, they were unitedduring the demonstration and a summitof peoples.

o the rhythm of sambas, colourfuland lively marches demanded an endto tax havens, financial transparency,a real financial transaction tax, radicalregulation of banks, a citizens audit

of public debt, more funds for socialprogrammes and ecological transition,solidarity with the peoples of the South,food sovereignty, the free movement ofwomen and men, and so on. Held afterthe announcement of a Greek referendumon the European Unions austerity plan,this festive demonstration testifies toan irrepressible demand for real local,national, and global democracy.

G20: summit failure bringsworld recession closer

once again revealed the deepeningfractures in the world economy and theinability of the ruling elites to tackleits problems, let alone resolve them.Te meeting began with fears over theconsequences of a Greek default andwithdrawal from the eurozone and inended in disarray amid concerns that Italywas about to take the place of Greece atthe centre of the European debt crisis.

Britains Guardiannewspaperdescribed the second day of the talksas one of unrelenting gloom. It warned

that a world recession has drawn closerafter a fractious G summit failed toagree to fresh financial help for distressedcountries and debt-ridden Italy was forcedto agree to the International MonetaryFund monitoring its austerity programme.

In the lead-up to the summit, therehad been talk that the G would agreeto boost IMF resources by as much as

billion in order to try to alleviatethe financial crisis. But disagreementsover the proposal the United States andBritain have been strongly opposed toadditional IMF funding meant that adecision was put off until a meeting of theG finance ministers next February.

Te G meeting provided no

assistance. Te explosive potential ofthe contradictions gripping the worldeconomy was made clear in the commentson the Greek referendum proposal andthe prospect of default as the meetingwas convening. British Labour peer LordSoley remarked: When the history ofthis period is written it may well be thatthe Greek decision will be seen as theeconomic equivalent of the assassinationof Archduke Ferdinand at Sarajevo in. It will trigger events way beyondthe borders of Greece or even Europe.At the conclusion of the summit, as on

so many other occasions, the officialcommuniqu called for measures toreinvigorate economic growth. However,as theFinancial imes noted, the actionplan for growth and jobs committedcountries to almost nothing they werenot already pursuing. It cited formerIMF senior official Eswar Prasad, whocastigated the G for offering nothingbut vague promises for the future anda series of short-term fixes that arehostile to the political circumstances inindividual countries.

The globalunemployment crisis

Organizations report on globalunemployment paints a stark picture ofthe global economy. Tree years afterthe onset of the economic crisis in ,the global jobs situation is disastrous.

According to the ILO, million jobswould have to be added in the next two

years just to reach pre-crisis employmentlevels. Basing itself on extraordinarilyoptimistic assumptions, the ILOanticipates that only half that number willbe created.

In the advanced industrial countries,including the United States and Europe,there are million fewer jobs now thenfour years ago. Employment in thesecountries is not expected to recover untilwell past . Youth unemployment isabove , and long-term unemploymenthas soared to record heights.

Beyond the immediate indicators ofsocial distress to which many morecould be added the ILO report pointsto an unprecedented build-up of socialtensions that are giving rise to conditionsfor new social explosion on a world scale.

One of the ILOs comments is especiallyrevealing. Its report refers to the paradoxof the past three years; that the impactof the global economic crisis of on the financial sector was short-livedinitially despite it being at the veryorigin of the downturn.

Tere is, however, nothing paradoxicalabout this. Te crash of was setoff by the collapse of an enormousspeculative bubble. Since that time, worldgovernments, led by Washington, havescrambled to ensure the wealth of the veryfinancial elite that created the crisis, at

the direct expense of the vast majority ofthe population.In South Africa, we should be

particularly mindful that during the crisis more than a million jobswere lost. South African corporations,which have seen profit levels rising, havebeen on an investment strike for sometime now, well before the onset of thecurrent global crisis. Te South Africangovernment has been forced, in the faceof lack of investment, to try to crowd ininvestment by undertaking a massiveinfrastructure investment programme.

But even this has not been able to addressthe crippling unemployment crisis thathas precipitated a destabilising socialcrisis in the country; crime, substanceabuse and violence against womenand children are only some of its most

visible manifestations.

Surface smiles at the G20. The Cannes summit achieved nothing and revealed once more the incapacity of the rulingelite to solve the financial crisis.



Pablo Solnis an internationalanalyst and social activist. Heserved as chief negotiator for climatechange and was ambassador of thePlurinational State of Bolivia to theUN from until June .

Amandla! (A!): If Copenhagen wasa betrayal and Cancun treachery(the words you used at the Dakar2011 World Social Forum), what isshaping up for Durban and how arewe likely to characterise COP 17?

Pablo Soln (PS): Te outlook forCOP is even worse than it was forCopenhagen and Cancun. If there is notenough social pressure, Durban couldend up formalising an increase in globaltemperature of more than C that wouldburn the planet and devastate Africa.

In the negotiations so far, thoseresponsible for climate change have madeno attempt to increase their commitmentsto reduce greenhouse gas emissions.o have a hope of keeping temperatureincreases limited to C, all countries

together need to reduce gigatons (Gt)of COe by . Developed countriesthat have a historical responsibility forclimate change are willing to reduce onlybetween to . Gt. Developing countrieshave committed to reduce by between. and Gt. So in total there is a gap of

around to Gt of COe. In other words,we are less than halfway to even having achance of meeting the global commitmentof a less than C temperature rise.

However, the reality is that even anincrease in temperature of C is nota good option, particularly for Africa,island states and mountain countries.If the average temperature of the worldincreases by C this means a Cincrease for Africa. A global increaseof C means more than C forthis continent.

COP could easily become knownas the biggest collective suicide pactin history.

A!: What are the essential steps tostop climate change and what is thetime frame that we have before wewill face catastrophic outcomes?

PS: Te key question is how muchdeveloped countries are going toreduce their greenhouse gas emissions.Developing countries are asking for areduction of to by .

Developed countries are saying that theywill reduce by only to by .

Climate change is different to anyother global problem we have triedto tackle because there is no optionto postpone decisions. In this case,what we dont do today we wont be

Q&A

withPablo

Soln

COP 17 cannot be a globalsuicide pact: we need to end theapartheid against Nature

Pablo Solon



able to accomplish tomorrow. As theInternational Energy Agency warnedus this month: if the peak level of globalemissions doesnt decline before ,then we are in a catastrophic situation.Tree hundred and fifty thousand peopledied in because of natural disastersthat have to do with climate change

according to a report by the ClimateVulnerable Forum. So the genocidehas already begun and accompanies anecocide that is destroying our biodiversity.

