Resisting Extractivism and Creating a New Commons
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The ruling class is striving to take everything from us – including our future. From the Trump administration’s anti-ecological blitzkrieg against government regulations to the proliferation of gargantuan data centers swallowing up our water and electricity, far right governments and powerful AI corporations are seizing the means of life to enrich themselves.
The material of life that sustains us all is not only being concentrated in the hands of a few ultrawealthy people; it is also being destroyed. And these two processes are not just happening simultaneously – they are interlinked.
Writing for YES! in 2021, ecofeminist activist Vandana Shiva explained how privatization and extraction are the key drivers of planetary destruction, and that the solution lies in “commoning” – practices that protect the right of all beings to enjoy the Earth’s gifts of life:
In the commons, we care and share — for the Earth and each other. We are conscious of nature’s ecological limits, which ensure her share of the gifts she creates goes back to her to sustain biodiversity and ecosystems. We are aware that all humans have a right to air, water, and food, and we feel responsible for the rights of future generations.
Enclosures of the commons, in contrast, are the root cause of the ecological crisis and the crises of poverty and hunger, dispossession and displacement. Extractivism commodifies for profit what is held in common for the sustenance of all life.
–Vandana Shiva
Read the full article: Reclaiming Our Common Home
From the Archives: The Global Danger of Unfettered Deforestation
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda are facing a major Ebola crisis, with more than 100 deaths and hundreds of confirmed cases recorded since the outbreak began in May.
The Trump administration’s cuts to USAID have likely played a major role in delaying an emergency response, but factors such as corporate-driven deforestation lie at the root of ongoing outbreaks of new and emerging diseases.
Writing for YES! in 2021, Sarah Sax reflected on how the COVID-19 pandemic could push us to become “aware of the connection between deforestation and emerging diseases … shoring up the connection among forest health, human health, and equity.” We can heed these lessons today by calling for structural changes in our relationship with the environment to reduce the likelihood of future emergencies while demanding fully funded public health measures to respond to the immediate crisis.
Read the full article: The Ever-Clearer Link Between Deforestation and Public Health
From the Archives: Women-Centered Forms of Grassroots Justice
The Epstein files have revealed an extensive network of relationships that facilitated the abuse of women and girls, but so far, the courts and Congress have failed to hold many high-profile and powerful perpetrators accountable. In India’s capital, New Delhi, an alternative model has emerged for dealing with gender-based violence that does not depend on law enforcement agencies, which often are marked by patriarchal, casteist norms. Through women-led councils, participants have found a means to address domestic violence and other forms of interpersonal violence.
“Such councils are helping women to speak up and reframe their ideas of justice,” wrote Poorvi Gupta.
Read the full article: Justice by and for India’s Women
New Work by YES! Contributors
- Sarah van Gelder, founding editor of YES!, explains why defeating Trump’s agenda in the midterms will depend on organizing at the community level.
- Sonali Kolhatkar, the host of Rising Up With Sonali, reports on Los Angeles activists who are applying lessons from the city’s uprising last year against ICE in anticipation of the next round of repression.
- Marianne Dhenin reports on disability rights advocates who are fighting a lawsuit that targets discrimination protections, threatening to push more people to be warehoused in institutions.
New Solutions Journalism From Independent Media
✊ A Movement Is Growing to Close the Largest ICE Jail on the East Coast – Truthout
🧑💻 The Ripple Effects of Organizing Against Data Centers – Waging Nonviolence
✈️ How to Halt a Deportation Flight – The Progressive
✌️ How to Remove an Authoritarian Leader: Lessons from Hungary – Convergence
Rising Up With Sonali
Rising Up With Sonali, formerly the broadcast arm of YES! Media, is lifting up solutions journalism through hard-hitting interviews.
Sonali reports that subscriptions have been dropping off since the beginning of the year, a reflection of the poor state of the economy and a on-going subscription fatigue from news consumers. When you subscribe to Rising Up With Sonali, you’ll receive 3-4 interviews a week in your inbox, with full access to video and transcripts of all conversations.
Rescuing Ourselves to Rescue the Earth
The core truth at the heart of the idea of the commons is that we can’t pin the blame for planetary destruction on human nature – a misanthropic idea that fails to recognize who is truly responsible for the crisis. The project of the commons also requires us to recognize that apocalypse is not inevitable. The Earth has enough for all of us to flourish if we can wrest what truly belongs to all of us from those who seek to exploit it for wealth and power. Through the embrace of models like grassroots councils, and the forging of a consciousness of our interdependence with the natural world, we can sow the seeds for a future commonwealth that excludes no one and no being from the Earth’s gifts of life.
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Truthout
hosts a monthly newsletter with relevant content from the YES! digital archives and new solutions journalism from a variety of publications. These curated resources can help us imagine – and build – movements for transformation.
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