A brief history of colonialism, climate change and carbon markets
03-10-2024
Climate change is not a natural disaster. It is the result of decisions, practices and policies adopted and maintained by a relatively small number of actors, primarily for their own interests. Its consequences, however, are global and have the most significant impact in places and on communities that bear the least responsibility for creating the crisis.
Continue reading here in SOMO.
From Europe’s Playbook
21-06-2024
The Israeli massacre in Gaza is the most intensive mass murder of the 21st century, argues Chris de Ploeg. And it is rooted in Europe’s history of colonialism and genocide.
Continue reading here in Media Mondo. Translated from the original Dutch.
Israel/Palestine is indeed a colonial conflict
03-11-2023
According to Chris de Ploeg, programmer at Dekoloniale Dialogen, there is no doubt that Israel is running a colonial regime. A regime that, moreover, is maintained by Europe, through diplomatic, financial and military support. “It is a misunderstanding that there can be no colonialism in historic Palestine because Jews have lived there for three thousand years.”
Continue reading here in Folia. The original Dutch was published on the 25th of October 2023 here.
The struggle for decolonization: connection to the anti-racism, peace, socialism and climate movements
09-05-2023
This speech was delivered at the Decolonial Reparations Conference on April 22, 2023, organized by Aralez and Decolonial International Network. The speech advocates for decolonization as a framework to connect the anti-racism, peace, socialism and climate movements.
Continue reading here in Doorbraak.
Charge against the monarchy for colonial crimes
29-10-2022
This speech was given during Indigenous Liberation Day at the 1492 People’s Tribunal in Amsterdam, on October 12th 2022. The speech is a charge against the (Dutch) monarchy and royal families for colonial crimes against Indigenous peoples and other colonised peoples.
Continue reading here in Doorbraak.
Degrowth, Decolonization and Modern Monetary Theory
07-10-2022
Up until recently, the degrowth movement has given little attention to macroeconomic theory. Yet, contributions on the macroeconomics of a degrowth transformation in the global North and South are increasing. In this essay, we will discuss a novel macroeconomic theory in relation to engendering a decolonial degrowth transformation, i.e. Modern Monetary Theory (also known as MMT). We hereby tap into a broader ongoing discussion on how to pay for a social ecological transformation when rich nations aren’t able to grow anymore.
Continue reading here in the Resilience.
Imperialism is at war with our planet—and we need to stop it
29-09-2022
While the rich embark on trips to space and fantasize about colonizing Mars, nearly a billion people have no access whatsoever to electricity. As many commentators have rightly argued, “humanity” as a whole cannot be responsible for climate breakdown when so many people barely emit any greenhouse gases at all. However, the climate crisis is not just marked by economic inequality—it is marked by imperialism.
Continue reading here in the Monthly Review. Re-published in Janata Weekly. Re-published in Spanish by Cronicón and in Catalan by L’Accent.
The Dutch war on equality
18-06-2022
By 2030, the emissions of the richest 10 percent of humanity will exceed the limits of the Paris climate accords, even if the rest of the world emits nothing, nada, zero. The average citizen has little say over our economic system, so our fate is largely determined by CEOs, shareholders and their political revolving door. The climate crisis is therefore an inequality crisis. And the Netherlands plays a big part in it.
Continue reading here in Doorbraak. Translated from the original Dutch.
Weapons are not helping: How do we end the war in Ukraine?
16-04-2022
International aggression has major consequences and can lead to massive loss of human life: 2.4 million dead in Iraq. Senior American defense officials claim that Russia is still holding back and that its bombers are primarily focused on military targets. These same officials also warn that civilian casualties could massively spike if Russia does decide to enact an Iraq- or Chechnya-style bombing campaign. Can that kind of fate still be prevented in Ukraine?
Continue reading here in Covert Action Magazine. Translated and updated from the original Dutch, which was published in De Wereld Morgen in March 2022.
Alarmism about China distracts from ongoing Western imperialism
15-04-2022
According to many Western commentators—from the center-left to the far-right—China is the major threat to democracy, climate, peace and sovereignty in the 21st century. And so the West projects its own image onto China. In reality, the alarmism surrounding China distracts from the ongoing Western imperialism that still holds the greatest power on the world stage.
Continue reading here in Covert Action Magazine. Translated from the original Dutch, which was published in De Wereld Morgen in December 2021.
‘No democratisation without decolonisation:’ A testimony from the student movement in Amsterdam
03-09-2017
In February and March 2015, Amsterdam was the site of large university protests, including a historic six week occupation of the massive Maagdenhuis building, the managerial headquarters of the University of Amsterdam. The Maagdenhuis occupation was preceded by an 11-day occupation of the Bungehuis, another large building where the humanities faculty of the UvA resided, which was facing drastic budget cuts.
Continue reading here in Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies (Amsterdam University Press).
In Ukraine Europe is collaborating with oligarchs and fascists
19-02-2016
The government in Kiev is no bastion of a free democracy. On the contrary, the present administration was helped into power by violence and is characterised by repression, corruption and chauvinism. Half of the population, which does not believe in the present pro-European and anti-Russian course, has been determinedly pushed aside, while there is a disturbing link between fascist groups and the centres of power in Ukraine.
Continue reading here in Spectrezine. Republished in SP International. The longer original and fully sourced Dutch version appeared in De Groene Amsterdammer in 2014, which was also republished in De Wereld Morgen and Spanning.
Unmasking the Politics of Commemoration
06-05-2015
In the beginning of May, depending on which precise date your country was liberated from Nazi rule, Europeans commemorate the victims of WW2. I did, however, not commemorate the dead that day, nor did I celebrate my freedom the next. I cannot participate in a mass ritual that desecrates the memories of all the martyrs of WW2 by turning them into mere tokens of Anglo-American chauvinism.
Continue reading here in Dissident Voice.