A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #348 - Ecology, Decolonial ecology: Politicizing the environmental struggle (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Capitalism and colonialism are expanding, destroying more and more of 
our planet to satisfy industrialists who violate human rights, exert 
legal pressure and even go as far as assassination to silence protesting 
voices. The fight for effective actions for the preservation of life and 
for environmental justice necessarily requires a decolonial analysis of 
ecology. ---- The link between climate change, colonialism and 
capitalism has long been made by researchers, as well as activists, from 
countries still under Western neo-colonial influence. Capitalism, to 
develop and become the dominant model for organizing economic relations, 
necessarily works hand in hand with colonial, imperialist and racist 
policies. This form of colonial capitalism destroys any alternative 
organization by expelling indigenous peoples from their lands to better 
enslave them in order to establish a single social mode, that of fossil 
extractivism (see article Extractivism: Environmental struggles beyond 
borders ).

The slave trade is a clear illustration of colonial racist capitalism. 
Indeed, following the colonialist policies of European powers who 
settled on American territories, indigenous peoples were chased from 
their lands. They were used to install plantations in the service of 
imperialist commercial interests, destroying the viability of the soil 
in the process  [ 1 ] .

Today, these mechanisms of exploitation of the land and people who are 
racialized by Western powers take other forms. For example, the 
chlordecone scandal in the West Indies, under French domination, 
highlighted the activity of industrial lobbies to continue the use of a 
pesticide which not only caused soil pollution but also cancers among 
banana plantation workers. We can also mention the nuclear tests in 
Algeria or Polynesia where struggles are still underway to have the 
damage caused by the French state recognized.

False environmental justice, real colonialism and racism
When we look at the reactions of Western states to manage the climate 
crisis, particularly through environmental justice, it seems clear that 
the colonial pattern persists. Indeed, the traditional organizations of 
the State or businesses, which maintain colonial capitalism, propose to 
find solutions in the development of technologies (electric cars, for 
example). However, this involves the plundering of resources and the 
exploitation of a workforce in the service of Western companies.

Likewise, nature protection policies implemented in formerly colonized 
countries illustrate the way in which Western states which pollute the 
most redeem a good conscience by imposing their vision of nature. 
Projects carried out by predominantly white NGOs are at the origin of 
forced population displacements to realize their ideal of fantasized 
wild nature  [ 2 ] .

Today, people who are experiencing the full brunt of the consequences of 
climate change are subject to racism from Western powers. Borders are 
closing, as more and more people are forced to move to escape extremely 
violent weather events like droughts or cyclones that harm dignified 
living conditions.

To compensate for global warming which is already underway, it is 
necessary to politicize the environmental struggle: let's look at 
reality and pose the words of racist, colonialist exploitation of lands 
and bodies, to better be able to fight against it. Let us adopt an 
analysis of decolonial ecology to organize together alternatives to 
capitalism for a better preservation of life.

Elsa (UCL Grenoble)

To validate

[ 1 ]  See the work of G. Bhattacharyva, D. Haraway, A. Tsing and M. 
Ferdinand who develop the idea of ​​racial capitalism and the 
Anthropocene/Plantationocene.

[ 2 ]  See the article published in October 2023 in Libertarian 
Alternative , “ Natural Parks: Nature Conservationism or Green 
Colonialism ? »


https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Ecologie-decoloniale-Politiser-la-lutte-environnementale
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