I attended the feminism and climate camp workshop today to see if the feminist movement could help me look at a way forward from Climate Change. I was not disappointed. Elizabeth Carolla faciliatated the workshop encouraging thoughts on how climate change and feminism can be seen as a shared movement. Today we live in a patriarchal, capitalist world which violently opresses feminism as a dated and rejected concept. The women and men present were encouraged and empowered to envision an alternative to this situation by embracing feminism. Despite media representations of feminity that encourage feminism to be rejected, dismissed, or stereotyped, we were encouraged to reject this false image. Feminism is an opportunity for non-male, non-white, or non-anythings to recognise themselves; a communicating, respectful, and accepting attitude. During the discussion we looked at the best positive or negative outcome in the next ten years for women, and the segregated alike. Are men and women to become cloned copies of the ideologised feminity and masculinity? Are we to increasingly become a segregated community that rarely talks or listens, plugged into our Ipods? I think I'll be unplugging for a while, and next time my fifteen year old sister tells me she can't walk out the door with make-up I will be telling her otherwise.
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cant see the connection
30.08.2006 14:44
while some forms of feminism have an important role to play in ridding us of capitalism, it is unclear to me what is the connection between environmental issues and feminism other than the fact that some environmentalists are feminists and some feminists are environmentalists. apart from that, there does not seem any real argument.... the only recourse to putting them together seems to be this strange mystical idea of the earth as a mother and nature as feminine. while this is very poetic, it does not tell us too much as to what to do.....
sai ko jo
Clas issue
30.08.2006 15:55
Fundamental to this is land rights, including access to water, space for shelter and permaculture, the factr the poor always come off worst whether it's New Orleans or Indonesia or Carlisle. They also cannot afford wind generators, solar panels etc etc.
The global poor also aren't the ones flying everywhere ( though this is now cheaper ) driving Winibagos/SUVs, and other consumption issues. The poor in this country do however consume a fuck of a lot more than the poor of the global south.
The new middle class involved in protecting the security state ( and often employed in the administrartion of this fascist state ( including as teachers ( wot history? ) court clerks, IT bods, media folk etc. etc ) and the legitimacy of the political class and the rich seem to be one of our biggest obsticals.
Ps. Yep - I am banned from the Climate Camp Forum - no doubt by some authoritarian bourgious 'radical' (sic).
anti-authoritarian anti-puritan