Political ecologies of urban nature in Bogotá, Colombia

by Germán A. Quimbayo Ruiz In Bogotá, urban nature suffers from pressures for urban development, profit-making and corruption. But it has also been mobilised as a legitime vehicle in pursuit of a more just city-region. Bogotá is facing several environmental challenges, from air pollution and public transport to continuous pushes for profit-driven urban development, contested …

Activist and Integrated: Madalina must stay in Italy! # Stand4Madalina

The estrangement of Madalina from Italy because of her activism is against the political participation of migrants and European citizenship. Madalina, a Romanian activist of Housing Rights Movements in Rome, has received an order of estrangement for 5 years from Italy. Authorities judge that her activism means she is 'not socially integrated'. A resistance campaign …

Of climate catastrophe and sacrifice zones – Battle for the Hambacher Forest

by Andrea Brock Activists have occupied Germany's Hambacher Forest for six years to prevent the area being destroyed and mined for coal. This month the forest has been making headlines as police brutality, coorporate power and state violence combine to attempt ousting the occupiers for good. This is a revised version of an article originally …

“Down with the fumes!” The Year of the Shootings and its relevance for mining today

by Félix Talego and Juan Diego Pérez On February 4, 1888, a demonstration called by the “League Against Calcinations” to protest against acid rain ended up with a massacre of civilians by the Spanish army. Researchers Félix Talego and Juan Diego Pérez argue that the commemoration of this event is an opportunity to spread the …

Reframing the Left Eco-Modernism vs. Orthodox Eco-Socialism Debate, or: Assessing the Transformation of the Value-Nature Nexus

by Emanuele Leonardi Do we really need to choose either infinite (if alternative) growth or a steady-state economy? What if we may opt for shrinking entropic/industrial sectors and allowing for negentropic labor to freely flourish? Editors’ note: This is the third in a series of ENTITLE blog articles that critically engage with the ongoing discussions …

Ende Gelände: Exposing the climate hypocrisy of Western European democracies

By Jens Friis Lund, Jevgeniy Bluwstein, Adam Ronan and Rebecca Leigh Rutt* The climate justice platform Ende Gelände is at the forefront of European civil disobedience against widespread inaction in addressing climate change: it exposes political hypocrisy while forming a new generation of activists During the last days of August, we took part in some …

Thinkery on water, anti-privatization struggles and the commons

By Patrick Bresnihan * Throughout the globe a revolution is taking place as people organise to resist the privatisation of water. In a spirit of shared struggle against privatisation (in its many forms), on 23rd June a day-long 'Thinkery' at the University College Cork, Ireland, will explore differences in approach and attitude in anti-privatisation struggles …

Negotiating longing and despair as frontier citizens of the Indian State

By Mabel Gergan * Mabel Gergan reflects on the shifting relationship between the Indian State and its North-Eastern and Himalayan frontier, exploring the colonial roots of racial discrimination in Indian cities and activist critiques of ongoing development interventions in the region. “The subject of the state is caught and impaled between the longing for justice …

Indigenous Science

On 22 April 2017, the March for Science will be held in Washington, D.C. and over 500 other cities across the world. ENTITLEblog endorses the call by original peoples and their allies to march not just for Science but for Sciences; to acknowledge the multiple other ways of knowing that play an essential role in …

Let’s Degrow Up and Grow Down!

By François Schneider * François Schneider responds to Miklos Antal's criticism of the use of the term degrowth for the alternative economics movement. One of the main critiques of degrowth has been the so-called 'negative' connotation of the term. People understand the term, and very often even agree with the idea it brings, but they are …