Demilitarization Is Climate Justice
written by Pangaanga Laura Ikaanuq Pangawyi, Indigenous Environmental Network
Foreword
In November 2022, leaders from countries and civil societies gathered in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt for COP27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference. While this year’s conference distinctly lacked adequate representation of Indigenous communities, womxn, and frontline communities for several reasons, at Grassroots Global Justice Alliance’s Demilitarization and Climate Reparations Rally, Pangaanga Laura Ikaanuq Pangawyi (St. Lawrence Island Yupik) of Indigenous Environmental Network spoke out about the connections between climate change, militarization, and violence against Indigenous womxn.
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Militarization caused missing and murdered Indigenous women. During the beginning stages of colonization, it was a military tactic to rape and murder Indigenous women. This colonial tradition continues through capitalism and colonial infrastructure in our communities: man camps for mining, fossil fuels, and other extractive industries.
Militarization is the avenue through which Indigenous peoples are dehumanized through experimentation. We saw this in the Pacific Islands with thermonuclear tests; we saw this in the Arctic tundra where they injected people with radioactive iodine and spread radiation onto the tundra to see how our bodies would be impacted. And now even false solutions to climate change are being tested on our bodies, through projects like the Arctic Ice Project, which operated out of a former naval base spreading experimental materials in the Arctic without our free, prior, and informed consent.
History has shown us that the US military is the number one polluter and is not held accountable. Where I am from [Sivungaq], the military base intentionally spilled heavy metal solvents, fuel and waste onto the tundra. Countries do not have to count their military emissions.
The military protects capitalism and colonialism; capitalism and colonialism cause climate change. Militarization is a symbol of inequitable power, colonialism and capitalism.
We must dismantle capitalism if we are to thrive as human beings on Earth. The imbalance of power among humans is reflected through our arrogance with Mother Earth. As we continue trying to conquer the mother, she continues protecting herself through pandemics and climate change. Indigenous mothers hold the answers to correct imbalance.