FeministFeminist movements and women Movements resisting the war on drugs and Women Resisting the War on Drugs Documentation of an AWID Learning, Movement-Support and Engagement Process 2018-2019
1 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
e a r e e e e a a e e er e e r r a a e r e e r a e er e e e r e e a r r e a e e re a rea e e rea e rea e r a r er a are e er a a r e a er a ae
a a r e ar a a rea e r e ae a a a r a e a a a a a e re r e ra a a er a a e a a ar a er a a e a a e a ar a e a a e a ra r a a a e re e a e e er e er are e r e er e a r rea a e a e a
r e e e
e er a a
r e a ra r e e e a e
2 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs Content
Why document a movement-support process? - Page 4
How this collaboration came to be - Page 7
A 4-step process - Page 9
First convening - Page 11
Feminist concepts - Page 13
Community scan: Research with women who use drugs - Page 18
Second convening - Page 19
Key learnings - Page 22
3 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
Why document a movement- support process?
4 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs Why document a movement- support process?
e e e r r a ear a ear ra e a e ea r e e r e a e a Lessons learned r re e er re a What we have discovered and a r e e er a e a e rediscovered in our collaboration a er a r r a e e with women resisting the war on r e e e e e e drugs: e a rare e e It is critical for feminist Building trust movements to develop awareness of the gendered, r r e e a are racial and class aspects of e er e e re e re a repressive drug policies and a r e ee e e e the associated criminalization a e r a e r and stigmatization of people a er r e a e ra a re a who use drugs. r e r e e r e e e r a Harm reduction movements intersect with movements of e are ee are e er e e e a e a sex workers, people living with ee a a a e a ee ear r e r HIV, racial justice, and LGBTQI a a r a a e e e e r e e movements, among others. e r a e e e er r e e er a a re e We must expand what feminist re a a e a a e logistics mean to us, and make feminist spaces more accessible, safe and welcoming for women who use drugs. This is a particularly important lesson for us in AWID, as an organization that hosts convenings.
1 In this document, we use “women” to address the group of participants in the project as it consisted exclusively of cisgender women, and “womxn” as a term currently used in the global movement-building 5 process led by cis and trans women and non binary people. Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
A collective effort
e r re e a e e r e a a er r e r r e e e a r e e e e e r e are re are r e a r e a e e a e r ear a e er e e a ee a re e re a a r r e a r e re a a e e r a r e e e a r r ar er r e a e ee e e r a are a e e r r e r a rea e e a e ear e a a e e r 2
We do not ask for charity but for solidarity. We demand to live in safety and freedom.
2 For example: Olga Belyaeva, “They thought they had buried us. But they did not know that we are seeds”, 12 March 2019, https://harmreductioneurasia.org/they-thought-they-had-buried-us/
6 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
How this collaboration came to be
7 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs How this collaboration came to be
At the 2016 AWID Forum ar e e e e a r e e e r are e er e e a e r a r a e r e e a e e er a are a ar re r a er r e a e ra ere re a are e er a a a r a r e r a a e r e e e e e r e r e er a a r a a ra e r e a a e er e e a a e e r re e r e r a a e a a e e a e a e ar re a ra a ar e ere e e re ar a e a er a a e r e ra e r r e re e e r a a e a e a r e e e e e r e e a a a a a ra a ar e a e e a r r e ar are ar er a r a a r e a r e a r ra e a e re a e a e e a ee a e re re a e era e a a re e ear r e a re a e a er re e a e e a a a ea er e a e ere a e e e r a e e er e r e e Holistic protection / Bridging er e ar ar r a the gaps e re r e e r a a
e rea e e e e e re re e r ar a a a a a e a e a e e e r are e ea er e e e r a er a a e a e a e are ar a r e a r a ar re e ar e e e a e e e r r a a a e e r a er e re r e e a e a a a e r e a e e er r r r e e ar e a e a e r e e e e re e a e e e re e r re a e r a e e are re e er e e r a r e e a e ee e a a a e ar re e e a r a ar er
8 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
A 4-step process
Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
A 4-step process
Document First Community Second -ation & Convening Scan Convening Follow-up
e er er a e e a e a e r a e a a r e e e a ree a e er a e r ar re a r e re r a a a a ra e a a e ar a e a e e r a e e r
The process was structured around four steps:
1. e a e ar e r e 3. e e a r a e are re e re a a ar e re e a a a e a ar re e e r a er a e e a e ere e e a e e e e e e er e e a ar re r a r er r 2. e ere e ar a e e ar e a e e r a r e e e a e e e e e e e a e 4. e a e ere e a e a a a e er r a r e a e e ar a ee a r e e a e r e ere re e a e e a ree e r e r a ra e e e re r e re re r a a e e ere e e e re re e r e e e a a ra ra e r e a e e r e a ere e a re r a e a er a e ee a ere e r a e e e r
Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
1. First Convening (May 2018, Berlin)
Participants: Language: This convening included women who use The convening took place primarily in drugs and women working in drug policy Russian, as we found it powerful and from Eastern Europe and Central Asia as important for all participants to be able to well as representatives from AWID, Eur- express and take ownership of their asian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) feminism in their own language. Informal and Deutsche Aidshilfe. interpretation was provided for the AWID staff member who did not speak Russian. Duration: Three days
Goals:
Provide a space for relationship and trust building between participants and with members of feminist movements, including AWID staff and local groups in Berlin.
