The dangers of leftist ideologies
(UPDATE MAY 2019: Since the time of this post (2016) my views on the subject have RADICALLY changed. For reference I still keep the original post, cause I still think it contains some valid points, but I guess I will need to write a new one soon…)
More than half of the well meaning people described in a previous post identify themselves as politically left wing. As discussed, they therefore feel as standing on the right side of history and continue their pillage of the earth resources guilt-free.
Except a tiny minority, most of them do not have real dream of reforming the world and are contented with feeding their families and being good to their friends.
And then there are the Marxists.
They are nice people. They have a lofty dream (revolution and redistribution). They converge sometimes with the radical greens in supporting key environmental battles.
What they don't realize is the basic fact that their ideology -exactly as the very capitalism they fight against- is unsustainable. The Marxist approach is based on some of the same economic principles of current neo-liberalism:
- Everything can be measured and therefore monetized
- There are a series of fixed and universal needs that needs to be met for each man
There is still in them an optimistic belief in progress, achieved via a planned (rather than a capitalistic) economy. You hear them talking about money to be allocated, about a different way of producing and consuming, about taking from the extra rich...but never about reducing needs altogether (de-growth). Plus-value (profit) is generated -according to them - by exploiting the work of people, and only to a lower extent by exploiting natural resources.
I am really skeptical that a planned economy based on these premises can lead us out of the climate crisis. It may be more rational, efficient and just...but this could paradoxically accelerate destruction. A couple of considerations:
- The only zero emission technology is NOT producing. Even a planned economy based on 100% renewable resources will lead us to the brink of resource depletion, unless the focus is on massive degrowth. (This is supported by life-cycle analysis studies that take into account all energy and material impacts related to construction, operation and decommissioning of these installations. The balance is way better than fossil shit, but still not good enough). Same considerations hold for large scale agriculture.
- In a context of destruction, efficiency and a planning which focus on man (rather than on nature) may not be exactly what we need to slow down the crisis (hint of irony there).
- Most importantly, the availability of current energy intensive technologies/tools coupled with a redistribution of purchasing power is the perfect cocktail for disaster, under the form a massive increase of pro-capita energy consumption. Today most of the resources are locked up into the pockets of extra-rich people. The immediate effect of redistribution of these resources would be an increase in consumption from people who could not afford it before. Give to every Indian or Chinese the chance to do that sightseeing trip in Europe (that,by the way, they were not even dreaming about before..) and were are all cooked before we know it.
So, folks, beware of false solutions even amongst the revolutionary ones. I am happy to be criticized, as I am not an expert of all areas of Marxism, nor a perfect example of radical green myself (yet).
My next post will be centered on concrete examples of areas in which we need to challenge the assumptions of classical economics.
