On November 30, 2024, over 150 representatives from UK NGOs, campaign and solidarity groups, academic experts and community leaders attended London Mining Network’s conference “Resisting Green Imperialism, Fighting for a Socially Just Transition” at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in London. They gathered to discuss and tackle one big question: how do we address climate change and create a just future without fueling more exploitation?
The keynote speaker Adam Hanieh of University of Exeter and author of “Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power and the Making of the World Market” reminded everyone of the harsh reality: “We are living in the worst debt crisis in history. Vulnerable countries are spending more than 12 times more on debt repayments than climate mitigation.” Hanieh also emphasized that the fight against climate change must link all social movements, as the real enemy is the capitalist system driving inequality and environmental destruction.
The event raised the alarm on the dangers of a corporate-led energy transition that would lead to huge increases in mineral mining, amplifying social and environmental injustice globally. Collectively, speakers and campaigners present made the case for a globally just transition, that minimises demand for transition minerals, and delivers justice to communities on the frontlines of resistance to extractive industries.
Themes of the Day:
- Capitalism as the Root Problem: From workshops on the military-industrial complex to mining’s devastating impacts, participants dug into how capitalism drives environmental destruction and prevents commensurate action on war and global heating. Fossil fuel and mining companies were called out for prioritizing profits while communities and ecosystems pay the price. The event wrapped up with a passionate speech from Andy Higginbottom, retired professor, Kingston University and secretary of Colombia Solidarity Campaign, who pointed out UK’s significant role in global exploitation, saying, “London is at the heart of the problem.“
- Displacement by Extractivism :A recurring theme of the day was the displacement caused by extractivism and “green” imperialism. Benny Wenda of the Free West Papua Campaign highlighted the ongoing struggles of his people, saying, “Fighting for West Papua is fighting for planet Earth.“ The third-largest rainforest in the world, critical to global climate stability, continues to face destruction, while its Indigenous people are displaced by mining and corporate land grabs. The workshop “A Disaster Waiting to Happen?” by Diana Salazar and Paul Robson (LMN) highlighted the devastating ecological and social impacts of mineral extraction like coal and copper in Latin America.
- Militarism and the Climate Crisis: Mohammed Elnaiem from the Decolonial Centre shed light on the devastating impacts of militarized resource control in Sudan, emphasizing how such dynamics fuel both ecological and humanitarian crises. He explained, “Half of the population is currently facing severe starvation. Ninety percent of those facing starvation are in territories under the military Rapid Support Forces (RSF), funded by the U.A.E.“
- Global Connections, Local Leadership: Women-led movements took center stage, showing how local communities across the globe are resisting extractive industries and building alternatives. From Latin America, Africa, Asia and in London, speakers made it clear that the voices of those most affected need to lead the transition. Sara Callaway from the Global Women’s Strike highlighted the power of women-led movements, highlighting Thai court’s landmark ruling in favor of the Klongsai Pattana community, which upheld their communal land titles against corporate land grabs.
- Imagining a Better Future: An inspiring and fun session was the “2055: A World Without Mining” workshop, where participants dreamed of a future beyond extractivism. It wasn’t just about resisting—people left with a sense of hope and practical ideas for change.
Reports from each session:
Unjust transitions and false prophets: voices from affected communities
The opening plenary was a searing expose of the injustices of energy expansion under the guise of climate action and energy transition. Adam Hanieh powerfully exposed the failings of capitalism to deliver an energy transition, making the case that every transition under capitalism has been additive and that what is unfurling globally is continued increases in global oil extraction alongside the roll out of renewable energy technologies. In that sense, he argued, the ‘green transition’ under capitalism is a myth.
The increased energy demands driven by socially harmful and unnecessary production, from AI and data centres and military production to electric SUVs, have led to projections for huge increases in mineral mining. The panel provided a sharp insight into the injustices faced by communities on the frontlines of mineral extraction, in West Papua, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ecuador.
Yet the panel also highlighted the resistance and vision of frontline communities struggling against imperialism and for environmental justice. Benny Wenda made the case for the Green State Vision proposed by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, while Ivonne Yanez highlighted the success of Acción Ecológica and other movements in Ecuador who have successfully halted oil extraction in the Yasuní National Park in Ecuador’s eastern Amazon.
The plenary made clear that workers and movements on the frontlines of climate breakdown are leading the struggle for climate justice. The speakers highlighted the necessity for movements situated in the UK, one of the key drivers of planetary injustice, to amplify their demands and build relationships of solidarity.
(Videos from the plenary will be published soon!)
Just Transition means dismantling the military-industrial complex
The climate and ecological crises are intimately entangled with militarism and war, not least in the vast quantities of natural resources required to assemble everything from nuclear weapons and fighter jets to armoured tanks and surveillance drones.
Travelling from mines to smelters and factories, the session highlighted how materials like aluminium, copper, platinum, cobalt and rare earth elements are transformed into technologies of violence and destruction. In turn, these technologies return to the communities where those minerals are torn from the earth in militarised mining operations.