Understand the legal, social and political situation for people who use drugs in each country represented.
Raise consciousness, by sharing feminist concepts to frame and understand common experiences of women who use drugs through a feminist lens - including the gendered impacts of repressive drug policies.
Plan the continuation of the project in a community-led and collective way.
Collectively visit, discuss and reflect on harm reduction services in Berlin. This was particularly of interest for participants due to the lack of similar services and support available in their countries.
11 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
Activities: In planning the convening and programme, International Women’s Space (IWS), where a we focused on building a safe space to learn discussion took place between participants and share lived experiences, build feminist and migrant feminist activists. Participants knowledge, as well as learning from local harm exchanged observations about how they reduction and feminist initiatives. organised in their contexts and also learned more about how to work in solidarity and support On the first day, the participants shared their women who use drugs. As a result, IWS decided experiences as women who use drugs in their to include the story of a woman who uses drugs own contexts. On the second day, building on in their new book of testimonies by refugee these conversations and lived experiences, we women in Germany. Finally, we organised an introduced a range of basic feminist concepts informal discussion with a social worker who and frameworks. Participants were invited shared information about domestic violence and to reflect individually and collectively on women’s shelters in Berlin (including access for how these concepts relate to their lives and women who use drugs). activism, applying these to the experiences they had shared on the first day.
Site visits: The convening included a tour of Berlin, a presentation on local drug policy and existing services, and a visit to harm reduction sites, which participants expressed an interest in prior to the meeting. We also visited the
12 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
The feminist concepts we discussed:
Patriarchy: As one participant shared: We discussed it as a social system of “It would be impossible to subordinating women, trans, gender- separate what is more important nonconforming and non binary people, in all for me – accepting myself as a spheres - economic, cultural, political, and all person, who enjoys psychoactive levels - from intimate relationships to social and substances, or as a woman, whose state institutions. One powerful example shared transformation is scary for other by the participants was a common situation people, and a joyous process for in which women agree to take the blame for me.” drug charges, being convinced by a husband or partner that she would receive a lighter sentence. Women often end up in prison, where men are diligently visited by their partners, but women are often abandoned. Another clear Bodily autonomy: example was how women who use drugs face People who use drugs are often denied their harsher stigma than men within their families right to bodily autonomy. Some are forced to and communities. They are often perceived undergo abortions and even sterilisations, as being unfit mothers and housekeepers because of harmful misconceptions around and are stigmatised for failing to conform to drug use during pregnancy. The ideas of stereotypical gendered expectations. autonomy and self-determination over one’s body, despite society’s claim to Intersectional feminism: power and control over our bodies, also We talked about feminisms as a non-monolithic greatly resonated with the participants and body of knowledge, theories and political corresponded with the experiences of people movements in history - and specifically who use drugs. This concept is central to intersectional feminism as coined by Kimberlé 3 the harm reduction philosophy - a feminist Crenshaw . Intersectional feminism offers articulation also centers ideas of consent in a recognition of the particular complexity in intimate relations and of the right to live free lived experiences and multifaceted identities of from sexual harassment and infringement on people - for example, of women who use drugs - our bodily integrity. and this resonated with participants right away. It allowed us to put into words that women who use drugs have particular and unique experiences and struggles in society due to their multiple, intersecting identities.
