Hello, I'm Johanna.
I am a media activist.
I have been filming strikes and social movements for 20 years.
And it was very late in the day that I realised
what a disaster climate change is.
When the penny finally dropped,
I decided that I would try
to bring everything I had learned in the workers' movement
to the climate movement.
Because there's something we should all know.
So, let's get started.
Look here:
This is the Paris Climate Conference in 2015.
Since the UN Climate Conferences began in 1992,
annual CO2 emissions have not gone down,
they have gone up by 60%.
In the last 40 years
we have lost half of all the earth’s mammals, fish, birds and reptiles.
And deforestation,
the melting of the polar ice caps,
the acidification of the oceans,
the erosion of soils,
ever more severe forest fires and floods
are doing their bit to destroy life on Earth.
In 2020, 20 million people
had to flee the consequences of climate change.
Governments are letting these people die by the thousands.
You can imagine what will happen
when billions of people have lost their livelihoods.
Governments knew what they had to do,
but they didn't do it.
We are here, we are loud, because your steal our future.
Why do you think governments haven’t done anything to stop climate change?
Don't know.
They might think that things get better even if you don’t do anything.
I don’t get why politicians who have kids themselves
can’t think ahead.
The climate policies of the government are awful.
Seen from a future perspective perhaps even criminal.
We have created so much damage to Mother Earth
and this damage that we've created, it's what makes
that our seasons are not the same anymore.
Every year our climate is changing
because we're causing damage to our Mother Earth.
It’s been clear for 50 years that we can’t go on like this.
It’s about money, a lot of money.
Every kilo of coal that they extract and that is subsidised
makes them money and so they won’t stop mining.
The questions and answers are always the same.
This system is about making profits.
We have to go to the root of the problems, not just treat the symptoms.
We have to get rid of those in power, that is a revolutionary task.
It took me time to realise this.
I thought it’s all about understanding
that we have to understand what is necessary,
since the climate is getting to hot, we have to change that,
that we understand that we have to do something and then we do it -
but that’s not the case.
The first thing we need to understand to remedy the situation
is why governments have done nothing.
The fossil fuel industry has done everything it can
to prevent effective climate legislation.
Author and climate scientist Andreas Malm has pointed out
that we are ultimately dealing with a systemic problem.
The consequences of all these constraints are cruel.
According to the OECD,
every year fossil fuels are subsidised
to the tune of 100 to 200 billion dollars.
That is 4 times as much as states spend
on the development of renewable energies.
But states also pay for the damage caused by the fossil fuel industry,
such as heat waves, droughts and floods.
These indirect subsidies (according to the IMF)
amounted to 5.9 trillion dollars
- in 2020 alone.
That is 11 million dollars per minute.
But states do not limit themselves to subsidize the use of fossil fuels.
In countries like Namibia, Botswana or Colombia,
they literally conspire against their own people
to promote the extraction and export of oil, gas and other raw materials.
In the Colombian province of Casanare, for example,
oil was discovered in the 1990s.
And paramilitaries, hand in hand with the army,
murdered 2600 people
in order to give British Petroleum (BP) access to the oil deposits.
There were police and army all around. - Didn't help.
Colombia is an extreme example of rotten state institutions.
But left-wing governments are also under pressure
to extract fossil fuels and other raw materials.
Esteban Servat, who himself had to flee Argentina
because he fought against a fracking company,
describes it like this:
The official answer to the climate crisis is called Green Capitalism.
Green Capitalism is essentially the idea of replacing fossil fuels with renewables,
capturing CO2 from the air
and otherwise carrying on as before.
This is the global energy mix of pre-pandemic 2019.
25% of energy comes from coal,
31% from oil and 23% from natural gas.
Nuclear power is contested, the potential for hydro-power nearly exhausted
and with bio mass energy there are conflicts when it comes to land use.
The official strategy is
that this small, pink coloured part should replace all the others.
By 2050.
In order to create that amount of renewable energy
we would have to create an enormous infrastructure
that would require huge amounts of raw materials.
Raw materials that are becoming increasingly rare
and the extraction of which
destroys the livelihoods of people in the global south.
