War destructs and demolishes life, all forms of environment. It’s war’s powerful approach to contradictions within and with environment surrounding life. Wars including the current Ukraine War bear this signature of destruction of and on environment and ecology. The first victim is life; and, then comes surroundings of life that help sustain life. Activities to secure, nourish and sustain environment are hampered/suspended during war, and in war zones also.
Military activities, preparatory to war including training/drills/exercises, itself is threat to environment and ecology. Military/war expenditure is in direct and hostile contradiction with environment and ecology. The expenditure takes away a lot of resources, which can be allocated for life, steps to nourish and secure environment and ecology. The sphere of destruction of environment and ecology widens as the sphere of war widens. Today’s Ukraine is the witness. Iraq and Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and Vietnam are witnesses. Hiroshima and Nagasaki stand as witnesses.
This takes a super-demonic character while anti-people forces wage war against people. It’s the people that pay first, and most in war of all types and forms; and in ultimate analysis, it’s the people that make the payment for war, as capitals involved in war not only takes, appropriates and expropriates all expenses of war from people, but also makes surplus gains. This happens irrespective of winning and losing parts of the capitals engaged in war.
Even, capitals not engaged in war also make gains, as the capitals’ profit making process doesn’t remain compartmentalized while the capitals engage in war. In the present day world, capitals and markets are so closely and intricately connected, and dependent on one or another part(s) of capital and markets that this act of gain from war is distributed among capitals irrespective of involvement or non-direct involvement with war. This makes war’s environment-ecology destructive power wider, covering life, people in areas far away from theaters of war. The current Ukraine War is the most recent example.
Imperialism’s increasing power, not only military, but all other powers including economic, diplomatic and propaganda, make this destructive character more demonic. A small island in the Baltic Sea or in the far away Pacific can’t stay isolated from the flame and heat of war.
On the contrary, war-market, a combination of markets distantly or closely related, dependent and connected to war or to economies waging war adversely impact people. Employment gained in war industry wipe out losses people make as a whole. It’s loss by all the people, not only the working people, ultimately.
The loss is in the areas of consumption, health, shelter, education, taxation/levies/rents and in similar areas. In the area of nature/commons, people’s loss is wide, far-impacting.
Imperialism’s loss in war is nothing. At times, at stages and in areas of war, a loss by a capital is covered by net gain by other capitals, and it’s not only covered, the net gain by all capitals is far higher. At the end, capitals are the winner in war, therefore.
Class war has different equation in areas, but not different from the point of capitals’ gain in other wars including wars between capitals or factions of capital.
The on-going Ukraine War is an area of study of capitals, contradictions between capitals, contradictions within capital in different areas, geographically and economically, approaches to handle the contradictions, capitals’ limits/incapacities. A few of the limitations have increased/taken acute shape with the rise of capitals’ power/capacity/reach, and with increased competition and increasingly decreased areas of maneuver by capitals.
Capitals have already conquered all areas of potential expansion, appropriation and expropriation in the glove. Yet, it needs markets, profits. So, conflict is increasing around the globe.
In areas, it’s in the form of military conflict while in areas it’s in the form of trade/taxation/protectionism/anti-protectionism. It, the capitals, formulate arguments according to its requirements. The same capital goes for unhindered trade in one area while resorts to protectionism in other. The same capital goes for winning turf through negotiation while takes military moves, directly or indirectly, to secure and expand/win market. Competition, on occasions, takes shape of hot conflict – bombs, bullets, guns, howitzers, electronic warfare and intelligence sharing with the aid of satellites.
With this reality of increased competition by capital, the space that suffers is of people – life, environment and ecology, livelihood, markets people depend on and in related areas.
