Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Geoforum journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geoforum A comparative study of women environmental defenders’ antiviolent success strategies Dalena Tran Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA-UAB), Barcelona, Spain A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Keywords: This research advances knowledge on the understudied topics of violence against women and their contributions Women to ecological movements through a multiple case study analysis of 25 women defenders listed in the EJAtlas, an Environmental defenders environmental conflict database. Women’s mobilization is often constrained within cultural contexts limiting Environmental justice them to gendered spaces and roles and punishing them with multiple violences. Women defenders’ distinctly EJAtlas Violence gendered violent experiences thus inform their perspectives, narratives, and advocacy. Women defenders assert Success authority and achieve movement success by emphasizing aspects of identity within and despite unevenly faced barriers, brutality, and burdens. These multi-faceted tactics contribute to emancipation beyond just women and their communities by dismantling violent hegemonies while promoting alternative, inclusive, and antiviolent visions of environmental justice. 1. Introduction mundane daily actions (p. 1446). Arora-Jonsson (2009) writes that these small acts of care for the environment remain invisible to mainstream For decades, feminist research has acknowledged women’s growing forestry (both policy and research), which instead tends to be focused on stakes and prominence in environmental justice movements worldwide. public acts and equates forests with timber and woody biomass. As these Shiva (1988), for example, argued that industrial development causes authors show, even in well-known cases, women’s experiences of violence especially against women and nature. In response, “excep­ injustice in environmental movements are thus still poorly understood tionally courageous women” were at the frontlines of the Chipko or relatively invisible. movement in Uttarakhand in the 1970s, though their contribution “has Environmental justice discourse still has room to further explore been neglected and remains invisible” compared to male allies’ dispro­ WEDs’ uniquely gendered experiences of violence and success (Deon­ portionate visibility (p. 64). As Guha (1989) and Pathak (2020) describe, andan & Bell, 2019; Nartey, 2020). I argue that WEDs face uniquely both women and men had roles in Chipko. Gaura Devi led a group of gendered challenges and violences that their success strategies must also women hugging trees to stop logging, which was imitated elsewhere. tackle in addition to EDCs. In doing so, WEDs open new avenues for Agarwal (1992) explained that rural women in India became environ­ success challenging the roots of such violences for all. A multiple case mental defenders because they depended on natural resources and study analysis of WED’s strategies is a novel contribution for under­ commons more than on wages, and because they knew more than men standing how different WEDs work within diverse gender schemes about medicinal and agricultural uses of nature. Agarwal (1992) con­ rather than homogenize their struggles. The goal is to investigate women tested Shiva, arguing that gendered relationships with nature need to be defenders’ relatively unknown violent experiences and discuss WED understood as rooted in their material reality and interactions with the tactics for success in response to the various manifestations of repression environment rather than essentializing third world women as they face. This article begins with an overview of feminist political “embedded in nature” (p. 126). Rocheleau et al. (1996) document a ecology as the theoretical framework informing the study. After comes “surge in women’s involvement in collective struggles over natural an explanation of methods, and then an analysis of 25 cases from the resource and environmental issues” across diverse global contexts (p. Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas) examining violent patterns and 15). According to Arora-Jonsson (2009), women struggle to achieve success strategies. To conclude, although their diversely experienced recognition and legitimation even in places such as Sweden, which are marginalization means that WEDs work within contextual limits, their assumed to have achieved gender equality. Organizing around identities positionalities also give them alternative perspectives bolstering success as women is thus not only a result of social positioning, but also a po­ strategies challenging systems perpetuating violence. litical choice (Arora-Jonsson, 2013). Jenkins (2017) also explains that women’s resistance can follow “everyday activism” in their seemingly https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.07.024 Received 25 June 2020; Received in revised form 21 July 2021; Accepted 26 July 2021 Available online 7 August 2021 0016-7185/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 2. Theoretical framework oppression both individually and collectively. Diverse protest tactics bring WEDs’ bodies to the forefront, making statements countering so­ 2.1. Concepts in feminist political ecology cial structures such as industrialization or hegemonic cultural scripts about gender. For example, Fabricant and Postero (2013) retell how Feminist political ecology (FPE) is a sub-area of political ecology Bolivian protestors, predominantly mestizo and indigenous women, encompassing various concepts throughout this article. FPE questions commonly use hunger strikes as an embodied performance demon­ dominant worldviews on development and resource use leading to strating their visceral experiences of oppression. This rewrites history widespread environmental and community harm by examining the and disrupts masculinized public discourse in a context where women’s differently privileged and often gendered knowledges, rights, and diversely marginalized and subordinated bodies have been erased from practices informing environmental conflicts (Rocheleau et al., 1996). sight and memory. In doing so, they challenge and redefine hegemonies Accordingly, a recent shift in FPE now includes intersectionality to de- regulating which bodies matter. privilege gender, which, while still a central axis of difference, exists in relation to complex webs of multiple identities and subjectivities 2.2. Gendered understandings of violence and success (Resurrección and Elmhirst, 2020; Sultana, 2020). Intersectionality is how race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, age, education, location, This study uses concepts from FPE to expand Navas et al.’s (2018) and other identifiers interact to create complex, overlapping experiences multidimensional understanding of violence to also consider gender- of structure, politics, and representation (Crenshaw, 2016). Such posi­ based aspects of each manifestation of violence. Multidimensional tionalities create contextual, coexisting privileges and marginalizations violence encompasses direct violence, structural violence, cultural within interlocking systems of power and oppression. Shiva (1988) violence, slow violence, and ecological violence, which are combined to theorizes that western patriarchal development disproportionately vic­ repress defenders. Direct violence is brute force hurting people physi­ timizes women, non-westerners, and nature. Consequently, (especially cally. This as well as the other manifestations are justified through rural, indigenous, Global South) women are often more vulnerable to cultural violence based on religion, ideology, language, science, and environmental degradation. Agarwal (1992) warns against homoge­ other cultural aspects. For instance, structural violence involves socio­ nizing women, however, and emphasizes the differences between “third political and economic structures disadvantaging groups through world women of different classes, castes, races, ecological zones, and so inequality and institutional failure. Common to all environmental jus­ on” (p. 125). Arora-Jonsson (2011) likewise argues that vulnerability to tice conflicts are ecological violence, the consequences of environmental environmental disasters is not homogenous, but diversely experienced overexploitation, and slow violence, processes accumulating exponen­ depending on the contexts of people’s lives. Rocheleau et al. (1996) tial harm such as pollution. showcase how intersecting positionalities influence environmental Applied to women defenders, their advocacy often stems from resource and burden distribution. For example, community struggles increasing exposure and burden in gendered roles. Structural and cul­ against a sewage plant in West Harlem, New York were not only tural violence sanction slow and ecological violence on the bodies of gendered, but also racialized. This shifted ecological consequences from women, who are often relegated to gendered spaces and tasked with wealthy white neighborhoods to a low-income black one (Hallstein domestic labor directly exposing them to environmental hazards (Peek, et al., 1996). Meanwhile, in the Indian Himalayas, rural women agri­ 2007). Corporations also use direct violence to suppress women’s culturalists faced exclusion from property rights, resources, information, resistance. Moreover, cultural, structural, and direct forms of violence and tools. Men’s increasing specialization, out-migration, and market have misogynistic manifestations justifying domestic violence; death involvement then made women dependent on men as well as increas­ threats against family; or fears of sexual assault limiting women’s ingly burdened with agricultural production despite having less means mobility (Gqola, 2007). These violent practices and attitudes are to work effectively (Mehta, 1996). Awareness of the layers of WEDs’ embodied because, as Tamale (2017) writes, culture, law, and religion identities is thus crucial to understanding how their positionalities construct women’s bodies as sites of power struggles over domesticity/ inform their experiences of oppression and resistance. labor roles, sexuality, and more. Furthermore, women do not experience Women’s bodies are sites through which they diversely experience multidimensional violence evenly, as