‘Suicidal’ model of capitalism leading to war and fascism, climate summit told • Colombia president Gustavo Petro tells 57-country talks on a green energy transition that fossil fuel interests could destroy humanity
Posted by Naurgul@reddit | anime_titties | View on Reddit | 44 comments
The world is threatened by a “suicidal” model of capitalism that is leading to war, fascism and the potential extinction of humanity, Colombia’s president has said, as he convened 57 governments to address the climate crisis.
Gustavo Petro blamed fossil fuel interests for taking ever more desperate measures to prevent a transition to green energy. “There is inertia in the power and the economy of this archaic form of energy – fossil fuels – that lead to death. Undoubtedly, that form of capital can commit suicide, taking with it humanity and [other] life,” he said. “The question that needs to be asked is whether capitalism can truly adapt to a non-fossil energy model.”
Colombians will head to the polls next month to elect a new leader, with Petro, who was elected the country’s first leftist president in 2022, barred by the constitution from seeking a second consecutive term. The former economist and guerrilla member said the world was in a perilous position: “We are heading towards barbarism. And barbarism is the prelude to, or the very essence of, fascism.”
nottheone414@reddit
Capitalism sucks but it's not the problem. Humans are the problem. Look at 7000 years of recorded history and you see the exact same problems over and over that we have today: massive wealth inequality, rich countries exploiting poor ones, the 0.01% elite having all the wealth while everyone else toils in the mud trying to survive the winter, constant war, famine, subjugation, hegemony, rape, pillage, and genocide. Lots and lots of genocide, committed by basically every civilisation on earth at some point.
We had all the same problems we have today long before capitalism was ever invented. The rich owning all the land and assets has been a problem since ancient Rome, and only got worse during the middle ages. And big empires bullying and subjugating smaller nations has been an issue since ancient Greece.
Blaming capitalism on all our problems is a cop out. The real answer is we're just a really shitty species which can only ever build societies where the 0.1% elite own everything, and there's lots of genocide. Human beings love genocide. My hypothesis is that this is all due to our monkey DNA, as most primate societies operate in the same way.
citruspickles@reddit
Agreed. The strong have always taken from the weak as part of nature. Trading sheep is no different than trading dollars. There will always be currency, supply and demand, markets, etc. it's the people that have to make the change.
kimana1651@reddit
This is just eye rolling, especially coming from a South American country. This region has had a rolling line of Caudillo implementing a wide variety of non capitalistic governments over the past 200 years that all eventually collapse on themselves. None of them address the basic problems of corruption and stagnation that always collapse them. You can argue that capitalism and democracy are only slightly better and don't have it figure out but they are certainly better at handling these issues.
Lets point to the sign:
Arctic_Chilean@reddit
Right, conveniently ignore the nearly 200 years of foreign interference in Latin America that have continously destabilized the region and have stagnated its ability to develop.
That "corruption" stems from corporate interests continously pushing Latin America into a state of perpetual extraction from larger, more powerful nations and corporations, particularly from the United States. The whole "Banana Republic" term originated in the region thanks to powerful American corporations like the United Fruit Company reducing nations like Honduras to nothing more than an extension of its corporate operations. Instability and corruption were the result.
And lets not forget Operation Condor where the US installed facist right wing governments in Latin America, leading to social and political Instability and economic stagnation. Or the internal conflicts that erupted as Soviet and US interests conflicted in places like El Salvador.
Or the spread of Evangelism by the CIA in Latin America to promoted far right ideology and alienate the poor from the more humanitarian and compassionate message groups like the Jesuits had, which was openly decrying the impacts unregulated Capitalism was having on these countries.
kimana1651@reddit
If your government can't sustain itself from foreigners that's a problem with the goverment not the foreigners.
HamunaHamunaHamuna@reddit
Absolutely psychotic belief.
kimana1651@reddit
Yeah reality is not that fun. Turns out violence and force are really useful tools still.
capt_fantastic@reddit
so might makes right. gotcha.
kimana1651@reddit
No, but it makes for functional governments.
Arctic_Chilean@reddit
Guess anyone has the ability to harm others then as the blame then lies on the victims, not the perpetrators.
