Reclaiming culture, resisting co-optation: young feminists confronting the rising right

ABSTRACT

This article presents two case studies of young feminist resistance to the rising phenomena of fascisms and fundamentalisms. The first shows young feminists organising in Kenya, and focuses on the battle to repeal a colonial Penal Code criminalising homosexuality. The second, from Brazil, highlights how young Afro-Brazilian feminists are resisting attacks against their religions in a context of racism, rising evangelical fundamentalism, and a political shift to the right. The authors draw on the experience, analysis, and perspectives gained as three young feminists who work at the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), an international feminist organisation which, among other areas, puts emphasis on young feminist activism and feminist responses to religious fundamentalisms and fascisms.

Cet article présente deux études de cas ayant trait à la résistance de jeunes féministes face au phénomène croissant des fascismes et des fondamentalismes. La première porte sur la manière dont de jeunes féministes s’organisent au Kenya, et se concentre sur les efforts en vue d’abroger un code pénal colonial qui criminalise l’homosexualité. La deuxième, qui provient du Brésil, souligne la manière dont de jeunes féministes afrobrésiliennes résistent aux attaques sur leurs religions respectives dans un contexte de racisme, de fondamentalisme évangélique croissant et de glissement politique vers la droite. Les auteurs se basent sur l’expérience, les analyses et les points de vue acquis par trois jeunes féministes qui travaillent au sein de l’Association pour les droits de la femme dans le développement (AWID), une organisation féministe internationale qui, entre autres, met l’accent sur l’activisme des jeunes féministes et les réactions féministes face aux fondamentalismes religieux et aux fascismes.

El presente artículo da cuenta de dos estudios de caso que abordan la resistencia de jóvenes feministas al creciente fenómeno de fascismo y fundamentalismo. El primero de estos estudios analiza el caso de jóvenes feministas organizadas en Kenia, centrándose en la lucha que han librado para derogar un código penal establecido durante el periodo colonial, el cual criminaliza la homosexualidad. El segundo, realizado en Brasil en un contexto de racismo, creciente fundamentalismo evangélico y derechización, examina cómo las jóvenes feministas afrobrasileñas resisten los ataques llevados a cabo contra sus religiones. Las tres autoras se basan en la experiencia, los análisis y las perspectivas obtenidas en su capacidad como jóvenes feministas trabajadoras de la Asociación para los Derechos de las Mujeres y el Desarrollo (awid), una organización feminista internacional que, entre otras áreas, promueve el activismo de jóvenes feministas y la acción feminista para hacer frente al fundamentalismo religioso y el fascismo.

KEYWORDS:

• Fascism
• fundamentalism
• colonialism
• young feminism
• Brazil
• Kenya

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to sincerely thank Valérie Bah for her editorial support.

Notes on contributors

Isabel Marler is the Communications Coordinator of the Advancing Universal Rights and Justice Program at the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), which focuses on feminist analysis of and resistance to fascisms and fundamentalisms. Before joining AWID, Isabel worked with Women Living Under Muslim Laws. Email: [email protected]. Twitter: @IsabelMarler

Daniela Marin Platero is Coordinator of the Advancing Universal Rights and Justice Program at the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID). She is a migrant, queer, Nonualca woman from El Salvador. She is passionate about work centred at the intersections of youth, defence of the body-territory, migration, and autonomy. Postal address: AWID, 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 150 Toronto, ON M5T 2T7, Canada. Email: [email protected]

Felogene Anumo is Coordinator of the Building Feminist Economies initiative at the Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID). She was formerly Manager of the Young Feminist Activism Program at AWID. Prior to joining AWID, she worked with Women in Law and Development in Africa – Kenya Chapter (WiLDAF-K) and the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET). Email: [email protected]. Twitter: @felogene

Notes

1 Definitions of ‘fascism’ vary and are contested, but common ideological and organisational themes can be identified. Robert Paxton’s (2004, 218) definition provides a good starting point. Paxton defines fascisms as: ‘A form of political behaviour marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion’. John Weiss’ (1967, xi) listing of fascist ideological traits is also helpful: ‘organicist conceptions of community, philosophical idealism, idealization of “manly” (usually peasant or village) virtues, resentment of mass democracy, elitist conceptions of political and social leadership, racism (and usually anti-Semitism), militarism and Imperialism’. Marxists have articulated fascism in relation to capital and class, outlining that fascism gains political power through the assistance of the ruling class and with funding from big business. The Encyclopedia of Marxism (www.marxists.org) defines fascism as ‘right-wing, fiercely nationalist, subjectivist in philosophy, and totalitarian in practice’, and as ‘an extreme reactionary form of capitalist government’. For feminists, the characteristics of militarism and militarised masculinity, chauvinism, machismo, emphasis on male dominance, and patriarchal power relations are of particular concern, even while it must be recognised that women have played and continue to play active roles in fascist movements.