What we are able to accomplish inDurban and in the following years willdefine the future of humankind and life onPlanet Earth.

A!: What do you see as themost important demands socialmovements and popular forcesshould be making at COP 17?

PS: Te most important demand is fordeep radical emission reductions thatcan guarantee a future of decent life forall people and our Mother Earth. Its notenough to have a second commitmentperiod within the Kyoto Protocol. Wehave to improve and strengthen theKyoto Protocol. Yet the worlds leadersseem determined to transform it into anempty shell.

Te second demand is to begin aprocess of recognition and defence ofMother Earths rights. Te problem ofclimate change is basically due to the

capitalist misconception that everything man-made and in our environment isjust an input or a resource to exploit tomake money. We must respect the vitalcycles of Nature. We have to treat ourPlanet as our home and not as a bundle ofresources that we can exploit, change orsell without consequences.

In the past, black and indigenouspeople were treated as slaves withoutrights. Now we need to end the apartheidagainst Mother Earth and recognise thatNature has rights.

Te third demand should be for real

emission cuts that are not dependenton market mechanisms that encouragecheating and are developed only tomake money at the cost of peoplesrights. Te truth is that even the limitedcommitments by developed countriesare not based entirely on reductionswithin their own borders, but have asizeable components that come frombuying polluting permits (certificates ofemissions reductions) from developingcountries worth a total of around . Gt.In real terms, developed countries onlyintend to reduce less than Gt of COe

by .Corporations that have a strong

influence in some negotiating delegationsare only concerned about the death ofthe Kyoto Protocol because they fear theresulting disappearance of the carbonmarket mechanism linked to the protocol

(Clean Development Mechanism andothers).

Durban must not be rememberedas the place where carbon markets weresaved and life was buried.

Te fourth demand is to preserve ourforests through a finance mechanismthat is not based on markets but on a

share of a tax of international financialtransactions. We want to save ourforest they want to commodify ourforest through the REDD (Reductionsof Emissions from Degradation andDeforestation) programme. If REDDcontinues, indigenous peoples rightswill be undermined, no matter whatsafeguards are included, and countrieswill be sued in the future through bilateralinvestment agreements, losing sovereigntyover their forests.

A!: If COP 17 continues with

business as usual meaning nobinding agreement for emissioncuts, no real financing of poorerand developing countries to dealwith the impact of climate changeand to transform their energysystems, no processes to facilitatetechnology transfers where willthat leave the UN multilateralprocess? Are there any alternativeswhere movements and citizensshould focus their activism?

PS: Te multilateral process of

negotiation is the result of the balance offorces at the national and global levels.We need to strengthen the movementfor Mother Earth and against climatechange in our community and in eachof our countries. Te indignados, theOccupy Wall Street protests, uprisingsagainst dictatorships, the struggle againstunemployment are all part of a singlefight against the capitalist system. Weneed to call for local referendums in ourtown, provinces or states to back radicalgreenhouse gases emission cuts, enactthe rights of nature, cut military budgets,

tax international financial transactions,implement participatory democracy andresolve other local important issues (coalplants, atomic energy plants, etc).

Te key task is to articulate, at a globallevel, all the local and national actions thatare taking place in all parts of the world.We need to practise what we preach andbuild a global and horizontal movementbased on diversity of thinking with acommon soul for real change.

A!: What is actually meant bythe slogan system change not

climate change? What are thestrategies that go with sucha slogan building on currentactivism and mobilisation?

PS: Te real cause of climate changeis the capitalist system. As the World

Peoples Conference on Climate Changeand the Rights of Mother Earth in agreed: Te capitalist system hasimposed on us an ideology of progressand unlimited growth. Tis regime ofproduction and consumption is guided bythe search for maximum gain, forgettingcompletely the implications of an infinite

growth pattern on a finite planet. Tispattern of development has separatedhuman beings from nature, establishing arationale of domination over nature andleading to the destruction of Nature.

We need to build society on anew model that respects nature andhumankind. Our Mother Earth hasenough resources for everyone if weact on the basis of solidarity and notcompetition, respect for, rather thanexploitation of, nature.

A!: How should we build on the

Peoples Agreement developedby thousands of activists fromaround the world in Bolivia in April2010? What are the next steps?

PS: Te Peoples Agreement wasa great step forward by thousands ofactivists around the world which needsto be preserved and translated into ourdaily lives. Bolivia stood alone in Cancunto defend the agreement adopted byrepresentatives of social movementsfrom the five continents. We stood firm,rejecting the diplomatic compromises and

trade-offs that are leading us to genocideand ecocide.In the coming months we need to

organise at the local and national level,analysing the outcome of Durban andpreparing for Rio+.

A!: What is the importance of theRio+20 Summit to be held in Rioin June 2012 and what is at stakefor humanity and Mother Earth?

PS: On the one hand there are greatopportunities to advance towards

recognition of the Rights of Nature; onthe other hand there is great danger ofa new process of commodification ofnature through what is called the GreenEconomy. Many neoliberal governmentsare saying that humankinds imbalancewith nature is due to market failuresbecause the capitalist system didnt fullyintegrate the environmental services ofnature. So they are promoting somethinglike REDD on a huge scale for water, land,oceans and bees saying that we need toput a monetary value on the services thatthey provide, privatise them as services

and bring them into the market.Rio+ will be a fight between

the Green Economy and the Rights ofNature two different and fundamentallyopposed approaches to the key issue ofthe XXI Century: How can we restoreharmony with Nature?


12/68



ANCYL

A Africa will be asking: What isthe political future of Malema ifhe does not appeal his five-year

suspension from the ANC? What is thefuture of the ANC Youth League, andwhat is the future of the ANC?

A week is a long time in politics,former leader of the British LabourParty, Harold Wilson, once said. Tatis very true for South Africas Alliance

politics given its factional struggles anddivisions. Nevertheless, it is possible tosuggest some likely scenarios followingMalemas suspension.

