All power to the people. The idea of a fair and just government is a vision that has never been a reality, least of all for Black people across the Global Black Diaspora. Although we are told the government was designed to represent and protect its citizens, Black people experience the opposite far too often. This is especially true when it comes to addressing the climate crisis. In order to meet the urgency of the climate crisis, we need an equitable system that prioritizes our civil, environmental, and human rights. This includes the right to civic space, community ownership, and civil disobedience.
The climate crisis threatens our vision for people power and our future existence. We must build alternatives to our current economic and political systems and uproot neoliberalism and white supremacy. A Black queer feminist praxis and practice will push us toward a world of safety, self-determination, healthy communities, and Global Black Liberation.
The Black Hive @M4BL Demands:
- Public financing of elections and the end of money controlling politics through ending super PACs and unchecked corporate donations. Eliminate the influence of fossil-fuel corporations, their corporate associations, and profit-driven groups in elections; our governments must follow the will of the people, and not the polluters and profiteers influencing politicians
- An end to the vicious attacks and murders of frontline CEJ activists in the U.S. and in all countries
- Repair of the harms from regressive and violent policies that continue to harm our planet and people
- Legal recognition and protection of the Rights of Nature doctrine
- That D.C. be the 51st state, as D.C. statehood is a necessary component of ending the modern-day disenfranchisement of Black Americans and rebalancing political power toward CEJ
- Expansion of the right to vote and an end to voter suppression of Black people; establish election protection, electoral expansion, and the right to vote for all people, including: full access, guarantees, and protections of the right to vote for all people through universal voter registration, automatic voter registration, pre-registration for 16-year-olds, same-day voter registration, voting-day holidays, online voter registration, enfranchisement of formerly and presently incarcerated people, local and state resident voting for undocumented people, and a ban on any disenfranchisement laws
- An end to or significant weakening of the power of the U.S. Senate, which has continually served as a barrier to progress and a friend to entrenched white supremacist power from the days of slavery, to Jim Crow, to the civil-rights era to the 21st century—as it frequently stands in the way of both democratic reform and truly ambitious CEJ policies
- The end of international funded wars and military conflicts, driven by profit and the greed of corporations, that pollute the environment, fuel climate change, and undermine peace and human rights globally
- An end to U.S. interference with democracy in the Global Black Diaspora—the U.S.’s repeated coups and covert actions have toppled democratically elected leaders who would have materially benefited Black communities across the Global Black Diaspora
