猫咪社区

Global oil markets are in turmoil, with crude prices at their lowest level in years, even going at one point in April. When the U.S. economy is in trouble, the default option for political leadership is to rescue big business. The current coronavirus-induced crisis is no exception. Even as and get sick and die amid a , and , the government appears to be more keen to bail out the oil and gas industry than to assist regular people.

People鈥檚 movements aren鈥檛 taking this lying down. They鈥檙e organizing in creative ways to pressure the government to put people over profits. They鈥檙e resisting this one-sided class war by making it two-sided. More than are calling for an end to fossil fuel bailouts while demanding alternatives such as rent cancellation, worker protections, and a people鈥檚 bailout.

If there鈥檚 a silver lining that has emerged from this crisis, it is the new mood of defiance in social movements and the willingness to articulate and fight for bold, visionary demands.  

Rent Relief

Many factors are behind the oil market collapse, and the two the oil industry wants you to hear鈥攖he coronavirus-induced for oil and the price war鈥攁re both partly true. But another major factor was the global oil glut driven by the in U.S. oil and gas production, much of it . Even as financial analysts that the massive debt-fueled expansion of oil and gas was a bubble, the industry went on borrowing, drilling, fracking鈥攁nd making a few people .

Now, fossil fuel companies want the public to bail them out for their own irresponsibility, first by seeking 鈥�.鈥� By way of background, oil and gas producers lease federal and for their operations, in exchange of royalties paid to the government. and warn that the royalties paid by the industry are too low. But now the industry wants to pay even less.

To put the industry鈥檚 desire for royalty relief in perspective, millions of 鈥攁nd many more who work in the informal 鈥済ig economy,鈥� or who are undocumented鈥攚ill be unable to make rental and mortgage payments. A wave of evictions and foreclosures could follow.

People are organizing for rent cancellation, pressuring local or state governments to put a freeze on rent and mortgage payments, and on evictions and foreclosures. Some of them are also organizing , where tenants band together to collectively refuse to pay rent. demands and are gathering momentum nationally and in and , and is being proposed for rent and mortgage cancellation as well.

Any royalty relief for the oil and gas industry鈥攅ffectively a reduction in rent charged for using public property for private gain鈥攕hould be out of the question until after rental and mortgage relief that not only ensures that people can stay in their homes now, but also protects people from accumulated payments becoming due immediately after the crisis.

Worker Protections

Another potential source of government assistance for the oil and gas industry is . Warped priorities are on display here, especially considering that a shortage of basic protective equipment for front-line workers and the fact that millions are unemployed or facing homelessness.

Trump first announced on that he was directing the Treasury and Energy Departments to provide assistance to the oil and gas industry, saying that he wanted 鈥渢hese very important companies and jobs鈥� to be 鈥渟ecured long into the future.鈥�

Trump calls oil and gas 鈥渋mportant鈥� companies鈥攁s opposed to the that are hurting right now鈥攂ecause the oil and gas industry is a for Trump and other elected officials. And if the oil and gas industry is 鈥渟ecured long into the future,鈥� suffice it to say that the fate of humanity and of Earth鈥檚 ecosystems is .

This rhetoric is also divisive. Obviously, oil and gas workers are hurting, with in March and more to come. These workers should not have to bear the consequences of their employers鈥� recklessness. They deserve federal support.

But all jobs and all workers deserve protection. That includes workers () facing layoffs. And it includes bus drivers and forced to risk their lives by going to work. To put one group of workers on a pedestal while ignoring most workers鈥� critical need for protection and government support is shameless political pandering.

Social movements are demanding that front-line workers are protected first, before any handouts to corporations. There鈥檚 a broad call for protecting , as well as a specific call to protect essential workers who or use transit to get to work. (Full disclosure, I鈥檓 one of the key organizers of the transit petition.)

Worker action, too, has gone beyond articulating demands. Front-line retail, distribution, and delivery workers at companies such as and its subsidiary have staged walkouts and strikes demanding protection and hazard pay. And this is in spite of the country鈥檚 lopsided, labor laws that make organizing extremely difficult.

As governments display a reckless disregard for human lives and serve corporate profits instead, movements are creating structures for communities to take care of themselves. premised on collective care are springing up in communities across the country and worldwide.

A Bailout for People

The final means by which the fossil fuel industry is seeking a public bailout is through the buyout of by the Federal Reserve.

At a time when state and local governments are with rising human needs and constrained resources, social movements are calling for a . Such a response to the coronavirus crisis centers people, especially the Black, brown, Indigenous, and low-wealth people who are most affected by this crisis鈥攁nd all crises.

The demand for a people鈥檚 bailout sees the response to the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity, not to merely restore the status quo, but to build a better and more just world. It is based on five core principles, worth quoting in their entirety:

鈥� Health is the top priority, for all people, with no exceptions.

鈥� Economic relief must be provided directly to the people.

鈥� Rescue workers and communities, not corporate executives.

鈥� Make a down payment on a regenerative economy while preventing future crises.

鈥� Protect our democratic process while protecting each other.

Supporters are clear that 鈥渞eturning to normal鈥� would be woefully inadequate. They say it鈥檚 unacceptable to return to the profoundly unjust and unequal status quo that has resulted in the crisis being so horrific to begin with.

Only a recovery based on principles such as those of the people鈥檚 bailout would be able to create a more just society out of the ashes of the coronavirus crisis.