Today, January 29th, 2022, the comrades from the local Trier forest occupation
'Besch Stays' organized a rally against the Moselle ascent and for an ecologicaltraffic turnaround. Our local group participated with a speech. For moreinformation about the occupation of the forest, check out the homepagehttps://besch-bleibt.de/! ---- Our speech: ---- Hello people! ---- Today we speakfor Die Platform Trier. We are part of an anarcha-communist federation, which isorganized in German-speaking countries. In today's speech we would like to gointo a few things that are related to the traffic turnaround, but are often notmentioned or considered.Traffic turnaround, what is it actually about?Brief overview: Drastic change from private transport to public transport such astrains and buses. But of course also: turning away from the combustion engine andtowards other technologies such as e-mobility. This not only applies to cars inplaces where they are still needed, but also to existing diesel locomotives,airplanes and buses. What does such a change entail? The frequently mentionedaspects in their overview are something like this: expansion of public transport,climate tickets or completely free public transport, stopping the expansion ofroads and clearing of forests, as well as measures to do with cars (no newpermits for combustion engines, commuter allowance, etc.) The technical onesSolutions and ideas are well advanced and much discussed. That is not what thistext should be about.Our question is much more:How do we manage to create broad acceptance of change among the population. If welook at the reactions in countries like France or Iran to higher petrol prices,we can imagine how people feel about climate measures if they simply increasetheir cost of living because they are dependent on cars, for example.And right now we can see from the rising electricity prices how much the energytransition (or rather the botched energy transition) is weighing on the shouldersof the poorest sections of the population. We can hardly believe the promises ofa 'social-ecological' turnaround, which are propagated by parties such as theGreens. Because if certain goods and services simply have to become scarcer as aresult of the climate crisis because they can hardly be produced without high CO²emissions or exploitation, they simply become more expensive in the marketeconomy system and are distributed upwards instead of being redistributedaccording to urgent need .If we want to introduce ecological measures in a short period of time without asystem collapse and this causes the cost of living to rise at first (short-term),we have to reduce them all the more quickly in other areas. We also don't want topretend that a tighter frequency of the subway or more freight trains will solveeverything. The traffic load and the need to travel long distances simply has todecrease in the long term. We can only do this by offering a differentperspective on prosperity and a good life. Instead of higher, faster, further -calmer, relaxed, satisfied. (Unfortunately difficult to implement in capitalism)Of course, we also stand fundamentally for a turnaround in transport and forecological production in general. But in order to implement this, and especiallyin view of the fact that much of the predicted climate damage is already there orwill definitely come to us - and that resource shortages are unavoidable in someareas, we have to build a broad-based solidarity movement that does notreactionary responses to this crisis - but stands up for a solidarity-based,needs-based distribution of the remaining goods. We don't just mean that in autopian/distant sense, but also in a realpolitik way - or at least that can beaimed at.We must - here and now - fight against the trend of rising living costs of wageearners!:These include, for example:Rent issues and rent strikes, not only to bring the apartments back intocollective hands in the long term, but also to stop the rising rents in the hereand now and to be able to afford to live close to the workplace at all. In thelong term, for example, collectively managed apartments could be givenpreferential treatment to people with jobs nearby, which in turn reduces thetraffic load. But these questions are also crucial for cultural offerings. Whensmall bars, trendy clubs, political spaces or youth clubs can no longer affordthe rent, an important part of local culture disappears. People are again forcedto travel longer distances or to move to big cities because there are hardly anyoffers in the smaller ones - like in Trier with e.g. the ex house.The costs that arise from migration and a racist migration policy must also beaddressed. Many migrants and refugees help finance parts of their families intheir country of origin and are therefore additionally burdened despite a goodincome. In addition, there are expensive bureaucratic costs at the immigrationauthorities and migration/flight in general, sometimes hardly any opportunity towork or only in the low-wage sector, decreasing/decreasing financial support(e.g. for refugees) and overall inhumane conditions such as in asylum homes, butalso in the general public, with everyday racism, police violence and a lack ofprospects. If you want to make train travel attractive, you can start fightingracist police checks at train stations, or strange looks and comments because ofthe color of the skin, a headscarf or a kippah. Racial discrimination in thehousing or labor market is also important to tackle, especially if we take'need-based' seriously and don't really mean 'white need' when we say 'need'. Thesame also applies to sexism, queer hostility, etc. An increased use of subways iscertainly much more attractive if there are no gender-separated train parts"must" to protect people read as women from sexualised violence, as is the casein cities like Tokyo or Rio De Janero is already practice. especially if we take'needs-oriented' really seriously and don't actually mean 'white needs' when wesay 'needs'. The same also applies to sexism, queer hostility, etc. An increaseduse of subways is certainly much more attractive if there are no gender-separatedtrain parts "must" to protect people read as women from sexualised violence, asis the case in cities like Tokyo or Rio De Janero is already practice.We should also talk about (long-haul) flights. Many people have to fly to seetheir family or friends. A feeling of 'shame' doesn't help here. What would helpwould be, for example, better conditions for family reunification for migrantsand refugees, more free time and vacation to be able to accept longer traveltimes by train and of course working for better conditions in the home countriesso that people who want to return can too. And bang we're at armaments companies,oil companies, military operations, etc. and see again: everything is connected.Less isolation and competition increases social cohesion, so friendships developmore locally