Victims are to blame for their murder, theft, violation, genocide, etc... Their fault for being made... well victims.
kimana1651@reddit
Welcome to reality where all governments are based on a preponderance of force. You don't have that you end up like the paris commune.
Jwanito@reddit
You guys are so devoid of empathy up north, you love it when others fail,and you mock those who try to do better
Arctic_Chilean@reddit
Yet if even the slightest misfortune were to ever befall them, say like the teenage cashier gave them the wrong size of fries at McDonalds or they get cut off in traffic, they will scream bloody murder and treat it as the worst offense of their miserable lives.
Bobambu@reddit
More disingenuous capitalist propaganda. Not even well done, as the nature of capitalist and American intervention sabotaging left-wing governments, especially those in South America, is well known. Troll on r/WorldNews, botto.
Levitz@reddit
You know, if capitalist governments keep being able to sabotage the others that makes a damn good argument for wanting to have a capitalist government LMAO
capt_fantastic@reddit
??? so because capitalists are willing to use brutality, war and torture to destabilize countries they don't align with, is somehow "a good argument"?
and what's what the "lmao"? capitalist, and let's be clear - America's interventionist policies under some misplaced interpretation of the monroe doctrine has resulted in the violent deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in south and central America.
Levitz@reddit
Ah yes. This is totally something characteristic of capitalism. Couldn't be any other.
The "lmao" is because this is an outrageously ignorant, revisionist portrayal of reality that as usual points to capitalism as cause as if this was anything new or specific to capitalism. The reason capitalist societies impose themselves upon others is not that it's a requirement of capitalism and cursory knowledge of medieval times would teach anyone as much. The reason capitalist societies impose themselves upon others is because they end up being more powerful, so they can.
moderngamer327@reddit
Yeah because capitalist governments have never been sabotaged/s
Da_reason_Macron_won@reddit
Colombia got its first left wing government in its 2 centuries of republican history 4 years ago. But to the Gringois mind, the problem is not enough capitalism, the Operation Condor just didn't violate enough human rights.
ClinicalDigression@reddit
Breaking news: water is wet!
When a society is structured around accruing profits at any cost, it's going to funnel its wealth to its most powerful people at every cost. In a world that produces enough food to feed half again its population, nobody needs to go hungry. In a country with more empty houses (just houses, mind; that's not even bringing up apartments, condos, boarding houses, hotel rooms, etc) nobody needs to be unhoused. We aren't pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere because it's the best way to keep the lights on, we're doing it because oil and gas companies have spent billions of dollars on marketing and disinformation campaigns to convince voters that anthropogenic climate change isn't real and/or doesn't matter.
hawaiifan@reddit
its not caused by humans clown
wet_suit_one@reddit
Eh...
Lots of things are out there that can "destroy humanity." This is just one more thing.
Not really a big deal IMHO.
Get in line I guess.
As a solution, green energy has its limits, but not one we'll see in our lifetimes (or those of our great grandchildren), but it does have its limits.
It's detailed here: https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/07/galactic-scale-energy/
phaedrus910@reddit
You will feel it. Between the wildfires and the climate refugees, you will feel it
wet_suit_one@reddit
???
What are you talking about?
21DaBear@reddit
what are you talking about 'Not really a big deal'?
wet_suit_one@reddit
As I said, there are many things afoot that can destroy humanity.
This is just one more to add to the pile.
As such, it's not that big a deal.
If you're only focused on one, it seems like a big deal. When see all the threats out there, seriously, just get in line. There's a lot to worry about.
When there's that many "big deals" out there, well, they're all kinda not a big deal.
Apparently I worded this poorly as I'm quite sure the intent of my comment didn't land. People didn't get it.
I guess that's my bad.
Communication is hard after all.
sakezaf123@reddit
He is completely right. I'm just not sure what the fuck we can do about it. None of the big powers care, and the democratic ones are too busy courting fascism, instead of pushing back against it. While almost all the media and social media has been gobbled up by billionaires that want to rule as feudal lords, while they have even more wealth than lords could have had in the past. And as things are getting worse, people will be pushed more and more toward extreme ideologies, with no real to help as an average person. All we can do is watch as a lot of average people get their brains washed sparkly clean by billionaire, far-right, and anti-climate change propaganda through social media.
