At Common Dreams, Osprey Orielle Lake and Emily Arasim write—On International Women’s Day, Honoring Women Land and Human Rights Defenders:
Women around the world stand at the forefront of rising movements to defend and protect the health of water, land, air and diverse communities. On this International Women’s Day, it is vital to honor the women defenders who, with incredible courage and effort, are taking on corporations and governments to say ‘no’ to resource extraction and the continued violation of human rights, women’s rights, and the rights of Indigenous peoples and frontline communities. Through their work, these women act so that the generations to come may yet stand a chance of inheriting a sustainable and livable planet.
With increased frequency however, many of the women and men who advocate daily in defense of a just world are being systematically criminalized, attacked and murdered with impunity. According to 2016 reports by Global Witness, 2015 was the most dangerous year on record for land defenders, with at least three people per week killed for non-violent opposition to mining and fossil fuel projects, agribusiness, hydroelectric dams, logging and other extractive industries.
Indigenous peoples defending ancestral territories represent upwards of 40% of those killed. Women, and Indigenous women in particular, face even greater challenges and dangers, as they navigate the brutal intersection of environmental devastation, cultural dislocation, and sexual violence and gender based persecution.
Tragedies such as the 2016 murder of Honduran activist Berta Caceres indicate the acceleration of these trends, which have prompted United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz to warn of an “epidemic” of murder of Earth defenders.
The violation of women rights and land defenders speaks in a profound way to the derangement of our times, and to the dangerous worldviews of domination and exploitation, which sit at the root of both degradation of Earth’s natural systems, and violence against women of the world. [...]
When women land and water protectors are harmed we must speak out and take action to resist and repudiate these abuses, and acknowledge that these women put their bodies on the line for the survival of all of us. Though the challenges and dangers faced are dire, we cannot help but remember the proverb which says: “They tried to bury us, they forgot that we are seeds.”
For each woman persecuted for her courageous defense of people and planet—let one hundred more rise to build the world we seek.
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
“One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative attacks and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.”
~Michelle Obama, 2008
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2003—Bush stirs up mob hate against Mexicans:
Does anyone really think France is sweating the Freeper "bash France" campaign? And looking at the latest car sales data, it's the American companies that are getting pounded, not the Germans.
But it looks like Bush is encouraged by the Freeper brigades, interpreting it as grassroots support for his war mongering. And he's now trying to focus the guns on Mexico, threatening mob retaliation if our southern neighbor doesn't support our war resolution in the UN Security Council. As Krugman writes:
Then came President Bush's Monday interview with Copley News Service. He alluded to the possibility of reprisals if Mexico didn't vote America's way, saying, "I don't expect there to be significant retribution from the government" — emphasizing the word "government." He then went on to suggest that there might, however, be a reaction from other quarters, citing "an interesting phenomena taking place here in America about the French . . . a backlash against the French, not stirred up by anybody except the people."
And Mr. Bush then said that if Mexico or other countries oppose the United States, "there will be a certain sense of discipline."
I'd like to say that Bush is "out of control". I'd like to wonder whatever happened to Bush's "humble foreign policy" promises in the campaign. But heck, I've already hit those themes about a million times. Yet while the US media ignores Bush's threats, the foreign media has actually been doing its job:
These remarks went virtually unreported by the ever-protective U.S. media, but they created a political firestorm in Mexico. The White House has been frantically backpedaling, claiming that when Mr. Bush talked of "discipline" he wasn't making a threat. But in the context of the rest of the interview, it's clear that he was.
I don't buy the rationale for war, but it's clear that any other semi-competent president would've rallied world support by now, without trying to destroy the very international institutions that help keep the peace and souring relations with our closest allies.
HIGH IMPACT STORIES • TOP COMMENTS
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: A Day Without A Woman, artisanally mansplained. GOP health care bill drops with a thud. Mar-A-Lago and Trump’s DC hotel bring lobbying back to the lobby. Are our AI psychographic robot overlords just more BS? Or is that just what they want us to think?
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