A-Infos (en) France, CNT-AIT, Anarchosyndicalisme #183 - Green capitalism, and so-called "greenwashing" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Ecology, in recent years, has taken on significant importance in the 
political scene. Not a week, not a day, without a politician taking an 
ecological or pseudo-ecological position, from the NPA to the RN via 
Macron, everyone claims it. It has become a commonplace where it is 
difficult to bring contradiction, under penalty of anathema uttered by 
the last of the climate-skeptic bastards. Ecology has a good back in 
being able to give itself a respectable image as a politician, 
especially when there is an electoral issue, and like these people who 
claim to govern us from the highest level of the state to the lowest. 
municipality, belong to a social class that is the bourgeoisie, we 
sometimes witness grotesque situations in big cities and in the countryside.

Thus, in the city of Toulouse, we are witnessing in the name of the 
fight against global warming a species of gentrification which does not 
speak its name. In fact, the municipality of this city set up a ZFE (low 
emission zone) on January 1 of this year, which consists of prohibiting 
the most polluting vehicles marked Crit'Air 4 and 5 and not classified 
from circulating in the city. . What appears to be a progressive and 
eco-friendly measure is in reality a discriminatory measure, since most 
Toulouse residents and people who live in neighboring towns, who do not 
have the means to afford a clean and clean car until end, because this 
implies that they will have to buy a new car every two or three years 
under penalty of a fine, will no longer be able to go to town, or even 
will no longer be able to return home. So it is a safe bet that between 
now and 2024 there will be many moves by proletarians who earn a meager 
living, for the benefit of new arrivals who will have money and brand 
new electric cars. Long life to Eco-friendly Nuclear!!! On the one hand, 
they are relaunching the automobile economy and on the other, driving 
out the working-class population of Toulouse, being out of the game from 
the start! And this is how we transform Toulouse into a city of the 
rich. Well done Moudenc and what's more, you are entitled to the super 
eco-friendly medal.

A few kilometers away, the Castres-Toulouse highway project, which, 
originally, was a whim of the pharmaceutical industrialist Pierre Fabre 
(and friend of Antoine Seilliere), argued by what would like to be a 
strong argument, namely opening up the South Tarn, a rather questionable 
situation since there is already a good national road which should 
simply be redeveloped. But when we question the merits of building this 
unnecessary highway, we are treated to a host of insults, often coming 
from people who are not residents of the region, who have no idea of the 
context other than to simple fantasies. Castres-Toulouse is only 67 km, 
it's not the end of the world. But the populations of the south of the 
Tarn department who are not, and far from it, wealthy people, will avoid 
taking this future highway which, further east, will pay around EUR8, 
others say EUR15 - whatever 'in any case, it's an injustice: there 
already exists a Toulouse-Albi motorway which is completely free!!!

And there, we saw contingents of ecologists arrive from the four corners 
of French territory, to explain that there will be damage, that it is 
not good... But to make a simple departmental road, there also harms the 
ecosystem, and what is annoying is that these ecologists come to give 
lessons, of course it is true, a rather useless project. But why didn't 
they come before?
Because this region has long been polluted, even very polluted, and the 
great forests of the Black Mountains prove nothing. For decades, since 
the beginning of the industrial revolution, or even before, there has 
always been pollution, particularly arsenic in the former silver mines 
in Salsignes, a few kilometers from Castres, north of Carcassonne.: the 
working-class towns of Mazamet and Graulhet had a few decades ago the 
French record for the most polluted rivers in the country with various 
particularly toxic chemicals, the inhabitants of these towns had plenty 
of time to smell the bad odors and admiring the fanciful colors that 
their rivers sometimes took on. At those times, where were the super 
ecologists?? Nowadays the south of the Tarn department is a region with 
high unemployment where people leave to find work elsewhere, and the old 
people stay.
Capitalism has always come to terms with ecology, has even created a 
market and a way of life, aimed at the "middle" classes, the lower 
bourgeoisie of big cities, a population that is rarely found in regions 
like the south of Tarn or the department of Aude whose living conditions 
certainly do not interest these "ecologists". We will remember the 
"rural rednecks" who disdained the yellow vests at the time.
And ecology in recent years has often appealed to emotions, like the far 
right.
The two come together on the fear of the unknown and sometimes the 
absence of considered judgment.
Political leaders and the exploiters of large industrial groups have 
long understood that environmental degradation could be detrimental to 
their economy, that expenses to protect or reproduce the workforce are 
increasing, and that pollution gives rise to unhealthy reactions. for 
business and political stability.
And it is entirely logical that large industrial groups reposition 
themselves in favor of ecology, and carry out acts of "militancy" to 
save the planet, but this is only a facade posture. With this motorway 
story, I can very well see the Pierre Fabre and Airbus labs turning 
around and giving us lessons in ecology via the municipalities of 
Toulouse and Castres. As Raul Gardini, big boss or ex-big boss of the 
Ferruzzi group which owns (or had) the highly polluting Montedison 
chemical factory, said: "Ecology is the future of the economy, and 
agriculture the tool the most important in ecology"[1].

When big business starts talking about ecology, nothing seems good for 
the future of ordinary people. The most important environmental NGOs, 
for example the WWF, were created by biologists, but also businessmen, 
and this organization has links with companies like Gazprom, Crédit 
Agricole or even the agri-food industry, which; it is well known, is 
very respectful of the environment.

This shows one thing: all these bourgeois from EELV to Greenpeace, who 
give us lessons all year round on ecology, asking us to tighten our 
belts, to fly less (it is certain that the prole from the corner or even 
the precarious person at the RSA often takes the plane to the factory or 
to Pôle Emploi), or constantly talks to us about electric cars, about 
climate change having to be largely financed, but then in this case 
financed by whom? Gazprom? Lafarge? Shell? Coca cola?... That is to say, 
multinationals who ruin our lives, who make us work in dirty conditions, 
who pay us poverty wages, fire us like trash, physically poison us, and 
damage the environment , who ask governments to delay the retirement 
age, and at the same time tell us that we must be careful, because the 
end of the world is near and that if you do not sort the waste, you are 
a irresponsible. This is a bad joke!

It is obvious that ecology is nowadays a business like any other. Under 
the pretext of a catastrophic rise in temperatures, official speeches 
are ready to make us swallow anything, such as accepting dangerous 
technologies like nuclear power, which would apparently be good for the 
climate, and which behind everything that, without taking into account 
the divergent or converging economic interests of the different factions 
of international capitalism, and the waste of money invested in this 
campaign against the climate crisis. In the meantime, people in everyday 
life are subjected to the economic interests of one or another in the 
name of the fight against global warming, without taking into account 
the living conditions of the proletariat who only have the right to to 
keep silent and suffer. The proletarians are only entitled to contempt 
and infantilization.

http://cntaittoulouse.lautre.net/spip.php?article1365
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