Climate Sisters

Climate Sisters

Resisting Ecocide

by

m. seenarine

Xpyr Press. 2024. 261 pages

ISBN: 978-1-7346514-2-3

Available on Amazon

Without a doubt, Greta Thunberg is an important catalyst for climate change, as she has inspired activists across the Globe to start their own Climate Strike movements. This book highlights the work of over thirty Fridays for Future youth climate leaders, along with dozens of other youth activists working for organizations with similar goals. Greta and thousands of young reformers are struggling daily for our future. This book examines the resilience and power of over one hundred of these female voices through their resistance to the fossil fuel industry, and actions to address local apathy. It explores the Global impact that local campaigners are having by mobilizing millions to demand climate accountability and environmental action. 

The one hundred and five female activists profiled in this book are mostly young, in their 20s and 30s. A few are in their teens. All are passionate about the environment and climate action. We tried to focus on a diversity of female voices and issues, and campaigners from dozens of countries are represented here. The book profiles the work of reformers from the Global South whose actions are seldom acknowledged in the Western mainstream media. 

Table of Contents

Climate Glossary & List of COPs	vi
Preface	viii
Introduction: Youth Rising	ix
1. Deborah Adegbile (Nigeria)	1
2. Aisha Akbar (Pakistan)	3
3. Matilde Alvim (Portugal)	6
4. Fatema Alzelzela (Kuwait)	8
5. Mona Al-Ajrami (Jordan)	10
6. Lina Al-Tarawneh (Qatar)	13
7. Reem Al-Saffar (Iraq)	15
8. Samara Assunção (Brazil)	17
9. Mariana Atencio (Venezuela)	19
10. Maytik Avirama (Colombia)	21
11. Khairani Barokka (Indonesian)	24
12. Xiye Bastida (Mexico and USA)	26
13. Nicole Becker (Argentina)	29
14. Selma Bichbich (Algeria)	31
15. Fadoua Brour (Morocco)	34
16. Nina Py Brozovich (Bolivia)	36
17. Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres (Honduras)	38
18. Adriana Hernandéz (Mexico)	41
19. Regina Charumar (Mozambique)	43
20. Thandile Chinyavanhu (South Africa)	45
21. Naielli Cobo (USA)	47
22. Paloma Costa Oliveira (Brazil)	50
23. Anuna De Wever (Belgium)	52
24. Anisa Bek Derna (Libya)	54
25. Flossie Donnelly (Ireland)	56
26. Nisreen Elsaim (Sudan)	58
27. Denise Fazenda (Mozambique)	60
28. Loujain AlHathloul (Saudia Arabia)	62
29. Kari Fulton (USA)	64
30. Yessenia Funes (El Salvador & USA)	66
31. Sara Cgnuck Gonzalez (Costa Rica)	68
32. Ineza Umuhoza Grace (Rwanda)	70
33. Helena Gualinga (Ecuador)	72
34. Nozinhle Gumede (Zimbabwe)	75
35. Vanessa Hauc (Peru)	77
36. Isra Hirsi (USA)	79
37. Ou Hongyi (China)	81
38. Iracema M. Hussein (Mozambique)	84
39. Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim (Chad)	86
40.  Fatou Jeng (Gambia)	88
41. Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner (Marshall Is.)	90
42. Farzana Faruk Jhumu (Bangladesh)	93
43. Murrawah M. Johnson (Australia)	95
44. Litiana Kalsrap (Vanuatu)	97
45. Jakapita Kandanga (Namibia)	99
46. Licypriya Kangujam (India)	101
47. Sasina Kaudelka (Thailand)	103
48. Salsabila Khairunnisa (Indonesia)	105
49. Hajar Khamlichi (Morocco)	107
50. Sophia Danube Kianni (Iran & USA)	109
51.  Marie Christina Kolo (Madagascar)	111
52. Bella Lack (UK)	113
53. Dominika Lasota (Poland)	115
54. Mikaela Loach (Scotland)	117
55. Joycelyn Longdon (UK)	119
56. Catarina Lorenzo (Brazil)	121
57. Grace Maddrell (UK)	123
58. Tiza Mafira (Indonesia)	126
59. Jamie Margolin, (Colombia & USA)	128
60. Ella and Amy Meek (UK)	130
61. Ayakha Melithafa (South Africa)	132
62. Oluwaseyi Moejoh (Nigeria)	134
63. Hala Subhi Murad (Jordan)	136
64. Hilda Flavia Nakabuye (Uganda)	138
65. Vanessa Nakate (Uganda)	140
66. Leah Namugerwa (Uganda)	142
67. Vinzealhar Ainjo Nen (PNG)	144
68. Nemonte Nenquimo (Ecuador)	147
69. Luisa-Marie Neubauer (Germany)	149
70. R. Noor-Mahomed (South Africa)	151
71. Adenike Oladosu (Nigeria)	153
72. Maria Serra Olivella (Spain)	155
73. Lilian Ono (Japan)	157
74. Dominique Palmer (UK)	160
75. Alice Pataxó (Brazil)	162
76. Autumn Peltier (Canada)	164
77. Leala Pourier (USA)	166
78. Varshini Prakash (USA)	168
79. Izzy Raj-Seppings (Australia)	170
80. María Reyes (México)	172
81. Aliénor Rougeot (Canada)	175
82. Chiara Sacchi (Argentina)	177
83. Sofía H. Salazar (Costa Rica)	179
84. Shaama Sandooyea (Mauritius)	181
85. Delima Silalahi (Indonesia)	183
86. Catalina Silva (Chile)	185
87. Txai Suruí (Brazil)	187
88. Gabby Tan (Malaysia)	189
89. Mitzi Jonelle Tan (Philippines)	192
90. A. Fepulea'i Tapua'i (New Zealand)	194
91. Amelia Telford (Australia)	196
92. Greta Thunberg (Sweden)	198
93. Bonnie Tsui (Chinese American)	201
94. Tori Tsui (Hong Kong)	203
95. Marinel S. Ubaldo (Philippines)	205
96. Angela Valenzuela (Chile)	207
97. Alexandria Villaseñor (USA)	209
98. Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti (Kenya)	211
99. Miranda Whelehan (UK)	213
100. Melati & Isabel Wijsen (Indonesia)	215
101. Melati & Isabel Wijsen (Indonesia)	217
102. Melati & Isabel Wijsen (Indonesia)	219
103. Melati & Isabel Wijsen (Indonesia)	221
104. Kate Yeo (Singapore)	223
105. Joelle Zgheib (Lebanon)	225
Conclusion: Catalysts for Change	227
Sources	230

