Dismantling Imperial Mindsets

BY Oriana López Uribe

We have a problem with self-determination and autonomy. 

The right to self-determination and autonomy is needed to achieve the right to be free and to exercise it, we need the availability and access to a wide variety of options and opportunities. Being free is to exercise your autonomy and agency. It is about having options, opportunities and real satisfaction of basic needs so that you can completely be free to dream what you want to do with yourself.

And that is what we are looking for, right? For the right of every person to dream and achieve what they want to do because they are no longer just trying to survive. That in itself is our dream. And that is why we chose this “job” of creating a better, more just world for everyone. (If you are not working for everyone, you can stop reading here as you will definitely dislike what is coming next.)

Of course, we are not completely free while living in this polycrisis world, in this absurdly unequal, unjust, cruel, inhumane, apocalyptic, disappointing world. But we want as much freedom as we can and this is what we work towards. 

Yet, as feminists, there are divisions within. There are those that claim that a person who was assigned male at birth, cannot be a woman, or vice versa, or even non-binary – despite feminist thinking stemming from the understanding that gendered societies perpetuate inequalities and discrimination. There are also those who claim that sex work is always exploitation, claiming that no one would have sex for work if they were free to decide –  as if sex work was the worst job one could get. 

In both cases, it’s the refusal of self-determination, agency and bodily autonomy. Because others are not doing what they would do, then they want to take those rights away from them/us. 

(Now, since this blog post has reached you and you have kept reading, I assume you are a feminist who is a supporter of self-realization and self-determination, and actually works for the right of all people to be their unapologetic, full selves. Then, please keep on reading.)

But one of the many differences between working on SRH (sexual and reproductive health) or SRR (sexual and reproductive rights) and from a Reproductive Justice framework is about looking at the environment, the society and the systems of oppression that hinder our freedom. It’s also moving from the neoliberal individualization of responsibilities/needs to a more community-centered response. 

So, let’s think of autonomy or agency in a community form, and from that, expand to countries as macro communities.

In this supposedly post-colonial world¹, countries use the concept of national sovereignty to exercise freedom, self-determination and autonomy from the imperialist powers of Western Europe and Northern America² and still have multilateral conversations, conventions, agreements, etc. Sovereignty is to countries what self-determination and autonomy are to individuals. Then…how is it that we dare to complain, roll our eyes and become outraged when representatives of countries from the Global South claim sovereignty in any outcome document at the UN?

Colonial logic is against the sovereignty of countries and people, so we must take it with a grain of salt when those colonial powers now claim to be champions of autonomy and self-determination because their past and present, their flow of resources (legal and illegal) and the vertical power dynamics at the UN are the antithesis of that. 

Are we not aware of how the US, Europe, and Israel are the bullies in the room? Why do we still see them as allies when there are so many injustices done by them at this very moment? Do we really believe they are the arbiters of rights when they use it as a tool to exert pressure on countries from the Global South?

How have they made reparations in their former colonies? How were they held responsible for the apartheid in South Africa? The genocide in Rwanda? The dictatorships across Latin America? The map charting what they call the “Middle East”?

How are we allowing the fact that Puerto Rico is right now still a territory of the US? The blockade of Cuba? All the anti-Muslim, anti-China, anti-Russian, racist narratives coming out of Hollywood foaming up like rabies into our living rooms across the world?

I refuse to be an ally to imperialist alliances. 

They brought inequalities to the rest of the world through their looting. They manufactured and deepened racial systems, making us fear our own people. They broke our spirits with empty promises. They imposed their moralities and criminalized many of the things that they now champion, claiming they are the progressive ones, the evolved, the smart, our north star. For example, they imposed laws against same-sex intercourse and abortion. They also brought their gendered logic to classify us, often going against what Indigenous people believed, practiced and how they organized. But now, we have Israeli soldiers waving rainbow flags to justify genocide – as if killing Palestinians would set anyone free from the homophobia perpetuated by the Europeans centuries ago.

Why do imperialist countries dislike sovereignty? Because they still need to own our lands and our people, they are extractivists of our natural resources and they need these to accumulate more wealth and power. Their extractivism also extends to our youth, not only for hard labor but also for our creativity, because they are aging and need young people to keep running their machinery. 

I’m not defending a chauvinistic idea of nationalism, states and artificial borders. What I defend is the freedom for all people to organize themselves, own lands which belong to them and to thrive in community.

What we have now is an unjust world with artificial borders created by imperialists that have organized the world in hierarchies, and where borders are enforced through discrimination. A world where the fear of racist otherness keeps feeding chauvinism. When are we going to hold imperialists accountable for what their ancestors did? How can we heal if we are just trying to forget that all those genocides have happened, and are happening?

So, as long as we live in this system and are playing UN, I believe countries from the majority of the world should have sovereignty over the economic pressure of imperialist powers. And I agree with feminists holding our countries and those neighboring us accountable to their people, their land and our ecosystem. That is why having feminists from the Global South and grassroots organizing come to the UN makes sense: so they can work directly with government representatives and neighboring countries’ representatives, horizontally. 

Being at the UN gives you access to information, leverage and access to speak one-on-one with them. And that is why having Global North civil society speaking to governments from the Global South is not working anymore. 

To the Civil Society actors from the North: 

Please have some shame and start looking at what your government is doing to marginalized communities, refugees, to review their migration policies and talk to them about that, ask them to be accountable to you. Stop asking representatives of countries from the South to be accountable to you – they are not.  

I still believe we can dream of a different world. We must stop the abuse, so that we can heal, and thrive.

1.  I don’t think we have reached the post-colonial age as it’s quite obvious how colonial logic is still what rules this world. 
2. North America has 3 countries: Canada, USA and Mexico. When I refer to North America I exclude Mexico from those imperialist powers.