From energy racism to people’s power: unpacking the electricity crisis and resistance in Orange Farm, Johannesburg

Energy racism, a brainchild of racial capitalism, systemically excludes the black majority who are denied safe, reliable and clean household energy. It manifests in violent and, sometimes, deadly ways, which are often met with organised resistance from below. Drawing on a case study of Orange Farm, Johannesburg, this article explores the politics of popular resistance to the crisis of neoliberalism and cost recovery. It argues that the macro-sphere of energy production (for example, global coal consumption and Eskom) and the micro-sphere of consumption and resistance intersect within the constraints of a racialised system of capital extraction.