'FOR US, EXTRACTIVISM IS LETHAL': THE ONGOING COLONIAL VIOLENCE OF RESOURCE EXTRACTION IN LATIN AMER
Flames flicker through the thick green trees of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest, where gas flares, oil wells and refineries darken the landscape and poison the environment.
POSTED INTHE MARC STEINER SHOW
‘FOR US, EXTRACTIVISM IS LETHAL’: THE ONGOING COLONIAL VIOLENCE OF RESOURCE EXTRACTION IN LATIN AMERICA
Even leftist governments in Latin America have failed to rein in the environmentally destructive excesses of the resource extraction economy. Indigenous and environmental activists from Ecuador to Bolivia say it’s only going to get worse.
BY MARC STEINER AND BRET GUSTAFSON
MAY 23, 2023
From the defeat of the coup government in Bolivia, the election of Xiomara Castro in Honduras, and the rise of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico, to the historic election of Gustavo Petro in Colombia and the return of Lula in Brazil, left-leaning governments are changing the political landscape of Latin America. However, even more progressive parties and ruling coalitions have failed to rein in the violence of the resource extraction economy and the domineering power of international capital flowing through mining, drilling, and deforestation operations across the hemisphere. Indigenous and environmental activists from Ecuador to Bolivia say that today’s extractivist economy perpetuates the violence of colonial domination, and warn that things are only going to get worse over the course of the 21st century.
In the latest installment of The Marc Steiner Show‘s special collaborative series with the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), we speak with a panel of Indigenous leaders, environmental activists, and scholars about how extractivism has come to dominate the politics and economics of Latin America, and what forms the anti-extractivist resistance is taking at the local and international level.
From the defeat of the coup government in Bolivia, the election of Xiomara Castro in Honduras, and the rise of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico, to the historic election of Gustavo Petro in Colombia and the return of Lula in Brazil, left-leaning governments are changing the political landscape of Latin America. However, even more progressive parties and ruling coalitions have failed to rein in the violence of the resource extraction economy and the domineering power of international capital flowing through mining, drilling, and deforestation operations across the hemisphere. Indigenous and environmental activists from Ecuador to Bolivia say that today’s extractivist economy perpetuates the violence of colonial domination, and warn that things are only going to get worse over the course of the 21st century.
In the latest installment of The Marc Steiner Show‘s special collaborative series with the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), we speak with a panel of Indigenous leaders, environmental activists, and scholars about how extractivism has come to dominate the politics and economics of Latin America, and what forms the anti-extractivist resistance is taking at the local and international level.
. . .
Transcript follows:
Marc Steiner:
Welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here on The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner, and it’s great to have you all with us. The Real News and the North American Congress on Latin America, known as NACLA, have launched a podcast series to probe the contemporary issues in Latin America that affect Latin America and the entire planet. In our opening segment, we saw the emergence of the pink tide in the early 2000s with left-leaning presidents winning in Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Argentina. And now we’re in the midst of another pink tide. We saw Lula freed from prison, which we just talked about, coming back to power in Brazil, and then the election of young progressives like Gabriel Boric in Chile. In Mexico, Lopez Obrador, the amazing victory of the former revolutionary fighter, Gustavo Petro in Colombia, and the ongoing dominance of the socialist MAS party in Bolivia. First with the indigenous Evo Morales and now with Luis Arce.
Now, despite the victories of the left, South America remains deeply divided and the new governments of the left must address serious economic challenges that a legacy of imperialism and the invention of the United States over these last 120 plus years. And today it continues. The exploitation of natural resources created a dependence on what we call now extractive economies. Whether it’s mining for minerals, drilling for oil or gas, destroying forests like the Amazon being turned into pastures for cattle and fuels for soy that bring with it a total social environmental destruction, devastating many people in these countries and the environment around them. It threatens the entire planet. These resources extracted from the earth are usually exported without any processing. So when global prices are high, things can look pretty good, but if the price of commodities drop, economies can go into a tailspin like happened in Venezuela when the price of oil plummeted.
So the effect of extractionism and extraction is really far-reaching. Mines produce toxic waste, contaminated water supplies. Oil and gas do the exact same thing, and they don’t even create any widespread employment. Deforestation exacerbates climate change, creates inequality that pushes small farmers off their land. And on top of that, extractive industries create social conflicts that are often experienced most severely by women who are marginalized from their labor opportunities that do exist. And also at the moment, as always, have to confront sexual violence. So how is the second wave of left and progressive governments confronting their dependence on extractivism? How does that affect the economies? Can they change the dynamic and obtain control? Can they avoid the negative environmental and social impacts? And how are the social movements and activists responding to all of this? What are the alternatives, if any, and what would a real progressive government look like?
More:
https://therealnews.com/for-us-extractivism-is-lethal-the-ongoing-colonial-violence-of-resource-extraction-in-latin-america
