Issue 63 – Ecocrisis: Capitalist Destruction and Alternatives

Editor Ali Rıza Güngen

Secretary Ümit Özger

Issue Editors Aslı Kayhan, Çiğdem Demircan-Simon, Ecehan Balta, Ali Yalçın Göymen

 

The political ecology of disaster and agriculture after the earthquake: Hatay case

Cemil Yıldızcan

 

In the aftermath of the 6 February 2023 earthquakes, which had devastating effects on a large area accros Turkey and Syria, this article aims to reconsider agricultural and rural transformations based on preliminary findings of a qualitative field research conducted in Hatay, one of the most important settlements in the earthquake-affected region and a border province of the two countries. The article draws on the critical analytical lens of political ecology, which challenges the naturalness of natural disasters, despite the underlying biophysical factors, by focusing on the structures and processes that socially (re)produce disaster risks and vulnerabilities. At the heart of the discussion lies the situation of agriculture and agricultural labour, which is crucial not only for rural communities but also for urban populations in the context of food security. Considering the ongoing transformation in the field of agriculture and food, it is necessary to understand how trends of de-agriculturalisation and de-ruralisation, which are increasingly becoming an important dimension of this problem and even superseding it in some cases, allow for the deepening and unequal distribution of social vulnerabilities. Alongside this process of socially exacerbating vulnerabilities in the face of environmental hazards, the article underlines the importance of understanding the responses generated from within the community in order to build resilient and more just communities, recognising that disasters are not only a source of social destruction but also a source of the emergence of solidarity practices.

Keywords: Turkey, Agri-food, Urban-rural linkage, Political ecology of disaster, Earthquake.

 

 

Translated Article: Planned Degrowth: Ecosocialism and Sustainable Human Development

John Bellamy Foster

 

 

The Cement of Sustainable Capıtalism: A Critcal Review of Sustaınable Development

Ahmet Hamdi Başar

 

The system emerging from the historical and material progression of socio-economic relations turns into a structure that pressures planetary boundaries and causes irreversible damage to nature. Capitalist production relations that rift the human-nature unity legitimize the exploitation of humans and nature by the capitalists, who prioritize growth and profit maximization and, yet today, cause a global destruction named ecological crisis. However, the mainstream approach alienated from nature reduces it into a resource and stigmatizes society for overconsuming resources, naturally, found the solution in the revision of the current capitalist system. The new model, commercialized as Sustainable Development, claims that companies create surplus value over environmental and social areas while growing economically. This study, however, argues that sustainable development policies reproduce capitalist socio-economic relations. It explicates the argument over the analysis of the historical progress and sustainable development strategies of cement companies which are the building blocks of construction capital that causes a rift between humans and nature and therefore plays a significant role in the birth and spread of capitalism. In this context, this paper aims to contribute to the critical literature on sustainable development and, hence, recent capitalist production relations from the historical materialist perspective via problematizing the cement industry. This study sets forth that fundamental policies of companies continue to be built on growth and profit maximization, existing capitalist economic relations are being reproduced through sustainable development practices, and social and environmental degradation continues to increase.

Keywords: Cement, Marxist Ecology, capitalism, sustainable development, Critical Theory.

 

 

The Same Arguments Should Be Placed Together: A Critical Perspective on Green Growth and Degrowth Proposals in the Face of the Ecological Crisis From a Labor Perspective

Duygu YILDIZ KARAKOÇ –Ahmet YAZAR

 

The European Green Deal (EGD) has emerged as an approach that prioritizes green transformation and green growth, yet it has become a target of criticism for views that oppose growth. On the other hand, the Deal has also faced criticism for overlooking demands focused on social justice and labor. Similarly, the Green New Deal (GND), while appearing to emphasize the social aspect through disadvantaged community sectors, is debated to actually promote a state-supported form of growth centered around new technology.

