Extractive Economies Threaten Our Right to the Future
The current global financial system is built on dispossession, extraction, and violence. Debt is a neo-colonial weapon used to dominate the Global South — it is, what Mae Buenaventura (Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development) called a “necessary part of the capitalist machine.” As Farah Galal (MENAFem Movement for Economic, Development and Ecological Justice) noted, we see how, across regions, unsustainable debt burdens and ecological catastrophe are part of an interconnected system rooted in colonial extraction. This system prioritizes debt repayments to external creditors over people’s basic needs. Under pressure from the IMF, World Bank, and other so-called “development” banks, governments are forced to implement austerity measures that gut public funding for healthcare, education, sanitation, and social protection.
Women — in all their diversity — are hit hardest. As public services disappear, they are left to absorb the shocks through unpaid and invisible care work, often taking on personal debt just to meet basic needs. Meanwhile, militarism is extensively financed in order to secure access to raw materials and strategic resources. As Azra Sayeed (APWLD) reminded us, “imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism.” Military powers not only entrench control over resources — they are also among the planet’s top carbon polluters.
Promoting Caring Economies Rooted in Solidarity
A new economy is not only possible — it is already here. Across our communities and movements, we come from diverse traditions that prioritize care, regeneration, and mutual support over extraction and profit. We are learning from Indigenous worldviews, like those shared by Daniel Santi of the Sarayaku Peoples (Ecuador), who remind us that humans are not separate from nature. We are reclaiming feminist and peasant economies rooted in cooperation and collectivity, as reflected in the interventions of Gihan Abouzaid from the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) and Urantsooj Gombosuren from the Center for Human Rights and Development (CHRD, Mongolia).
Instead of accepting false solutions that deepen the polycrisis, as Martha Devia from Comité Ambiental en Defensa de la Vida (Colombia) warned, we must rise up to claim our right to the future. Real transformation will not come from tweaks to the current system — it requires building and sustaining economies of solidarity, care, and ecological balance.
🎨Check out our latest Corporate Capture Comic Issue debunking these so-called “solutions” and exposing the actors behind them.
No matter the outcomes of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), we will continue to organize, resist, and imagine. As Sergio Chaparro from Dejusticia (Colombia) powerfully concluded: “We must push for a system that serves humanity, not hegemony.”
We’re Building a Global Campaign on Debt and Climate — Join Us!
A just future demands action now. We are coming together to launch a global campaign for debt cancellation and ecological reparations, rooted in the right to the future and the leadership of frontline communities.
If you’re interested in joining this effort, please reach out to us at campaigns@escr-net.org. Our Campaign Advisory Group, composed of members and allies from across regions, has been working collectively to shape our demands and craft a bold campaign strategy.
We welcome your participation, voice, and leadership as we build momentum toward our official launch in late 2025. The time to act — and organize — is now.
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Finally, thank you to the members of the Campaign Advisory Committee who supported the planning of this webinar — and to our powerful panelists and speakers who continue to inspire and mobilize action.
In Solidarity,
Basma Eid
Campaign and Membership Director, ESCR-Net
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