Environmental Justice: Race, Displacement, And Land

The Vancouver/Coast Salish Territories chapter of No One Is Illegal has released a statement called "Environmental Justice: Race, Displacement, and Land". It's not exactly anti-civilization, but they're getting the right idea about the connection between ecological sustainability and social equality. Here's an excerpt:

"In our struggles for social and environmental justice, we must insist on striving for a holistic understanding of issues and the complex ways in which they are interconnected; it is this understanding that must ground our visions for the future.

We demand that residency status be given to all migrants who have been displaced by environmental destruction. We are speaking especially to First World states that have through violence and exploitation reaped the most benefits from – and therefore bear the most responsibility for – the pillage of our earth.

We believe that indigenous women must be placed at the centre of the environmental movement as they are the most impacted by environmental degradation and they also possess generations of knowledge on how to protect the Earth.

We desire a world where people can move freely and no one is forcibly displaced. We envision a future of joyful and truly sustainable communities that are held together not by domination, but by a deep connection to each other and to the Earth."

Read the full statement here.