The Asia-Pacific Ecomonic Cooperation Summit, dominated by the imperialist interests of Australia and the United States, reached an agreement calling for a long-term, non-binding “aspirational goal” for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They called it the “Sydney Declaration.”
The summit held in Sydney, Australia, was the site of numerous large and militant demonstrations by environmental
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On Sept. 7, at the end of the first day of the summit, Australian Prime Minister John Howard told reporters, “We are serious about addressing in a sensible way, compatible with our different economic needs, the great challenge of climate change.”
Greenpeace’s Catherine Fitzpatrick responded, “The Sydney Declaration is really just a Sydney distraction from real action on climate change.” Many in the climate change movement believe there needs to be a carbon emission reduction of 50 percent or more by 2050 in order to stem the climate crisis. They view non-binding goals such as the Sydney Declaration as worthless public relations stunts.
There is an international agreement—the Kyoto Protocol—that binds its signatories to limit greenhouse gas emissions beneath a certain level. As of December 2006, 169 countries had signed on. The two most notable exceptions are Australia and the United States.
Climate change is an issue that already is affecting Australia’s workers and farmers. Drought could wipe out Australia’s current wheat crop. Last year’s crop was very small. Australia is the world’s third largest exporter of wheat.
The protests
The 21 APEC nation leaders met under tight security at Sydney Opera House on Sept. 8, as thousands of protesters marched against the Iraq war and global warming. Seventeen people were arrested after the march.
Austrialia spent $140 million on security, including 5,000 police and troops, a mine sweeper in Sydney Harbour, a security fence cutting the city in half and a new water cannon.
A protest on Sept. 4 ahead of the summit resulted in 11 arrests. Protestors jumped a fence at the port of Newcastle, north of Sydney, and chained themselves to coal loaders at its Carrington terminal.
Australia is the world’s biggest coal exporter. Burning coal to generate power is a significant source of gases involved in global warming.
U.S.-Australia not same as oppressed countries
Climate change organizers are rightly upset that the summit did not adopt binding reductions in carbon emissions. Without real reduction in emissions, it will be impossible to halt the damage caused by global warming.
But many in the environmental movement have incorrectly equated the refusal of the United States and Australia to adopt binding goals with the non-binding positions taken by China and Indonesia. The United States and Australia have fully developed, advanced capitalist economies. They developed through the ceaseless extraction of value from the colonized and former colonized world, which is comprised of countries stunted by that process. Today, this global exploitation is popularly known as “globalization,” but it has existed since the beginning of global capitalism.
China, India and Indonesia—which differ from one another in many important ways—each belong to this second category. They are oppressed countries faced with the challenge of overcoming the legacy of forced underdevelopment.
The current wealth of the United States is based in part on the centuries of production with little or no environmental restrictions. China is racing to catch up to the level of economic development of an “average” capitalist country.
So the question is: how do the underdeveloped countries catch up and break the centuries-long dependence on predatory imperialist countries?
Falsely scapegoating China for the planet’s environmental problems is an easy way for U.S. corporations to shift responsibility away from themselves.
People seeking real action on the environment must be sure to take into account this political and historical context. It is a class issue.
The capitalist classes of Australia, the United States and the other imperialist countries are responsible for the vast majority of the environmental ruin plaguing the world. They should be held accountable, along with their economic system.
Capitalism continues to produce entirely for profit. Its reckless abandon for the planet needs to be put to an end.