3 See for example: Bim Adewunmi, Kimberlé Crenshaw on intersectionality: “I wanted to come up with an everyday metaphor that anyone could use”, New Statesman, 2 April 2014, https://www.newstatesman.com/ lifestyle/2014/04/kimberl-crenshaw-intersectionality-i-wanted-come-everyday-metaphor-anyone-could 13 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
Women Human Rights Defenders: A feminist critique of the medical Here we introduced the international establishment: human rights framework that recognizes The long history of the medical women human rights defenders and the establishment’s sexist and abusive treatment particular risks they face because of their of women provided a strong context for human rights work and gender identity. We the experiences of women who use drugs, also introduced the available mechanisms as well as women living with HIV. This in the United Nations human rights system. discussion brought up difficult and painful We discussed the particular risks faced examples, ranging from the denial of medical by women defending the human rights of care or inadequate medical procedures to people who use drugs, from criminalization outright violent and humiliating treatment to stigmatization. “Coming out” as a at the hands of medical institutions and woman who uses drugs can be extremely personnel. Sexual and reproductive health dangerous to the safety and wellbeing of and rights are also a key issue, where women the woman and all those depending on her who use drugs and women living with HIV care - one heightened risk, for instance, is experience particular forms of violence and the loss of parental rights. discrimination.
Violence against women / gendered violence: Women who use drugs experience heightened forms of violence - within the family and at the hands of state institutions - yet are often unable to access shelters and services. We discussed the many forms of physical and psychological violence that women who use drugs face - from their families, the police, the incarceration system, social services and other state institutions, the medical establishment, and society at large.
Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
Drug policy has been very male-dominated and it’s something we’re trying to challenge and bring more I learned how the Prison visibility to our issues Industrial Complex (PIC) exploits gender stereotypes
15 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
This structured consciousness-raising exercise demonstrated how multiple personal experiences of women who use drugs were political and structural. Participants emphasized the importance of realising the oppression and marginalisation they faced wasn’t their “fault” but a result of society’s stigma and violence, and the importance of moving away from self-stigma. Connecting feminist concepts to the lived experiences of women who use drugs led us all to a new and expanded understanding of feminism. The participants coined the term narco-feminism, reflecting:
“Probably the most important thing that I realized.. is that even before meeting the community I’ve always been a feminist, just a narco-feminist... I’ve always defended the rights of women, and my personal right of staying true to myself! ….Thanks to the meeting I realized that I want to deal with women’s issues. I monitor feminist organizations in my country. I want to promote our idea, our movement. I understand that we need support, and this is where I start: establishing communication and partnerships with local feminist organizations.”
16 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
On the final day of the meeting, and building on our sessions in the previous days, AWID and EHRA staff facilitated a brainstorming session for participants to develop follow up activities for the remainder of the project.
Participants decided on the following steps:
A webinar to introduce feminism and feminist concepts to more womxn who use drugs and/or work on humane drug policy in the EECA region.
Community-based participatory research on the experiences, problems and needs of womxn who use drugs in EECA region.
Creating campaign materials to raise the visibility of womxn who use drugs as women’s rights defenders, and raising awareness on drug policy as a feminist issue.
Decisions were made by participants, thereby ensuring they had ownership over the follow up steps, with EHRA and AWID sharing information and resources where needed.
17 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
2. Community Scan: Research with women who use drugs
Goals: services; pregnancy, parenting and childcare; employment; the police. The findings revealed Participants decided to conduct research on high instances of physical and psychological the experiences of women who use drugs in abuse by family members and partners, their region, building on the existing research abuse of power by child protection services, expertise among the group. This research would discrimination in health settings and police give them a better understanding of the situation violence, among others. in their local communities, help them build connections with women who participated, as “I lived with an aggressive man well as gathering useful data for future advocacy who was very jealous, he often efforts. beat me. .. Once we had a fight and he took a knife ... he beat me Process: once with this knife. Usually I The participants conducted and analyzed 47 didn’t go to the police ... So it all interviews with women who use drugs in their started and I hit him in the back, own communities in Ukraine, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan he survived, thank God, but he and Kazakhstan, with support from EHRA. was in intensive care. For this I was imprisoned for 5 years.”
Outcomes: Although it is not the first time that research According to the participants, the interviews has been conducted on the gender-specific enabled them to build connections and stronger aspects of repressive drug policies, this research relationships with women within their own process has been unique in its community-led communities. It was also powerful that they and movement-building character and in the received stipends to conduct this work and that application of a feminist lens. The systematic they were centered as the ‘experts’ on their analysis of women’s lives and experiences built own experiences and the experiences of their on the earlier steps of feminist consciousness- communities. So often the voices of women who raising in the project. Participants indicated use drugs are neglected and marginalized within that they would continue using these research harm reduction and drug policy spaces. findings in their own national advocacy efforts and activism. It also enabled them to build links Research findings were organized around and mobilise other women who use drugs within six topics: self and social stigma in personal their communities for future organizing, thereby relationships; harm reduction services; HIV and contributing to a feminist movement-building other health situations and quality of health process.