Twice Migrants

Twice Migrants 

Studies on South Asian Diaspora 

by 

M. K Gautam and M. Seenarine

Xpyr Press, 2024. 286 pages

ISBN: 978-1-7346514-1-6 

Available on Amazon

Description

The term "twice migrants" can refer to immigrants who arrive in a country through an intermediate country, rather than directly from their country of birth. For example, in the UK, "twice migrants" are people of South Asian descent who have migrated from countries outside of South Asia, often as descendants of Indian settlers in British colonies. In Canada, "twice migrants" can refer to immigrants from South Asia, China, or the Philippines who arrive through a second country, such as the Gulf. In 1996, 15.7% of immigrants to Canada from South Asia were "twice migrants". 

This edited collection of articles explores some of the causes of twice migration, as well as twice migrants’ adaptation to their new host societies, centering on the USA and Canada. This is our second collection of articles on the South Asian Diaspora. This text is a follow-up to Kalapani: Studies on South Asian Diaspora by M. K. Gautam and M. Seenarine, Xpyr Press (2023). This volume, Twice Migrants: Studies on South Asian Diaspora, explores migration from the diaspora in the 20th century, and it contains eight articles on the Suriname, Guyana, the Netherlands, USA and Canada.

Table of Contents 

1. "Twice Migrants in Western Countries: Indians and the children of indenture contract labourers of Surinam” by M. K. Gautam 
2. "Sansari: From South Asia to South America, to North America” by M. Seenarine 
3. "Constructed Communities: The Contribution of Bangladeshi Women to Life in New York City” by Florence E. McCarthy, M. Seenarine, and Nina Asher 
4. “A brief history of East Indians in Suriname” by Hanan Orna 
5. “East Indian Surinamese women in the United States: Acculturation, group relations, and managing strategies in perspective” By Hanan Orna
6. “The cultural adaptation of Indians from Trinidad and Guyana to Canada” by Subhas Ramcharan 
7. “East Indians in Canada’s Pacific Coast 1900-1914: an encounter in race relations” by Sahadeo Basdeo 
8. A Comparative Study of African American and Asian American Diaspora in USA: Integration in Host Culture” by Nitesh Narnolia 

Sista Resister

Bios of 50 Radical Women of Color Activists
Resisting Sexism, Colonialism & Racism

by m seenarine

Xpyr Press 2023. 327 pages

Available on Amazon

This book presents 50 biographies of radical women of color activists from over 25 countries and territories. 

