AIDC was formed in 1996 in response to the democratic transition in South Africa and the new opportunities and challenges it brought those seeking greater social justice within the democracy. Over the years AIDC has played a leading role in various civil society responses to ongoing inequality including facilitating the launch and building of the South African Jubilee 2000 debt cancellation campaign, and the Right to Work Campaign.
Paradigmatic
“They use the language of ‘Just Transition’ to speak of the need for paradigmatic shift in multiple systems, e.g. from ‘energy for profit’ model to socially owned renewable energy model; from extractive, capitalist, neoliberal economy to ""a low carbon economy in which the basic needs of communities are met in an equitable, sustainable and affordable way”.
They believe that the framing of Green New Deal is “too narrow, especially in a South African and global South perspective”. Just Transition is the framing they choose to use instead.
They argue that it is not possible to respond adequately to current global challenges within the logic of the market. They say: “We want a just transition which is not just about greening market relations and greening profit making; it must be about creating a society where the needs of all are met, workers are treated decently, and the environment is respected.”
Their Eskom paper calls for responses ordered around a fundamental shift in principles: ”• cooperation rather than competition; • meeting public need rather than financial profit lines; • accountability and transparency rather than opaqueness and obfuscation; and • open public funding rather than private sector subsidisation.”
Integrated
Integrated approach is implicit in the call for social/political/cultural transformation, e.g.: “None of these catastrophes will be simply climate disasters. Always there will be the effects of the capitalist market. Always super powers and small powers will be meddling. At every step of the way there will be alternatives. When there are famines, governments can feed the hungry. When there is economic devastation, people can share equally and rebuild anew. People can welcome refugees to new homes in new countries, with new jobs and schools for their children. Where war threatens, people can build mass movements for peace. All this is possible. The great majority of the devastation will happen not simply because of climate change, but because climate change will happen in a greedy, cruel, market driven social and economic system. We do not have to live that way. Every step of the way, we can campaign for sharing and kindness. Climate jobs are a solution that shares work and shares money so we can take care of each other. They are a step in building a different society.”
Though they don’t have much if any explicit focus on the “inner”, in their One Million Climate Jobs paper, they clearly articulate the need for different kinds of responses and activities across different communities and systems, e.g. government action and mass popular movement, and they draw links between social, cultural, and economic systems and impacts.
Pragmatic
They propose and campaign for pragmatic potential solutions, e.g. One Million Climate Jobs
Key Publications
’- One Million Climate Jobs: Moving South Africa Forward on a Low-Carbon, Wage-Led and Sustainable Path (2016)
- Eskom Transformed: Achieving a Just Energy Transition for South Africa