Tose writing him off should bemore cautious. Karima Brown composedMalemas political obituary in theSouthern African Report, saying that hissuspension not only brings Malemascareer to a grinding halt (and with it thechallenge he has led against a second termfor Jacob Zuma); it also delivers massivecollateral damage to those in the ANCwho have encouraged and supported him

in mounting his challenge.It was Mark wain who saidthe reports of my death are greatlyexaggerated. Malema is signalling thesame with his message, the gloves areoff. Tere is absolutely no doubt thatMalemas suspension is a substantialblow to the Youth League leader and tothose factions that are campaigning forregime change in the ANC. However, hisremoval from the position of presidentof the ANCYL will dent his influencebut not undermine it. He retains masssupport among township youth and

other marginalised layers and is still animportant player in the build-up to theANC Mangaung Conference. Heis a powerful figure in his own right,having been brought into Zumas innercircle both in the struggle against Mbekiand in the post-Polokwane period. Heis backed by senior leaders in the ANCwho gave him licence to develop a radicalprofile and rhetoric. Tis has turnedthe ANCYL into the most dynamicstructure in the ANC, providing troopsfor its branch structures. During therecent ANCYL Congress where he was

elected unopposed he signalled thatthe strategy of the Youth League was todetermine voting numbers by positioningthemselves strategically at branch, districtand provincial level. In this they havecontested the space and methods of theSACP that systematically used the post-

Mbeki space to strengthen its support

base in the ANC.Malema and the Youth Leaguehave become an important and usefulinstrument of nationalist and other forcesin the ANC wanting to roll back theSACPs powerful influence in the Zuma-led ANC.

Already in October NECmember Billy Masetlha railed publically:I will have a problem with someonetrying to impose a communist manifestoon the ANC. We fired a lot of [comrades]in the past who wanted to do the samething. He went on to warn Zuma

that if he did not take a firm stand onthe perceived increase in the SACPsinfluence, ANC members would revoltagainst him as they had against hispredecessor, Tabo Mbeki.

Te struggle for position in the ANCis not just about good jobs but also abouttenderpreneurship and enormous wealthgains. Malema and the ANCYL havealways been influential in positioning forstate contracts and tenders. As recentinvestigations reveal, Malemas personalwealth has been based on the receiptof government tenders. His suspension

will limit his influence in the awardingof tenders, but he is still influential indetermining the awarding of lucrativetenders in Limpopo without occupyingany official position in the government.

Malema and company are notgoing to sit idly and see their power,

influence and access to wealth stripped

by an ANC National DisciplinaryCommittee. Apart from appealing thesuspensions, mobilising supporters onthe NEC and mobilising support withinANC structures, they will emulateZuma and mobilise on the basis of apolitical conspiracy. But do they havethe numbers? Tis is far from clear andwill be determined by other battles inthe Alliance and its structures. Tesuspended Youth League leaders will havean increasingly divided ANC to play inwhere personal rather than political differences often determine outcomes.

Lost in all the attention given toMalema is the chilling verdict againstone of his co-accused, the YLs secretary-general: it is now a serious disciplinaryoffence for any ANC member publicly tocriticise any member of the government.Saying that a minister is pleasingimperialists can get one suspended for months.

At this stage, things look good forZuma and a second term. Te samecoalition of forces necessary to winthe Mangaung Conference that werebuilt on the road to Polokwane is not

there for Malema and those in the ANCwanting to mount a challenge to theZuma leadership.

However, a year is far longer thana week. Much water will flow underthe proverbial bridge before we getto Mangaung.

Malemas disciplinary:too soon to write the youth leaders obituaryBy Amandla!Editorial Staff

Malema and company are not going to idly sit and see their power, influence and access to wealth stripped by anANC National Disciplinary Committee.



SPECIALFEATURE

This special feature of Amandla!was inspired

by the forthcoming COP 17,the 17th Conference

of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC), occurring in Durban, South

Africa, between the 28th of November and

the 9th of December 2011. This feature is a

collaboration between Amandla!and the

Canadian publication Canadian Dimensions.

We focus on an analysis of what is likely

and unlikely to come out of COP 17, the

Conference of Polluters. We have gathered

reports on grassroots opposition to some of

the worst contributors to green house Gas

(GHG) emissions worldwide and analyse issues

such as shale gas (fracking), uranium mining

and indigenous rights to land. We explore

specific resistance movements in both South

Africa and Canada and expose the shortfalls of

'green capitalism' and market responses to the

climate crisis.

COP 17:Conference ofPolluters?



COP 17

T COP a veritableConference of Polluters is certain, but the nuanceand spin are also important.

Binding emissions-cut commitmentsunder the Kyoto Protocol are impossiblegiven Washingtons push for an alternatearchitecture that is also built upon sand.Te devils in the details over climatefinance and technology include an

extension of private-sector profit-makingopportunities at public expense, plusbizarre new technologies that threatenplanetary safety.

Politically, the overall orientationof global climate policy managers,

especially from the US StateDepartment and World Bank,

eventually will be to displace themain process to the G. Tis didnot happen in Cannes because ofthe Greek and Italian economiccrises, but is likely in future. Itentails Washingtons rejection

of any potential overall UNsolution to the climate crisis which in any case is a zero-possibility in the near futurebecause of the terribly adversepower balance and the UNsdismissal of civil societys variedcritiques of market strategies.

Te COP negotiators will alsoreject climate justice movements

strategies to keep fossil fuelsin the ground and its demands

for state-subsidised, community-controlled, transformative energy,

transport, production, consumption anddisposal systems.

Recall from last December howdisappointed the progressive movementwas that in the wake of the Copenhagen fiasco, the primary face-saving at the Cancun summit was

Durban COP 17:failures inthe makingBy Patrick Bond



SPECIALFEATURE

restoration of faith in carbon markets. TeBolivian delegation was the only sensible

insider team, and they summed up thesummits eight shortcomings (see boxabove on the Cancun Summits).

Nothing will be different in Durban,but in the meantime all the worsttendencies in world capitalism haveconjoined to prevent progress on the two

main areas of COP decisions: financingand technology. Te latter includes

intellectual property rights barrierswhich must be overcome, reminiscent ofhow militant AIDS-treatment activistsliberated antiretroviral (ARV) medicinesin at the Doha World radeOrganisation summit. Before that summit,rade Related Intellectual Property Rights

provisions allowed Big Pharma to charge per person per year for life-savingARVs, even though generic drugs cost afraction of that sum. A similar push to

decommodify vital climate technologyis needed, but only a few activists haveprioritised this struggle.

After all, technological processes thatthreaten the earth have intensified, suchas geo-engineering, shale-gas fracking(endorsed by the SA National PlanningCommission), tar sands extraction, andcarbon capture and storage schemesaiming to bury greenhouse gases.Te Johannesburg company SASOLcontinues to build up the worlds mostCO-intensive factory by converting coaland gas to liquid petroleum, for which it

requests carbon credits from the UN.And in spite of the Fukushimacatastrophe, the US and South Africacontinue a major nuclear energyexpansion. Te mad idea of seedingthe oceans with iron filings to generatecarbon-sequestrating algae bloomscontinues to get attention. In October, the Convention on BiologicalDiversity in Nagoya, Japan called for ahalt to geo-engineering, but a year laterBritish scientists began experimentingwith stratospheric aerosol injectionsas a way to artificially cool the planet.

