The leaders of the seven richest countries in the world have just held a three-day get-together in Biarritz (France). The so-called “summit” cost millions of euros and there were so many police officers in the area that Biarritz and the surrounding region gave the impression of being under siege while the leaders of the seven most powerful states of the world delivered speeches that were full of lies and hypocrisy.

This type of international shindig gives G7 leaders an opportunity to put on a show and try to please the public opinion of their respective countries. Macron, for one, certainly went to great lengths to do so! He was all over the media, trying to make people believe that he could save the Amazon from the blazing fires and the oceans from dangerous pollution.

Macron, the “rich people’s president”, had his eyes on the upcoming French elections. That’s why he was so eager to “greenwash” his image. But while he was making his eco-friendly speeches, his government continued to defend the interests of companies like Total, an oil company that causes pollution in the four corners of the world. Recent reports concerning the dangers of glyphosate and the “red mud” scandal in the south of France are just two examples of how inconceivable it is, for French or Brazilian leaders, to restrict the activities of chemical or agro-business companies if it means reducing their profits.

It is simply out of the question for Macron and his ministers, as well as all the leaders of all imperialist states, to attack the interests of the capitalist companies they serve. 

The heads of state who showed off in front of the TV cameras from around the world were supposed to tackle problems like the economic crisis, the trade wars, the threat of a recession, pollution and global warming. But they once again shown that they are utterly incapable of finding solutions to the problems caused by their system--even if that really was their intention.

The world leaders are the greatest robbers of an economy based on the exploitation of working people and the plundering of the planet. But if they are all eager to maintain an increasingly unequal and violent social order, each one of them also defends the loot of their own nation’s capitalists in a context of worsening crisis. 

The unchallenged power of the United States allows Trump to use brutal and cynical pressure tactics, which crudely underline the reality of the relationships between various nation states in an imperialist world based on sheer strength. 

Neither the capital owners nor the different administrations serving their interests can prevent the economy from sinking deeper and deeper into the crisis. In a system based on the private ownership of both the means of production and the banking system, each capitalist is free to transfer their capital as they see fit, the sole objective being an increase in productivity.

In order to guarantee their profits, capitalists have laid workers off and aggravated exploitation. They have favored the development of finance, which reaps in much more money than industrial production. The whole economy has been transformed into a house of cards that threatens to collapse overnight with the next stock market panic. Profits have skyrocketed for a minority of capitalists but at the cost of mass unemployment and increasing social inequalities. Everywhere, there are underdeveloped regions that remain poorly developed. The farce that the world leaders put on at the G7 Summit is all the more preposterous as the economic and climatic crises to come will have very serious consequences for everybody.

Workers could take control of the economy and put an end to the chaotic way it works by expropriating large capitalist companies. They could then democratically reorganize and control the economy in order to meet the needs of the majority while taking seriously into consideration the preservation of the environment. 

Workers are at the heart of the economy, making up a concentrated, organized force. They are the only social class that has no reason to maintain a system based on the private ownership of the means of production and the capitalist exploitation of labor. They are the only ones who can put an end to the domination of the bourgeoisie and reorganize the economy on a collective basis.

More than ever, the future of humanity depends on them.