JASS Blog

How Long? - Thoughts on Women and Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-22T11:12:00.001-05:00

By Alda Facio

Translated from Spanish by Emily Goldman

November 15, 2011

A few days ago, Iread the following item on Democracy Now!:

“In other news from ‘Occupy,’ activists in New York erected a tent to be used only by women, aftercomplaints of sexual assaults in the Lower Manhattanencampment.’”

“AlexBorders of Occupy Wall Street said: ‘Many women felt their rights werebeing violated, to the point that they were on the campus and there were peoplewho were invading their spaces in the tents and stuff like that, and for thatreason we set up a tent to be used only by women. We have 24-hour security that patrols theencampment.”’

“Nan Terriof Occupy Wall Street said: ‘At this time, [the tent] houses 20 people, butonce we organize it, more will fit. That’s why I have my gloves on, because I am going to go clean. But my idea is to get more women-only tents. I am trying to get a tent measuring 80 x 80or 60 x 80 to put up on the other side and thereby ensure women’s security.’”

Iam not sure what bothered me more – the way in which Democracy Now! published the above news item or the newsitself. It would seem that the sexualharassment and even rape of women have become so commonplace that what became anewsworthy event was not that among a group of people protesting against theviolation of the most essential human rights of 99% of the world’s population,there are some men who rape women’s bodies. No, that was not newsworthy, because raping women’s bodies would seem tobe an inherent characteristic of being a man, whether the man in questionbelongs to the 1% of the elite or the 99% who are outraged. The only thing that was deemed newsworthy wasthe fact that some women had erected a tent only for women, for the purpose ofprotecting themselves against sexual assaults. Just like that, as if the need to put up a tent only for women were asunavoidable as putting up tents for protection against the rain or ramps topermit access for persons utilizing wheelchairs or having sign languageinterpreters to include non-hearing persons.

Butwhat saddens and frustrates me most is that we women remain silent in the faceof these violations of our bodies so as not to discredit a movement which isagainst the pillaging and violation of Mother Earth and in favor of theeconomic, social, and cultural rights of the large majority of the people. Whatoutrages me most is that I have not seen or heard any male co-occupier demandthat women’s bodies not be raped in Occupy Wall Street or any other place. What makes me despair most is knowing that ifthe Occupy movement, or any other social justice movement, were to achieve itsgoal or dream, women’s bodies would continue to be raped because ending maleviolence against women is not part of the hoped-for transformations. And I despair even more when I read thatthere are more than one billion women who have been raped worldwide, that rapesand femicides are ongoing in Congo and Guatemala, to name just two of the manycountries where women’s bodies are ravaged on a daily basis, or when I am toldthat pornography is freedom of expression and prostitution is a job like anyother.

Iam tired of the fact that the rape of a woman’s body is only denounced when theviolation is committed by a man or men who are members of enemy armed groups orby groups against whom we are struggling but when the rapes are committed byour own brothers-in-struggle, we feel it best to keep quiet. And we silence ourselves because we believethat the movement – be it anti-capitalist, -imperialist, -neoliberal,-colonialist, -racist, -corruption, -impunity, or any of the things againstwhich we organize– is more important than our bodies, or because we know thatdenouncing our brothers-in-struggle would be considered treason both by ourbrothers as well as by other women.

Howlong until we understand that the ones betraying the movement are those whoviolate women’s bodies, not those who denounce such atrocities? How long until all of us who organize forsocial justice understand that if we do not pull out by its very roots thebelief that makes possible the millions of rapes of women’s bodies each year –that is, the idea that women’s bodies are merchandise or objects which can bebought or simply taken by force – we will never be able to eliminate thementality which permits and justifies coups d’état, wars, corruption, thepillaging of Mother Earth, her rivers and forests, as well as the appropriationby 1% of the world’s population of 99% of its wealth? As long as we believethat it is only natural that some men will continue to rape some women, how canwe believe that we will succeed at getting 1% of the men to stop takingwhatever they desire by force?

Alda Facio is a world-renowned human rights attorney and expert, and a long-time friend and strategic adviser to JASS and JASS Mesoamerica who also contributes extensively to our knowledge and learning.

Women Build their Collective Power by Pen and Paper in Buhera

2011-11-21T10:12:00.001-05:00

By Vimbai Njovana

The period from theFTX till now has been something of a whirlwind tour for me and an exhaustingone too. As I reflect on the skills gained and the time spent at the FTX and howit has impacted my work, I can really see how I have been building women’scollective power in my organizing. A few months back, I, along with mycolleagues, visited a growth point in Zimbabwe called Buhera to set upAnti-Domestic Violence Clubs. On our most recent trip this November, we visitedBuhera again to conduct refresher courses on local level advocacy and buildwomen’s skills in basic counseling.

The idea behindthese clubs is that even though Musasa Project has offices in Harare, Bulawayoand Gweru, the three major towns in Zimbabwe as well as an office in Chiredziwhich is a town in the Lowveld, it is important for us to establish ‘littleMusasas’ in as many areas as we can. Musasa has worked in Buhera for a numberof years now and the growth point is among the first to have Anti-DomesticViolence Clubs.

During this mostrecent visit to Buhera, I realized the impact we have begun to have on thelives of the women in those clubs. In the reports they submit to Musasa, theytell of interventions they have made in their rural districts to createcommunities that are free from domestic violence. For women who could probablywrite before but really had nothing to write, I saw what those short reports couldmean for them. Being able to sit down and write about something may not seemlike much of an achievement to many of us, but for these women it means a lot.As I came to this realization, it dawned on me that although we have notreached the level of working with ICTs like computers or mobile phones, ordinary pens and papercan be tools for women in Buhera to build their own collective power.

Vimbai Njovana participatedin JASS’ Feminist Tech Exchange in Johannesburgearlier this year. She is Programme Manager at Musasa Project, an organizationthat addresses violence against women in its many forms in Zimbabwe.

What is Theory of Change (TOC) thinking and its added value for social change movements?

2011-11-14T13:43:00.002-05:00

By Alia Khan

Within the past five years “theory of change” has been promoted and popularized by some of the world’s largest charitable foundations as a way for social change organizations to describe and evaluate their work. Look around, and you’ll find social service and mission-driven NGOs of all sizes and shapes espousing their “theory of change” in funding proposals and promotional materials. Private foundations such as the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have invested heavily in developing “theory of change” tools for existing and potential grantees, drawing on the services of private sector-oriented management consulting powerhouses such as McKinsey & Company.

The following reflections are based on my experiences over the past five years utilizing “theory of change” as a construct for strategic planning and proposal development for NGOs involved in social change work. It was prompted by a Hivos-sponsored virtual dialogue that posed the question “what is ‘Theory of Change thinking’ and its added value.”

