Beyond extractivism: Reclaiming people’s power, our right to say no! is the final declaration that emerged at the Thematic Social Forum on Mining & the Extractivist Economy last month in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Representatives from the Justice in Mining, a Global Ignatian Advocacy Network, joined participants from 60 countries that included 28 from the African region, as well as from the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe. Forum participants came from mining-affected communities, trade unions, people’s organizations, women’s movements, the LGBTI community, faith-based groups, Indigenous Peoples, workers, small scale farmers, fisherfolk, youth, support groups, and academics.
The forum drew attention to the impact of extractivism on the land, waters, biodiversity, and people, especially culture-based communities and in the forum’s final declaration, participants asserted the right to say “no” to extractive activities in people’s territories, but also a “yes” to the following:
The forum was organized by the People’s Dialogue, a network that represents movements of rural women, small-scale farmers, peasants, workers, feminist, and research organizations from the African and Latin American regions.
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