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Drawing on experiences from Abya Yala/Latin America, and based on the Andean philosophy and praxes of Allin kawsay, this article proposes and introduces the idea of a 'rhizomatic pluriverse' as a horizontal structure of dialogue(s) between multiple and diverse pluriversal alternatives. The article draws on the experiences of the Global Tapestry of Alternatives and the Crianza Mutua Networks as points of reference to argue for the possibility of bringing territorial alternatives into dialogue with one another, based on a common rejection of the forces of oppression and a shared struggle for the existence of a multiplicity or worlds, knowledges, cultures, and praxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where did postdevelopment thought go? Was its anti-development message too much for academia? While acknowledging some overlap between postdevelopment and mainstream academic decolonial thought, we argue that postdevelopment, and its conceptualization of the pluriverse directly challenges extractivism, statism, and capitalism or, in a word, development. After discussing aspects of mainstream decolonial thought, seven main points of postdevelopment criticism are reviewed and debunked. We demonstrate that resistance and 'attack' are enduring feature of postdevelopment praxis from the Zapatistas to the countless other (socio)ecological struggles across the world. Responding to critique, this article presents three postdevelopment practices: the Organización Popular Francisco Villa de Izquierda Independiente (OPFVII) in the Acapatzingo community, Mexico City; the Zone-to-Defend (Zone à Défendre, ZAD) concept formalized in France; and the Global Tapestry of Alternatives (GTA) initiative. The conclusion stresses the importance of postdevelopment and a pluriverse working towards anti-capitalism/statism/extractivism/patriarchal world to avoid (neo)colonial recuperations of anti-colonial/statist struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexico's declaration of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in 2017 marked a significant territorial shift with far-reaching geopolitical implications. The establishment of SEZs represents the culmination of a three-decade period – starting with neoliberal reforms initiated in 1992 – during which Mexican state policies have increasingly prioritized hydrocarbon and mineral extraction. The proliferation of SEZs, or designated ‘development poles’, underscores a concurrent expansion of sacrifice zones – places abandoned, polluted, rendered invisible, or outright eliminated in pursuit of ostensibly greater common goods such as economic growth, progress, and more recently, sustainable development or decarbonization. Drawing on findings from 21 semi-structured interviews, this article elucidates how green extractivism shapes spatial politics in Mexico. Moreover, it provides a systematic categorization of both existing and emerging ‘green’ and ‘indirect’ (‘grey’) sacrifice zones as the state continues its push toward development as terracide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on Critical Political Economy (CPE) to explore energy transitions in Mexico. It analyzes struggles over competing energy visions from a decolonial, spatial and post-development perspective. The article frames energy transformations as more than a move away from fossil fuels: They encompass a radical overhaul of universalized Eurocentric capitalist modernity that call the state's role as both facilitator and driver of the energy transition into question. I examine two low-carbon infrastructure projects in the state of Yucatan, Mexico to build on Bridge and Gailing's notion of new energy spaces as the sites, scales and spatialities through which broader questions of political economy and contemporary struggles are being worked out. CPE of the energy transition must ensure that low-carbon infrastructures are not deployed as new forms of extraction, but rather as the material basis of pluriversal transitions informed by affected communities and their territorial struggles. Both studies on the political economy of energy transitions and territorial struggles can benefit from an open dialogue about how socioecological transformations are imagined, designed and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The System is Killing Us: Land Grabbing, the Green Economy and Ecological Conflict" by Xander Dunlap is a book that critiques the myth of green growth and the possibility of transitioning to a more equitable world as long as industrial capitalism remains intact. The book draws from a decade of work and research on socioecological conflicts in Peru, México, Germany, France-Spain, and Portugal, exposing how the extractive forces of modernity operate. It explores different forms of resistance against various extractive megaprojects and highlights the ways in which the system perpetuates itself even in the face of a planetary ecocide. The book emphasizes the need for multifaceted and permanent action against companies and governments endorsing extractive development and calls for the integration of resistance into everyday life. [Extracted from the article]

This interview discusses energy justice, the university, academic research and autonomous politics. This dialogue expresses concern with energy, but also environmental, justice scholarship and movements. This entails the failure to adequately connect the continuity between (neo)colonialism, capitalism and statism in theory and action, which simultaneously subordinates anti-authoritarian and autonomous politics to liberal academic frameworks (e.g. recognition, procedure, distribution). Extractive development is not adequately challenged by energy justice, meanwhile academic decolonial theory tend to ignore combative struggles and discussion in the Global South or North. Academic decolonial theory remains selective about struggles, simplifies them and/or remains detached from societies-in-movement, which results in tokenizing and ignoring the complexities of autonomous and insurrectionary struggle. Discussing a range of intense topics, this dialogue suggests the need to advance decolonial and anarchist critique of energy and environmental justice scholarship, suggesting the need to move away from justice framings and towards autonomous political conceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nancy Fraser's book, "Cannibal Capitalism: How Our System Is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet – And What We Can Do About It," provides a comprehensive analysis of contemporary capitalism. Fraser argues that capitalism is not just an economic system, but also an institutionalized social order that cannibalizes non-economic spheres. She explores the relationship between capitalism and racial oppression, social reproduction, and the political realm. Fraser also discusses the ecological impasses of capitalism and calls for a trans-environmental anti-capitalist movement. She concludes by examining the potential for political emancipation and the need for a socialist transformation that addresses the injustices of capitalism. However, some scholars argue that Fraser's analysis could benefit from engagement with decolonial scholarship and other perspectives on emancipation. The COVID-19 pandemic is seen as a crisis that exposes the contradictions and cannibalistic tendencies of capitalism. The book raises questions about the sustainability of capitalism and the possibility of abolishing the institutionalized social order through joint struggles. [Extracted from the article]

The purpose of the paper is to expand the concept of energy justice by considering the struggles over coloniality and cultural identity in the Global South and their interactions with the spatial and historical development of energy systems and the ongoing forms of energy transitions. The article argues that the current conceptualizations of energy justice cannot be separated from the politics of incumbency as, without a decolonial critique, they tend to reproduce rather than transform hegemonic power relations. To be transformative, energy justice must be articulated from the politics of actually existing unsustainability. In other words, the starting position for energy justice must be that energy injustices are already embedded in existing energy systems and energy policies. Drawing on Latin-American decolonial thought, and the work of political ecologists around energy, this article advocates looking beyond a universalized conception of justice towards an approach where justice is based on a sense of place and is informed by the community's relationship with the land. Using the concept of energy landscapes, the article puts forth an alternative way of understanding energy systems and conceptualizations of justice in decolonial settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]