WoMin 2nd Annual Feminist School Accra, Ghana 7 – 14 June 2017

“Developing our African eco-feminist craft; strengthening the tools of our resistance.”

For eight days, from 7 to 14 June 2017, WoMin convened its second Annual Feminist School of forty six participants from 11 countries in the region. The aim of the 2nd Annual Feminist School, hosted by our Ghana ally, NETRIGHT, was to make visible the exploitation of women and nature. By analysing the way economic and political systems (like governments, the courts, political party based democracy etc.) are set up and run, the School aimed to surface how corporations and the rich benefit from natural resources like land, forests, minerals and water often at the expense of people. Together, participants brought their own diverse experiences to bear in order to understand how families, communities and the economy are structured to undermine, marginalise and exploit women. As a process, the School was designed with six main commitments in mind:

1. Together, starting with our own knowledge and experiences, we will build understanding in a space of safety and care.

2. Show how violence and increased insecurity is linked to the extractives industry. 3. Develop an analysis of how capitalism and patriarchy destroy nature and woman. 4. Make the connections between how society sees women and nature.

5. Making space for our alternatives to come to the fore and gaining our confidence to live a good life differently.

6. Conscious Wellness: a bodied (emotional, physical and intellectual) alternative to destruction.

A core facilitation team of Jasmin Nordien (Netherlands & South Africa), Nomzamo Mji (South Africa) and Donna Andrews (South Africa) held the process, weaving the six core commitments through each day’s theme. Key resource people contributed inputs on critical concepts and theories, including Akua Opokua (Ghana) who helped the group “locate extractives historically and as a mode of capitalist production” and also addressed the question of “Colonial Legacies & Ecological Debt”; Lyn Ossome (Uganda) who presented a “Feminist Analysis of Social Reproduction”; Samantha Hargreaves who shared on “Extractivism in the dominant development model and ecological crisis””; and Pascale Hatcher (Canada) who paged in via Skype to deliver a session on “Multilateral institutions in influencing mining governance and the neoliberal norms in mining.” To further bolster the collective analytical process and expand the conversations, participants were each assigned a set of daily background reading, and invited to watch several documentary films highlighting struggles against extractivism across the continent, including The Shore Break (Ryley Grunenwald, 2014) which tells the story of the longstanding Amadiba struggle against titanium mining in South Africa. Participants also had opportunities to facilitate by leading recap sessions each morning and sharing powerful herstories, strategies and experiences from their own contexts and work. Day One was themed Security, Violence & Peace, and focused on grounding participants in the space and beginning a gentle introduction of how extractivism impacts women’s bodies and lives. Each participant did a Human Security Analysis (a process that allows participants to draw a holistic map of security threats and risks in all spheres of their lives, from the personal to the community), and led by Jasmin Nordien, we explored the evolving meanings of “conflict” and “security” – as defined by the state, human rights apparatuses and international law, women’s rights and feminist thinkers, and women themselves. By the close of the day, participants began to grapple with the Ecological Crisis and its implications for violence and peace in their own specific contexts. Power, Systems & Institutions was the broad theme of the second day, which began with an exploration of what economic, political, social, and cultural systems and institutions look like. Situating us in the political and historical evolution of the systems that define many of our lives today e.g. patriarchy, colonialism/imperialism, this session laid the ground for Akua Opokua’s more focused input on locating extractivism historically and as a system of development that is built on the exploitation of people and resources for profit. These discussions on political economy were grounded by an individual-collective exercise in which each participant drew up her own budget and shared on how their contexts inform the “political economy” of their homes and communities. On the third day, the group grappled with Capitalist development VS. Women-centred Development. Akua Opokua led the collective in two critical sessions on the legacies of colonialism and ecological debt and the relationship between women, extractives and nature. Participants

