In the face of the impending climate and ecological crisis an alliance of groups and individuals has formed the The Green Anti-Capitalist Front. As it name suggests, GACF puts the capitalist economic system at the centre of the environmental crisis:
In the fact of this crisis, the governments of the world seem more interested in propping up capitalist profits than preventing disaster, so we also believe that a disruptive campaign of direct action will be needed to prevent ongoing environmental destruction and prevent those who profit from this destruction from shifting the costs on the working class.
Those behind GACF admit it has been inspired by Extinction Rebellion’s ability to “call people onto the streets and push their demands for zero emissions”. However they argue that meeting those demands will not be possible without abolishing capitalism, “a system reliant on the total exploitation of nature’. The crisis will certainly be solved by “the false solutions offered by ‘green capitalism’ and increased state control.”
The group’s manifesto is built around seven action points, including “Capitalism is the crisis”, “International class solidarity”, “Building collective power” and “Horizontal bottom-up structures”. There is also an open letter to Extinction Rebellion which states:
Against the existential threat of human extinction hanging over us all, cooperation is our greatest strength. We feel that a separate organisation that works alongside XR while allowing for a greater diversity of tactics is the most honest way to do this. We want to support XR with a parallel mobilisation that has a greater focus on the capitalist roots of climate catastrophe.
GACF was true to its word. When Extinction Rebellion brought parts of central London to a standstill earlier this month, it organised its own action on 15 April by “visiting and blockading various locations with functional significance for capital and resource transactions in London – the Stock Exchange, the Bank of England and the Metal Exchange”.
However, from the report on its blog it’s clearly highly critical of the tactics employed by Extinction Rebellion – its “liberal dogma of non-violence and police collaboration” and also it’s top down, hierarchical method of organisation – while continuing to support grassroots ER campaigning “which in many cases is made up of anti-capitalists and works autonomously in non-hierarchical groups”.
The blog post ends with a rallying call to green anarchists and socialists:The Green Anti-Capitalist Front is an alternative to XR and will maintain a safe distance from their police informants and snitches, but we will continue to take actions in solidarity with the movement and the thousands of people who are looking for a solution to climate and ecological catastrophe. We hope that the movement will begin to see that the solution can only be found in a complete rejection of capitalism and nationalism, and we will continue to restate this fact through our words and actions.
The blog post ends with a rallying call to green anarchists and socialists:
The Green Anti-Capitalist Front is an alternative to XR and will maintain a safe distance from their police informants and snitches, but we will continue to take actions in solidarity with the movement and the thousands of people who are looking for a solution to climate and ecological catastrophe. We hope that the movement will begin to see that the solution can only be found in a complete rejection of capitalism and nationalism, and we will continue to restate this fact through our words and actions.
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