race, age, class, sexual orientation, and resist social relations. The term embodiment refers to how many and other hierarchies construct diverse bodies as more or less powerful societies define female-coded bodies as deviant, inferior, vulnerable, or marginalized. Women as individuals have little control of the and sexual to enforce subordination based on physiological differences meanings constructing bodily subjectivities (Barrett, 2005). Regardless, from male-coded bodies (Sutton, 2010). Women’s bodies become sites of WEDs adapt intersectional and embodied scripts to rewrite themselves multiple vulnerabilities because they are unevenly exposed to injury, as powerful. violence, death, and other harms owing to their construction as not This study also expands upon the notion of success in EDCs to having full humanity (D. Taylor, 2018). Consequently, violence against consider gendered experiences of positive outcomes. EDC success is them is not fully harmful or worth moral and emotional responses, subjective, understudied, and debatable (Aydin et al., 2017; Hess and leading to sexual and domestic violence and vulnerability being coded as Satcher, 2019). Özkaynak et al. (2015) write that the main criterion for feminine. As Sutton (2010) explains, homogenizing women’s bodies also perceived success is if contested projects stop. Scheidel et al.’s (2020)’s renders them hyper-visible as (often sexualized and/or victimized) global statistical study of over 2800 EJAtlas cases finds that preventative commodities, yet invisible as subjects with needs, desires, and capac­ mobilization, multi-pronged protesting tactics, and litigation raise the ities. Beyond gender, other intersectional factors such as race, class, age, odds for project cancellation among vulnerable (especially indigenous) and ability furthermore influence which bodies are nurtured or dis­ groups. Failures are when the threat continues, sometimes even after carded, and whose bodies are prone to control, coercion, experimenta­ initially achieving goals. Yet even without cancellation, movements can tion, torture, and sacrifice. Women are expected to prioritize the bodily be partially successful by attaining outcomes such as building and needs of others before their own and are also punished for their mobi­ strengthening mobilizing networks, new legislation, and perceptions of lizations during economic and environmental crises. governmental and/or corporate support. Consequences may continue Yet women also use their bodies as a means for resistance. As Sutton after project cancellation, for example, or the project itself may restart. (2010) states, “activist women’s presence in the streets, in protest, in In this study, the criteria for success are thus that the movement achieves defiance, and gaining strength through collective organizing with other any of the above positive outcomes, with special attention to WEDs’ women reveal female bodies that cannot simply be categorized as vic­ unique results. tims of violence but as courageous bodies actively striving to change Barca (2020) writes that feminist advocacy aims to dismantle the their conditions” (p. 200). Bodies in protest challenge forces of violent hegemonies justifying EDCs. Women redefine environmental 127 D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 issues by questioning violent hegemonies and include their own 4. Findings and discussion knowledges expressed through counterhegemonies and collective resistance. For women defenders, success thus is not merely stopping a 4.1. Violent repression threat, but also achieving empowerment and asserting agency in various ways depending on contexts. Tamale (2017) explains that such 4.1.1. Overview of findings empowerment is embodied because protesting bodies become the means Tables 1–3 count incidences and types of violence each WED faced. for resistance against institutions and systems. Although bodies are often WEDs are listed in order of whom experienced the most to the least subject to social control, bodies as imbued with discursive power also forms of violent incidences. Each category of violence comes from Navas can make their voices heard. Using the case of women’s anti-mining et al.’s (2018) multidimensional framework for violence. activism faced with police brutality in Greece, Fotaki and Daskalaki Every case featured multidimensional forms of violence including (2020) illustrate how protesting bodies making public statements with direct, structural, cultural, slow, and ecological violence (Navas et al., their physical presence to create spaces for solidarity across gender and 2018). Each WED was subject to varying manifestations and intensities other multiple identities. Moreover, protesting bodies challenge cultural of violence according to her positionality and how it was perceived in expectations and stereotypes by rejecting established norms excluding specific contexts. The distribution of direct violence may be surprising female, aging/childish, foreign/indigenous, poor, and other bodies from because among these cases, WEDs subject to more marginalities did not politics. Embodied resistance subsequently expands political agency in necessarily face more brutality. For example, Ushigua Santi, a rural inclusive ways (Sasson-Levy and Rapoport, 2003). indigenous Sápara mobilizing against fracking in Ecuador’s Amazon, was subject to nearly every type of physical aggression. Meanwhile, 3. Methodology Cannon, a rural indigenous Iñupiat anti-fracking advocate in the Alas­ kan Arctic, was one of only two not to face any direct violence, though This study analyzes 25 cases highlighting one or more WEDs who she was subjected to much slow, cultural, and ecological violence. have not been assassinated and who have at least partially achieved Čaputová, who fought illegal dumps in the Slovak Republic, did not movement goals. Cases are documented in the EJAtlas, an online data­ experience direct violence either, possibly owing to being a white law­ base mapping EDCs. Criteria for inclusion are that the conflict involves yer. Meanwhile, the UK’s Greenham Women’s Peace Camp (GWPC) of “economic activity or legislation with actual or potential negative predominantly middle-class white housewives blockading a military environmental and social outcomes; claim and mobilization by envi­ nuclear facility faced heavy violence. Likewise, Rice, an elderly white ronmental justice organization (s) that such harm occurred or is likely to middle-class nun from the USA who infiltrated and vandalized an army occur as a result of that activity; and reporting of that particular conflict nuclear base, also faced more violence despite having relative privilege. in one or more media stories.”1 Entries contain a data sheet with a Context may be a possible explanation for why the distribution of description of the conflict, sources, and codified variables. Once sub­ direct violence may initially seem to contradict intersectionality. Inter­ mitted, cases undergo moderation by a team of scholars and activists, sectional privileges and marginalities differ owing to colonial history, who check the information and sources. The cases are examined using spatial power, or timeframes. Considering Ushigua Santi and Cannon, comparative political ecology, which Taylor and Hurley (2016) describe their positionalities as rural, poor indigenous women carried different as analyzing case studies from different regions together to see how weight in different contexts, leading to different experiences of brute similar outcomes can be produced across the globe in a wide variety of force in the Amazon and in the Arctic, respectively. The United States, regional contexts. Comparative political ecology is useful because benefitting from extraction elsewhere, is relatively less physically brutal commonalities between diverse cases are often difficult to see. These than Ecuador, which is one of the deadliest countries for environmental commonalities highlight patterns with authorities’ and companies’ be­ defenders owing to expanding extractivism (Global Witness, 2020). haviors, or strategies statistically shown to produce positive results. Čaputová, a lawyer-politician from the Slovak Republic fighting against Limitations to the EJAtlas include uneven geographical reporting illegal dumping, shared positionalities with the Greenham women and owing to the situated knowledges of contributors (researchers and ac­ Rice as middle-class white women from the Global North. However, tivists/organizations, listed on case pages) as well as the cases reflecting temporal contexts may influence intensities of violence. The latter two contributors’ interpretations of reports and not always firsthand expe­ were part of antinuclear movements across the USA and UK in the riences of defenders on the ground. Information comes from news and 1970s. Rice’s involvement in the movement sparked her disruptive academic reports, publications from defenders themselves, and other advocacy since then, echoing the same police brutality in 2012. Whereas credible sources to attempt to capture histories as they happened. certain intersectional identities may be more vulnerable to direct Although interpretations may be reflected in the cases, these sub­ violence in certain contexts, such positionalities may be less so in other jectivities still are valuable because the atlas highlights differentiated contexts where there may be differently distributed and manifested impacts and responses in EDCs, thus documenting the nuances of privileges and vulnerabilities. seeking justice and empowerment for marginalized groups. FPE shares Structural violence as institutional and legislative inadequacy or such interest in subjectivities for understanding gendered resource ac­ gender discrimination as well as cultural violence in misogynistic ide­ cess and control (Elmhirst, 2018). My own interpretations in the EJAtlas ology were near-universal to all cases, as these factors enable EDCs and case process are thus also helpful considering that relatively fewer cases dismiss WEDs to begin with. A common thread throughout WEDs’ (on EJAtlas and beyond) acknowledge women defenders specifically, subjugation was that their knowledges and capacities were undermined whereas the ones I wrote and selected do. EJAtlas’ origins, potentials, as illegitimate. Women are frequently excluded from male-dominated and implications are further explained in recent