Gender Violence

Marking the anniversary of the violence against women at the Montreal Polytechnic is an appropriate time to visit this topic and how it affects the environment.  I am indebted as always to Dr. Dennis O’Hara’s presentations for the monthly EcoSabbath and research he does to support his themes.

 He started with an overview

 “Rooted in discriminatory gender norms and laws and shrouded in impunity, gender-based violence (GBV) occurs in all societies as a means of control, subjugation and exploitation that further reinforces gender inequality. …Occurring in all countries, in all communities, at all stages of life and across settings, GBV encompasses many different expressions of violence, including: physical, sexual and emotional abuse sexual harassment; stalking; rape, including “corrective” rape and rape as a tactic of conflict; domestic violence and intimate partner violence; child marriage; human trafficking; and female genital mutilation. It is any violent act, including threats, coercion and the potential for violence, perpetrated against someone’s will and based on gender norms and unequal power dynamics. GBV is the result of long-standing, deeply entrenched discriminatory norms that treat gender inequality with permissibility and further embed these inequalities within societal structures and institutions.” Castañeda Camey et al, “Gender-based violence and environment linkages: The violence of inequality,” ed. J. Wen, (Gland, Switzerland: IUCN, 2020), xi, 3,

 Here’s a quick look at the extent of the discrimatory norms and laws.

These discriminatory measures also relate to the environment:

 We are starting to hear about food insecurity in our own country during the pandemic. The numbers are appalling in other parts of the world. They are affected by all our assaults on the environment.  The above report went on to say that the rnvironmental discussion needs to address gender disparities as follows:

 “A Feminist Green New Deal would center the right of access to clean air, water and land for all. It must remediate gendered food insecurity and nutritional disparities by bolstering social safety nets that include healthy food access as a human right. It would invest in regenerative agriculture and food provision strategies that transition away from extractive land practices that only fuel environmental degradation. Programs focused on shifting the cultural conversation around gender-based violence should also be developed; include participation and education of all members of society; ensure engagement of children, extended family, and the wider community; and target institutional and political structures as well.”

 The video below is not totally complete with surtitles – but the energy of the participants sends a message that we all need to hear.  As is so often the case, those among us with less teach us to care more for the life of the total planet.

Learning through Reflection

Watching a recent video on Farnham Street, I noted the emphasis on reflection after decision making.  Shane Parrish observed that if we don’t review the choices we make after the fact, we don’t learn.  Organizations that want to make a difference have the same weakness as individuals as the story in a recent Globe and Mail reveals. When someone like the Auditor General Brenda Lysyk releases a report, it reveals we fail to learn from past experience. Ideally all organizations would have such a function as an auditor general – non partisan, independent and speaking to the wider community.  While taking a mini-sabbatical from some volunteer work, I found the report on how my province is doing in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic revealing – and thought provoking in the way organizations of all sizes operate.

 In an emergency a command structure matters. I remember one I was involved in some years ago and the number was two persons.  That made it clear and fortunately we didn’t have to add to it. Who leads? What is the meeting structure? Who takes minutes? How are decisions followed up?

 Regrettably, this emergency response got off to a bad start.  Ontario was one of the worst sites of the SARS epidemic earlier in the 21st century and recommendations from the Auditor General started in 2003. Among them was a Cabinet Committee for Emergency Management consisting of the Premier plus eight MPPs. That committee finally met for the first time in 2019 and three times in the early part of 2020 for updates and discussion. No minutes were taken. It never took the lead. Efforts instead were led by a group of 21 that expanded to 83 and ultimately to 500.  Some did not know whether they were attending with specific responsibilities or were just there.  Meetings started by teleconference with unidentified speakers or roles and only later moved to video conference.  While the Chief Medical Officer of Health was named Co-Chair, he never chaired. Minutes of decisions were not made.  Discussion, as we know, does not necessarily involve making choices.

 In most organizations changeover in leadership occurs, but often a new team has no mandate or record from the past. Emergency plans were out-dated and staff was insufficient.  To remedy that, the government hired consultants.  I know that is a pattern for trying to fix things and I’ve even been one of them. In this case it was a top of the line firm (*single sourced with no competitive bids) resulting in a billing of $1.6 million to create a plan with its first meeting in April – and another $3.2 million to plan for the opening of schools. Neither plan has ever been released There has been little coordination with municipalities.

 Lessons from the past were simply not learned. The SARS experience suggested taking early precautions even when the world was still learning about a new virus.  Though travel was clearly a source of infections, people were encouraged to go on holidays during the March break. Expertise is often disregarded. The Chief Medical Officer of Health did not exercise his full powers in a medical emergency. Masks were not required until October 2020. Instructions to local authorities were delayed and had been requested as early as May. The Ministry of Health collected data rather than Public Health. Transparency of data was identified as a problem when the CMOH did not release information until Cabinet had approved it. There was a good deal of variety in how local authorities responded, causing further confusion.

