New website from the Pan-Hellenic network of collectives for energy

Framework of the Network's positions

Panhellenic Network of collectives for energy

An intense activity in the energy sector has been in full swing over the last two decades. It is spreading spatially over the globe, is manifesting itself in all sectors (electricity generation of all kinds, mining, energy infrastructure, transmission networks, etc.), is characterised by large scale, reinforces the centralisation of the energy management system and is being imposed in an extremely violent way. In order to implement it, the legal framework is being adapted, environmental protection is being suffocatingly restricted and capital is being openly rewarded.

These rapid changes are experienced by society in a painful way, especially in the «targeted» areas, regardless of the type of activity and its weight in central planning. At the same time, because the dispersion of energy activities is extensive, they are beginning to be received, not as the sum of individual local damaging «incidents», but as a single problem of general interest and universal validity. This is confirmed by the maturing of the need for coordinated movement action.

The rhetoric and communication policy, which serve the above systemic choices, prove incapable of concealing the deeper aspirations of their agents. Climate protection, energy security, the expectation of prosperity, the goal of transforming Greece into an «energy hub», geopolitical security, etc., are nothing but the cover of an aggressive speculative concept and the means for the social legitimization of the logic of development («green» or not), which, however, is perceived by large layers of society. This sense of generalised distrust and questioning of almost all energy activities is reinforced by the awareness, on the one hand, of the complete commodification of energy production and the abandonment of any thought of a common good and, on the other hand, of the total alienation of society from any kind of «energy planning».

What we are really receiving as citizens and organised collectives are practices of nature plundering and land grabbing, shrinking biodiversity and productive activities that alter the social and economic characteristics of local communities, phenomena of domination (local and general) of economic interests, increasing problems of access to energy services due to high costs, spreading energy poverty, geopolitical uncertainty and risks of military involvement as a consequence of the high costs of energy services.

In this environment, the focus of concern, exclusively, on the issue of changing the energy mix, with the axis of reducing the use of fossil fuels and intensifying the use of RES methodologies, seems superficial and ineffective, as it fails to address the problem in its essence and bypasses its essential parameters, with the visible risk of leading to the creation of new «wounds», without healing the old ones. There is therefore a twofold need: on the one hand, a more general approach to the energy issue and, on the other, the formation of a broad social front to challenge and overturn the dominant choices. On the basis of these findings, the second meeting on energy (17-18 October) elaborated the following positions.

Places

1. The main reason for the upsurge and expansion of energy activities is the continuing rapid growth in energy demand and consumption, out of step with real social needs. This phenomenon is taking place in the context of an economic system of perpetual growth and accumulation and under the dominance of the logic of growth, factors which must be radically challenged.
2. We fight against the commodification of energy production and management. The policies of liberalization of the energy market, its transformation into a typical commercial - stock market product in the context of an autonomous market - through government and state policies that do not take into account the real social needs - magnify the problem and give «frenetic» characteristics to energy activities.
3. We find ourselves radically opposed to the model of the vast energy transformation, which is in full evolutionary phase. This transformation is based on the complete liberalisation of the energy market, the spread of industrial-scale wind and photovoltaic installations, the continued damming of rivers (large and small), the choice of waste incineration as a stable method of energy production, the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons, the spread of large-scale - now transnational - electricity grids and gas and oil pipelines, and the general centralisation of the energy system. This position implies our opposition to all the claims to the extraction rights in the Mediterranean, to the international rivalries and the wars that are being generated within this system for the control of energy sources and routes.
4. We fight for the protection and recovery of the natural environment, as well as for the preservation and enhancement of the cultural environment, against the policies of unprecedented loss of ecosystems and the drastic reduction of biodiversity, which are directly linked to the above activities.
5. On the basis of the above:
   - declare our radical opposition to the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) and the National Waste Management Plan (NWMP).
   - we demand the annulment of the anti-environmental law Hatzidakis (Law 4685/2020) and all the legislative regulations that legitimize environmental destruction and shrink any measure of environmental protection.
6. Land grabbing for the development of all kinds of energy activities and the changes of use it brings about, the direct impact on a large part of soft economic activities, the degradation of landscapes, the risks of possible «accidents» during hydrocarbon exploration and extraction, the new wave of urbanisation and unemployment resulting from the violent restructuring that is being attempted, constitute a violent, negative change in the living conditions of local communities, in the name of necessity, the consequences of which they have never been informed of or accepted.
7. Climate change is a product of the «development» logic of the last 200 years and a manifestation of the general ecological and environmental crisis. In this respect, it has a place on the strategic agenda of the environmental movements, on the basis of an autonomous and distinct discourse that is not locked into the rhetoric of official policy. A politics that does not really aim to tackle climate change, but to create the impression that it does. From this perspective, the struggle to curb the effects of climate change can only be diametrically opposed to both «black growth» and market «green growth», as well as to any systemic ostensible «solution» that attempts to embellish the timeless and contemporary responsibilities of the system itself.
8. The criterion for energy planning, at all levels, cannot be to serve the interests of capital at the expense of the weak. We support the safeguarding of energy sources as a common good in the context of a process of radical social transformation. We advocate the strengthening of localism and the decentralisation of networks and basic infrastructure, within a framework of meeting both local and supra-local needs and beyond the separation between producers and consumers of energy. Participation in planning, social control, ensuring universal access to basic energy services and the eradication of energy poverty must be key elements of an alternative kinetic concept.
9. The adoption of this alternative conception is not limited to the obstruction and confrontation of individual energy activities, but inevitably needs to be integrated into the strategic orientation of the movements and to be based on a comprehensive view of energy policies as part of the more general policies for a radical social - ecological transformation.