During the International Women’s Week, our class visited to presentations under the theme of Backlash. On Monday, we listened to the “Climate change, pipelines and violence against women presented by Lucy Everett and Jen gobby. The main focus of the speech was about indigenous women who struggles to maintain theirs rights and territory. On the other hand, on Thursday, we learned about “Living in the shadow of Law 21” presented by Nadia Naqvi and Laïty Fary Ndiaye. This presentation talked about stereotypical views on muslim women, islamphobia and other social injustices.
In the first seminar, Lucy Everett started the presentation by mentioning that climate change is an issue that affects various factors such as political, social, economical and environmental. She also mentioned that “climate change tends to target population that are already vulnerable by different firms and institutions.” These people are indigenous community, also known under the name of native people. These people survive based on the natural environment and resources that their land and territory provide to them. However, many institutions and organizations neglect their existence and wants to extract them from their home. As an example, the guest speaker mentioned that “FSC organization forced more than 80% of the indigenous women to move away of their territory.” These people are already vulnerable and miserable due to the different consequences of climate change. But, organization such as FSC forced them to move while their survival needs depend on the natural resources.
In the second seminar, Nadia Naqvi introduced the topic by giving a general background of herself. Her story was emotional and it helped the audience to better understand her experience and position. She mentioned that she has faced islamophobia ever since she was in kindergarten. At the age of 6, her dad got beaten up by some strangers. The citizen saw his dad in his car and forcefully pulled him out and beat him. Additionally, while this tragic incident happened, his little brother who was 4 happened to witness the whole situation. Apart from that, she also shared many stories that were related to discrimination, racism and some terrorism related statements. On the other hand, Laïty Fary Ndiaye supported the speech by emphasizing on Bill 60 where governmental institutions showed pictograms in which it limited religious people from wearing specific clothing or symbols such as the hijab, kippah…
These two seminars really helped me understand that everyone is facing their own challenge no matter their “identity”. Relating to our class material, we have read different readings, watched documentary, etc… about how masculinity plays a major role in men. However, it is the same thing for indigenous people and muslim women. They are all facing different expectations and injustices due to the social labels that society have forced on them. We’re in 2020. We’re considered as the most open-minded and rights protective generation. However, why does gender, race, religion and status injustices still remain present? Did we really try to stop and help the different victims to stand up and live their lives freely?
Lovers and Fighters | Section 22 