[D66] [JD: 21] Towards an ecosocialist feminism

[R.O.]

https://mronline.org/2021/03/15/women-and-nature-towards-an-ecosocialist-feminism/


  Women and nature: Towards an ecosocialist feminism

Posted Mar 15, 2021 by Eds. <https://mronline.org/author/editor/>
Feminism <https://mronline.org/subject/feminism/> , LGBTQ 
<https://mronline.org/subject/lgbtq/> , Marxist Ecology 
<https://mronline.org/subject/marxist-ecology/> , Race 
<https://mronline.org/subject/race/> Global 
<https://mronline.org/geography/global/> Newswire 
<https://mronline.org/category/newswire/> EcoFeminists 
<https://mronline.org/tag/ecofeminists/> , Ecosocialists 
<https://mronline.org/tag/ecosocialists/> , Karl Marx 
<https://mronline.org/tag/karl-marx/> , Marx 
<https://mronline.org/tag/marx/>
Originally published: Rupture by Jess Spear 
<https://rupture.ie/articles/women-and-nature> (March 10, 2021)

Marxist ecofeminists

[...]


    The rise of ecofeminism

Wherever the forces of destruction attempt to cut down trees, pollute 
our air and water, and rip away the earth for minerals, women have been 
leading the resistance. In the cities and communities, women have fought 
for clean water, air, and land for their families to flourish. From the 
very first “tree huggers” in the Chipko Movement in India 
<https://feminisminindia.com/2019/07/11/chipko-movement-indigenous-women-movement/> and 
the /Comitato dei danneggiati/ (Injured Persons’ Committee) protesting 
pollution in Fascist Italy^(1) 
<https://mronline.org/2021/03/15/women-and-nature-towards-an-ecosocialist-feminism/#_edn1> 
to the peasants in La Via Campesina, the people of Appalachia fighting 
mountaintop removal and indigenous defenders of the Amazon, women have 
been and are today leading communities in struggle against capitalist 
destruction of our environment.

The rise of second-wave feminism alongside environmental movements in 
the 1970s led to the emergence of ‘ecofeminist’ politics which saw “a 
connection between the exploitation and degradation of the natural world 
and the subordination and oppression of women”.^(2) 
<https://mronline.org/2021/03/15/women-and-nature-towards-an-ecosocialist-feminism/#_edn2> 
The term ‘ecofeminism’ was coined by the French feminist Françoise 
d’Eaubonne in her book /Le Féminisme ou la Mort/ (Feminism or Death) 
published in 1974. One of the first ecofeminist movements is the Green 
Belt Movement – aimed at preventing desertification by planting trees – 
in Kenya started by Wangari Maathai in 1977.

Of course, many men are also fierce campaigners against capitalist 
destruction, organising mass movements to defend the forests and land, 
like Chico Mendes in the Amazon and Ken Saro-Wiwa in the Niger Delta, 
who were both tragically murdered for their activism. However, the most 
well-known environmental activists today are undoubtedly women: Vanessa 
Nakate and Greta Thunberg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Naomi Klein, and 
Vandana Shiva. Even here in Ireland, Maura Harrington helped to lead the 
Shell to Sea campaign and today the most well known radical 
environmental activist is arguably Saoirse McHugh.

Big Chipko Movement 
<https://mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Big_chipko_movement_1522047126.jpg>That 
both women and nature are dominated and exploited is undeniably true. 
The question for ecofeminists and ecosocialists is why and what can be 
done about it?


HarvestingIndian Women Dancing





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