IMG. 01: Situated in the Nelson-Mandela-Park, close to the central station in Bremen, the elephant monument literally stands in and the naming tries to indicate also for the anti-apartheid movement. At the entrance of the park, two metal poles used to hold a sign reading: “Für Menschenrechte gegen Apartheid” which translates to “for human rights against apartheid.” A donation of the Metal Union IGM in ‘88, around the time when the anti-apartheid movement led to the rededication of the elephant as an anti-colonial monument. When I visited the site in December 2023, the sign wasn’t there anymore just the remaining metal poles. Credits: Google Earth View, 3RM9+J2 Bremen, Germany
01 !Nami≠nüs, which could translate as “embrace” is the indigenous name given by the !Aman community, a Nama sub-community that was the first to inhabit the coastal town. The former Namibian president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, announced in 2013 the official renaming back to !Nami≠nüs, objecting to its colonial name Lüderitz.
02 Most famously spread by Bremen-born journalist and satirist Jan Böhmermann. cf. Klooß, Kristian. “Was Jan Böhmermann Und Blutdiamanten Mit Dem Denkmal-Tag Zu Tun Haben.” Buten Und Binnen, 8 Sept. 2019, <www. butenunbinnen.de/nachrichten/tag-des-offenen-denkmals-antikolonialdenkmal-elefant-100.html>
Around 10 meters high in reddish-brown bricks stands an elephant monument in Bremen. Undergoing waves of political interest, the narratives backed into the bricks echo the struggle against Germany’s imperial and colonial ties with Namibia. Peoples in resistance, student movements, memory activists, and educational institutions contested not only the monument itself but the very essence of the colonial system it represents. Beyond its charged historical past, geo-political territorial expansion continues to tie together two geographies: the port city of !Nami≠nüs1 (Lüderitz) in Namibia and my hometown Bremen. Growing up in Bremen, I have encountered the monument for years. In support of and solidarity with dissent voices, the research reflects on how imperial relations have been carried over into the Green Era of renewable energies.
Urban legends suspect plundered blood diamonds hidden underneath the brick skin encasing the hollow elephant monument.2 Even after this myth has been debunked, it points to an existing and repeating history: While nowadays it is less about diamonds, the expropriation and extraction of resources are entering a new era. Stone by stone the narratives around The Elephant to trace the unresolved threads of present and future colonial patterns. The monument in this research represents a silent, powerful presence to reflect on the intersection of history, activism, and the ongoing struggle for justice.
IMG. 02: H2-Atlas slices the African continent into profitable sub-regions with potential for the production of green hydrogen. The interactive atlas is an iniative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), together with German research centers in Southern (SASSCAL) and Western (WASCAL) Africa. European powers dividing the continent, however, has a loaded history know as the “Scramble for Africa” during the Berlin Conference (1884). Credits: https://africa.h2atlas.de/sadc
03 cf. Pia Eberhardt “Germany’s great hydrogen race–the corporate perpetuation of fossil fuels, energy colonialism and climate disaster”Corporate Europe Observatory. March 2023, Brussels.
