www.womin.org.za – please visit our website
THE COSTS OF THIS MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT
A reminder about the costs of extractivism •
Environmental - Air pollution, Biodiversity loss (wildlife, agro-diversity), Food insecurity (crop damage), Loss of landscape/aesthetic degradation, Deforestation and loss of vegetation cover, Surface water pollution / Decreasing water quality, Mine tailing spills, Fires, Soil contamination, Waste overflow, Groundwater pollution of depletion, Large-scale disturbance of hydro and geological systems, Acid rain and acid mine drainage, Global warming, Noise pollution
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Socio-economic - Increase in Corruption/Co-optation of different actors, Displacement, Increase in violence and crime, Lack of work security, Militarization and increased police presence, Violations of human rights, Land dispossession, Loss of landscape/sense of place, Loss of livelihood, Loss of traditional knowledge/practices/cultures, Social problems (alcoholism, drug abuse, prostitution, etc.), Child Labour, Increased burdens on women’s unpaid labour
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Health - Malnutrition, Violence related health impacts (homicides, rape, etc.), Accidents, Exposure to unknown or uncertain complex risks (radiation, etc.), Mental problems including stress, depression and suicide, Health problems related to alcoholism, Health problems arising from environmental pollution and poverty (reproductive health problems, sterility, infertility, respiratory diseases, TB, increased incidence of HIV/Aids etc.) Occupational disease and accidents (silicosis, asbestosis), Infectious diseases, Deaths
Building on and inspired by resistance
What needs to change for peasant and working class women? A post-extractivist eco-feminist alternative...
An alternative vision/development must build upon the labour, and lived choices of peasant and working class women (an eco-feminist perspective). Starting point is that women’s work is absolutely essential to the well being of workers, families and communities. Women feed humanity, they care for people and they preserve nature. This places them closest to what we call the ‚humanity-nature divide’ and this presents the possibility for radical alternatives: – Extractives - smaller scale, lower intensity, local and regional priorities, diversification of economies moving away from specialisation in raw materials extraction and beneficiation – Transition to renewable energy/low carbon economies and the creation of decent work linked to this transition – million climate jobs. Jobs about restoring nature and the earth; supporting women’s work at the edge of humanity and nature (growing food, taking care of humanity, potecting and managing eco-systems etc.) – Economy and development choices organised around care and social reproduction – preserving natural resources, recognising valuing and supporting the labour of care in family, community and society as a whole (including expanded free public services – education, health care, water, sanitation etc.)
– Commoning – collective open access and usage right to collective property – forests, land, water, software, transport, care and so on. Ensuring women’s rights, voice and decisionmaking around the commons. Fighting privatisation and financialisation – Buen vivir/ubuntu (an African concept) – a different relationship between humanity and nature – and end to the commercialisation, exploitation and financialisation of nature – Degrowth in the Global North and pockets of the Global South – challenging overproduction and overconsumption and an „imperialistic lifestyle” (living at the expense of others and of nature) – The building of real democracies, which must start through social struggle, through the building of voice. This is a critical part of the alternative we strive for. And this democracy is weakened where women are oppressed and exploited, even by their own comrades.