3 Years of Impunity – Letter to the world by a victim of the crime of Mariana, Brazil

by Giuseppe Orlandini and Mirella Lino This is a "Letter to the world" by Mirella Lino, a resident of Mariana, written three years after the Bento Rodrigues dam disaster, when an iron ore tailings dam suffered a catastrophic failure, flooding a vast area of Brazil with toxic mud. Her words convey the consequences on personal and …

Special Issue: “The Making of Caribbean Not-so-Natural Disasters”

Social inequality, colonialism and the commodification of disaster-related recovery are central to explaining the not-so-natural disasters caused by the 2017 Caribbean hurricane season, a recent special issue by Alternautas blog shows. Alternautas , a peer-reviewed blog dedicated to critical explorations of development and the civilizational crisis has recently published a special issue titled "The Making of Caribbean Not-so-Natural …

Naomi Klein: “We need a counter-narrative that explains the people’s plan” (Part II)

Professors Self-Assembled in Solidarity Resistance (PAReS)* In the second part of this two-part interview, renowned journalist and activist Naomi Klein speaks with PAReS about the struggles for multiple sovereignties, the importance of weaving historical struggles with current movements, and the role of diasporas in supporting these movements. Read the first part of the interview here, …

Naomi Klein: “We need a counter-narrative that explains the people’s plan” (Part I)

by PAReS - Professors Self-Assembled in Solidarity Resistance In the first part of this two-part interview by the PAReS collective, renowned journalist and activist Naomi Klein speaks about disaster capitalism in Puerto Rico and the constitution of opposition movements and political alternatives. Naomi Klein is a renowned journalist, documentarian, and activist in topics related to capitalism, …

Fault Lines – Earthquakes and Urbanism in Modern Italy

By Giuseppe Forino* In his recently published book Fault Lines, Giacomo Parrinello delves into the environmental history of two major earthquakes in Sicily in the last century, allowing the earthquakes to narrate a fascinating journey into the dynamics and continuities between urban modernization and reconstruction efforts before and after the disasters. Sicily is one of …

Hurricane Matthew is just the latest unnatural disaster to strike Haiti

By Jason von Meding and Giuseppe Forino* In the wake of hurricane Matthew, destruction and suffering in Haiti has returned to the headlines. If we don't acknowledge that the roots of risk and vulnerability lie in colonial history and structural injustice we will see this happening again and again. At least 1,000 people were killed …

The earthquake in Central Italy: stereotyped narratives and missing social science

by Giuseppe Forino* The analyses proposed in the aftermath of the earthquake that hit central Italy on August 24th overlook social and political dimensions of disasters, or reduce the issue to stereotypical explanations. We need to add human and social perspectives to disaster studies and actions for deconstructing such partial and superficial narratives. The disaster According to the Civil Protection Department, …

Drivers of illegal waste disposal: the case of Campania, Italy

Illegal economic practices are often labeled as aberrations of the market logic, but few realize their role in sustaining capitalist accumulation and power hierarchies. Uncovering the drivers of illegal waste disposal in Campania demonstrates that illicit and legal economies are often intertwined and mutually beneficial.* Prologue The Pellini Group is a family-run company managed by the three Pellini brothers, …

The Damage Done and the Dams to Come

By Matthäus Rest, Austin Lord & Christopher Butler *. In the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes, progress toward the stated aim of turning Nepal into a ‘hydropower nation’ has been stalled. How will concerns over heightened risk affect hydropower development in Nepal in the medium and long term? [A shorter version of this article was …

Langtang: Reflections on the 2015 Earthquakes in Nepal

By Austin Lord*. The tragedy at Langtang is a prism that reflects the risks and pressures experienced more broadly by mountain communities across Nepal. [This article was first published on 14 October 2015 in Cultural Anthropology as part of the series Aftershocked: Reflections on the 2015 Earthquakes in Nepal.] Some forty-nine days after the earthquake …