articles (Scheidel et al., “scientific” or “economic” public spheres. Some also lack access to 2020; Temper et al., 2015, 2018, 2020). Case summaries and WED in­ legal knowledge and other literacies, though even accredited expert formation are in the appendix. WEDs struggled to attain authority. In many cases, misogynistic dele­ gitimization was compounded by persecution when their gendered expertise was not only excluded from serious consideration in decision- making, but their advocacy was also framed as sabotaging the commu­ nity by questioning economic development. For instance, the Escravos Women’s Coalition (EWC), a blockade movement against Chevron’s oil terminals in Nigeria, was initially ridiculed for being “backwards: and “anti-development.” Men in power disregarded their deep un­ 1 https://ejatlas.org/about derstandings of the socioeconomic and environmental consequences not 128 D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 Table 1 Direct violence. Name Repression* Arrests Abduction Stalking Death Threats Break-in Direct attack* Murder/attempt* Ushigua Santi X X X X X X X X Escravos Women Coalition (EWC) X X X X X X X Greenham Women’s Peace Camp (GWPC) X X X X X X X Kajir X X X X X X X Giordano X X X X X X Amuru women X X X X X Baun X X X X X Kaewkao X X X X X Mutegi X X X X X Aquino, Broquil, Fajardo X X X X Cruz X X X X Henning X X X X Lekalakala & McDaid X X X X Oquelí X X X X Putla X X X X Wilson X X X X Agvaantseren X X X Mindo-Fetalvero X X X Swearingen X X X Foronda X X Garcia X X Lalian X X Rice X X Cannon Čaputová Total 23 16 4 8 20 7 12 10 *Repression: Police/guards/thugs forcefully evicting occupations, breaking up protests, blocking activists from getting to courts, blocking delivery of letters/petitions/ data. *Direct attack: Beatings, police/military brutality, rape, domestic violence in retaliation from family/husbands. *Murder/attempt: Includes those targeting colleagues and family members of the principal activist. Table 2 Structural violence. Name Institutional Inadequate Land-grabbing/ Judicial Court cases failed/ Criminalization* failure* legislation* displacement harassment* unresolved Kajir X X X X X X Ushigua Santi X X X X X X Amuru women X X X X X Cruz X X X X X EWC X X X X X Foronda X X X X X GWPC X X X X X Henning X X X X X Oquelí X X X X X Rice X X X X X Aquino, Broquil, X X X X Fajardo Cannon X X X X Kaewkao X X X X Lekalakala & McDaid X X X X Mindo-Fetalvero X X X X Mutegi X X X X Swearingen X X X X Wilson X X X X Baun X X X Garcia X X X Giordano X X X Lalian X X X Agvaantseren X X Čaputová X X Total 25 25 12 13 13 13 only when culturally mocking their activism, but also when structurally case of Giordano, an anti-poaching activist in Italy, because the small- excluding them from negotiations allowing Chevron to encroach to scale hunting occurring in her community was relatively less harmful begin with. than large-scale industrial projects. Intensities of violence are also Every case featured ecological and slow violence, which are inherent influenced by how quickly conflicts could be resolved (Scheidel et al., to EDCs. The manifestations of these violences subsequently result from 2020). Campaigners Lekalakala and McDaid faced the second least slow the type of damage resulting from various types of conflicts. For and ecological violence because they prevented most consequences by example, there was relatively less slow and ecological violence in the banning a nuclear power plant in South Africa before it could be 129 D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 Table 3 Cultural, slow, and ecological violence. Name Misogyny* Persecution* Exposure* Deaths* Diseases/birth defects Land, biodiversity, marine damage Pollution Cannon X X X X X X X Oquelí X X X X X X X Foronda X X X X X X Garcia X X X X X X Kaewkao X X X X X X Ushigua Santi X X X X X X Wilson X X X X X X Čaputová X X X X X Henning X X X X X Kajir X X X X X Mutegi X X X X X Rice X X X X X Swearingen X X X X X EWC X X X X X GWPC X X X X X Lalian X X X X X Baun X X X X X Mindo-Fetalvero X X X X X Agvaantseren X X X Aquino, Broquil, Fajardo X X Cruz X X Lekalakala & McDaid X X X Amuru women X X Giordano X X Total 22 14 19 10 9 19 21 *Misogyny: Repression explicitly because she is a woman, not just against her activism; repression intended to undermine her capacity to fulfill gendered social roles/ expectations (domestic care work); etc. *Persecution: Use of language/ideology/religion/etc. to legitimize especially marginalized groups’ loss of traditional livelihood; threats to cultural identity/sacred land/capacity to perform rituals, etc. *Risk exposure: To contamination, high likelihood of accidents, etc. *Deaths: From illnesses, accidents, etc. rather than murders. *Natural disasters: Increased risk factor and vulnerability to events such as landslides, floods, drought, etc. constructed. The severity of violences increased, however, the longer enforced power relations. Indeed, to circumvent such barriers, Arora- harmful projects kept affecting communities, such as with Cannon and Jonsson et al. (2021) and Jenkins (2017) emphasize WEDs’ everyday the Iñupiat, who have been suffering from the consequences of envi­ activism through small, covert acts of resistance in the daily home tasks ronmental degradation and resulting illness for generations. Overall, informing their environmental awarenesses, knowledges, and varying severity and types of multidimensional violences reflect WEDs’ interactions. positionalities and which privileges or vulnerabilities are attached to Intersectional factors unevenly subject WEDs to direct violence. The them in different contexts. Furthermore, each of these multidimensional EWC members’ humanity was rendered disposable as black indigenous violences have distinctly gendered implications. peasant women in a context sensationalizing their routine suffering and deaths (Chiumbu, 2016; Gqola, 2007; Lawson, 2018). The proportions 4.1.2. Gendered multidimensional violence and reporting of violent incidences were uneven compared to the GWPC. Several thousand women participating in the 10-day EWC occupations 4.1.2.1. Direct violence. Women environmental defenders experience faced widespread direct violence, yet disappearances and killings were gendered forms of direct violence during environmental distribution anonymous, uncounted, and unnamed. Meanwhile, over decades of conflicts arising not only from the often-sexual nature of the attacks they GWPC’s occupation with over 50,000 mostly white middle-class women, experience, but also from how violence against women generally is violent incidences were commonplace yet less brutal as well as more normalized or not considered to be violence to begin with (D. Taylor, widely condemned as unambiguously wrong, with victims often indi­ 2018). For example, soldiers raped, beat, and killed members of the EWC vidually honored. In line with Sutton (2007) and Taylor (2018)’s writ­ in attempts to control their occupation of Chevron’s oil terminals. This is ings on embodiment, compared to the GWPC, EWC bodies were not only part of a global pattern of violence legitimized as normal and necessary coded as less-than-human owing to gender, but their intersecting ra­ to discipline dissent in ways punishing femininely gendered bodies as cialized, classed, and location-based marginalities further homogenized sexually vulnerable and “asking for it” (Deonandan and Bell, 2019; D. them as routinely disposable victims. Beyond the devaluation of Taylor, 2018). However, there are also WEDs still subject to such bru­ women’s bodies, black bodies, even when male, are still vulnerable tality even when not the direct victims of rape and other forms of assault under the superiority of white bodies in a complex web of multiple frequently committed against women specifically. Two of Ushigua context-specific marginalizations (Crenshaw, 2016; Weiss, 2018). Santi’s female family members were kidnapped, raped, and killed as a Seeing these stories in the light and shadow of power relations thus casts threat to her advocacy. Jeopardizing other bodies in addition to one’s WEDs’ bodily scars as more visible against white skin than black skin. own reinforces violence as not restricted to individual suffering, but rather part of women’s collective experiences of violence and repres­ 4.1.2.2. Structural and cultural violence. WEDs’ uneven experiences of sion. This raises the stakes for WEDs to protect themselves and the structural and cultural violence are also nuanced by gender. Culturally people around them. As Taylor (2018) elaborates, neoliberal emphases violent systems privileging male voices often justify imposing industrial on women’s restricted movement for the sake of safety also deflects projects without consent from women, who are seen as incapable of responsibility from perpetrators and the conditions sanctioning their valid input (Barca, 2020; Leguizamón, 2019). Women consequently tend actions, reflecting resignation to and even support of such violently to be excluded from decision-making during negotiations with 130 D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 extractive companies, and thus unable to assert their knowledge from by electricity costs, not only from spending more time and facing more performing reproductive labor and managing subsequent dispropor­ risks searching for fuel, but also from exposing themselves to dirty tionate burdens (Ikelegbe, 2005; Rocheleau et al., 1996). Furthermore, flames (Bond and Ngwane, 2010). Although multidimensional violence environmental defenders’ perspectives are also often pitted against harms all people in affected communities, women face additional economic development (Birkeland, 1993). For instance, Ushigua Santi embodied burdens especially compounded by intersectional margin­ and the Sápara’s efforts to protect the Amazon Delta were ridiculed as alities. In response, WEDs not only succeed in seeking justice for their against prosperity. Such contention justified structural violence through communities, but also in addressing gendered violences. criminalization and smear campaigns undermining their legitimacy. As many of the cases show, gendered multidimensional violence is Judicial harassment (such as SLAPP suits) additionally diverted time, scalar in that each manifestation of violence carries consequences from resources, and attention in ways that cripple WEDs’ abilities to manage