Ungovernable islands, burdensome debts and racialized “disaster” zones: the Caribbean as the last frontier of capitalist - colonial – climate crises

Abstract

In this seminar, I argue that Caribbean societies witness the effects of global warming and extreme weather events in a disproportionate manner, because of inequalities that are baked into their societies due to the histories of enslavement, colonialism and uneven integration into financial and trading markets. Second, the role of major colonial forces and their relationship to global finance and governing institutions in the wake of climate breakdown circumscribe how marginalized societies respond to climate change, responses of which are increasingly defined by financial markets and instruments. In turn, because of the intersecting financial challenges and climate-induced and ecological disasters that Caribbean countries routinely face, the nexus creates a critical context of ungovernability and racialized disaster zones in the Caribbean.

Keywords: disaster zones, public debt, Caribbean, ungovernability