Capitalism kills => Science-based eco-socialism, green socialism & climate socialism for India & World

Science-based eco-socialism, green socialism and climate socialism are urgently needed for India and the World. Capitalism kills over 5 million annually from imposed deprivation in India and 18 million annually from deprivation in the Developing World (excluding China).

India is an egregiously corrupt, Western-style, capitalist democracy which means that the Indian Government (for the rich by the rich) ignores the horrible reality that most Indians live and die in extreme poverty. Like other Western-style democracies India is a Murdochracy (egregiously deceived because of oligopoly ownership of Mainstream media, as exampled by the Rupert Murdoch media empire) and a Lobbyocracy (the government dances to the tune of corporate vested interests). However capitalism kills as revealed by India’s shocking annual avoidable mortality (excess mortality, avoidable death, excess death, deaths that should not have happened) that totals over 5 million.

Avoidable mortality for a country can be defined as the difference between the actual deaths in a country and the deaths expected from a peaceful, decently–run country with the same demographics (i.e. birthrate and age distribution) .

Thus annually avoidable mortality (2003 data) is 3.7 million for India and 5.3 million for South Asia as compared to 0 for China – corrupt capitalism has retained deadly endemic poverty in India whereas this deadly affliction has been abolished in socialist China (see Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”: http://globalavoidablemortality.blo...).

A more up-to-date estimate for 2010 from the latest UN Population Division data (see: http://esa.un.org/unpp/p2k0data.asp ) is 10.1 million (actual deaths) – 4.9 million (expected deaths for a decently-run India) = 5.2 million avoidable deaths annually (for a decently-run but relatively high birth rate developing country the annual death rate should be about 4 deaths for 1,000 of population per year = 4 per thousand x 1.214 thousand million = 4.9 million expected deaths annually for a decently-run India, 2010 population 1.214 billion).

However the estimate of 5.2 million avoidable deaths annually for India in 2010 is a major under-estimate because it does not include avoidable deaths from all kinds of avoidable occurrences in all societies such as cigarette smoking, motor vehicle exhaust, coal-, oil- and gas -burning for power and indoor air pollution.

Let us examine just one of these avoidable impositions, specifically indoor air pollution in India.

According to the Times of India (2007): “Indoor air pollution (IAP), resulting from chulhas (cooking stoves) burning wood, coal and animal dung as fuel, is claiming a shocking 500,000 lives in India every year, most of whom are women and children. According to the World Health Organisation, India accounts for 80% of the 600,000 premature deaths that occur in south-east Asia annually due to exposure to IAP. Nearly 70% of rural households in India don’t even have ventilation.” (see: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/... ).

This carnage can be put in a global context. According to the World Health Organization (2008; see: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en/ ) : “Air pollution is a major environmental risk to health and is estimated to cause approximately 2 million premature deaths worldwide per year.

Particulate matter (PM) affects more people than any other pollutant. The major components of PM are sulfate, nitrates, ammonia, sodium chloride, carbon, mineral dust and water. It consists of a complex mixture of solid and liquid particles of organic and inorganic substances suspended in the air. The particles are identified according to their aerodynamic diameter, as either PM10 (particles with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10 µm) or PM2.5 (aerodynamic diameter smaller than 2.5 µm). The latter are more dangerous since, when inhaled, they may reach the peripheral regions of the bronchioles, and interfere with gas exchange inside the lungs…The effects of PM on health occur at levels of exposure currently being experienced by most urban and rural populations in both developed and developing countries. Chronic exposure to particles contributes to the risk of developing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as of lung cancer.

