THE MASTER‘S GARDEN: GREEN CAPITALISM AND ITS INTERSECTIONS WITH GREEN (NEO)COLONIALISM
Channel: medico international
Date: 2023-01-23

A fundamental mechanism of capitalist production is the extraction of material from nature to transform it (through labor) into tradable commodities. The promise of "green capitalism" is to reconcile development, growth, and environmental protection. Political and economic strategies such as carbon trading and offsets, net zero, and sustainable consumption allow states and corporations to continue the destruction and exploitation of the commons. But now under the green guise of supposed social responsibility and environmental protection. Yet the destruction of the livelihoods of local and indigenous communities in the Global South is inextricably linked to socio-ecological change in the Global North.

We want to ask how this connection between destruction and socio-ecological restructuring works? How does green capitalism intersect with development discourses and practices? How must aid and development be transformed to be part of a global and just socio-ecological transformation as well as resistance and transnational solidarity against green capitalism?

Nnimmo Bassey is a Nigerian architect, environmentalist, activist, author, and poet. He is director of the environmental think tank Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in Nigeria and a member of the Steering Committee of Oilwatch International. He was chairman of Friends of the Earth International (2008-2012) and executive director of Nigeria's Environmental Rights Action (1993-2013). In 2010, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award. Nnimmo Bassey has written and spoken extensively about environmental degradation and green capitalism on the African continent.