04 Hamza Hamouchen. “Green Hydrogen: The New Scramble for North Africa.” Al Jazeera, 20 Nov. 2021. <www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/11/20/green-hydrogen-the-new-scramble-fornorth-africa.>
SCRAMBLING FOR POWER
Rooted in Germany’s current plans and partnerships for the energy transition, a renewed interest in the region around the coastal town !Nami≠nüs for the production of green hydrogen has brought the area back to German attention. Through years of lobbying and Germany's influential role in the EU, the gas has taken center stage in energy transition debates. While hydrogen has been part of the energy system for decades, its majority is produced by burning fossil fuels called grey or blue hydrogen, which later uses carbon capture techniques. Green hydrogen thereby is made through water electrolysis, a process in which renewable electricity is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. However, since its production on a large scale requires vast amounts of land, water, and renewable energy, its production becomes a spatial question. Besides expanding domestic production, the green hydrogen rush relies heavily on global partnerships and supply chains. Gazing outside German borders, desert regions and national parks began to be considered suitable resource suppliers in Germany’s strategy to import demand and decarbonize its industrial complex.3 Critical voices, such as the author of Dismantling Green Colonialism, Hamza Hamouchene, emphasize that this appropriation of land and resources for ecological purposes so-called green grabbing has carried imperial power relations into the Green Era of renewable energies.4
Against this backdrop, a deal was struck between Germany and Namibia at COP27. Under the façade of reparations, green hydrogen and ammonia infrastructure development deals are hand-shaken between the two governments.5
05 Diving deeper into the linkages between the Joint Declaration and the push for infrastructure deals, which has again raised the broader question of postcolonial justice, I had the chance to talk to Jeptha U Nguherimo. As a reparation activist, he can’t wrap his head around “What was discussed at the table to put that into renewable energy as part of the repreparation package that the German and Namibian governments want to force on us.” Structured under the umbrella of sustainable development, the intensively lobbied-for green hydrogen projects fall within this plan on the basis of a bilateral partnership. Washing out colonial crimes and responsibilities via state-building projects where the two governments pull the strings while sidelining the voices of the descendants of the affected Nama and OvaHerero communities.
06 Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, hyphenafrica.com.
07 G.I.C. Schneider and B. Walmsley. “The Sperrgebiet Land Use Plan – An example of integrated Management of Natural Resources” Geological Survey of Namibia, Private Bag 13297. Windhoek, Namibia.
08 Berklee Baum “Bremen’s Elefant: Memorialisation, politics, and memory surrounding German colonialism” Contested historties. March 25, 2022
In 2022, the joint venture between the German renewable energy company ENERTRAG and the British investment company Nicholas Holdings Ltd. secured preferred bidder status for ~4,000 km2 of land in the Tsau//Khaeb National Park for the development of a green hydrogen project, including a desalination plant, solar panels, wind turbines, a hydrogen electrolyzer, and a deepwater ammonia port.6 Under the name Hyphen, the project is taking shape on the very same landscape transformed by German colonial violence, theft of Indigenous land, resource exploitation, and the genocide of Nama and OvaHerro people, on which Bremen-born colonialist Adolf Lüderitz had imposed his name and legacy. Sensitive acknowledgment of these spatially anchored traces of colonial history guides the question of repetitive patterns.
Tsau//Khaeb, meaning “soft sand” in the Nama language, was previously widely known—and for some still is—under the German name Sperrgebiet (restricted area)—a legacy of the diamond rush. The site was cut off by the German Colonial Administration from the local inhabitants as the expected wealth between the sand grains was too valuable in the greedy eyes of the German Empire. The exclusive mining rights were given to the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwestafrika. Between 1908 and 1913, around five million carats of diamonds were extracted from the sand almost a ton.7 Formal colonial rule ended after the First World War, but the preceding colonial history remained present. Almost two decades later in 1932 in the political and economic elite’s longing for the imperial past the Bremen remnant of the same administration commissioned the elephant monument to bolster the neo-colonial movement in Germany.8 Since then the monument has been a negotiating ground for changing political positions.
IMG. 03: Rendering of the Hyphen Green Hydrogen Project taking shape in Tsau//Khaeb National Park in Namibia. The project is part of the Southern Corridor Development Initiative (SCDI). Credits: Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, hyphenafrica.com
IMG 04: The image shows Lüderitz lettering in the mountain at the entrance of the costal town !Nami≠nüs. The colonial German name given by Bremen-born colonalist Adolf Lüderitz. The presence of such markers compels reflection on the ongoing complexities and legacies of German colonial history, highlighting the need for a nuanced understanding of the forces that have shape the cultural and geographical landscape.