The book, Sista Resister: Bios of 50 Radical Women of Color Activists Resisting Sexism, Colonialism & Racism, introduce the biographies of women from over 25 countries and territories. This eclectic collection of biographies of female activists show that 'Third World' females are active on a wide range of issues, from women's and children's health, to housing and labor rights, the environment and climate change. The book is divided into two sections. Part I, on current sista resisters, chronicles the lives of 30 contemporary female activists, from Mexico to the Philippines. The 20 life stories in Part II, on foresisters of resistance, establish that women in the Global South were some of the earliest feminist thinkers and writers in the world. Each life story refutes the common misrepresentation of Indigenous, African, Asian, Latina, Muslim, Dalit and other females as docile creatures in need of Western rescue.

Contrary to their depiction in mainstream media as passive and docile, women in the 'Third World' were some of the first women's rightist activists. For instance, Fang Weiyi (1585 to 1668) and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648 to 1695) wrote about women's rights a century before Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 to 1797), whose essay, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792), is widely regarded as one of the first feminist text. And, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's (1880 to 1932) feminist science fiction novella, Sultana's Dream (1905), was written a decade before Charlotte Perkins Gilman's popular feminist utopian novel, Herland (1915). One of the main goals of this book is to amplify the voices of high-melanin female activists, and examples of their work are included in each portrait.

Table of Contents

Defining Terms and Intentions	ix
Glossary	x
Acknowledgments	xv
Preface	1
Introduction	9
PART I - CONTEMPORARY RESISTERS
1. Rebecca Lolosoli (Kenya)	47
2. Audra Simpson (Mohawk/Canada)	50
3. Marielle Franco (Rio, Brazil)	53
4. Sarah Deer (Muscogee/US)	58
5. Lydia Cacho (Mexico)	63
6. Yue Xin (Beijing, China)	68
7. Ece Temelkuran (Turkey)	72
8. Moya Bailey (Georgia, US)	77
9. Asmaa Mahfouz (Egypt)	81
10. Alma Caballero (Mexico)	86
11. Nadia Murad (Iraq)	89
12. Leymah Gbowee (Liberia)	93
13. Winona LaDuke (Ojibwe/US)	97
14. Malalai Joya (Afghanistan)	100
15. Risa Hontiveros (Philippines)	106
16. Wu Qing (Beijing, China)	109
17. Randa Jarrar (Chicago, US)	112
18. Tawakkol Karman (Yemen)	116
19. Norma Vázquez (Mexico)	120
20. LaDonna Brave Bull (Sioux/US)	124
21. Rigoberta Menchú (Guatemala)	128
22. Haneen Zoabi (Nazareth, Israel)	132
23. Carmen Cruz (Puerto Rico)	136
24. Phoolan Devi (India)	140
25. Alice Walker (Georgia, US)	145
26. Wangari Maathai (Kenya)	151
27. Haunani-Kay Trask (Hawaiʻi/US)	155
28. Loujain AlHathloul (Saudia Arabia)	161
29. Berta Cáceres (Honduras)	165
30. Assata Shakur (US/Cuba)	169
PART II - FORESISTAS of RESISTANCE
31. Queen Nzinga (Angola)	178
32. Fang Weiyi (China)	182
33. Sor Juana (Mexico)	185
34. Queen Aliquippa (Seneca/US)	190
35. Sojourner Truth (NY, US)	194
36. Bamewawagezhikaquay (Ojibwe/US)	202
37. Savitribai Phule (South Asia)	207
38. Forten Women (PA, US)	212
39. Harriet Tubman (MD, US)	219
40. Dolores Jiménez (Mexico)	228
41. Rokeya Hossain (South Asia)	233
42. Raden Adjeng Kartini (Indonesia)	238
43. Ida Bell Wells (MS, US)	243
44. Bibi Khānom Astarābādi (Iran)	251
45. Hiratsuka Raichō (Japan)	255
46. Lucy Parsons (TX, US)	260
47. Mirair Ngirmang (Palau)	266
48. María Rivera (Peru)	270
49. Yuri Kochiyama (CA, US)	274
50. Lolita Lebrón (Puerto Rico)	281
ADDENDUM
Abolition & Women's Rights (US)	289
Endnotes	297