The current Ukraine War is starkly showing this reality of capitals’ confrontation. This burning example in Ukraine also stands as an indication of wars capitals are going to wage in future. It’ll be an error to assume the Ukraine War as a war limited within a single European country, and it’s a war using military means, and it’s a war between Ukraine and Russia. It’s a war (1) already spread over/involving countries, (2) spreading its impact around the globe, and thereby taking the shape of an imperialist global war, (3) using weapons without precedent including sanctions. Parts of capitals are so desperate in use of weapons to hurt its opponent that a few of which are hurting the user, and thus, the weapon-wielding part’s calculus regarding these weapons is turning out as erroneous! Parts of capitals have become so reckless! Turning reckless is a natural trend of capital.
But, in this “game” of the wars by capitals, people, environment and ecology is getting harmed/demolished/defaced. Even, after the war, capitals waging this war will continue reaping profit while people, environment and ecology will continue paying for capitals’ profit.
This is a contradiction that capitals can’t resolve. This contradiction has to be resolved by people, by anti-capital/anti-capitalist system struggles, by dismantling of the system that goes to war for profit at the expense of people, environment and ecology, that goes for profit at the cost of deaths and destruction.
Why the people of Ukraine are paying with their lives, livelihood, environment and ecology? They, the huge millions, are paying for a handful of war traders; and the war traders are profiteering from the war in Ukraine by selling arms, by allocating huge sums of money behind war machine, behind war propaganda, behind procurement of arms, and they are profiteering at respective homes that cost people in those countries. People in countries in Europe have already started paying for the war the war traders are organizing in Ukraine.
Now, these merchants of war are expanding their business – moves are being taken to expand the trans-Atlantic military alliance to the Pacific and the Indian oceans. Countries in the Indo-Pacific empyrean are allured, co-opted and pressed to join the inter-ocean –Atlantic-IndoPacific – war maneuver. The peoples in the region will have to pay if the war traders succeed in this bloody game. With war effort, with increased militarization, environment and ecology will have to pay, which means life has to suffer.
For reinvigorating environment and ecology, for sustaining life, for having a peaceful life for people having the opportunity to pursue happiness and democracy, war, all efforts to ignite flames of war, all efforts to militarize society are to be exposed, resisted and foiled.
For a livable environment and ecology, democratic environment is essential. War, war efforts, militarization and spread of racist/Nazi ideology stand opposed to democratic environment, as war and militarization require authoritarianism. That’s curtailment of rights, opportunities and accesses to spaces of people, and expansion of space for war business. Today’s Ukraine, yesterday’s Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia are evidences. During war, no scope remains for taking care of environment and ecology. Today’s Ukraine, militarized, authoritarian Ukraine, imperialist gun powder-loaded Ukraine was organized over years by imperialism, and hatred-filled ideology, Nazism, was spread in the society over years; and then, a situation was created. That was a situation that can be characterized as inviting/provoking war. Millions of Ukraine people are suffering now.
Compromise will follow there in Ukraine. The war bosses in Brussels, London and on the other side of the Atlantic have already begun discussions among themselves: How to conclude this Ukraine War chapter. They have kept their Ukraine lieutenants at the side – no discussion with the proxy war leader on the issue of conclusion. Parts of capitals that prepared Ukraine proxy for the war over the last eight years are now finding: This sanction arms is hurting it, which the brilliant minds designing these sanctions have not told them. One of the leading propaganda machines is questioning: What’s the use of this sanctions arms as Russia is benefitting. It may happen, this sanction arms will be questioned in the WTO, the organization the bosses have organized for their trade. It may happen that, despite a faction’s efforts to lengthen the war, the war will be questioned more boldly by parts of capitals in both sides of the Atlantic: Why this war as we’re getting hurt – loss of business opportunity, chunks of markets getting out of hands. Already that question has raised its head in some countries. The war, imperialist war propaganda machine claimed, may turn into Russia’s Afghanistan. But, there’s possibility that the war may turn imperialist war mongers’ Afghanistan as this war is not going as the bosses planned.
