Opinion by #JPatrickCoolican
Feb 14, 2026

This #BlueState stood against #Trump — and beat him

Winter of 2026 will go down in state #history as among our finest hours

What happened here will be studied by #SocialScientists and historians as one of the great victories of #NonviolentResistance in recent times. #Minnesotans showed that brutality and sheer numbers could not overcome communities that were united in their opposition to the usurpers

#StopFascism #StopTrump

https://www.rawstory.com/minnesota-ice-2675268375/

A licence for environmental and social harm?
What Is the 'Social Licence to Operate' for corporations? Pt 2

"In the face of substantial political critique in response to the unremitting violence initiated by extractivism, corporate entities have frequently called upon researchers, consultants and scientists to provide changing imaginaries and material frameworks through which extractivism can be conceived of in ways perceived as more banal, friendly and sympathetic to community needs. This has occurred even as such projects commit massive forms of ecological, environmental and social violence."
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A. Murrey, N. Jackson, M. Volonterio, 2023, 'Social Licence to Operate: The Role of an Idea in the Colonial Logics of Extractivism", Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 15, No. 1, 1 -18
https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/mcs/article/view/8334/8154

What Is the 'Social Licence to Operate' for corporations? Pt 1
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/111356458269376201

#CorporateGovernance #SLO #SocialLicenceToOperate #ColonialLogics #consent #extractivism #EpistemicViolence #SocialScientists #trust #ethics #participation #governance #structures #practices #stakeholder #relationships #logging #mining #environment #protest #climate #biodiversity

A licence for environmental and social harm?
What Is the 'Social Licence to Operate' for corporations? Pt 1

The social licence to operate (SLO), or simply social licence, refers to the ongoing acceptance of a company or industry's standard business practices and operating procedures by its employees, stakeholders, and the general public.

When extractive projects come to your area, such as mining, logging, deforestation etc they command a social licence to operate. This ‘Social Licence to Operate' is a corporate risk management tool to obtain acceptance.

Consent-making mechanisms aim to get ‘community acceptance’ and foster community trust in gaining the social license to start or continue their extractive operations.

Corporate narratives seek to curtail anti-extractive dissent and community opposition. "SLO is ‘all about managing risk’ in order to avoid potential obstructions to extractive projects." Corporate representatives fear project disruptions.

Radical alternatives for liveable futures do not enter into the 'negotiations'. The mantra of 'jobs' and the hippocket interests generate ‘community acceptance’ to take a part in the usually ecologically damaging operations. Dissenting voices are met with violence and/or criminalisation.
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What Is the 'Social Licence to Operate' for corporations? Pt 2
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/111356460829387374

#CorporateGovernance #SLO #SocialLicenceToOperate #ColonialLogics #consent #extractivism #EpistemicViolence #SocialScientists #trust #ethics #participation #governance #structures #practices #stakeholder #relationships #logging #mining #environment #protest #climate #biodiversity

Sorry for my time off, #mastodonians! Been traveling.

Got a poll: which of the below resonate(s) with you as a rich concept to understand popular ideas? (Non- #socialscientists welcome to take the poll too.)

Feel free to reply and explain why! Thanks.

“Like the contemporary attackers of critical race theory, McCarthyites linked structural accounts of racism to Marxism. McCarthyism suppressed the work of scholars who connected #racialInequality to policy, political economics, and the law, while #socialScientists who wanted to remain in the mainstream adopted an apolitical, seemingly objective stance.”
@victorerikray in @thenation

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/ron-desantis-florida-education-racism/