than across the city or the world. Reducing the traffic load alsomeans reducing distances, and this also includes social forms of it.Although individual transport is not a solution across the board, regardless ofthe technology, it is necessary in many cases. Examples of this are acute medicalcare, people with physical disabilities, but also mental conditions that maketraveling in crowds difficult, for example. These people also need opportunitiesto move freely. For example, taxi services organized on the basis of solidarity,or just social money, which covers this across the board, to put it in a moresocial-democratic way, are needed there. But of course also the expansion ofelevators, railway tracks etc.Individual transport is also indispensable for many sectors of the economy,smaller companies, the self-employed, etc. because, for example, goods have to becarted to remote locations. A successful transformation also requires conceptsand massive support. Many of the professional groups are part of the criticalinfrastructure and have a high potential to strike. Especially as the politicalleft, we have to show solidarity here, support and work into the movements sothat we don't play off climate issues against workers' issues against each other.Especially reactionary forces, which often have an economic interest in opposingclimate measures (because they are often involved with fossil fuel companies),will try to influence such strike movements and abuse them for exactly thispurpose. We saw such political struggles for influence during the yellow vestprotests in France. It is extremely important to be organized as a politicalforce in this field.But we must not forget the foresight and the global factors when it comes to thetopic of the transport turnaround. Even if many people in this country cannotenjoy pomp and luxury and can barely keep their heads above water, even thepoorer parts of Germany are significantly more prosperous than large parts of theworld.Transport is not just freedom, *auto*nomy and adventure as many wealthy peopleoften see it, but a fundamental factor for prosperity and living conditions ingeneral. Without good transport networks, certain living conditions cannot beimplemented - that starts with how quickly I can get to a hospital - but ofcourse also how well goods can be distributed.Many parts of the world don't even begin to have such a well-developed transportinfrastructure as we do here. Especially in these regions, green technologies area dream of the future, and vehicles powered by fossil fuels, which can moverelatively independently, are of great importance. This turns oil as a commodityinto an instrument of power with which even the most unpopular autocracies ordictatorships can stay in power. 'Degrowth', or 'calmer, relaxed, content' is nota compelling concept when large sections of the population lack food, clothing,shelter and money.Almost all measures that are advanced in Western industrialized countries are inno way designed to function globally and to take into account the urgently needed"growth" in large parts of the world. They just focus on making high-tech servicecountries like Germany, which have long since moved a good part of the 'dirty'production abroad, even more technocratic, and on knitting themselves a nicegreen vest of their own superiority - particularly practical around one Tojustify the isolation of Europe, deportations and mass camps in the course ofemerging climate flight.It can't work like that. With all the efforts we are tackling here, we mustalways dare to look outwards, see how our prosperity is built up at the expenseof others, and how we can live a good life without this exploitation. We mustoppose neo-colonialism and imperialism - pure financial support, which is oftentoo little or comes with other conditions, is not enough! We have to showsolidarity and support environmental movements, especially in poorer regions thatare exploited by us Europeans. The really future-oriented ways for a sustainablefuture are not created here in the laboratory (a piece of technology may becreated here), but in regions that have been affected by the climate crisis,overexploitation and colonialism for a long time.What we want to say with all these points: The turnaround in traffic and theclimate crisis is a complex, multi-layered topic in which other topics play amajor role. It's not about us all tackling all of these points now - it's aboutbecoming aware of them and carrying this awareness into the political fields inwhich we are active. This is the first, most important step.Ideally, this should result in movements that fight for their own interests, butdo not oppose or differentiate themselves from the other movements, but stand insolidarity with one another. Movements that can arise anywhere and under far moredifficult conditions than we are familiar with in prosperous Central Europe, asexamples from the Global South show us. There are climate movements in dozens ofcountries on the African continent, some under the global umbrella of FFF, someautonomous and with a long tradition. Whether against deforestation in the DRC(Democratic Republic of the Congo) or against coal-fired power plants on Lamu inKenya, whether on the streets of Kampala or Abuja, people everywhere are fightingagainst the destruction of our livelihoods and colonial exploitation.But of course we also know that in our current system, with the way the economyand the state apparatus are structured, we will not be able to achieve a socialclimate policy or a turnaround in transport, because precisely these subtleconflicts of interest and needs of individual groups and wage-earning people ingeneral are not considered, given a back seat or be played off against eachother. For us, this also means that we no longer want to curry favor with thestate or beg for political change - but represent our interests ourselves. Wedon't ask for climate protection, we demand it. We don't just demand it verballyon the street, we implement it. We organize ourselves, block, sabotage, build newones, make public transport free of charge - just in our own way.In the end, the equation is always this: If fighting our organizing becomes moreexpensive for the state than simply making things happen, it will have to do it.When trust in authority falls and no one follows them anymore, they will have totry to get us back to bind us to them. Democracy is not simply voting, butbringing the power that lies in the hands of individuals into collective hands.Therefore, have a stand, stand up for yourself, never cast your vote and organize- no matter what area you are in - the resistance against this environmentallyharmful, anti-social, racist and patriarchal system!https://trier.dieplattform.org/2022/01/29/redebeitrag-zur-verkehrswende-kundgebung-am-29-01-22-in-trier/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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