2 In El Salvador and Canada; the UK; Kenya and across the African Continent (for Daniela Marin Platero, Isabel Marler, and Felogene Anumo, respectively) as well as all being part of transnational coalitions and networks working for gender justice.

3 The term ‘gender binary’ refers to the classification of gender into two distinct and opposite forms of masculine and feminine, and a correlating social system which splits people into one of two sets of gender identities, roles, and attributes (potentially including sexual orientation), based on the sex assigned to someone at birth (based on the appearance of their genitalia).

4 For more information on AWID’s intiatives, see www.awid.org.

5 ‘Intersectionality’ is a concept coined by Black feminist and legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, which has roots in Black feminist responses to the historical exclusion of Black women from the feminist movement, and from feminist theory. The concept shows how interlocking systems of power work together to oppress those who are most marginalised in society, and illustrates that experiences of gender cannot be separated from experiences of race, and other forms of oppression, such as class, sexual orientation, and disability.

6 The research was conducted using a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis of two major data-sets. The first phase of data collection and analysis took place between August and December 2014 and entailed coding and analysis of applications from three separate FRIDA grant-making cycles between 2012 and 2014 – 1,360 applications representing over 100 countries (FRIDA and AWID 2016, 17). The second phase was a global survey of young feminist organisations, consisting of a questionnaire in three languages (English, French, and Spanish) which was completed by 694 respondents from 118 different countries.

7 See www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EataOQvPII) (last checked 5 September 2018).

8 See https://thisisafrica.me/18578-2/ (last checked 5 September 2018).

9 See www.wya.net/ (last checked 5 September 2018).

10 See www.hli.org (last checked 5 September 2018).

11 See www.facebook.com/Africa-Life-Youth-Foundation-166495786720484/) (last checked 5 September 2018).

12 The GALCK website defines this as follows: ‘Carnal knowledge against the order of nature’ is defined as any sexual activity between two or more persons that does not involve the penis penetrating the vagina (see www.galck.org/know-your-rights/, last checked 5 September 2018).

13 Al-Shabaab (official name Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen) is a militant Muslim fundamentalist group active in East Africa. ‘Al-Shabaab’ literally translates from Arabic as ‘The Youth’. It is banned as a terrorist group by both the United States and the UK and is believed to have between 7,000 and 9,000 fighters. Al-Shabab advocates the Saudi-inspired Wahhabi version of Islam, while most Somalis are Sufis. The group has imposed an oppressive interpretation of religious law in areas under its control, including the stoning to death women accused of adultery. For more information, seewww.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15336689 (last checked 5 September 2018).

14 See https://auntyjanehotline.weebly.com/about-us.html (last checked 5 September 2018).

15 See https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9ulxg9ZEphCZGZlN2Q2YzctNjYzZS00YWVhLThkYTAtMmRkNmQ2MjMyNmRh/edit?hl=en&pli=1 (last checked 5 September 2018).

16 See www.thisisthenest.com/ (last checked 5 September 2018).

17 An Afro-American religious tradition, practised mainly in Brazil. Candomblé officially originated in Salvador, Bahia at the beginning of the 19th century, when the first temple was founded. Umbanda is a syncretic Afro-Brazilian religion that blends African traditions with Roman Catholicism, Spiritism, and Indigenous American beliefs.

18 See https://fld.com.br/blog/reju-promove-a-campanha-visto-branco-pelo-fim-da-i/ (last checked by editor 6 September 2018).

19 See www.facebook.com/ciberativistasnegrasma/ (last checked by editor 6 September 2018).

20 (https://juventudedeterreirormc.wordpress.com/).

21 See http://reju.org.br (last checked by editor 6 September 2018).

22 See www.youtube.com/watch?v=9977Wwnl_H8 (last checked by editor 6 September 2018).

23 See www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHhqb3j1UpI (last checked by editor 6 September 2018).

24 See www.youtube.com/channel/UC8stIDEXrKootUAqz09AmUw (last checked by editor 6 September 2018).