Climate justice, socialisation & care

The Care Revolution Network was involved in preparing the Let's socialise - socialisation as a strategy for climate justice conference. We also gave an input on the connection between care, climate and socialisation to kick off the care strand at the conference. Following the input, the Sorge ins Parkcenter campaign presented the concept of caring cities. For reasons of space, a similar input was given in two different rooms. This is the written version by Liska (WiC) and Kirsten (Care Revolution Leipzig):

Socialisation in the care sector as a contribution to more climate justice

At the beginning of the planning for the conference "Let's Socialize" - socialisation as a strategy for climate justice, it was discussed whether care should even be a separate strand at the conference. After all, the reduction in_{CO2 emissions} through the socialisation of hospital groups or nursing homes is relatively small compared to the socialisation of RWE or VW. Nevertheless, we have opted for the care strand because care must be a central component of a movement that thinks climate justice and socialisation together. We believe that a good life for all in a society that does not continue to destroy its livelihoods is only possible and attractive if people are provided for, supported and secure and are connected to each other through sustainable care relationships. A climate-friendly, non-imperial world is inconceivable without care. In our view, care must be taken into account in every climate and socialisation campaign. After all, the question of how everyone's needs can be met and how this can be generalised should always be at the heart of emancipatory projects.

What do we mean by care?

What do we mean by care or, synonymously, concern? In our view, it is firstly about care work, i.e. activities in which people directly look after the needs of other people, e.g. in the areas of health, care, assistance, education, housing or housework and the associated planning ("mental load") and affective work as well as caring for oneself. Secondly, it is important to realise or adopt the attitude that all people are dependent on care throughout their lives and that it is existential for people to experience care and to be involved in care relationships to which everyone involved always contributes, despite all asymmetry. The needs of everyone should therefore be recognised and taken into account in these relationships. A caring attitude is also directed towards relationships with the non-human world. In this respect, care also includes care for the climate.

Care work

Care work is predominantly carried out by women and queer people. Around 75% of care workers are women, a good 2/3 of unpaid domestic and caring work is done by women, and the disparity is particularly clear in situations with a particularly high level of stress: a good 80% of single parents are female. The majority of care work is unpaid. The high level of unpaid care work often leads to overwork, financial dependency and poverty, especially in old age. Those who can afford it individually and/or see no alternative often outsource care work in the household, childcare or nursing to mostly migrant care workers. For example, home care for those in need of care is often provided by people from Eastern Europe. Many care jobs are still poorly paid and working conditions are almost always precarious, which is exacerbated by a shortage of skilled labour. It is foreseeable that this situation will become even more acute, as demand in the care sector, for example, will increase significantly over the next few years; at the same time, many carers will retire over the same period. Migrants are disproportionately represented in low-paid care jobs in particular. In addition, many care sectors are geared towards the possibility of capital realisation; this not only has an impact on working conditions, but also results in supply bottlenecks and inadequate care. It is therefore quite obvious that people whose lives require a great deal of care are poorly provided for under the conditions of a capitalist society and reliance on profit-orientated companies.

The climate crisis and the care crisis go hand in hand

The exploitation of natural resources and care work is a structural feature of capitalism. Both are regarded as seemingly permanently available resources that can be utilised indefinitely. The only visible aspect of this system is the growth economy, which is focussed on the production and trade of goods. Unremunerated, in the context of families, social networks and so-called voluntary work, work takes place that cannot be utilised well and cannot be compressed in terms of time. The system is dependent on the existence of care work. If nobody raises children, prepares food, cultivates friendships, builds networks, runs households or cleans buildings and streets, no society would think twice about it. And it is also dependent on the availability of air, light, water and raw materials. The profit logic in paid care work also leads to a reduction in the costs of all processes in institutions and thus to staff cuts, increased pressure to work "faster" and a lack of equipment. With all of this, capitalism destroys social relationships just as it destroys the reproduction conditions of human life, all living beings and ecosystems. In this respect, the social system is the cause of crises in social and ecological reproduction.

Care and climate are also closely intertwined with regard to the effects of the climate catastrophe. On the one hand, the consequences of climate change increase the need for care activities if, for example, circulatory problems increase due to heat or the psychological consequences have to be absorbed, e.g. due to loss of land through flooding or similar. At the same time, the conditions under which care work is carried out are becoming more difficult: even in emergency shelters, people have to be cooked for, comforted and cared for, and destroyed infrastructure has to be replaced by interim solutions.

We are therefore all affected by both the care crisis and the climate crisis. However, this is not to the same extent: the complexity and multi-layered nature of being affected must be taken into account in relation to both care and the consequences of climate change. The effects of the climate crisis are already being felt much more strongly in the global South than in the global North, even though the latter is the main cause. This is exacerbated by the way in which we organise or outsource care here. Due to the disparity between wealth and poverty in the Global South and Eastern Europe, people are coming to Western Europe to perform care work under precarious conditions. As a result, there is a lack of people in the countries of origin who take on care work there and the social resilience to cushion crises through sustainable care networks decreases. The climate crisis is also affecting groups in the Global North to varying degrees: who lives and works in air-conditioned buildings? Which people can "cope" with temperatures of over 35°? Who is covered by the social security system? Whose needs are taken seriously and what is considered worth protecting? The extent to which people are affected depends on socio-economic conditions, gender, race and mental and physical health.