Ozone (O3) at ground level – not to be confused with the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere – is one of the major constituents of photochemical smog. It is formed by the reaction with sunlight (photochemical reaction) of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) [nitric oxide, NO; nitrous oxide, N2O; nitrogen dioxide, NO2) from vehicle and industry emissions and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by vehicles, solvents and industry. The highest levels of ozone pollution occur during periods of sunny weather… Excessive ozone in the air can have a marked effect on human health. It can cause breathing problems, trigger asthma, reduce lung function and cause lung diseases.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is the main source of nitrate aerosols, which form an important fraction of PM2.5 and, in the presence of ultraviolet light, of ozone. The major sources of anthropogenic emissions of NO2 are combustion processes (heating, power generation, and engines in vehicles and ships)… Epidemiological studies have shown that symptoms of bronchitis in asthmatic children increase in association with long-term exposure to NO2. Reduced lung function growth is also linked to NO2
Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is a colourless gas with a sharp odour. It is produced from the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil) and the smelting of mineral ores that contain sulfur. The main anthropogenic source of SO2 is the burning of sulfur-containing fossil fuels for domestic heating, power generation and motor vehicles…SO2 can affect the respiratory system and the functions of the lungs, and causes irritation of the eyes. Inflammation of the respiratory tract causes coughing, mucus secretion, aggravation of asthma and chronic bronchitis and makes people more prone to infections of the respiratory tract.”

Science and equality in the face of a worsening Climate Emergency dictate Eco-Socialism, Climate Socialism and Green Socialism to save Humanity and the Biosphere. Unaddressed man-made climate change is set to kill 10 billion people this century. Already the species extinction rate is 100-1000 times greater than normal. Sloppy, non-scientist arguments about the asserted greater economic efficiency of capitalism fall flat in the face of capitalism’s failure to address the acute problem of man-made climate change that is increasingly impacting a global avoidable mortality holocaust in which 18 million people die avoidably each year in the Developing World (excluding China).

Corrupt capitalism in India has deadly consequences as exampled above, but global capitalism is set to kill 10 billion humans, including 2 billion Indians, this century through unaddressed man-made global warming.

Thus Both Dr James Lovelock FRS (Gaia hypothesis) and Professor Kevin Anderson ( Director, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester, UK) have recently estimated that fewer than 1 billion people will survive this century due to unaddressed, man-made global warming – noting that the world population is expected to reach 9.5 billion by 2050, these estimates translate to a climate genocide involving deaths of 10 billion people this century, this including 6 billion under-5 year old infants, 3 billion Muslims in a terminal Muslim Holocaust, 2 billion Indians, 1.3 billion non-Arab Africans, 0.5 billion Bengalis, 0.3 billion Pakistanis and 0.3 billion Bangladeshis (see “Climate Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/clima... ).

Science and equality in the face of a worsening Climate Emergency dictate Eco-Socialism, Climate Socialism and Green Socialism to save Humanity and the Biosphere. Unaddressed man-made climate change is set to kill 10 billion people this century. Already the species extinction rate is 100-1000 times greater than normal. Sloppy, non-scientist arguments about the asserted greater economic efficiency of capitalism fall flat in the face of capitalism’s failure to address the acute problem of man-made climate change that is increasingly impacting a global avoidable mortality holocaust in which 18 million people die avoidably each year in the Developing World (excluding China), this including and over 5 million in India (see “Science And Equality Dictate Eco-Socialism, Climate Socialism
And Green Socialism To Save Humanity And Biosphere”, Countercurrents 17 February 2011: http://www.countercurrents.org/poly... ).

Yet this carnage is resolutely ignored by the capitalist élites ruling India and the West and for good reason – they fear a revolution as we have just witnessed in Egypt where the deposed US- and Israel-backed dictator Mubarak has run away with $70 billion from an impoverished country where the average income is $5 per day and over 20 million Egyptians have died avoidably from deprivation since 1950 in an ongoing Egyptian Holocaust and Egyptian Genocide (see “Will US, Zionist and Egyptian neocons destroy Egyptian Revolution?”, Countercurrents, 14 February 2011: http://www.countercurrents.org/poly... ).

Brilliant humanitarian Indian writer Arundhati Roy writing on the simultaneous First World holocaust commission and holocaust denial “the ultimate privilege of the élite is not just their deluxe lifestyles, but deluxe lifestyles with a clear conscience” (see Arundhati Roy in “The Chequebook and the Cruise Missile”).

Decent Indians (and indeed decent people everywhere) must follow the examples of Arundhati Roy (and of the Egyptians, Tunisians, Algerians, Bahrainis, Palestinians and Yemenis) and talk, write, Twitter, and publicly demonstrate over the ongoing Indian Holocaust and Indian Genocide (and the ongoing Global Avoidable Mortality Holocaust) being perpetrated by greedy, corrupt and violent capitalist élites. Please tell everyone you can.