speech from Ende Gelände

Some of the sources we quote only talk about Male and Female. They state a binary gender concept that we do not support.

Why do we as ´Ende Gelände Halle´ get to talk today on the 8th of May? How do climate justice and this feminist strike correspond? We see similar mechanisms in different forms of exploitation and think it´s essential to those forms of exploitation together. The fight for climate justice is intersectional!

It´s not just meeting the 1,5°C target but rather the fight for a better life for everyone. And ultimately, all climate policy decisions must be evaluated on this. For us one thing is clear: climate justice has to be feministic and this fight has to start in our own ranks! Contrary to what is often portrayed, the climate crisis is no problem for the future but for the reality today. Already today people lose their livelihood, already today climate crisis is one of the most common causes of flight, already today people die.

But we ask: who are the people affected, who suffers the most under the consequences of climate crisis and does this have to do with feminist fights?
In most households all around the world women are in charge of water and energy supply- they cook, heat, wash and much more. Therefore, climate catastrophes such like drought, water shortage, forest dieback and nature catastrophes make the daily work for women much more difficult. This extra work and the increase of care work like caring for sick and injured need more time and resources-that could be used for education, political and social participation. In addition, violence against FLINTA people increases statistically in times of crisis. So, the climate crisis reinforces patriarchal structures. According to the European Parliament women die four times more likely during nature catastrophes than men.

Moreover 80% of all climate refugees are categorised as women. In this patriarchal ideology the Male are assigned to the sphere of civilization while the Female are assigned to the sphere of nature. This is a sexist dualism which assigns certain works as female and devalues them. The fact that people who do reproductive work do it in most cases unpaid is the backbone of the capitalist mode of production. The legal and economy system of the western societies builds upon this.

This heteronormative bisexuality is held on to by conservative forces in order to maintain the hierarchy system patriarchy. The Female is perceived as a natural resource and exactly like the resources of nature appear like infinite sources of profit in capitalism. So, capitalism is a system that exploits both human and nature. With rising wealth emissions also rise. That’s why the richest 10% of population are responsible for half of the emissions, the poorer half of populations is only responsible for 7% (1990-2015).

In our current economic system, it´s a question of money an access to resources, in order to protect yourself from climate catastrophes. Today, especially the people of the global south suffer from climate crisis, whilst the global north is historically responsible for that.

Capitalism is based on the idea that man is in competition with nature – this is not true. The colonization of the global South has shattered the autonomy and knowledge systems of self-sustaining, local and autonomous agricultural systems of indigenous peoples. The land was stolen from those who worked it, cared for it, and inhabited it. Instead of an economic system based on the interests and needs of the people, the capitalist mode of production was imposed.

The climate catastrophe began with colonization and capitalism. Therefore, the struggle for decolonization and landback is also a struggle for climate justice and for feminism. We can see how we can connect these struggles in the example of the resistance struggles of the Zapatistas or the Kurdish movement in Rojava. These have been thinking feminism and climate justice together for a long time. But their territories, their autonomy and their freedom are threatened.

Currently, the Zapatistas are fighting against the Mexican government’s mega-project „Tren maya“, in which the German railroad is also involved. A so-called „green“ train line that will run through the independent territories of the Zapatistas, through nature reserves and rainforest. This project means deforestation, industry, land theft and consequently incorporation into capitalist profit logic. The people in this area will become dependent on wage labor and this in turn will have an impact on the freedom and equality of FLINTA people.

Abolishing capitalism, patriarchy and environmental destruction is the only way to a just society.
The fact is: we are running out of time on this dying planet. – We must act and we must act according to a feminist maxim! Feminism or death!