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Transformation(s) Blog

Towards a non-extractive and care-driven academia

by Collective of critical geography and development scholars* The white gaze permeates many aspects of even the most critical disciplines. In this piece, we offer some thoughts on how we might reclaim what the university could be  – a place that equips people with the knowledge they need to unlearn/unmake/dismantle the framings and worldviews that lend themselves to white supremacy and other forms of oppression more broadly.  Around the world, people are coming […]

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Current movements Debates

What mark have the Yellow Vests left on French democracy?

by Ethan Earle Almost two years after the first protests and shortly after the 2020 Bastille Day: What to make out of the Yellow Vests and the state of French democracy? What to take away from the recently Macron-initiated citizens’ assemblies? Have the Yellow Vests and other protest shaken the French political establishment? Initially launched as a protest against rising fuel prices, the yellow vests in France quickly turned into a popular […]

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Current movements Theoretical papers

“For the democratic production of democratic societies” – Lessons from the transition from social-movement-driven to state-legislated consultations on extractive projects in Peru

by Raphael Hoetmer Over the last two decades, various consultation practices regarding extractive activities have emerged and been implemented throughout Latin America. Some practices adopt a completely autonomous and communitarian approach, some are based on alliances between civil society and local government, while others are also increasingly centred around national governments in connection with new legislation as per international standards on indigenous peoples’ rights. These consultation practices come from two related sources. […]

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Transformation(s) Blog

Voices from the Field: The Need for Transformative Hybrid Online Spaces

Amid our twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racism, we’re building virtual gathering, grief, conference and educational spaces. Can we learn from this to create hybrid spaces that allow access for all? by Elandria Williams Since late 2018, I have been the executive director of PeoplesHub, an online social movement school that takes popular education online and makes it accessible and available for maximum participation. Of course, faced with COVID-19 and an ever […]

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Case studies and Videos Debates

Overcoming crises of representation? Arts in anti-coal struggles in Colombia and California

burst

by Beatriz Rodríguez Labajos Raw material extraction, transportation and waste disposal are triggering environmental conflicts worldwide. All types of material throughput in the global economy bear consequences for social justice and sustainability. Yet very few materials better represent the economic, social and moral tensions intertwined in societal metabolism, i.e. material and energy use of human societies, than coal. Data collection on environmental conflicts – including coal conflicts (Roy 2018) – has emphasised […]

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Case studies and Videos Debates

Guendalizaá: The reconstruction of the “We”

by Arturo Guerrero Osorio The Zapotec word Guendalizá or Guelaguetza means “familiarity”, “friendship” or “neighborhood”; It is mutual help and is expressed when an person is with the others in the crucial moments of life, the happy and the sad. It is a cultural pattern that comes from the deepest roots from the towns of Oaxaca, Mexico (let’s think about 11 thousand years ago). Today, in the Oaxaca Isthmus and other places […]

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Case studies and Videos Debates

Challenges to intercultural democracy in the Plurinational State of Bolivia: case study of the Monkoxɨ peoples of Lomerío

by Iokiñe Rodriguez and Mirna Inturias Introduction The adoption of Bolivia’s new political Constitution in 2009 marked the birth of a new plurinational state. One of the most important constitutional changes was a new state system of territorial division that recognises departmental, municipal, regional and indigenous autonomies as new plural forms of political organisation seeking to decentralise decision-making power and the management of public funds, wresting them away from central government. Whereas […]

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Transformation(s) Blog

No Harm Here is Still Harm There: The Green New Deal and the Global South (II)

A GND which fails to challenge the hegemony of growth-led development perpetuates the exploitation of the Global South and will be unable to prevent global ecological social collapse In Part I of this two-part article, we discussed various proposals for a Green New Deal (GND) advanced by progressive forces in the Global North, in terms of their impact on the Global South. We discussed the cost-shifting imperative in capitalism, historical and ongoing […]

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Transformation(s) Blog

Ways Out of the Growth Trap

by Ulrich Brand Trade Unions, Climate Crisis and the “Ecology of Work” As the remarkable success of “Fridays for Future” and “Extinction Rebellion” shows, the climate crisis is pushing onto the agenda ever more strongly. Such a push is urgently needed because the window during which its worst effects could be prevented is closing rapidly.1 Accordingly, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 90 per cent by the year 2050 is […]

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Transformation(s) Blog

No Harm Here is Still Harm There: The Green New Deal and the Global South (I)

by Vijay Kolinjivadi & Ashish Kothari Without accounting for globalized production, a Green New Deal in the Global North will merely spur the imperialist quest for cheaper resources and labour to satisfy “eco-friendly” consumption. The year 2019 and the first few months of 2020 have thrown up unprecedented ecological crises. Even before COVID-19, ecological crises were raging across the world: wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon, unheard-of summer temperatures in Antarctica, record floods […]

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Transformation(s) Blog

Let’s Use the Current Opportunity to Develop a Climate-Friendly Transport System

by Heinz Högelsberger & Ulrich Brand Two transport policy topics were discussed the most over the last few days: On the one hand, how more space for movement can be secured for pedestrians during Covid-19 times; on the other hand, whether Austrian Airlines should be bailed out using taxpayer’ money. These questions have a deeply social component: Walking is the preferred mode of locomotion for poor people. But just in Vienna alone, […]

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Current movements Debates

On the Cusp: Reframing Democracy and Well-Being in Korchi, India

Women Parishad's meeting, January 2018. @Neema Pathak Broome

by Neema Pathak Broome, Shrishtee Bajpai and Mukesh Shende Introduction Mainstream governance and development models – characterised by seemingly democratic but inherently centralised and top-down governance systems and extractive, commercially motivated, capitalist economic policies – have failed to achieve minimum levels of well-being for a very large part of humanity. They have in fact caused large-scale human and environmental injustice. However, there are also countertrends either resisting current models or developing and […]

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Publications

CITIES OF DIGNITY: Urban Transformations around the World (July 2020)

Participants of the Global Working Group Beyond Development are pleased to announce the launch of their third publication: Cities of Dignity: Urban Transformations Around the World. The book, written by movement-based authors, was presented at the Vienna 2020 Degrowth Conference on June 1st. Download the book [PDF version HERE] One of the main challenges that strategies for social-ecological transformation are facing today is the fact that a majority of the world population […]

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About us

Participants

AFRICA and diaspora David Fig, South Africa. David Fig is a South African environmental sociologist, political economist, and activist based in Johannesburg. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics, and specialises in questions of energy,  agro-ecology, biodiversity, South-South relations and corporate behaviour.  David chairs the board of Biowatch South Africa, which is concerned with food security and agroecology, and works closely with various environmental justice non-government organisations and two local […]

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Debates Introduction

Introduction to the Democracy debate

Is democracy a stronghold of social struggles or is it rather an institutional framework imposed by capitalism? Why are fascism and different kinds of authoritarianism coming back through elections? How can the scandalous inequality that structures contemporary capitalism and obviously limits democratic decision making strongly be dealt with?