For me, “theory of change” (TOC) thinking cannot be separated from the context in which it has been introduced and promoted, that is, as a strategy for philanthropic and development actors to guide and evaluate their grantmaking and aid strategies. Having had multiple opportunities to develop and articulate theories of change, I have come to understand it as a technical term for making visible and explicit the assumptions, motivations, rationale behind what we do and why. This requires self-knowledge, introspection, and reflection to surface and unpack the driving forces behind our thinking, being, and doing.

For some, such a process is written into their DNA, as JASS would say. For others, it can be a confusing, even threatening concept to realize and acknowledge that our ways of thinking, being and doing are neither value-neutral nor universal. They are the product of the ideas, context, reflection, relationships, and power that we see and experience in our environment.

The value of TOC thinking is in making what’s invisible visible. This means you’re better able to communicate who you are, what you do and why. In turn, this serves as a concrete tool to identify and build common ground as well as cement relationships across difference. By articulating your TOC, you provide others a way to know you—a concrete way to determine whether your interests and values are the same or vastly different; a benchmark against which others can subjectively determine your viability as a partner or, conversely, the threat you pose as an opponent. TOC thinking is what enables cohesion, unity, community, connection, be it within and among individuals, organizations, political parties, or social groups.

For a donor, TOC is what makes a grantee unique; it determines their ‘added value,’ whether they will produce a meaningful return on investment. It helps grant seekers answer the questions “why you,” “why now?” For donors that aren’t enmeshed in the day-to-day business of their grantees, it gives them a language/construct to understand and evaluate the organizational viability, validity, and value.

In many ways, TOC is simply a way to name and describe a way of being and doing that exists and has always existed. It is about seeing yourself within a broader (ecological) context and understanding that your actions are influenced by and have an impact on that context and all of the elements within it. Activists are inherently TOC thinkers, whether they call it that or not. When faced with issues of survival, for example, activists have to identify the problem and devise a solution that can be achieved with limited resources (financial, political, social, and otherwise). That forces them to be creative and efficient, choosing strategies that get the most bang for the buck. But while this creativity and power exists, it is invisible to those who don’t have to work so hard for mere survival. Then the onus is on the activist to explain and justify why their work is necessary, strategic, and important if they are to gain access to resources (resources being broadly defined).

So, while I think TOC thinking is helpful in forming and maintaining relationships, the label “TOC” can be confusing. Some funders’ requirements for articulating your theory of change have, perhaps inadvertently, forced social change organizations to describe their way of thinking and being within a technical, logic-driven framework. It’s analogous to how conventional society does not intrinsically value and support what we might call women’s “way of knowing,” that is, an intuitive, relational, and ecological way of interacting with the world. But give it a new name, one that can hold its own in “business management speak”, and it suddenly becomes “real” and important. Something that can be distilled down to a commodity and that can be produced with a handful of one-size-fits-all processes, by any given group of people, in any given context, at any given time.

From an organizational and philanthropic perspective, the need for “TOC thinking” is understandable, and contributes to developing frameworks for evaluation and accountability. However, this style of logic-driven linear thinking privileges upwards accountability, diverting resources and energy away from efforts that could make constituent accountability and ownership truly meaningful. In addition, the very technical nature of being able to communicate in terms of a “valid theory of change” often creates yet another barrier for grassroots women’s groups (formal and informal) to access financing for development. And yet, it’s these very women and women’s groups on whose backs development “innovations” (e.g. home-based care, peer educators, self-help groups, etc…) claim success.

This is not an argument against being able to be accountable for describing the beliefs, values, and assumptions behind what social change organizations and movements are doing. However, it’s a call to acknowledge the context in which “theory of change” thinking has been promoted, for what purposes, and for whose benefit. What would donor relationships and giving look like if social change organizations had the platforms and resources to demonstrate their “value added” in their own language, in their own ways, and on their own terms?

My experience at the 6th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSHR) in Indonesia

2011-11-11T14:27:00.004-05:00

It was a great opportunity to be part of an Asia Pacific level conference that is so reputable, particularly for my personal development. The experience allowed me to gain new knowledge and was a moment of reflection on myself as a young feminist.Equipped with student organizing experience in boarding schools, especially around reproductive health and sexuality issues, some readings on the theme, and an abstract on "Violence in the Name of Religion", as well as the ability to speak English, I left to Yogyakarta for the conference on October 18.

The big theme of 6th APCRSHR was “Claiming Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Asian and Pacific Societies”. I remember certain parts of the conference in particular in detail.

First, when I joined the Youth Forum on 19 October, I was amazed by a group of teenagers who were concerned about the future of the world youth, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. They organized together and declared their commitment to encouraging the provision of sexual and reproductive health access to adolescents. They invited teens to speak and express their needs and wishes and they also had a hotline for teens who needed sexuality consultation.

Secondly, I was surprised by the research findings from one of presenters on the "Sexuality and Changing Culture" session. Her research is about exotic dancers at the Night Club in Malang. The exotic dancers were able to negotiate with the nightclub management about how much fees they receive, what costumes they will wear, and they can say no to visitors who ask them to have sexual intercourse. The last presenter shared her study about health centers for adolescents and how they lack the confidentiality and comfort needed by youth who rely on them for sexual health services. Not to mention that the health workers have no special training on reproductive health and adolescent sexuality.

The last memorable moment was a great moment that made me aware of my shortcomings. That was when I had to do my presentation at the session "Women's SRHR Empowerment and Autonomy". I highlighted points on male teachers’ domination and misogyny interpretation of Koran that led female students to experience sexual violence or sexual ignorance. My recommendation consisted of the need for more female teachers who recognize and understand about women's sexuality and reproductive rights to increase young women's awareness and confidence in order to help protect them against sexual violence. It is tough task that takes time, which is why my organization, the Fahmina Institute also trains teachers inside Islamic boarding schools to understand gender issues including reproductive health and rights.

There were 4 presenters for this session and I was the last presenter. 3 out of the 5 audience members who asked questions pointed their questions at my topic. I didn't expect that. I was hoping that no one was interested or ask on my presentation. I was very confident to answer those questions and comments but my English didn't help so I had to answer them in Indonesian language. I tried to answer in English but I had to pause and my words were muddled. I was also worried that the audience didn't get the substance of my answer. I was grateful that the moderator is an Indonesian and she was able to translate my answer in English.

