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Research Article

Intersectionality and collective action: visioning a Feminist Green New Deal in the US

Pages 515-533 | Published online: 10 Dec 2020
 

ABSTRACT

In the wake of the introduction of the Resolution for a Green New Deal to the US House of Representatives in 2019, feminist climate justice activists and organisers initiated and cultivated the Feminist Coalition for a Green New Deal. The Coalition advances an intersectional feminist analysis as part of the national conversation about the Green Deal, which entails elucidating and enacting processes for coalition-formation and creating shared values, principles, and policy positions. This article shares insights from interviews with five Coalition members about the relevance of the Coalition’s creation, operating processes, and key outcomes – namely the principles for a Feminist Green New Deal – for communities, advocates, and policymakers, particularly in this moment of reckoning with a global pandemic. Their reflections illustrate their fervent dedication to the feminist tool of intersectional analysis, their proposals for an alternative economy centred on principles of care and regeneration as the essential scaffolding for a Feminist Green New Deal, and their commitment to the power of collective action as the most effective means of movement building. The responses also demonstrate the interconnectedness of feminist climate advocacy with feminist development critiques, the essentiality of a comprehensive reframing of governments’ general policy processes and aims, and the criticality of movement building that is intentional and responsive.

Au lendemain de l'introduction de la Résolution pour une Nouvelle donne verte auprès de la Chambre des représentants des États-Unis en 2019, les activistes et organisateurs féministes de la justice climatique aux États-Unis ont initié et cultivé la Coalition féministe pour une Nouvelle donne verte (Feminist Coalititon for a Green New Deal). Cette coalition met en avant une analyse féministe intersectionnelle comme élément de cette conversation nationale, qui suppose l'éclaircissement et la promulgation de processus de formation de coalitions et la création de valeurs, principes et positions de politiques communs. Cet article propose des aperçus tirés d'entretiens avec cinq membres de la coalition sur la pertinence de la création, des processus d'opération et des résultats clés de la coalition - c'est-à-dire les principes d'une Nouvelle donne verte féministe - pour les communautés, les défenseurs et les décideurs, a fortiori alors même que nous sommes confrontés à une pandémie mondiale. Leurs réflexions illustrent leur fervent dévouement envers l'outil féministe de l'analyse intersectionnelle, leurs propositions concernant une économie alternative axée sur les principes des soins et de la régénération comme échafaudage essentiel pour une Nouvelle donne verte féministe, et leur engagement en faveur du pouvoir de l'action collective comme moyen le plus efficace de bâtir un mouvement. Les réponses démontrent également l'interconnectivité des activités de plaidoyer féministes en matière de climat et des critiques féministes du développement, le caractère essentiel d'une reformulation complète des processus et objectifs de politique générale des gouvernements, et l'importance critique d'une construction de mouvements intentionnelle et réactive.

Una vez que la Resolución para un Nuevo Trato Verde fue introducida en la Cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos en 2019, activistas y organizadoras feministas en torno a la justicia climática de este país dieron inicio y cultivaron la Coalición Feminista para un Nuevo Trato Verde. Como parte de esta conversación nacional, dicha Coalición realizó un análisis feminista intersectorial, cuyo propósito apuntaba a elucidar y promulgar procesos para la formación de coaliciones, así como a crear valores, principios y propiciar posiciones políticas compartidos. En el presente artículo se examinan ideas surgidas de entrevistas realizadas con cinco miembros de la coalición respecto a la relevancia que asignan a su creación, sus procesos operativos y sus resultados clave —es decir, los principios para un Nuevo Acuerdo Verde Feminista— orientados a comunidades, defensores y responsables encargados de la formulación de políticas, sobre todo en un momento en que, debido a la pandemia mundial, se experimenta una nueva realidad. Sus reflexiones dan cuenta del uso que hacen de la herramienta feminista llamada análisis interseccional y de su ferviente dedicación a impulsar sus propuestas en pos de una economía alternativa centrada en los principios de cuidado y regeneración. Estos elementos resultan esenciales para construir el andamiaje básico de un Nuevo Acuerdo Verde Feminista, a lo que se suma su compromiso de impulsar el poder de la acción colectiva como el medio más eficaz para fortalecer el movimiento. Asimismo, las respuestas suscitadas en las entrevistas revelan la interconexión existente entre la incidencia feminista en torno al clima y las críticas feministas del desarrollo, la necesidad de un replanteamiento integral de los procesos y los objetivos de política general de los gobiernos, y la importancia crítica implícita en el hecho de que la construcción de movimientos sea intencional y responda a las necesidades de este periodo crítico.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to extend their thanks to the people who were interviewed for this article: Osprey Orielle Lake (Respondent 1); Diana Duarte and Akhila Kolistetty (Respondents 2 and 3); Tiffany Lam (Respondent 4); and Bridget Burns (Respondent 5).