the cellular to the planetary level (Elmhirst et al., 2017; Sultana, 2020). other responsibilities, let alone sustained mobilization (Jenkins, 2017). Many South African women, for instance, accumulate toxins in adipo­ Such structural repression carries unfair consequences for women, cyte cells owing to their struggles collecting and resorting to hazardous who often have less training and means to be able to defend themselves fuels in the face of energy conflicts and environmental degradation in courts. This leads to additional legal threats in combination with limiting their options. Those near oil terminals such as Tesoro Savage or direct violence attempting to eliminate, scare, and/or punish them in indigenous Arctic settlements have disproportionate rates of cancer, ways that restricted their movements as women trying to make their with caretaking burdens often falling on women in underserved com­ voices heard in a masculinized public sphere (Gaard, 1993; Verschuur, munities with lacking public health infrastructure. Physical brutality 2008). Legal and formal institutions and discourse construct and rein­ and legal harassment may be perpetuated against individuals or mem­ force “normal” bodies through rules, hierarchies, and punishments. The bers of specific groups, but the implications have far-reaching conse­ prevalence of double standards not only between men and women, but quences to entire communities, nations, and humanity at large as also between corporations and communities shows how the law controls culturally sanctioned violent repression polices women’s mobility, (women’s) bodies as commodities (Tamale, 2017). Intersectional dif­ agency, and even conceptions of femininity. ferences, however, gave some WEDs varying protections or vulnerabil­ ities, such as for Mutegi, who, although indigenous, was a lawyer better 4.2. Success strategies and outcomes positioned to navigate structural barriers in her community’s struggle against logging in Kenya. Čaputová also had more relative advantage as 4.2.1. Overview of findings a white lawyer defending against illegal dumping in the Slovak Re­ Table 4 documents the narratives WEDs used to assert their au­ public. Nearly every WED thus experienced cultural and structural thority, the ways in which they advocated for environmental rights misogyny to some extent, though not all were evenly persecuted owing during their respective conflicts, as well as mobilization outcomes sorted to other marginal identifiers that men are also subject to. by the success status of the project they advocated against. WEDs in this article may have achieved success owing to incorpo­ 4.1.2.3. Ecological and slow violence. Almost every WED experienced rating tactics correlated with positive outcomes for environmental ecological and slow violence through pollution and environmental conflicts. Project cancellation is the primary indicator for perceived (land, water, resource, biodiversity) destruction, which are the factors success (Özkaynak et al., 2015; Scheidel et al., 2020). Although that incite EDCs to begin with. Women’s experiences are also nuanced approximately half did not cancel the projects, these cases could still be by gender. Biologically, Peek (2007) explains that women are more considered successful owing to every case strengthening participation, a affected by ecological contamination because of differences in body critical outcome. Women defender’ capacities to earn respect and create composition. According to Krupp (2000), women’s higher amounts of networks contributed to maintaining unity, which strengthened move­ estrogen increase body fat cells, or adipocytes, which store toxins. With ments. The GWPC, for example, was one of the longest contemporary regular exposure to toxicity, adipocytes also increase, creating a cycle of feminist movements owing to internal cohesion ensuring a steady toxic retention and accumulation. This affects all humans, since, for stream of supporters. Unanimous project rejection such with Baun and example, mercury, dioxin, and other pollutants not only harm fetuses, Čaputová also resisted division. Hess and Satcher (2019) similarly find but can also only be expelled from women’s bodies through breast­ that strong coalitions increase success through broader shared identities feeding (Peek, 2007). Subsequently, well over half of the WEDs expe­ transcending social divisions, increasing leverage, and providing safety. rienced widespread deaths, illnesses, birth defects, and more in their Increased support, for example, helped anti-poaching conservationist communities. Moreover, women caring for the unwell are additionally Giordano bolster her efforts and receive protection as well as helped burdened and must compensate for gaps in public health, sanitation, and release anti-nuclear nun Rice from imprisonment. Beyond the featured other services (WoMin, 2013). Garcia, whose community struggled with cases, authors such as Agarwal (2010), Arora-Jonsson (2013), Jenkins pollution from the Tesoro Savage oil terminal in Washington, USA (2017), Krauss (1993), and Sinclair (2021) also document how women causing five times as much pollution as the Keystone XL pipeline, build community cohesion through doing activities together as a form of exemplified such bodily consequences as she campaigned while subtle everyday activism. Indeed, reviving and reforming customary increasingly encumbered with her and her children’s illnesses and ways of working together not only created opportunities to reshape local chemotherapy. social relations and power dynamics, but also mutually increased status Women’s bodily experiences of ecological and slow violence are and roles for those such as indigenous Pagu women struggling against compounded with vulnerabilities such as being black/indigenous/peo­ mining in Indonesia (Sinclair, 2021). Early mobilization also boosts ple of color (BIPOC) and poor. For example, Lekalakala and McDaid project outcomes (Özkaynak et al., 2015). For instance, Lekalakala and advocated against plans for nuclear power development in South Africa McDaid prevented damages from a nuclear plant that was never con­ during a time when the government created an energy crisis. Despite structed because the earlier the mobilization, the less violence and paying the brunt of the financial and ecological costs, the majority of pollution occurs before it is too late. Using multiple methods of advocacy South Africans would never be able to see the supposed benefits of is also key. All cases used more than one tactic in their mobilizations, cheaper and accessible energy from the nuclear project (Bond and with most incorporating legal action. WEDs with less access to legal aid, Ngwane, 2010). Women in underserved black neighborhoods, unable to such as Rice being an elderly nun, Giordano being a teenager, and the afford the electricity, subsequently resorted to burning paraffin, trash, or EWC being farmers without connections to lawyers or other resources, wood for their cooking and heating (Peek, 2007). Because women are meant that they needed to diversify their strategies. Moreover, because typically responsible for household management, they are more affected WEDs face gendered multidimensional violence, they also draw upon their positionalities to bolster success. 131 D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 Table 4 Table 4 (continued ) WED Success, narratives, strategies, and outcomes. Project cancelled Project cancelled Name Narratives Strategies Other successful Name Narratives Strategies Other successful outcomes outcomes Community New legislation, Agvaantseren Expert Legal action, Strengthened research, creating a strengthened educating the participation, new network, legal participation public, dialogue programs, new action, dialogue with stakeholders, legislation with stakeholders, creating a network, educating the public public campaign Oquelí Expert Protests, creating a Lawsuits won, Baun Indigenous, Legal action, Strengthened network, strengthened mother creating networks, participation occupation, participation, creative/artistic creative/artistic project suspended actions actions, cultural Čaputová Mother, expert Legal action, Elected office, new rituals, legal action creative/artistic legislation Rice Nun Occupation, Strengthened actions, protests creative/artistic participation Garcia Mother Legal action, Strengthened actions, educating creating networks, participation the public, civil dialogue with disobedience stakeholders, public Ushigua Santi Indigenous, Protests, petitions, New legislation, campaign mother legal action, strengthened GWPC Mothers Protests, creative/ New legislation, creating a network participation artistic actions, strengthened Problem reduced/compensation awarded public campaign, participation Name Narratives Strategies Other successful creating a network, outcomes legal action Foronda Expert Dialogue with Elected office, new Kaewkao Fisher Legal action, Project for another stakeholders, legal legislation, creating a network, conflict cancelled action, creating a strengthened educating the network, educating participation public, protests, the public blockades, financial Giordano Conservationist Creating a network, New legislation, activism educating the strengthened Lalian Indigenous, Legal action, Compensation, public, dialogue participation mother creating networks, strengthened with stakeholders cultural rituals, participation Wilson Fisher, mother Protests, petitions, Strengthened protests legal action, participation Lekalakala & Mothers, black Legal action, New legislation, creating a network, McDaid (Lekalakala) educating the strengthened civil disobedience public, public participation campaign, creating Initial success, injustice ongoing a network, protests Name Narratives Strategies Other successful Mindo- Indigenous, Legal action, New legislation outcomes Fetalvero mother, expert educating the Kajir Indigenous, Legal action, Some land rights, public, protests, expert educating the project cancelled creating networks public, creating a Swearingen Mother Legal action, New legislation, network, protesting educating the strengthened Mutegi Mother, Legal action, Some land rights, public, public participation indigenous, occupation, partial cancellation campaign, protests, expert educating the public creating networks Putla Grandmother, Legal action, Some land