There was one question about whether there are lesbian relationships inside the islamic boarding school assisted by the Fahmina Institute whether we had ever written about such cases. There were some cases of lesbian relationship in Islamic boarding schools but they were rarely made public. It is difficult to bring sexuality issues into mainstream curriculum. At the Forum, I gained more awareness of needs around adolescent sexuality and the lack of services provided by the state. It also motivated me to practice my English so I can fully participate in regional and international forums.

By Alifatul Arifiati (Fahmina Institute and JASS Indonesia alumnae)

Citizen action and the perverse confluence of opposing agendas

2011-11-10T15:16:00.003-05:00

What with claims of “Facebook revolutions” in the Arab Spring and “leaderless movements” in Occupy-Wall-Street protests across the world, the media is abuzz with commentary on the changing nature of citizen action. But – aside from new gadgets and unexpected locations – are people really organizing against injustice in ways that differ fundamentally from those of recent decades? Or, when you look closely and compare today’s uprisings and mobilizations for equality and freedom to their predecessors, do you find more continuity than difference? And then, setting aside old vs. new, can we say that present-day strategies are in fact advancing the cause of justice?

Occupy Wall Street had not been born when a diverse international collection of scholars and activists met over two days in The Hague in September 2011 to consider how citizen action is changing. Nonetheless, the Arab Spring, worldwide digital activism, Slut Walks, Indignados, and multiplying mobilizations against austerity packages around the world seemed to signal new energy and, at the very least, a fresh round of youth activism and political ingenuity.

Not surprisingly, perceptions of what’s new, what’s old and what’s better are shaped largely by age and place. Young Egyptian activists – still optimistic about the future despite the military’s hold on state power and the reversals of women’s rights and roles – see their country and their fellow citizens in a fresh new light. Leila, a young Spanish-Syrian activist and social media journalist with Al Jazeera exclaimed that the Arab uprisings and Spanish Indignados felt like “the day the people woke up!”

It’s the younger generation of netizens who fully own the possibilities of technology. From the instantaneous blast of images of injustices to the text messaging to protect activists from riot police and military, virtual citizen action has exponential reach, as many digital activists in their twenties described to the gathering in The Hague. A Brazilian hack-tivist working with many social justice groups, Pedro declared that the new technology has made old-fashioned hierarchical and formalized communication and organization irrelevant. With new technologies, anyone can be a journalist and an activist. “NGOs are dead. Journalism is dead…. Being a citizen with no power is boring, but technology makes it possible for anyone to be in the middle of the action.” At the same time, he flatly dismissed the notion that the technology drives the revolution. “There’s no Facebook revolution. There’s just Facebook and then there’s people organizing.” Does the Internet limit the depth and staying power of citizen action, as many people fear, reducing it to an isolated click of a mouse by disconnected individuals? Sure, Pedro admitted, there are a handful of lazy pseudo-activists, “slactivists” or “clicktivists.” It’s about how you use the technology. “It’s the interaction and connection between the street action and the digital action that matters.”

Read the rest of JASS ED Lisa Veneklasen’s thought-provoking piece on openDemocracy about old, new and contradictory forms of citizen action.

A Brief Virtual Discussion on “NGO-isation” and its discontents

2011-10-06T12:42:00.001-04:00

Hope Chigudu said:

NGO-isation?

I am not sure that I know what this term means but what I know is that there is a way in which we do things as NGOs that makes some of the people we work with believe that is the only way things are done and should be done. Here is an example. We asked the women to work in groups of three to identify a campaign issue (compelling, and close to their hearts) to focus on during the next few months. Many came up with topics such as (a) Women in decision making, b) Girl child network, c) violence against women etc. These are common and broad topics for NGOs but are they the ones that keep the women awake at night? Are these the topics they are worried and passionate about everyday, the ones that follow them like a shadow?

During the hilarious night session, the conversation led to ARVS and how the ones they are using in Malawi distort their bodies by destroying their shapes; some grow humps at the back, horns in the vagina, they become hairy, legs get thinner and the breasts and stomach bigger. The conversation was tough, sad and passionate; ideas, perceptions, feelings, experiences and fears were shared. The images they used to describe how their bodies respond to ARVs were rich and diverse, the metaphors run the full range from precise and illuminating to obscure and confusing. This was true conversation; enlivening and enlightening and it shaped what women are really passionate about, what keeps them awake at night, what they fight and what makes them lose their dignity. They all wished there were better ARVs. At the end of the conversations we were horrified at what ARVs are doing to women’s bodies. The question we were left with as we retired was – this was a remarkable day, there were some remarkable discussions, but why did not the women talk as passionately about ARVs during the groups discussions as they did in the informal meeting in the evening? Why were they trying hard to identify topics that were not closely related to their bodies? What does this mean for our work?

So actually the evening conversation provided a much more reflective space and shared meaning, and we were able to see into the real situation. After listening to the stories regarding the ugly side of ARVs, the conversation continued and we shared crazy mad and interesting stories about sex and sexuality…

Lisa VeneKlasen said:

This is so interesting. Yes, NGO-isation can be pretty confusing because NGOs – as one professionalized form of civil society organizing – aren’t inherently bad. It’s the one-size-fits-all, technical and institutionalized approach to social justice that’s the killer. Having ONLY ONE Linear APPROACH just kills the creative energy that drives human uprising against injustice and sustains mobilization. And in Southern Africa especially because of the extraordinary power of donors and the aid industry relative to other regions, it’s become an ideology that has co-opted language (we can’t use the word empowerment without explaining that we mean something different than what the World Bank means) and mindsets to fit the donor box. That’s why we can’t use words like “issue” or “campaign” until they’re already organized and running.

Maybe the question is: in your life, what problem do you share that, if solved, would make things better? The answer to that is usually poverty but you can slice it down. I suspect that once we move into the strategy on ARV treatment – which is what they want – so many other injustices will emerge and the agenda will grow. It’s like my first organizing experience where a very poor, Latino community wanted a STOP SIGN as their big issue. As a young Marxist revolutionary, I was crushed at how mundane and irrelevant this was. But once we started it got so big they ended up mobilizing to change the city charter.

The story about distorted bodies is surreal as much as tragic. I’m sure you girls picked up a lot of new sex techniques to boot…

Hope Chigudu said:

Thanks, I agree originality and self determination are gone, although I don’t see much different between Africa and my 'clients' in Asia.

Carmen Sahonero said:

Yes, I agree with that. I think as professional form of civil society organizing, NGOs play a critical role in fighting for social justice. I would say that provides to the movements with more credibility and sustainability.

About the ARVs side effects in the body shape, it is just frustrating. Lipodystrophy or fat redistribution in the body (I just learned that term today), it takes time to come, but it comes and could be one of the most powerful causes of depression.

