In Honduras, the most emblematic struggles to protect the environment have been and are led by women. Elena Gaitán is the only woman facing charges in her community after they stood up to a hydroelectric plant that was given a concession on the Jilamito River in the department of Atlántida.
Beyond the stigma… my life, my dreams, my decisions
When I graduated high school at eighteen, I told my mom I wanted to work; I wanted to earn my own money and feel productive. With the help of a close acquaintance, I applied for a job, and I got it. I was happy. Everything was going great until, suddenly, after two months, they found out. Don’t ask me how. One day, they just said to me, “We don’t need you here because you have HIV.”
Bodies in struggle, rights in dispute
“Fundamentalism takes root and bears fruit in systems of social inequality,” and this inequality has been abetted by several historical characteristics, such as the centralization of public services in metropolitan areas at the expense of peripheral rural areas, the racial geopolitics that marks the Caribbean lowlands as a region for resource extraction that benefits the Pacific region, and the low levels of education in most of the isthmus, which often hinder people’s discernment and consequently foster breeding grounds for indoctrination.”
Covid-19 and authoritarianism in Central America
Since the beginning of the pandemic, hate crimes have increased, repressive public policies have been implemented, cybernetic and institutional attacks against activists that were not aligned with authoritarian governments’ official narratives have risen, and militarization has been the governments’ response to the disease, which has resulted in the violation of human rights of various people and social groups—primarily women, and trans and non-binary people.
A different approach to health: Living well in harmony with the web of life
Hegemonic western medicine focuses on counteracting diseases, but good health is more linked to the wellness industry, which promotes consumerism and an illusory, and not at all consistent, relationship between the mind, the body, and the planet, which belies the true connection between the three.
Collective Care and Radical Healing
I guess the urgency of co-creating a feminist organisation grounded in radical healing and transformative feminist power came from the shock of the pandemic, from the interruption of the status quo that it brought, from the realisation that we couldn’t procrastinate any longer.
Honduran women create a solidarity fabric against extractivism
Betty Vásquez Rivera, an indigenous Lenca feminist, serves as coordinator in Movimiento Ambientalista Santa Barbarense (MAS) de Mujeres por la Vida in Honduras. Her analysis and reflections, which are presented below, focus on the impacts of COVID-19 and hurricanes Eta and Iota, defenders’ struggle against the construction of large-scale projects that are presented as economic and development alternatives, and the Honduran government’s lack of response to recent natural disasters.