 The lessons learned were not carried out over time. The Auditor General’s department reviewed the recommendations of 2003 again in 2007, 2014 and 2017 and focused on the need for updating of contact tracing and laboratory procedures. The latter were still paper based and not integrated with public health information systems.  Good procedures for testing, tracing and isolating could have reduced the spread by 80%.  Targets – always a favorite of governments, were set – but never met, with the worst results in the largest populated areas. By the end of August 2020, Ontario had the third highest number of cases on the country and the second highest rate of deaths per 100,000.  We could have done better.

 But will we?  Rather than reflect, all the government parties have immediately become defensive when they are faced with the reality of choices made in the past.  What if, instead of defending themselves, the party in power could respond, “Yes, most of this is true, much as we don’t like to face it” rather than slamming the Auditor General. The opposition could respond, saying, “We agree and we wouldn’t necessarily have done better” rather than “We didn’t cause all these problems when we were in power in the past – it’s the current government’s fault”.  What if they  all stopped saying “It’s not US and THEM – it’s just US”?  How are WE going to do this better from now on?

Why Be Arrested?

George Monbiot has one answer and you can find the whole article here.

This is a partial quote:

“Nowhere on earth is government action matched to the scale of the catastrophes we face. Part of the reason is the remarkably low level of public discussion and information on this crisis. Another is that the political risks of action are higher than the perceived rewards: a balance the protesters want to redress. But perhaps the most important factor is the brute power of the pollutocrats driving this disaster. As the Guardian’s Polluters series shows, the big fossil fuel companies have used political funding, intense lobbying and gross deceptions of the public to overwhelm environmental protections and keep harvesting their massive profits.

Those who confront them have no such power. We cannot buy television channels and newspapers, pour billions into political lobbying or seed dark ads on social media. We have only one strength: our vulnerability. By putting our bodies on the line and risking our liberty, we make this great neglected issue impossible to ignore.”

Becoming Political

Many of us have an internally running script saying how dissatisfied we are with some political action. Every now and then I suggest to others that they should stop complaining on social media and do something more constructive. Here are some suggestions - modified from the American advocacy group, Climate Reality Project:

• Call your elected officials’ offices, especially if a decision or vote is pending. Expect that you are talking to a staff member rather than the representative - who will nevertheless be monitoring opinions.

• Ask for the staff person dealing with the particular issue. Leave a message if you don’t get through to a live person

• Identify yourself as a constituent, when you are one.

• Know your facts and state what you think the leader should do.

• Note any expertise you have in the area.

• Make the call short. There are likely many calls coming in.

• Call all the leaders who have an impact on the issue - municipal, provincial and national

When using social media, share good information by linking to it rather than simply ranting..

When writing letters to the editor:

• Keep it short (100-200 words) and note the article you are referring to. Expect even a short article to be cut - and make every sentence stand alone.

• Check submission rules for the particular publication. Timely letters - sent almost immediately as a response are more likely to get published.

A Challenge from our Youth

A letter published in the Guardiian Today

“We, the young, are deeply concerned about our future. Humanity is currently causing the sixth mass extinction of species and the global climate system is at the brink of a catastrophic crisis. Its devastating impacts are already felt by millions of people around the globe. Yet we are far from reaching the goals of the Paris agreement.

Young people make up more than half of the global population. Our generation grew up with the climate crisis and we will have to deal with it for the rest of our lives. Despite that fact, most of us are not included in the local and global decision-making process. We are the voiceless future of humanity.

We will no longer accept this injustice. We demand justice for all past, current and future victims of the climate crisis, and so we are rising up. Thousands of us have taken to the streets in the past weeks all around the world. Now we will make our voices heard. On 15 March, we will protest on every continent.

We finally need to treat the climate crisis as a crisis. It is the biggest threat in human history and we will not accept the world’s decision-makers’ inaction that threatens our entire civilisation. We will not accept a life in fear and devastation. We have the right to live our dreams and hopes. Climate changeis already happening. People did die, are dying and will die because of it, but we can and will stop this madness.

We, the young, have started to move. We are going to change the fate of humanity, whether you like it or not. United we will rise until we see climate justice. We demand the world’s decision-makers take responsibility and solve this crisis.

You have failed us in the past. If you continue failing us in the future, we, the young people, will make change happen by ourselves. The youth of this world has started to move and we will not rest again”..
The global coordination group of the youth-led climate strike