WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF ECOFEMINISM FOR POLITICS

Politics has been defined as the art of the possible. Yet modern political and economic systems are making the continuation of life on Earth increasingly impossible. We are living in an ailing planet. The modern project has accelerated the process of environmental destruction and the domination of everything living. The culture of Western political economies has shifted during the past millenium from a concept of “Terra Mater”, that of a living earth as mother, to “Matter”, a mere resource to be exploited for the greedy consumerist market. A kind of insanity has taken hold at every level of “mainstream” society, especially in economics and politics where the accumulation of power and money disregards any ethical concerns for life. Unless we have the political will to find more sustainable practices, a future for the human species is seriously in question, because we are literally consuming the life support systems, which sustains all life.

Many people today feel disillusioned with politics. “Dirty politics” is a very common phrase used to describe major political parties, political systems and their leaders. We need to change this attitude to politics. Ecofeminist politics offers us a a guiding ethic for a sustainable, and just politics – what Fran Peavey calls a “heart politics”. She says, that “Politics is the development and exercise of power…..Heart on the other hand is a soft word involving feelings, tenderness, questions and openness. Heart in politics does not accept alienation in organising and always recognises a deep relationship of all beings. It is a female word”.

Current mainstream politics needs ecofeminism to bring the heart back into governments, to eliminate their current destructive practices. How is this to be done? Stephanie Lahar states that “ecofeminism must continue to dissemble the multiple layers and strands of ideologies and practices that power a dysfunctional society and make it dangerous to individuals and to the totality of life”. Ecofeminism brings a major contribution to grassroots green politics, which addresses the issues facing us today, including environmental degradation, social injustice, collapse of communities and Third World development, contributing to a new holistic way of practicing politics and economics.

Charlene Spretnak has spoken of how ecofeminism is vital to an understanding of this green politics. Green political parties are based on the four pillars of non-violent resolution of conflict, participatory democracy, social justice and ecologically sustainable development. These are “initiatives that ecofeminism has both drawn from and contributed to” (Lahar). Ecofeminists within the Greens have had a huge influence on reshaping the political agenda in a number of countries. Charlene Spretnak has been instrumental in fostering the development of local Greens Parties across the USA, and feminists like Petra Kelly have been involved in forming Die Gruenen in Germany.

Joanna Macy speaks of a “Great Turning” from the Industrial Growth Society to a Life Sustaining Society, which operates within the carrying capacity of its life support system. This “is happening simultaneously in three areas or dimensions that are mutually reinforcing. These are: - 1. actions to slow the damage to the Earth and its beings; 2. analysis of structural causes and creation of structural alternatives; and 3. a fundamental shift in worldview and values”. Ecofeminists are involved in all three. At the forefront of the holding action are the women of the Chipko Movement. Jo Vallentine and Helen Caldicott’s work on nuclear disarmament, the women of Greenham Common, Starhawk and other ecofeminist’s work in resisting corporate globalisation and the many thousands of young ecofeminists like Julia Butterfly Hill who place their bodies in front of bulldozers to save old-growth forests. Academic ecofeminists such as Karen Warren, Val Plumwood, Chris Cuomo, Carolyn Merchant, Patsy Hallan and others are engaged in the analysis of the structural causes of the ecological destruction. Wangari Mathai and the Greenbelt Movement in Africa are creating structural alternatives to unsustainable forestry. Women are the majority of people involved in Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles. Cynthia Hamilton suggests that women “play a primary part in community action, because … of the threats to their homes and the health of their children”. The fundamental shift in consciousness in worldviews and values is spearheaded by spiritual ecofeminists such as Starhawk, Riane Eisler, Charlene Spretnak, Joanna Macy and others.

The WA Greens are a wonderful example of political ecofeminism in praxis. In the WA Greens, all Federal Senators and the majority of State Parliamentarians have been women, All other parties are dominated by men, perpetuating androcentrism and its compulsively competitive, aggressive and consumerist obsessions. The WA Greens women politicians have lead the way in building a political structure, which is non-hierarchical, participatory and has a commitment to fostering co-operation in building a socially just and environmentally sustainable future.

My own experience as a women and activist within the Greens has taught me the importance and power of active resistance to a life denying political and economic structure. Standing as a candidate for the Greens within the Marmion electorate allowed me to witness first hand political ecofeminist practices within this political party. My decision to built a political platform in an old growth tuart tree and living in it for three days and nights prior to the election, was for me a living example of personal empowerment and initiative supported by a party which has a strong practice of decentralising power. This active resistance is very strong within ecofeminist politics, going back through feminism to the first suffragettes, who fought for women’s rights.

Political ecofeminism is therefore a radical praxis, fostering the integration of theory and practice in its approach in confronting and subverting the dominant paradigm. Such a radical praxis advocates non-violence, with fierce passion and compassion in addressing the aggression, domination and exploitation of women, nature, race and class. It is also a powerful tool for analysing the dysfunctions of our current patriarchal political structures.