We witnessed an anti-fast fashion protest while we were in Paris | The Happening

Описание: Every minute, France exports 599 garments to the continent of Africa* Ghana is the 12th largest recipient of clothing from France. Togo, our neighbor, is the second largest recipient.

In November 2022, while our delegation was in Paris, a group of allied organizations Le Bruit Qui Court (https://www.le-bruit-qui-court.fr/), En Mode Climat (https://www.enmodeclimat.fr/) and Emeline from Malaxe (the choreographer) came together with local volunteers to organize a performance in protest of waste colonialism & in honor of our delegates from Kantamanto.

This protest took place on November 24th, the day before Black Friday, at the Chatelet Les Halles, a major shopping center & transit hub. The performance highlighted the link between fast fashion x overconsumption x waste colonialism, pushing consumers to #stopfastfashion with the understanding that their decisions have an impact on the wellbeing of communities like Kantamanto. A dance party & panel discussion followed, allowing for dialogue between the public, those involved in the performance and our delegation.

This act of solidarity was deeply meaningful to our team and to our delegates, especially to Abena, Pat and Janet. It was also an opportunity to connect with some of you in our GN support network, which was incredibly heartwarming. We even got to hug some long-time virtual friends including @sophiestrobele and the fabulous duo @ajabarber + @venetialamanna who came from the UK and who have supported us in every way possible for many years now 💓.

As far as protests go, it was an emotional and uplifting event. Thank you to everyone involved and to everyone who showed up.

*data from ReFashion’s 2021 reports stating that 60,000 tonnes were exported to Africa. The # of garments is calculated using our standard rate of 5.25 garment per kg. This is a higher item per kg count than ReFashion, which is ~ 4 garments per kg. Our rate is based on the number of garments per 55kg bale and the dominant garment types sent to the Global South which tend to be comprised of t-shirts and lighter weight “tropical mix”.

https://stopwastecolonialism.org

Originally Published to   / theorispresent