05) DISASTER FOR PEOPLE, PROFIT FOR CORPORATIONS

 

People's Voice Editorial

 

            Once again, a major North American city has been hit with a devastating flood. Eight years ago, New Orleans was inundated when Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed inadequate flood levees. This time, 100,000 residents of Calgary had to evacuate when torrential rains poured into the Bow and Elbow rivers, along with thousands more in smaller centres and on First Nations lands. We send our support and solidarity to all those hit by the disaster.

 

            One of the main concerns of the corporate media has been the impact on business activities in Calgary, a key centre for the oil and gas sector. But while it may take some time to restore power and clean up downtown head offices, we predict that the major shareholders lose a nickel, since their profits are not generated in such buildings. Similarly, the major insurance companies are moving to limit losses, brazenly refusing to cover much of the flood damage. But many  working class Albertans will lose employment income, and the damage to their homes and vehicles will not be fully compensated. 

 

            At least two conclusions can be drawn from this catastrophe. One is that right‑wing governments will always put the interests of big capital ahead of the needs of working people, even as politicians express sympathies for all the victims. Second, of course, is that the intensified scale of climate disasters likely reflects global warming. "Once in a century" weather events are becoming more frequent; this phrase was used in southernAlberta in the 2005 floods. Humanity must begin to tackle the global warming trend by reversing greenhouse gas emissions. The private profit system can never address this challenge; it's time to consider urgent solutions based in social ownership of productive wealth.

 

 (The above article is from the July 1-31, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)