Introduction

INTRODUTION

I feel angry that I have been born into a society where, by no choice of my own, by no agreement, by no actual decision, I am inherently complicit in the destruction of the world. It is hard to do the right thing. You have to be militant. You have to be an activist.

THERE IS NOT PLANET B

- Severn Cullis-Suzuki

The world that we live in is both hugely interconnected and massively divided. Nothing shows this more than the impacts of climate change. While global temperatures rise, lifestyles in many countries, especially those of the global north, become increasingly unsustainable.

There exists within every country on the globe a divide between rich and poor, yet also between different parts of the world a huge divide in wealth, resources, and - central for our project - the disastrous effects of climate change!

Climate change is a process created by the unsustainable drive to short-term profits of global capitalism. This economic system creates huge profits for certain countries, while at the same time having a devastating impact on others.

1 In 1992, at the age of 12, Severn addressed the Earth Summit in Brazil – watch the video on youtube! 4

This is what we call the global climate divide, the global process through which not just resources, but the negative impact of climate change is unevenly distributed between countries of the global north and south (these terms refer to the divide between what are often referred to as “developed”, “rich” and “western countries” and “developing”, “poor” and “third world countries”).

Too often solutions to the climate crisis are posed on either an individual, or a national level: I should buy local or ride my bike, or our country should invest in renewable energy and reduce emissions. These strategies exclude collective action on the one hand, and global action on the other.

IFM-SEI is a global organisation with members around the globe, and perfectly placed to go beyond the individual or national! We believe not just in the collective power of children and young people to change the world, but also to look at the structural causes of global heating and climate change.

What use does not buying plastics do if global corporations continue to produce them? How does a switch to renewable energy help if the infrastructure is produced in polluting factories with poor working conditions?

Therefore IFM SEI’s approach of socialist education asks the question, how can we as collective actors around the world, change the social system that is responsible for creating the climate crisis?

We look at this task through the key categories of race, gender, children and class. Race does not refer to any existence of different races, but rather the oppression of people based on what are framed as “racial” differences. This difference has a long history in the colonialism of European nations and their invention of the idea that they are superior to people from other areas of the world, thus giving them the right to plunder

and enslave them. This has laid the foundations for modern racism and practices of exploiting the natural resources of the global south and its populations.

Gender, the ways in which we are taught to be men and women in society, is key in this sense, as women are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. More often living in poverty and responsible for global food production in agriculture, women are particularly hard hit by drought and resource shortages. Exclusion of women from decision making structures in all countries of the world also means they have less control over fighting climate change.

Children are similarly excluded, and often put in situations whereby climate change infringes upon their rights. Whether it is the children of families who have become climate refugees through flooding or conflicts created by water shortages, or children in heavily industrialized areas poisoned by lead in the water or high levels of air pollution, the climate crisis impacts children and youth worldwide, robbing them of their right to a safe and happy childhood.

Class is an effect of capitalism, dividing people within societies and worldwide into groups differing in income, the ownership of factories and companies, and the amount of power they hold to insulate themselves from crises. Capitalism puts profits above a good life for all, and in doing so, creates the climate crisis by seeing nature as a resource to be exploited and not something that we rely on to survive and must respect. Private ownership means that profits only go to small groups of people, while the vast majority have to work for wages to survive. Class affects the global climate divide as it often makes it appear like different interests are opposed; for example those of herders and farmers, or those of coal miners and renewable energy workers. Our perspective sees the need for a society not divided by class, where human needs and not profits are the basis for organizing society, and resources are justly distributed globally.