L’extractivisme a réaffirmé le rôle des pays d’Afrique du Nord en tant qu’exportateurs de nature et fournisseurs de ressources naturelles, en consolidant leur intégration subordonnée dans l’économie capitaliste mondiale.

Northern African countries are key suppliers of natural resources to the global economy, from large- scale oil and gas extraction in Algeria and Tunisia, to phosphate mining in Tunisia and Morocco, to water-intensive agribusiness paired with tourism in Morocco and Tunisia. The commodification of nature and privatisation of resources entailed in these projects has led to serious environmental damages, and forced these countries into a subservient position in the global economy, sustaining and deepening global inequalities.

This paper outlines a framing for how to understand the Belt and Road Initiative.

In een agrarisch landschap dat in de afgelopen 50 jaar homogener, sterieler en leger is geworden, ontpoppen zich steeds meer initiatieven van boeren en burgers. Ze willen meer dan wordt aangedragen door overheden. Ze willen een landbouw die minder schadelijk is voor het milieu en die gezonder voedsel voortbrengt. Een landbouw die de natuur en het leven van boeren en burgers kan verrijken. Deze initiatieven zijn divers. Het zijn tuinders die burgers zelf laten oogsten, melk- veehouders die bomen en kruiden in de wei planten, akkerbouwers die direct aan lokale bakkers leveren, boerderijen waarin burgers aandeelhouders worden en meer.

Durante varios días soleados de junio de 2018, un grupo diverso de 60 activistas e investigadores procedentes de 30 países se reunió durante varias jornadas con el objetivo de debatir sobre la construcción colectiva de futuros poscapitalistas. La reunión facilitó un rico intercambio de perspectivas y experiencias, además de un debate profundo. El objetivo del encuentro no era llegar a un consenso ―un esfuerzo tan imposible como innecesario―, sino más bien estimular el aprendizaje mutuo, plantearse desafíos y proponer análisis.

“Fish is the world’s most traded food commodity, and Myanmar is on the cusp of becoming a major international source."

Los movimientos sociales necesitan lidiar no solo con la construcción partidos políticos exitosos y alcanzar el poder, sino también con el uso de ese poder de manera estratégica para implementar los cambios necesarios. ¿Cual es el rol de los funcionarios gubernamentales en este proceso, y cómo se enfrentan al desafío de mantenerse fieles a su ideología política al mismo tiempo que aseguran el funcionamiento de una burocracia justa y profesional?

This essay connects cocaine, the financial system and global economies through the experience of the war on drugs and peace process in Colombia.

The international bank transfer system, SWIFT, is a form of contemporary digital colonialism and surveillance capitalism as it is run by US firms and provides data to US government agencies. Drives by governments and philanthropists to increase use of digital money will only strengthen it further.

Rome’s municipality has accumulated enormous debt, creating an emergency used to close any sort of public space, both physical and discussion. The narrative regarding the debt has been used to attack what we call the city of solidarity – groups, associations, and occupied places that are working to build community as opposed to accumulating profit.

Over several sunny days in June 2018, a diverse group of 60 activists and researchers from 30 countries convened for a multi-day meeting to discuss the collective building of post-capitalist futures. The meeting provided the opportunity for a rich exchange of perspectives and experiences, as well as deep discussion and debate. The goal of the meeting was not to achieve consensus both an impossible and unnecessary endeavour but rather to stimulate mutual learning, challenge one another and advance analyses.

A widening pattern of repression of social movements has taken shape around the world. Everywhere, space for dissent is shrinking rapidly. Governments and corporations alike are working to suppress and silence movements, organisations and individuals who organise against repression. This shrinking of public space threatens virtually all social movements. Around the world, the legality, physical safety, and public access of dissident movements and civil society more broadly are being threatened. This report examines the legal and political pressure exerted on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, a global campaign aimed at pressuring Israel to end human rights violations, launched in 2005 by a group of Palestinian activists.

Social movements need to grapple with not only building successful political parties and winning power but also with using that power strategically to best implement change. This report examines the critical role played by Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) government employees and the challenges they faced in advancing a social and economic justice agenda within Bolivia. How can progressive government employees remain true to their political ideology while ensuring the execution of a professional and fair public bureaucracy?

On the evening of 22 January 2018, the Governor of Puerto Rico announced the complete privatisation of the island’s power utility. The public statement came four months after hurricanes Irma and Maria, which devastated the archipelago leaving thousands of people homeless or dead and over 40 percent of the population without access to electricity and running water. Puerto Rico’s energy system was crumbling long before the tropical weather systems of September 2017 hit the archipelago. The hurricanes only laid bare the unsustainable conditions of the extremely expensive and fossil fuel-generated electrical power regime.

Las instituciones y los Gobiernos de la UE respondieron a la crisis de la eurozona con una mezcla de austeridad y autoritarismo que exacerbó la precariedad y menoscabó la democracia liberal. Sin embargo, un estudio de los movimientos sociales pone de manifiesto que esta despolitización tecnocrática solo triunfó en parte, ya que la exclusión creciente de las personas de los espacios de toma democrática de decisiones también generó nuevas formas de organización que han abierto posibles vías para un cambio social radical.

Brazil has recently undergone a shift from economic growth to recession, as well as from a left-wing, neo-developmentalist politics to one on the far-right, authoritarian and economically ultraliberal. Such an economic and political U-turn touched upon the countryside in contrasting ways. This paper reflects on the politics of the past. It suggests that the road to regression was paved during the tenure of the Worker’s Party (PT), when politics were considered both popular and progressive. And it was under the PT’s rule when the ‘rural world’ mattered the most for politics.

El objetivo de Barcelona en Comú es democratizar la relación entre la sociedad civil y las instituciones de la ciudad mediante la transformación de las estructuras tradicionales de los partidos políticos y la creación de nuevas formas de participación política democrática. Pero ¿es posible que una organización política sea movimiento e institución al mismo tiempo? ¿Qué tipo de desafíos, conflictos y oportunidades surgen con ocasión de esta iniciativa?

What do booming cities and urban processes mean for the future of food systems?

Popular protests that erupted in Vietnam in 2016 after a toxic spill by a Taiwanese steel factory have shown that environmental-focused campaigns can engage and mobilise the public to resist authoritarian practices, create a cohesive public voice and help build collective power.

Authoritarian politics have risen in the context of profound political, economic, social and ecological insecurity caused by corporate-led globalisation. The movement for economic localisation has the potential to unite communities, disarm authoritarian politicians, restore democracy and build a real economy based on sustainable use of natural resources.