A Global Green New Deal

Over the last decade, the radical right has come to power in the United States, Brazil, India, Poland, Hungary, and elsewhere. It has joined forces with autocrats in Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Thailand to create a new illiberal ecosystem. Together, they are challenging the rule of law, democratic governance, and the gains made by social movements that have expanded the rights of women and minorities.

The radical right has appealed to all those who feel threatened by the more rapid movement of capital and people across borders. The center parties that have pushed this project of globalization have lost at the polls, while the left has failed to articulate a clear alternative.

Yet despite its political successes, the radical right has an Achilles’ heel. It has no credible response to the most urgent threat facing the planet: the current climate crisis.

For the last couple of years, radical right leaders like Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro have ignored climate change and boosted support for extractive industries like oil and coal. Thanks to Trump, the United States is the only country to pull out of the Paris climate deal. Bolsonaro, meanwhile, reneged on Brazil’s offer to host this year’s climate confab, which is has just wrapped up in Madrid instead.

Despite these ostrich moves by Trump and Bolsonaro, the climate crisis hasn’t gone away. In fact, it’s gotten worse.

According to the most recent UN report, the world has utterly failed to restrain carbon emissions despite dire warnings from the scientific community. The two biggest offenders, the United States and China, actually increased their carbon emissions last year. The scientific consensus is that the world must execute a much faster pivot away from fossil fuels.

The radical right doesn’t have a plan to reduce carbon emissions. One wing of the movement continues to deny that there even is a crisis. The other wing is focused on dealing with only the demographic effects of the climate crisis—by proposing higher walls to keep out a future wave of climate refugees.

By comparison, the various Green New Deals on the table offer a comprehensive response that addresses the scale of the problem.

The U.S. version offered by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ed Markey (D-MA) proposes significant investments in making America’s infrastructure and transportation carbon-neutral.

The Europeans and Canadians are pushing similar plans in parallel. The government in New Zealand, meanwhile,  unveiled a “wellbeing budget” this year that also combines a reduction in carbon emissions with improving the livelihoods of those left behind by globalization.

A massive transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy is not only sensible from an environmental point of view. It also addresses the insecurity so many people feel about their economic future in an era of automation and downsizing. The Green New Deal—like its earlier World War II-era cousin, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal—promises to be a major job creation program. And not just for the Global North.

A major transfusion of money into the Green Climate Fund would help the Global South leapfrog over existing dirty technologies. By providing jobs in countries currently experiencing economic crisis throughout the Global South, these GNDs would also reduce the massive displacement of people who would otherwise be forced to migrate to find new opportunities—or more habitable land—abroad.

The current global economic system is clearly broken, which has opened the way for a global far-right reaction. By contrast, the Green New Deal offers a set of principles of sustainability that can help restructure the global economy so that it helps people and the planet—while undermining the far right’s appeal.

The radical right has won elections by ramping up fear: of others, of the future, of do-nothing government. It’s time to turn that around and revive a politics of hope.

The 80 people I talked to pointed to the student climate strikes as the most promising movement at the moment. But as those students understand better than their elders, there’s no politics without a planet. A Global Green New Deal is perhaps our last best hope to save that planet.

John Feffer directs the Foreign Policy In Focus project at the Institute for Policy Studies. He’s the author of the new IPS study, The Battle for Another World: The Progressive Response to the New Right. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.

appeal to sb – podobać się komuś, przyciągnąć kogoś

lose at the polls – przegrać wybory

articulate a clear alternative – zaproponować konkretną alternatywę

pull of the deal – wycofać się z umowy

renege on sth – nie dotrzymać danego słowa, odstąpić (od umowy)

climate confab – spotkanie w sprawie klimatu

wrap up – zakończyć

ostrich moves – chowanie głowy w piasek

dire warning – ostrzeżenie przed katastrofą

unveil a “wellbeing budget” – przedstawić budżet skoncentrowany na dobrostanie obywateli

livelihood – źródło utrzymania, środki do życia

downsizing – redukcja etatów

leapfrog over existing dirty technologies – zastąpić obecne nieekologiczne technologie

principles of sustainability – zasady zrównoważonego rozwoju

ramp up fear – wzniecać strach

Listen to the recording and answer the following questions:

