Today, we heard part of a lecture given originally in Febuary 2009 at the University of Minnesota by renowned ecofeminist, activist, author and scientist, Dr. Vandana Shiva. She discusses the global crisis in food production; the long-term adverse impact of World Bank investment strategies; the biopiracy attributed to large corporations and structural adjustment policies and consequences of liberalization of the seed sector. Shiva draws on examples of rural communities in India and talks at length about the violence engendered by the Green Revolution. Her talk is ultimately a call to live sustainably and she focuses on local (often women-led) struggles that reclaim natural biodiversity and challenge the monopoly of large corporations. Her complete talk can be found at here.
In the second half of the show, our collective talked about how feminism and feminists are perceived by young women in highschool. We examined responses to a recent study where women were asked if they considered themselves feminists. We talked about the need to incorporate feminisms into the curriculum and the largely negative perceptions associated with feminisms as somehow relating to male bashing and as an outmoded way of thinking. We went on to discuss at length the need to reclaim feminism(s) and the many ways in which it still remains relevant to us all. Feminisms don`t just relate to `women`, its an approach to the world; a way to think through issues of oppression and inequity through the lens of race, class, ability, immigration status, sexuality and other facets of interlocking oppressions.
Music was the Re-Education of Lauryn Hill mixtape you can check-out here.
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