Maggie Mapondera said:

This is really powerful.

I think there’s this problem around the world for women everywhere, but maybe particularly in post-colonial (or situations of political oppression that you find in certain countries) contexts where people, and especially women have not always had the opportunity to view themselves as subjects. Their bodies are objects; their experiences are not “worth” much, their lives even. And this mentality seems to bleed into the way that NGO programs are built with all the one-size-fits-all, technical approaches that don’t always allow women and people to be subjects and to have authorship and ownership over the solutions to the very real problems they are facing. It’s striking to see how women’s narratives, the narratives they build of themselves can be so defined (and in some ways confined) by what’s coming from the outside. So their experience of their realities, of sexuality, of their bodies at a biological and physical level isn’t considered “important” or even worth addressing. Because it’s not NGO-“sexy” or whatever. I am so glad that the evening conversation was able to tease some of those truths out, that passion, and that actual lived experience.

How and Where Does Change Happen for Women?

2011-10-05T15:56:00.000-04:00

Thereunion with the women we have been working with in Malawi was emotional.Tiwonge, who has been involved since the beginning in 2007, lifted me up in theair as if I was a piece of paper. She is very strong. There were lots of hugs,tears and kisses. It was a reunion of body and spirit.

Wetried to find a strategy to make sense collectively of where we have been andare currently. We chose body mapping because we felt the exercise would enablethe women to find their stories, and weave the personal with the political, theindividual and the collective.

Usingbody maps as a way of expressing ourselves, we drew our bodies. Each womandetailed the events happening in their lives, identifying them with parts ofher body and to the movement we are trying to build. So the process evolved anddeepened, as though we were entering a flowing river that reforms its bankseven as its banks direct its flow. Each woman’s contribution created thedirection of the conversation.

Thewomen shared stories related to violence, illness, despair, betrayal and differentlevels of human degradation. Some of the stories were appalling but I tell you,these are not powerless women. Powerless is driven by an absence, but thesewomen have something in them, something that makes them act, that fills theabsence and this is where JASS comes in. JASS’ political awareness processbrought a response to the absence. Words used included ‘using the power within’patriarchy, sisterhood, alliance, collective. What they have learned is alreadydeeply imbedded in their language and thinking.

Hearwhat Judy said: “I have been talking about human rights to other women and hereI am in a violent situation. My husband wanted me to leave the marriage. Hewanted me to go…I don’t know where. Supported by Lillian, I took him to courtand got a peace order. He is back but I have now taken over as the head of thefamily.” She was not the only one who took action at the household level.Several women shared stories of being so empowered that they took their men tocourt.

Tiwongetold her story: “My husband sold my tobacco. I took him to court and he wasordered to return it. But then I looked at myself and said, ‘Tiwonge, this isnot the marriage you wanted. Get out.’ By the time I left him, I had alreadystarted building my house and it was half finished. I just moved there withnothing till someone donated a mattress…”

Anotherwoman said: “I did a pap smear and had my placenta (meaning uterus) removed.”Several women have done this. It’s a thing that was started by Tiwonge who haseducated women about cancer, pap smears and the other basics of reproductivehealth that have gone missing from the HIV/AIDS agenda.

Shereenand I listened, listened deeply to the women, to the patterns of their lives,to the power dynamics and how they have manipulated those dynamics. In short,body mapping and the conversation that ensued proved to be a valuable method ofinquiry and observation, leading us to new understanding of what the women havebeen doing and to inspiration. We were really amazed at how the womeninternalized and adapted the “learning” and how they are using it. As wetalked, I remarked that “Lisa would be proud to hear the women using thelanguage of movement building.”

Whatdid I, Hope, learn today?

• Whatwe miss in big movements is the kind of conversation we had with the women andthe women with each other. A sense of connection.

• Thewomen don’t fragment their lives between activism in public places and activismin their person lives. For them things are not split into pieces - theircommunity group, their marriages/partnerships, different aspects of health,what they do with JASS and how they manage their work are all connected. In thediscussion, perhaps without intending to, they share a lot about what they areto each other. How they support each other. They have a sense of heart, bodyand soul connection to each.

• Thereare many intangible gains which are difficult to capture on paper.

• Effortsat building movement are expressed in partial pieces, pieces that might seem tobe fragmented but in actual fact, are not at all.

By Hope Chigudu, JASSSouthern Africa

Connect Your Rights!

2011-09-21T16:05:00.002-04:00

My mind is literally exploding with concepts and ideas. I’m at the APC Women'sNet "Connect Your Rights!" Workshop in Mombasa.

We opened the workshop with a spectrogram exercise in which all the participants thought about these three overarching statements, and expressed their opinion along a spectrum, each having an opportunity to express the reasoning behind their positioning:

Security is only a concern for people who have something to hide.

Privacy can be de-prioritized if you are using it for advocacy.

There is no such thing as privacy on the internet.

This was fascinating because it forced me, at least, to think about how I conceptualize things – these words I toss about so freely. What does “privacy” mean? What are the situations in which we leverage privacy strategically? In some cases, it’s strategic to come out into the open – in other cases, it isn’t. Within a movement, some people can afford to come forward, some people can choose to come forward, and others cannot. What does “safety” mean? What does “security” mean? What do any of these words mean, particularly in a space as nebulous and vast as the internet?

We’ve also been thinking about when you’re using platforms like Facebook or Google or Twitter that are driven primarily by corporate interest, how do we, as activists harness that space for our work? How do you reconcile these divergent interests in the spirit of movement building? How do you maintain security and safety in that specific context?

Frankly, it’s frightening how easily these applications capture our information and we inadvertently put ourselves at risk e.g. If you’re on a Google application like Gmail and you open up a new tab in the same browser to search for a particular subject – Google is able to record that information and that’s how they update the advertisements visible in your email account every minute of the day. That’s frightening to me. At the same time, organizations like Amnesty International and Green Peace, use this to their advantage on Facebook because if you can register yourself as an advertiser and find out how many people self-identify as “human rights activists”, “LGBT activists”, “gender justice”, or “feminists” simply by the things they like or sign onto – you can target them more deliberately and strategically. There are costs to that, obviously, but it’s something for us to think about if we’re thinking of going with Facebook as a real platform for our organizing work.

I think, as JASS, we are, in a lot of ways at the frontier of communications and rights. But we need to think about the implications of a "frontier"? I think the sense of excitement; the innovation etc. needs to be tempered by a healthy dose of fear. Or maybe, better put – a clearer understanding of the risks involved in being in this “space” that is the Internet – and a sense of caution in how we USE the internet.

