Colonialism

Environmental disasters are not always dramatic one-off events, sometimes devastating effects arise over decades of neglect and damage. The fight for environmental justice in Martinique and Guadeloupe, which remain French “overseas territories”, is inscribed in a long struggle against colonial power and domination. For the people of these islands, decolonisation is far from an abstract notion – it is bound up with the most basic of human needs and can be a matter of life or death.

Florent Marcellesi examines Morocco’s colonial attempts to extend its influence into Western Sahara through climate initiatives and investment.

A conversation with the acclaimed novelist on the parallels between the climate crisis and the pandemic, and imagining alternatives for our interconnected world.

Riding on a wave of nostalgia and amnesia, Britain set on a course to leave the EU. Disparities of the pandemic and the anti-racist movement brought home how the imperial past haunts today.

Environmental destruction is inseparable from relationships of racial and colonial domination.

Feminist and historian Christelle Taraud discusses her research into the representation of race and sex in North Africa under French colonial rule and its legacy today.

Terrorism cannot just be policed away. Preventing attacks requires a sustained social project to build a resilient and inclusive society.

What has transpired in Britain since the Leave campaign won the Brexit has only shown how easily the veneer of civility and conviviality can be peeled back to reveal the virulence of racism and xenophobia seething under the skin of British social life.

The approach of European states to the surrounding waters has so far been inscribed in a logic of colonisation and conquering new territories in the name of national interest.