Our Mother Ocean Enclosure, Commons, and the Global Fishermen's Movement

Our Mother Ocean tells the story of the Global Fishermen’s Movement from its beginnings in Southern India to its crucial role in the global movement against neoliberal capitalism. In a time of profound economic and ecological crisis, Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Monica Chilese offer a long-overdue reminder that the ocean is an integral terrain of struggle for the preservation of dignity and life. The authors draw attention to the polyvalent functions of the ocean as a source of food, medicine, raw materials, biodiversity and culture; and also as a site of human labour, livelihood, and culture threatened by industrial fishing and tourism that distorts landscapes, depletes fish stocks, and destroys natural barriers for the protection against climate disaster. Their perspective is both practical and theoretical, exploring the related issues of globalization, development, work, and food, and illuminates strategic connections between those struggling for social justice in the global North and South. For humanity and against capital, Dalla Costa and Chilese remind us, it is time for love and respect for our mother Ocean.