Mental_Evolution@reddit
People are seeing it. Keep talking to your social circle.
In 2025 clean energy additions was greater than global electricity demand increase.
The transition is happening despite all their efforts, it's just cheaper.
FeijoadaAceitavel@reddit
A lot of that has to be China, though.
monkwrenv2@reddit
Yeah, we won't be able to avoid all of climate change, but we can slow down and eventually reverse it, and things are trending in that direction. Hard to keep justifying fossil fuels when solar is so damn cheap.
Arctic_Chilean@reddit
Also hard to keep justifying fossil fuels when being heavily dependent to it, particularly from foreign supply, exposes you to massive security risks should that supply be affected or weaponized against you.
You can't blockade the sun or the wind. And nuclear, while still a vulnerable system, is less dependent on a steady continuous stream of fuel like gas or oil.
Angling the "transition away from fossil fuels" as a national security matter is probably the best path towards achieving ecological goals. Hide the goal in a different, more pressing and tangible message. I am sure faaaaar more people will be receptive to the "well your country is less vulnerable to hostile foreign powers and globalized conflict if you have solar and wind energy than oil" messaging than the traditional "solar and wind are less harmful to the environment and are a step towards reducing the impacts of climate change".
Forgotlogin_0624@reddit
Sad upvote. It sure seems like the powerful have convinced 30-50% of the building it’s not on fire, or that it’s a very small fire and not concerning, so they can get out the fire escape first, but not before tearing the copper out of the walls.
It just doesn’t look like there is any chance that western countries will ever attempt to treat the problem seriously because everyone in power has narrow specific interests, and no real larger political or state project.
This all could have been avoided
mrgoobster@reddit
Let's be fair: some of the responsibility for the ineffectiveness of Western (especially American) institutions has to be laid at the feet of the USSR. Their aggressive campaign to fund destructive ideologies, undermine institutions, and derail Western academia is still bearing poisoned fruit.
They undertook that campaign with the expectation of winning; the long term consequences probably never entered into their strategic calculus.
capt_fantastic@reddit
???
TrueRignak@reddit
Most USain answer ever. Reading that, one would think the fall of the USSR was yesterday.
The "aggressive campaign to fund destructive ideologies, undermine institutions" ATM is the handiwork of the US and Russia, first and foremost. I.e. ultra-capitalist ideologies (though they share with the USSR the authoritarism and imperialist aspects).
heckin_miraculous@reddit
They defeated America, but created a monster.
You know, to oversimplify.
panguardian@reddit
I think the big problem is America. They've been pushing back against transition from oil since Bush Jr, and before. The trouble is, progressive politics can't get a foothold with the existing two party system. Sanders was having an impact on the Dems, but the DMC are more interested in retaining power within their party than change. Hence the horrible candidate that was Harris that effectively handed the election to Trump. She was hugely unpopular as a VP.
loggy_sci@reddit
Big takes on the U.S. political system but can’t even get the name of the party right.
panguardian@reddit
Hello God
HockeyHocki@reddit
We are short sighted selfish creatures, as long as the cost of fossil fuels are less than alternatives, and the impact of burning fossil fuels are not felt in any meaningful way, there will be no major shift in mentality on this issue. The war in Iran is unironically doing more for this planet than any climate summits ever did
Graybeard_Shaving@reddit
It’s always the countries and/or the people who have failed at capitalism that always spew their garbage about capitalism.
It’s like a lesbian celibate lecturing a pornstar about blowjobs.
capt_fantastic@reddit
what a backwards take. the countries that have benefited the most (standard of living/happiness index) from capitalism have implemented a regulated capitalism through the lens of social democracy.
ClinicalDigression@reddit
Hey remember that time that millions of people lost their health insurance during a global pandemic in the only first world country not to have universal healthcare specifically because said health crisis caused them to lose their jobs through no fault of their own? 'Cause I'd be hard-pressed to say that any of those people "failed at capitalism." In fact, I'd call that a fundamentally cruel and deeply stupid thing to believe.
meister2983@reddit
Capitalism is what has gotten solar energy so damn cheap over the last two decades. This isn't a capitalism problem he's complaining about, but a political problem.