Background
What is anti-racism?
The objective of our anti-racist strategies is to put an end to the political hierarchisation of race in research, programming and practice. As a means, we centre intersectionality in all of our activities and emphasise the necessity of critical whiteness. This includes CFFP’s advocacy areas: Climate Justice, Anti-Gender Movements, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Justice, LGBTQI* Peace and Security, Feminist Nuclear Policy, and Demilitarisation and Disarmament.
Race has been and still is, used to create hierarchies between groups of people and justify power imbalances. While there are no different biological races, race exists as a social construct to filter access to choice, opportunity, resources, status, and power. The instrumentalisation of race as a discriminatory practice is not only an individual, interpersonal and intentional act. Racism is also systemic, structural and institutional. Therefore, it is a form of political violence that is perpetuated through other forms of oppression like capitalism, colonialism and ableism. Feminism has to be anti-racist to meet the demands of our time.
Key Activities
Feminist Foreign Policy So White?!
Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) is a paradigm that prioritises the needs of marginalised individuals and invokes a process of self-reflection regarding foreign policy’s hierarchical global systems. However, in order for FFP to offer a truly transformative alternative to traditional policy paradigms an explicit consideration of racial justice is required. In the absence of such reflexivity, FFP risks reproducing colonial patterns of white supremacy and exacerbating existing inequalities. Our project, “Feminist Foreign Policy So White” is intended as an intervention. It aims to highlight the shortcomings of contemporary policy frameworks and open up space for an investigation of the underlying assumptions, narratives and biases that guide foreign policy programming and practice.
The May Ayim Research Fellowship
This year, CFFP will launch The May Ayim Research Fellowship as a way to cement knowledge production by Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPoc) in the field of foreign policy. As a platform for BIPoC, this Fellowship is an active method to increase meaningful representation of BIPoC in the field and also serves a way to institutionalise resources dedicated to the decolonisation of knowledge production. Furthermore, the Fellowship seeks to empower BIPoC and provide a platform for knowledge sharing to foster a clear dialogue about intersectional approaches to human rights.
The goal is to offer BIPoC an opportunity to carry out research and work on projects dear to their heart despite the many obstacles they face in the field of foreign policy. During the fellowship, May Ayim Research fellows will visit partner institutions or institutions of their interest, get to know how these institutions work, work on their own research project and connect with other BIPoC researchers in related fields. After completing the fellowship, alumni will have gained the experience and the confidence they need to acquire research positions and careers in foreign policy.
Resources
Briefing: Wake up, Almanya! - Germany’s political will to ignore institutional racism
As German elections swiftly approach, we understand that the political normalisation and continuing democratic legitimisation of racism are pressing issues. This briefing defines racism as a threat to Germany's democratic principles, and offers political recommendations for intersectional feminism, including anti-racism strategies. For CFFP, tackling institutional racism is a pressing issue because feminist policies must be anti-racist to meet the demands of our time.
Briefing: Feminist Foreign Policy So White?!
For us at CFFP, the fundament of feminism is intersectionality. We are committed to constantly working on dismantling the oppressive structures that prevent racial justice, and being attentive to the power dynamics within our own structures and with external partners that reproduce the marginalisation of minority groups. This policy briefing provides a short introduction to how whiteness infiltrates foreign policy and Feminist Foreign Policy - and what we can do to push back on this.
CFFP’s Black Feminist Reading List
We are so excited to share our very own Black Feminist Reading List! Although Black History Month is celebrated in February, we believe it is crucial to empower and celebrate Black women every month, in every field of work. To give you some inspiration on how to value the voices of Black women through reading, the CFFP team has gathered our favourite books, written by and for Black women. Accompanying this rich list are also some suggestions for places to buy your books, as opposed to Amazon. And finally, for those of you who are also (or more) into listening, we have included some of our favourite podcasts by and for Black women. Enjoy and happy reading (or listening)!
Disrupted: The Migration Issue
The aim of this journal is to disrupt mainstream foreign policy. Through highlighting both experienced and emerging voices from across the globe, we seek to understand, challenge, and critique foreign policy. This issue focuses on the theme of Immigration, Refugees & Trafficking. Our contributors challenge the problematic, and often racist, Western-centric approaches to immigration, refugees, and trafficking, and unpack the complex connections between gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality that are embedded in the lived realities of the people impacted directly and heavy-handedly by current foreign policy on the issue.
Disrupted: The Post-Colonial Issue
This issue focuses on the theme of post-colonialism and foreign policy. Through a postcolonial analytical lens, our contributors challenge the unquestioned objectivity of elitist, Western-centric foreign policy, and unpack the complex connections between gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality that are embedded in the everyday actions and politics of people from across the world.
Resource Page: Disrupting Whiteness in Foreign Policy
As part of our project, “Feminist Foreign Policy So White”, we published a collection of resources on the impact of whiteness and white supremacy in foreign policy research, programming and practice. We will be continually updating the page and adding resources as our project develops - watch this space!
Solidarity Statement by Organisations and Individuals Against Racism and Discrimination
In June 2020, CFFP signed a solidarity statement along with over 200 organisations, network leaders, and individuals in the fields of peace and security, national security, and foreign policy that delineated the actions we will take to combat racism and discrimination.
Events
Summit Side Event: Letting Our Anger Do the Talking! Race, Racism, and Whiteness in (Feminist) Foreign Policy
With this event, CFFP continued crucial discussions about race, racism and whiteness in (Feminist) Foreign Policy and opened up space for BIPoC activists, researchers, policymakers and their allies to come together and jointly work on solutions. We brought together various voices from all areas of foreign policy with expertise on issues such as climate justice, development policy and humanitarian aid, and academia. The goal was to make a case for decolonial, anti-racist, and intersectional feminist politics and to support efforts to decolonise the inherently racist practice of foreign policy.
Black History Month Instagram Live with Tiaji Sio
Our very own Miriam and Sheena marked Black History Month with an Instagram Live discussion celebrating Black Feminism in Foreign Policy. In the second half, they were joined by Tiaji Sio of the German Federal Foreign Office and Diplomats of Color. Did you miss it? Watch it back on our Instagram now!
Event Series: (Feminist) Foreign Policy So White?!
In 2020, our Summer Event Series tackled the issue of whiteness in (Feminist) Foreign Policy. We hosted two events with the most impressive line up of speakers, Dr. Toni Haastrup, Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, Professor Chandra Mohanty, Kasey Robinson and Elmira Bayrasli.
A Feminist Approach to Migration in a Post-Brexit World
In 2019, CFFP hosted a discussion on feminist approaches to foreign policy and migration together with the Friends of Europe. Watch our highlights video now!