“But this morning as I awoke to the softness and generosity of Spring, it was so clear and simple. Every struggle we have – women’s liberation, racial justice, economic inequality, immigration rights, gender rights, disability rights – happens on the Earth, because of the Earth. Every drop of food, the water we drink, allows us to continue those struggles. All the stars and trees and mountains and oceans and beauty inspire us to keep at those struggles and become more strategic and visionary in those struggles.” – Eve Ensler
Since its inception, One Billion Rising has been connecting the dots between multiple systems of oppression that escalate, exacerbate and profit from violence against women, including the extractive industries of oil and gas, militarized neo-colonial and corporate “development”, and the poising of our global food and water and eco systems. Through the lens of One Billion Rising for Justice and One Billion Rising Revolution activists continue coming together to address the issue of how climate change and environmental plunder aggravate the situation of women, especially in developing countries and in poor communities around the world. People all over the world joined the Risings in many countries to demand and end to violence against women and girls, by looking at policies that pillage, devastate and destroy the environment in the name of “development”.
Development aggression, and global ecological disasters directly related to corporate expansion, capitalist greed, unending extraction, production, over consumption and waste, and how these directly affect women and girls, became the primary focus of many Risings. The global climate crisis continues to affect communities around the world, but women and girls suffer the most in terms of long term loss of livelihood, forced migration, trafficking and other climate related conflicts. Indigenous populations everywhere have also suffered gravely – displaced and forced to flee and relocate – making them the world’s first climate refugees.
Rising for Climate Justice and Mother Earth is a call for justice against the aggressive greed and global exploitation of nature and people that deepen the inequalities in wealth and power. It is a call to restore dignity, integrity and respect towards Mother Earth and to all people of the world, particularly women and girls, who have been equally violated by policies and programs that cause environmental degradation and plunder.
Which is why we are joining the collaborative efforts mobilizing around the world on 29 April for the People’s Climate Movement. Under the banner “We Resist, We Rebuild, We Rise” hundreds of thousands of people around the world are gathering in communities to “resist attacks on our people, our communities and our planet.”
One Billion Rising activists are already planning to participate and platform the connections of climate justice and the movement to end violence against women and girls. From supporting the women of Standing Rock, to indigenous tribes in the Philippines RISING to protect their motherlands, to hosting Green, healing, and replenishing RISING events in Congo, New Mexico, and Gambia, our struggles for justice, equity, and a planet free from violence are connected.
RISE for Climate Justice and Mother Earth on 29 April – Find an action or march in your community >
#Rise4MotherEarth
#Rise4ClimateJustice
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Take a look back on previous Climate Justice RISING events and actions:
