#134 Esther Figueroa: Colonization, Globalization, and Aluminium Mining in Jamaica

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Esther Figueroa PhD, is a Jamaican independent filmmaker, writer, educator and linguist with over 35 years of media productions including television programming, documentaries, educational videos, multimedia and feature film. Her activist film making gives voice to those outside of mainstream media and focuses on the perpetuation of local and indigenous knowledge and cultures, the environment, social injustice, and community empowerment.

In this interview, Esther describes her journey as an activist and organiser and covers topics including Esther’s films, GEFF 2020, aluminium mining in Jamaica, the history and legacy of colonisation, and how "development" and "poverty eradication" as defined by colonial powers has taken the so-called Low and Middle-Income Countries towards inequality and ecocide.

Esther shares her insight on the oppression of nature and oppression of women, and how environmentalism should go beyond sustaining our way of life on the planet, in the same way that feminism should go beyond empowering women to continue patriarchal roles.

This connection between the oppression of women and the oppression of nature makes it clear why radical efforts to topple these structures of power is necessary to liberate women and nature.

Figueroa’s films are screened and televised all over the world and taught at numerous universities. They include Jamaica for Sale (2009), the award-winning feature documentary about tourism and unsustainable development. Her latest feature documentary Fly Me To The Moon (2019) is about modernity and the global aluminum industry. She recently created and co-hosted GEFF 2020, the first online film festival focused on global extraction. Her environmental novel Limbo (2013), was a finalist in the 2014 National Indie Excellence Awards for Multi-cultural Fiction. Esther has a Youtube channel , and a Facebook group on "Imagining a Future Beyond Extraction" .