Activism and Ecofeminism
Ecofeminist believe that women and nature are both oppressed by patriarchal power structures. Activism rooted in Ecofeminism seeks to tackle the oppression brought forth by economic, political, and other patriarchal structures. All over the world women have suffered as a result of environmental degradation. Some women suffer as a direct result of depleted resources and some women suffer as a result of defending the resources they rely on For example, Native women in South Dakota have been sexually assaulted by non-native men as a result of oil booms where “man camps” have been established to house oil workers (Levin). Women at Standing Rock were fired at with rubber bullets, imprisoned, and harassed by local police for speaking out against the Keystone XL pipeline. Unfortunately President Trump restarted the Keystone XL approval process in 2017 after former President Barack Obama blocked construction in 2015 and the project will commence after the COVID-19 pandemic ends (Brady) despite their efforts. Other women are suffering from the environmental degradation happening as a result of political and governmental refusal to act on their behalf.
In Brazil for example women and the environment are in dire straits because of patriarchal structures that fail to recognize acknowledge consequences of capital gain. In the Metropolitan area of Recife you will find beautiful bridges dressed with colors of yellow, blue and red. Despite the structures seemingly beautiful appearance what’s beneath it reveals a devastating reality. The river is filled with garbage in the slums. The pollution of the river infects the water source, food supply and health of all of the impoverished people that live in many of the slums of Recife’s north side. “Larissa Silva, a ten-year-old has chronic ringworm covering 80 percent of her body” and is a result of the pollution in this area of Brazil (Correa) an article from Vice reports. Its stories like these that remind us of ecofeminist struggles to create awareness of the oppression that women and the environment experience.
Activist that organized the Green Belt Movement in Africa and the Chipko Movement in India were motivated by the guiding principles of ecofeminist in order to protect the resources that not only help them thrive but also helped sustain them. In 1973 activist from the Chipko movement were successful in preventing the trees from felling for developers to build a sport goods company (edugreen). Greenbelt activist recognized the responsibility they had to till the fields, nurture crops, and harvest food meant that they would be the first to notice the environmental degradation that was going on; and they did. Despite kickback and brutal resistance from the government and local police Wangari Maathai successfully lead the movement to stop a skyscraper and statue from being built on one of Nairobi’s largest parks and the planting of millions of trees (Maathai).
Ivona Gebara on Feminism
Ivona Gebara takes a religious stance that the patriarchal values that encourage the oppression of women and the degradation of the environment stem from religion in Brazil. She argues that while feminist, ecologist, and ecofeminist are trying to figure out how to theorize, destruction of forest, rainforest, and other eco systems continues. Her version of ecofeminism that she calls an “eco of feminism” focuses less on theorizing and more on concrete solutions. Using Recife as an example she talks about making a difference there to the problem that most women don’t know how to help themselves and feel they are in “jail” as Gebara puts it. Her solution is to move beyond theology, “official theologies are cultural products of our hierarchal and masculine philosophies and ideologies. They can give life and strength for a while but they need to be renewed” (Gebara 98). With that she asserts that with new understandings applied to religious traditions a new fresher perspective can be born, a new utopia. She encourages us to put our individual theories and utopias together and create an ecological, social, and political order for the common good of women and the environment, one where patriarchal institutions don’t shape out lives. “The new understanding needs a critical analysis of what is going on in our world in order to clarify what could be a common utopia for us” (Gebara 100). Her term “eco of feminism” seems to move beyond ecofeminism theory and usher in tactics of activism to support her utopian vision for justice of women and the environment.
Bibliography
Correa, Talita. The Brazilian Slum Children Who Are Literally Swimming in Garbage. 30 January 2014. 1 April 2020 <https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kwpwja/the-brazilian-slum-children-who-are-literally-swimming-in-garbage-0000197-v21n1>.
edugreen. The Chipko Movement . <http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/forestry/chipko.htm>.
Gebara, Ivona. “Ecofeminism: A Latin American Perspective .” Cross Currents 53.1 (2003): 93-103.
Levin, Sam. “At Standing Rock, women lead fight in face of Mace, arrests and strip searches.” The Guardian (2016).
Maathai, Wangari. The Green Belt Movement . 4 May 2000. 1 April 2020 <http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai/key-speeches-and-articles/speak-truth-to>.
Annotated Bibliography:
Brady, Jeff. Builder Of Controversial Keystone XL Pipeline Says It’s Moving Forward. 31 March 2020. 1 April 2020 <https://www.npr.org/2020/03/31/824445928/builder-of-controversial-keystone-xl-pipeline-says-its-moving-forward>.
