The latest publication of the Epstein files has set the internet, and the political realm, ablaze. The files are an archive of grotesque horrors, from sex trafficking to eugenics. They reveal a professionally organised circuit of elite sex abuse, coercion and intimidation of vulnerable young women and children. They also show how that abuse sits hand in glove with a system of capitalist exploitation; these men were swapping young women to abuse while they were swapping insider training, and setting up their next victims while setting up regime changes. The violence was endless, and the perpetrators shockingly brazen. As Epstein said himself in one email: "Guilty is a verdict - not an emotion I understand".

Members of the elite from every which industry seem to be ensnared in this data dump. It looks like the celebrated left-wing academic Noam Chomsky has lived long enough to witness the death of his own mythology, after he claimed in an email advising Epstein on how to navigate the press surrounding renewed interest in his sex crimes that the #MeToo movement was merely "hysteria". Wealthy spiritual guru to the stars, Deepak Chopra, was also attracted to Epstein's lifestyle, encouraging him to visit with women, stating in one email: "God is a construct. Cute girls are real." In the UK, ex-Prince Andrew is once again refusing to comment, this time about new photos of him on all fours over a young girl lying on the ground. And the revelations about ex-Lord Peter Mandelson's close relationship with Epstein, even after his criminal conviction of soliciting sex from minors, is threatening to topple the British government—even despite establishment press outlet, The Times magazine, going into overdrive to wash Mandelson's image as a regretful fool on their Sunday morning cover.

I've spent a couple of sleepless nights digging through the Epstein files and been dsigusted by both the depraved actions and the entitlement of Epstein and his circle, most of whom quite clearly knew about his abuse of children. The elite who benefited from their relationships with Epstein didn't merely look the other way. They actively encouraged and normalised the abuse. Some participated.

Sadly, it isn't surprising that some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, and their cohorts of administrators who support them, found the sexual abuse of girls an acceptable fact of Epstein's lifestyle. In fact, this is the very thesis of my book, HER BODY, OUR CHOICE, which will be out early next year: Violence against women is a consequence of violence against Earth's body. When Earth is understood only as a resource to be plundered, so, too, are our bodies.

When the elite build empires on the exploitation of Earth's reproductivity—her soils and water and kinfolk—living bodies become the source of their wealth and power. Their exploitation knows no moral limits, which is why we live in a world where children are sent down mines in the Congo. Forests, species, mountains, men, women and children: every single body on this Earth is valued as a wealth-building tool for people like those in the Epstein files. Even members of their inner circles are protected only so long as they are useful. A notable email in the files is Epstein throwing Bill Gates under the bus by alleging Gates caught an STI from Russian prostitutes and then asked Epstein's advice on how to secretly procure an antibiotic and secretly administer it to his then-wife.

No, I wasn't shocked at all to read that Epstein's wealthy associates found his criminality a source of amusement and pleasure, because what use would the body of a 14-year-old Eastern European girl have to them if not amusement and pleasure? Why would their morality flare up in the face of sexual abuse of young bodies when their lives are furnished with luxury thanks to the abuse of bodies everywhere? How could they even be capable of considering the victims' experiences when they refuse to think twice about the impact of their actions on the viability of planet Earth?

Extractivism and capitalism demand the exploitation of defenceless bodies. It is inevitable, then, that those who climb to the top are simply the best abusers, and inevitable that abuse defines their personal lives as much as it does their professional. The wealthiest in this world have everything to gain from abuse and, until recently, nothing to lose. Their actions are protected by our legal, economic and political superstructures which are equally built on exploitation. And these superstructures are not mere ideologies. They are the networks of people like Epstein and his inner circle who prop up that which benefits them and dismantle that which threatens them.

This is what the Epstein files prove: The entire "democratic" order is built upon personal relationships, on these webs of mutual interests and common goals. This network is the nervous system of our reality, defining what is and isn't possible. Witnessing how it is successfully side-stepping investigation and prosecution is the best example I have ever seen of a system defending itself: Ultimately, prosecuting exploitation puts the entirety of capitalism at risk.

Epstein's victims are a reckoning for the systemic injustice, cruelty and abuse we live under. They are victims of capitalism, extractivism, and engineered inequality. They were victimised by the men and women which profit from these systems of abuse. Their right to justice was sacrificed for decades to protect those systems of abuse. Their fight to be heard is our collective fight. Only when we are all free from the exploits of the powerful will female bodies be free from sexual abuse. And for us to be free, the very body of Earth must be, too.