WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE GERMANY - news journal UPDATE - (en) Germany, LIKOS: Our speech at the GSD on September 20, 2025 (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Today we want to talk about ecosocialism. For the right, this has become

a battle cry; for them, the term stands for paternalism, restriction,
and renunciation, and they have successfully established this narrative
in social debates. It's no wonder that the government, under the guise
of climate protection, is tapping into people's already tight pockets.
Even the Greens are accused of ecosocialism, although their policies
really have nothing socialist about them. So what is ecosocialism all
about? Are we threatened by a kind of eco-GDR?

First of all, let's establish: Capitalism simply can't do it! And that's
not because it "doesn't want to" or "can't manage," but rather is rooted
in the system. After all, it is capitalism and its mode of production,
based primarily on fossil fuels, that caused climate change in the first
place. It is therefore obvious that this system cannot be used to
effectively contain the destruction, let alone stop the climate
catastrophe. In capitalism, climate protection must always be
"affordable" and "economically viable," meaning it must not jeopardize
profits. This is the overriding premise and is never questioned in
public debate.

But as long as production and the means of production remain private
property, beyond social control, nothing will change. Companies under
pressure to maximize profits do not care about the subsequent ecological
costs of their actions, as long as the society burdened with these costs
does not force them to do so.

In this system, however, politics is dependent on tax revenues and thus
interested in the smooth functioning of capitalism. Neither a "Green New
Deal" nor a so-called "post-growth society" will lead out of this
impasse, because neither changes the mode of production. The climate
crisis cannot be solved within capitalism, and there can be no
capitalism without the imperative to grow, just as there can be no such
thing as "a little bit pregnant."

The climate crisis requires a move away from the "blind forces of the
market" toward a planned economy that coordinates itself globally and is
oriented toward the needs of people and nature without having to
generate profit - an ecological socialism. One that doesn't hamper
people, but rather convinces them, and is realized by everyone together
for the benefit of all.

Instead of remaining in the false dichotomy between consumption and
renunciation and negotiating wealth only as a purely quantitative
question, we want to advocate for a new form of wealth.

In capitalism, social wealth appears as an "immense collection of
commodities" (a Marx quote is a must), from which large parts of the
world's population are permanently excluded. The widespread satisfaction
of basic material needs should be the top priority in a new society.

Material living conditions would improve significantly in an ecological
socialism if the cornerstones of public services - healthcare, housing,
education, and food - that is, all everyday goods, were removed from the
capitalist logic of exploitation under democratic control.

Reducing material and energy consumption in industrialized countries to
a level that could be generalized globally would not necessarily lead to
a lower quality of life. For example, responsive, well-organized public
transport - instead of stinking avalanches of metal - would mean more
space, more life time, peace, security, and environmental quality in
cities. Cities like Paris and Barcelona are already leading the way.

The radical expansion of such shared "public luxuries" and the conscious
planning of society's metabolism with nature would also open up scope
for qualitatively new forms of social wealth.

This includes, above all, more freely available time and thus the
opportunity to care for oneself and others. Time to have a say in
society's affairs, to educate oneself, and to be creative.

Sounds good, doesn't it? All we need to do is abolish capitalism and
transform society. And quickly. Of course, such a task initially seems
unrealistic, if not impossible, and it certainly won't work without a
transition - of some kind.

André Gorz, a pioneer of the ecology movement, has drawn the bitter
conclusion: "If we fail to finally find a way forward for the exit
through negotiations together (and in this case, together means
worldwide), nature will force it upon us."

We will have to deal with the consequences of the climate catastrophe
one way or another. Let us, as the climate movement, strive to make our
utopias concrete instead of moralizing or falling into fatalism.
Authoritarian crisis management strategies, even eco-fascism, are
plentiful. Only if we succeed in conveying to people that real climate
protection doesn't patronize and exploit them, but can offer a
perspective for new social prosperity and a better quality of life, will
we be able to counteract this.

We don't need profit for some, but quality of life for ALL.

For ecological socialism!

https://likos.noblogs.org/2025/09/20/unser-redebeirag-beim-gsd-am-20-09-2025/
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