For a climate-friendly and desirable future, care must be at the centre of society!

We therefore advocate a society in which everyone has access to a well-developed and democratically organised care infrastructure and in which care tasks are organised collectively in self-organised care settings. Such a society can manage with fewer goods and individual savings in order to fulfil the needs of the individual. And it is worth living in, as all people are cared for and can contribute and look after themselves according to their abilities and needs and basic needs take centre stage.

We can protect and support each other through sustainable care infrastructures and caring relationships. This is central to further social change and will become all the more important if crises and risks arise or intensify as a result of climate change (e.g. due to health burdens, destruction caused by disasters, loss of some gainful employment). The aforementioned elements of a society in which care and social relationships generally take centre stage help to cushion fears in relation to the climate crisis and the necessary changes in the material economy and way of life and to collectively absorb individual hardship. Taking fears and burdens in connection with the climate crisis seriously and paying attention to them is also an element of a caring attitude.

So why do we need socialisation in the care sector?

Climate justice requires less consumption of resources and therefore a move away from the imperial way of life outlined above. This is only possible in a society that gives much greater relevance to social relationships, especially care. Care must finally be seen as a social task - regardless of gender or other categories or attributions such as socio-economic conditions or race. To achieve this, the whole of care work must be socialised, i.e. the framework conditions for unpaid care work as well as daycare centres and nursing homes.

The struggle for all these changes can be understood as revolutionary realpolitik. By this we mean: The conditions for people in care relationships are improving directly and significantly. It shows what life beyond capitalism could be like. People with more time and energy and initial experiences of struggle can take further steps together more easily. Traditional norms and divisions of labour are potentially called into question. It is also a contribution to climate justice. Because in a way of life in which relationships are at the centre, vulnerability no longer has to be a source of fear and the care and participation of all is ensured, so that individual security, individual possessions, status and protection from others lose their excessive importance.

What does socialisation look like in the care sector?

Socialisation means the de-privatisation of institutions and the de-privatisation of "invisible" care work in households. And socialisation means democratisation. This means access to care infrastructures for all, democratic decision-making and organisational structures and collective experimentation with care practices in self-organised care settings. In concrete terms, these are possible first steps towards socialisation:

• Collective, jointly organised solutions for unpaid, domestic care work
• No profits and no privatisation instruments in the care sector
• democratically organised care facilities in which all those involved can decide on the conditions and design of the services.
• Democratic decisions on the organisation of care tasks, e.g. through care councils
• Unconditional access to well-developed care infrastructures that are orientated towards the needs and requirements of those affected
• Solidarity-based financing of care tasks, e.g. comprehensive care insurance or a ban on private insurance in the care sector
• More time for unpaid care work, e.g. through a reduction in working hours and/or individual protection independent of employment

What is already happening

The care movement is large and diverse. Numerous alliances, groups and networks are campaigning for fundamental improvements in the conditions of care work and are trialling solidarity-based care practices. In recent years, the hospital movement has mobilised many people to fight for more co-determination, better working conditions and better care for patients, celebrating important successes in the process. Trade unions and feminist groups have worked together successfully. There have also been initial links with the climate movement. The Our Hospital alliance is campaigning for the Marburg/Gießen University Hospital to be returned to public ownership and efforts are being made in Bremen to remunicipalise retirement homes. Numerous local health centres and the centres of the Polyclinic Syndicate are working for fair, holistic, solidarity-based care. Collectives such as the Lossetal day care collective or Autonomia organise paid care work as a collective. At a national level, ver.di is introducing solidarity-based care insurance and, together with other organisations in the Krankenhaus statt Fabrik association, is organising protests against hospital funding via flat rates per case. Many initiatives are concerned with the framework conditions: Healthcare without exclusions, individual protection independent of employment, reduction in working hours with wage compensation for low hourly wages. Building on the concept of caring cities, the Care in the Park Centre campaign is fighting to set up a care centre in a largely empty shopping centre.

The concept of the caring city - feminist socialisation

We therefore need transformation at various levels in order to live in a more solidary, climate-friendly and care-centred way: internationally, nationally and locally. The concept of caring cities provides a framework for how the socialisation of care can be part of a transformation towards a more climate-friendly city/society. The idea is nothing completely new, but has a long tradition of projects from various social movements. Examples are from the labour movement: Support funds were generalised and co-opted into social insurance schemes, infrastructure for more collective forms of housing and care was established in Red Vienna after the First World War, for example. From the women's movement: Children's shops or women's shelters emerged as feminist projects. From anti-authoritarian movements as a whole: commons projects such as communes or collective enterprises and district centres emerged as an important form of organisation, e.g. ALSO/Oldenburg, Mehringhof/West Berlin). From the health and care movement: Community hospitals and practices and women's health centres emerged; care alliances have accompanied strikes in daycare centres or hospitals since the beginning of the "care strike wave", e.g. in 2013 at Charité Berlin.

The concept of caring cities is a feminist approach to the socialisation of care as part of a socio-ecological transformation. Concrete approaches include the care blocks in Bogota, the package of measures by the left-wing city government of Barelona en Comú for the democratisation of care in the city of Barcelona and the Verdragon, a district centre for anti-racism and popular ecology. The Caring City places care (needs), participation and care for the planet at the centre by creating needs-oriented, local and outreach support structures.