Credits: Robin Runck
IMG. 05: The terminologies used to describe and frame the Tsau//Khaeb as a site for a loop of extration of resource. Often The San community historically resided in desert regions, have been disposesses during colonial era, with many of these areas later transformed into national parks, resulting in restricted access to both land and resources. (cf. intervierw Corinna Wyk (LAC)) Credits: Frauenhofer Institute, ernerbar.tv
IMG. 06: Rendering of the Hyphen Green Hydrogen Project taking shape in Tsau//Khaeb National Park in Namibia. The project is part of the Southern Corridor Development Initiative (SCDI).
Credits: Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, hyphenafrica.com
IMG. 08: The diamond production included a significant amount of forced labor imposed on local communities. At its peak, the diamond mining town Koolsmankupp was on of the richest cities on the continent. The town council devised plans –partially financed through the German development fund– in close proximity to the ghost diamond mining town of Kolmanskupp, which hosted mining workers during the German colonial diamond rush. The new town is intended to host the influx of workers for the green hydrogen project.
Credits: J.C Hubrich
09 Frauenhofer Institute, erneuerbare tv. “Green Hydrogen Supplants Natural Gas–a Chance for Africa? An Energy Transition Report.” YouTube, 31 May 2022 <www.youtube. com/watch?v=lTcmYDTefx4>
10 Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, hyphenafrica.com.
Drawing parallels between the diamond rush and the energy rush, I have returned to two sentences from a promotional video for the Hyphen project: “The diamond deposits are largely exhausted. For the future the plan is to exploit the renewable resources here”9 This statement illustrates how the colonial gaze remains focused on this desert area, closely linked to the concept of extractivism. In renderings that neglect these spatial histories and replace the complex ecosystem of the Tasu//Khaeb National Park with a plain surface plot, the Hyphen project is visualized and narrated as a project capable of revolutionizing green energy production. Hundreds of bright strips in strict geometrical formations will form the envisioned solar panel park—spanning around 2,000 km2. Together with high-rising wind turbines, it will provide renewable energy to charge the electrolyzer process to split desalinated water into oxygen and up to 350,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year.10 Turning sun rays, wind and water into power in both senses of the word: as energy and politics.
11 Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, hyphenafrica.com.
12 HVMZA “Na Bosana by HVMZA.” SonicHits, <sonichits. com/video/HVMZA/Na Bosana.>
THREE PORT CITIES
A virtual flight over the overground pipelines connecting the desalination plant, the hydrogen electrolyzer, and the ammonia port illustrates the flow of the planned hydrogen production.11 The envisioned deepwater port infrastructure still needs to be built, but the chosen site opens unhealed wounds and legal questions. Situated on the shores of Angra Point, merchants like Adolf Lüderitz set off their colonial sails from the port city of Bremen. Marking the start of the following land dispossession of the !Aman Nama community living in that area and the expansion of the German colonial regime. In the backdrop of the promotional video runs the song “Na Bosana” by HVMZA, featuring lyrics in Lingala, a Bantu language spoken in Central Africa. The title “Na Bosana” can be translated as “I forgot” in English, which is a recurring theme throughout the song.12 While the song talks about more mundane forgetfulness like keys or names of lovers the missing acknowledgment of the imprinted colonial violence of the landscape seems to slip into corporate forgetfulness.
IMG. 08/09: Rendering of the Hyphen’s deepwater amonia port, which will be develped by NamPort. The proposed location is at Angra Point. Credits: Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, hyphenafrica.com
IMG 10: Angra Point (Angra Pequena) with the German Empire flag after Adolf Lüderitz and Heinrich Vogelsang set off their colonial sails from the German port city of Bremen. Credits: Science Photo Library, C045/0455
Credits: Namibian Ports Authority (Namport)
Inherited Testimonies was a live performance of culturally inherited, collective testimonies, delivered by traditional leaders and oral historians within a continuously transformed visual and auditory immersive environment. The project is a partnership between Forensic Architecture, Forensis, NTLA and OTA, conducted in collaboration with the Staffordshire University Centre of Archaeology, ECCHR and Medico International.
