(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
I have heard that when author Carlos Taibo is asked if he is an anarchist, he sincerely answers "some days". But despite the fact that some of the conclusions in Collapse found in the literature of libertarianism, it is wrong to label the Colapso book as an ideological pamphlet.
Collapse is a collection of theses that are admittedly speculative. With a cautious approach, Taibo explains how many current indicators can lead to future scenarios that seem possible or unavoidable.
The book's premises are widely accepted by researchers, sociologists, economists and professionals from many disciplines and are hardly foreign to the reader. Taibo tries to gather all its data and hypotheses around the concept of collapse, as a kind of anchor and a warning to seafarers to avoid the iceberg. He does not write about cycle crises or unavoidable events, but about a definite collapse.
For many people, the collapse is already a fact.
A collapse seems inevitable. The links between capitalism and the many crises – ecological, demographic, social and economic – steer civilization towards a given outcome, although the outcome may take several forms. A collapse is irreversible and impossible to avoid. In addition to discussing the causes and counter-forces in the various problems that lead to the collapse, Taibo invites to an analysis of how the collapse can take shape, and how society can hopefully recover through the collapse and the time afterwards.
Climate crisis and energy consumption
Among the many indicators that suggest an impending collapse, the ecological footprint is perhaps the most overwhelming. Today, Spain needs an area 3,5 times larger than its territory to maintain the standard of living of its inhabitants. This makes Spain an "ecological debtor". The debt is taken from underdeveloped areas and future generations and clearly points to a collapse. Because unlike banknotes, you can not just print more planets.
We must see the collapse as a scenario that is already real for very many people, not as something to come.
There is overwhelming agreement that we will have an increase in the earth's temperature of 2-4 degrees. It is difficult to know whether civilization can survive such an increase, but what survives will probably be fundamentally different.
According to an estimate from researcher Antonio Turiel, the consumption peak of non-renewable energy sources was reached in 2018. Without access to the same amount of gas, oil and coal that we use today, 67 percent of the world's population will disappear. Although such a claim is not free of controversy, it is also true that indisputable data signal the need for radical change. But we see no such changes. It may seem unnecessary to point out, but we are too late.
Embracing the idea of collapse while we are part of the rich north can challenge our imagination. Our values can lead us to believe that we do not realize that we are living in a civilization that is falling apart. Taibo emphasizes that we must see the collapse as a scenario that is already real for very many people, not as something to come.
If the collapse cannot be avoided, will it not be healthy to drive change forward by addressing the benefits this can have, such as doing something about climate change?
Studies done by other authors such as Taibo point to a particularly turbulent scenario for the years 2020–2050. However, not all the consequences of a collapse are necessarily negative. It is logical to assume that there will be periods of dissolution of hierarchies, relocation to districts and greater autonomy in societies or groups that make the right choices in this regard, or in areas where failed regimes and power structures do not rule against authoritarian hierarchies.
Ecofascism
We must not forget that even in the Nazi party in Germany, there were press groups that promoted a vegetarian diet, relocation to the countryside and many other environmental measures. It is a crossroads that the same party's war machinery initiated a race with ecological destruction as a result.
It is wrong to think that the emergence of such ideas represents a unique exception in history. It is not unreasonable to expect a resurgence of such ideas within centralized power structures. We cannot ignore the fact that behind generally accepted purposes lurks eco-fascism with a solution that involves demographic control.
Paradoxically, many of the inhabitants of the poor south are better equipped to meet the coming changes than people in the north.
A milder version of this type of policy can be observed in the marginalization of broad sections of the population. Is it an exaggeration to imagine the emergence of stricter versions of the same measures that speak in favor of extinction to solve the population problem?
It should be remembered that fascist projects run counter to most demands for an ecological transition, such as decentralization of power or demilitarization.
De-urbanization and de-technologicalization
Awareness of the collapse inevitably leads to seeking knowledge about instruments and response and wanting a restoration of older practices that are typical of agriculture and the farmer's knowledge. We are forced to admit that agricultural methods we have hitherto labeled as primitive are very effective in this context.
In the ecosocial transition, we must critically analyze the current technologies that our society adores, and whether they are characterized by exploitation, hierarchy and division of labor. Carlos Taibo defends here the need to build autonomous, autonomous areas. But beyond that, one must keep in mind that many of these projects have evolved while maintaining the atavistic problems of patriarchy.
70 percent of the poor population are women, and they perform 67 percent of the work while receiving 10 percent of the income. It therefore becomes necessary to consider de-patriarchalization as a fundamental element in the transition to a new age.
Paradoxically, many of the inhabitants of the poor south are better equipped to meet the coming changes than people in the north. They live in small communities in the villages, have maintained a healthy relationship with the natural environment, they have a richer social life and are more autonomous. One can only imagine what would happen in any European city if the oil supply and power supply were cut off. Everything would fall apart overnight.
