Pitfalls of resource-national consciousness: mineral depletion, pollution, emissions and social reproduction blind spots

Abstract

Frantz Fanon warned of various ‘pitfalls of national consciousness’ associated with the shift to post-colonialism, appropriate also for a more recent shift, from resource looting to resource nationalism. Depletion of Africa’s non-renewable mining wealth and the pollution-riddled extraction and combustion of oil, gas and coal – under either the neocolonial or the resource-nationalist agendas – are not economically justifiable, especially when other costs are accounted for, including unpaid women’s labour. None of these are included in gross domestic product accounting methodology and there-fore they tend to be erased by proponents of mining and fossil fuels. Yet many African grassroots progressive movements argue that it is preferable now to leave mineral and fossil fuel resources underground, on these and other grounds. Critics of extrac-tivism exist not only in ‘Right to Say No!’ struggles, but also among environmental economists who since the 1970s have confirmed the logic of leaving resources underground with reference to ‘natural capital’ accounts. Moreover, eco-feminists leading local campaigns are more appropriate stewards of intergenerational responsibilities for ecosystem management than the male ‘resource nationalists’ who aim to reform – half-heartedly – the extractive industries.