Public Activism

By Britta Kallin and Sabine von Mering

I call on women to speak out and lead the way. We cannot wait, we have to act. Our children’s and grandchildren’s future is at stake.

Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland

Feminists have embraced intersectional inquiries for a long time, integrating frameworks developed by women, minorities, the disabled, and other underrepresented groups. When society equated women and nature, feminist scholars responded with ecofeminist analyses. For half a century, ecofeminists have examined the implications of the destruction of the planet for women and girls. Ecofeminists have also analyzed connections between our capitalist economic system, patriarchy, colonization, right-wing and fascist groups, domestic abuse, suppression of women’s rights, and genocide. Feminist activism has been part of several waves of women’s movements and hands-on activism for more political participation and attention to the concerns of all who do not identify as male, be it by getting the right to vote one hundred years ago, fighting for abortion rights in the 1960s and 70s, and by joining LGBTQIA* activists since the 1980s.

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By Didem Uca

“Twitter as archive/twitter as sketchbook/as feedback loop/as void/as filesharing network/as an instrument of collaboration/as a megaphone/as therapy.” (Zarina Muhammad, https://www.artrabbit.com/events/live-broadcast-chat-show-with-zarina-muhammad)

Twitter, like other mainstream social media outlets, is an outlet for the virulent and often anonymous expression of misogyny, racism, and other violent forms of discrimination­­––even by the current U.S. President. Yet it is also where social justice issues are discussed in real time and where users can garner support for movements that have consequences beyond the web; to name just a few examples, the hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName have long brought attention to police brutality and other forms of violence towards Black Americans, while the Me Too movement, founded by civil rights activist Tarana Burke in 2006 and popularized through the spread of #MeToo on Twitter over a decade later, has helped to expose the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and assault for women.

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