SGCR is raising funds for 2 minority-race-led Singaporean organisations as part of our anti-racism commitment. End FGC Singapore is a community-led movement empowering the Singaporean Muslim community to end the practice of Female Genital Cutting. Teater Ekamatra is an ethnic minority theatre company committed to centering ethnic minority artists, stories, and perspectives in its staging of works addressing socio-political issues. SGCR is sourcing donations from our members and volunteers, and we call on all our followers and Chinese Singaporean allies to do the same:
PayNow/PayLah to Afifah at 8322 6846 with comment “endfgc”
For allies without the financial capacity, please amplify conversations and encourage others with the means to participate in mutual aid efforts to do so.
We condemn the recent spate of racist events and attacks against racial minorities. We stand against the gaslighting and silencing that has followed these incidents, and recognise that they are embedded in a longer history of racial injustice in Singapore. We implore Chinese Singaporeans and those in power to listen closely to and affirm these lived experiences of racism, instead of rushing to defensiveness and dismissal. We demand our institutions and elected officials to take accountability, and review policies and practices towards an inclusive Singapore.
Why Anti-Racism is Climate Justice
Climate justice acknowledges that climate destruction is produced by and reproduces systems of oppression. Racism is part of these oppressive structures which reinforce that some groups are more worthy than others in order to facilitate the hoarding of power and the exploitation of resources. Environmental racism happens when minority-race communities are disproportionately affected by environmental issues. There are many examples of how they occur within and across national boundaries, historically and in the present [1].
Similarly, racism has also been an engine and product of climate destruction in Singapore. Colonial practices of importing Indian indentured labour to work on plantations for profits is one example of how racialist policies have perpetuated a disregard for the environment. The forced eviction of the Orang Laut and other minority communities who lived on the Southern Islands to make way for the oil and gas industry and landfills is another [2]. Beyond our borders, Singapore has been indicted for the mining of sand in neighbouring countries for its own reclamation and development [3].
We need to do better. Let’s start by listening to minority-race individuals who have been coming forward to share their stories, and speak up ourselves too. If you have other resources to share, please leave them in the comments! For other minority-led organisations to support, please check out http://bit.ly/PenawarZine!
SGCR believes that our activism is meaningless if it does not stand against all forms of injustices. An intersectional approach to the climate crisis demands that we recognise how racism has been and continues to be perpetuated for the sake of profit and at the expense of people and the planet. We strive to work in solidarity with others to resist racism in all forms.
Footnotes
[1] Examples in other contexts include the destruction to Niger delta where the Ogoni people live due to oil extraction and the planned construction of the Dakota Pipeline across indigenous lands in the United States.
[2] For more on this, watch the documentary ‘Island Nation’.
[3] The controversial practice of sand mining has been alleged to have caused the destruction of several indigenous communities in the region, as captured in the documentary film “Lost World” by Cambodian filmmaker, Kalyanee Mam.
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