Decolonizing labor, land, and the Global South

Decolonizing development seeks to replace the binary and hierarchical relations between North and South that combine racism, colonialism, and capitalism. Fortunately, embryonic decolonizing alternatives already exist, and these reflect authentic knowledge from below, built on the unevenness of peripheral experiences with development and resistance. At the heart of decolonization is a relational view of community interactions with the natural world and the global system. Decolonization draws on cultural traditions and class struggles specific to each context to outline an alternative modernity that combines 1) the progress of modernity with the relational worldviews of the South and 2) productive relations that do not depend on the hyper-exploitation of land and labor. The resulting combination is forward-looking and liberatory, as it makes possible an alternative future that liberates not only those in the South, but also those in the North.