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Global Environmental Crisis: Out-of-State Oil Barons and Chemical Plant Owners Profit from Destroying Louisiana

A father and daughter attend the climate change protest together on Friday, September 20.

By Jennifer Lin

Energy corporations pillage and destroy the environment for profit, crushing the lives and livelihoods of workers in the process. As the climate crisis worsens, hurricanes and floods will become more destructive. These events have always revealed the intention of rich capitalists to profit from disasters.

After Katrina, the Road Home Program was designed to make it nearly impossible for Black workers to rebuild their homes. Real estate speculators then carried out a land grab.

Even systems that are supposed to protect people from natural disasters are being used against us, because they are the private projects of city officials and land developers based on profit contracts and bank loans. Drainage canals and artificial levees deplete the soil of groundwater and nutrients, causing land to drop below sea level. Worse, the lack of natural outlets for the Mississippi allows pressure to build up around the levees downriver, making the working-class communities that live there particularly vulnerable to flooding.

Of course, this is business as usual for the millionaires on the Sewerage and Water Board, who are now trying to impose a new drainage fee on workers that will push more and more people towards foreclosure and eviction. Meanwhile, the residents of Gordon Plaza continue to wait for a fully funded relocation. They have been struggling to have their humanity recognized for over thirty years since the city colluded with real estate vultures to build their homes on a toxic waste landfill in the Upper Ninth Ward. In Cancer Alley, the highest cancer-causing area in the U.S., people living near industrial plants are protesting the relentless poisoning of Black communities by petrochemical companies.

DEMAND REPARATIONS FROM OIL COMPANIES
Oil and gas extraction account for about 60% of wetland loss and coastal erosion in the Gulf. Louisiana has lost nearly 2,000 square miles of coast since 1930. Most of that land belonged to the Houma people, who have had their lands stolen and their histories erased for centuries, first by colonial settlers and now by oil tycoons.

Few people today mention the Taylor oil spill. Back in 2004, Hurricane Ivan destroyed an oil rig owned by Taylor Energy Co., which continues to leak 100 barrels of oil into the Gulf every day. Disasters like this and the Deepwater Horizon spill pervade the oil industry, which endangers workers’ lives and destroys entire ecosystems for profit.

We cannot stand for the wholesale destruction of our communities and livelihoods by rich capitalists. We must stop corporations from continuing to poison the land we live on, the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, the people we love. Under capitalism, only what is profitable is valuable. Until this violent system of oppression and exploitation is completely overturned, the measure of our worth as people and the worth of the planet that shelters us, nourishes us, and sustains us will be dictated by a handful of rich CEOs who will never stop extracting the precious, collective resources of the earth for profit. Calling for an end to capitalist-driven ecological catastrophe is a necessary part of the revolutionary struggle towards liberation. An entire world is at stake, and we have no time to lose.

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Global Environmental Crisis: Capitalism, Imperialist War are the Roots of Crisis

South Africa, September 2019.

Only a global organization of the working class is up to the task of halting the climate and environmental crisis.  We must fight to meet the needs of all peoples of the world equally.

By Gavrielle Gemma

Youth climate strikers have forced the environmental crisis on to the world stage. They have also forced the capitalists and all the governments they control to scramble to come up with plans that sound responsive while they protect the profits of the fossil fuel and weapons industries along with the politicians in their pockets.

We must keep the movement going strong in the streets but to succeed, we need to honestly size up the opposition.

President Trump is an enemy of the planet and the people, but the Democratic Party politicians also personally benefit from the status quo. For decades they’ve been totally bought out by the capitalists in charge of oil, chemical, agribusiness, banking and military industries.

We must recognize that though they rule by different methods—one more openly fascist, the other more deceptive—both uphold the rule of capitalism, private property and oil profits. Hillary Clinton received millions from the oil industry and the Saudi Monarchy.

Why do millions starve when there is a global surplus of food? Why are countries bombed for oil? Why is a trillion U.S. tax payer dollars going to war profiteers every year? Why do we continue to use fossil fuels when clean and sustainable energy alternatives are available?

Because capitalists do not care how many millions die and suffer as long as they prosper.

More than ever the movement needs the leadership of those with the most to lose from the global ecological crisis—the workers, the displaced, and the oppressed nations of the world. That’s why we must fight to end capitalism, imperialism, and racism. We must fight for global economic equality.

United Nations is not the answer.
While 193 countries belong to the United Nations, it is controlled by the security council which is made up of superpowers and is dominated by imperialist countries. The United Nations gave cover to the invasions of Iraq and Libya – both wars for oil.