As Canadian technology watchdogDiana Bronson put it, Tis so-calledSolar Radiation Management couldhave devastating consequences: alteringprecipitation patterns, threatening foodsupplies and public health, destroyingozone and diminishing the effectiveness ofsolar power.

Te financial mechanisms underdebate since Cancun are just as dangerousbecause austerity-minded states in the USand European Union are backtracking ontheir billion/year promise of a GreenClimate Fund to promote carbon trading.

Tat Fund appears set to re-subsidisecarbon markets by ensuring they becomethe source of revenues, instead of largerflows of direct aid from rich countries,which activists suggest should becomea down payment on the Norths climatedebt. Te markets have been foiled

The Cancun Summits (2010)

Effectively kills the only binding agreement, Kyoto Protocol, in favour of a completelyinadequate bottom-up voluntary approach;

Increases loopholes and flexibilities that allow developed countries to avoid actionvia an expansion of offsets and continued existence of surplus allowances ofcarbon after 2012 by countries such as Ukraine and Russia, which effectivelycancel out any other reductions;

Finance commitments weakened: commitments to provide new and additionalfinancial resources to developing countries have been diluted to talking morevaguely about mobilizing [resources] jointly, with expectation that this will mainlybe provided by carbon markets;

The World Bank is made trustee of the new Green Climate Fund, which has beenstrongly opposed by many civil society groups due to the undemocratic make-up ofthe Bank and its poor environmental record;

No discussion of intellectual property rights, repeatedly raised by many countries,as current rules obstruct transfer of key climate-related technologies to developingcountries;

Constant assumption in favour of market mechanisms to resolve climate change

even though this perspective is not shared by a number of countries, particularly inLatin America;

Green light given for the controversial Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and

Forest Degradation (REDD) programme, which often ends up perversely rewardingthose responsible for deforestation, while dispossessing indigenous and forestdwellers of their land;

Systematic exclusion of proposals that came from the historic World Peoples

Conference on Climate Change, including proposals for a Climate Justice Tribunal,full recognition of indigenous rights and rights of Mother Nature.



COP 17

Despite all the talk about curbinggreenhouse gas emissions, the worldis burning more and more coal. Teinconvenient truth is that coal remainsa cheap and dirty fuel and the idea ofclean coal remains a distant dream.

are in Durban, South Africa. Manydelegates will already be looking forwardto the chance of going on safari after theirlabours, visiting Kruger National Park orone of the countrys other magnificentgame reserves. But I have anothersuggestion. Visit the enemy. Just twohours drive up the Indian Ocean coastfrom Durban is Richards Bay, a hugedeep-water harbour that is home to theworlds largest coal export terminal.

Anyone seduced by the conference

exhibition halls in Durban, filled with thelatest renewable energy technology, willget a rude awakening at Richards Bay.For it may tell the real story of our energyfutures and it is scary.

King Coal is extending his kingdom.So dysfunctional is the worlds response to

climate change that every year, the dirtiestfuel of them all is generating a growingproportion of the worlds energy.

All the talks in Durban will be of howto kick the coal habit. But as the climatetalks have dragged on from Nairobi in

to Bali to Poznan to Copenhagento Cancun and now to Durban we havebeen hardening our addiction.

When the talks began half a decadeago, of the worlds primary energycame from coal. Te figure is now .. Between and , global coalconsumption grew by almost .

South Africa may enjoy green plauditsfor hosting the Durban conference. And,to be fair, it has offered to reduce thecarbon intensity of its economy. But thefact is that today the would-be midwifeof a global climate deal has rich-world

emissions in a predominantly poor-worldcountry. Per head of population, its COemissions are higher than those in the UK,while its GDP per capita is only a sixthas much. It is responsible for about of Africas CO emissions from fossil-fuel burning.

Te triumph

of King Coal:hardening our coal addictionBy Fred Pearce

by their own internal corruption andcontradictions, as well as by left critiquesin key sites such as California andAustralia, and rightwing climate changedenialism in the US Congress.

But most importantly, the EUsemissions trading scheme is still failingto generate even /ton carbon prices,

whereas at least would be requiredto start substantial shifts from fossil fuelsto renewables. And world financial chaosmeans no one can trust the marketsto self-correct.

Even with a rise of C, scientistsgenerally agree, small islands will sink,Andean and Himalayan glaciers will melt,coastal areas such as much of Bangladeshand many port cities will drown andAfrica will dry out or in some places flood.With the trajectory going into Durban,the result will be a cataclysmic C risein temperature over this century, and if

Copenhagen and Cancun promises arebroken, as is reasonable to anticipate, C is likely.

After annual Conferences ofParties, the power balance within theUN Framework Convention on ClimateChange continues to degenerate. On theother hand, growing awareness of eliteparalysis is rising here in Durban, evenwithin a generally uncritical mass media.

Tat means the space occupied byactivists will be crucial for highlightinganti-extraction campaigns includingthe Canadian tar sands, West Virginia

mountains, Ecuadoran Amazon and NigerDelta the hottest spots at present.

Expanding theEnviro Fightback ,transformative politics are crucial. RobustSouth African community protestsinclude sustained demands for a betterenvironment in townships, includingincreased housing, electricity, water andsanitation, waste removal, healthcareand education. Connecting the dots toclimate is the challenge for movement

strategists, for example by linking therising Eskom price to its decision to buildnew coal-fired powerplants whose mainbeneficiaries are BHP Billiton and AngloAmerican. Te post-apartheid SouthAfrican governments lack of progress onrenewable energy, public transport andecologically aware production mirrors itsfailures in basic service delivery, whichhave generated among the worlds highestrate of social protest and to link these

via the new Durban Climate Justicenetwork will offer a real threat, not ofSeattling Durban but of establishing a

counter power that cannot be ignored.

Patrick Bond directs the University of KwaZulu-

Natal Centre for Civil Society in Durban. His two

most recent books arePolitics of Climate Justice

andDurbans Climate Gamble.

When the talks began half a decade ago, 25 percent of the worlds primary energy came from coal. The figure is now29.6 percent. Between 2009 and 2010, global coal consumption grew by almost 8 percent.



SPECIALFEATURE

Te reason is coal. Making energy byburning coal produces twice as much COas by burning natural gas. And South Africais one of the most coal-dependent nationson Earth, generating of its electricityfrom the black stuff, compared to Chinas, Indias and the USs .

