How does the interplay of hope and despair shape cultural production amidst communities facing southern ruination? If the North is perceived as an orientation towards the capitalist-colonial world that seeks the “creative destruction” of many lifeworlds across the globe, southern theorising entails reflections on southern ruination and the possibility of existence. However, this interplay of hope and despair contrasts with the debates around climate despair and futurity in the academic cultural production influenced by the current “decolonization turn” in the Global North. While certain strands of critical, feminist, post-/de-colonial scholarship attend to southern lifeworlds and acknowledges communities as knowledge producers, the conceptual translations and branding of something as ‘theory’ and ‘knowledge’ proper remains primarily within the exclusive purview of elite knowledge workers in the global North. This paper centers on certain southern cultural artifacts, both ideas and forms, that emerge from communities facing existential threats from climate change and Northern exploitation. Centering on activists as mediators and southern theorists, the paper explores both the transformative potential of their ideas and their ruminations on southern ruination. Empirically, it draws from author’s experience of studying and walking with communities in resistance from the deserts and arid regions of the Indus basin, and comparing and contrasting this with southern movements elsewhere. It offers a stylistic and speculative reading of artifacts such as the daira and ifrit from Indus valley and el muro and los caracoles from southern Mexico. These concepts serve as powerful vehicles for expressing and understanding the lived realities of marginalized communities. Their evocative nature offers insights into the profound experiences of these communities, while challenging dominant discourses that often silence their voices in sophisticated ways. Ultimately, this research aims to demonstrate the value and significance of engaging with cultural products from social movements as a means of enriching our understanding of climate change.