Ain’t I a plant? Ain’t I a Woman? – A Reflective Journey Through Case II of the CICC

This essay reflects on Case II of the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes: The East India Company on Trial in London, considering how the Witnesses and Advocate in this case highlighted the continuities between the socio-ecological destruction and exploitation perpetrated by the East India Company as part of its highly profitable trade in indigo, and contemporary practices of agribusiness in Africa that separate people from their traditional agricultural knowledges and drive their food production into dependency on multinational corporations. The text then addresses the indigo plant that grew at the centre of the CICC’s courtroom to pose questions around plant-being and speaking up from a feminist perspective.