Friday, December 4th, 2020
3:30pm-5pm EST / 12:30pm-2pm PST
This event will take place online via Zoom and Facebook Live
Register here to access the Zoom link
Hosted by Science for the People and co-sponsored by The Natural History Museum. Simultaneous translation into Spanish will be available here: https://meet.mayfirst.org/pgnd
While the Green New Deal (GND) proposal of Ocasio Cortez and Markey is understandably focused on what needs to be done in the US to address the climate crisis in an equitable manner, what is “equitable” is viewed almost entirely in US terms. No attention is paid to the role played by US-based fossil fuel corporations like Exxon and Chevron and agrochemical corporations such as Dow and Dupont in the global expansion of oil and gas extraction and industrial agriculture or to the devastation wrought on communities near the mines that are the source of the minerals required for renewable energy. In this teach-in we will dig into the intersections between climate change and imperialism and make the case that, to be genuinely equitable, as well as effective, a radical GND must be international in scope and internationalist in vision.
The panelists will address questions such as the following:
- What sorts of proposals similar to the GND have been made outside of the US?
- What would it look like to place decolonization at the center of the GND?
- How could the GND place limits on extractivism in the Global South?
- How are communities in the Global South challenging extractivism and industrial agriculture?
Moderator
Lala Peñaranda coordinates Latin American trade unions at Trade Unions for Energy Democracy and is a co-founder of Science for the People NYC. She is the Americas co-chair for the DSA International Committee and previously worked with unions in Colombia on agrarian reform.
Panelists
Max Ajl is an associated researcher with the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment and a postdoctoral fellow with the Rural Sociology Group at Wageningen University. He writes on the place of the countryside in global development, and researches Tunisian national liberation, planning and political economy, and Arab dependency theory and agrarian issues. His forthcoming book is A People’s Green New Deal, and among his recent articles are “Does the Arab Region Have an Agrarian Question?” and “The hidden legacy of Samir Amin: delinking’s ecological foundation.”
Sergio Belda is lecturer and researcher in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Valencia. He has academic and activist experience in the fields of transformative consumption and bottom-up organizations for eco-social transitions. He has played an active part in local social movements in Valencia in the last 15 years, particularly regarding food sovereignty and the right to the city.
Thea Riofrancos is an assistant professor of political science at Providence College, an Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2020-2022), and a Radcliffe Institute Fellow (2020-2021). Her research focuses on resource extraction, renewable energy, climate change, green technology, social movements, and the left in Latin America. These themes are explored in her book, Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020) and her co-authored book, A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019). She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and serves on the steering committee of the organization’s Ecosocialist Working Group.
Jennifer Tang has an MA in European Culture, Society, and Politics from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Her thesis “Shell #makethefuture and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in Nigeria: how a fossil fuel corporation obstructs climate justice through climate action denial” explored how Royal Dutch Shell and its allies manufacture a false dichotomy between energy access and climate action to lock in decades of fossil fuel dependence and delay Nigeria’s just transition to renewable energy. She currently organizes with Solidarity & Mutual Aid Jersey City and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.
Brian Ward is an educator, socialist and activist who lives in Madison, Wisconsin (occupied Ho-Chunk Land), and has lived and worked on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota Nation. He is a member of The Red Nation-Great Lakes and People’s Green New Deal Madison. He contributed to the book 101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed U.S. History and his writing has appeared in The Nation, Truthout, New Politics, Science for the People, and more.
Seminario 7: Visualizando un “Green New Deal” Internacionalista
La propuesta de Green New Deal (GND; Nuevo Pacto Verde) de la Diputada Ocasio Cortez y el Senador Markey se centra, comprensiblemente, en los pasos necesarios en Estados Unidos para abordar la crisis climática de manera equitativa. Sin embargo, lo “equitativo” de la propuesta se restringe casi totalmente a Estados Unidos. No se presta atención al papel de las empresas de combustibles fósiles estadounidenses, como Exxon y Chevron, y las empresas de productos agroquímicos estadounidenses, como Dow y Dupont, en la expansión mundial de la extracción de petróleo y gas y de la agricultura industrial, ni a la devastación que sufren las comunidades cercanas a las minas que proveen los minerales necesarios para la energía renovable. En este webinario profundizaremos en las intersecciones entre el cambio climático y el imperialismo, y argumentaremos que, para ser verdaderamente equitativo, así como efectivo, un GND radical debe tener un alcance internacional y una visión internacionalista. Lxs panelistas abordarán cuestiones como las siguientes:
¿Qué propuestas similares a la GND se han hecho fuera de Estados Unidos?
¿Cómo se puede poner la descolonización en el centro de la GND?
¿Cómo podría el GND poner límites al extractivismo en el Sur Global?
¿Cómo están luchando las comunidades del Sur Global contra el extractivismo y la agricultura industrial?
Traducción simultánea al español se proveerá aquí: https://meet.mayfirst.org/pgnd
Moderadora
Lala Peñaranda — Sindicatos por la Democracia Energética, Science for the People
Panelistas
Max Ajl — Observatorio Tunecino para la Soberanía Alimentaria y el Medio Ambiente, Universidad de Wageningen
Sergio Belda Miquel — Facultad de Economía, Universidad de Valencia
Thea Riofrancos — Comité Ecosocialista de DSA, Colegio de Providence
Jennifer Tang — Solidaridad y Ayuda Mutua – Jersey City, Coalición Internacionalista por DDHH en Filipinas
Brian Ward — La Nación Roja – Grandes Lagos, People’s Green New Deal Madison
