It’s going to quickly be one yr because the flood catastrophe in mid-July 2021 affected a number of areas of Western Europe. “Like a warfare zone” was how residents of those flooded areas described their scenario on the time. As we speak, one yr later, this evaluation nonetheless applies to massive components of the affected areas.
On July 14 and 15, 2021, extreme climate and heavy rain unleashed big flood waves within the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, and in Belgium. Greater than 220 individuals misplaced their lives. The plenty of water destroyed and broken hundreds of homes, roads, bridges, massive components of infrastructure, colleges, hospitals, docs’ places of work, retailers, lodges and guesthouses, retailers and companies, briefly: the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of individuals.
The harm was worst in Ahrtal in Rhineland-Palatinate, the place the flooding of the river Ahr reached file ranges. Lots of have been injured and 9,000 buildings destroyed or severely broken; 134 individuals misplaced their lives. The water stage reached to the ceiling in many homes. Tens of hundreds of individuals have been with out electrical energy, consuming water and phone companies for days, many for weeks.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the flooding of the rivers Ahr, Erft and Rur in addition to the Ruhr and Wupper brought on monumental harm. Forty-nine individuals misplaced their lives within the state, whereas the flood additionally claimed 38 lives in Wallonia, Belgium.
Virtually the entire victims shared the identical expertise: when the flood got here, there was no alarm, no advance warnings and no precautionary evacuations organised by the accountable federal, state and native authorities, though meteorologists and different scientists had warned of the hazard days earlier than. Even throughout and after the flood, the authorities failed to offer coordinated support.
In distinction, the assistance supplied by these affected and by volunteers, a few of whom travelled lengthy distances to assist the flood sufferer, was excellent and their help continues to today. “We couldn’t have completed it with out the numerous volunteers,” reads a Fb web page from the Ahr valley.
Just a few days after the flood catastrophe, the World Socialist Internet Web site printed its assertion, “The floods in Europe and the chapter of capitalism,” which recognized the twin causes of the flood catastrophe:
“First, it’s the direct product of the local weather disaster produced by the capitalist revenue system, which is resulting in ever extra excessive climate occasions,” it stated. Flood disasters and droughts have lengthy been recognized and researched as penalties of the local weather disaster, however though they in the end threaten “the survival of the planet and all humanity,” “the ruling class is incapable of and unwilling to undertake critical local weather safety measures as a result of this might undermine its financial and geostrategic pursuits.”
Secondly, the WSWS pointed to the “a long time of underfunding and cuts to infrastructure, together with flood limitations, a working early warning system and a catastrophe prevention system. Worldwide consultants have identified that the excessive loss of life toll is instantly sure up with inadequacies in these areas.”
Felony negligence was clearly at play within the flood catastrophe. Through the federal election marketing campaign at the moment, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the candidates for chancellor Armin Laschet (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) and Olaf Scholz (Social Democratic Get together, SPD) all visited the flooded areas and promised fast emergency support and “unbureaucratic help.” A €30 billion reconstruction fund, financed half by the federal authorities and half by the state governments of NRW and Rhineland-Palatinate, was arrange.
Nonetheless, solely the quick emergency support of as much as €3,500 per family, and thus not even the proverbial drop within the bucket, was really made accessible in an uncomplicated method and arrived comparatively rapidly. Most individuals are nonetheless ready in useless for the a lot wanted, greater ranges of economic support from the reconstruction fund.
In its programme “The anguish after the Ahr flood” (17 Could 2022) the ARD tv channel reported that solely a handful of these entitled had acquired monetary help as a result of sophisticated utility procedures for monetary help. Virtually a yr after the flood, the destruction remains to be omnipresent. Though politicians had promised fast assist, support has nonetheless not reached those that urgently want it.
In keeping with the ARD report, the authorities in Rhineland-Palatinate anticipated 10,000 purposes, however many victims have been unable to beat the appreciable bureaucratic hurdles put of their manner. To date, solely 700 have acquired cash from the accountable funding and structural financial institution ISB and simply 5 purposes(!) have been absolutely paid out. So nearly a yr after the flood, practically 10,000 affected individuals in Rhineland-Palatinate alone are nonetheless ready for help.
As well as, there are widespread fears that reconstruction won’t happen primarily based on scientific analyses of the causes of the flood. It’s nonetheless unclear the place homes near the Ahr river and washed away by the flood are to be rebuilt. A brand new flood prevention idea remains to be not accessible and, based on one professional, this will take at the very least one other two to 3 years.
The prison inaction of the authorities continues to today and has provoked indignant feedback from flood victims.
“The cash is just not being paid out,” one native resident, a restaurateur in Ahrweiler, instructed the WSWS. “A number of million euros have been collected by way of donations for the flood victims. Half of this cash is meant to have been paid out up to now, however the place is the opposite half? Nothing has reached us. The federal government is ready to discover 100 billion euros for the Bundeswehr and ship weapons to Ukraine that value many extra billions, however what about us?”
