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Marxist Commodity Fetishization Encoded in Illusory Environmental Policy: Exacerbating the Global North-South Divide

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Marxist Commodity Fetishization Encoded in Illusory Environmental Policy: Exacerbating the Global North-South Divide J. of Integrative Research & Reflection. Vol. 03, Spring 2020 Marxist Commodity Fetishization Encoded in Illusory Environmental Policy: Exacerbating the Global North-South Divide Sarun Balaranjan Background: The Global North-South Di- the history of society has progressed as revolution- vide and Climate Change ary class conflicts, which assumed different forms in different epochs (1847). This class antagonism This geographic age of the Anthropocene is defined can be extrapolated to the relationship between the by advancement of human industry in molding the bourgeois that comprise the Global North and the era within which we exist. Marx (1847) critiques this proletariat that comprise the Global South. In the capitalist system when he states in The Communist context of this paper, the Global North is under- Manifesto that \there breaks out an epidemic that, stood to mean the developed nations of North Amer- in all earlier epochs, would have seemed an absur- ica, Europe, Australia, and Asia while the Global dity | the epidemic of overproduction" (p.7). This South encompasses the developing nations in South phenomenon is obvious in the contemporary age of America, Africa, and Asia. The ecological crisis, global inequality: wherein there is an overproduction foreshadowed by Marx in his critique of overpro- of food while world hunger remains an issue. We duction, is founded on the impoverishment of the live in a time where 1% of people own 82% of global global South while the planet's resources are con- wealth (Oxfam, 2018). This inequality is based in sumed by its more affluent inhabitants in the North. modern practices of consumption and is fundamen- The Global South predominantly exports primary tally linked to the most recent manifestation of cap- resources while the Global North exports manufac- italism's shortcomings: the looming shroud of global tured products (Parikh, 1994), and it is this very dy- climate change. Currently, an estimated 60-80% of namic that Marx (1847) warns the reader about when climate impacts come from the household consump- he says \it has made barbarian and semi-barbarian tion of goods and services (Jacobs, 2016). Earth is countries dependent on the civilized ones, nations of hurtling towards climate catastrophe as a direct re- peasants on nations of Bourgeois" (p.6). While litera- sult of the epidemic of overproduction; an epidemic ture has surpassed the derisive manner with which he that has evolved into modern neoliberalism. This cri- refers to the Global South as barbarians, this depen- sis, Marx would believe, is the inevitable result of dence is an important relationship to note. In Cap- the perverse pleasures that households receive from ital, Marx (1867) strengthens this claim by stating consumption. The capitalist structures embedded in that \personal dependence characterizes the social re- unchecked neoliberalism have permitted this extreme lations of production" (p.4). The transnational cor- level of consumption. This consumption must be har- porations based in the Global North are able to fet- vested from somewhere, and so it has occurred as ter the Global South through commodity chains that the despoliation, or plundering, of nature (Mittal & provide to the Global North's consumers. The coffee Gupta, 2017). that we drink, the valuable minerals and metals in our Instrumentalizing the environment for the sake of technology, and the labour that creates the clothes unimpeded economic growth goes hand in hand with on our backs are all representative of the manner in the exploitation of human labour (Stewart, 2017). which the North is able to exploit both the Southern Marx dictates in The Communist Manifesto that 1 natural resources and labour. It does so by setting lem. Furthermore, there is a delicate balance between prices that do not reflect the material costs of produc- enforcing environmental protection and progressing tion, but instead the social costs of production (Fos- with economic development. This essay will aim to ter, 2019). Marx's concept of \commodity fetishism", refute the paradigm of environmental policy practices loosely understood to be the false view that relation- being innately progressive through the process of de- ships between people in a capitalist society are boiled mystification. I have chosen to end this preamble down to social relationships between objects, is cru- with the thought-provoking words of John Bellamy cial to note in this context. The Global North is Foster (1999) in \The Vulnerable Planet: A Short capable of ignoring exploitative labour because the Economic History of the Environment": fetishization of consumed commodities shifts the at- tention to the value of the object being consumed. \As long as prevailing social relations re- In addition, it is pertinent to be mindful of the fact main unquestioned, those who are con- that climate change has more significant impacts on cerned about what is happening are left