Besides its domestic reliance on coal,South Africa also helps maintain therest of the worlds ruinous carbon fix. It

is the worlds third-largest exporter ofpower-station coal. Its giant mines inMpumalanga province feed a constantconvoy of coal trains headed for RichardsBay. Recently expanded, the exportterminal there can now handle milliontons of coal a year enough to producemore than million tons of CO.Mining giants Anglo American andBHP Billiton ship that coal to Europe,and, increasingly, to the new industrialpowerhouses of Asia.

Te world is in the middle of a coalrush. Tat is why last year despite

much political posturing about curbinggreenhouse gas emissions the . risein global energy-related COemissionsmarginally exceeded the global rise inenergy consumption. Tanks to coal,the worlds economy is becoming morecarbon intensive.

Cynics who said tougher carboncontrols in rich nations might increaseglobal emissions by outsourcing energy-intensive industries to poorer nationswith laxer standards are, for now at least,being proved right. While many Westerneconomies stall, many developing

economies are growing fast. And thecontinuing heavy dependence of manyof them on coal is pushing up the globaleconomys reliance on the dirtiest fuel.

China may be the worlds largestproducer of wind turbines and solarpanels, but its coal consumption has

doubled in the past eight years. In ,an amazing of all the coal burnt in theworld was burnt in China. Te countrysroads are clogged with coal trucks headedfrom mines to power stations. Earlier thismonth, there was a -mile traffic backupout of the major coal-mining region inShaanxi province. rucks were takinga week to get down the main highway,which carries million tons of coal a

year. Last year, vehicles were stuckfor days on another coal road, out of InnerMongolia.

Meanwhile, Indias coal consumptionhas doubled in years. It is expected tohave three times as many coal-burningpower stations by the end of the decade.India, like China, has huge coal reservesof its own. But its economy is growing sofast that its miners cannot dig the stuff outof the ground quickly enough, causing asurge in imports. South Africas RichardsBay is a major supplier, along withAustralia and Indonesia, which is likely

to become the worlds top coal exporterbefore the decade is out.None of this excuses the West. Te

US remains the worlds second-largestcoal burner, after China. Japan is theworlds largest coal importer, and industrylobbyists use the phrase clean coal tosuggest we can have both our coal andour climate.

Germany is the biggest producerof brown coal. Te sad truth is thatGermanys plan to shut down itsnuclear power plants in the wake of theFukushima accident in Japan is already

resulting in resurgent investment incoal. Analysts Point Carbon predict thatthe switch will increase German COemissions during the coming decade byaround half a billion tons.

Why doesnt the world care? Onereason is expediency. Te inconvenient

truth is that coal remains the worldscheapest fuel for electricity generationand industrial heat and power. Another iscoals PR.

Clean coal is its cleverest pieceof sophistry. Lobby organisations likethe American Coalition for Clean CoalElectricity sponsored in the past by BHP

Billiton, Duke Energy and others usethe phrase to foster the idea that we canhave both our coal and our climate. Mostinsidiously, the industry has persuadedmany policymakers that dirty coal todaycan pay for clean coal tomorrow.

Clean coal is a distant vision, whichcould some day be possible through atechnology known as carbon capture andstorage in which COis stripped fromstack emissions, liquefied and buriedunderground. But large-scale deploymentof what would be a massive new industryis at least a couple of decades and tens

of billions of R&D dollars away. Andindustry will only do it if forced.Moreover, since the economic

downturn in the West, investment in thenecessary R&D to develop the technologyhas dried up. In September, theInternational Energy Agency warned thatgovernment support for CCS around theworld was waning. With current policies,CCS will have a hard time being deployed,the agencys deputy executive directorRichard Jones told a high-level meeting inBeijing. Steve Chu, Barack Obamas green-minded energy secretary, warned at the

same meeting that we are losing time. It isvery important that we get moving.In the US, the FutureGen clean-coal

pilot project has been stalled since theBush administration pulled the plug andordered a re-evaluation, in . UnderObama, a test well is being drilled inwestern Illinois, but the first carbon wontbe buried until at the earliest.

In Britain, once in the vanguardof action on climate change, thegovernment is scaling back its greenenergy investment. An early casualtywas its flagship .-billion CCS project

in Scotland, which was canceled earlierthis month. Tat represented four wastedyears. Denmark also canceled a pilotcarbon storage project this month.

Nobody expects a UN climate dealin Durban this year nor next year, northe year after. But meanwhile the coalkeeps burning. Global production isset to rise by in the coming decade,according to industry analysts. Techeapest, most abundant and dirtiest ofall the fossil fuels is extending its gripon the worlds energy supply system.And nowhere more so than just up the

coast from Durban.

Fred Pearce is a freelance author and journalist

based in the UK. He serves as environmental

consultant forNew Scientistmagazine and is the

author of numerous books.

Despite all the talk about curbing greenhouse gas emissions, the world is burning more and more coal. Coal remainsa cheap and dirty fuel.



COP 17

T

governments climate changepolicy is rooted in a greenneoliberal capitalism: relianceon market mechanisms,technological innovation

and expanding markets. Underlying allthese strategies is the broad process ofcommodification: the transformationof nature and all social relations intoeconomic relations, subordinated to thelogic of the market and the imperatives ofprofit. Tis greenorientation is evidentin the October National ClimateChange Response White Paper, but there

are shadings of other colours.

A green paper pointingto a new energy regime? that, like the earlier Green Paper, itunderlines the seriousness of the threat

of climate change. For example, the Paper

warns that if international action doesnot limit the average global temperatureincreases to below at least C above pre-industrial levels, the potential impactson South Africa in the medium- tolong-term are significant and potentiallycatastrophic. Also it warns that after warming is projected to reach around C along the coast, and C in theinterior. With these kinds of temperatureincreases, life as we know it will changecompletely.

Te White Paper states a commitmentto keep well below a maximum of C

above pre-industrial levels. Tis togetherwith the exclusion of nuclear powerand the adoption of a carbon budgetapproach are considerable improvementsfrom the earlier Green Paper. Untilthe introduction of this science-basedcarbon budget approach there was no

clear indication of how carbon emissionswere to be reduced. Te South Africangovernments commitments in at COP in Copenhagen were weak

and vague.Tere is no recognition in the White

Paper that the UNFCCC process hasfailed and that globally carbon emissionsare rising. Te Paper reaffirms thegovernments commitment at COP in Copenhagen to a binding, multi-

The climate change

White Paper:the rightcolour for South Africa?By Jacklyn Cock

False solution: greenclimate fund

The dominance of green neoliberalcapitalism is also evident in acceptanceof the role of the World Bank. Theappointment by the UNFCCC of theWorld Bank as interim trustee of theGreen Climate Fund (GCF) has a special

relevance for us in South African, asMinister Trevor Manuel is the co-chair.This fund promises that developednations will mobilise jointly $100 billiona year in long-term financing by 2020to help developing countries adapt to

climate change. In April this year over 90NGOs protested that this turned climatechange into a new arena of financialspeculation. The sources of this financewill include loans for adaptation whichcould mean further debt and increasingpoverty, as well as carbon trading. Asa Carbon Trade Watch spokesperson

said, while climate finance is intendedto transfer funds from the north tothe south, the Green Climate Fundessentially creates a new marketinfrastructure. Having a larger portion

of the $100 billion a year by 2020generated through the revenues of the

carbon market changes climate financefrom responsibility to profit. Instead ofpaying reparations for the climate debtof the North, the GCF reflects existingpower relations.