1. According to the author, which countries have recently moved to the radically right side of the political spectrum?

2. How have radical politicians in those countries managed to convince voters?

3. Where does the author see opportunities to hold the right-wingers back?

4. What is the right wing’s position regarding the climate crisis?

5. In the author’s opinion, why should we transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy?

6. What recent initiative does the author place high hopes in?

1. What are young people all around the world protesting about?

2. Who leads the protesters?

3. What meeting was due to take place in New York a week after the video was made?

4. What is Donald Trump’s stance on climate change?

5. What actions are the protesters demanding from politicians?

Describe the issue presented in the article. Use the expressions listed below. They will help you give structure to the text analysis.

key words:

Global Green New Deal

the Far Right

climate crisis

renewable energy

politics of hope

collocations with positive meaning:

political triumphs

credible response

clear alternative

significant investments

habitable land

collocations with negative meaning:

radical right

crucial weakness

urgent threat

dire warnings

dirty technologies

climate strikes

action verb phrases:

save the planet

go green

come to power

create a new ecosystem

challenge the rule of law

restrain carbon emissions

Record your text analysis on a voice recorder or practice delivering your presentation in a group setting.

Examples:

Over the last decade, the radical right has…

It has joined forces with…

Together, they are challenging…

Translate the sentences below using the suggested word or phrase. (see Key)

(rising … far … green) Najlepszym sposobem na walkę z zyskującą na popularności skrajną prawicą jest ochrona środowiska.

(come) W ciągu ostatniej dekady radykalna prawica doszła do władzy w Stanach Zjednoczonych, Brazylii, Indiach, Polsce, na Węgrzech i w innych miejscach.

(joined … create) Połączyła siły z autokratami w Rosji, Turcji, Arabii Saudyjskiej, Egipcie i Tajlandii, aby stworzyć nowy nieliberalny ekosystem.

(challenging … rule) Razem podważają praworządność, demokratyczne rządy oraz prawa kobiet i mniejszości.

(appealed to) Radykalna prawica przyciągnęła wszystkich tych, którzy czują się zagrożeni szybszym przepływem kapitału i ludzi przez granice.

You can use your translations in your presentation of the topic (in Task 6).

Continue the translation using the suggested word or phrase. Remember: It’s not about translating these sentences perfectly—there are a number of possible ways to translate each sentence. This task aims to teach you TO THINK IN ENGLISH. By working on your translation of a sentence, you can change it to get closer to the sense of the original (see Key).

Jednak pomimo swoich politycznych sukcesów the radical right ma piętę achillesową.

Nie ma wiarygodnej odpowiedzi na najpilniejsze zagrożenie facing the planet: obecny kryzys klimatyczny.

Zgodnie z najnowszym raportem ONZ świat has utterly failed to restrain emisji dwutlenku węgla pomimo ostrzeżeń przed katastrofą from the scientific community.

Dwaj najwięksi winowajcy, Stany Zjednoczone i Chiny, actually increased swoją emisję dwutlenku węgla w ubiegłym roku.

The radical right nie ma planu redukcji emisji dwutlenku węgla.

You can use your translations in your presentation of the topic (in Task 6).

Now it’s time to put forward your views on the issues. Record your speech on a voice recorder or practice presenting your opinion in a group setting. Consider the issues raised in the text from these viewpoints:

Environmental: Climate crisis

According to the most recent UN report,…

The two biggest offenders,…

Political: The Far Right

The radical right doesn’t have a plan to…

The liberals, on the other hand, think that…

Social: Global Green New Deal

What humans need is…

It could help restructure the global economy…

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