rights, indigenous, protests, blockades, strengthened Partial cancellation elder cultural rituals, participation, Name Narratives Strategies Other successful creating a network project cancelled outcomes Amuru Indigenous, Protests, cultural Compensation women mothers rituals Aquino, Experts Legal action, Project suspended, 4.2.2. Reinventing gendered narratives Broquil, creating a network, strengthened Fajardo public campaign, participation, 4.2.2.1. WEDs as women and mothers. WEDs assert authority through creative/artistic elected office, new reimagining cultural narratives. As Unger (2008) describes, gender actions legislation Cannon Indigenous, Dialogue with New legislation, shapes advocacy owing to persisting political and socioeconomic con­ elder stakeholders, legal strengthened ditions. Such conditions inform WEDs’ activism, which is frequently action, public participation sparked by their social roles and their corresponding motivations for campaign, creating protecting families, communities, livelihoods, health, safety, and sense a network of place (Jenkins, 2017; Rocheleau et al., 1996). Mobilizing gendered Cruz Expert, Legal action, Project suspended, indigenous protests, creating strengthened roles legitimizes mobilizing, but also risks reinforcing unequal gender networks participation, distributions of power (Morgan, 2017). This is exemplified between the lawsuits won two Indonesian indigenous movements wherein gendered power dy­ EWC Mothers, Protests, cultural Strengthened namics differed greatly despite occurring within similar contexts. In indigenous rituals, creating a participation, new network legislation, Lalian’s case, she struggled to gain legitimacy and supporters when compensation mobilizing against mining in her indigenous Usatnesi Sonaf K’bat Henning Farmer community. This was because of more patriarchal gender relations wherein husbands did not allow subordinate wives to participate in 132 D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 activism, which was thought of as forsaking and endangering rather context. Meanwhile, many WEDs used their indigenous identity as a than defending familial duty. Meanwhile, Baun’s anti-mining movement central theme in their advocacy, grounding their mobilization in the was spearheaded by fellow indigenous Mollo women. The more flexible spiritual value of their land, historical trauma of colonization reflected gender context meant husbands took over domestic labor and childcare in contemporary extractivism, and respect for female elders in the case and recognized women as strong and forthright. Silencing or support of those such as Cannon. BIPOC women’s storytelling challenges white indicate women’s varying status shaping WEDs’ possibilities to mobilize male hegemonies (Barca, 2020; Krauss, 1993; Rocheleau et al., 1996). depending on uneven power distribution versus characterizations as Such tactics can unify one’s own community for WEDs such as Lalian altruistic (Unger, 2008). Such divisions are notable for WEDs empha­ performing traditional rituals to make their voices heard in culturally sizing identities as mothers. targeted ways. Subsequently, she successfully unified the indigenous Motherhood narratives were the most common cross-culturally. Usatnesi Sonaf K’bat against mining in their ancestral forest. Verchick Motherhood is prevalent in mobilization owing to women’s perception (2004) explains the success of such cultural tactics as marginalized of environmental consequences being situated in gendered caretaking women seizing opportunities in spaces where they cannot be ignored roles (Rocheleau et al., 1996). Bell and Braun (2010) explain that and are divinely affirmed. For instance, Cannon and Ushigua both women defenders across demographics often project motherly identity invoked indigenous imagery throughout their anti-fracking campaigns because the pressure many women face to prioritize caretaking means such as wearing traditional clothing, singing in their native language, that WEDs must justify activism with concern for protecting the com­ and weaving cultural symbols into their discourse as historically munity as an extension of maternal duty. For some, including the marginalized peoples. Using clothing, slogans, and singing draws Escravos women and Cannon, matriarchal status also granted authority attention to their bodies as cultural “texts” and “performances” upon in contexts where elder women are valued as wise decision-makers. By which they inscribe attention-grabbing symbols and messages (Sutton, performing hegemonic femininity, they transform these norms to suit 2007). Spectators then must bear witness to the scars they carry from their mobilizations (Leguizamón, 2019). Articulating such values not surviving the bodily risks inherent in protesting and in suffering only legitimized their advocacy, but also illustrated their importance to disproportionate consequences of EDCs (Fabricant and Postero, 2013; a wider global audience. Putting their maternal bodies on the line visibly Sutton, 2010). challenges political gatekeeping, and furthermore spurs other bodies WEDs’ varying jobs and social roles beyond reproductive work also into action by invoking emotional responses (Fotaki and Daskalaki, influence the narratives and corresponding strategies they draw upon in 2020). their advocacy. Women’s caretaking roles frequently overshadow their However, this trope can also be so pervasive that some WEDs not roles as farmers, land managers, and providers (Rocheleau et al., 1996). focused on motherhood had the narrative prescribed to them anyway. Such devaluation leads to barriers such as denied access to resources. In Coverage of Mutegi’s abduction emphasized her desire to protect her response, farmer Henning and fisher Wilson centered their advocacy on family despite how beyond that moment, this concern was not a primary the multigenerational relationships they have with the land when motivation. Godfrey (2005) also criticizes the mothering trope as advocating against encroachment from large-scale agribusiness in excluding those outside virtuous mother molds, such as Rice, who Michigan and a plastics company in Texas, respectively. Echoing Mor­ infiltrated a US military nuclear facility to sing and make protest art. gan’s (2017) findings on Indonesian women farmers mobilizing against Although her disruptive actions were more extreme than other listed oil palm plantations, Henning and Wilson felt in charge of the land and WEDs, she garnered little attention. Without a commonly understood were unwilling to compromise decision-making to outside interests motherhood narrative, she drew upon less unifying yet still normative despite increased hardship. Moreover, their identities as multigenera­ religious and patriotic identities. Exclusion and stereotyping thus result tional locals were critical to their legitimization in rural small- from having few options in cultural contexts restricting women’s per­ community contexts. Both invoked shared values as insiders, uniting formance of accepted gender roles to primarily maternal ones (Kurtz, their communities. Furthermore, not all women share “universal” pre­ 2007). Those in other contexts allowing more choice could instead dispositions to nurture and protect as an extension of family (Salleh, perform other narratives in their intersectional advocacy depending on 2017). WEDs also advocate not against personally faced threats, but what kinds of repression they faced and what kinds of positionalities rather out of a sense of justice still embedded in everyday practice. they have as diverse women who do not fit into the same generalized Agvaantseren, for example, was a trusted outsider who combined her category. However, this is dependent on context, and there are always understandings of community struggles with her translation and scien­ exceptions. Arora-Jonsson (2013) writes that motherhood is a point of tific skills unify locals and conservationists when advocating against a departure and can have unusual value. Though similar phenomena did mine in Mongolia. Rice, as a nun, aligned with religious narratives not occur among the listed cases, Arora-Jonsson gives the example of drawing upon values of justice and nurturing as a Sister rather than a places like Sweden, where women mobilized motherhood as additional mother. Indeed, Smith and Jenkins (2012) suggest activists vary widely strength when supposedly gender-neutral rhetoric paradoxically made in how much their advocacy blends into and is informed by their per­ discrimination more difficult to challenge. Although the conflicts in this sonal life histories. study were informed by overt gender discrimination, it is important to acknowledge different contexts beyond the scope of this study where 4.2.2.3. Multidimensional antiviolence. I argue that WED mobilizations repression is much more subtle. address not only environmental conflicts, but also the gendered multi­ dimensional violences arising from them. In doing so, WEDs dismantle 4.2.2.2. Multifaceted identities and tactics. Beyond normative motherly repressive hegemonies (Barca, 2020; Rocheleau et al., 1996). One themes, many WEDs also built respect drawing upon other aspects of widespread tactic they use is protesting, which, though not itself their intersectional identities. Race is a powerful axis of marginalization gendered, is nuanced by gendered retaliation. Putting their bodies on and difference that, though contributing to the vulnerability of their the line exposes them to gendered forms of violence policing the spaces communities, WEDs also incorporate into their mobilizing narratives women can be in as well as unevenly punishing and burdening them (Crenshaw, 2016). Lekalakala, for instance, used her identity as a poor with additional consequences from cultural, slow, and ecological black woman to assert fearlessness against a white patriarchal capital­ violence (Deonandan and Bell, 2019). Yet Morgan (2017) argues that istic violence she is already used to in her advocacy against a nuclear women’s protesting is also powerful in mediating such gendered bar­ plant. Such argumentation draws empowerment from while also calling riers. Indeed, Arora-Jonsson (2013) writes that women’s protesting can out distinct repression from that of a white woman like her co- also disrupt existing gender imbalances when their actions cannot be campaigner McDaid, which is especially notable in their South