Could there be a green capitalism?
There could be a new regime of accumulation,
a new model of capitalism,
that is based on profiting from the climate catastrophy
creating new investment opportunities in the ecological transformation.
This is a fast growing sector.
Take for example the electrical car.
But it would be an illusion to think
that green capitalism would lower emissions fast enough.
And, as far as we know,
this type of so-called green capitalism aggravates the biodiversity crisis.
because the resources for electrical cars, bio fuels, batteries
have to come from somewhere!
This creates new problems and neo-colonial inequalities.
So the problem is not solved, just relocated.
Green capitalism is a lie.
It does not make sense to just switch to green energy,
but otherwise to continue with heavy consumerism.
I think the hope that technology will rescue us is very problematic.
Because we would just delay to act.
We would rely on some possible inventions in the future,
and yes, there might be some developments,
but that doesn't change the fact that we have to act now
and reduce the consumption of ressources here and now
and reduce the use of fossil fuels and the emissions here and now.
This is the very big problem with this logic
that we could progress with green technologies and green capitalism.
Using much less energy and resources would not be a big problem in itself.
Today, about half of the food and a third of the energy we produce is wasted.
If we stop this waste and, at the same time,
eliminate pointless or harmful production,
we can save a large part of the resources we use today
and a large part of the emissions.
Producing less, however, is in sharp contradiction
to a central feature of capitalism:
it must grow.
The only ones who are really facing up to this fact
are the people in the global climate movement.
They were able to get the issue on the agenda.
In order to achieve such a systemic change,
the climate movement must overcome the powers that maintain capitalism
and develop a concrete idea of how this could be done.
The debate about that is in full swing.
We have to continue mobilising more and more people.
We have to fight a big media battle.
And we have to show that there are many alternatives
that have already been implemented,
to achieve a real transition, and to stop the massacre of the living.
We have to organise ourselves, that’s the most important thing.
Whether that is in a garden collective
or a solidarity collective, or where you live,
Organized we're much much stronger.
Also, inform yourselves,
use your privilege, it's enormous what we can do here, in the global north.
Show solidarity with other communities.
And do something, whether that is gardening or occupying an open-cast mine.
We can attack from many sides.
And the more we are the weaker it becomes.
All these activists are of course right in what they say.
But it seems that there is a blind spot
on the question of how the climate movement
can build the political power it needs to achieve its goals.
This is true in theory, but how do we get everyone involved?
Overcoming capitalism is not something you do with your friends after work.
The climate movement can only be successful if everyone pulls together:
Those who are dancing here,
as well as the security guy,
and a not insignificant part of the police officers.
To get rid of capitalism, we need to build a broad movement from below,
that learns from the struggles of the past
and goes one step further.
Many times over the last 20 years,
people have taken to the barricades en masse against their governments.
In Argentina in 2001, for example, people chased 5 governments out of office.
10 years later, there was the Arab Spring.
People in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Saudi Arabia,
Palestine, Oman, Mauritania, Morocco, Kuwait, Jordan,
Iraq, Djibouti and Algeria
took to the streets en masse,
overthrowing four governments and demanding better living conditions.
Again almost 10 years later, since 2018/2019,
there have again been uprisings in dozens of countries,
including Sudan, France, Chile, Hong Kong, Lebanon and Iraq.
And in the US, there has been the largest mobilisation in the country's history:
Black Lives Matter.
But the interesting question about an uprising is always:
what comes after?
None of these mass uprisings could bring about fundamental change.
Why not?
If neither mass uprisings nor left parties change anything,
we need a new strategy:
Amazon workers and trade union activists Agnieszka Mróz and Magda Malinowska
suggest turning our gaze away from parliaments.
They see the key to change in the sphere of production.
Many people in the European climate movement do not seem to realise
the possibilities that open up when we look at production.
For example, when I was researching this film,
a well-known German climate activist told me
that he didn't understand
why it was the workers who should be able to disempower the fossil fuel industry
and not, for example, the Beatles fans of the world!
Here is the answer.
As wage-earners we are forced to participate in a capitalist economy
that is destroying life on earth.
We are forced to dig our own grave.
