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For an EcofeministAnswer to the Climate Crisis

In t roduct ion by Mar ijke Col le

The ecological and social crises are the two sides of the same coin: the capitalist

mode of production. It destroys the environment which is the basis of our existence as human beings and

as society.

It exploits the vast majority of people on earth, workers, peasants, poor people.

The ecological cris is

The climate crisis is accelerating: melting of the ice on the western part of the South Poleand on Greenland. This will accelerate the rise of the sea level.

We witness more and more frequent extreme weather: typhoons, heat waves, droughts andflooding.

The cr is is of food product ion

The dominant methods of food production are not sustainable: fossil fuels, heavy machinery,chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides for monoculture of export crops which areincreasingly subject of pests beyond human control. Productivity tends to diminish and thequality of soils is degraded. The production of agrofuels (maize, sunflower oil,) instead offood adds to speculation and instability of food prices. Land grabbing by multinationalcompanies and by rich countries is a massive recent phenomenon in many poor countries.

The consequences in developing countries are food uncertainty instead of food sovereignty!

Growing pol lut ionThe quality of the air in the big cities, the terrible pollution of many rivers, the chemicalpoisoning of the soil, are the proof of a global pollution. The increase of cancers due to thispollution is now clear.

This global ecological cris is is not a natural phenomenon bu t i t is a MAN-MADE crisis.

It is not caused by individual greediness or by human nature. Human societies exist for atleast 20.000 years. But it is only since the start of the industrial revolution at the end of the18thcentury and the growth of capitalism, that human society started an exponential growthof production and of depletion of resources through a ferocious exploitation of nature and ofhuman labor.

Today, capitalist companies dominate the whole world. They have expanded to exploitationof nature to all possible places, ecosystems and domains! All resources and methods ofproduction have been privatized: land, water, minerals, fossil fuels, the air, intellectualproperty and patents on life and biotechnologies. They are used NOT to fulfill human needs,but only to generate always more profits.

The search for profits lies at the basis of the capitalist system: competition is the rule andonly the winners get the profits. In order to win, companies have to produce and to sellalways more commodities. The capitalist economy does not answer to existing human needsthrough the production of useful goods and services, the system only produces if it can makea profit! Some typical examples: the choices in research by the pharmaceutical industry, are

determined by the prospects of big profits on the selling of drugs and not by the prospect oferadicating diseases through prevention and vaccination. There are more investments in theproduction of individual cars than in a good quality network of cheap public transport!

Womens oppression, inequality, womens liberation

During the known history of human society, women and man were not considered equal:

The division of labor between men and women devalued womens work and womenbecame the central figures in maintaining life and caring for the overall well being ofmen and children

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The responsibility of women was more and more limited to the private spherewhereas men dominated in all fields of public life: politics, economic power, religion,the army, art, science, technology, etc.

In the 20thcentury, the womens movement grew and developed everywhere: in Europe,revolutionary Russia, Turkey, China, Japan, in North and South America, India, Pakistan,and other countries of South Asia, and in many African countries. Women fought for the rightto vote, equal rights in marriage and divorce, for reproductive rights, social rights andeducation. And those struggles were successful in many countries and on many topics.Only the openly reactionary forces continue to deny basic and equal rights to women.

Ecofeminism

During the second half of the 20thcentury, ecological struggles started in different regions ofthe world: women living in poor neighborhoods and often from ethnic minority background inthe USA, started to fight against the pollution of water and soil in their direct environment;women in the North of India resisted and fought against the deforestation projects in theHimalayas; women started to organize in the framework of the anti-globalization movement:

the World March of Women, the women in La Via Campesina etc. Women were at theforefront in the peace movement, for nuclear disarmament and also against peaceful civilnuclear plants.

A new awareness of nature amongst women, combined with their responsibilities for the wellbeing of their families, was also an important factor in the indigenous communities in theAmericas ( in the Amazon region, the mountains of the Andes, amongst the first nations inthe USA and Canada.

The concept of Mother Earth or Pacha Mama was used to reflect on the parallel between theexploitation of nature by capitalism (or by techno-science.) and the exploitation/oppressionof women by men and by the capitalist system.

The need for an eco-feminist vision on the ecological crisis and on the economic crisisbecame clear. Women are more immediately concerned with this ecological crisis becausethey remain responsible for the care of all family members: they worry about dangerous foodstuff (milk powder in China!), about pollution around the house, about food dependency(currently, 80% of locally produced food in developing countries is produced by women!).Thecapitalist economy depends on the unpaid and invisible domestic work of women.

Eco-feminists must develop a feminist view on the ecological and economical crisis of globalcapitalism. It is necessary to strengthen all womens movements and struggles in order tocreate the material forces for a radical transformation of society.

The struggle for a safe, healthy and ecologically sustainable environment combined with thestruggle for social justice, will strengthen and motivate half of humanity, to be the consciousforce for womens liberation, for the overthrow of capitalism and for an ecosocialist andecofeminist alternative!