Naming the Political Economy of Violence: What It Is and How to Confront It

From the peripheries of São Paulo, through the rubble of Gaza and to the shack settlements of South Africa, a familiar pattern unfolds: communities that dare to defend life, land, and dignity find themselves in the crosshairs. These are not isolated incidents, nor are they the result of failed governance or corruption alone. What we are witnessing is the Political Economy of Violence (PEV): a global regime in which violence is deployed—by both state and non-state actors—to maintain an economic system of profit and control.

This violence is not exceptional; it is the logic of capitalism made visible. Capitalism has always depended on extreme force—extracting wealth through dispossession, slavery, and exploitation. Today, neoliberalism has intensified this violence, blurring the lines between corporations, organized crime, and state institutions. The result is a world where those defending lands, waters, and sacred territories are increasingly under attack, while impunity reigns. From red-tagging and forced disappearances to militarized development and land dispossession, repression has become the cost of resistance.

To understand the terrain of struggle is the first act of resistance. In this issue, we highlight three emblematic cases that expose the structural nature of this violence—and the urgent need to build collective, international solidarity across movements and borders.

Brazil | The murder of two MST leaders and the economic roots of violence

In January, Valdir do Nascimento de Jesus and Gleison Barbosa de Carvalho, members of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), were murdered in the Olga Benário settlement. Their deaths are not isolated incidents but part of a growing trend: repression used to expand agribusiness and protect corporate interests, the very dynamics ESCR‑Net confronts through its work, exposing and challenging corporate capture and corporate impunity worldwide.

This article analyzes how the PEV manifests through militarized dispossession, protest criminalization, and environmental destruction, exposing the deep connections between states, corporate power, and organized violence.

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Honduras | The Garífuna people and the persistence of racialized dispossession

On April 12, Max Gil Castillo was forcibly disappeared in the Garífuna community of Punta Piedra, Honduras. Just hours later, Miriam Miranda, leader of OFRANEH, received new death threats.These are not isolated acts of intimidation—they are part of a broader campaign to dismantle a people’s right to land and self-determination.

The Garifuna people are not just surviving — they are defending their ancestral coastline, self-governance, and agricultural and cultural practices against luxury resorts, palm oil plantations, and the militarized interests of capital. Here too, the Political Economy of Violence sharpens its teeth: racialized dispossession as the price for “development”. A centuries-old pattern dressed in the language of “foreign investment”.

This case illustrates how the PEV plays out in Afro-descendant territories, where violence functions as a tool for corporate-led dispossession and territorial reconfiguration.

From the peripheries of São Paulo, through the rubble of Gaza and to the shack settlements of South Africa, a familiar pattern unfolds: communities that dare to defend life, land, and dignity find themselves in the crosshairs. These are not isolated incidents, nor are they the result of failed governance or corruption alone. What we are witnessing is the Political Economy of Violence (PEV): a global regime in which violence is deployed—by both state and non-state actors—to maintain an economic system of profit and control.

This violence is not exceptional; it is the logic of capitalism made visible. Capitalism has always depended on extreme force—extracting wealth through dispossession, slavery, and exploitation. Today, neoliberalism has intensified this violence, blurring the lines between corporations, organized crime, and state institutions. The result is a world where those defending lands, waters, and sacred territories are increasingly under attack, while impunity reigns. From red-tagging and forced disappearances to militarized development and land dispossession, repression has become the cost of resistance.

To understand the terrain of struggle is the first act of resistance. In this issue, we highlight three emblematic cases that expose the structural nature of this violence—and the urgent need to build collective, international solidarity across movements and borders.

Read the full story

South Africa | Solidarity with Abahlali baseMjondolo

We condemn the violent evictions and racist attacks targeting members of Abahlali baseMjondolo, a grassroots movement defending land, housing, and dignity in South Africa.

Recent evictions in KwaZulu-Natal reveal a broader pattern of state-backed repression driven by elite development interests and anti-poor and racist propaganda.

Abahlali’s struggle is rooted in the right to remain on their land and build dignified lives—rights enshrined in South African and international law. Their resistance challenges the very logic of the Political Economy of Violence.

Read the full story

What Is ESCR-Net’s Solidarity System?

Our Solidarity System (SOS) is a collective mechanism that activates solidarity among ESCR-Net members when fellow members, their communities, or their close allies face threats due to their human rights work. It also serves as a strategic space to analyze and respond to the structural roots of repression, including the Political Economy of Violence.

More info: escr-net.org/en/working-group/system-of-solidarity

How to Resist the Political Economy of Violence

• Center defenders and communities under threat.
  Naming the violence: building shared analysis that dismantles narratives of justification and denial.
• Denouncing and amplifying: raising the visibility of emblematic cases and demanding accountability from state and corporate actors.
• Weaving international solidarity: uniting actions across regions, confronting the interconnected violence we face, and strengthening long-term support through relationships of trust forged in collective struggle.
• Protecting territories and the lives that sustain them: strengthening collective protection, care, and community-based strategies to advance alternatives to militarization.
• Transforming structures: advancing alternatives to the dominant economic model, grounded in self-determination, environmental justice, and people’s sovereignty.

Related

• Trump’s agenda is a corporate-led assault on human rights | ESCR-Net

Thanks for reading. For more information about our System of Solidarity,  please contact Evan King, System of Solidarity Coordinator, at eking@escr-net.org.