You go home from your shift and sometimes you just cry,
because you are so exhausted.
All we want is a good life.
That we are not simply thrown in the rubbish.
We want dignity.
Slavery must end.
But no matter how powerful it may seem,
capitalism has one crucial weakness:
it is totally dependent on our labour.
We can bring it to a halt by going on strike together,
we can overcome it
by taking over the means of production,
and we can replace it
by planning and organising production ourselves.
The structural impotence of the climate movement will continue
exactly as long as it ignores this structural power of the working class.
If we want to stop the destruction of the world
we have to make sure that the next uprising
will involve the main workplaces
and expand into the whole of society.
The key is that workers take over the control at work
and secure the provision for everyone.
If we don't want to continue to be defenseless against capitalism,
we need to start imagining
what a successful revolutionary uprising could look like.
So, let's look to the year 2024.
In the spring of 2024, revolution flares up again.
And in Berlin, too, people are taking to the streets en masse.
Almost everyone realises that things can't go on like this
and many stop working to take part in the uprising.
The people in the essential workplaces continue to work
and the others look for something meaningful to do,
including the people who were unemployed before
and had felt excluded.
People discuss how to ensure the daily survival of everyone.
It is difficult to deny that we are totally dependent on the capitalist world market
when we want to cook our dinner,
and that production-chains have become long and complex.
But as soon as we have taken over production,
we can reconstruct these structures
and free ourselves and the planet from wasteful and unnecessary production.
Because even today, it is us who create everything
and make everything run.
The revolutionaries realise that the success of the revolution
ultimately depends on whether enough people join in.
They storm radio and television stations
to reach those still sitting at home, isolated and frightened.
Hello,
here is Radio Plantón with a report from the first Berlin delegate assembly
that took place yesterday.
This is a call to everyone to join the revolution.
There are no bosses anymore and there is no state.
We don’t pay rent anymore.
Stop working, if your job was useless.
If you produce food or medication or deliver it,
or if you work in a hospital or care for others,
the success of the revolution depends on you to continue working.
Open a canteen in your neighbourhood.
Eat together, get to know each other.
Organise a daily assembly.
Create a rallying point for everyone who has trouble coping
or has to put up with violent relationships.
Talk about your problems at the assembly.
This is a call to everyone who works in the police force or the army.
Join the revolution!
The order that you have protected has destroyed the foundations of our lives.
We will start now to rebuild these foundations.
That’s all for today, here from Radio Plantón.
We call you to trust in your instincts and humanity.
As in any revolution,
spontaneous neighbourhood assemblies are springing up everywhere.
Without the feminists present, however, the meetings would have failed.
Such a small rule had such an impact.
Suddenly we were all equal.
In the first days, the movement pays a visit
to the coal workers in the Lausitz region.
The workforce discusses what could now be done
with the coal mine and the power plants.
I discussed with my workmates that we will stop working for the moment,
and see what comes out of the assembly.
At Vattenfall, the first thing the workers decide
is to restore electricity to all 40,000 households
that had had their electricity cut off.
But the staff are also discussing
how to maintain the electricity supply in the region.
In Berlin the electricity comes from the local wind and solar farms
and from Russian gas supplies.
We first started contacting all suppliers.
With the worker colleagues in Russia this was more difficult.
It is still unclear how the situation will develop there.
But they continue supplying for the moment.
Luckily there is a contract that runs till 2030.
We told the assembly that by then
we will have to expand our own energy plants,
so that we don't need the gas anymore.
For many it is clear that it is necessary
to occupy the banks in order to be able to pay bills in the initial phase,
while the revolution is spreading,
and also to take this financial power out of the hands of the reactionary forces.
If our enemies can use the money against us
then we will be lost within a few weeks time.
I was surprised that half of the workforce was on our side
and that they wanted to support us.
I think the time was ripe.
Many workers are occupying their factories
and for the first time
there is a real reason to discuss which products should still be produced
and which should not.
Many who have never been to a climate demo before
are beginning to see that there is a real opportunity opening up here.
And of course, life changes radically for everyone involved.
Everyone is suddenly needed and everyone can contribute.
