Climate Crisis: Glasgow’s Growing Need for Socialism Ahead of COP26

‘Changing politics’ is a huge demand from climate change protesters. Photo by Tania Malréchauffé on Unsplash

The UN Climate Change conference (COP26) will be taking place from the 1-12th November in Glasgow. It’s an opportunity for the world’s most prominent figures in politics to gather and put a plan in action to bring the climate crisis to an end before the damage becomes completely irreversible.

The Glasgow branch of the ‘International Socialist Alternative’ argues that the issue of the climate crisis falls right into the hands of the world’s biggest leaders.

Philip Chmel, Climate Activist, said: "We are a global socialist group that is fighting to overcome capitalism. We are a revolutionary group because we believe that it needs a global uprising of the working class and oppressed to end the capitalist system."

The Scottish branch not surprisingly are dedicated to ideas about Scottish independence and the upcoming COP 26 Summit. Individuals from the ISA can often be seen directly engaging with the public in the City Centre and handing out flyers, encouraging people to join the cause.

Chmel said: "The most important thing is large scale investment programmes into green energy, expansion of public transport so that it’s made free and available everywhere. All these things will cut down emissions quite a lot."

An article from Earth Org confirms the ISA's views on capitalism contributing to the industrial issue of greenhouse gas emissions, reporting that 100 companies were responsible for 71% of emissions since 1988.

Chmel said: "We want to change what is being produced and in order to be able to do that change we need to own that. We need to take the companies out of private ownership, put them into public ownership and put them under workers’ control and communities’ control. So that the people who are the experts in what is produced in those factories also decide what is produced.

"Next, will be the immediate measures to cut emissions, close all the fossil fuels down, stop the coal pits, stop fossil fuel combustion engines, electric public transport, reforestation, ecological clean-up programmes.

“A key thing for achieving that is having unity of the working class. Not playing to the hands of the established ruling class who are trying to pit workers against environmental activists by saying it’s jobs or the environment."

Chmel argued there was a level of hypocrisy from the politicians who were involved with the COP26 Summit.

He said: “Under capitalism, a key pillar is the pursuit of profit. Always more profit, always more accumulation of capital and that does not go without an increase in emissions.

“What [the politicians] are trying to do is create green capitalism, trying to regain the legitimacy for the whole system. I think a lot of young people see through this whole charade, that capitalism is not working and that it’s actually causing the problems that we’re suffering."

The International Socialist Alternative will be protesting on November 5th alongside environmental activists as a response to the COP26 Summit.

Glasgow: a city that in many ways was built on the principles of socialism, most notable figures being people like Keir Hardie, founder of the Labour Party - has the opportunity to contribute to real change as proposed by the International Socialist Alternative.

The 'Red Bloc' protest is expected to be a massive turnout in the hundreds, full of young people who are demanding change from the top people in charge - the people who enable a system that is destroying the planet.