Based on these foundational assumptions, the aim of this study is to critically discuss how the economic approach based on the GND and the Green Deal actually neglects ecological and societal priorities, and embodies an ecological-cloaked growth understanding that oscillates between growth and degrowth. While the Deal’s perspective on labor is debated for its insufficient connection to social justice, the focus is on the necessity for solutions to primarily target socially-based demands. Recognizing that societal transformation may not always align with resource efficiency and competitiveness, although problems may be rooted in economic foundations, the necessity to seek solutions at the societal level is emphasized.

It is of paramount importance to shift the discussions about the green economy from their economic and technological focus to a political realm. In this context, emphasizing the necessity of collective action aimed at identifying and meeting genuine human needs determined democratically by society, instead of the production of commodities, holds a critical significance. Additionally, within the framework of this study, efforts have been made to present observations underscoring that many ecological issues attributed to environmental activist movements actually have social and political foundations, and should be recognized as matters of labor within the fabric of everyday life.

Keywords: Green New Deal, European Green Deal, green growth, degrowth, labor.

 

Critical Theory of Nature: The Frankfurt School and new extensions of the society-nature dialectic debate

Berkay Coşkun

 

How to deal with the relationship between society and nature has been a perennial problem in the ecology literature for almost 60 years. But in these debates, with the exception of eco-Marxism and the views of some eco-feminists, the society-nature relationship is either dualistically established under the influence of modern rationality, or monistically established under the influence of postmodern rationality, and is non-dialectical. While discussions on the society-nature dialectic have been ongoing in the eco-Marxist literature, there have also been discussions on this issue through the Frankfurt School. Until recently, however, the ideas of the Frankfurt School on the relationship between society and nature have not been brought together under one stream, approach or theory. However, in his recent studies, Carl Cassegård has argued that the Critical Theory of Nature, by combining the ideas of the Frankfurt School on the society-nature relationship and Critical Theory, has developed new extensions in the debates on the society-nature dialectic. The aim of this study is to present the contributions of the Critical Theory of Nature to the debate on the society-nature dialectic and the new paths it opens up in this debate. While Cassegård shows that the Critical Theory of Nature differs from various materialist approaches, I also argue that the new extensions made by the Critical Theory of Nature offer a new approach that will overcome dualistic and monistic approaches in ecology. The Critical Theory of Nature has an important and unique place in ecological debates, both in terms of having a different approach from the common dualist and monist approaches in ecology, and in terms of making a new extension to the debate of the society-nature dialectic. Therefore, future studies on the relationship between society and nature must take into account and engage with the Critical Theory of Nature. From this point of view, the study shows how the Critical Theory of Nature deals with the relationship between society and nature and the conceptual constructions it provides in the context of the society-nature dialectic debate. Finally, I conclude the study with some remarks on ecological crisis and practice in the context of Critical Theory of Nature.

Keywords: Ecology, critical theory of nature, eco-Marxism, Frankfurt School, dialectics.

 

Capitalist Greenwashing: The Hegemonic Strategy of Transnational Corporations

Tuba Kancı ve Umutcan Tarcan

 

Especially since the 1980s, the concepts of “environmentalism” and “sustainability” have taken an important role in the production and marketing strategies of transnational companies. Transnational companies have begun to overshadow their responsibilities in the spread of the ecological crisis with a misleading discourse of environmentalism. Thus, consumer orientations have since been manipulated as well as it has been made possible to benefit from the privileges and incentives provided by the states.

The concept of “greenwashing”, introduced by Jay Westerveld in the 1980s, defines this manipulative strategy. Transnational corporations strengthen their corporate image, legitimize their position in global production relations, and prevent the discussion of the classiness of the ecological crisis by dyeing green. Therefore, greenwashing emerges as one of the elements that create the historical intersection between capitalist production relations and ecological crisis.

This article approaches capitalist greenwashing as a strategy that consolidates the hegemony of transnational companies over the relations of production. It aims to define the regimes of privilege, incentive and post-truth created by greenwashing, and examines the possibilities of struggle against the strategy. The article concludes by arguing that the struggle against greenwashing can be defined by the necessity of an ecological historical bloc that emphasizes the context of class in the ecological crisis, which also intellectually exposes the environmental manipulation of transnational corporations.