14 Forensis/Forensic Architecture: “Restituting Evidence: Genocide and Reparations in German Colonial Namibia” Forensis. <counter-investigations.org/investigation/ restituting-evidence-genocide-and-reparations-in-german-colonial-namibia-phase-1>
15 Interview with Jeptha U Ngerherimo, 16.01.2024.
Returning to Berlin, I listened to inherited testimonies at the same-titled event at Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Still sounding in my head is the voice of Sima Luipert, an activist at the Nama Traditional Leaders Association, calling on the German and Namibian governments to stop further ignoring the continuation of violence embedded in the extension plan of the port.13 Taking shape in the immediate proximity of the former labor and concentration camp of the Nama and OvaHerero genocides between 1904 and 1908. With a death rate of 80%, it has been the last destination of the survivors of Lothar von Trotha's extermination order during the Indigenous uprising around the Otjozondjupa (Waterberg), known to the Herero people as the War of Anti-Colonial Resistance. Despite remarkable resistance and survival skills by the end of the genocide, the Herero population of 80,000 had been reduced to just 15,000. Often referred to as the “forgotten genocide” the systemic extermination, pseudo-scientific experimentation, and forced labor for building logistical and economic infrastructure became the blueprint for the Holocaust.14
In our conversation, Jeptha U Nguhermio shares that the lack of cultural sensitivity to the site is a severe violation for memory activists: “The Lüdritz area is not hydrogen; the Lüderitz area is about genocide for us. The memory.”15
The tension between monuments as spatial structures that tend to serve political purposes by portraying and manifesting a specific reading of history carried over into the present and future— and sites of memory became clear to me in the interview with Jeptha U Nguherimo. While the elephant was erected in memory of the fallen colonial perpetrators of the genocide, the mass graves of the peoples in resistance around Shark Island are unmarked and scattered around the landscape and sea bed. With a lack of sensitivity and disregard for the site as a memorial and burial site, the expansion plans also ignore the !Aman community's claim for land restitution, to which I will come later.
Another port city: Rotterdam Port in the Netherlands. Where the new green hydrogen supply chains formulate into infrastructure. Grabbing hold of the business opportunity, the Dutch companies Port of Rotterdam and gas pipeline operator Gasunie signed contracts with Hyphen, NamPort and the Namibian government to become the harbor to offload the green ammonia and charge the low-carbon energy demands of North West Europe which is struggling to decarbonize its vast industrial complex.16 While waiting for my appointment at the World Port Center, the headquarters of the Rotterdam Port Authorities, I couldn’t help but draw a connection between these three port cities.
As the root of the term import/export suggests, ports are the spatial structures where ownership of resources is shaped on a geo-political scale. After a few sentences, the main focus becomes clear: economics. In the first slide, the contribution of Rotterdam Port to the Dutch GDP is pointed out, with the addition that it should also include other European countries due to the port’s huge influence in North-West Europe. Coming as no surprise, my attention rather focuses on the involvement of the Port of Rotterdam in revising the masterplan of NamPorts extension plans in !Nami≠nüs.17 Adding to the disregard for these ongoing violences in the port’s extension plan, the vouched import/export relations should be taken with caution. Hyphen and Port of Rotterdam reflect an EU-wide strategy of supplying green hydrogen to industrial consumer countries and promising investment, jobs, and technology in return.18 However, this is happening in asymmetric power relations, and the economic boom of green hydrogen runs the risk of being at the expense of Namibia's local communities and ecosystems.
Watching the promotional video of Hyphen over and over again, what is striking to me is the message that I get from it, which ends instead of in a local town or industrial area on an ammonia carrier, ready for export. Opening the question of energy transition for whom?