At the end, guns will go silent; but millions of people will pay a very high price with tears and pain – loss of near ones, destruction of shelter, and loss of food-health care-education; and war profiteers, financers of war across the Atlantic will profit.
Therefore, this year’s Environment Day calls for the urgent task: Oppose Imperialist War, oppose all machinations for organizing imperialist war, oppose imperialist war alliances; for the sake of people’s livable environment and ecology, oppose the economy that survives on war, survives by destructing people’s lives, environment and ecology.
Farooque Chowdhury writes form Dhaka, Bangladesh. His recent publications include With the Passing Time (2021, www.nggbooks.wordpress.com)
May 15 this year came as a timely warning that India is in the center of the global warming crisis. On this day the maximum temperature crossed the 47 degrees Celsius limit in about 20 cities, mostly in northwest and central parts of the country. These cities also figured in the table of the hottest cities at world level on this day.
Most of these cities and the surrounding countryside have been figuring prominently also in the longer heat waves which have been experienced since early April.
Six of these cities are located in the Thar desert or the area close to it. These include Jaisalmer, Phalodi, Pilani, Churu, Bikaner and Ganganagar.
Four other cities are concentrated in a region of 13 districts known as Bundelkhand in Central India which saw temperature reaching 49 degrees C in Banda. Three other cities of the region which crossed the 47 mark were Jhansi, Naugaon and the tourist resort of Khajuraho.
The third belt in Northwest India included cities like Muktsar, Narnaul, Hisar and Sirsa. Gurugram, home to many multinational companies, crossed 48. Two points in the capital city of Delhi ( Mungeshwar and Najafgarh) crossed 49, even though its base observatory at Safdarjang recorded 45.6.
The base station is located closer to the elitist green areas, with many nice parks, while Mungeshwar and Najafgarh are congested areas with a substantial number of poorer people. It is these people who bear the brunt of heat waves.
While the slums where they live have less greenery are much more congested, they frequently also suffer from higher levels of air and water pollution as well as water scarcity. Open area workers as well as factory workers often work in very hot conditions, and get little respite whether at workplace or living place.
In Bundelkhand I have often seen farm workers toiling in intolerably hot conditions. However those who work there in stone quarries and stone crushers face even hotter conditions, while being exposed also to high dust levels.
In the desert area the scattered hamlets often find it extreme difficult to cope with scorching afternoons, but in addition face increasing water scarcity as well. Camels, who were once the most familiar face of the desert, now are increasingly a threatened species in most villages.
As heat waves intensify in times of climate change, is policy helping to reduce the threat? In recent years Bundelkhand has faced a fierce controversy over a water transfer project called Ken-Betwa Link. This project starts with the felling of over 2.3 million trees at a time when deforestation has been mentioned as a leading cause of water scarcity and worsening drought in Bundelkhand.
The viability of this project has been repeatedly challenged by independent experts who have pointed out that the basic premise of this project of transferring surplus water from Ken river to Betwa river is not justified as the existence of surplus water in Ken river has never been proved. They have pointed out that hundreds of very useful small water conservation projects can be supported instead by the diverting the budget of this expensive Rs.( INR) 450 billion project.
In the scorching summers of this year and the previous year tens of thousands of slum dwellers have been evicted in the course of slum demolitions and in some cases their means of livelihoods like small shops and carts too have been destroyed.
These demolitions have taken place in scorching heat and it is not known where the evicted people are supposed to go. Government promises of rehabilitation often remain confined to uncertain assurances to about one-fourth of those who are evicted. Such demolitions have affected several cities which have figured prominently in heat waves, including Faridabad, Gurugram and Chandigarh. In recent days these have intensified in Delhi. The worst sufferers are mostly poor informal sector workers who have already suffered much recently due to COVID and related lockdowns and earlier due to adverse policies like demonetization.
The poor increasingly ask—where do we go in this savage heat when our homes and livelihoods too are being snatched from us.