Changing the system is necessary because capitalism is not compatible with addressing climate change. TheWhite Paper fails to address South Africas deep development needs and shows no attempt to address the presentinequalities in access to water, for example.



SPECIALFEATURE

lateral international agreement thatwill effectively limit the average globaltemperature increase to at least below degrees centigrade above pre-industriallevels. It should be noted that theCopenhagen Accord was non-bindingand low target.

However, the C target is, accordingto climate scientist James Hansen, arecipe for disaster. He claims that present

commitments will result in C warming.Te head of the Bolivian delegation PabloSoln protested that the weak pledges ofthe Copenhagen Accord condemned theEarth to increases of up to C, which wastantamount to ecocide and would costmillions of lives. Te emissions targets inthe White Paper are not convincing evenin terms of reaching this C target.

Te White Paper is marked by areliance on false solutions to climatechange, described as a mix of economicinstruments, including market-basedinstruments such as carbon taxes and

emissions trading schemes and incentives.It implies the promotion of carbon tradingand technological innovation in expensive,high-risk schemes to create climatesmart resistant crops and carbon captureand storage (CCS). CCS technology isa process for separating carbon dioxide

from emissions by industrial and energysources and storing it in deep ocean andgeological structures. Te technology hashigh cost implications. Te environmentalconsequences still have to be fullyassessed and it remains an unproventechnology. While a carbon tax is to bewelcomed, Eskom has already stated that

the costs of a carbon tax would be passedon to the consumer.Te government support for clean

development mechanism (CDM) projectsis especially worrying. Tis enablesa developed country to invest in anemission reduction project in anothercountry. Such flexibility mechanismsenshrined in the Kyoto Protocol meanthat corporations are able to buy theright to pollute. James Hansen, directorof NASAs Goddard Institute for SpaceStudies, compares these measures to theindulgences that the Catholic Church

sold in the Middle Ages: Te bishopscollected lots of money and the sinnersgot redemption. Both parties liked thatarrangement despite its absurdity.

A red paper rootedin the interests of theworking class? with the full impact of climate change onthe working class especially in relationto rising food prices, water shortages andcrop failures. While there is reference toa long term just transition to a climate-

resilient and lower-carbon economyand society, this notion of justice is notdeveloped. A just transition should notonly take account of the need to protect

vulnerable workers but also promotean alternative vision of a more just andsustainable ways of both producingand consuming.

Te White Paper fails to accord anysignificant role to organised labour. Tereis a vague reference to the potential ofgreen jobs and the new green economy,but these are not defined. Te WhitePaper simply states that adaptation

could create new jobs to which workerscan migrate from sectors affected bymitigation strategies. Te climate changeresponse will attempt to reduce theimpact of job losses and promote jobcreation during the shift towards the newgreen economy.

A grey paper reflectingincoherent policyand contradictorygovernment practices demonstrate an incoherence. Aspirations

towards reducing carbon emissions arecontradicted by government practiceswhich involve massively expanded coal-fired and nuclear energy. While the WhitePaper does not mention nuclear energy,there is no indication that governmentpolicy has changed. Te parastatal Eskom

is committed to building more coal-firedpower stations. Te World Banks .billion loan to Eskom to enable it to dothis will increase the price of electricityfor poor people. Tis will worsen SouthAfricas contribution to carbon emissionsand climate change. Overall, policydisplays the continued power of the

corporations at the centre of the minerals-energy complex to shape development totheir own profit-driven interests.

Tere is policy incoherence if theWhite Paper is compared with otherrecent South African policy documents.Climate change is integral to industrialdevelopment. However, this is notreflected in the Industrial Strategydeveloped by the Department of radeand Industry (DI). Te IntegratedResource Plan (IRP ) introducedsome renewable energy into the supplymix, but beyond Medupi and Kusile

the IRP plans on two or three majornew coal plants between and, and a fleet of six new nuclearpower plants to be built by . IPAPidentifies the Green Economy as amajor new thrust for the South Africaneconomy which presents multipleopportunities to create jobs and value-adding industries. It also acknowledgesthat increasing energy costs posesa major threat to manufacturing,rendering our historical, resource-intensive, processing-based industrialpath unviable in the future. However,

these statements are undermined bythe compartmentalisation of the GreenEconomy as an add on, somethingseparate and therefore different oradditional to a mainstream future SouthAfrican economy.

Green: the new black? , that green neoliberal capitalism is inmany ways attempting to make theclimate crisis the site of accumulation. Butwhatever the colour of the White Paper,the real commitment of government

policy is to economic growth. As DavidHallowes comments, changing thesystem is necessary because capitalism isnot compatible with addressing climatechange. Hence, rooted in green neoliberalcapitalism, the White Paper fails toaddress South Africas developmentneeds and lay the basis for an alternativedevelopment path.It is clear that theSouth African government is drivenby vested interests and will not solvethe problem of climate change whichthreatens us all. Nor will capitalism. Teonly rational response to the reality of

climate change is total change in ourmethods of production and consumptionin a new kind of ethical, democratic andecological socialism.

Jacklyn Cock is a professor of sociology at

Wits University.

Energy poverty

While the Paper claims to be guidedby the principle of uplifting the poorand vulnerable, there is no attemptto address the present inequalitiesin access to water, for example. The

commodification of water in the form ofpre-paid meters, which have devastatingimpacts on poor households, is notmentioned. The logic of sustainabilityand cost recovery behind the impositionof these meters is not challenged. Noris the wastage involved in over 500golf courses using an average of 1

million litres of water a day addressed.Similarly, as regards present levels ofenergy poverty, the post-apartheidstates overall commitment to neoliberalprinciples mean the prioritising of

sustainability and efficiency over justice,and a preoccupation with cost recovery

over high levels of cross-subsidisationand equity. The principle of social justicedemands that the present life-lineallocation of electricity be extended.The principle of ecological sustainabilitydemands that this should take the formof clean, renewable energy which could

also create thousands of jobs. Now thatthe White Paper has been adopted byCabinet, there is a glaring contradictionin the post-apartheid governments

stated policy and actual practice.