Disclosure Statement

Tara Daniel and Mara Dolan acknowledge they are currently on staff at the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), one of the member organizations of the Feminist Coalition for a Green New Deal. The authors' perspectives are shaped by their participation in the Coalition. The Coalition receives funding from its individual member organizations and the Wallace Global Fund. We have disclosed these interests fully to Gender & Development and Taylor & Francis.

Notes on contributors

Tara Daniel is Program Manager at the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). Email: [email protected]

Mara Dolan is a WEDO Advocacy Associate. Postal address: WEDO, 147 Prince St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 The Resolution for a Green New Deal was introduced in the US Congress in February 2019 (Roberts Citation2019).

2 The Green New Deal is not a new concept. The idea of a transformative climate agenda mobilised through substantive government investment, modelled after the 1930s New Deal in the US, has its roots in climate justice advocacy long before the Resolution’s introduction in 2019 (Aşıcı and Bünül Citation2012).

3 BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour. This term, used by many racial justice leaders in the US context, is one of solidarity that expresses an understanding of shared and overlapping oppressions and experiences (see, for example, www.thebipocproject.org/).

4 The kickstart organisations and individuals of the FemGND are Climate Justice Alliance; Frances B. Roberts-Gregory, UC Berkeley; Ginew; Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJA); Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy; International Center for Research on Women; MADRE; NAACP; Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos (Network for Social Justice and Human Rights), Brazil; Sierra Club; Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN); Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO); and WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

5 This article highlights the breadth of policy spaces that require serious changes in the time of COVID-19. We use the term transformational change in the spirit of recognising that, as the following paper (one among many) suggests, tweaks to policy and incremental change will not address the fundamental inequalities embedded in our social service provision systems: www.genanet.de/fileadmin/user_upload/dokumente/Themen/Corona/20200518_Discussionpaper_Corona-Climate-Gender_en.pdf (last checked 23 October 2020).

6 The area along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is referred to as Cancer Alley because of the association between its high number of petrochemical plants and the increased likelihood of residents getting cancer. For more information, see www.propublica.org/article/welcome-to-cancer-alley-where-toxic-air-is-about-to-get-worse (last checked 23 October 2020).

9 Respondents 2 and 3 work at the same organisation, and wished to give a joint interview on their shared perspective. The acknowledgements reflect this.

10 The military–industrial complex was a term popularised by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961), who warned of its growing power in his farewell address. For a brief discussion of the current dynamics of this complex, see www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/26/eisenhower-called-it-military-industrial-complex-its-vastly-bigger-now/.

12 See, for example, Terry (Citation2009).

13 Man camps are the settlements of ‘the hundreds and often thousands of workers who are brought to an oil, gas or mining project and given temporary housing for the duration of the project’, often adjacent to Indigenous communities. They are associated with violence, particularly against Indigenous women. For more information, see www.colorado.edu/program/fpw/2020/01/29/violence-extractive-industry-man-camps-endangers-indigenous-women-and-children (last checked 23 October 2020).

14 For example, Black women faced greater challenges in returning to their homes in the months and years following Hurricane Katrina (Michaels Citation2015), and studies have shown that the needs of Black women were largely ignored in recovery and housing efforts and policies (Henrici et al. Citation2015).

15 The Sanctuary Movement emerged in the US in the 1980s to provide sanctuary to refugees from Central America fleeing from conflict and encountering restrictive US asylum policy. Religious congregations provided physical safe haven, and political organisations, universities, and local governments joined in policy and advocacy.

16 #BlackLivesMatter is a movement with participation and leadership from many organisations and movements working at multiple scales, originating in the US. The mission of the organisation #BlackLivesMatter, for example, is to ‘eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives’.

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