{"id":26864,"date":"2023-09-29T19:48:59","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T19:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=26864"},"modified":"2023-09-29T20:02:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T20:02:12","slug":"omnicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2023\/09\/29\/omnicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Omnicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article by Mike Small was first posted by bella caledonia<\/a>. It outlines the attempt by Tory Right populists backed by Rishi Sunak backed by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party to bow before the fossil fuel companies and their attempt to prioritise profits at public expense and \u00a0ignore the growing climate crisis.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

OMNICIDE<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The approval of Rosebank oil field, and the narratives surrounding it, are terrifying.<\/p>\n

Chris Packham, Britain\u2019s radicalised broadcaster called it an \u2018act of war against life on earth\u2019, the Green MP, Caroline Lucas called it \u2018a moral obscenity\u2019. Naomi Klein called it a \u201chorrific decision\u2026 Canada is still partially on fire\u2026 this is an act of environmental vandalism\u201d. Greenpeace said: \u201cThe ugly truth is that Sunak is pandering to vested interests, demonstrating the stranglehold the fossil fuel lobby has on Government decision making\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosebank is the next step in the grotesque experience we are all living through: omnicide.<\/p>\n

We know all of the facts about this travesty, we know all the carbon figures and inevitable subsequent emissions. But the financing of the project is also mortifying. The UK taxpayer is covering 91% the cost of developing Rosebank. Rosebank\u2019s owner Equinor is set to receive \u00a33.75 BILLION in tax breaks for the field.<\/p>\n

As trade unionist and activist Howard Becket put it: \u201cEquinor, Norway\u2019s state-owned oil company gets taxed at 78% for extracting fossil fuels in Norways waters. To extract fossil fuels off the Shetland\u2019s Sunak is giving them a 91% tax break. We are paying foreign state owned companies to destroy the planet. You couldn\u2019t make it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Equinor made \u00a362 BILLION in profits last year.<\/p>\n

While subsidising such vandalism is obscene, so too is the gaslighting around it. It\u2019s no longer publicly acceptable to be an outright climate denier, so politicians and media supporters instead entertain various fantasies about these projects and the world we inhabit. These fantasies include magical thinking such as: \u201cthese actions in no way inhibit the path to \u2018Net Zero\u2019; \u201cwe need oil and gas in the interim in Scotland \/ UK\u201d (no timeline is given for \u2018the interim\u2019); such new oil fields will improve \u2018energy security\u2019 and new oil and gas production will \u2018reduce bills\u2019.<\/p>\n

Last year 75% of the UK\u2019s oil production<\/a>\u00a0was exported. The same will be true of Rosebank.<\/p>\n

Oil from the field will be sold on the international market at the going rate, and it will have no little or no impact on the cost of living crisis or energy security.<\/p>\n

Even though each of these arguments is easily dismantled within second they persist. Our broadcast media is complicit alongside the predictable gibberish of the tabloids.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week on Radio Scotland\u2019s Call Kaye phone-in show \u2013 in the aftermath of Rishi Sunak\u2019s u-turn on Net Zero actions \u2013 the presenter posed the question: \u201cHas the green agenda gone too far?\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no sanity in the media but nor is there any credible opposition. The Labour Party are tying themselves in knots \u2013 at first condemning the Rosebank approval \u2013 and then Sr Keir Starmer coming out to say he wouldn\u2019t rescind any approved oil fields because to do so would \u2018hinder growth\u2019. Here\u2019s Gordon Brown:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the right decision that Labour and the Conservatives both support it\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Prime Minister\u00a0@GordonBrown<\/a>\u00a0tells\u00a0@Peston<\/a>\u00a0he supports the approval of the Rosebank oil field.<\/p>\n

\u00a0LIVE 9PM\u00a0@itvpeston<\/a>
\n11.15PM\u00a0@ITV<\/a>#Peston<\/a>\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/TPhW04u1bI<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Peston (@itvpeston)\u00a0September 27, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Labour\u2019s Siobhain McDonagh:<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it the right decision, Siobhain, to grant a license for more fossil fuels?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think right at this moment, yes\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour right MP Siobhain McDonagh supports the govt giving the greenlight to\u00a0#Rosebank<\/a>.\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/BIIHwAGl1r<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth)\u00a0September 27, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n

There is no timeline from the gas-lighters, there\u2019s just a commitment of no-change, a promise of helping nurture inevitable destruction. What\u2019s really in bad faith in all of this is it\u2019s done of behalf of \u2018the people\u2019. But in the real world there\u2019s a timeline and we\u2019re watching it unfold every day. If the media is too stupid, compromised or damaged to process serious editorial content, and the political culture too redundant and doped to create any form of leadership, then it is up to the rest of us to respond by whatever means necessary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

28.9.23<\/strong><\/p>\n

_____________<\/p>\n

also see:-<\/p>\n

Climate change or system change – Ali Fleming, rs21<\/a><\/p>\n

Environmental degradation and sustainable development, EL&SD coverage<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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This article by Mike Small was first posted by bella caledonia. It outlines the attempt by Tory Right populists backed by Rishi Sunak backed by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party to bow before the fossil fuel companies and their attempt to prioritise profits at public expense and \u00a0ignore the growing climate crisis.\u00a0 OMNICIDE The approval…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1843,1861,1867,1873,1846,1857,8865,1845,1868,1875],"tags":[8984],"class_list":["post-26864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-capitalists-organise","category-alienation-self-determination","category-emancipation-liberation-and-self-determination","category-against-unionism","category-british-imperialism","category-environmental-degradation","category-sustainable-development","category-us-imperialism","category-against-imperialism","category-scotland-against-unionism","tag-author-mike-small"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/mastodon.scot\/@rcfscotland\/111150166711021010","error":""},"views":1146,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26864"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26869,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26864\/revisions\/26869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}