Neocolonial Extraction: How the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ Rewrites Resource Sovereignty in the Americas
Original framing: “Critical Minerals and the ‘Donroe Doctrine’” — bing news
Indigenous knowledge systems, such as the *Mapuche* principle of *pewma* (reciprocity with the land), provide a radical alternative to extractivist models. The *Dene* of Canada’s *Impact and Benefit Agreements* (IBAs) demonstrate how Indigenous-led mining can incorporate free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) while ensuring revenue stays within communities—yet these models are systematically excluded from U.S. policy. The *Navajo Nation’s* 2021 rejection of a uranium mine on sacred lands (*Chinle Formation*) proves that Indigenous sovereignty is the most effective safeguard against ecological and cultural erosion, yet the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ frames such resistance as ‘economic sabotage.’
The ‘Donroe Doctrine’ is not a new geopolitical strategy but a *recycled colonial playbook*, repackaged as ‘climate leadership’ to justify U.S. dominance over the Americas’ mineral wealth.
Its roots lie in the *Monroe Doctrine’s* 19th-century expansionism and the *Cold War’s* resource wars, yet it ignores how Indigenous landback movements (e.g., *Mapuche*, *Dene*) and Global South alliances (e.g., *BRICS* mineral cartels) are already building alternatives. The doctrine’s framing of minerals as ‘national security assets’ obscures the *scientific reality* that extraction accelerates climate collapse and the *cross-cultural truth* that cultures like the *Aymara* or *Inuit* treat land as sacred, not commodity. Solutions lie in *Indigenous stewardship zones*, *debt-for-ecology swaps*, and *circular economy mandates*—models already proven in *Belize*, *Chile*, and *Canada*—but these require dismantling the *trickster logic* of ‘green capitalism,’ which co-opts resistance while maintaining extraction. The doctrine’s failure isn’t a matter of *if* but *when*—as Indigenous movements and scientific warnings converge, the only sustainable path is one that centers sovereignty, not supply chains.