Keywords: Capitalist greenwashing, transnational corporations, ecological crisis, historical bloc, hegemony.

 

Countering the hegemonic flows: Some ideas on the expanding opposition to renewable energy in Turkey

Ethemcan Turhan, Cem İskender Aydın

 

The impacts of the energy transition on local communities already have significant socio-ecological, spatial and political consequences. On the one hand, the transition to renewable energies reduces dependence on centralized production and distributed forms of consumption, while on the other hand, the renewable energy boom opens up new possibilities for accumulation through dispossession based on complex relations between the state and the market. The key issue at stake for local communities at the frontlines of this transformation is therefore the democratic ownership, planning and control of renewable energy resources. The energy sector in Turkey has become one of the fastest growing in the world, with installed capacity almost tripling in the last two decades. This article will focus on the changing discourses and practices of opposition to run-of-river hydroelectricity (HEPP) and geothermal energy (GPP) by tracing material and discursive practices in Turkey’s energy landscapes. In doing so, it aims to expand the discussion on approaches to nature-society continuum and energy democracy that emerge from local ecological struggles. To this end, using the concept of counter-hegemonic flows, which we see as a set of flows of matter, ideas and social movements, we want to suggest how the materiality of energy and material flows can be juxtaposed with the ebbs and flows of local ecological struggles.

Keywords: energy transition, environmental justice, environmental struggle, run-of-river hydropower, geothermal power plants.

 

Metabolic Rift in Labor Processes and Light Violence on Coastal Ecosystems and Workers’ Bodies: The Example of Aliağa Ship Breaking Facilities

Ekinsu Devrim Danış, Irmak Ertör

 

This study aims to discuss the parallelism between the damage caused by capital to coastal ecosystems through the labor processes of shipbreaking and work-related accidents, injuries, and occupational diseases, using Marx’s concepts of “metabolic rift” and as well as Nixon’s concept of “slow violence.” Marx argues that the “metabolic interaction” between humanity and nature is a co-constituted and dialectical process, but under capitalism this relationship is disrupted, leading to a kind of “metabolic rift”. The main reason for the imperceptibility of this metabolic relationship by humans is that the transformation process of nature appears separate from their own transformation process. The metabolic rift thus artificially separates the history of nature and humanity and causes the domination of capital over nature and humanity to be understood as separate processes. However, in the process of dismantling ships and transforming their scraps and waste into valuable materials at shipbreaking facilities, workers are devalued and exhausted, while the coastal ecosystem is exposed to toxic and chemical waste, entering into the same kind of “injury” and depletion process. In parallel, the negative impacts on both workers and marine life are often seen as ‘external’ effects of capitalist labour processes.

The main argument of the article is that the exploitation processes workers are subjected to and the damage suffered by the coastal ecosystem are inherent and parallel processes within the same labor process. The concept of ‘slow violence’ allows for a better understanding and helps to address the complex effects of shipbreaking, such as ‘occupational diseases’, which are long-term, spread over time and therefore rendered ‘invisible’, rather than immediate hazards such as work accidents or injuries. In this case, while the damage to the coastal ecosystem becomes ‘visible’ in the long term, the occupational illnesses also develop over a period of time. The parallelism is drawn between the damage inflicted on the coastal ecosystem and the emergence of occupational diseases, which become “visible” only in the long term. Based on this theoretical framework, a field study was conducted in the Aliağa district of İzmir, involving a total of 53 respondents through semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The study is also supported by field notes based on participant observation and scientific research on damage to the coastal ecosystem. The research, based on the findings of the field study conducted in İzmir’s Aliağa district, aims to reveal the parallelism between the violence and depletion processes faced by the coastal ecosystem and workers, and to contribute to national and international labour and ecology literature.

Keywords: Shipbreaking, labor processes, metabolic rift, slow violence, coastal ecosystem, Aliağa.

