The Great Destruction: Violence Against Women, Against the Planet, Against all Life

The environmental crisis and violence against women are among the crucial issues that afflict contemporary society, both because of the violence they imply and because of the widening gap in inequalities. Although the two dimensions may seem distant and distinct (macro and micro respectively), environmental damage and violence against women are actually two sides of a single coin, a sword of Damocles hanging over the whole of humanity and the survival of the planet with its biodiversity. The great destruction sees women not only more exposed to violence (such as in the practice of sex- for- fish or in the coal trade in Congo) but also as activists on the front line to defend their territories (e.g. Nemonte Nenquimo, Licypriya Kangujam, Greta Thumberg). Consider also about protest of Afghan and Iranian women (Woman Life Freedom), as well as the journalist often killed when they get in the way of corruption, from Ilaria Alpi to Anna Politkovskaya. Faced with these problems, which are intertwined in a spiral of increasing gravity, what policies are possible, locally and globally? Beyond the apocalyptic scenarios, what solutions for sustainable development can pave the way for a change, in the perspective of solidarity with future generations? The aim of this work is to investigate the links between environmental crisis and the destructive violence; at the same time, it highlights multidisciplinary tools – including ecofeminist thought, indigenous feminism movements and the critique of biopower – that question the patriarchal order and advanced capitalism, from whose recurrent crises these forms of violence seem to derive.