The IV conference on financing development held in Seville was a scene of strong tension between civil society and multilateral organizations. While governments and financial institutions discussed the reforms of the global economic system, the voices of the global south were condemned, they were excluded from this process.
This is stated by Wangari Kinoti (Nairobi, 1979), pan -African feminist of Kenyan origin and international exile to the economic justice and law of women. Kinoti headed one of the delegations of civil society in Seville, which was present at the conference. He notes with a trajectory related to organizations such as Actionaid and many international feminist networks that women ultimately become a damping of economic crises and release a clear warning: if justice is not completed with the debt of the countries of the south, there will be no real equality.
How did this conference see in Seville? What is your main impression on the current development financing approach?
The atmosphere was not favorable for civil society. Despite the fact that the United Nations Secretary General (Antonio Guterres) assured at the forum of civil society, we will be aware of this process, we were actually systematically excluded from dialogue with member states and UN agencies. We even threatened the exile for increasing our voice.
This process, which is represented as inclusive and democratic, reproduces the colonial and patriarchal architecture of development financing, which we allegedly came to reform. The most progressive proposals, many of which are promoted by African states and a global social movement, were excluded from the final document. In fact, the voices of those who suffer from most of this injustice were silent.
Despite everything, we managed to conduct the symbolic effect of civil society in the conference. We had only three minutes, but this was enough to express our global solidarity against financial imperialism and raise a voice for gender, financial, climatic and debt justice.
According to your experience, what space is given to feminist and southern voices in this context? Do you feel heard here?
Even in the more “ordinary” spaces of civil society, feminist voices do not always hear. But that is why we are here, with a strong feminist presence in Seville. We had a feminist forum within two days before the official conference, and from there we formulated the struggle for gender, economic and climatic justice.
Feminists intertwine this struggle, because they are at the heart of our mission: to guarantee a decent life for all people and protect the planet in which we live. Enough of the place that we give us? It never happens. But we are always here to occupy him, to claim it and transform it.
What do you think is the greatest risk that these international summits do not include a structural feminist perspective?
The risk is huge. The feminist look, which is actually a lot, because there are different feminisms, allows us to connect the area with global, macroeconomic with experience. He reveals blind points, oppression that crosses, and focus on those who were systematically marginalized. This makes us encounter power and present new forms well, focused on care. Do not include these views is not only a mistake: it is dangerous. If this process does not integrate the structural feminist perspective, it will not be able to really change the global architectures of the authorities.
Speak firmly about the need to cancel the debt from the feminist look. What exactly and why is it so important?
Most of the countries of the global south were trapped in a vicious circle of debt. We are talking about debt justice, because its current structure is deeply unfair, colonial and imperialist. And weaved with everything that is the injustice of the floor.
Economic policy is not neutral. When there is duty and rigidity, women and girls ultimately absorb a coup: we do more unpaid work, we assume the collapse of public services, they push us to unreliable and poorly paid work. Girls leave school. We pay our pocket services that should be public. And all this happens in the contexts of structural violence, which exacerbates.
In particular, how does the external debt of women’s everyday life affect contexts such as Africa or Latin America?
Debt means less investment in healthcare, education, social protection. This directly affects us: more tasks, more risks, less rights. Women are the first to feel the influence of each reduction. We are talking about a deterioration in life, denial of rights, systematic violence, which crosses all areas.
What role do institutions such as the IMF or the World Bank in perpetuating the economic system, which reproduces gender inequality?
The IMF imposes a policy of structural adjustment, which distributes priorities in the payment of duty for the welfare of people. This helps to reduce basic services that destroy healthcare and state education. The World Bank, on the other hand, encourages the privatization of services and development financing.
These institutions, which have been in the center of the Global Economic Directorate for more than eight decades, support the countries of the southern global marginate of key decisions. This generates more duty, harmful reforms and less investment in the main one.
Do you see real achievements in the international story about debts and gender or are we continuing in the fields?
There are achievements, yes. More and more talk about the relationship between long and gender justice. But we are far from the place where we should be. And most importantly, this is addressed from structural. Because the current economic system is intended to increase inequality, injustice and exploitation.
And how can international feminism build a common agenda in the face of such powerful economic and financial systems?
We are already doing this. We built a common feminist agenda for decades. From the Beijing Conference 30 years ago – where it has already been said about the need to include a gender look in the macroeconomic policy – until today we continue to organize between movements, regions and causes.
Our brotherhood, our solidarity, our feminist memory inspires us. Even if they ignore or tell us that we are too many, we do not give up. Because everything is put on the card. And, in the end, power in people.
How is the pan -African and feminist woman who leads the global agenda, which was the biggest problems for those who encountered the spaces of power and international decision -making?
One of the biggest problems was exactly what to ignore or reduce to a symbolic presence. But we are not here to meet fees, but to transform structures. We continue because we are organized because we have a clear vision and because we are not alone.
What inspires and holds it in this battle?
Collective power supports me, our global brotherhood. I am inspired by feminist history, to everything that we have already achieved, and what we can still achieve. The young feminist will tell them that they are not alone. Never underestimate the ability to organize, combine a struggle, raise your voice. The system can be huge, but our ability to imagine another world and create it together.