COP 17

H fallout from failed financialschemes that have resulted inmassive losses for ordinary

people and private institutions, whoseinvestments were plundered byunscrupulous consultants and bankers.Such economic crimes have commonly

been resolved through injections ofpublic money, or extended credit asin the recent cases of the US and theEU, where state funds have been used torescue affected financial institutions andstruggling governments. With carbonmarkets, there has been similar behaviourthat has enriched so-called carboncowboys at the expense of state-fundedbodies responsible for the administrationof carbon trading deals.

How carbon tradingworks (in theory)

industrial greenhouse gas emissions

Carbon trading:licence to polluteBy Wally Menne

CDM carbon sink treeplantations a casestudy in Tanzania

Norwegian-owned company GreenResources Ltd (GRL) is hoping togenerate carbon credits from a CDMtree plantation at Idete in southernTanzania. It has already established

alien pine and eucalyptus plantationsto replace biodiverse grasslands. Thecompany intends to sell the carboncredits generated to the government ofNorway.

Blessing Karumbidza and Wally Menneinvestigated and concluded : (i) theproject will not be a net carbon sinkover its lifetime, but it is in fact likely tobe a source of carbon emissions; (ii) theproject is not ecologically sustainable or

economically viable; and (iii) the projectis viable without income from the sale ofCDM carbon credits.

With respect to the social, cultural,political and economic impacts ofindustrial tree plantations, monoculturetree plantations are unsustainable innumerous ways, even with market-based conservation measures suchas Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

certification in place. The Idete projectresulted in local communities beingdisplaced from their land, poor working

conditions, destruction of biodiversityresources that communities depend on,reduced water availability, and manyother direct and indirect impacts on

local livelihoods.Exchanging biodiversity for carbon pollution: Unfair Exchange and Daylight Robbery?

continued on next page


22/6820 Am an dl a! Is su e No . 22 /2 3 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011

SPECIALFEATURE

for developing countries to reduceemissions from deforestation and forestdegradation effectively some countrieswould be paid to protect their forests.

Where there is enormous financialvalue in destroying forest products,whether for sale or to clear land for crops

such as oil palm, the concept of providinga financial incentive to protect forestsseems noble. But it is clear that REDD isless about protecting forests and moreabout protecting commercial interestsin the industrialised world paying toprotect forests suggests a neglect of thereal drivers of deforestation such as over-consumption and over-production.

Tere are significant flaws in theproposal, not least its definition offorests, which fails to distinguish betweennatural forests and plantations. With thecurrent weak definition, it is possible

that biodiverse natural forests could bereplaced with monoculture plantations(green deserts), and still receive REDDaccreditation.

REDD projects are also expected tobe disastrous for the many indigenouspeoples living in the forests. According

to the Food Agriculture Organisation, million indigenous peoples dependon forests for their survival, and mostforests are found in indigenous peoples

territories. For such communities, forestsare not merely exploitable resources;they are the source of their lives andlifestyles. Investigation by IndigenousEnvironmental Network shows thatREDD-type pilot projects have already

violated indigenous peoples rights andexacerbated eviction, fraud, conflict,corruption, coercion and militarisationin countries such as Peru and Papua NewGuinea. Unclear land tenure practicesin Africa makes the continent evenmore vulnerable to this new wave ofcolonisation. REDD is inherently about

commodifying and privatising forests,trees and land, and it corrupts everythingthat indigenous peoples hold sacred.

Tere is as yet no agreement aboutfinancing REDD, but market mechanismshave a strong presence in the discussions.One suggestion is that it be incorporatedinto the Clean Development Mechanism(CDM), which would make it possiblefor countries with emissions reductioncommitments under the Kyoto Protocolto benefit from credits generated throughREDD projects in other words, thiswould expand the scope for avoiding

emissions reductions at source. Climatescientist James Hansen shows thatindustrialised countries could offset of their emissions through the CDMand REDD, thus avoiding the necessarydomestic cuts that are required to peakemissions around .

through cheaper emissions reductions,usually in another country. Offsets providea way of avoiding making emissionsreductions at source (the place where theemissions are produced); for example, ifFactory A is required to reduce its carbonpollution but finds it too expensive orinconvenient to do so, it may continue

to pollute, or even increase its pollution,and instead pay Community B to reduceits emissions through a range of activities,including energy efficiency, plantingtrees as a carbon sink, or investing inemissions-reducing technologies. TeClean Development Mechanism (CDM)allows countries that have made emissionreduction commitments under the KyotoProtocol to offset their emissions throughemission reduction projects in developingcountries. Tis generates carbon creditswhich can be traded on the carbonmarkets. Under the Voluntary Carbon

Standard (VCS), less valuable carboncredits can be produced, and anotheroffset method planned is in the form ofReduced Emissions from Deforestationand forest Degradation (REDD). Offsetprojects are supposed to reduce emissions,while benefiting local communitiesthrough sustainable development.

How it works (in reality) responsibility for climate change to poorcommunities in developing countries.Te carbon credit price is unpredictable,and the costs of setting up and managingthe projects are high. In practice it is theforeign consultants, financial institutions

and dirty industries in already wealthycountries that derive the financial benefit,and instead the communities whoseresources have been commandeered forthese projects are left with vague promisesof future payments. Te technology thatis transferred is also often old technologythat happens to be newer than what existsat the time in that particular communityor country, which means that carbontrading can be another way of dumpingold technology in the South.

Carbon offsets are often dependenton access to land and its associated water,

soil, biodiversity and people resources indeveloping countries. Already CDM treeplantations as well as REDD-type projectshave led to the appropriation of vast lands,usually in areas legitimately occupied andutilised by communities or indigenouspeoples, who are subsequently deprived oftraditional rights of access and usage.

The role of the World Bank aggressive campaign to promote andsupport carbon trading as a solutionto climate change, together withbodies such as the United NationsFramework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC) and United Nations

Environment Programme (UNEP). Inmany ways these projects merely protectbig polluters in the North.

What are the alternatives? the concept of ecological or climate debtas part of the real solution for addressingclimate change inequity. Tere mustbe genuine compensation for climatechange, based not only on the dramaticimpacts that climate change will haveon current and future generations, butalso in recognition of the debt owed by

wealthy countries to those in the South forhistorical colonial exploitation and heavilypolluting activities that resulted in theirindecent wealth.

