Derek Wall - The Rise of the Green Left: A Global Introduction to Ecosocialism

The Rise of the Green Left

PRAISE FOR THE RISE OF THE GREEN LEFT

For too long the official left has ignored, even attacked ecology. We should be grateful to Derek Wall for his book, The Rise of the Green Left. It is time to recognise that the rights of people rest on the rights of Mother Earth. And this book helps us move in that direction.

Vandana Shiva, Director of the Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology, New Delhi; author, activist, and winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize

There is no one more tuned in to the great range of struggles for ecosocialism across the world and more capable of presenting them in practical and down-to-earth terms than Derek Wall.

Joel Kovel, author of The Enemy of Nature (2nd Edition, 2007)

With our planet in the grip of a severe environmental crisis we should never tire of seeking fresh alternatives. And, with so many of our environmental problems being caused and sustained by an unrelenting demand for economic growth, Derek Walls The Rise of the Green Left sets out a new political agenda of huge significance. Highly recommended.

Caroline Lucas, MP, Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales

Easily the most important book on this subject The Rise of the Green Left provides an essential guide for anyone interested in how politics and ecology can come together to solve the most pressing issues of our times. Its important that the ideas in this book get the maximum attention and coverage!

Salma Yaqoob, Leader of the Respect Party, UK

Mandatory reading for social, labour, and environmental activists and every concerned person, perhaps no place more than in the politically circumscribed and insular United States. The growth of the global Green Left is hopeful news and coming just in time.

Howie Hawkins, co-founder of the Green Party in the United States and editor of Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate (2006)

A guide to activism and a manifesto that deserves to be read by everyone who wants a better world. Walls insightful work clearly shows what ecosocialism is, how it has grown and how it can mount a real challenge to capitalist ecocide.

Ian Angus, editor of ClimateAndCapitalism.com; author of The Global Fight for Climate Justice (2009)

For some years now I have been following the prolific writing and political organising of Derek Wall, a trailblazer of the Green Left in the UK. The Cochabamba Peoples Climate Summit held in April 2010 is evidence of the accelerated coming together of ecological and social activists. Derek Wall has done us all a great service by documenting this urgently important development in world politics.

Derrick OKeefe, Co-Chair Canadian Peace Alliance and Contributing Editor to SocialistVoice.ca

First published 2010 by Pluto Press
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Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by
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Copyright Derek Wall 2010

The right of Derek Wall to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 0 7453 3037 2 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 3036 5 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7837 1061 4 ePub

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To Sarah Farrow

Even an entire society, a nation, or all simultaneously existing societies taken together, are not the owners of the earth. They are simply its possessors, its beneficiaries, and have to bequeath it in an improved state to succeeding generations as boni patres familias [good heads of the household].

Marx 1981: 911 (http://tiny.cc/xrHUv)

I was reading about the reasons for the disappearance of song birds in Germany. The spread of scientific forestry, horticulture, and agriculture, have cut them off from their nesting places and their food supply. More and more, with modern methods, we are doing away with hollow trees, waste lands, brushwood, fallen leaves. I felt sore at heart. I was not thinking so much about the loss of pleasure for human beings, but I was so much distressed at the idea of the stealthy and inexorable destruction of these defenceless little creatures, that the tears came into my eyes.

Letter from Rosa Luxemburg to Sophie Liebknecht,
2 May 1917 (http://tiny.cc/TfMi5).

Contents

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Farid Bakht, Hugo Blanco, Oscar Blanco Berglund, Owen Clayton, Dave Costain, Kadir Dadan, Klaus Engert, Jonathan Essex, Sarah Farrow, Phil Gasper, Lesley Hedges, Michael Lwy, Dan Murray, Pete Murry, Pablo Navarrete, Sarah Parker, Gareth Price-Thomas, Dave Riley, Ignacio Sabbatella, Matt Sellwood, Alex Snowdon, Alan Thornett and Jos Antonio Vergara. And of course to Dave Castle as editor. All of you helped me, the mistakes, though, are all mine.

Foreword

Hugo Blanco

This book clearly and conclusively shows the incompatibility between the capitalist system and the protection of the environment. The capitulation of many green parties to capitalism has converted them into anti-ecologists.

The book also highlights the fact that in todays world it is impossible to have a coherent socialism which does not incorporate ecology. In this respect, we see how the Ecuadorian government, which has been put forward as one of the practitioners of twenty-first-century socialism, has surrendered to the idea that nature is there for us to exploit. This has led to a confrontation with Ecuadors indigenous population, who are defending the environment.

The book shows us once again that if humanity remains being led by the big multinational corporations, the direct result will be the liquidation of the human species, in the same way that we have already exterminated many other species.

Another aspect worth highlighting is Dereks observation that The most important area of discussion must be how can we stop the train before it leaps the rails. The question of how ecosocialists fight for change is the one we must ask and re-ask.

Further along Derek tells us: The political system has been better at changing radicals than the radicals have been at changing the system. With responsible prudence, he points out that This chapter examines strategy and makes some suggestions, it does not claim to provide the answer; however, if it encourages discussion which leads to focused and effective action, it will have achieved something.

Further on, Derek talks about the struggle of indigenous peoples in defending the environment, including the case of Bagua, Peru.

I should point out that this focus on indigenous struggle is not just of theoretical interest to Derek. He shows solidarity in practice and has organised and promoted many events in support of not only Bagua, but also indigenous peoples around the world.