Jihan Gearon
Jihan Gearon is Navajo and Black from the Navajo Nation. She is a graduate of Stanford University with a Bachelors of Science in Earth Systems and a focus in Energy Science & Technology. She is the Executive Director of the Black Mesa Water Coalition, and a board member of Sustainable Nations Development Project. She is a movement leader in environmental and climate justice, just transition, and Indigenous Peoples rights having served on the boards of the Center for Story-based Strategy, Climate Justice Alliance, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, and Environmental Justice & Climate Change Initiative. Jihan writes a blog at www.navigatingcontradictions.com.
Presentations from Facing Race 2018
Just Transition to a Feminist Economy
Just Transition (JT) is a framework that grew out of the environmental justice and labor movements and focuses on building simultaneously visionary and oppositional campaigns. The approach is grounded in the struggle between communities impacted by polluting industries and the laborers who depend on those same industries to survive. Racially oppressed and/or economically marginalized groups suffer disproportionately on both sides of this struggle. JT insists that by following the leadership of grassroots communities of color and the white working class, we can develop intentional pathways away from extractive economies and toward regenerative local living economies.
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), in collaboration with CJA, is supporting our members in broadening our collective understanding of Just Transition to include the push for a Feminist Economy. We understand that patriarchy is intimately connected to both racism and capitalism and that we must challenge these systems of oppression together. As we consider an alternative economic model that prioritizes people and planet over profit, we must recognize gender as a critical lens. Without an insistence on grassroots feminism, we run the risk of transitioning to another economy that thrives off the degradation and exploitation of women, LGBTQ and gender non-conforming people.
This workshop will be co-facilitated by GGJ and a member organization, Black Mesa Water Coalition (BMWC). We will specifically explore JT strategies used on ground Navajo ground, and their application of a grassroots feminist lens. Join us as we lay the groundwork for cultivating a Just Transition to a Feminist Economy!
Speakers: Priya Johnson, Jihan Gearon