Love and solidarity with the Earth – time to stop the utter devastation of humanity

On August 9, National Women’s Day and International Day of Indigenous Peoples, climate scientists released a devastating report that concludes that humanity has a tiny window of the next decade to stop the utter devastation of humanity and the Earth.

The report records “widespread, rapid and intensifying climate change”.  Rising sea levels jeopardise the ocean’s ecosystems and those who rely on them. Extreme weather, including intensified heatwaves, floods, drought and other natural disasters will eviscerate the lives of people, especially those who are poor.

Those who cannot leave areas worst-hit by this man-made mess will die. This time calls for us to evoke love as our natural state of being, to wield power with clarity and vision, in solidarity with humanity and the Earth that sustains us.

This is the love of the Indigenous people in the Cape, who after many attempts to protect Igamirodi !khaes, the land of the stars, that sits between two rivers, took powerful corporate developers, the City of Cape Town and the Province to court.

The powerful transnational corporation, Amazon, plans to occupy offices on this land, a sacred floodplain that should be a heritage precinct, despite other vacant offices and available land.

Environmentalists warn of the dangers of building on a floodplain – the same argument the City used against building low-cost housing on a golf course. Our governments, elected to protect us, cannot subsidise billionaires at the expense of the environment and the public.

This golf-course is one of 24 golf courses and driving ranges and 26 bowling greens that the City leases for about R1 000 a year to these exclusive clubs.

Accepting our common responsibility, we can see that the key cause is a system built on the exploitation of the Earth’s mineral and natural resources, including human beings, for the profit of a few billionaires and their corporations.

It reduces human rights like water, energy, education, health and a healthy and safe environment to commodities to be bought and sold for maximum profit.

The Earth’s protection will not come from the self-perpetuating war industry that militarises society, reaping over $95 billion (about R1.3 trillion) annually; nor the $124bn private security industry; nor gangsters and corrupt elements among police, army and government.

They hijack local communities, sow havoc, perpetuate gender-based violence and distract us from those who hold real power over the Earth. Their measure of wealth values the work of war, arms corporations and “reconstruction” corporations, not the work of peace and well-being of humanity and the Earth.

The Earth and humanity’s future is being destroyed by the macho, deadly posturing of men armed with dead economics.

We can embrace this moment, the gift of our lives and the beauty of this Earth. We can see and release the fear that paralyses us or drives us to collude or be corrupted by those recklessly destroying the Earth.

Love can protect the Earth so future generations can enjoy her natural abundance. An economy that prioritises the Earth alongside people’s land, homes, education, health, food, water, decent employment – the human rights to dignity, equality and social justice, is urgent.

Women form the majority who ensure the survival of starving families and communities, and front-line care workers in the world whose work is often unpaid or poorly paid, including nurses, community health care workers and farmworkers who produce food and care for those too ill to care for themselves.

The love they demonstrate is not wishy-washy sentimentality that “greens” our screens, to hide corporate crimes, or sell us commodities we do not need.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, wealthy countries stockpiled vaccines and poorer countries were asked to pay more than wealthy countries.

According to Oxfam, global vaccine apartheid made vaccine manufacturers, whose patented discoveries were largely publicly funded, an estimated $3.9 trillion between March and December 2020.

What if the governments we elected to power stood against vaccine apartheid and for the Earth? In the week before the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng exploded, South Africa was on track with our vaccine programme.

What if we the people stood against vaccine apartheid? What if the people of all our countries stood with each other and our governments stood with us and against private-public sector corruption ... and what if all our institutions did the same?

What if we united across the Earth, over the next decade, to take full responsibility for our lives? What if we acted to stop those corporations who continue to deepen this crisis? What if we rewrote the story of humanity with the power of love, courage and solidarity that honours our deep connection to each other and to the Earth that sustains us?

* Former MP and SAHRC Commissioner and deputy chairperson, Pregs Govender is the author of Love and Courage, A Story of Insubordination. She currently holds a Sonke Gender Justice Fellowship to establish an institute for transformative feminist leadership.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL and Independent Media.

Sun, 15 Aug 2021 07:30:17 GMTOpinion

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