The NB RebELLES Feminist Gumbooters agree to the following points of unity with the understanding that they are incomplete and may be amended for clarification or to reflect increased awareness:
We embrace the full dignity of all human beings. Therefore, we oppose and struggle to dismantle the current social apparatus: white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.
We oppose all forms of oppression. Gumbooting emerged as a tool of communication among enslaved, racialized groups in South Africa. We have chosen the dance as a vehicle for our message because of its origins in oppressed peoples. We fully reject all systems and manifestations of domination and discrimination which include, but are never limited to, colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy. We acknowledge that the oppression of some groups justifies the material advantage and power of other groups.
We seek to expose the intersectionality of oppression. The various forms of social, political and economic ills are inherently interconnected. The systemic imposition of one form of life, one world view, one social formation, one perspective on history etc., creates hierarchies, political hegemony and the disqualification of all alternative ways to live and to self-identify. We reject the notion that the rational, white, heterosexual male is the ideal form of a human being, valuing instead a diversity of experiences and self-expressions.
We resist colonialism. We see globalization and the modern international development movement as a contemporary manifestation of colonial ideals. The imposition of institutions which seek to control resources in the name of destined entitlement on any landmass is but a thinly veiled attempt to to gain material advantage. We acknowledge that Canada, the whole of the Americas and much of the world's lands have been stolen from indigenous people or destroyed by colonial warfare. An ongoing genocide and the repression of indigenous dissent continues in Canada. We support all struggles for self-determination.
We resist capitalism. We oppose economic exploitation, wage coercion and hierarchical social relations. We vehemently reject competition, growth and development as the pillars of economic life. We do not aim to reform or work within a capitalist framework which necessitates violence and environmental destruction. We promote the implementation of grass-roots and local alternatives to global capitalism.
We resist patriarchy. We struggle against systems that favour the power and privileges of men and, thereby, we fight against the exploitation of women in the domestic, private, economic, social and political realms. We seek to dismantle the gender and sex binaries that, through categorizing human beings, differentially endow them with social status. We recognize that women are on the front-line of struggles throughout the world.
We are feminists. We see feminism as a response to the oppression that comes from the existence of colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy. Feminists, who can be of any gender, resist oppression through stimulating critical dialogue and by taking action to achieve social and political change.
We operate using a collective model. We seek an egalitarian and directly democratic society. Therefore, our basis for action is consensus decision-making and decentralized horizontal organizing. We reject majority rule, embracing instead the synthesis of ideas and solutions that represents the best possible outcome for everyone implicated.