African slotted into allotted roles. In many of the listed cases, women were 133 D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 excluded from the public sphere for reasons such as being taken less giving prominence to values beyond economic development (Abonga seriously or compromising household duties. Protests and other mobi­ et al., 2020; Barca, 2020). Besides overt civil disobedience, WED lization strategies needing critical mass, however, also require women’s activism also includes networking, public outreach, and dialogue be­ participation. The nature of protesting facilitates their presence, such as tween stakeholders as well as the subtle, everyday resistances that WEDs by being less time-consuming as single events or by perceived educa­ often employ. Whether through provocative or mundane means, by tional barriers being less relevant (Morgan, 2017). Their numbers then creating and sharing inclusive counter-narratives, these actions become a powerful force (Sutton, 2007). Moreover, as many of the listed strengthen participation and bolster support amongst growing networks cases illustrate, through protesting, WEDs’ physical presence pushes of groups and individuals. WED strategies are thus particularly powerful female and multiply marginalized bodies to the forefront, resisting because their experiences of violence put them in unique positions to systems excluding diverse people from having a voice. They show others see, draw attention to, and confront the hegemonic forces producing an expanded, uniting vision of what activists and those with full rights faced injustices by using antiviolent tactics. look like (Fotaki and Daskalaki, 2020). The strength of Čaputová’s anti- dumping protesting, for example, came from how she was able to unite 5. Conclusion people from many walks of life. By addressing how everyone knew someone ill from waste pollution, she mobilized diverse emotions, WEDs employ culturally specific strategies and perform cultural knowledges, and skills making everybody see and be seen. Protesting scripts to achieve varying levels of success in violent, silencing contexts. succeeded in not only confronting the injustices women faced, but also Relying on motherhood tropes may inadvertently undermine activism those faced by all people through publicly uniting against conflict roots. among WEDs non-conforming to hegemonic femininity, but this is Formal advocacy such as litigation, legal rights education, and constrained to what little flexibility women may have to begin with. financial activism present distinct challenges and opportunities for Alternative, intersectional narratives also arise through identifying with WEDs. As Van Allen (2015) explains, criminal and civil justice systems ethnic groups, professional associations (as lawyers, nuns, interpreters, often create contradictions and difficulties for women even when they etc.) and more. Most importantly, WEDs achieve documented success understand formal law. Formal systems have long been used to reinforce because their discursive and mobilization strategies, which are situated hierarchical domination as well as normalize and perpetuate violence. In within their intersectionally gendered experiences of violence and retaliation, women defenders challenge systemic injustices through injustice, transform environmental justice movements worldwide by collectively claiming and transforming political and narrative space countering violent hegemonies with inclusive, antiviolent ones. This is with pluralist concepts of justice inclusive of shared interests of women, especially visible for bodies in protest, which openly defy structures the poor, people of color, and other multiply marginalized groups. Ex­ gatekeeping diverse people from making their voices heard by rendering amples include Mutegi and Kaewkao, whose advocacy on behalf of the visible and evoking emotion in response to their visceral, embodied Chuka people’s struggles against logging in Kenya and on behalf of scars. Owing to the sociopolitical specificities and chance behind each fishing villages’ struggles against coal power in Thailand respectively outcome, it is impossible to predict whether defenders will sink or swim transformed perceptions of justice rooted in custom and culture into no matter which strategies they use. Rather, some WEDs tried tactics meaningful tools for their communities and especially poor BIPOC that deserve celebration even if their tactics do not also work for others. women to gain more control over their lives. Using a combination of The world’s women-led movements stand on the increasingly taller educating them about their rights, litigation, and in the case of Kaewkao, shoulders of giants. Indeed, WEDs continue to rise up as more cases buying stocks to attend shareholder meetings, these WEDs enabled succeed. I would have liked to include more cases as I found out about people to talk about their experiences of violence and engage them in them, such as Kimiko Hirata, who stopped many coal-fired power plants political action. Thus, by challenging violent systems and perceptions of across Japan; Mayilamma, who helped to defeat Coca-Cola’s ground­ justice to be more inclusive, they also increase odds of success for all water depletion in Plachimada, Kerala, India; and Leydy Pech, who people and not just for individual women. fought against Monsanto’s Round Up in defense of bees in Campeche, Most importantly, every case was nonviolent despite increasing Mexico. Yet the included cases are enough to show how WEDs ultimately violence against them. Such patterns support findings from previous resort to their antiviolent strategies because they face a uniform pattern work on success in environmental justice conflicts, especially those of violent repression. Capitalist patriarchal structures of economic suggesting that nonviolent actions are particularly effective by growth resist diversifying forms of mobilization. While women resist bolstering legitimacy, making state violence less justifiable (Scheidel violence at the frontlines, recording their struggles undermines the he­ et al., 2020). As the Escravos women explained during their Chevron gemonies perpetuating these injustices. blockade, merely seeming to retaliate with violence would bring even more violence. To avoid perpetuating the same violence, WED pacifism Declaration of Competing Interest is not merely nonviolent, but rather, antiviolent. Indeed, WEDs succeed because their experiences of systemic failure give them unique per­ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial spectives on systemic change. Some WEDs at the intersections of being interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence BIPOC, poor, and rural used cultural rituals to subvert repression. Such the work reported in this paper. strategies give a moral edge to advocacy by also incorporating local cosmologies, extending the effectiveness of their message beyond the act Acknowledgement of disobedience itself by affecting long-term social relations. This is especially helpful when protests or lawsuits are shut down quickly and violently or are formally impeded (Abonga et al., 2020). The Escravos women, for example, performed a “naked curse” flashing genitals. This paper is based on Women’s bodies are coded with symbolic power as producing life, and can also take life away, effectively rendering targets as dead to society research that has received funding from the European Research Council and bearing shame and ill consequences (Tamale, 2016). Meanwhile, (ERC Advanced Grant 2016-21, GA 695446) as well as received the WEDs such as anti-mining Baun, anti-dumping Čaputová, and the anti- support of a fellowship from "La Caixa" Foundation (ID 100010434). The nuclear Greenham women also used artistic actions to create new op­ fellowship code is LCF/BQ/DI19/11730049.). The author would also portunities for dissent and culturally embedded expressions of their like to thank Joan Martinez-Alier, Ksenija Hanacek, and all members of political voices (Adams, 2002). Cultural rituals and artistic actions alike the EnvJustice project for sharing their knowledge, experiences and reframe EDCs within local understandings of morality and relationality, support during this research. 134 D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 Appendix were harassed and beaten, and police refused to intervene. In 2006, she barely survived when a group of men ambushed and attempted to assassinate her and her baby on her way home. Despite these threats, the Case summaries women-led movement grew as men took over domestic work at home. Even though the police and the military backed the mine, the commu­ Agvaantseren, Bayarjagal; Mongolia; poaching2 nity outnumbered them. Finally, in 2010, the mines were shut down and The South Gobi Desert’s snow leopards are threatened by poaching, the Mollo community has now established a network protecting their habitat loss, livestock defense, and especially mining. Agvaantseren led land from commercial exploitation and promoting small-scale sustain­ an anti-mining movement after interpreting for conservation scientists. able living. The long-term relationships she built with locals led to solutions through Cannon, Caroline; USA; fracking6 dialogue, such as establishing a livestock insurance fund and other Point Hope is an Alaskan Iñupiat village that was threatened by the programs protecting people and leopards. Agvaantseren campaigned for government’s 2007–2012 offshore oil and gas development plan selling a nature reserve in the Tost Mountains despite escalating violence and hundreds of leases. Village president Caroline Cannon argued that with one colleague’s murder. On April 14, 2016, after continuous pressure the ocean frozen so much of the year, oil spills could leak until summer and legal action, the Tost Mountains became a nature reserve, and all when relief wells could be drilled. Cannon traveled nationwide repre­ licenses were canceled by June 2018. senting indigenous concerns at hundreds of stakeholder meetings and Amuru women; Uganda; agriculture3 federal summits, sharing traditional knowledge of the Arctic. She united Indigenous Acholi have struggled for decades against land-grabbing NGOs toward legal action. Her advocacy was rooted in protecting her and police brutality in Amuru. In February 2012, police burned hun­ culture and wild Arctic beauty. Finally, in 2009, the