A lot of what’s sitting in my brain as we hit the end of the day is thinking about the intersections of all of these things. How do we connect basic technological training and methodologies e.g. equipping women with the very basics of communications technologies, how to use a blog or Facebook or email WITH a really informed understanding of security on the internet, the tools that we can use to protect ourselves and our organizations and our work as activists WITH a real concept of “rights.” And when I think of rights, I’m thinking of it on a number of different levels – from a JASS-y perspective in terms of thinking of power and access, dynamics of gender and sexuality, of privilege, of class. But also thinking about what it means to be a “citizen” on the internet. One of our facilitators put it really eloquently – when you’re using “the Internet”, you are essentially a “bodiless” person or entity. What does that mean for rights? How do we bring our human rights or women’s rights perspective into a space like the internet?

I think if we’re going to do this work responsibly and to achieve maximum impact, we need to think about these three (broad) themes. It’s dangerous to share the kinds of tools that one does in an FTX or ICT training without a concrete notion of tools for security and without, as JASS gets, a breakdown of power.

Written by Maggie Mapondera @ the APC Women'sNet "Connect Your Rights!" Workshop in Mombasa, Kenya.

Arroz con leche… ¿Mujer con Mujer?

2011-08-19T15:48:00.002-04:00

Por Daysi Flores

“Arroz con leche me quiero casar con una señorita de la capital: que sepa coser, que sepa bailar, que sepa abrir la puerta para ir a jugar…” Era uno de los cantos más sonados a las 6 de la tarde, después de la escuela y antes del chavo del 8, en las calles de mi barrio. Todos los días entre gritos, pelotas, carreras y juegos terminábamos con rondas especiales como el Materinerero, que de la manera más normal del mundo nos permitía ofrecer y comprar la niña que quisiéramos. Claro, no sin antes enseñarnos que si ofrecíamos sapos muertos, no conseguíamos nada y que lo más efectivo sería ofrecer coronas de princesas con rubíes y diamantes ó tal vez una cadenita de oro. Todos los días era igual: las niñas bonitas se vuelven agachar y por supuesto que todas nos agachábamos, y ofrecíamos las cosas más lindas para que nos dieran a la niña escogida.

Ninguna de estas rondas tenía una explicación ó un pie de página o alguna señal que me advirtiera que yo no podría ni comprar a la niña del Materinerero, ni casarme con una señorita tan divertida que supiera bailar, jugar, pasear y sobre todo coser (cosa que para mi resultaba admirable debido a mi fracaso absoluto en las tiras de economía de la escuela). Tampoco decían las rondas, ni los juegos, ni las maestras, ni las escuelas, ni los libros… ni nadie, que si optabas por desear una niña, todas tus otras cualidades se desvanecerían y serías condenada a la marginalidad absoluta.

El debate generado por una hermosa campaña en las paredes de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, que pretende sensibilizar a las y los estudiantes en cuanto a la diversidad sexual y racial; me ha hecho recordar las rondas, los juegos, los deseos conscientes e inconscientes de la vida…me ha hecho pensar en Alexa de 18 años, quien al ver mi pulsera de colores me preguntó si yo estaba de acuerdo con la diversidad sexual y en Oscar mi amiguito de 9 hablando del lesbianismo con toda naturalidad ó Sebastían de 7 que dice: anormal sería encontrarme un dinosaurio en la calle! y me ha hecho desear que ESA sea la realidad. Sin embargo, a la hora del almuerzo al escuchar las tristes opiniones de padres, madres, hermanas y hermanos de nuestra Honduras, me doy cuenta de cuál es la verdadera verdá –como dirían nuestros amigos del notinada. La biblia salta por acá y por allá para justificar el odio y el miedo que le tienen al amor lésbico y homosexual. Mientras todos y todas hablan de “respeto” y de libertad; nos recetan el infierno después de la muerte, se quejan de que hagamos muestras de amor en público ó de que digamos abiertamente que amamos un cuerpo igual.

Dentro del Feminismo existe una corriente llamada El feminismo lésbico. Esta corriente se hizo popular en la década de los 60s cuando después de Stonwall, muchas lesbianas se unieron a organizaciones feministas y de alguna manera introducen el debate feminista más allá de las prácticas sexuales “normales” buscando una reinterpretación teórica-práctica de los valores heterosexuales como valores del patriarcado y rescatando como elemento clave del feminismo el análisis de la heterosexualidad como una institución. La diversidad sexual sigue siendo un tema tabú en nuestra sociedad, y sobre el cual debemos seguir hablando y debatiendo. No solo desde el feminismo sino desde las revoluciones, desde las concepciones más íntimas de las personas y en el caso de ésta Honduras, desde las principales aspiraciones de refundación. Después de todo ¿A quién no le gusta el arroz con leche?

Originally posted at: http://lasbochincheras.blogspot.com/2011/08/arroz-con-leche-mujer-con-mujer.html

Young Timorese Women Clear Up Confusion around LGBTI

2011-08-19T10:58:00.006-04:00

How does a woman have sex with another woman?

Can a transgender person change both their internal and external sexual organs?

Why would a gay person marry someone of the opposite sex and have children with them?

A lot of “awkward questions” came out into the fresh air at JASS’ discussion in East Timor about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues. Twenty young women (and two men) from JASS’ young women’s network gathered to clear up confusion. “We don’t always know how to respond to challenging questions like these,” said one woman, or how to talk about LGBTI.

The discussion was designed to help young people respond to these types of questions when they’re doing movement-building work on women’s rights in all sorts of communities. They also had some of their own questions, like whether sexual orientation is a choice or something we are born with, or whether HIV/AIDS can be transmitted during gay sex. Young Timorese women are expected to get married and have children – sometimes, it’s easier for a gay person to succumb to pressure than be open about their identity and risk rejection by family and peers.

In Timor L’este it’s a little easier to be a gay man than it is to be a lesbian as gay men are more visible, while lesbians have to hide their identity because of misunderstanding and stigma (and of course patriarchy). The approach to homosexuality in this predominantly Catholic country is heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. Sunday mass is often an opportunity to talk about the “immorality” of homosexual behavior. When Timor L’este’s constitution was formulated in 2002, an early version promised to guarantee rights for all sexual orientations but, under pressure from the Church, 52 out of 88 members of parliament voted against it. That left the gay community susceptible to marginalization, discrimination and even violence.

The JASS conversation finished with a broader understanding of sex and sexuality rights. The group agreed on the importance of an inclusive women’s movement dedicated to combatting discrimination in all forms. In a country less than a decade old, it is the responsibility of young leaders to reduce stigma and homophobia, and to contribute to a more tolerant society where ALL people can feel free to be themselves. Three key strategies to achieve this goal were recommended: 1. Take responsibility to get informed about the facts yourself so that you can educate others; 2. In your work with communities, create open and safe spaces like this one to promote discussion for greater understanding and acceptance; and 3. Speak up when you hear people making jokes or derogatory comments about the LGBTI community.

