Marxist intellectual Michael Löwy believes that “ecosocialism starts from the idea that socialism without an ecological approach is useless, and an ecology that isn’t socialist is useless as well.” Therefore, he explained, “ecosocialism is a project of civilization, of changing the paradigm of the current civilization.”
In an interview with Brasil de Fato in partnership with Clube de Aforismos, the Brazilian philosopher currently living in believes that ecosocialist thinking is the union of the basic ideas of socialism with those of ecology and, therefore, that’s the answer to the environmental disaster we are already experiencing.
The process of “environmental catastrophe has already begun. Floods, increasingly unbearable heat waves, rising sea levels: It’s clear that the process of environmental damage has already begun and is intensifying very quickly.” For him, “The problem is the current system. It’s a systemic logic of the capitalist mode of production, which demands unlimited expansion, occupation of markets, productivism, consumerism, programmed obsolescence, etc. All of this is inherent to this system.”
“There is only one economic system responsible for environmental destruction: capitalism. Particularly in its Neoliberal form, which has predominated over the last 50 years. Ecological damage and climate change have been occurring since the 18th century, but it accelerated intensely after the Second World War and is accelerating even more with Neoliberalism. But it starts at the root of the capitalist mode of production,” stresses Löwy.
“The logic of the system demands it: Productivism, consumerism and therefore climate destruction. This is the system, whether in agriculture, trade or industry. And this leads us to the edge of the abyss.”
From industrialist socialism to ecosocialist industrialism
Löwy explains that socialism is an essential part of the eventual change that will give an end to environmental disasters. However, the format, as we currently know it, must be rethought.
“Of course, 21st-century socialism recovers what was most humanist, revolutionary and democratic in the system,” he points out, “but the dominant models sown in Europe by state socialism – with social democracy, the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries – were productivist and disastrous.”
“The socialism of the 21st century needs to break with the tradition of a productivist socialism with very negative ecological consequences. We have to develop a socialist project and program, which we call ecosocialist, with a radical critique of the industrialist process of the Soviet Union,” said Löwy.
‘The vegetarian crocodile’
During the interview, the intellectual also talked about the Paris Agreement and environmental meetings such as COP30 and the existence of so-called “green capitalism”. In his opinion, “the agreement was useless.” The participating countries “Didn’t keep their promises, and they didn’t keep them because it doesn’t go along with the capitalist logic of destruction. The Paris Agreement solves nothing, and the other meetings even less.”
“To stop emissions and destruction, we must stop capitalist logic. They [green capitalism] are incapable of doing that. So it’s like a vegetarian crocodile […] it’s a mystification,” he said.
According to him, breaking with the irreversible destruction of the planet, which is the path we are rapidly heading down, “Implies breaking with the capitalist system and [putting into practice] some fundamental ideas of socialism, which are collective ownership of the means of production and democratic planning, i.e. the population will decide about what we are going to produce, taking into the limits of the planet and the ecological movement.”
“With ecosocialism, products will be repairable, durable, and meet fundamental needs. The people, not the market, will decide what those fundamental needs are, and that’s by doing away with advertising, which forces you to consume and buy. This way, people will discover what their real needs are.”
The ecosocialist revolution
“We, ecosocialists, are convinced we need a revolutionary transformation,” Löwy explained. Walter Benjamin said that “Marx ‘defined the revolution as the locomotive of history’, but perhaps the revolution is a little different, with humanity pulling the brakes to stop the train, and this is exactly our case. We are engers on a suicidal train called modern industrial capitalist civilization, so that’s what the ecosocialist revolution is all about: stopping that train.”
For him, however, “The ecosocialist revolution can only result from the democratic will of the majority of the population, which can start with an election. Nevertheless, that alone is not enough.” The philosopher pointed out that “The socialist revolution is a democratic revolution, which means the majority of the population chooses this path”.
The world population also has a lot to learn from Indigenous peoples, according to Löwy, who can contribute greatly to the ecosocialist revolution. “They have a very different way of dealing with nature, one of deep respect and harmony. We have a lot to learn from this harmonious relationship with nature that traditional peoples have.”
Regarding President Lula’s plans for oil exploration in the Amazon, criticized by the vast majority of environmentalists, as well as Brazil’s Minister of the Environment herself, Marina Silva, Löwy sees oil exploration as something “That poses immense dangers for the Amazon region.” What’s more, “Starting a new front to extract millions more liters of oil is an environmental disaster,” he said.
The full interview with Michael Löwy is available in Portuguese on Brasil de Fato‘s YouTube channel.