16 “Namibia and the Netherlands Work Together in the Field of Green Hydrogen.” Port of Rotterdam, 2023 <portofrotterdam.com/en/ news-and-press-releases/ namibia-and-the-netherlandswork-together-in-the-field-ofgreen-hydrogen>
17 Interview Ewin van Espen, 23.02.2024.
18 Pia Eberhardt “Germany’s great hydrogen race–the corporate perpetuation of fossil fuels, energy colonialism and climate disaster” Corporate Europe Observatory. March 2023, Brussels.
IMG. 12: The Port of Rotterdam has taken the lead in the transition to renewable energy and has developed an ambitious hydrogen masterplan to become the major hydrogen import hub to supply Northwest-Europe with renewable energy, as part of the decarbonization of the European economy. Credits: AEC Terminals
IMG. 13: Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Hyphen) has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Koole Terminals. The LOI covers the proposed important of green ammonia into north-western Europe by Hyphen to supply its customers through the import terminal being developed by Koole Terminals, located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Credits: Koole Terminals
IMG. 14: Artist Gertrud Schleising wrapped the monument in scarf crafted from the flags of 15 African nations, symbolizing resistance and reclaiming history. The public intervention was part of DerElefant! e.V. Bremen's educational and cultural framework, unfolds a powerful narrative of decolonization. Credits: Harald Schwörer
CHAINS OF SUPPLY
Two months after people’s organizations and political movements won their 24-year-long fight against racialized class and independence struggle, Bremen hosted a Freedom Festival around the elephant monument in 1990. Wrapped in fabric chains, the celebratory act of cutting away the symbolic chains of racism and colonialism celebrated Namibia’s independence and the official renaming as Anti-Kolonial-Denk-Mal (anti-colonial monument). 19 However, looking at the green hydrogen supply chains, some rusty links still seem to shine through.
It was the business interests in the diamond-rich Tsau//Khaeb sand dunes that characterized German colonial dispossession of land, its people and resources, which the Apartheid Regime of South Africa and diamond company DeBeers later took over. Following Namibian Independence in 1990, negotiations between DeBeers and the new Namibian Government led to the joint formation of Namdeb Diamond Corporation.20 Around 50 years later, the Namibian government announced the purchase of equity shares of a new international business interest that is taking shape in the area, the Hyphen hydrogen project.21 The Tsau// Khaeb reflects a continuation of the historical patterns of resource extraction and foreign interests in the region, transitioning from diamonds to green energy initiatives. Raising complex questions about the intersections of historical injustices, economic development, and the challenges and opportunities presented by its rich but contested natural resources.
19 Bremen State Office for Development Co-operation, “Vom Kolonial-Ehrenmal zum Anti-Kolonial-Denk-Mal” Bremen, 2004, 1.
20 G.I.C. Schneider and B. Walmsley. “The Sperrgebiet Land Use Plan – An example of integrated Management of Natural Resources” Geological Survey of Namibia, Private Bag 13297. Windhoek, Namibia.
21 Steffen Haag, Johanna Tunn, Tobias Kalt, Franziska Müller, Jenny Simon “Who Profits From the Green Energy Rush? | Transnational Institute.” Transnational Institute, 21 Feb. 2024, <www.tni.org/ en/article/who-profits-fromthe-green-energy-rush.>
IMG. 15: United and uncompromising: The Landless People’s Movement stands in solidarity behind Swartbooi and offers him unwavering support in the face of his dismissal from the government. Credits: NBC News
IMG. 16: Henri Seibeb (left) and Bernadus Swartbooi (right) argue that Sam Nujoma (founding president) “was part of the commencement of the mismanagement of the resources of this state. He was the one who started the black-on-black division. He is basically the one who has divided our society,” Swartbooi said.
Credits: Parliament of the Republic of Namibia
22 Bernadus Swartbooi “On the Land Question. in Colonial Repercussions: Namibia”ECCH 2022 p.15–16
23 NBC Digital News.
“Landless People’s Movement Assures Swartbooi of Their Unconditional Support After His recall-NBC.” YouTube, 26 July 2017, www.youtube.com/ watch?v=gdO hsHNij4.