the livelihood of those in the Global South. South- with few visible avenues for environ- ern Nations at risk of increased hurricanes, droughts, mental action other than purely per- and flooding are prone to longer-lasting aftereffects sonal commitments to recycling and green as the weak infrastructure and agriculture-sustenance shopping, socially untenable choices be- systems fall apart (Parikh, 1994). Clearly, those who tween jobs and the environment, or are most exploited are also those most at risk of the broad appeals to corporations, polit- consequences of this exploitation. ical policy-makers, and the scientific establishment|the very interests most Subsequently, as the world looks towards resolu- responsible for the current ecological tion, Lynn White's (1967) stipulation comes to mind: mess" (p.12). what we do with our environmental resources re- flects the way that we conceptualize those resources. Analysis: Commodity Fetishism and Marx- The methods through which we choose to tackle this ist Rhetoric in Environmental Policy convoluted issue are entirely dependent on the so- cial character of these resources. Environmental pol- Through the lens of Marxist rhetoric, I aim to show icy today, exemplified recently by the 2019 UN Cli- that climate change policy strategies are shrouded by mate Action Summit, is a hot topic of discussion. their unapologetic emphasis of commodity fetishism. Popular media has naturalized the idea that cur- Through this, they inhibit their ability to mitigate cli- rent environmental policy is working, that someone mate change, and will instead serve only to broaden is acting to mitigate climate change as a result of the absolute class conflict of our time: the Global climate protests, activist organizations, and interna- North-South divide. tional policy discussions. Marx (1847) stresses that Limitless growth is one of the foundations capi- to change society, \the proletariat of each country talist structures are built on. Current international must, of course, first of all settle matters with its environmental policy fails to oppose the capitalist own bourgeoisie" (p.12). This goal must be applied ideal of infinite growth. This is exemplified best in to combat the environmental degradation rooted in the most recent global climate change policy event: North-South relations, to counteract the fact that the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. Political lead- our understanding and prioritization of class strug- ers and climate change advocates pat each other on gle in individual nations has waned. Instead, Marx the back for their progressive action when in real- must be transcribed to infer that resolving class con- ity, the international policy decisions reached during flict relies solely on the action of the South towards this conference do not bode well for the fate of hu- the North. Ecological collapse is an externality that manity. The U.S., apex of consumer culture, did not international environmental agreements ineffectively speak (Beuret, 2019). China, one of the most signif- address, because they fail to capture the integral class icant contributors to climate change, did not change antagonisms. For one, ensuring that institutions and any goals from the Paris Accord of 2016 (Beauret, development groups are held accountable for envi- 2019). India, a nation on the verge of possession by ronmental damage is a difficult and nuanced prob- consumerist culture (Beauret, 2019), decided on un- 2 restrained coal use in the name of economic growth John Bellamy Foster's (2019) statement in \Absolute (Beauret, 2019). However, the transition from coal or Capitalism", that \in absolute capitalism, absolute, oil to renewables is not of paramount concern to my abstract value dominates. In a system that focuses argument. Instead, it is the fact that nowhere in the above all on financial wealth, exchange value is re- agreements is it considered to be of dire importance moved from any direct connection to use value. The to change the behaviours and views that result in the inevitable result is a fundamental and rapidly grow- global usage of this amount of energy and resources. ing rift between capitalist commodity society and Marxist theory challenges reactionary approaches the planet." This returns us to inquire into how we to global problems, which can provide analysis of conceptualize the environment, as the summit dis- these global institutions' decisions. In The Commu- cussions unfolded with a distinct perspective. The nist Manifesto, Marx (1847) asserts that the \lower exchange value of environmental resources is at the middle class. fight against the bourgeoisie, to save forefront of negotiations. As a result, nations like from extinction their existence as fractions of the India are spurred towards harmful coal use in pur- middle class. They are reactionary, for they try to suit of a capitalist commodity nation reminiscent of roll back the wheel of history" (p.11). This \lower the North (Beuret, 2019). This conceptualization of middle class", shifted to a global scale, should be the environment can be further analyzed by rerout- interpreted to mean everyone from working classes ing Marx's definition of the lumpenproletariat.
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