R10 A4: No one sacrificed for European economy

A brief description of the dynamic

A capitalist system needs sacrifices to be successful.

Around Europe, in many industrial cities human lives are daily sacrificed for
the "greater wellbeing". In the name of economic success, the European Union and
its members close their eyes and allow to die thousands of people. To add
insults to injury, these deaths are ignored by the media, as institutions do
everything possible to make these catastrophes invisible.

The damage has three main axes: environmental, economic and social.

These industries are first of all environmental hazards. Do not follow the
safety rules, releasing toxic products that pollute the air, the ground and the
water. This pollution impacts not only nature but also, of course, human health.
The working-class is the first impacted, but everyone within a range of a
hundred kilometers is affected and risk to have health issues, notably cancer.

This environmental impact affects also the economic system of the area around
these factories: the polluted area is unable to be properly cultivated, and the
environmental situation makes the region touristically dead. The local economics
become therefore intrinsically linked to the factory which caused this
situation, creating a loop.

The last axis, the social axis, is defined by how this economic and
environmental hazard creates a local social struggle, where lower, middle and
upper classes continue dying for EU's and national economic development, and the
enemy is the employer and the institutions who let it be because intervene would
cost more than human lives.

A clarification is needed: talking about "sacrificed industrial cities" we are
not talking about big polluted cities constantly attacked for their pollution,
but about normal cities with a higher cancer and pollution rate that are
normally ignored and tend to not appear in statistics.

A concrete example - #IlvaIsAKiller

This dynamic is present with some variations in different parts of Europe, for example in Taranto, Italy, where its steel mill has exposed its residents to increased risks to human and ecological health, and in the IJmond area in the Netherlands, where Tata Steel has similarly exposed residents of Beverwijk, Velsen en Heemskerk to such risks.These dynamics are also often present and intertwined with environmental and systemic racism, for example with regards to the Roma communities forced to live at Pata Rât, an illegal landfill on the outskirts of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, due to forced evictions, gentrification, and spatial segregation, exposing them to pollution and health dangers; the ‘green’ extractivist projects in indigenous Sámi and Inuit lands that threaten or actively destroy their lands, livelihoods, communities, and wellbeing; in metropolitan France, where hazardous sites like incinerators and waste management facilities are more likely to be located near towns with higher immigrant populations, and racialised suburbs or districts of larger cities are often closer to large ring roads and intersections known as échangeurs - thus disproportionately exposing racialised communities to higher pollution and risks of health hazards; and in Martinique and Guadeloupe, where the use of the toxic pesticide chlordecone was permitted by the French government in the 70s to 90s despite evidence of health risks, and led to the carcinogen still being detected in more than 90% of the population today and much higher prostate cancer incidence rates. (ENAR 2022 Report)

To make these dynamics tangible, the city of Taranto, often called "Italian
Chernobyl", will be used as a model.

• With this resolution we demand local, regional, and national governments throughout Europe, and the European Union to:

  Acknowledge the existence of such cities, and take the steps necessary to put an end to industries or practices that harm the socio-ecological well-being of its communities.

  Compensate all those residents negatively affected by such industries and practices, including the generations of victims and the descendants of victims who have passed as a result of such consequences. Such compensation must include financial compensation, such as environmental and corrective reparations, and where necessary services such as healthcare treatments and area cleanups.

  Where these industries are totally necessary to the existence of the local economy (and not for that of the national or European economy) because of the dependence resulting from the jobs created, prioritise with utmost urgency a just transition of such communities guided by principles of circularity and eco-social wellbeing.

Taranto has been home for a steel mill since the 60s, Ilva, and during the last
40 years this city has been affected by this mill that has escaped EU
environmental regulations duties, polluting all the area around for kilometres
and creating health issues other than an economic and environmental catastrophe.

• In any future initiative or project that is located in the proximity of or would affect local communities, involve said communities in the deliberation, decision, and planning processes, and make eco-social wellbeing and anti-discrimination and empowerment of marginalised communities the highest priority in these processes.

Taranto has been subject of many environmental and health studies, by academics,
governmental institutions and international organisations (including WHO), and
more than once it has been demonstrated how the steel production affects the
lives of everybody in the area, creating an immesurable damage. Nonetheless,
still today its residents fight against the inaction of the Italian government
and the European Union, as it has been said through words and sometimes through
actions that Ilva brings too much to the Italian and European economy.

To this day, it has been proved that:

• Ilva causes at least 50 deaths per year, and influences more than 1000
  indirect deaths per years;

• Ilva does not respect EU regulations on environmental security;

• Ilva is a danger for its workers, with many accidents through the years;

• Because of Ilva's pollution, Taranto's province has an abnormal higher
  rate of cancer and other health issues;

• The presence of Ilva highly influenced the touristical influx;

• The concentration of steel particles in the air is higher than allowed by
  the law, at the point that "curfews" are organised during some days for
  students and workers.

Conclusion

This dynamic is present with some variations in different parts of Europe, and
as this dynamic is hidden from mass media, it's safe to say that these are not
isolated cases and that indeed it's more common than it appears.

With this resolution we request:

• -That the Federation of Young European Greens acknowledges the existence
  of these "invisible" industrial cities, standing in solidarity with the
  hundreds of victims affected by this situation every year and the
  thousands who died;

• -That the Federation of Young European Greens aknowledges these cities and
  their activists as one of the best examples of green activism, where
  climate justice and social justice interconnect perfectly;

• That the member organisations of FYEG make an effort to acknowledge
  industrial cities in their own countries that follow the aforementioned
  criterias, having as goal to make them visible and push institutional
  measures to change the social and environmental context of these cities;

• Where these industries are totally necessary to the existence of the local
  economy (and not for that for the national or European economy) because of
  the dependence created by the aforementioned reasons, an ecological
  reconversion must be privileged and pushed with immediate urgency.