On Could 12, 150 to 200 individuals affected by the flood demonstrated in Ahrweiler organised by the initiative “Ahrtal—Wir stehen auf” (“Ahr Valley—We’re making a stand”). On Fb, these affected by the flood wrote that they have been “indignant, unhappy, disillusioned and shocked.”
They’re demanding the upkeep of provide tents and stations: “These should stay so long as they’re wanted. For these affected—who’re nonetheless with out kitchens—in addition to for the help employees we nonetheless want within the valley.” One other demand is to maintain landfills open, the place residents and volunteers can proceed to get rid of garbage from their broken homes freed from cost. The initiative additionally complains concerning the size of time and forms concerned in making use of for cash, in addition to the failure to restore panorama and infrastructure that continues to be in a ruinous situation.
In Could, new plans by state and federal politicians rekindled the anger and outrage within the flooded areas. The plans confirmed the gulf between these affected and an aloof political elite. In April, the district of Unhealthy Neuenahr-Ahrweiler determined to organise a commemoration on the anniversary of the flood catastrophe on July 14. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Rhineland-Palatinate Premier Malu Dreyer (each SPD) are as a consequence of converse.
The native setting and district committee solely realized of the plan on Could 16 and was presupposed to approve the extra expenditure of €155,000 for the organisation of the occasion, with a lot of the expenditure for safety measures. It was assumed that the state would cowl a big a part of the bills, with the district offering €50,000, when mandatory, from a donations pot for flood victims! After some controversial discussions, the setting and district committee initially agreed to the plan.
When these plans and the excessive prices grew to become recognized, an eruption of anger from the inhabitants compelled the district of Unhealthy Neuenahr-Ahrweiler to right away withdraw its consent for such an costly commemoration. Ultimately, the accountable politicians agreed on an occasion that ought to not value greater than €30,000 from the district treasury.
Notable through the flood disaster was the behaviour of two politicians, Anne Spiegel (Greens, Rhineland-Palatinate) and Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU, North Rhine-Westphalia), the setting ministers of their respective states. Each politicians needed to resign months later.
Following the federal election in 2021, Anne Spiegel was appointed minister for Household Affairs within the present “site visitors gentle” coalition of the Greens, SPD and Free Democratic Get together (FDP). The parliamentary investigation committee of Rhineland-Palatinate revealed, nevertheless, that she had taken a four-week household vacation shortly after the flood. Her CDU colleague from NRW had additionally continued her journey to Majorca regardless of the lethal flood and later made false statements about her vacation. Each politicians embody the indifference and contempt that prevails within the elite for the working inhabitants.
The undignified dealing with of the Parliamentary Investigation Committee (PUA) in North Rhine-Westphalia can be important. The brand new state authorities of North Rhine-Westphalia, which now consists of the Greens in addition to the CDU, wished to quietly wind up the committee, though no closing report has been submitted. The SPD and FDP just lately agreed, nevertheless, to proceed the committee—primarily in response to public anger and opposition. The SPD was additionally apparently initially prepared to easily let the investigative committee expire.
This demonstrates how insignificant an actual clarification of the flood catastrophe is for these politicians of all political stripes: how the catastrophe might occur within the first place, who’s accountable, and the way such disasters may be prevented sooner or later.
The working class should draw the required conclusions. It can’t depend on capitalist politicians within the battle in opposition to the local weather disaster and its results—floods, droughts, forest fires, and so forth. It wants an impartial perspective.
Tens of millions of individuals worldwide have been affected by flooding or warmth disasters for a few years now. Fierce fires are being reported from Greece and Spain and floods from Turkey, the US, Asia and Australia. In Africa, hundreds of thousands of individuals are affected by droughts. In India and Bangladesh, hundreds have simply misplaced their lives and hundreds of thousands their properties and shelters as a consequence of notably heavy rains and floods.
The profit-before-lives politics and inhuman indifference of the ruling class that characterises the coronavirus pandemic—with 20 million deaths worldwide and over 140,000 deaths in Germany—can be evident within the flood catastrophe.
Lots of of billions of euros and {dollars} have been poured into the pockets of the massive firms and banks through the pandemic. Lots of of billions extra are actually being poured into fuelling the warfare between NATO and Russia in Ukraine, with the fixed menace that this warfare will result in a nuclear alternate and the destruction of humanity. On the identical time, the working class is being compelled to pay for the warfare via rising inflation and the exploding value of dwelling.
Opposition to those insupportable circumstances is growing worldwide. The battle in opposition to local weather change and the risks and catastrophes related to it’s sure up with the battle in opposition to social inequality, pandemic, fascism and warfare. It requires the revolutionary mobilisation of the working class in opposition to capitalism. Solely via a worldwide socialist reorganisation of society, placing the wants of the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants first, can the battle in opposition to local weather change be received and be sure that flood disasters like that of July 2021 are by no means repeated.
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