18 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
3. Second Convening (Barcelona, February 2019)
Participants: Activities: The second convening took the intersections Collective discussion of the findings of between feminist and harm reduction themes the community scan and their meaning and movements to the next level. In addition and implications for future organizing and to the project participants, this convening advocacy; brought together feminist organizations, academics and funders (altogether An interactive presentation by approximately 25 attendees). International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP) on the For this convening we partnered with United Nations Convention on Elimination Metzineres - a Barcelona-based feminist of all Forms of Discrimination against space for womxn who use drugs. This Women (CEDAW) and how it can be used partnership has been invaluable in opening a for international advocacy by and for window into the vibrant womxn’s community women who use drugs. in Barcelona and the inspiring local field of harm reduction approaches and services. An interactive workshop on racial justice, Importantly, Mezineres suggested community prison-abolitionist organising and drug spaces that allowed the meeting to be policy, in collaboration with Release, a UK grounded in the local context and allowed based organization with expertise on drug womxn from EECA and Barcelona establish policy. connections. A roundtable on resourcing the organizing Duration: of women using drugs and why they This three-day convening was followed by haven’t been on the feminist funding an additional weekend, initiated and hosted agenda until now: with FRIDA Young by Metzineres, which aimed to generate an Feminist Fund, Calala Spanish Women’s international movement-building process of Fund, Georgia Women’s Fund and Open womxn who use drugs (see box on page 29). Society Foundation.
Language: Site visits to a substance testing service, This meeting took place in Russian, English cannabis club, mobile consumption and Spanish, with simultaneous interpretation space and safe injection rooms, and the provided for all participants. community space of Metzineres.
A workshop on feminism and drug policy.
19 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
Participants shared that they learned the following:
“The realization of being a feminist happened here with you. The principles and values of the women’s movement were manifested in practice during our meetings, and allowed me to give examples of how it was convenient and useful to hold meetings for us - women who use psychoactive substances. The level of expertise was improved in our group thanks to the constant practical immersion into the life of intersectional feminism. Our stream of narcofeminism movement joined the flow of women’s movement in drug policy.”
“I improved my cooperation with women from feminist organizations, began discussing and planning joint activities. I want to change the attitude of donors to women’s issues, so that programs will become gender sensitive. I will share my experiences from the trip to Barcelona with various women’s communities in my city.”
“I learned how the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) exploits gender stereotypes to make more women live under the pressure of the system out of prison, to force them to plead guilty and get incarcerated and how it all affects the lives of women and their families (if this system is maintained).”
Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
Illustrations from the Barcelona meeting by Tamara-Jade Kaz 21 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
Key learnings
22 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
Drug policy is a feminist issue There is a growing global
Women, gender non-conforming and trans movement of womxn who use people who use drugs come up against drugs particular forms of violence and specific kinds While women have long been active in harm of stigma. The war on drugs, and repressive reduction and drug policy organizations and drug policies in the vast majority of the world’s activism, more and more women are coming countries, affect people in ways that are together specifically as women and as feminists gender-specific, racialized and class-based. active on drug policy. This is an exciting time, as various initiatives and people come together in Like all policies, their meaning and impact what is essentially a movement-building process. is different for people who already The Barcelona Declaration was collectively experience discrimination and violence in drafted and published on International Women’s society, who struggle to survive oppression Day, 8th of March 2019 (see below for more and dehumanization in its misogynist or details) and an engaging and well-attended transmisogynist, lesbophobic, biphobic, racist, feminist session bringing together women classist or ableist forms, to name just a few. resisting the war on drugs took place at the Harm Reduction International Conference in Porto in For example, women, gender nonconforming April 2019. and trans people experience gendered and sexual violence from the police and from the Building on our initial interpersonal contacts, our medical establishment, particularly when primary partners in this project came from EECA they are Black, Indigenous, sex workers or region. Over these two years, we continued migrants. Women who use drugs and/or live expanding our connections with feminists from with HIV are often denied medical care or harm reduction and drug policy organizations encounter abusive treatment, so that their and movements from other regions. This is sexual and reproductive health and rights are an ongoing journey of discovery of inspiring systematically undermined. With regard to activism and alliances globally. stigma, in many cultural contexts, drug use is tolerated in the case of men, but not women.