People appropriate spaces, build canteens and fix up empty flats.
I wanted to be part of this,
so I joined in.
My boys also enjoyed it.
Finally something happens, in the real world, that we can afford.
Hey, it’s us, from the canteen!
We’re making dinner for the neighbourhood.
Do you want to come down and join in?
Warehouse workers decide to distribute what is lying around in the warehouses
to the assemblies.
I was prepared when it started to kick off.
I took this job, because I knew that it would be of strategic importance.
Food is the most important thing that people need.
I wanted to know how food gets into the supermarkets.
So I started working at Lidl six years ago.
Lidl has over 500 food suppliers in Germany,
and I called them up
one by one.
I told them what was happening here and if they can continue supplying.
Some were on our side, others not.
And some telephone lines were dead.
Where the phones were dead,
we tried to use the local assemblies to find out what was going on.
Germany is doing quite well as far as food is concerned
at the start of the revolution,
only 22% of the food has to be imported.
What is lacking is mainly fruit and vegetables.
This is largely grown by illegalised workers in southern Europe,
who don't think twice about joining the revolution.
In Puglia, migrant workers decide to occupy the fields.
The Caporale came, but we refused to go into the fields.
He threatened us, but we were fed up.
We decided to occupy the land together.
Afterwards we went to the Assembly in Foggia
and said that we needed more people.
To defend the occupation and to collaborate.
And many people from the village came!
There were so many of us
that we decided that everyone only had to work three hours.
Many unemployed young people came.
There is a nice atmosphere, festive.
Workin three hours means that everyone can attend the assembly.
Even those people with children.
We have started to fix ourselves real flats
we took over two empty buildings in the center
Here in the South the houses are empty.
I met a nice lady.
She is a therapist.
They do this free therapy for everybody who wants.
It's great.
As in every revolution, also in 2024 the biggest problem is repression.
On the 4th day of the uprising,
the authorities send the police and military to clear the occupied factories.
Hey, we are here at the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg.
Workers here need our support.
They occupied the factory yesterday.
They are here to guard the machines.
More police show up and we even saw a tank on the bridge.
It’s of essential importance that we don’t lose these major factories,
because here we can practically produce anything,
from incubators to solar panels.
We urgently need more support.
Come to gate number 5.
We'll post the adress and the coordinates in the chat.
When we have taken over the productive fabric of society,
then and only then can we finally start doing what is needed
to curb climate change.
We would start building a decentralised democratic energy system.
Back to local power to make decisions.
I think we need, on the one hand,
a re-localisation of economic cycles
and desicion making;
and that we need a socialisation of production
where people who are impacted can decide about what is done.
In smaller local units, that allow this desicion making,
and which are, at the same time, networked globally,
by virtual networking.
...taking care for each other to make sure that there is enough for everyone.
We review everything according to the real needs of the people,
in terms of work and distribution.
We must end this system
and take care of our real needs
and of the survival of the human species.
There are ways out of the climate crisis.
And a strategy with which we can get rid of capitalism.
The rest is organisation.
But what does that mean concretely for the here and now
and for the climate movement?
There are hundreds of thousands of people preparing,
building a different world.
People organising in their workplaces, for example,
taking over production sites when they are threatened with closure.
There are indigenous people who live off the land
and defend it with their bodies.
There are thousands of people who risk their lives
in big uprisings and demonstrations.
There has been and continues to be incredible solidarity and activism.
All over the world and at all times.
And that is what we all need to have in mind when making our life choices.
We need to develop the mindset of a deserter:
we turn our backs on a society
that wants us to accept our own extinction as inevitable.
We think ahead.
We do research and make a map where we can see:
Where are the essential industries in our region?
Where is the fuel stored?
And where are the grain silos?
Who works there?
Should I get a job in these places to get to know the people there?
Should I join the police or the military
to be there when the time comes to lay down the arms?
Should I start working at Vattenfall? Or at Commerzbank?
If we all start working strategically
instead of trying to make a career in a system that burns the world,
if we join the concrete struggles of people in the Global South.
and if we meet each other with revolutionary friendliness,
then we have a chance to put an end to the general madness,
at the right moment.