scorched earth as a story of survival, not submission

/rōot/ awakenings post # 14 - on power, control, and rising from the ashes

Last week, overwhelmed by yet another onslaught of headlines describing the cruel and reckless actions of a regime hellbent on consolidating power—a single term popped into my mind: scorched earth.

I first learned about scorched earth campaigns when I interviewed asylum seekers and refugees from Guatemala. They described how, in the late 1980s, their gov…