 

The Planetary-Extended Urbanization of Valleys of the Eastern Black Sea Region: The Dispossession of Fırtına Valley Through Tourism and Nature Conservation

Onur Açar

 

The Fırtına Valley of the Eastern Black Sea Region has undergone a transformation in recent years by the tourism industry and nature conservation institutions. The primary question of this research is to explain why/how the rural geography in the Fırtına Valley has transformed into tourism centers and nature conservation zones. Within the framework of this inquiry, the research also tries to describe the sense of the emerging discontents, local protests and objections to these developments. The study used the conceptual instruments of planetary-extended urbanization, space production, environmental fix and dispossession in order to explain the recent transformations. As the objective-institutional aspect of the process, the state-led branding of the region, the centralization of political control over the lands and the infrastructural road corridors and new enclosures were important findings of the study at the regional-scale. As the subjective aspects of the process, all these developments constituted on the one hand the desire to create a gentrified elite tourism enclave through macro-tourism projects in the valley. On the other hand, the same process nourished the feeling of dispossession as the semantic backbone of the everyday life experience of the people of the valley. In this context, place-based oppositional views emerged on the basis of ethno-cultural, political-economic and ecological distinctiveness of the life in the valley. The field research of this study was conducted in the summer seasons of the years between 2017 and 2021.

Keywords: Planetary-Extended Urbanization, Space Production, Dispossession, Environmental Fix, Fırtına Valley-Eastern Black Sea.

 

Women Organizing against the Environmental Attack of Capitalist Globalization: Yoğurtçu Women’s Forum

Sinem Bal

 

This study examines the Yoğurtçu Women’s Forum (YKF), which stands against the dispossession policies of the governments that are in inherent relations with capitalist globalization, and emerged after the Gezi Park protests as an organization different from mainstream models not only on the environment but also against patriarchal capitalism. Although the relationship between women and the environment is discussed theoretically through ecofeminism, this research addresses this autonomous space of struggle created by women with Gramscian concepts of war of position and counter-hegemony. The results of the research manifest that this alternative organizational model formed by women constitutes a counter-hegemonic space for the struggle not only against hegemonic capital-power domination but also against all forms of masculine hegemony, and that they give an intellectual war of position by reinforcing their solidarity and becoming more conscious through forums.

Keywords: Globalization, Gezi Park Protests, Women’s Movements, Counter-Hegemony, War of Position.

 

Extractivism and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: From Colonialism to New-Developmentalism

Esra Akgemci

The extractivist accumulation strategy based on the exploitation of natural resources has been increasing the tendency to open forests to settlements, mining, and agriculture. This global trend, shaped by the extractivist restructuring of more and more sectors in the last two decades, is one of the main factors triggering deforestation and the climate crisis. In the era of global production, the plunder of natural resources is seen as one of the means to increase profit margins, and the pursuit of profit from forests endangers forest ecosystems and leads to a growing eco-social crisis. The aim of this paper is to examine the historical development of the deforestation process in the Brazilian Amazon and to identify the elements of continuity between the neo-extractivist model adopted under the Workers’ Party (PT) (2003-2016) and the extractivist strategies implemented in different historical phases since the colonial period. The main argument of the paper is that neo-extractivism continues the neoliberal accumulation process in the Amazon through the appropriation of nature, labor exploitation, and asymmetric socioeconomic and environmental relations -albeit in a more limited framework. Accordingly, the protection of the Amazons depends on overcoming the neo-extractivist strategy based on balancing the interests of industrial agriculture and the protection of forests, and on adopting a post-extractivist approach to development that ensures ecological justice. Such an understanding can be seen in the philosophical understanding of “Living well” (Buen Vivir) of indigenous peoples who have lived in harmony with nature for centuries in Latin America. Accordingly, the future of the Amazons will be discussed in terms of the conditions that make post-extractivism possible.

Keywords: Brazilian Amazon, deforestation, extractivism, neo-extractivism, new-developmentalism, post-extractivism.

