For a labour turn in the environmental justice movement
Struggles over the social relations of nature and strategies for social-ecological transformation.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v47i189.54Keywords:
labour turn, ecologist movment, natural conditionsAbstract
Oliver Pye: For a labour turn in the environmental justice movement. Struggles over the social relations of nature and strategies for social-ecological transformation. This article discusses struggles in the social relations of nature and how these relate to strategies of socialecological transformation and calls for a labour turn in the environmental and climate justice movement. Taking the rapid changes to the social-ecological landscape of the Kapuas River in Indonesia as a starting point, it shows how this “accumulation by dispossession” is connected to a “corporate food regime” that is embedded within global “postfordist relations of nature”. I then argue that the global production networks linking appropriation to exploitation should themselves be viewed as alienated steps in the social metabolism with nature. Struggles against accumulation by dispossession need to connect to the labour movement, which holds the key to overcome the alienated work that lies at the heart of society’s alienation with nature.
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