Critical Perspectives
The Future of Politics is Grassroots: UN Legitimacy and Global Youth Movements During the Climate Emergency
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Laura Bullon
This article explores the various roles of youth digital participation in the fight against climate change in the context of the United Nations (UN). The UN, under the leadership of Secretary General Guterres, has made climate change an organizational priority and planned a Climate Action Summit in New York City in September 2019. However, increasing nationalism and lack of compliance toward environmental agreements has led the UN Secretary General (SG) to make unprecedented comments such as calling on youth to “please be disruptive. Put pressure on your governments. Without you, the UN will fail.” This article proposes a nuanced understanding of youth climate activism at the UN, as well as to distinguish the role of digital activism per se. Based on 25 semi-structured interviews with youth activists conducted in July 2019 during the UN High-level Political Forum in New York City, I show that digital networks are mobilized by youth activists both to express support for, and well as destabilize, the UN climate sphere. On the latter, the digital is used collectively to connect with other youth climate groups, such as Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for the Future, and build larger coalitions that can pressure the UN and its Member States. The paper thus proposes to understand how youth digital participation both exists alongside and impacts the legitimacy of international organizations who struggle to adapt to the needs of the twenty-first century, such as the United Nations.
How Aspects of the U.S. LGBTQ+ Rights Movement Went Global
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Scott Henderson
This inquiry investigates the third wave of the modern social movement for LGBTQ+ rights and suggests the global implications this phase of activism has had. To do so, this examination focuses on the final statement ("Warrenton Declaration") of the "War Conference" held by U.S. gay leaders in Warrenton, Virginia in 1988. This study uses the tools of historical and sociological analysis to gain a better understanding of the content and subsequent influence of the Warrenton Declaration. While the Declaration highlighted the threat of HIV-AIDS and the "callous and criminal response" of the U.S. government to that threat, it also outlined a movement agenda that underscored organizational logistics (especially mass-media strategies) and the need for greater public visibility among those who identified as gay or lesbian. This inquiry concludes that the implications of the Warrenton Declaration are at least twofold. 1) It did not, perhaps could not, envision the LGBTQ+ rights movement's shift from prioritizing the HIV-AIDS epidemic to emphasizing legal campaigns to repeal sodomy laws and to promote marriage equality. 2) On the other hand, by successfully advocating for a national Coming Out Day--a powerful tactic for enhancing individual affirmation and communal solidarity--it represented the importance that "new social movements" placed, and continue to place, on collective identities and emotional expression (Jasper, 1997; Melucci, 1996). Indeed, Coming Out Day has become an international phenomenon, illustrating an older conception of "globalization" that stresses the ability of cultural change and social movements to transcend increasingly permeable national boundaries.
Gender Equity and Refugee Status: Recommendations for Curriculum Development and Continuing Education Trainings
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mioara Diaconu, Linda Reeser, Laura Racovita, Maria Elena Ramos Tovar
Due to the increase in globalization, climate change, misogyny, and gender discrimination, the causes for mass displacement have changed significantly since the drafting of the1951 Refugee Convention. Furthermore, the reasons for forced migration and its impacts are different for men than for women (Gururaja, 2000). Although international law is gender neutral in theory, in practice it is not. (Crawley, 2000). The EU Women Lobby (EWL) believes that the 1951 Geneva Convention and the follow-up Protocol of 1967 failed to address current gender-specific acts of persecution, including sexual violence. Many decision-makers “have proven unable to grasp the nature of rape by State [or non-state] actors as an integral and tactical part of the arsenal of weapons deployed to brutalize, dehumanize, and humiliate women” (Maclin, 1995, p.226). As a result, when assessing a refugee status claim, many states are using a framework of male experiences to grant refugee status. In today’s more nationalistic and xenophobic global environment, more states are enacting overly restrictive legislation to block asylum seekers. As a result, many women who have been displaced mainly due to gender based violence or discriminatory social mores (e.g., FGM; bride burning; forced sterilization), would be sent back to their countries of origin where their likely fate will be death. This study provides recommendations for curriculum development and continuing education trainings regarding social and political action regarding refugees. It also provides a human rights framework for addressing the needs of female refugees through education and empowerment.
