For a long time people have self-immolated, that is, set themselves on fire as a form of protest. Last year on Earth Day climate activist Wynn Bruce set himself on fire, likely out of complete despair in the face of our accelerating extinction, and as a demonstration of the gravity of the crisis. This act deeply moved me, not to give up and to mourn humanity, the earth, and all life as we know it, but to actually have hope on a scientific basis. A revolution is possible, and necessary, to begin to reverse this crisis. There is no other way, and the time to act is now. It’s this system, not humanity, that must go extinct.
On Earth Day a couple of revcom supporters in Austin went to a busy shopping district to turn some heads to the dire emergency humanity faces from climate change, and lift heads toward the only solution to this - revolution! The speaker projected two audio pieces from the RNL show, one segment about last year’s IPCC report and one about children and climate change. The combination of the visual and audio, with one person handing out flyers, interrupted business as usual, can be replicated everywhere and revealed potential to capture people’s attention and get revolution on the map.
We set up on Congress Ave, a major street in central Austin. A car show was underway, and people were largely oblivious to the fact that it was Earth Day. But our image of a symbolic self-immolation turned some heads.
Text of the leaflet:
We are facing a crisis of unprecedented and existential dimensions—threatening the ecosystems of the planet and life itself. Yet in the six years since the adoption of the Paris UN climate accords in 2016, not one major capitalist industrial power is on track to meeting its (obscenely inadequate) goals. The amount of carbon in the atmosphere that drives climate change continues to rise.
The highly touted Biden climate act of 2022 is a deception—it places no limits on fossil-fuel extraction—and actually furthers the climate crisis. Meanwhile, the U.S. retains its title as the world’s largest oil and natural gas producer. As the planet heats up!
What underlies the climate crisis and what must be done?
Capitalism-imperialism is destroying the planet. In the face of this looming catastrophe, only revolution gives humanity a real chance to save it. We need a radically different society that values nature and builds an ecologically sustainable economy, that values the billions of oppressed people on the planet and unleashes their vast creativity and initiative, one that is working to build a communist world free of all relations of exploitation and oppression.
How Would a Revolutionary Socialist Society Address the Environmental Emergency?
From the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by Bob Avakian:
- A socialist economy operates according to principles of “socialist sustainable development.” It takes the “long view” of what is needed to benefit humanity and the planet. It organizes and regulates production and growth on the basis of awareness of natural limits and the interconnected web of ecosystems. It emphasizes safe and renewable sources of energy.
- The state in the New Socialist Republic in North America recognizes special internationalist responsibilities to share knowledge and technology, to allocate resources, and to promote initiatives to protect the global environment—and to assist the people in other parts of the world, especially in the Third World, to cope with the damage caused by imperialist environmental despoliation and plunder.
We Refuse to Accept This System’s Future!
It’s Time to Get Organized for a Real Revolution!