Federal Court dreds of huts to evict several thousand villagers and sell the land for a canceled all but Shell’s lease and banned future lease sales because the game hunting park. They committed widespread violence, killing 8. On government broke laws before it sold drilling rights, such as failure to April 14, officials came to mark the borders for the park when a group of conduct a proper environmental impact analysis (EIA), omitting infor­ 50 women stripped in protest. Authorities cancelled the boundary mation before sale finalization, and other violations. Shell kept their marking, ordering police to leave, release those arrested, and compen­ lease because the sale occurred before the lawsuit. Cannon and others sate all whose properties were destroyed. The investor withdrew from are still challenging Shell in federal court. the project. Simultaneously, Acholi were also struggling against a sug­ Čaputová, Zuzana; Slovak Republic; waste7 arcane plantation and factory. Starting in April 2012, over 60 women In the 1960s, the town of Pezinok’s illegal dump was dug 150 m from performed naked protesting for years, chasing representatives and even homes. The landfill caused diseases at over 80 times the average rates. In the President away despite threats and violence. On August 11, 2017, 1996, the landfill was privatized by waste company Ekologická hundreds of naked protesters, while being fired upon with bullets and Skládka’s CEO Ján Man Senior, a sponsor for politicians, through whom tear gas, blockaded the lands minister from surveying for the plantation. he could get fake permits. In September 2002, Man planned another The minister then signed an out of court settlement for compensation. dump without consent. Fearing for her young daughters’ health, Zuzana Aquino, Corazon, Broquil, Aurora and Fajardo, Emily; Philippines; Čaputová, an attorney for NGO Via Iuris, organized a wide variety of nuclear power4 artistic demonstrations, protests, and legal action supported by many In 1976, Westinghouse Electric Corporation won a $2.34 billion diverse people. On August 20, 2013, Čaputová won a Supreme Court contract to build the the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). For de­ case declaring the proposal was illegal and shutting down Ekologická cades, environmental activists have campaigned nationwide combining Skládka. The Court also ruled that the public must give input to urban lobbying, protesting, media, and international solidarity to stop the planning. Čaputová became president of the Slovak Republic on June project. The plant was completed in 1984, but activists delayed opera­ 15, 2019. tions for years. In February 1986, a revolution toppled the dictatorship, Cruz, Lucila Bettina; Mexico; windmills8 electing Aquino for president for her promises to scrap the nuclear Indigenous Binnizá and Ikjoots peoples in south-western Oaxaca project. She pursued litigation against Westinghouse, which was have long struggled against land-grabbing and environmental degra­ acquitted but still agreed to two settlements for $100 million. Moreover, dation from wind power projects such as Preneal’s government-backed in 1991, all US military facilities were removed. Plans to reactivate the Mareña Renovables project with 132 turbines planned across San Dio­ BNPP re-emerged in 2009, however. Nuclear-Free Bataan (NFB) leaders nisio del Mar to provide electricity to beverage companies (including Broquil and Fajardo conducted protests, prayer rallies, and bike rides Coca-Cola). Local leader Cruz. alongside a resistance network, protested, while also being stalked and receiving death threats for filing a case for blockaded, and sought litigation against the project as the conflict the assassinations of colleagues Alberto Ocampo and Jose Gonzalez as expanded owing to land leasing contracts intensifying previous agrarian well as the arrest and torture of three other NFB activists. Violences conflicts in the region. Their efforts delayed the project for years despite continue, though the BNPP has been delayed ever since the 2011 corruption scandals and increasing violence, harassment, persecution, Fukushima disaster. and arrests. In 2012, Cruz was detained based on unfounded accusa­ Baun, Aleta; Indonesia; mining 5 tions. She was eventually freed, and the project was suspended. In 2004, PT Teja Sekawan, began extracting marble in indigenous Escravos Women Coalition; Nigeria; fracking9 Mollo territory without consent. Baun organized over 150 local women On July 8, 2002, “the mamas” (Queen Uwara, Alice Oyuhe, Chris­ for an occupation lasting 3 years blocking miners and weaving art into tiana Mewe, Irene Ororo, and Anunu Uwawah) founded the Escravos the stones, preventing equipment from moving. Baun and her supporters Women Coalition (EWC) leading over 600 women in a ten-day occu­ pation at Chevron’s main oil terminal in Escravos, Nigeria. Men were not allowed to join to reduce perceived aggression on their end as well as 2 https://ejatlas.org/conflict/large-scale-mining-in-south-gobi-desert-mong olia 3 6 https://ejatlas.org/conflict/ancestral-acholi-land-rights-conflicts-in-amuru https://ejatlas.org/conflict/inupiat-people-resist-offshore-oil-drilling-and- -uganda gas-development-plans-in-point-hope-alaska-usa 4 7 https://ejatlas.org/conflict/bataan-nuclear-power-plant-in-morong-ph https://ejatlas.org/conflict/illegal-waste-dumps-in-pezinok-slovak-republic 8 ilippines https://ejatlas.org/conflict/marena-renovables-in-san-dionisio-del-mar 5 https://ejatlas.org/conflict/marble-mining-in-indigenous-mollo-territory-i -oaxaca 9 n-west-timor-indonesia https://ejatlas.org/conflict/nigerian-womens-war-against-chevrontexaco 135 D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 because previous male deals and lack of consent exacerbated the situ­ Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are giant feedlots ation. Over 1,000 women also occupied twelve other facilities. Soldiers for meat livestock that produce fecal and chemical pollution leading to raped, beat, and murdered protesters. Their last resort was disrobing for diseases and groundwater contamination. To address them, Henning the “curse of nakedness” to shame people. Chevron then signed a founded the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South-Central memorandum ending the occupation in exchange for village amenities. Michigan. Educating herself and others about legal action and envi­ On August 8, 2002, over 4,000 women performed another naked protest ronmental monitoring, her advocacy was rooted in her identity as a because Chevron did not keep their promises. Chevron then agreed to farmer. Her research helped levy hundreds of citations against CAFOs clean the environment, provide reparations, and shut down one oil for environmental violations. Yet Henning faced threats such as bomb­ facility. ings, gunshots through her grandchild’s window, and being run off the Foronda, María Elena; Peru; fishmeal10 road. Regardless, Henning continued citing over 1,000 CAFOs, resulting Sociologist María Foronda founded Natura to lead campaigns and in compliance orders, fines, shutdowns, and lawsuits. Henning and foster partnerships between communities, fishmeal producers, and the supporters also continue working on a permanent ban. government finding solutions to fishmeal pollution in Chimbote, where Kaewkao, Jintana; Thailand; coal power15 industrial overfishing decimated the ecosystem and factories dump In 1998, the marine habitat was threatened when Union Power waste and spew emissions in residential areas. Although her approach Development Co., Ltd (UPDC) bought rights to construct a 1.4 GW coal centered on finding common ground many still threatened her. In 1994, power plant in Ban Krut. Another one was planned 100 km away in Bo Foronda was falsely imprisoned for terrorism. International pressure Nok. A third coal plant had already been built in Mae Moh, which was cleared her name after 13 months. Afterward, Foronda completed a severely polluted. Kaewkao led protests, marches, and blockades against Sustainable Local Development Plan improving legislation and was UPDC, founding the Ban Krut Conservation Group. She also bought elected to Congress in 2016. UPDC shares for $7.50 so she could go to stakeholder meetings despite Garcia, Linda; USA; oil11 dismissal and harassment. Kaewkao turned down huge bribes, persisted Tesoro Savage was planned as the largest oil terminal in North through smear campaigns, and faced jail sentences, even surviving America, capable of moving more than 40 million liters of oil daily from assassination attempts. Thanks to Kaewkao’s advocacy blocking con­ North Dakota to the port of Vancouver in Fruit Valley, Washington, an struction, the U.S. Export-Import Bank withdrew funding for the Bo Nok isolated, low-income, minority neighborhood heavily polluted by in­ plant. On October 9, 2005, UPDC canceled the project and agreed to dustrial activity. Garcia of the Fruit Valley Neighborhood Association discuss a land title law against a proposed steel project. challenged the proposal while she and her two children battled serious Kajir, Anne; Papua New Guinea; Logging16 illness and chemotherapy. She united residents with unions, environ­ When an indigenous woman showed lawyer Kajir sacred land mental NGOs, and local government officials. Garcia received near-daily marked for logging, Kajir began immediate action, rooting her advocacy death threats before the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council unani­ in a firm belief of justice. She not only educated locals on their rights, but mously voted to deny approval to the project in November 2017, and the also filed lawsuits against government complicity in illegal logging. Port of Vancouver officially terminated the company’s lease. Most notably, in 1997, Kajir won a Supreme Court case stopping a Giordano, Anna; Italy; poaching12 foreign company’s large-scale logging and accusing the Forest Authority For generations, macho hunting culture turned the Messina Strait of issuing illegal permits. Kajir is often physically attacked, burgled, and into one of the worst “black spots” for illegal honey buzzard poaching harassed. Despite legal wins, new legislation enables further corruption. despite bans. In response, Giordano organized yearly surveillance Lalian, Wilfrida; Indonesia; mining17 camps, supported by international conservation groups, in which vol­ In 