Dismantling this division between “good” and “bad” women is, in our understanding, the spirit of feminism. It is not surprising that a participant from a lesbian organization commented: “if we replace the word “woman using drugs” with “lesbian”, I hear exactly the same stories”.
23 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
we have expanded our understanding of bodily autonomy to include the use of psychoactive Drug policy has been very male substances and access to harm reduction dominated and it’s something services. we’re trying to challenge and bring more visibility to our issues. There are many women specific Valuing and compensating issues that don’t get enough time and labour is key traction. [...] Connecting with We found it crucially important to direct feminist movements and having resources to women activists who are working these discussions can re energise hard for their communities, some outside of us and bring some excitement to NGO structures. Many grassroots activists the movement. We need to find across social movements all over the world links of solidarity and spaces to end up helping their community day and night share our issues. without any compensation, struggling to meet their own basic needs and support their families.
Feminist concepts are Stipends for participants have been central to the project structure and critical to the powerful and life-changing success of our mission. The stipend was paid As we introduced and explained different basic in two installments - at the beginning of the concepts, ideas and theories of feminism - from project (once the participants confirmed their “the personal is political” to bodily autonomy interest in the process) and before the second and intersectional feminism - we rediscovered convening. The stipends had a material and a their power to generate feminist consciousness- symbolic meaning. They served the purpose raising. of compensating the participants’ time and labor and recognizing those most affected by In many ways, building personal and political repressive drug policies as the experts. They trust and relationships is about finding a common have also been an expression of trust, because language. But beyond learning each other’s the participants had the autonomy to decide on terminology and language (although we keep the content and design their plans (rather than learning a lot about harm reduction and drug implement a pre-designed plan). policy!) it is also about enriching each other’s concepts and expanding their meaning. Recognizing that activists are often overworked and overburdened, the project - to the best Our interactive conversation about the meaning of our intentions and abilities - didn’t entail a of these concepts and their relevance to the pressure to “deliver”, but intended to build on the lives of women who use drugs was a process of organic work, interest and commitments of the expanding feminist knowledge. For example, activists. Recognizing our own power position
Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs as a distributor of resources, we communicated and impacts of repressive drug policies and these expectations as clearly as we could, helps us understand our own prejudices and and emphasized commitment to everyone’s misinformation, and to unlearn stigma. We are wellbeing. also improving our feminist logistics, and learning how to create spaces that are welcoming and Feminist movements have accessible to women who use drugs. an opportunity to learn and unlearn This means, for example, knowing the drug policy context in the location where we host meetings Our journey with womxn who use drugs and with and connecting with local harm reduction groups feminists from harm reduction movements has to learn from their experiences - assessing the only just begun. risks, having medical and legal support available, and ensuring people can access the medicines At AWID, this collaboration keeps teaching us they need or bring them into the country. the gendered, racial, class and other features
Harm Reduction War on Drugs Harm reduction, as defined by harm War on Drugs is a term made popular in reduction coalition, “is a set of practical the early 1970s by the U.S. government strategies and ideas aimed at reducing campaign aimed at eliminating the trade, negative consequences associated with production and use of illicit and/or illegal drug use. Harm Reduction is also a psychoactive substances. It particularly movement for social justice built on a belief targeted Black communities and was used in, and respect for, the rights of people who as a tool to decimate Black liberation use drugs” (read more).4 movements in the U.S. Other governments have used the term, or adopted the agenda it describes. As a set of beliefs, policies and practices, it is associated with violent law enforcement, incarceration and execution, de-humanizing stigma and widespread human rights abuses, particularly against marginalized communities.
Illustration from the Barcelona meeting by Tamara-Jade Kaz
4 https://harmreduction.org/about-us/principles-of-harm-reduction/ 25 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
NarcoFeminism #Narcofeminism is a term and hashtag invented by the participants of this project, to capture feminism that recognizes and centers the human rights, autonomy and dignity of women and people who use drugs. The term presents a challenge in translation: in the Russian language, narkotik is the word for drug; narkoman/ka is slang for a drug user, which can be used both as a slur and as a self-identification. Narcofeminism is thereful a powerful term with double reclaiming of two identities devalued in society: feminists and drug users. However, in the Spanish language, narco is short for a drug trafficker and is used to describe the devastating effects of the illegal drug trade on communities on political and economic levels (narco-state and narco-capitalism). This complex conversation on regional and international terms evolves as women resisting the war on drugs connect across regions and languages to build a collective terminology and a joint agenda.