CYWEN: Raising the Profile of Young Women in Cambodia

2011-08-15T12:16:00.005-04:00

I’m in Cambodia this week getting to know the women of the Cambodian Young Women’s Empowerment Network (CYWEN) and their work around equipping young women with the confidence, information and skills needed to increase their participation in decision-making from the household to the legislature. CYWEN Chair, Chan Kunthea, says of the network: “We want to break the culture of silence in Cambodia, where young people are afraid to speak up. Memories of the time of Khmer Rouge are still with us so it is difficult for us to voice our needs and demand rights. Young women in particular are lacking the confidence to engage in politics, or even to speak up at home. We want to change this.”

CYWEN was launched in 2010 following JASS Southeast Asia’s first national-level workshop in Phnom Penh in November 2009. Since then, its 30 members have launched a strategy to strengthen young women’s political participation. They’re targeting high school and university students in Phnom Penh and the provinces by holding roundtable discussions on key issues for Cambodian women, including rape, migration, access to education, and maternal mortality. Beginning with open discussions to build women’s confidence and information, CYWEN members will support students to engage in joint action to educate others about these issues (e.g. through school campaigns), and to use social media tools like Facebook for greater reach. Media outreach is a key strategy of the group, whose members’ voices are featured on a radio talk show on gender-based violence. They already have plans for a new radio show highlighting young women’s voices and perspectives to raise public awareness, and they are in the process of launching a blog.

The CYWEN core team is made up of young women activists from different local NGOs who volunteer their evenings and weekends to get the network’s activities off the ground. “CYWEN members are committed to this initiative not because they are getting paid for it,” says Kunthea, “but because they care about the future of Cambodia. It comes from the heart” If the key to Cambodia’s future is equipping the next generation, who make up 70% of the population, with the confidence and tools to engage in decisions that affect their lives, then I’d say these young women are leading the way.

Building Pathways and Movements: Feminist Tech Exchange

2011-07-20T13:52:00.007-04:00

Johannesburg, South Africa – 20th July 2011

A statement by Feminist Tech Exchange participants

From the 18^th to the 20^th July 2011, the first Southern African Regional Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) was hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa, by JASS (Just Associates) Southern Africa and Women’s Net.

The Feminist Tech Exchange, organized under the Building Women’s Collective Power partnership, brought nine women’s rights activists from Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe together to share and build knowledge and skills on communication and ICTs from a feminist perspective. The exchange was convened as a way to strengthen women’s collective organizing power through the use of ICTs. It created a platform for women activists to explore how different forms of technology can support, strengthen or disrupt power and allowed for a greater understanding of emerging technologies, their potential and impact on the rights and lives of women.

Following their experience at the FTX and the recognition of the power of ICTs in support of the advancement of women’s rights, we make the following recommendations to our Governments, ICT policy advocates and UN agencies:

Address levels of literacy and technology for women in our region.
Support women’s use of technology as a means of advancing women’s economic access.
Ensure that women are part of content development to ensure that their voices are heard.
Provide affordable access to technology for rural women.
Develop deliberate women centered policies in relation to ICTs.
Invest in infrastructure in our schools to enable e-learning, with a particular focus on girl children and the creation of a safe learning environment for them.

The Co-Director of Women’s Net Lerato Legoabe said she felt honored to be part of a process that is defining new ways of organizing as women’s rights activists.

“Women’s Net is excited to be part of a space breeding a new layer of ICT advocates in Southern Africa.” said Legoabe.

Shereen Essof, Regional Coordinator of JASS Southern Africa stated: “The FTX has been a radical, participatory feminist space in which women activists from a range of different contexts in the region, engaged with ICTs to support and strengthen women’s organizing. The meeting served as a catalyst … I look forward to more and more”.

Women’s Net is a feminist organization that works to advance gender equality and justice in South Africa, through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) while JASS is an international feminist organization dedicated to building and strengthening women’s voice, visibility and collective organizing power.

Read more about the FTX and the participants on their Facebook page and Blog.

Honduras Resists!

2011-06-28T18:30:00.002-04:00

when the heart becomes brave . . . every dimension is transformed

By Daysi Flores/ Feminist in Resistance

It is difficult to reconcile bravery and the heart, but it is more challenging to separate this relationship from romantic love and even more complicated to relate it to the political life of a people: Honduras.

Words cannot always capture the complex and delicate nature of our transformations, and yet at the same time, it’s hard to keep them within us.

On June 28, 2009, all of the dimensions of our lives were changed because of the coup d’état. What might have appeared to take place from one day to the next was brewing, in my view, since the very beginning of democratic life in the 1980s. A moment at which, paradoxically and in a parallel fashion to present times, the voices of creativity and revolution were silenced through blood, torture, and disappearances.

Such a large fissure in foundations of democracy in a country generates wounds of all kinds in the lives of those who live there. As La Papu says, “One cannot put Band-Aids on these wounds.” Added to this trauma is the sum of hunger, beatings, gassings, torture, exile, loss, disillusionment, betrayal, exhaustion, and disenchantment.

Perhaps similar to the grandmothers’ magic powder which heals sores—words and actions that awaken hope and a drive for change appear on our horizons. So we took to the streets, our lives became paralyzed in order to defend what is ours. We do so with our entire bodies, minds, hands, souls, tenderness, love, hope, and everything we have within our reach just as we have always done. But now, we must also defend that which we thought we had already achieved, that which was stolen from us, that which they harmed . . . ‘democracy.’

It’s easy to say that some things have changed for the better in two years. But the reality is, we cannot forget the human rights violations, the steps taken to legitimize armed violence through a newly installed military draft that shows its olive drabness everywhere, the pawning of the natural resources we have left, the assassinations of women and men comrades-in-arms, the rapes committed while in uniform and without uniform on our sisters in the struggle; the cutting down of the ‘flowers of difference,’ and of course, in the style of J. Goebbels, the spreading of lies in order to generate illusions, a sort of “they lived happily ever after” myth.

These illusions put all of us at risk—the denial, the forgetfulness, and the cat-like chieftains and opportunists who always land on their feet. The same people who take ownership of the “truth” to justify their means with their “ends” with no understanding that the means are also the ends; with no conception that democracy should be participatory, inclusive, characterized by solidarity, feminist ideologies, diversity, and openness. The lack of awareness of the true experiences of our people sustains this static and harmful reality.