Were the United Nations a real force for the people, its delegates would have marched out of the UN headquarters to a nearby meeting of oil executives and ordered a mass arrest for crimes against humanity and other species. The oil executives had called this emergency meeting to figure out how to rebrand themselves and co-opt the movement.

“The change that needs to take place—the trillions of dollars of investment—is only going to come from companies with resources and scale,” said Ben van Beurden, chief executive of Shell. In other words, please don’t come after us.
If the climate change movement rose up against the $1 trillion a year U.S. military budget, we would have plenty of resources to be used for all the needs of humanity, other species, and the planet. The obscene profits they are sitting on need to be seized by the masses and used for survival, jobs and the environment. Clean energy, water, air, food and medical care cannot be under the control of private profiteers; it must belong to the people.

The climate struggle must recognize the inequality caused by imperialism in order to build solidarity and strengthen the movement.

We cannot fix the climate disaster with individual efforts or by thinking technology is the problem. Posing less air conditioning or more bike-riding as solutions fosters the right-wing phony claim that the movement is elitist. Air conditioning is a health necessity and should be available free to all people in every part of the world that needs it. Safe bike riding is important, but we need clean mass transportation for all. Poor people here and around the world lack these necessities.

Climate struggle and anti-imperialism are two wings of the same bird.
The U.S. Military is a private army for the oil barons, not for democracy.
The U.S. budget is looted for a trillion a year that could be used for social benefits and earth repair. Politicians that support a “Green New Deal” but vote to increase the military budget are dangerous. We cannot fight for the earth without fighting for peace, against the weapons industry, imperialism, inequality, and racism.

Sheer numbers won’t do. On June 12th, 1982 a million people demonstrated in New York city against nuclear power. But its leaders were silent on nuclear weapons and U.S. wars. On the very day of the protest Israel was using U.S. weapons to bomb people in Palestinian refugee camps. A million voices were ignored easily by the government which said, “Let them march and sing, in the end they support us.” No struggle succeeds unless the rulers feel threatened by economic loss or fear that they may lose the people’s allegiance to their rule.

The movement must understand the root cause of the crisis; this will guide us in knowing where and how to build alliances among communities of all nationalities, and between youth and the working class.

The fight to save the planet must be the fight to uproot the cause of the environmental crisis. To win this fight we have to harness the enormous untapped power of the working class who once they know which side they’re on will be unstoppable. Organized, the working class can decide for itself what we will and won’t produce.

A worldwide day of outreach to the workers is the next step.

Let future strikes be led by youth and workers.
We should fight against pipelines and pesticides, and we should fight to save all species threatened by extinction. By mass action we can force change to some laws and this is important. But to save the planet, the human race and all species, to guarantee a healthy future for all the people of the world, it will take an overthrow of the capitalist system which puts profits above life itself.
Unions are joining the effort against climate change; workers are asking why they can’t have jobs that are safe for their communities and grandchildren. Youth of all countries have taken the lead once again, just like they did in the fight for civil rights in the U.S. displaying great courage and determination.

But a strong movement needs to think ahead, think strategically and understand that only with the workers on their side can we win. We will win.

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While the Amazon Burns and Louisiana Drowns…

Cuba tops the list of countries with the most sustainable model of development on the planet, according to the environmental group World Wildlife Federation. The group considers both human development—for example high life expectancy and literacy—and the “environmental footprint” of a country. Despite the criminal U.S. embargo and near constant attempts by U.S. imperialists to undermine Cuba’s socialist system, the Cuban government and the Cuban people are determined to show the world that a better world is possible.

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From Gert Town to Gordon Plaza: Residents Demand Non-Toxic Homes

By Nathalie Clarke

Residents of Gert Town, a working-class, Black neighborhood, have been exposed to toxic, radioactive waste for years. There has been no action by city government. Leaked emails from 2013 show city officials discovered the radioactive materials underneath the roads on Coolidge Court and Lowerline Street near the site of an old chemical plant. Because of the Super Bowl, the fat cats and politicians, seeing the potential for massive profits, decided to ignore the problem despite concerns from an environmental consultant.

The land, purchased in 1931 when Gert Town was a white working class area by Thomas-Hayward Chemical Co., has been the site of pesticide and herbicide production, which are both notorious pollutants. Many of the toxic chemical byproducts these chemicals produce remain in the ecosystem for years after the source of pollution has been removed. Basically, it doesn’t matter that the company moved from Gert Town in the 1980s; they left their trash.

The radium-226 found in the soil is an unstable chemical compound that decays and emits radiation. Long-term exposure to radiation is known to increase the risk of cancer and can sometimes cause irreversible damage to DNA. Generations of workers have probably spent thousands of dollars on medical complications—all because of a few greedy CEOs and politicians who serve the interests of the rich bosses and never the workers.