2010, PT Gema Energy Indonesia (GEI) began mining exploration unteers came to monitor birds and catch poachers. She also began in Usatnesi Sonaf K’bat indigenous territory in the Oekopa forest demanding authorities to act, but many were hostile toward Giordano without permits. Thousands of thugs bullied the local community into for threatening masculinity and hunting culture. Thugs broke into her allowing them continued permission to stay. Wilfrida Lalian drove them house, bombed her car, sent death threats, and shot her and her sup­ away alone because husbands did not allow wives to join. She began porters. Such violence convinced the police to cooperate, and they asking male relatives to reject the mining. Despite police harassment, drastically reduced poaching. Giordano improved legislation. A gov­ Lalian organized public hearings while ENGOs investigated the mining ernment task force now supports catching and prosecuting poachers. permit and contacted the media. Her biggest success was gathering Greenham Women’s Peace Camp, UK; nuclear13 fellow supporters to perform a livestock sacrifice ritual to unite the Greenham Common was a military base with a long history of community and reject GEI. On September 9, 2012, the court ruled that contamination coverups and belittlement of women reporting conse­ GEI’s mining was illegal, and the company was forced to pay $2,500,000 quences. In response, over 50,000 women occupied the base, estab­ back to their investors. Individual lawsuits were filed against GEI board lishing the Greenham Women’s Peace Camp (GWPC) centered on their members. authority as mothers. In 1983, the missiles arrived. There were a wide Lekalakala, Makoma and McDaid, Liz; South Africa; nuclear18 variety of civil disobedience acts even within jails and courthouses when In 2014, the South African government made a deal with Russian- they were arrested. In response, guards followed and attacked them. A owned Rosatom to develop a 9,600 MW nuclear energy project. tank ran over and killed 22-year-old Helen Thomas at a protest. Even­ Nearby communities and indigenous Nama did not consent. Makoma tually, courts decided that tactics used to evict women were illegal. The Lekalakala and Liz McDaid of Earthlife Africa mobilized a campaign camp contributed to the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces force of mostly women against the deal. The duo began legal action and Treaty mandating missile removal. The GWPC shut down the base in were threatened with smear campaigns, violence, and sabotage. Yet 1993. Henning, Lynn; USA; CAFOs14 15 https://ejatlas.org/conflict/proposed-coal-power-plant-in-prachuab-khiri khan-thailand 10 16 https://ejatlas.org/conflict/fishmeal-pollution-in-chimbote-peru https://ejatlas.org/conflict/uncontrolled-illegal-logging-in-papua-new-guin 11 https://ejatlas.org/conflict/tesoro-savage-oil-terminal ea 12 17 https://ejatlas.org/conflict/illegal-hunting-at-the-strait-of-messina-italy https://www.ejatlas.org/conflict/illegal-manganese-mining-in-north-cent 13 https://ejatlas.org/conflict/greenham-common-womens-peace-camp-elimi ral-timor-indonesia 18 nate-nuclear-missiles-in-berkshire-england https://ejatlas.org/conflict/fight-against-russian-nuclear-deal-in-south-af 14 https://ejatlas.org/conflict/cafo-pollution-in-lenawee-county-michigan-usa rica 136 D. Tran Geoforum 126 (2021) 126–138 having experienced Apartheid as a black woman, Lekalakala was un­ leased the land to Chinese developers. shaken. On April 26, 2017, thanks to Lekalakala and McDaid, the High Rice, Megan; USA; nuclear23 Court ruled that the deal was unconstitutional. Consequently, all nuclear Oak Ridge is a military base in Tennessee housing uranium formerly proposals must go through public hearings and parliamentary approval. used for nuclear bombs. 90-year-old Sister Megan Rice criticized nuclear They now seek a total ban. weapons facilities such as Oak Ridge, which poisoned locals and the Mindo-Fetalvero, Sherryl “Sweet;” Philippines; mining19 surrounding environment for generations as well as require hundreds of Canadian company Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. began mining exploration on billions of dollars for upkeep. She felt it was her duty as a citizen and nun indigenous Ati land without consent, threatening opposition. In to practice nonviolent civil disobedience, for which she would be response, teacher Mindo-Fetalvero founded the Alliance of Students arrested 40 times. On July 28, 2012, she and two other activists entered Against Mining and the Romblon Ecumenical Forum Against Mining to the Y-12 National Security Complex, a uranium storage building, raise awareness and pursue legal action. This made her a target for spreading antiviolence and antinuclear art. Rice and her comrades were harassment, smear campaigns, and threats. Her husband accused her of arrested, and she spent the next two years advocating from prison. Some spending more time on the campaign than with their children and Oak Ridge facilities are now demolished. jeopardizing their safety. On September 30, 2011, Ivanhoe canceled Swearingen, Terri; USA; waste incineration24 their project. She then worked on a moratorium on mining in Romblon, In 1992, Waste Technologies Industries (WTI) built the nation’s which was enacted on January 13, 2012. largest waste incinerator in East Liverpool, an impoverished minority Mutegi, Wendy “Wanjiku” Wanja; Kenya; logging20 community. The Tri-State Environmental Council (TSEC), a coalition of On indigenous Chuka land, Kamweru Farm obtained a “forestry grassroots groups led by Terri Swearingen, began peacefully protesting research” license and began illegal logging in 2000 despite timber har­ in 1991 during construction. Swearingen and over 50 protesters were vesting bans. The Chuka attempted legal action but were beaten and arrested dozens of times and faced SLAPP suits. She uncovered that WTI shot. In 2011, lawyer and community elder’s daughter Mutegi filed obtained permits illegally, prompting Congress to hold a hearing. An 18- another lawsuit in April 2014. She also led 400 people in a three-week month nationwide moratorium on new incinerators was initiated, while occupation, during which 19 elders were arrested. Mutegi received old regulations were overhauled or made stricter. The Environmental bribes, and upon rejecting them, death threats. A dozen captors Protection Agency then issued the natioń s first federal guidelines for kidnapped and forced her to swear that she would abandon the case for siting waste management facilities. the safety of her family. Yet she continued representing the Chuka and Ushigua Santi, Gloria Hilda; Ecuador; fracking25 prevented the construction of two hotels as well as banned five logging On November 28, 2013, Andes Petroleum bought oil blocks in Sápara companies. On March 1, 2019, the National Land Commission gave the land. Ushigua Santi, leader of indigenous Sápara women’s organization Chuka legally protected rights to part of their land. Many still threaten Ashiñwaka, led over 100 marchers to Quito to deliver a petition to the Mutegi for her advocacy. president. However, they were falsely prosecuted for terrorism, sabo­ Oquelí, Yolanda; Guatemala; mining21 tage, and road obstruction. Since then, authorities, media, and family In 2011, Radius Gold Inc. was granted a gold mining license for the members have been harassing and discrediting her while police and “El Tambor” mining project in La Puya without local consent. Leader thugs threatened, attacked, and burgled her and her supporters, even Oquelí gathered residents for an occupation preventing machines from raping and killing her sister-in-law and kidnapping her niece to evoke entering and protest police brutality. In June 2012, Oquelí was shot fear. Still, she managed to delay the project for years. On October 10th, twice during an assassination attempt. On March 2, 2014, the commu­ 2019, Ecuador granted a force majeure officially recognizing indigenous nity celebrated two years of delaying the mining with cultural activities rights to informed consent, allowing them to eliminate some such as community theater plays and religious events. On May 23, 2014, extractivism. the military violently evicted protesters and women at the frontlines Wilson, Diane; USA; waste dumping26 praying and singing, injuring 26. The community managed to suspend Formosa Plastics Corporation (FPC) built a government-backed the mining license on February 22, 2016. Some protestors still occupy petrochemical plant manufacturing plastic in Point Comfort in 1995. the mine entrance and the Ministry of Energy and Mines. Fourth-generation shrimper and low-income single mother Diane Wil­ Putla; Cambodia; logging22 son caught FPC dumping toxic wastewater directly into the bay without In June 2009, Chinese-owned sugarcane company Hong Lai Huat permits. She teamed up with nonprofits for legal action and performed Group Limited (HLH), was granted rights to 10,000 ha of indigenous many acts of civil disobedience, which landed her in jail thirteen times. Souy land in Kampong Speu. In reaction to the land-grabbing, grand­ Neighbors shunned her, smear campaigns undermined her, and she mother Putla gathered women to blockade the roads, preventing the received death threats. In July 2017, FPC’s Point Comfort plant dumped company cars from entering. However, HLH called police to chase away, 151 tons of plastic into Lavaca Bay and 1,556 tons of plastic into Cox beat, and arrest them. Women stood at the frontlines thinking they Creek. After decades of fighting, Wilson and a coalition of environ­ would be less likely to be beaten, but they were still hurt. The women mental groups won a lawsuit against the company for $50 million on also gathered in front of the district chief’s house to protest arrests. The July 9, 2019, ruling that Formosa violated state and federal law. villagers kept resisting and pursued litigation, also performing spiritual ceremonies, networking with other groups, and attempting to engage References with authorities despite police threats and terrorism accusations. The village won their land back on April 12, 2010, after reporting their case Abonga, F., Kerali, R., Porter, H., Tapscott, R., 2020. Naked Bodies and Collective Action: Repertoires of Protest in Uganda’s Militarised, Authoritarian Regime. Civil Wars 22 to the Minister of Environment. 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