Labor Environmentalism inColombia andLatinAmerica

C olombia's coal mines offer a microcosm of events and ideas sweeping L atin A merica in the twenty‐first century. Foreign multinationals ravage the environment to extract resources consumed in the global north. Indigenous and A fro‐descended peasants inhabiting valuable regions claim special status as caretakers of fragile natural environments. Radical unions elaborate an anti‐imperialist, environmental critique of the companies that they see as looting their countries. These forces contribute to a twenty‐first century socialism that links indigenous and environmental rights, attacks the privileges of multinationals and the global north, and commits to redistribution and a vision of development that transcends economic growth.