In this article legislation by President Donald Trump reinstates the Keystone XL oil pipeline project. Despite its past former President Barack Obamas decision to stop the project construction is expected to resume. The article touches on the environmental concerns such as greenhouse gas effects and highlighted the economic advantages such as jobs and revenue to the restart of the project. Also the article discusses the COVID-19 pandemic that is now the only thing standing in the way of construction of the 1,210-mile pipeline.
Thanks for that post, fellow feminist. It seems overwhelmingly apparent to me, after reading your post and others throughout this course, that what women are doing in the struggle to make our planet green, beautiful and habitable in every corner of the globe, are only bandaids. It’s all worthy and good, what we are doing, but it’s similar to heart disease or any chronic problem. If we don’t address the underlying causes and change or eliminate them, all the protests in the world won’t be enough. jDismantling the patriarchal system, which includes all of the “isms” is the ONLY cure for what ails us as a species.
I’ve wondered why more people don’t take up the mantle of equality and ecology. Is it because we think it’s just too hard? Do we believe our actions mean very little in the bigger picture? Have we become as desensitized to the plight of our fellow human and nonhuman as I think? Do we live in fear that if we change it or tear it down, we’ll be left with anarchy and murder and nothing?
I don’t have any answers to those questions, except my own for myself. Changing the system is hard because it’s been in place for so damn long and is owned and operated by white men who refuse to relinquish power. That doesn’t mean its’ impossible. It just means it’ll take awhile. I do believe people have a hard enough time getting through their day, let along taking on a battle for our planet, but it’s worthwhile and rewarding no matter how little the dial moves toward justice.
In terms of anarchy, it’s funny, frightening and utterly ridiculous that whenever there’s fear among Americans, the first thing that seems to be reported is the lines outside gun shops. Really? Is that what we need – more guns? Mayhem may occur in small areas should the system break apart. In my mind, it’s the only way we can create a world that works for 95% of people – by breaking it apart. Maybe this pandemic is just the ticket to the wild ride of the future.
Back for a minute, Holly. I wanted to add this community of activist websites that may be useful for some readers. I am a member of refusefascism.org, dsausa.org, and satanictemple.com. They all have a goal of revolutionizing our political system. The site below has 75 options. Enjoy!
https://blog.feedspot.com/activist_blogs/
Hi Holly, great blog post, lots of good information. It’s incredibly sad how little Trump cares about environmental issues. I think the only way out of this is definitely once Trump is no longer in power. To chime in a little on what Teri was saying in her response, I feel like for real change, we really need a female president who will focus more on international relations. Who will not only work toward equality at home but also seek equality among other nations. If women truly are more in tuned with environmental issues, then it’s imperative that we seek to elect a woman for president. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like that is going to happen in 2020. There seems to be so many issues that continue unresolved. What else can we do to make solid changes? How can we get a society so rooted in patriarchy to care about women and the environment? I think the answers to these questions lie in more females in high ranking political positions. https://matchinternational.org/women-change-world-women/ This is a great site for information about grassroots movements. More women need to consider pulling together to help push us toward change for all women in the world.
Greetings Holly.
Brazil and Religion.
Religious practices and theories are more cultural than holy. This is evident in Christianity- hundreds of denominations, this is because men were and still to a large degree, speakers of the ‘word’-the Bible; and therefore the oppressive products of our hierarchical and masculine philosophies and ideologies. How possible then is utopia? the children under the bridge searching for food in the filthy body of water, is many years old. The favelas of Brazil are notorious for crime and environmentally challenged- poor sanitation, trash every where, and people scrounge for food in the trash also. Many feminists speak about this, but to my knowledge-none made a dent to change the marginalized lives. They are not government, but how have their scholarly articles help? I don’t see beneficial results in putting theories and utopias together, which should create political order for the common good of women in Brazil. Just another feminist theory. Brazil is considered a Christian country, yet this inhumane existence for some of its most desperate citizens is not abating.
bridget.
Hi Holly!
I enjoyed reading your blog i particularly enjoyed how you spoke about the issues and some of the solutions that have been put out there to reverse these issues. I also agree with your statement that nature and women are oppressed by power. I stated that in my blog as well, power plays a major role in a lot of the disempowerment and suffering people face globally. However, I did find a article that I thought would interest you titled “Nature is a feminist issue”, it discusses why it is a “feminist issue” and the oppression of women and nature are linked together.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-environmental/