WORLD WORLDWIDE SOUTH-AMERICA BRAZIL - news journal UPDATE - (en) Brazil, OSL: São Paulo under water: profit, exclusion and collapse in times of climate crisis (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 The scenes of flooding, landslides and structural collapse in São Paulo

are more than isolated events: they are symptoms of an economic and
political model that puts profit above life. The tragedy of the rains,
with an accumulation of 124 millimeters in a few hours, resulted in 97
fallen trees, 219 flooded points - including more than 30 completely
impassable locations - and around 140 thousand properties without
electricity. A 73-year-old man died when his house was invaded by water.
The flooding of subway stations, such as Sé, exposed structural
negligence: passengers crowded together at imminent risk, collapses such
as the roof of a shopping mall and traffic jams that reached 1,025
kilometers in length completed the scene of chaos. The tragedies caused
by rains are not just "natural disasters", but direct consequences of a
social organization based on exploitation, capital accumulation and the
exclusion of oppressed classes from the management of resources and
territories. This is a phenomenon that has increasingly intensified
throughout Brazil and around the world, fueled by the policies of
super-exploitation of neoliberalism and the capitalist-statist system.

Real estate speculation, social exclusion and the logic of capital

The unbridled advance of real estate speculation creates spatial
segregation that pushes workers to increasingly distant outskirts. This
dynamic, fundamental to the reproduction of capital, denies vulnerable
populations the right to decent housing and efficient transportation.
The Strategic Master Plan of São Paulo, by prioritizing unbridled
verticalization, further aggravates soil impermeability and reduces the
city's natural drainage capacity. This policy, coupled with the
intensification of deforestation and the channeling of rivers to favor
large real estate developments, compromises urban ecosystems and exposes
the population to disasters that could be avoided. The exploitation of
urban space is not just a consequence, but a structural necessity of
capitalism, which uses space as a commodity and source of accumulation.

Privatization, precariousness and the role of the State

Privatization and outsourcing reflect the umbilical link between the
State and the dominant classes. Under neoliberalism, the State is
increasingly acting as a manager of private capital, transferring
essential services to private hands while increasingly abstaining from
any responsibility for any social balance. The city of São Paulo is an
example of this situation. The administration of Ricardo Nunes (MDB) has
prioritized the interests of large companies, promoting the outsourcing
and precariousness of urban services, such as drainage and maintenance
of public roads. His administration has neglected preventive policies
against flooding, even in the face of recurring climate warnings, opting
for palliative actions that do not address the root causes of the
problem. Between 2021 and 2023, the municipal government failed to
invest R$1.5 billion in flood control.

At the state level, the government of Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans)
is following the same logic, with privatizations of subway and train
lines that have resulted in increased fares and a drop in the quality of
services. The lack of investment in basic infrastructure, such as
drainage systems and environmental conservation, is aggravated by the
outsourcing of the workforce, which compromises the specialization and
efficiency of emergency response. In 2023, the state government invested
only 40% of the funds approved for water infrastructure and flood
control. This process highlights how the State, instead of guaranteeing
decent living conditions, operates as an instrument of the ruling
classes to reproduce capital, even at the expense of the safety and
well-being of the working class.

Climate crisis: contradictions of the capitalist mode of production

The intensification of the climate crisis, with extreme events becoming
increasingly common in Brazilian cities, is a product of the capitalist
mode of production, which subordinates natural cycles to the demands of
capital accumulation. Deforestation, the increasing impermeability of
soil and the destruction of ecosystems are not deviations, but inherent
parts of the capitalist-statist system, which sees nature only as a
source of resources and a depository of waste. Environmental crises are
the result of the contradictions of capitalism-statism, and only by
overcoming this system can large-scale ecological destruction be halted.

Solidarity, direct action and class struggle

In the face of the negligence of state authorities and the collapse of
public services, self-managed popular organization emerges as a
fundamental response. We emphasize the need to articulate an organized
class struggle, capable of directly confronting the dominant classes and
their interests.  There is no room for compromise; we must defend class
solidarity and direct action as forms of resistance and the construction
of self-managed popular power. We must also overcome the false
institutional polarization that blinds the oppressed classes to disputes
that make them defend the projects of different internal sectors of the
ruling classes, which ultimately seek to maintain the capitalist-statist
system.

A future beyond capitalism

The tragedy of the rains in São Paulo is not inevitable, but rather the
result of political choices that prioritize profits over life and the
environment. From our perspective, the solution lies in building a
society where resources are socialized and decisions are made
collectively. Popular self-management and economic organization based on
human needs, and not on the profits of a few, are fundamental steps to
overcoming the urban and climatic chaos that capitalism imposes on us.
On a more immediate level, it is necessary to build popular organization
bodies in the territories, with the orientation of class independence
that is capable of defending its local interests, and that has the
capacity to articulate to block attacks on a larger scale.

The chaos once again witnessed in São Paulo, as well as all the extreme
weather events that the Brazilian population has faced in recent years,
have a cause. Within the logic of the capitalist-statist system, we will
continue to witness these catastrophes in every region of the world.
That is why the collective struggle for a fair and egalitarian world is
becoming increasingly urgent!

Libertarian Socialist Organization
January 2025

https://socialismolibertario.net/2025/01/27/sao-paulo-submersa-o-lucro-a-exclusao-e-o-colapso-em-tempos-de-crise-climatica/
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