The elite however can escape to the hill stations of the Himalayan region. I happened to be close to the hill station of Kasauli as record numbers of tourists poured in from the scorching plains. But the relief from heat they sought was not in sight as several forests were engulfed in flames.
People in Kasauli as well as tourists felt suffocated as the smoke also reached the hotels and restaurants. There was a rush to rescue stranded, endangered people. A helicopter appeared on the horizon to help in extinguishing fire, but appeared to be unequal to the challenge of the leaping flames. An eco-camp was reduced to ashes. Many tourists turned back midway, back to the scorching plains.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Protect Earth Now. His recent books include A Day in 2071, Planet in Peril and Man over Machine.
The impact of Covid has also affected the world of wildlife in India An especially high price during the epidemic period has been paid by tigers in the country.
According to a recent report of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) 287 tigers have died since the onset of Covid in early 2020 till 31 May 2022. And tiger deaths, over the past three years, are the highest ever recorded in any previous three year period. From the year 2012 to 31 May 2022, there have been 1038 tiger deaths across the country.
The reasons for the deaths of tigers vary. Of these, 30 percent of deaths are due to hunting. Taking advantage of the lockdown and laxity in the security of the forest during the Covid epidemic, hunters have entered the forest and killed tigers.
Another 10 percent of the deaths are accounted for by neither hunting nor natural deaths, but due to fighting between tigers. Usually in such fights the tigers get hurt and die due to their injuries. Another 60% of tigers have died due to age. No tiger has died due to the Covid infection itself.
According to the NTCA report, 106 tigers died in the year 2020 alone. The first Covid patient in India was detected on 30 January 2020. Within two months of this, the nationwide lockdown for 21 days was started on 25 March. Even after this, the lockdown period was being extended constantly. As citizens lived in fear of Covid during much of that year, the security of forested areas was badly affected. The forest department became dysfunctional and the security of the tigers was affected.
During 2021 also citizens had to go through strict restrictions on their movements. This year too not much attention was paid to the protection of forests and tiger reserves. As a result 127 tigers died by the end of the year. In 2022 while the Covid situation improved due to widespread vaccination the lack of attention to the protection of forests continued. Despite the country returning to normalcy, NTCA figures show that 54 tigers had died till May 30.
In India, the state of Madhya Pradesh is ahead in comparison to others in both the number of tiger deaths and the number of tigers. According to the NTCA report, 202 tigers have died in MP. These deaths occurred between 2012 and 2020, which is the highest number of tiger deaths in any state. Not only this, according to the assessment report of the year 2018, there are 526 tigers in MP. Due to this it is also called Tiger State inside the country.
Tigers have a long history in India. There was once dense forests on much of the land here and there were thousands of tigers. There was a time when there was a cheetah population too, which no longer exists. According to the 2018 report of the NTCA India is the country with the largest population of tigers in the world, with 2967 tigers recorded here.
Till 2001, there were 3652 tigers in all the states, but in five years it decreased so fast that in the year 2006 their number was reduced to 1411. In the year 2011, this number had increased marginally to 1706 and in the tiger census report released in 2019, their number has increased to 2967.
Wildlife expert RK Dixit says that the tiger is not only the national animal of the country, but is a symbol of national honor. There is a need for more serious action to prevent tiger deaths. He estimates more such deaths in the future as the forest area is decreasing steadily in the country.
A minimum area of 16 to 28 square kilometers is required for a tiger. Some tigers can even roam up to 50 square kilometres. Now tigers do not have this freedom to roam, because the density of tigers is increasing very fast in the forests and each of them becomes a rival to the other – leading to fights over territory.
For tigers to hunt for food, the presence of abundant herbivorous wildlife is also necessary, which is negligible in some forests. This forces them to reach villages and farmlands for hunting. Due to this the possibilities of the tigers themselves being hunted down by humans in future are increasing. It is necessary to provide them with open forest areas to live in an undisturbed manner.
Pooja Yadav is a journalist based in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
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