The session explored questions of what a just transition means for the military-industrial complex, and how the climate justice and peace movements can join struggles to achieve this. Contributions were made by Energy Embargo for Palestine and the Campaign Against Arms Trade, respectively emphasising the materialities and logistical supply chains fuelling genocide in Gaza, as well as absurd attempts to ‘greenwash’ the military, from solar-powered drones to ‘eco-friendly’ bullets. We also heard from Mohammed Elnaiem, Director of the Decolonial Centre, who highlighted the severe crises facing Sudan and the role of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, funded by the U.A.E, who profit from the country’s vast gold mines and agricultural lands.
The session drew on London Mining Network’s report Martial Mining, which explores the intersections between militarism and mining.
A disaster waiting to happen? The energy transition, mine waste and community resistance in Latin America
Mining metals for the energy transition will continue to generate vast amounts of waste in the form of tailings dams and waste piles. An energy transition that considers the environmental and social consequences of energy production needs to bear in mind the consequences and legacies of mining these metals.
In this workshop, we looked at the ecological and social impacts of the extraction of transition for communities and ecosystems in Latin America through the experiences of communities in Brazil, Chile and Peru, using copper as an example, given the vast amount of waste produced when extracting this particular metal, and the significant expansion in copper extraction from Chile and Peru in Latin America. Communities in Peru have heavy metals in their bodies as a result of living near a copper mine. The workshop analysed how mining companies benefit from a discourse on energy transition to push for the expansion of their copper and transition mineral mines in Latin America and elsewhere. The workshop also showed how the discourse of the energy transition has implied an expansion in the extraction of coal and fossil fuels, at the same time, the expansion of minerals for electrification will benefit mainly people in the global north.
The workshop was facilitated by Diana Salazar and Paul Robson (London Mining Network)
2055: A World Without Mining
Joám Evans Pim, whose community have been resisting mining in Galicia, Spain since 2016 after a forest fire raged across their common land, facilitated an inspiring session set in 2055, a world without mining. Participants stretched their collective memory to think back to 2024, a time of war and injustice where mining corporations threatened territories and ecosystems across the world in their drive for increased profits and production, and how those injustices were dismantled in favour of a world without mining.
The session stimulated discussion of the social forces that led transformative change, and the key moments in the long struggle for environmental justice, from the reclamation of indigenous sovereignty over land and resources globally to the shift away from the overconsumption of unnecessary, resource intensive technologies in favour of public services and collective abundance.
The workshop was an abridged and playful version of the longer “Imagining a World Without Mining” workshop based on the “Breaking free from mining” 2050 blueprint, designed to stimulate images of preferred futures as powerful tools to guide our collective action in the present.
You can’t eat batteries: land justice, food sovereignty and frontline struggles against mining
Food sovereignty in the Global South continues to be threatened with the increasing demand for minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, as agricultural fields are dug up for mining. The workshop explored the rise of urban farming movements which seek to replicate decolonial practices in food production, with the aim to reclaim food sovereignty in the face of global extractivism.
Sara Callaway from the Global Women’s Strike highlighted the power of women-led movements, highlighting Thai court’s landmark ruling in favor of the Klongsai Pattana community, which upheld their communal land titles against corporate land grabs.
Soil Sister Sandra shared her experience with Falcon Fields Allotment, illustrating how food growing is a political issue even in urban spaces. They continue to advocate for the protection of this beautiful, inter-generational, and multicultural green space from future development by Enfield Council. Further information about their opposition to Enfield Council’s proposed rent hike and the potential threat to Falcon Fields Allotment’s ownership can be found here.
Community Action for Land Liberation shared their vision for decolonial education.Using the example of chocolates, they reflected on how food consumption in a capitalist society is extractive. The Transnational Balkan collective ZBOR discussed their struggle against extractive industries in the Homolje Mountains and outlined their plans to grow food collectively.
Closing plenary: organising for a globally just transition
The closing plenary brought together over 20 campaign groups for social and environmental justice to discuss the practical organising, across the themes of energy and transport, trade, education, holding extractive industries to account, and trade union organising. It served as a powerful moment of movement building, and an opportunity for links to be drawn between campaigns with differing focuses and objectives. The plenary highlighted the need for our movements to focus on both the local and the global simultaneously, working in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of green imperialism while fighting for social justice in our workplaces and communities.
Campaign stalls:
The following organisations joined the event and had stalls throughout the day:
Fuel Poverty Action, Fare Free London, People & Planet, Global Women’s Strike, Global Justice Now, People’s Land Policy, Fossil Free London, Resist Glencore, Energy Embargo for Palestine, Workers for West Papua, Stand for Congo, India Labour Solidarity/InSAF, Labour for a Green New Deal, Degrowth London, Somos Semillas, Fossil Free Science Coalition, XR Haringey, Conflict Minerals Campaign.
You can read the full programme of the event here, including detailed descriptions of the sessions and speakers’ bio’s.