 

Spatial Segregation in the Neighborhood: The Residence Neighboring the Squatter House

Leyla Bektaş Ata

 

This study examines the effects of the urban transformation process in the Paşa Neighborhood located in Feriköy, Istanbul, through the documentary Hey Neighbour! which focuses on the coexistence of squatter houses and high-end residences. Directed by Bingöl Elmas, the documentary delves into the tensions created by the rapid urban transformation that gained momentum in Istanbul after the 2000s, affecting the economic and social structure of the region. Considering the implementation methods and the settlement dynamics brought about by neoliberal urban policies, urban transformation activities encompass not only a physical renewal of buildings but also profound changes at economic, social, political, and cultural levels. Taking a critical stance toward urban transformation activities, the documentary draws attention to the spatial and class gap that emerges when a squatter house and a multi-story residence are situated side by side in the same neighborhood. It addresses themes of gentrification, spatial segregation, and displacement through glimpses of the daily lives of neighborhood residents from different income groups. In this article, the contradictions and class polarizations arising from urban transformation activities are examined through a media product, and an interdisciplinary discussion is conducted regarding the possibilities and limitations of the representational field, provided by the documentary for social science research. This research critically questions the dynamics brought about by urban transformation and the new forms of settlement, offering alternatives to classical sociological methods by addressing structural issues and their manifestations in everyday life through visual representation. It seeks comprehensive answers to questions about what kind of home, neighborhood, and city are demanded through the narrative in the documentary.

 

Keywords: İstanbul, documentary, urban transformation, residence, squatter house, spatial segregation, representation, gentrification.

 

The Environmental Cost of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies: The Tragedy of the Market

Onur Doğan

 

The first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin emerged as a project of “decentralized currency” in 2009 in the wake of the 2007-2008 financial crisis in which highly centralized financial institutions played a major role. The libertarian vision that cryptocurrencies would replace fiat money largely fails in a very short time span and cryptocurrencies become more of a commodity investment market. Meanwhile, another problem has surfaced: the rapidly growing environmental impact due to the massive energy consumption by this cryptocurrency market. Cryptocurrency is based on “blockchain” technology, which is essentially a public record of all transactions. The actual energy consumption is the product of the transaction verification process called “mining,” which involves using computer hardware to perform mathematical calculations, a process that occurs almost exclusively to add exchange value to blocks and guarantee the security of private investment properties called “wallets” and this energy consumption is almost totally redundant otherwise. A closer look at how the cryptocurrency market works and why it creates this huge and mostly useless consumption of energy reveals capitalism’s relationship with the environment. The accumulation process in the cryptocurrency market can be summarized as the transformation of natural resources in the form of electrical energy into capital in the form of cryptocurrency, without producing any other benefit. Carbon footprint of this market is not a side effect, it is the capital itself accumulated through financial means. I will argue that the currently observable environmental impacts of cryptocurrencies, which have become instruments of investment and savings in the manner of “offshore banks”, depend on the market character of production and distribution, the norm of “efficiency” meaning profitability, and the need to produce exchange values. The cryptocurrency market exemplifies that “generalized commodity production” is at the heart of our failure to respond to environmental challenges and the trend toward ecological crisis.

Keywords: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, ecological crisis, environmental impact, capital accumulation, financialization.

 

Dynamics of Capital Accumulation in the Turkish Economy: Unproductive Labor, Rate of Surplus Value and Profitability

Ozan Mutlu

 

This study analyzes the dynamics of capital accumulation in the Turkish economy by measuring the fundamental categories of Marxist economics. For this purpose, it attempts to obtain observations on the rate of surplus value, the size of unproductive labor, and the distribution of surplus value. The findings suggest that while the share of unproductive labor in total employment has increased for thirty years, the pace of increase seems to have slowed down in recent years. A closer look shows that a significant change has occurred in the composition of both productive and unproductive labor employment between the years 2004 and 2019. Considering the rate of surplus value, it is observed that Turkey had a higher rate during the 2000s compared to both the average rate during the 1990s and the rate in European countries and in the USA.  Another critical observation is the decrease in the share of net profits of productive activities in the surplus value in recent years. Finally, although our findings do not allow a detailed analysis of profitability, the stagnation observed in the mass of profits in the productive activities and in investment suggests that the turbulent process experienced after 2015 may be a result of the profitability crisis.

Keywords: Political economy of national accounts, productive labor and unproductive labor, rate of surplus value, profita