Now, we need to protect life—physical, emotional, creative, environmental. We also need to protect hope and build alternative spaces which permit us to continue to sow the seeds of liberty, without forgetting to put in practice all that we have learned. In giving back what we gain from our experiences, we build stronger foundations and nurture our movements. And so the Resistance is born from thousands of brave hearts who yearn for a good life and a better world.

Psst, psst, I slapped a policeman today!

2011-06-16T10:34:00.004-04:00

- by Dudziro Nhengu

8:00 a.m Zimbabwe time.

At Charge Office Flea Market, where we have learnt skills to multiply the dollar for daily survival, there are stacks and stacks of second hand clothes, and unopened bales too. We can’t afford the bales, so we shuffle through the heaps of old clothes to find better looking jackets and blouses that the 'queens' sell for a dollar for two items. We will resell these at a dollar each in Epworth, a semi-rural settlement on the outskirts of Harare where residents will grab almost anything that comes from the city. We sell just to get enough for the following day, and remain with the revolving capital for tomorrow's order—bread for children's sandwiches, a bunch of green veggies and tomatoes for supper, bus fare for school children, and of course two dollars for Precious, my daughter. She has to buy a scone and cool drink at school like the other girls lest she dates the kombi drivers (emergency taxi drivers) for it and gets pregnant—let alone HIV/AIDS. Bang! My heart beats fast, my head aches, I’m feeling hot all over, and want to faint. There is so much fear inside me. What if she....? What if...??? Why am I a mother in such a difficult environment?

And suddenly I remember Tariro’s encouraging words.

‘Be strong Kudzo. It will be over soon. We are all in this world for a purpose, and there are moments we can’t escape.’

I find so much warmth in Tariro. Besides pronouncing my name with an 'o' instead of an 'i' at the end because of her foreign accent, Tariro gives me strength and reason for living each day. No moralising, no quick judgments, just realistic and down to earth.

The clothes in the stacks smell so much.

'But why do the clothes smell this much?' Lillian asks, bending and shuffling.

'I don’t know and I don’t care Lillian, I just want the good ones. Somebody told me about a chemical that they spray to preserve the clothes.'

'Kunyepa, mapeche enyu ndiwo anonhuwa' (You lie, it is your vaginas that smell). Male voice.

I pick myself up from the bending position and before I realise he is a policeman, I have already slapped him hard on the face. His police hat falls down and as he bends to pick it up—KICK!—from the back. He bites the ground and groans. A crowd is gathering, and I am getting confused, and hot, and mad, mad, mad!

Another kick, and the policeman lies face and tummy down. Somebody nudges me.

‘Run!! There is going to be a scene.’

People are gathering, I hold Lillian’s hand and we run. We run, no looking back, through the crowds, we run, run, run. At Karigamombe, we jump into a taxi.

‘Please take us to Mbare, quick.’

‘Five dollars!’

We throw ten dollars on his lap and he takes off. We are safe.

Inside Mupedzanhamo we buy the dollar for 2 items and quickly change into them. We have to be safe.

Then we board a kombi back Home, straight from Mbare. No more town, no more charge office. No orders—our money is almost finished.

1:24 p.m. Zimbabwe time.

I am changing clothes after showering. I have to go back to town. There is a JASS get-together with Sally. I can’t miss it despite my fear to go back to town. And Sally re-awakens me, so I have to go.

I board a kombi at Westlea shops. As I pass on my coin to the conductor, he looks at me in stitches!

'Why are you laughing?' I ask.

'But ambuya (madam), why did you beat that policeman?’

My heart kicks but at least he is laughing.

'He insulted me.'

'But how ambuya, you were not the only woman around the flea market, and the women there get that vagina curse everyday.'

'But I am not an ordinary woman, I am a vagina warrior!'

More stitches. I look at the woman besides me, our eyes meet and lock, and we laugh.

Life goes on.

‘We are on this earth for a purpose Kudzo. It will soon be over.’

Dudziro Nhengu is a feminist activist, scholar and writer, currently based in Southern Africa.

Days of Learning: You think I can’t dance? Watch me!

2011-05-05T13:13:00.003-04:00

by Maria Mustika

From 16^th – 18^th April, I joined over 300 participants from all over Southeast Asia and South Asia and beyond at CREA’s Count Me In! Conference in Kathmandu, Nepal. Count Me In! focuses on marginalized women who have been pushed to the sidelines of social life, sometimes barely acknowledged as human beings and very often deprived of many basic human rights. The conference was a space to talk about the experiences of women on the periphery such as sex workers and their families, women with disabilities, and LBT people.

Over three days, I participated in many activities to analyze the ways women are marginalized; the specific issues and challenges they encounter; strategies to address these issues, needs and challenges; and inspiring case studies from various groups about how they have managed to make an impact and organize around marginalized women’s rights.

One of the major highlights was the opening session by CREA director, Geetanjali Misra and Sapna Pradhan Mallah, a Nepalese lawyer and member of the Nepalese Constituent Assembly. Mallah began her work as a women’s activist at a young age and after joining parliament, she struggled to change the State Constitution in support of women’s issues and fought for women’s reproductive health, the provision of safe abortion services and standard health insurance for pregnant women.

Some of the other workshops I attended included a presentation by Datta Bisakha who is the Chairman of Point of View, an organization that works with women who are marginalized “legally” and encourages dialogue between diverse women’s movements. She highlighted the truth that diversifying women’s discourses and drawing women of different experiences into our movements will not weaken us. Instead, it will reshape and strengthen the women’s movement for the better and allow us to make greater impact. Anita Ghai shared the experiences of women with disabilities who are often subject to discrimination and violence on multiple levels—in the family, the workplace, access to public facilities, healthcare, the complete disregard of their sexuality and sexual health.

A panel on fundamentalisms put the spotlight on women who live in the danger zone where fighting for women’s issues often puts them in direct conflict with fundamentalist groups. In an open discussion group, well-known television host, Begum Nawazish Ali, spoke about transfeminisme, and the need for alliances between women’s and trans movements in the struggle against patriarchy in its many forms. One panel discussed the use of sport in building women's movements, especially young women. As women, we are sometimes physically restricted in the public sphere because of culture and societal expectations. Sport can be an effective empowerment tool, strengthening to exist and thrive in public areas that are often controlled by men, gain confidence in themselves and respect from others.

Sunil Pant, the first openly gay Member of Parliament in Nepal shared insights on his organization, the Blue Diamond Society which worked through alliances with the media and other human rights groups to encourage public discourse on gender justice and LGBT rights and to push for concrete political policies to support and protect LGBT communities in the country. Many groups shared inspiring success stories, from activists in Bangladesh who pushed for dialogue with various communities and networks to gain support for women candidates for parliament to a study conducted by SNEHA that shed light on the sexualities of minority and marginalized groups.

