Statement of the ILPS on the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) of the UNFCCC
As the 27th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or COP27 takes place this November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, we call on mass organizations and people’s movements to resolutely oppose imperialism as the root cause of the ongoing climate catastrophe.
Imperialism has permanently scarred the planet in its unending expansion and encroachment. Ecosystems, particularly in the colonies and neo-colonies, have been carved out for the sake of capital hyper-accumulation in the imperialist core. Multinational companies — especially fossil fuel giants — have raked in trillions in profits over decades, at the expense of countries, communities, and peoples around the world. The massive scale of ecological disturbance and disbalance under imperialism along with ceaseless, fossil-fueled overproduction has caused the perfect storm of global warming, climate change, and ecological collapse we experience today.
US imperialism in particular has been instrumental in the destruction of the Earth and its peoples. The United States takes the top spot in terms of cumulative carbon emissions, the result of decades of colonial exploitation and warmongering. Its military, with its annual budget amounting to billions of US dollars, is recognized as the single largest institutional consumer of hydrocarbons (e.g., oil, plastics, and related products) in the world today. It hardly needs to be mentioned that the US military is also responsible for terrorizing and decimating civilian populations around the world in its mandate of securing geopolitical control of resources for US empire.
Conferences like the COP have failed dismally in addressing the climate crisis, even just in terms of the straightforward demand of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, they have been a reliable platform for world leaders to greenwash imperialism, allowing them to mask land grabs and human rights violations in environmentally-friendly rhetoric. They use the COPs as platforms to make bold but empty promises without actually making significant emissions cuts, and dangle these in lieu of just reparations for past, present and future loss and damages that they are causing. Patterns of extraction and displacement still continue, especially in neo-colonies and client states. The crisis, as it stands, has not been addressed.
It is also no small irony that this year’s COP is held in Egypt. US-backed militarism under the el-Sisi regime continues to persecute political opposition — including environmental advocates — as evident in the detention of tens of thousands of political prisoners in the country. This situation reflects the plight of anti-systemic movements across the globe that are the primary targets of US military intervention.
In the face of this disaster of biospheric proportions, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle continues to link together forces mobilizing against imperialism and all its social and ecological implications. As the climate crisis continues despite decades of UN conferences, it is clear that the only lasting solution to our predicament is to put an end to the imperialist world order. Climate and environmental movements must therefore throw their support behind movements of basic masses and most seriously affected peoples around the world who are carrying out this task, and ultimately work towards forwarding a viable alternative to the status quo — that is, a socialist alternative that actively attends to the ecological concerns of our time.
Long Live International Solidarity!
End climate imperialism to attain climate justice!
Imperialist polluters must pay!
Climate Justice now!
Signed by:
Len Cooper
ILPS Chairperson
10 November 2022
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