Current residents of the area told the Workers’ Voice they had known for years about the radiation and had been complaining about the dust and smell since the 1980s. “There have been folks getting sick because of this,” one resident told the Workers Voice. “The city would have done something if this was a bunch of white folks on St. Charles,” another resident said.

Capitalism will always prioritize profit over people and the environment. From Cancer Alley to Gordon Plaza to Gert Town, the capitalist ruling class has shown time and time again that they do not value the lives of workers. They care more about stuffing their pockets and hoarding the wealth that we, the working class, produce. Residents of Gert Town deserve fully funded relocation. All human beings deserve homes on land that won’t give them cancer.

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Struggle for Fully Funded Relocation Heats Up

By Antranette Scott

On a Thursday morning, Shannon R, Lydwina, Marilyn A., and Jesse P., residents of Gordon Plaza, walked out the doors of City Hall to a press conference. The Residents of Gordon Plaza just finished meeting Mayor Cantrell to discuss the next steps towards a Fully Funded Relocation for the Upper Ninth Ward community. Since the Residents discovered that the homes sold to them through a program targeting Black residents of the Desire Project were on toxic soil, they have been fighting for relocation.

Four weeks before the press conference, the Residents of Gordon Plaza, along with the New Orleans People’s Assembly, engaged in a weekend of outreach during Essence Fest, a yearly cultural festival sponsored by Essence magazine that brings in 500,000 people to New Orleans and generates between $10-11 million annually. July’s issue of Essence magazine ran a story about the fight for relocation. After 1 year and 3 months of attempts to get a meeting with the mayor, the Residents took their story to the streets, the meeting rooms, and the stages of Essence Fest.

Throughout the weekend’s events, organizers handed Mayor Cantrell copies of a letter signed by over 40 community organizations who support fully funded relocation for the Residents of Gordon Plaza. After constant pressure from the People, Mayor Cantrell posted a message on all of her social media platforms saying, “my administration is actively working on a solution.”

After this statement, there were 4 weeks of silence. The day before the press conference, the Mayor’s office scheduled a meeting for an hour before the planned event.

At the press conference the Residents restated that any resolution must include: (1) a fully funded relocation; (2) a timeline for when the relocation will happen; and (3) the inclusion of the Residents in planning the relocation process. The Residents reported that Mayor Cantrell promised some movement on the issue in September. They will not, however, be tempered by words; only concrete action will do. The Residents of Gordon Plaza and the community will keep up the fight.

You can hear more about the residents and the fight for relocation on September 5th at The American Dream Denied: Gordon Plaza Seeks Relocation, an exhibit at Newcomb Art Museum on Tulane University’s main campus. The exhibit will have an opening from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. that includes a reception and informational panel. This event is free to the public. The exhibit will be on display through December 14th and is free and open to the public.

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Warning: Nuclear Power Owners Gutting Safety Regulations

By Peyton Gill

The nuclear power industry is requesting ending regulations from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which is made up of five members appointed by Trump. Straight from the mouth of one such board member, David Wright, “The NRC mission is reasonable assurance of adequate protection—no more, no less.” That is NOT in the best interest of the public, considering nuclear power plant accidents have led to horrendous disasters and diseases in people and towns having to evacuate permanently due to radiation seeping out with its deadly toxicity.

The 98 commercially operating power plants in the United States need to be highly regulated to protect our bodies and the environment. Entergy operates the Waterford Nuclear Power Plant less than 50 miles upriver from New Orleans, well within the NRC-designated “ingestion exposure pathway,” an emergency zone that mandates emergency plans for the ban of contaminated food and water. The Nuclear Energy Institute group submitted a letter to their buddies on the Commission who themselves have financial interests in the nuclear industry. By creating loop holes, evading safety assessments, and not requiring the nuclear plants to inform the public when there are problems or inspection failures (yes, this is one of the requests the nuclear power plant industry included in the letter), the nuclear industry is able to go unchecked in what is a high-risk danger for all life. Nuclear core meltdowns in Chernobyl in 1986, and in Fukuishima, Japan, in 2011 show this. A near melt down at the Three Mile Island Plant near Harrisburg, Penn., in 1979 left the entire Midwest and East Coast in a three day nightmare during the attempt to contain it. A demonstration of over half a million people took place following that.

The nuclear energy capitalists want the NRC to reduce the burden of radiation-protection and emergency-preparedness inspections, letting plant owners do “self-assessments” and “self-reporting”, and less disclosure to the public of plant assessments. Nuclear reaction plants need to be under the most scrutiny by safety inspectors who are not employed by the plants, and they have no valid correct reason to keep assessment information from the public. This goes to show you what happens behind closed doors in the interest of greed over safety of millions of people and the planet.

