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The table below provides an outline of the similarities and differences between colonialism and REDD. There is significant overlap and similarities in terms of vast territorial expropriation, aka “land grabs”, reformatting and commodification of nature and labor, as well as the role, benefits and profits for Northern markets. Land grabs is a term that depoliticizes and renders invisible the perpetrators and victims of territorial expropriation and the geopolitical and economic motives driving the takeover of land. The term evokes a baby grabbing food and, hence, infantilizes a neocolonialist or imperialist endeavor, often more aptly described as expropriation or invasion. Racism goes hand and hand with colonialism and may be part of REDD. According to “NO REDD+! in RIO+20 – A Declaration to Decolonize the Earth and the Sky of the Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities on Climate Change against REDD+:
Just as historically the Doctrine of Discovery was used to justify the first wave of colonialism by alleging that Indigenous Peoples did not have souls, and that our territories were “terra nullius,” land of nobody, now the Green Economy and REDD+ are inventing similarly dishonest premises to justify this new wave of colonialization and privatization of nature. Indigenous Peoples and peasants are being killed, forcibly relocated, criminalized, and blamed for climate change. Our land is being labeled “unused,” “degraded” or in need of “conservation” and “reforestation,” to justify massive land grabs for REDD+, carbon offset projects and biopiracy.”122
Further comparative analysis of how colonialism and REDD reformat nature would be helpful. Such analysis would shed light on how in distinct historical eras, aspects and processes of nature such as land or the atmosphere’s carbon cycle are appropriated, converted into capital and new markets, thus creating new kinds of relationships among humans and nonhumans, and even with the air that we breathe.
REDD and the Green Economy commodify all of nature and natural processes turning them into “environmental goods and services”. REDD promoters and investors are not all from Europe or the United States, but also hail from the Global South, in particular, from Brazil. In addition, foreign investors are not acting on their own and national political and economic elites are facilitating the expropriation of peasant lands and indirectly engendering hundreds of land conflicts.
Most importantly in terms of stopping REDD and the continent grab, there are major differences with previous struggles against colonialism in terms of the lack of support, allies, funding, training, international instruments, legal framework, UN support, peoples’ consciousness, a continental (and global) movement of masses but also the lack of intellectuals and anti-colonialist thinkers applying themselves to REDD and the Green Economy and articulating an analytical framework for resistance. Sadly, there is a disconnect between the magnitude of the systematic and structural threat of REDD and the articulation of resistance.
In the past, colonialism was resisted by peoples and national liberation movements. In the case of REDD, only a few individual communities are trying to defend their human rights and land tenure. Obviously we are living in a very different historical moment from when colonialism was fought and independence obtained in Africa. In terms of consciousness, leadership, mass movements, international support, solidarity and allies, there is nothing comparable now.
Let us create a new liberation movement to free us from immoral debt and neo-colonialism. This is one way forward. The other way is through Pan- African unity.
It is daunting for civil society, social movements and NGOs to take on this anti-colonialist struggle especially when most citizens have yet to realize that REDD even exists. Nonetheless, we can build on past anti-colonialist and independence struggles by framing the struggle against REDD in those terms.
Many times in history, demanding the impossible has been necessary. Now is no exception. With “stubborn hope,”124 the No REDD in Africa Network and the communities and indigenous peoples of the continent invite you to join the resistance to REDD.
| Criteria of Comparison | Colonialism | REDD | Notes |
| Economy | Colonialist |
Colonialist – Imperialist Green Capitalism Green Economy Financialization, global carbon market Convergence of global climate, trade and finance regimes |
Offset entire global commodities supply chain and energy matrix |
| Commodities | Land, labor, enslaved persons, gold, crops |
– Timber, biodiversity, crops - Creation of new commodities: Environmental goods and services; Goods: Offsets, Life, Nature, Land, Air, Water, Biodiversity Services: Natural processes |
But a huge compo- nent of REDD is the land grabbed and in situ resources: the extraction of the wa- ter, fossil fuels, me- tals and minerals, which may also be for export. Ecuador’s REDD-type So- cio-Bosque which allows for fossil fuel extraction and mining indicates that African REDD may eventual- ly do the same. |
| Markets | Northern Countries and compa nies | Northern Countries and companies, multinational corporations, carbon exchanges | |
| Reformats and Commodifies Nature | Reformats some of Nature as “raw materials” | Reformats ALL of Nature and natural processes in its entirety into ecosystem goods and services new measurable and saleable commodities. | REDD reformats air, forests, agriculture, wetlands, mangroves and water ecosystems even when it claims to be doing nothing» to them. |
| Agriculture for mat | Plantations | Plantations for carbon cre- dits, timber, crops, agro- fuels | |
| Private Property Regimes | Enclosure and fences armed guards | Enclosures, fences, armed guards, Satellite surveillance and remote sensors, and mili- tarization | |
| Colonists | Europeans | Europeans, Norway, US, China , BRICS especially Brazil | African states and complicit elites |
| Colonized | States and Peoples of Global South | States, Peoples, Communities of Global South | |
| Forms of colonization | Continent Grab Invasion, Militari- zation Slavery | Continent Grab, violence, militarization, slavery, servitude, | |
| Racist Premise | Racist and religious justifications Doctrine of Discovery, “Terra Nulius,” Papal Bulls, etc | Similarly dishonest premises packaged as “halting deforestation’ and using “unused land” | |
| Struggle for | Independence; Liberation; Own government | Defend land tenure and rights | |
| Forms of Resistance | Political and Armed national peoples’ liberation movements | Political and Non-violent small isolated resistance | |
| Consciousness Spirit | Consciousness and commitment at historic high -Effervescence | Lack of awareness -Relative apathy | |
| Leaders of Resistance |
-Several generations including politicians and intellectuals -Many assassinated |
Frontline communities, Indigenous Peoples, a few environmentalists and activists of social movements; dispersed and not articulated, very few politicians and intellectuals | |
| Allies |
Other African countries, China, URSS, Cuba United Nations |
Very few allies International human rights orgs unresponsive Most NGOs in favor | Social Movements La Via Campesina; some networks |
| Funders | People, Other African countries, China, URSS, Cuba | Zero | Donors mostly in favor of REDD |
| Support | People, Other African countries China, URSS, Cuba | Zero | |
| Training | Other African countries China, URSS, Cuba | Zero | |
| International Bodies | UN Special Committee on Decolonization FOR NATION STATES not com- munities or Indigenous Peoples |
-UN is promoting REDD (UN-REDD, World Bank, UNEP, UNDP, etc) -Human rights mechanisms unresponsive to denouncing violations i.e. Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, CERD, etc -African Commission |
-UNPFII witch hunted Indigenous Peoples opposed to REDD as radical -Misuse of UNDRIPs for justifying parti- cipating in REDD as self-determined deve- lopment |
| Legal Framework | International Covenants -Right to Self-Determination | -No instruments against REDD -No jurisprudence established on violations | |
| Analytical Framework of Resistance | Huge body of thought both African and foreign over several centuries on abolition of slavery, colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, independence, liberation movements; Centuries of strug- gle, movements and praxis |
-In formation; relatively tiny – mostly descriptive of REDD its impacts, and Green Economy -Almost nothing on strategies of resistance Very little struggle explicitly against REDD |