mapped out the dominant forms of extractivism they see in their countries as well as the main issues people are facing there, including: poverty, land grabbing, land conflicts, lack of community participation in defining development, pollution, water scarcity and health problems related to mining activities such as silicosis, respiratory illness etc. After this, participants delved into all the ways in which women participate in, support and carry the costs of extractivism in their contexts. The discussion surfaced the ways in which the capitalist system prioritises profit over people, and how women’s labour and contributions (social reproduction) to the maintenance of the system are made invisible. Opokua then situated the discussion historically by introducing the concept of “ecological debt” i.e. “The debt accumulated by northern industrial countries towards third world countries on account of resource plunder and use of environmental space to deposit wastes.” Participants discussed the potential of using this concept in their everyday struggles and work. Mining-for-development? Extractives: Women and Nature was the overall theme of the fourth day (and part of day five), starting off with a Skype presentation by Pascale Hatcher on Multilateral institutions in influencing mining governance and the neoliberal norms in mining. Using a case study of Mongolia, Hatcher was able to paint a picture of the impacts of finance institutions like the World Bank working in collusion with governments and corporations to drive a particular model of extractivist development. Samantha Hargreaves then led the group on a discussion “Extractivism, ecology and the clash of ‘development’ IDEAS” which further underscored the lessons the group had been learning throughout the process, summarised below:

■ We cannot save ecosystems people and the planet by making changes WITHIN the dominant economic and social system – we can call this patriarchal extractivist capitalism

■ The logic of this system is one oriented to waste, pollution, environmental fallout and catastrophic climate change

■ We need a radical and revolutionary change in how we see development – in how we see and relate to nature, to each other and ultimately the planet. The dominant Capitalist way of producing and distributing good and services to make profit for a few must be eradicated

■ The alternative development vision we need can come from ecofeminist analysis and movement building.

Day Six, themed Social Reproduction as it relates to extractives began with a deeper introduction to WoMin led by Samantha, and was followed by a session by Nomzamo Mji on “Legal framework and Jargon – whose language and conception of consent?” This session allowed participants to grapple with how law defines development and who has rights to development. It also provoked the group to question how best to use the law in their own struggles for justice. Lyn Ossome then brought in some critical analysis around social reproduction – the visible and invisible work, carried primarily by women, that underpins the dominant capitalist system of production and development. This session called on participants to develop a radical analysis of political economy, highlighting the critical role that women play at all levels of the economy. Regarding extractives, the group went deeper to identify all the visible, invisible and gendered ways in which women work and maintain the system e.g. care work, sex work.

On Saturday 10 June, NETRIGHT – Ghana hosted an evening event, with Patricia Blankson Akakpo (Director) sharing the journey of the organisation since its founding in 1999. She was joined by members of the NETRIGHT Board. The evening was one of exchange, solidarity and celebration with participants from Uganda, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe sharing stories of women’s organising in their contexts.

The last two days of the school began to consolidate collective thinking on “alternatives”, whether through the power of “HerStory” or using Legal Frameworks and other tools of resistance. Nomzamo Mji led the group in a discussion around the pros and cons of strategic litigation, and how customary law has a lot of potential for communities fighting for their right to development. Two participants, Lebogang Ngobeni and Gisela Feliciano Zungeze offered a key input on their experiences of the People’s Tribunal (Swaziland, 2016) and how their communities in South Africa and Mozambique respectively used that space to self-empower, share their story and build connections and alliances with grassroots activists from across the continent. WoMin’s Mela Chiponda (Zimbabwe) then led a discussion around the African Mining Vision (AMV), interrogating whether the vision speaks for/to women or not. Together, the group grappled with the AMV’s text, which promotes extractives as the road to development for African countries. Given all of our discussions in this space about the impact of extractives, the AMV does not represent the majority of African women’s interests.

Visioning Alternatives:

Images: Each participant reflected on what her vision for a future beyond extractives might look like, and painted that vision on a piece of paper.

Throughout the last two days, five participants shared powerful “HerStories”, illustrating how critical it is to make the invisible visible and create space for women to not only claim their stories but share them as a way to resist a system that silences and erases women from the story. Methodologically, the facilitators used several techniques that invited participants to use different parts of their analytical and creative capacities, including painting. Wellbeing was a core component of the political alternative modelled throughout the school, and each day would begin with an optional yoga and meditation session (led by Nomzamo Mji) with simple tools for relaxation and self-care shared in sessions.

Looking Ahead The Feminist School is a critical part of WoMin’s movement building agenda and the Women Building Power campaign. By the end of July, all the resources shared at the school as well as summaries of key discussions, HerStories and more will be made available on WoMin’s website. Participants have set up their own email list and WhatsApp group to keep connected and be in solidarity with one another. Participants were drawn from organisations and communities which WoMin is partnering with in its programmes and campaign, and this offers opportunity to build, deepen analysis and continue to co-construct the needed alternatives.