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3 Richest Americans Have More Wealth Than 50% of U.S. Population

By Gavrielle Gemma

Charles Koch, a right-wing oil baron who hates workers, is the seventh wealthiest person on the planet. When once accused of stealing crude oil from members of the Osage nation of the Great Plains, Koch responded, “I want my fair share and that’s all of it.” Koch runs a bag man operation called ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) which gives money to politicians in exchange for legislation that benefits them. Most of the Baton Rouge legislators are recipients of these bribes.

Koch paid Louisiana politicians to oppose a raise in the unlivable $7.25 an hour minimum wage. Why? Like he said, the rich want all the money for themselves.

No one should be fooled into thinking that the super-rich have “earned” their wealth through superhuman powers.

Every penny they hoard comes from the labor of the workers. The ultra-rich are a band of crooks, thieves and murderers, using inherited money to starve people for their profits.

We should be perfectly clear: they are stealing from us. Yet when we get anything—even a modest wage increase—they claim that we are stealing from them. Enough is never enough for them.

The head of the World Bank, representing the U.S. bankers mainly, has said that wages must be driven down even further. We workers don’t have the purchasing power we had 50 years ago. Younger generations of workers struggle with widespread job insecurity and a lack of benefits, accessible housing and affordable education. The rich want to impoverish all workers—technical, manual, and service workers alike.

The filthy rich feel entitled to every luxury. The lives of our children mean nothing to them.

The increasing concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands shows that the capitalist  system is an utter failure.

It’s our labor that runs the world. We vastly outnumber them. Ask yourself this question: Can New Orleans run without sanitation workers? No. Can it run without real estate developers? Yes! We can do without them; they cannot profit without us.

Wealth should belong collectively to the working class and our families. We are entitled to a good life. But we must free our minds and organize to get it!

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Berta Caceres

“Let us wake up, humankind! We’re out of time. We must shake our conscience free of the rapacious capitalism, racism and patriarchy that will only assure our own self-destruction.”

March 2 marks the 3-year anniversary of the assassination of internationally renowned environmental leader and hero of the Lenca nation, Berta Cáceres. Cáceres was an Indigenous defender of the land and water who was murdered by the Honduran government and paramilitaries. She led protests against the construction of a dam which threatened the livelihood of her people and spoke out against the right-wing dictatorship installed the United States. Since the 2009 US-backed coup in Honduras, the regime has carried out the murder and repression of Indigenous land defenders, social leaders, and members of the LGBTQ community.

Berta’s example has inspired people all over the world take up the struggle for justice and liberation in Honduras. Her daughter has taken up the struggle; in 2017, she was elected General Secretary of COPINH, the indigenous Lenca organization co-founded and led by Berta Cáceres.

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Dirt

By Jewell Prim

This dirt is rancid with tears
It stinks
Flowers were never meant to bloom here.
These lives were forced to give too much here.
Give up the right to a beautiful home,
One that is perfect for casting roots,
One that would let them
Plant seeds
And watch those little children go,
Watch them grow,

Run!
In this DIRT,
This dirt is sticking
In a way that’s different,
But recognize that it is the same in many, many places.
This dirt leaves the cancer in you.
You’re tracking around medical bills you can’t afford,
And smelling the taste of the death
That is dwelling over you,
You,
And your neighbor’s heads.

Why
Didn’t they tell you this was BAD dirt?
Why didn’t they tell us?
That this foundation
Was built to harvest thorns,
And not daisies.
That the happy home
You were promised
Would cost you the life that you have every right to?

Why aren’t you listening?
Why aren’t they listening?
Cant you see it?
LOOK
Look
This dirt…

Maybe this death is in a language
You’ve never heard.
I guess this would never
Be the insidious dirt
You were given to make a house a home.
Your dirt would never be my dirt.
Ain’t that something?
huh

Is it weird to say that all dirt
Should be equal?
That everyone deserves to live,
In a place where the land they stay on WONT
Kill them?
That just as you are important,
I too,
We too,
THEY too are equally important?
Is that a foreign language
Too?

What does it mean
When your government kills you,
With deathly dirt?
Do they not care?
Who do they care about more?
Why, maybe they’re mistaken!
Once again,
They think,
That this dark and deadly dirt
Is supposed to be matched,
With our dark and beautiful skin?

My ancestors didn’t die,
In this VERY LAND,
By the hands of slave masters
For my people,
To die today,
By the hands of this poisoned dirt.