IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Wanneer: 23/07/2017 - 20:03

QUEER WE GO - SPREAD THE WORD...

Let’s build a Climate of Justice!

Climate justice is a question of social justice, it's a question of overcoming sexism, racism and neo-colonialism. When thousands of activists will block infrastructures of lignite mining in the Rhineland this August, we will not only take it into our own hands to stop fossil fuels – we will also, in our camps and our actions, build a community that will strive for queerfeminism, awareness, freedom and social justice, making the movement accessible to more people. As we build our own community of resistance, we will aim to challenge the social structures of suppression and power that shape our society and are root causes of climate change. To win this fight, we need to connect our struggles for social justice, and create a multitude of resistances together.

Climate change: an issue of social justice.

Climate change is the dangerous by-product of exploitation of human and natural resources for the purpose of profit. Impacts of climate change exacerbates existing inequalities, because those least responsible for climate change are most affected.

Systems of power and suppression are interconnected: the capitalist system and the state structures that cause climate change are the same systems that create and uphold patriarchal systems of sexism, heteronormativity, racism, ableism, classism and many other forms of suppression. The capitalist system of extractivism is one of the major manifestations of continued colonialism, where the extraction of fossil fuels carried out by corporations based in wealthier nations and the consumption patterns of consumers living in wealthier nations create the environmental destruction and impacts of climate change that are devastating for people living in more vulnerable climates and economies.

Furthermore, the impacts of climate change will be felt hardest by those who have the least access to social, economic and cultural privileges that enable adaption for survival when hit by floods, storms, food scarcity, infectious disease and other consequences of climate change. This means that people that are already suppressed by economic, social and cultural structures of – amongst others – racism, sexism, ableism, classism and transphobia have less access to mobility, food, medical services and are more likely to suffer from poverty, are also the most exposed to consequences of climate change. Just as they are more likely to be excluded from decision-making processes around climate-related policies and structures.

Climate change exacerbates pressure on marginalized people first, while the cultural, social and economic elite are able to mitigate or postpone impacts, and access means for survival. We need to keep these systems of discrimination in mind when we talk about climate justice, and that climate justice is intrinsically connected to a broader perspective of social and economic justice that include perspectives of anti-racism, neo-colonialism, inclusiveness, social and economic justice, feminism, and queer perspectives.

Challenging suppressive structures in our movements and actions.

In our struggle for climate justice, we are also building a new movement. We need to be aware of how we might reproduce structures of social suppression and domination within our own community, and how we can make our community and the climate movement accessible to more people. Discrimination, suppression and power structures exist everywhere, including our movement, and we all need to think about how we play into these patterns. We encourage everyone to think about their own role in our internal patterns of suppression and power: Think about how much space you and others take up in workshops, actions and meetings, who's doing most of the talking, who's doing most of the care-work and reproductive work at the camp – and whether this is representative to the same patterns of suppressive norms that dominate the rest of society. Let’s build a community of solidarity and help each other notice and break these patterns. An awareness team will be present to help with this and to give support. More info at: http://www.klimacamp-im-rheinland.de/…/concept-of-the-camp/…

We need to remember that we are living the alternative and not just talking about it. If we recognise the need for a consciousness about feminist, anti-racist, anti-ableist, anti-classist and queer perspectives in our movements, we can make our movements grow stronger and become accessible to more people.

Ende Gelände 2017:

This summer we will meet at the Camps in the Rhineland from August 19 to 29. There will be a queer-feminist barrio and an anti-racists barrio, and hopefully a number of workshops that give opportunities for empowerment through skill-sharing, mutual understanding and reflections especially for people that experience structural discrimination such as the intersections of gendered, sexual and racial discrimination and suppression. We will offer separatist action trainings and other tools to overcome patterns of discrimination in our action behaviour. Furthermore there will be opportunities for participating in queer-feminist elements of the Ende Gelände Action.

Come to the Rhineland in August – let us together create a climate of justice!

If you would like to get engaged in knowledge transfer and/or care work at the camps regarding awareness, out of action support etc., write to info@klimacamp-im-rheinland.de or connecting-movements-camp@riseup.net

If you would like to organise an action training in your town/area before coming to the Rhineland, write to aktionstraining@ende-gelaende.org

If you would like to take part in giving „Ende Gelände“ a queerfeminist expression, write to endegelaende_queerfem@riseup.net

Further information: www.klimacamp-im-rheinland.de and https://www.ende-gelaende.org/en/action-2017/

GENERAL ENDE GELANDE MOBI VIDEO