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We need to transform our economies, says Saoirse McHugh. Shutterstock/Christin Klose

Saoirse McHugh We need to talk about capitalism

There will be no climate justice until we move to a different economic system, writes Saoirse McHugh.

IN HER FORTNIGHTLY column for TheJournal.ie, Saoirse McHugh of the Green Party writes about what we can do as individuals in the face of climate chaos.   

A most ludicrous situation is taking place in which we are disrupting weather systems we have relied on for centuries, poisoning drinking water, destroying habitats that provide food and fuel and pushing ourselves outside of the relatively stable climate we have enjoyed for the past few thousand years.

Despite all of this, most of our media and the great majority of our politicians refuse to talk about the reason why I believe this is happening. What is driving us to continue down such a grim and unpredictable path? The answer is capitalism.

Extracting profit from resources (often privately owned) and labour only to reinvest in further extraction has wreaked havoc on our world. The accumulation of profit as a shaping force in society leaves so much unaccounted for and undervalued.

In general, there is no cost given to implications such as resource use, pollution, and (much and all as I don’t like the term) ecosystem services such as air and water cleaning, pollination and nitrogen cycling.

When these are factored into cost it can have an alleviating impact, but of course the natural world does not trade in dollars and no amount of money can ever compensate for species extinction, coral reefs dying or the damage caused by oil spills like the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

The need for growth and the relentless expansion into and enclosing of new commons, such as carbon use and genetic information, means that capitalism is entirely incompatible with a finite planet and a just world.

Despite all this it is rare to hear our economic system discussed openly in Ireland outside of a few groups or lone politicians. It has developed the impression of being outside of our control, almost like some God imposed this system upon us.

When the conversation comes up politically, our elected representatives shy away from it and speak in vague terms about prosperity and growth. They do not delve into the idea that not only do we have the power to begin changing our economic system, but we have a moral and environmental imperative to do so.

‘But look at North Korea and Cuba’ 

I am not fully sure why there is such hesitancy to speak about capitalism. Is it because decades of American television have well and truly damaged the ability to talk about it without somebody bringing up the Soviet Union and communism?

I myself have had so many conversations where capitalism comes up and is met with: “But look at North Korea and Cuba, look at how many people died in Soviet Russia.” No doubt atrocities occurred in countries which were under a different economic system.

However, that argument ignores and minimises the atrocities that have been carried out in capitalist countries. The suffering and destruction capitalism has caused and is continuing to cause in the world is immeasurable.

It is a system with its origins in colonialism and to this very day there is a massive extraction of wealth from previously colonised countries. The social, physical, and economic violence used to keep these relationships in place is beyond comprehension and much of it has become accepted as normal.

It is ridiculous to talk about environmentalism without talking about capitalism, yet many people do so. Not only is it a part of our lives but it is the system within which we all operate.

It is all that most of us have ever known and for that reason people tend to avoid the conversation, perhaps for fear of looking radical or outside of the world of common sense.

The promises of green growth or sustainable capitalism are tempting, yet I fear that every year spent chasing these will-o-the-wisps is a year lost while continuing to worsen our predicament.

There will be no climate justice until we move to a different economic system. We need to halt the extraction of wealth from previously colonized countries and, more than that, repay and compensate these countries as fully as possible.

Obviously, it is not just capitalism that damages the environment. There are discussions of petroleum-based socialism and of communism focused on growth, which are extremely damaging too but we have arrived at a time where capitalism is the dominant economic model.

There is no point in skirting around the issue, we need to transform our economies and recognise that any politician who is not engaging in the conversation about our economic model and ways to change it is wasting everyone’s time. 

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    Mute ☘
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    Aug 28th 2019, 9:46 AM

    people can move all around ireland with guns and drugs and i bet if i drove one day without road tax i would be in court,

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    Mute Ed Collins
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    Aug 28th 2019, 9:50 AM

    @☘: and rightly so

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    Mute The long walk home☘️
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:01 AM

    @Ed Collins: who is giving you thumbs up , have you 17 accounts? people really believe it should be easier move around Ireland with guns than a dodgy tax disc. No wonder we’re screwed

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    Mute STOIC SAVAGE
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:03 AM

    @The long walk home☘️: no one said that though??

