The world after coronavirus and the reorganization of fossil capitalism
Maritza Islas Vargas[1]
There are quite a few analysts who point out that the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic[2] It is a turning point that signals an epochal mutation and, therefore, a global reconfiguration of current systems of domination and exploitation.[3] Although the virus did not generate the systemic crisis we are experiencing today, it has made it evident and is probably accelerating it.
Among other things, the pandemic has highlighted the exhaustion and destructiveness of capitalism with its fossil fuel-based energy matrix. In this sense, there are several interesting points of convergence between the virus and climate collapse.[4]
In just a few months, the virus achieved what seemed unthinkable. Attempts to contain it forced a reduction in the accelerated exchange of non-essential goods and the mass movement of people—measures that the World Trade Organization (WTO), proponents of neoliberal globalization, and other opponents of state intervention in business would have simply blocked at another time. Likewise, SARS-CoV-2 has caused large hydrocarbon corporations, which had not altered their extraction, production, and consumption patterns in the face of the climate emergency, to slow down some of their activities. Such is the case of ExxonMobil, the major funder of climate change denial, which announced at the end of March of this year planned short-term cuts in capital and operating expenditures during the pandemic, most notably the decision to postpone the commissioning of a $30 billion liquefied natural gas plant in Mozambique.[5]
Since the movement of goods and people at the scale and speed demanded by current capitalism would not be possible without the burning of fossil fuels, restricting them has generated a 25 percent decrease in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.[6] a drop of more than 50 percent in oil prices and other commodities,[7] and the collapse of economic growth expectations.[8] Although the current economic crisis could be the moment for core economies to transition to lower energy and material consumption, corporate resistance is quickly emerging, one of the most notable examples being the oil and automotive industry. The old formula of socializing the losses of large corporations is being brought up again. Demands are being made for tax breaks, the creation of funds, and the relaxation or elimination of environmental regulations for large corporations, so that the setbacks that SARS-CoV-2 has inflicted on the hydrocarbon economy are only temporary.
In the United States, airlines are demanding government support to overcome the crisis imposed on them by the virus.[9] while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) further relaxes environmental rules and monitoring for industries that, like petrochemicals, are highly polluting.[10] In the European Union, car manufacturers and other groups representing the supply chain are using the pandemic to delay imposing stricter limits on CO2 emissions for their cars.2.[11] Thus, any fortuitous improvement in air quality or in emissions reduction targets can be easily reversed, even dismantling previously achieved gains in environmental and health regulations. On the other hand, as at other times in history, there is always the possibility of reactivating the war economy as an engine of economic growth and a major consumer of hydrocarbons.
Fossil fuel capitalism and the arms-industrial complex are taking advantage of the SARS-CoV-2 emergency to reorganize themselves, thereby exacerbating climate destabilization. At least, that's what a recently published study shows. InfluenceMap, The analysis of lobbying behavior during the pandemic in different countries yielded a crucial conclusion: “The oil and gas sector appears to be the most active globally in two lobbying areas […] it demands both financial support and deregulation in response to the COVID-19 crisis,” adding that “climate-related deregulation appears to be the priority […].”[12]
It is clear that the military-industrial complex will do everything to return to the pre-SARS-CoV-2 “state of normalcy.” However, as Naomi Klein points out, for the rest of us, “normal is deadly. ‘Normalcy’ is an immense crisis. We need to catalyze a massive transformation toward an economy based on protecting life.”[13]
The social and personal consequences of the pandemic have forced us to turn our attention to the basic elements of our existence, elements expropriated by the logic of capital, commodified, and almost entirely privatized: food, human labor, social security, and systems for providing healthcare, education, transportation, energy, and water. In countless ways, the pandemic has dramatically encapsulated the self-destructive nature of a society organized according to the logic of profit and sustained by the super-exploitation of human beings and nature.
The world as we knew it is collapsing, and with it opens up a range of possibilities that could be disastrous or hopeful for the planet and all the life it contains. Let's hope that collectively we have the organizational and inventive capacity to steer ourselves toward the latter. What we do from now on will largely define the world we will have after SARS-CoV-2.
[1] Professor at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, UNAM, Mexico. This article was first published in Revista Común and submitted by the Working Group on Crisis, Responses, and Alternatives in the Greater Caribbean, with which the author is affiliated.
[2] Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). Type of coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
[3] Several authors (2020), Wuhan Soup: Contemporary Thought in Times of Pandemics, ASPO (Preventive and Mandatory Social Isolation). https://www.elextremosur.com/files/content/23/23684/sopa-de-wuhan.pdf
[4] Islas Vargas, Maritza “Lessons from the emergency: between coronavirus and climate change”, Nexos Magazine, 13 April 2020. https://medioambiente.nexos.com.mx/?p=273
[5] Reuters “Exxon notifies contractors, vendors of spending cuts over coronavirus”, March 22, 2020. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-exxon-mobil/exxon-notifies-contractors-vendors-of-spending-cuts-over-coronavirus-idUSKBN21A049
[6] Wright, Rebecca “There's an unlikely beneficiary of coronavirus: The planet,” CNN, March 17, 2020. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/16/asia/china-pollution-coronavirus-hnk-intl/index.html
[7] The term commodities It refers to the market for primary goods, such as: agricultural products, minerals, metals, precious metals, oil, and gas.
8] “Wall St. Caps a Turbulent Week with a Decline” The New York Times, 3 April 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/business/stock-market-today-coronavirus.html
[9] Lynch, David J. and Jeff Stein “Trump's coronavirus plan includes industry bailouts that Republicans once opposed,” The Washington Post. March 18 2020.https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/18/trump-coronavirus-plan-bailouts/
[10] Friedman, Lisa “EPA, Citing Coronavirus, Drastically Relaxes Rules for Polluters,” March 26, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/climate/epa-coronavirus-pollution-rules.html
[11] Topham, Gwyn and Fiona Harvey “Carmakers accused of trying to use crisis to avert emissions crackdown”, The Guardian, March 27 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/27/carmakers-accused-of-using-covid-19-weaken-environmental-laws
[12] InfluenceMap (2020), Tracking Corporate Climate Lobbying in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis. https://influencemap.org/report/The-Coronavirus-Crisis-and-Climate-Lobbying-23249d39450ff19b441090a6a50174eb
[13] Klein, Naomi “People talk about when things will return to normal, but normal was the crisis.” https://www.elsaltodiario.com/coronavirus/entrevista-naomi-klein-gente-habla-volver-normalidad-crisis-doctrina-shock
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