Twitter @OxSWP    facebook @OxfordSWP     email admin@oxfordswp.org.uk         Instagram  oxfordswp       National swp.org.uk

The COP talks represent over a quarter of a century of failure. In previous agreements the targets set to reduce emissions have been too low and not legally binding. Despite fanfare and policy announcements we are already seeing the problems with this year’s COP talks. Current pledges made by governments who are attending will still lead to a temperature rise of 2.7 degrees. A UN report out last week found that governments have not made plans to wind down fossil fuel production. Instead global production of oil and gas is set to rise over the next two decades. Meanwhile leaked documents last week found governments lobbying the IPCC to water down its scientific report and downplay the need to move rapidly away from fossil fuels.

Instead of breaking from fossil fuels, technological solutions are being touted as the way forward. Boris Johnson has agreed a £400 million package with Bill Gates to boost so-called green technology, such as carbon capture and storage. In addition he has pledged £120 million for a new nuclear plant, while his plans for heat pumps to replace gas boilers are completely underfunded.
So already the pledges look set to be too low and false solutions are being offered so that capitalism can continue with the business as usual of profit making from the fossil economy.

This is why the protests are so important on Sat 6 Nov. They are part of ensuring that the pressure for action continues and that climate change is on the agenda.  They can help rebuild the momentum of the climate movement of 2019 that goes beyond COP and continues to fight collectively to force governments to act.   It's crucial that they have a radical, socialist message and put forward working class solutions to the climate crisis.

Oxford march and rally details below.
If you would like to help build the Oxfordshire COP26 Climate Alliance march and rally please email here

Oxford and Thames Valley SWP meeting - all welcome

As Starmer Puts the boot in - Socialists and the Labour Party

 7PM Wednesday 27th October

Zoom meeting ID: 861 2001 6477  Passcode: 967537 or http://bit.ly/OxTVSWP

Last month's conference saw the right-wing tighten it's grip on the Labour Party under Keir Starmer. Starmer won a huge victory when the conference agreed to give party MPs more power to stop a left wing candidate ever standing for the party leadership again.  Swathes of left-wing activists including Ken Loach have been expelled as Starmer seeks to show big business that their profits will be safe under his government.

And then Starmer really rubbed salt in the wounds when he wrote a column for Murdoch's Sun newspaper, a paper notorious for it's attacks on Muslims, migrants, women, trans people, anti-racists, trade unionists and of course for it's lies in blaming Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.

What are the prospects for the left in the Labour Party? Can the tide be turned against Starmer? What kind of organisation do socialists need?

Future meetings -   Zoom meeting ID: 861 2001 6477  Passcode: 967537 or http://bit.ly/OxTVSWP

7 PM 27th October -

Climate action

We have a new pamphlet about the failure of the COP process because the solutions of the COP process are limited by capitalist priorities.  To deliver climate action and justice, we need to break with the profit system and fight for a socialist world that puts people and planet first. The pamphlet can be downloaded here.  Printed copies are available in Oxford for £2 on request from admin@oxfordswp.org.uk. 

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, better known as COP26, is fast approaching.  The conference will see world leaders join with politicians, NGOs and businesses in Glasgow to discuss the climate crisis.  But like previous talks, Cop26 will likely fall flat. Efforts are underway to build mobilisations to bring the rage over governments’ climate inaction to the conference. We are calling on readers to build protests and strikes for upcoming Cop26 talks

Organisers hope a protest on Saturday 6 November in Glasgow will bring 50,000 or more people onto the streets. And on the same day there will be demonstrations across Britain.  Organisers hope the London one will be the same size or bigger than the one in Glasgow.

Activists in the COP26 coalition have been organising in more than 40 city hubs. The coalition includes trade unions, NGOs and climate groups.

If you would like to help build the Oxfordshire COP26 Climate Alliance march and rally please email here

You can also join with Extinction Rebellion's every Saturday 12-1 pm Bonn Square or Barclays bank on Cornmarket to help build the march

6th November - Global Day For Climate Justice called by the COP26 Coalition. 

Oxfordshire march and rally- assemble 1 PM Manzil Way Gardens, Cowley Rd. 

Called by the Oxfordshire COP26 Climate Alliance

Please email hereif you would like printed materials to hand out in your workplace or community or would like to join a group of people for public leafleting

The issue

We are living through a period of multiple breaking points – from climate to covid to racism. We know that these crises not only overlap, but share the same cause.

While no one can escape the impacts of these crises, those who have done least to cause them suffer the most. Across the world, the poorest people and communities of colour are too often those bearing the brunt of the climate crisis. From coastal villages in Norfolk whose sea-defences are eroding faster than ever, to people living by the Niger Delta rivers blackened by oil spillage.
Credit: Supratim Bhattacharjee / Climate Visuals
How did we get here?

We got to this crisis point because our political and economic system is built on inequality and injustice. For centuries, rich governments and corporations have been exploiting people and the planet for profit, no matter how much it harms the rest of us.  

The solution

In short: Climate justice, system change, power from below.

Like the climate crisis, our economic and political system is human-made. This also means it can be remade. We need system change that comes from the ground up. To solve these problems, we have to  solve them all together. Climate justice recognises that all of our struggles lead back to the same unjust system. Whether we are fighting for better pay at work, for clean water, or against police violence or the opening of a new mine. For control over our bodies or to stop the destruction of forests we live in. We need climate action that works for all of us, not just the people with the most money in their pocket.

The solutions that we need already exist and are being practiced, but our leaders lack the political will to act. Our solutions not only reduce carbon emissions but create a fairer and more just world in the process – that means climate action based on justice, redistribution of resources and decentralisation of power.

The crisis will not be solved if those most affected are not central to the solutions and decision-making. The impacts of the climate crisis vary across areas and communities. This means the best solutions for each area must be shaped by those who are experiencing the impacts. In many cases, indigenous and frontline communities have known the solutions for centuries. And afterall, we should all be able to participate in decisions that affect us.

Our demands

No More Cooking The Books: No To Fossil Fuels, Net-zero And False Solutions

•     Fight For 1.5
•     We Need Real Zero, Not Net Zero
•     Keep It In The Ground: No New Fossil Fuel Investments Or Infrastructure
•     Reject False Solutions: No To Carbon Markets And Risky And Unproven Technologies

Rewire The System: Start The Justice Transition Now

•     Start The Justice Transition

Global Climate Justice: Reparations And Redistribution To Indigenous Communities and The Global South

•     Fair share of effort from all rich countries
•     Cancel the debts of Global South by all creditors
•     Grant-based climate finance for the Global South
•     Reparations for the loss and damage already happening in the Global South

 The Revolutionary Alternative To Capitalism's Climate Disaster - An International Socialist conference after COP26

14th November 1-6PM. register for free here