24 Der Elefant e.V.
25 About LPM - Landless People Movement. Landless People’s Movement, 9 Dec. 2022, www.lpmparty.org/ about-lpm.
26 Steffen Haag, Johanna Tunn, Tobias Kalt, Franziska Müller, Jenny Simon “Who Profits From the Green Energy Rush? | Transnational Institute.” Transnational Institute, 21 Feb. 2024, <www.tni.org/ en/article/who-profits-fromthe-green-energy-rush.>
27 Interview Corinna van Wyk (Legal Association Centre–Human and Land Rights)
“Independence has not meant social justice.”22 So are the words of Bernadus Swartbooi, former deputy minister of lands and resettlement and governor of the ||Karas region, where Tsau//Khaeb, !Nami≠nüs, and Angra Point are situated, who was forced to resign in 2016 after speaking out against land injustices embedded in the land reform proposal. Swartbooi’s story echoes the broader narrative of indigenous communities seeking restitution for justice and the return of ancestral lands.23 The forced resignation timely overlapped with the first filing of a law sue by descendants of the Nama and OvaHerero communities for reparations of the genocide by Germany in front of New York’s courts and the restoration of the elephant monument in Bremen. After 5 months of restoration, the monument returned to the hands of the initiative “Der Elefant” in February 2017, continuing with their educational and cultural program around memory culture that ties together the two parallel geographies.24 In the same year, the Landless People Movement was formed by Swattbooi and other comrades, addressing land reform's impact on the landless working class, urban dwellers, peasants, and those dispossessed during German colonial rule and apartheid regime.25
On the background of unresolved questions over land and reparations. Despite repeated emphasis on avoiding energy imperialism, the reality shows an opposite tendency. The German government, together with multinational law firms, assists in crafting policies and legal regulations for an ‘enabling environment’ for investors’ interests, which in fact means nothing else than “stripping off ‘complicated’ access of foreign corporations to land or strong environmental safeguards.”26 Resources are being appropriated while negative impacts such as ecological damage and energy scarcity are conveniently outsourced. Conflicts over land use and energy rights could come to a head in the coming years. There is a paradox here: while green hydrogen offers a more sustainable energy source for industrial consumer countries, the producing countries are confronted with environmental challenges. Important aspects such as the prior, informed consent of the community are often neglected. This echoes the concept of green grabbing. Even though the Hyphen project is yet to materialize, decisions made today are shaping the path of hydrogen futures.27
The growing urgency and political attention for a green energy transition brings with it enormous opportunities, heavy responsibilities and some intimidating challenges. While moving away from fossil fuels is agreed upon to create a liveable future, the consideration of “how” to transition is essential. Currently, the downsides of green hydrogen production reveal a pattern that is less questioning the geopolitical system of the fossil fuel economy moving forward and more simply looking for a more “sustainable” replacement. Instead of facilitating much-needed transformation, systemic inequalities and reparations are neglected, perpetuating a flawed pattern.
Besides other German-involved projects in Namibia and the African continent, Hyphen's geography overlaps with prior colonial land dispossession, making the historical loop of land grabs in the Green Era even more evident. In the hydrogen case it is less about digging minerals from the ground, like lithium, but the essence remains unchanged: occupy and dominate sovereign territories for the benefit of the Global North. In Hyphen's case, vast areas of Tsau//Khaeb turn into infrastructure space to transfer renewable energy to distant regions of consumption like Germany.
The current hype around green hydrogen cannot be viewed in isolation from global inequalities, colonial histories of oppression, and capitalist lobbying.
