The unbelievable prices of energy, food, housing, heating, transport or education are imposed on us to pay for the inflation caused by the spike in fossil fuels prices, that is, their unbelievable historic profits. When the whole system of private companies that run all aspects of our economies understood there was a profit to be made, they didn’t hesitate for a second. A fossil gas profit driven inflation became an everything profit inflation.
The central banks decided that to reduce inflation they would need to crush anyone with a loan – which means most of us anyway, as our wages are not enough to pay for our studies, for our homes, for our transportation, for food and for our lives. They spiked up interest rates and decided that it would be us, the people, with our money, who would now pay for the profits of these companies, beginning with fossil fuels, in particular gas, but going through to real estate, supermarkets and the many other leaches that cling on and profit from us. This has happened in every country with the support of the governments who are suppose to represent us but never, under any circumstance, fail to represent the interests of these companies.
The record profits of 2022 were a direct transfer from our pockets to shareholders of multinational companies all around Europe and the world. They’ve done it again. After a decade ago they made us pay for the banking collapse, now they are making us pay for their massive profits. They continue doing it, over and over again.
At the same time, we are living the acutest crisis of the history of our species until today: the climate crisis with unprecedented environmental destruction across all species and ecosystems. This is also creating more financial crisis, higher prices while crops are lost, while countries go underwater or burn under forest fires, while the places we have always known become dangerous for us, for our families and friends, while millions need to leave their houses and their countries in search of safety. Yet, they continue aggravating this crisis and refuse to halt this downward spiral. Even now, even after 2022 was the hottest summer in the last 500 years in Europe, with the biggest drought ever recorded in China, they not only refuse to cut emissions, but have increased them. In Europe, under the excuse of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, they have deployed a massive investment in more fossil gas infrastructure, more investment than in any moment in the past. This only increases the profits of these companies, while dragging us towards climate chaos and making us pay for it – through public subsidies and historically high prices.
It’s enough. We will not take it anymore. The time has come to usher in a popular social movement across Europe and the world, to bring about the change that governments and institutions refuse or are unwilling to assume – including many political parties and movements that hesitate in front of the historical moment and the historical needs of our time.
This September we will gather in the cities and the squares of Europe, demanding price controls over all essential sectors – those which governments didn’t hesitate to force to keep on working during the last pandemic – and imposing the cost on the multimillionaires which live of the rents and stocks of these companies. They’ve hidden their loot in tax havens and dodgy schemes, but the choice of letting their crimes continue is a political one which we refuse. We have paid, more than enough. Now, they will pay. We demand an overhaul of the current energy and transport system based on fossil fuels, which drives prices through the roof, and the deployment of decentralised, community-based and democratically controlled renewable energies and public transport systems, to achieve the massive cuts climate science tell us is our only chance to prevent a catastrophic outcome.
We call on all social movements to come with us on this day, with your bodies, your imagination, your willpower and your rage, with your banners and your families, your friends and your allies, and join us. You can come from a housing movement, from a climate justice group, a trade union or an energy cooperative. Bring your local association and your student union, your discussion group or come by yourself. We’ve had enough and we will not take it anymore. Our time has come and, together, we will stop the catastrophic path they are setting us into.
Alex Foti, Italy
Alice Gato, Portugal
Benjamin Traugott, Vienna
Charlotte Valløe, Denmark
Daniel Kopp, Germany/Belgium
Diletta Bellotti, Italy
Frida Kieninger, Austria/Belgium
Jasper Schut, Netherlands
João Camargo, Portugal
Julia Kaiser, Germany
Kristina Hamplova, Czech Republic
Maria João, Portugal
Martina di Paula Lopes, Spain
Matilde Alvim, Portugal
Nicolò Wojewoda, Ireland
Rosanna Martens, Germany
Sergio Aires Machado, Spain
Verena Gradinger, Austria