Opioid Substitution Treatment (or Therapy), naloxone, and other terms you’re bound to learn! Throughout the project we kept learning about terms and themes of harm reduction and health. This knowledge is important not only to comprehend the struggles of harm reduction movements but also to ensure that the spaces we create and organize are inclusive and safe for womxn who use drugs.
26 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
Making the Links
Drugs are a complicated topic, which we These and many other critical topics remain to be approach with careful awareness of our need explored more deeply and critically by feminist to learn more. Public narratives are shaped by a movements and our societies at large. great deal of misinformation, stigma, moral panic and manipulation of people’s fear and trauma. Building connections and solidarity: Fascisms, fundamentalisms and corporate power Moving forward, AWID is committed to bringing are at play, while the economic and political topics such as the War on Drugs and harm interests behind the war on drugs and its reduction into feminist conversation and spaces, repressive policies often remain hidden. including the AWID International Forum, as well as working with women who use drugs to create The global perspective: safe spaces to engage and exchange with other From an international perspective, the pressing feminists in their own voices. issues change from one region to another. In countries like the U.S, the Philippines or Russia, As feminists seeking justice beyond where the War on Drugs is raging, the main criminalisation and repression, we have concerns of harm reduction and other groups learned throughout this process that building concentrate on repressive drug policies and their relationships and inter-movement links with effects on human life. In countries like Mexico those most impacted by the War on Drugs is or Colombia, it is the devastation of rural and essential. By visibilising and uplifting each others’ Indigenous communities and the threat to their struggles, challenging stigma and exclusion survival and wellbeing from the drug industry or within our movements, and building cross- the state; including for communities that grow movement solidarity, we are all stronger. illicit crops5 and people involved in transport as drug ‘mules’.
“I wasn’t really interested in feminism before the invitation to join the narcofeminist movement. But our meeting changed my mindset and understanding of the real position of women in society. I changed my attitude and reviewed the ways of raising my daughters. I also reconsider my position in the family. The relationship with my husband became even better after my acquaintance with the feminism. I became happier and freer.”
5 https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/ending-the-war-on-drugs-requires-justice-for-the- impoverished-communities-who-grow-them/ 27 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
“As a woman, I hadn’t felt the motivation, enthusiasm and energy in a long time, that I’ve felt here at the moment. [...] We’re often put in a ‘charity’ light and spoken for - it’s so exciting to see this next wave of feminism and be loud and proud - to inject that into the WUD movement. [...] It’s going to be so exciting to pull apart all these complexities and putting all these different feminists together. I burst into tears, 40 minutes after walking into the room yesterday - and I realised it was because I felt safe.”
We don’t always know how crazy it is out there, and what we carry around with us - always having to be strong.
28 Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
Barcelona Declaration
Read the Declaration in different languages: http://bit.ly/BarcelonaDeclaration
One exciting outcome of the final, additional day of the second convening hosted by Metzineres in collaboration with women’s harm reduction networks from different countries, was the drafting of the Barcelona Declaration. The Declaration was published for International Women’s Day 2019 (available in the link). The Declaration has now been signed by over 160 groups from around the world and has been translated into at least seven languages. It articulates the gendered impacts of the war on drugs and calls for global solidarity. Today we can see womxn who resist the war on drugs from across the world organising and communicating regularly. The Declaration goes beyond acknowledging the oppression and violence, and celebrates the creativity and resilience of womxn who use drugs and resist repressive drug policies.
“Despite living with these and other multiple forms of violence daily, Womxn Fighting back Against the War On Drugs are resourceful, enterprising, creative and strong. We possess remarkable resilience. We fight back against prohibition with solidarity, mutual support and leadership, building our networks from the grassroots to the global, from immediate action to long-term strategies to end this war on womxn who use drugs. We embrace intersectional and anti-prohibitionist feminism that integrates queer/ trans-inclusive and non-ableist approaches, racial justice and the right to use drugs and experience pleasure. We work to reclaim our bodily sovereignty, including rights to the full range of sexual and reproductive health, gender- sensitive health services, and rights to use drugs. We do not ask for charity but for solidarity. We demand to live in safety and freedom.”
- an excerpt from the Barcelona Declaration, 2019
Feminist movements and women resisting the war on drugs
30