28 Namibia Economist. @Nam Economist 04.12.2023, 11:03AM (01:38 min), <https:// twitter.com/Nam Economist>
29 DemocracyNow! Green Colonialism: Nigerian Climate Activist Nnimmo Bassey
Says Africa Is Being Sold Out at COP28. 07 Dec. 2023. <https://www.democracynow. org/2023/12/7/nnimmo bassey cop28>
30 TNI: “Towards a Corporate or a People’s Energy Transition? | Transnational Institute.” Transnational Institute, 21 Feb. 2024. <www.tni.org/en/ publication/towards-a-corporate-or-a-peoples-energy-transition>
In a short video tweet of Namibia's Green Hydrogen Commissioner and Presidental Economic Advisor, James Mnyupe, presenting the 2023 Namibian Pavillion at COP28, it slips over his mouth “Colleagues, we are a global company... a global country today.”28 Indeed, it could have been an innocent mix-up of words. But what if this little incident revealed a spark of truth?
Outside, climate activists from South Africa and Namibia are chanting together, “The people united will never be defeated,” demanding to stop energy colonialism.29 Contrasting two current lines of the energy transition in the urgency of ecological collapse. While lots of corporate energy and big lobbying are going into keeping up a narrative of transition that grabs onto existing power dynamics for a new cycle of accumulation, people-led political strategies demonstrate that other presents and futures are possible. Against the backdrop of corporate desires to capitalize on the ecological collapse, the concept of “just transition” has emerged as a framework that places justice at the center of the discussion emphasizing the urgent restructuring of the power grid, in both terms, moving towards renewable energy sources and questioning the power structures behind them.30
IMG. 17: Located at the tension between urgent restructuring of the power grid, in both terms, moving towards renewable energy sources as well as questioning the power structures behind them, the research reflects on how imperial relations have been carried over into the green era of renewable energies. Taking an elephant monument in Bremen, which ties together the histories of !Nami≠nüs (Nambia) and Bremen (Germany) to investigate the narratives backed into each of the bricks. Looping through histories of the past, present, and future to ground broader questions of the continuation of land grabs under green narratives through the case study of Hyphen. Thinking through the role of monuments as spatial structures that tend to serve political purposes and burry memory work under their material form, it asks about looping histories.
31 Reclaiming Energy, Transnational Institute.
21.11.2023, 15:00–16:00 CET.
The webinar exposed the business models of “green” multinationals, alongside the private market model that underpins them. And how these companies are wrecking the climate and preventing policy makers, social movements and communities from building real solutions: public power systems that can democratically decarbonise society.
<https://www.tni.org/en/event/ reclaiming-energy>
During the research, I participated in a symposium hosted by the Transnational Institute (tni.org) which was running under the name and perspective of “Reclaiming Energy.” One of the presentations that stuck in my head was “Declaration of Energy Democracy.” Under the framing and title “Our Future is Public,” indigenous representatives, ecofeminists, trade unions, climate justice organizations, and solidarity collectives channeled and combined their energies in Santiago de Chile to put together a movement declaration around energy democracy in September 2023. Bringing forward the demand that access to energy should be recognized as a human right and common good and therefore not be commodified under the control of market logic. Calling to end foreign speculation and restore strategies for energy sovereignty. The call extended beyond the energy sector, underscoring that the transition we seek spans into intersectional struggles for collective liberation. Achieving a sustainable and just energy future thus requires not only technological innovation but also a serious engagement with historical injustices and current global power relations.
Growing up in Bremen, the Elfant is also in my life. In solidarity with resistant movements, it is time to openly confront the repetition of historical structures and imperial relationships in the age of renewable energies.
THANKS TO:
Ana María Gómez López, Corinna van Wyk (LAC), Erwin van Espen, Forensis/Forsic Architecture, Sebastian Guzman Olmos, Gabrielle Kennedy, Gina Kamm, Jeptha U Nguherimo, Julian Schubert, Katía Truijen, Ludwig Engel, María Mazzanti, Norman Aselmeyer, Virginie Kamche, and my peers at Studio for Immidate Spaces