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    Mute Mjhint
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:08 AM

    @Ed Collins: shows where your priorities lie. We have a traffic corpin Ireland with poor resources to serious crime all the way up to the prison service & road tax is yours and the government’s priority. Orwell described you well. No louder voice to be heard defending an oppressor than that of the oppressed. It’s people like you who have the country and its people on it’s knees.

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    Mute The long walk home☘️
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:19 AM

    @STOIC SAVAGE: that was his point or did it go way over your head?

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:49 AM

    @☘: In fairness, it’s far easier to spot an untaxed car than it is to spot a car carrying guns or drugs. And just as an aside, if you end up in court for driving an untaxed car, it means your tax has been out of date for a hell of a lot longer than one day. You have one month from expiry date of your motor tax to get it renewed. Its written on your renewal notice. Go into a second month untaxed and you pay a penalty when you finally do tax it, and you may get an on the spot fine. 3rd month you’d certainly get a fine and theres a risk the car could be impounded. Purely anecdotal, but from what I’ve seen/heard you’d really need to be taking the mick to end up in court for non-payment of motor tax alone, ie, expired for a year or more.

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    Mute Jesse James
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:59 AM

    @Mjhint: We don’t have Traffic Gardai in Ireland. They are regular Gardai in cars marked Roads Policing.

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    Mute Paul
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:33 AM

    @Jesse James: incorrect. We have a dedicated Roads Policing Unit, they are appointed to those units and are no longer on the regular units.

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    Mute my name
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:36 AM
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    Mute STOIC SAVAGE
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:59 AM

    @The long walk home☘️: nah…. His point was both are illegal and rightly punishable by law… Think it was your head it went over pal

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    Mute Thomas Maher
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    Aug 28th 2019, 12:12 PM

    @☘: they dont drive around with guns taped to the windscreen theyre a bit harder to spot than the lack of a tax disc

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    Mute The long walk home☘️
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    Aug 28th 2019, 9:54 AM

    life should mean life, some of these people are out after 11 years still young men.

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    Mute MickN
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:12 AM

    Another week another tragedy in Louth.. For the size of the county its never out of the news…

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    Mute Conor V
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    Aug 28th 2019, 10:39 AM

    @MickN: it’s a bid County :)

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    Mute Leo Lalor
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:46 AM

    How long is this feud going on. Like the kinehan hutch feud and it appears all the gardai are capable of is hiding on motorways catching you at 125 kph. Traffic corps are a waste of resource for the public. Fianna Gael love them . Revenue collection

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    Mute Michael Kavanagh
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:58 AM

    @Leo Lalor:
    The auld penalty points mounting up, are they? Try a simple solution – obey the rules of the road- it works!

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    Mute John Joe & Bridie
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    Aug 28th 2019, 11:58 AM

    @Leo Lalor: Yawn

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    Mute Eamonn Ó Maoldomhnaigh
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    Aug 28th 2019, 12:54 PM

    @Leo Lalor: A good few of the Hutch/ Kinehan murders have been solved but don’t let that stop your bit of Garda bashing.

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    Mute Seaniecp
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    Aug 28th 2019, 1:37 PM

    @Leo Lalor: I’m sure more people die on the roads each year then to gangland violance. Maybe I’m wrong.

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    Mute Think Before You Buy
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    Aug 28th 2019, 1:06 PM

    The violence, not just in Louth, but across the country is directly related to the vast amount of money generated through using drugs for recreational purposes. It is for control of the area in which this money is spent that these gangs are fighting to control. Remember it always harms someone THINK BEFORE YOU BUY http://www.thinkbeforeyoubuy.ie

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    Mute aYoungRory
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    Aug 28th 2019, 2:04 PM

    I’m calling for a head banger hunger games this year.
    Let every wannabe lunatic in Ireland meet up in Longford on December 8th when it’s empty for Culchie Christmas…. No holds barred, no innocents hurt and less than 2k damage done. We can hold a mass funeral at 12 midnight for the fallen and crown the last standing survivor ‘Hardest Man in Ireland’.

    Danny Dyer can present the trophy to him moments before we fire both men into the surface of the moon.

    Then we take the homes of the losers and redistribute them to the homeless.

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    Mute Maciej Zadorozny
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    Aug 28th 2019, 1:18 PM
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