This is reposted communiqué from the Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance:

We are in the midst of an ecological crisis. There is no doubt about it, we are killing this earth.  Oil spilling and spilling into the great depths, nuclear waste that will last for millennia, deforestation raging on, the climate crisis, the list goes on and on. In this so called 'democracy' we have a situation where those that are destroying the earth feel almost none of the destruction's impact, while those who feel the most are silenced and marginalized. It’s no coincidence that toxic mines tend to be located on Indigenous land, leaching garbage dumps in poor communities of colour – this is environmental racism. Animals’ voices too are negated as their habitat continues to be destroyed. Colonialism rampages on as more native land is destroyed, while the rich continue to prosper from it all. How many Copenhagens need to fail before we realize that we need to take things into our own hands?!

We at SOAR believe that our pursuit of environmental justice must be rooted in a firm opposition to capitalism and colonization. Capitalism, a system of exchange based upon exploiting people and the earth, needs constant growth. Since capitalism needs constant growth, new land, new markets, and new labour must be controlled, and so continued colonialism is inevitable. Capitalism is a cancer, spreading out and out, replacing beautiful forests, healthy rivers, and indigenous cultures with concrete blocks, oil chugging machines, and a commodity based lifestyle.

Since capitalism lies at the very heart of the problem, reform and ‘green capitalism’ are just ego-driven nonsense. Environmental non-governmental organizations trying to work within the system find themselves sacrificing far too much, obtaining insignificant victories as the earth continues to be destroyed.  Agreements like Kyoto are just token gestures formed by the rich to placate the rest of us. Nuclear power, proposed by capitalist elites as a ‘green energy’, requires toxic mining, leaving radioactivity behind that will continue killing life for hundreds of thousands of years. The politicians and corporations are not going to save us, and it is only by rejecting their power that we can ensure our futures. We need to take back our responsibility for this earth, instead of voting it away to yet another person who only acts in the interests of state and capital!

We all need to think of actions that will actually halt this destruction being caused to the earth, and to take a stand to confront the truly violent and destructive behaviours of this society! We need to acknowledge that it is the poor, Indigenous peoples, communities of colour, and animals that suffer the most from environmental destruction. We need to find alternatives to capitalism. We need to take responsibility for how this capitalist, industrial, colonial society is affecting the earth, with impacts that will last for millennia.

This earth, and all of the living beings on it, need to be liberated from the destructive claws of colonization and capitalism.

Fight for life against the rule of death!

Until the very end, Defend the Land!

Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance