“Everything in colonial history has to do with environmental justice.”

Sabrina Dittus: You are part of the Black Earth Collective. Can you explain who you are, what your agenda is and how you work?

Ellen Gomes: I didn’t cofound the group, but rather observed its development into a collective”. I later took on tasks in the group.

It began with Black students from different academic disciplines and federal states meeting up at demonstrations and events on environmental issues that were very white-dominated.

The desire to swap ideas about the struggles within and outside the green movement grew over time. This led to a network from which today’s Black Earth Collective emerged.

The agenda is very diverse, but it is mainly about raising awareness of environmental intersectionality and environmental justice, and about establishing a presence at important discussion forums that have previously been almost entirely absent of BiPoc representation. The collective brings its content to university events and environmental activist groups, but also takes part in art projects and publishes work on the subjects.

Our work also focuses on supporting BiPoc environmental projects that are practice-oriented. Networking is very important. It is ideal when there are people in the group who have their own experience of a subject and can talk about it. … (excerpt, orig. German)

Read the whole interview at „gemeine stadt“ (German only)