Onealternative to the carbonmarket could be one-way transfers offinance through grants to support thedevelopment of opportunities for decent

One of the key discussions at COP will be around Reduced Emissionsfrom Deforestation and forestDegradation (REDD): whether and inwhat form REDD will be included inthe Kyoto Protocol or its successor. Ithas strong support, particularly from

the governments of forested countries,because of the attraction of the financespromised, but implementation ofREDD will be disastrous if pilotprojects are anything to judge by.

Reduced emissionsfrom deforestation andforest degradation - global carbon emissions are a result ofdeforestation and forest degradation

about as much as the entire transportsector. REDD was put on the table in at COP in Bali, when there wasagreement that there was urgent need totake further meaningful action to reduceemissions from deforestation and forestdegradation. It is an incentive mechanism

REDD anotherfalse solutionByAmandla! editorial staff


23/68Am an dl a! Is su e No . 22 /2 3 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011 21

COP 17

Lets put a value on Britainsecosystem services the sloganhas a nice ring to it. Perhaps we

dont fully understand the valueof the wild plants, animals, andnatural cycles around us, and ifwe did, we could appreciate andprotect them better.

B know, exactly? We know thatgroundwater cycles are importantbecause of the droughts and

floods that strike periodically. We knowthat the weather is crucial to crops,because it affects yields every year.We know the environmental value of

woodlands, as the government learnt toits cost when its proposal to privatiseForestry Commission lands was shouteddown by the public earlier this year.

Yes, yes, the answer comes, but whatwe dont know yet is theprice or economicvalue of all these things. For example,what would business have to pay for themas commodities or inputs to production?If we knew via ecosystems markets orsome other means that might give us anadditional incentive for holding on to thegood things that we have.

If the reasoning sounds suspicious, it

should. Environmental service marketsare a response not just to ecological crisisbut also to business crisis in particularthe prolonged profitability crisis that setin during the s.

Tat was when returns on manytraditional sorts of investment went

into seemingly permanent decline.With the help of governments andinternational agencies, business reacted

not only by trying to take back some ofthe postwar gains made by workers (seeTatcherism and all that came after), butalso by seeking alternative assets to putmoney into. Investors branched out intodotcoms, biotech and financial services orplunged into real estate speculation andinfrastructure. Private firms stalked newacquisitions in the public sector or in thecommons of the global South.

Environmental and financialregulation was rolled back and newbusiness-friendly legislation rolledout. rade treaties giving Northern

companies special protection andprivileges proliferated, together with newmarkets in financial derivatives, helpingprofit-challenged business expand inan uncertain global environment. Tefinancial sector took over as the profitleader in both Britain and the US. Teexpanded credit it offered helped keepdemand high while offering workers in theNorth whose wages had been suppressedthe consolation of the temporary meansof buying goods produced by cheaplabour in China and elsewhere. Ecosystemservices markets are deeply rooted in this

history. For one thing, like many of thenew trade treaties, they loosen regulatoryconstraints on business while opening upnew profit opportunities.

ake wetlands banking, which wasdeveloped in the US during the sas a way of making it easier for builders

Green capitalism:profiting from natureBy Larry Lohmann

At COP in Cancun last year, bigsteps were taking towards the realisationof REDD, with agreement on, amongstother things, a common goal for REDD,

activities to be included, and theadoption of the so-called safeguards. Tesafeguards are intended to secure therights of indigenous peoples and avoidtransformation of natural forests intoplantations; however, they are voluntary,weak and not legally binding.

Te safeguards will be discussedagain at COP . Indigenous Peoplesorganisations are urging for the safeguardsto be legally binding, and for the adoptionof the UN Declaration on the Rights ofIndigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in theagreement. Even with UNDRIP, the rights

of indigenous peoples will be at highrisk, because many countries still do notrecognise the self-determination andrights of indigenous peoples. Financingof REDD will also be on the COP agenda inclusion into the CDM mustbe avoided if REDD is to contribute tomeaningful emissions reductions.

It is clear that there are severeinherent problems in REDD. Unlessit shifts its alignment significantly towards protecting forests and forestpeoples and away from protecting carbonpolluters it will serve only to contribute

to the destruction of forests, provideanother opportunity for human rights

violations, and offer yet another escape forindustrialised countries from meaningfulemissions reductions at source. As REDDis now, it is a symptom of the deeperdriver of climate change capitalism.

work in exploited countries. Tis shouldhappen in conjunction with the systematicwriting off of dubious historical loans,which were often incurred for the benefitof the lending countries in the firstplace. Te concept of a green economymust be rejected by countries that havesuffered under Northern capitalism as yet

another false solution aimed primarily atpreserving the existing economic order.

Climate justice is the way African countries in particular must standtogether to oppose exploitation by externaleconomic influences such as the market-based non-solutions offered by carbontrading. Another world is possible, but tomake the leap of faith needed to transcendthe present state of our embattledworld needs new vision together withdetermination to make it a reality.

Wally Menne is a member of Timberwatch

Coalition, South Africa. The Timberwatch

Coalition is a voluntary alliance of South African

non-governmental organisations and individuals

that are concerned about the negative impacts

of industrial tree plantations on people and the

environment (see www.timberwatch.org).

Today it is possible for European companies to buy CO2 pollution rights from factories in Korea that reduce anequivalent amount of nitrous oxide. We've put a monetary value to our air.



SPECIALFEATURE

to comply with restrictions on dredgingor dumping in swampy areas. Insteadof having to move to another site, orfashion compensatory wetlands on thesame parcel of land they were buildingon, developers could buy pre-packagedwetlands credits from distant locations credits that had been verified through

specially developed valuation techniquesto provide equivalent ecosystem services.More recently, the United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP)has urged that environmental impactassessments (EIAs) be carried out inLatin America in a way that would allowimpacts to be compensated for by habitatcredits or biodiversity offsets brought infrom elsewhere. Trough techniques for

valuing ecosystem services, environmentalimpacts would be redefined in a waythat ensured that EIA requirements,instead of being a shackle for business,

would create a demand for habitatbanking that could help transform LatinAmerica into what the UNDP calls abiodiversity Superpower. BritainsDepartment of Environment,Food and Rural Affairs appearsto have been bitten by a similarbug, judging by statements itissued last year enthusing over theeconomic potential of a market inconservation projects populatedby a network of biodiversityoffset providers.

Te emphasis on banking

isnt coincidental. Ecosystemcommodities, with their notional,electronic nature, are a potentialbonanza for a thrusting financialsector whose post-crisis annexationof enormous slices of public treasuries hasonly increased its

amandla issue23

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