One of the most powerful experiences for me was the third day’s presentation by renowned author, Arundhati Roy, who reminded us that efforts to exclude women from the larger movement should be faced and fought together. We must all work collectively to fight for the issues that mean the most to us as women without marginalizing or abandoning members of the women’s community at large. She urged us not to see women as victims, not to see ourselves as victims—but to recognize the strength that women can have when they understand themselves and are able to stand together.

The conference opened our minds and hearts to the differences and commonalities between us, and how we can work together and be stronger together. The closing remarks by Srilatha Baltiwala left us with the inspiring message that as women, we have to set our own course even if many are moving in the opposite direction. People may demand that women walk and not dance. So when someone asks us, we should respond, “You think I can’t dance? Watch me!”

Heart-Mind-Body: Creating Organizations with a Soul

2011-04-21T10:58:00.001-04:00

The Heart-Mind-Body workshop, held at Chengeta Lodge just outside Harare (April 9 – 10), brought together 26 women, each with diverse experiences, perspectives and survival strategies, all united by a common concern: sustaining the work we do in incredibly stressful situations.

The venue, set in the midst of an animal park, was open, lushly green and energizing. There was fire to warm not just the open meeting area but also our lives. The chairs were comfortable and cosy; the seating arrangements allowed for easy interaction and sharing collective wisdom. In the safety of that room we were able to forget the linear world of development that defines how we facilitate our workshops. Instead, we acknowledged the primal elements that sustain us: fire, air, nature and water.

The hosting organizations, JASS and Musasa, took great care to create an open, inclusive and welcoming space—no hierarchy, no speeches, no “queen mothers” or ageism. There was an awareness that everyone was needed and that anyone could contribute some personal reflections that might spark a collective insight. Soul-feeding gifts such as colourful socks, and simple notebooks for writing our own thoughts, insights and reflections only added to the spirit of sisterhood, love and camaraderie.

Over two days, we gave ourselves permission to create a new world. A world where we were stripped bare; a world where the young, the old and those in-between felt free to explore themselves deeply, to enjoy the curiosity and delight provoked by the space, to risk and abandon our positions. We were not afraid to be regarded as “unprofessional,” our organizational affiliations did not matter. It was a space where we felt safe to laugh, cry or just be, and to place our innermost thoughts on the table. Without the distractions of work or the outside world, the wisdom hidden within each one of us surfaced. Wisdom many of us had not even recognized as such. The retreat reintroduced us to a world many of us had forgotten—a world of knowing who we are as we pass through this world. We acknowledged the pain we had buried and shared some skills to address it. Sisters shared some hilarious survival strategies, innovative concepts and tips to use in our work but also to support us as we journey through this planet called earth.

We learned the importance of breathing right, stretching and connecting the mind, body and soul. Activities such as a game drive, one-on-one counselling sessions and small intimate conversations and heart-mind-body exercises (breathing, meditation, drumming, and moments of silence) fostered curiosity, clarity and a sense of connection to ourselves as more than mere bodies but as individuals.

The notion that our own exhaustion contributes to organizational failure was revelatory to many of us who survive in a work culture where the soul is often disconnected from the work that we do as individuals. This inevitably creates a toxic atmosphere, increased frustration and a sense of ‘I am doing this because I need money but this is not where I should be’ in our approach to work.

It’s easy to put work at the centre of our lives. But along the way we can lose sight of the whole system, of ourselves, of sisterhood and of the essence of that which connects us as human beings. In the name of professionalism we become isolated; we lose our creativity, audacity, energy and love of our work. The work itself loses meaning and we end up feeling perpetually angry, anxious over deadlines, fatigued and lonely. The process helped many of us realize that it is legitimate to bring who we are into the work we do. What we need is to create organizations with a soul.

After two days, we extricated ourselves from this nourishing oasis, rightly named Chengeta (take care), inspired, energized and excited by the shared ideas. We left convinced that we have the wisdom and creativity to confront even the most difficult challenges and determined to make the path that we started at Chengeta by continuing to walk on it. While savouring the invaluable collective experience, we each gained tools to re-conceptualize our lives, our work places, institutional strategies and operations.

Thanks to JASS and Musasa for pioneering this work.

Hope Chigudu

Honduras: Un ataque sin tregua contra un pueblo que resiste!

2011-04-06T15:06:00.003-04:00

Por Daysi Flores, Feminista en Resistencia

Las sirenas suenan, los helicópteros surcan los cielos de Tegucigalpa y el ambiente se impregna nuevamente de gas. El régimen golpista nunca ha cesado la represión aunque ha intentado disfrazarla para ser reconocido. Sin embargo, en las últimas semanas se ha desatado un nuevo y desmesurado episodio de salvajismo. El pueblo hondureño, junto a las maestras y maestros, ha salido a las calles nuevamente a defender no solo la democracia sino la educación pública, laica y gratuita para las y los hondureños. Esto ha desatado la furia de los gorilas y los Lobos que reprimen cada día con más saña y violencia. No sé muy bien cómo describirles lo que vivimos día a día… las palabras no me alcanzan, no me salen, no fluyen entre los dedos. ¿Cómo se explica el dolor de ver el centro de tu ciudad en llamas? Ó ¿la impotencia al ver caer compañeras y compañeros ahogadas por los gases y el “agua” de color rojo que nos tiran? Ó ¿El dialogo corporal cuando se cierran todas las vías respiratorias mientras en la cabeza se pasea la certeza de que te morís en ese momento? Ó ¿la impotencia de estar escondida sabiendo que afuera están golpeando, apresando, hiriendo, insultando y hasta matandonos? Ó ¿la sorpresa de ver a un pueblo ser atacado cuando se encuentra con las manos en alto como muestra de que protesta pacíficamente? Ó ¿la indignación de ver los militares y policías al acecho en las salas de espera de los hospitales?... ¿Cómo se enfrenta tanta violencia que lo único que genera es más violencia? ¿Cómo se lloran estas lagrimas que no limpian el aire, el corazón ni la vida?... ¿Cómo les cuento? ¿Cómo explico este dolor que aprisiona mi pecho a cada instante?

Todos los días hay represión, todos los días usan gases, líquidos químicos, toletes, balas de madera y de goma y cada día, nuestros cuerpos son el blanco de los ataques. Atacan las sedes magisteriales, las universidades, los centros comerciales, las escuelas y colegios, las personas que caminan por la calle, las casas de las vecinas y vecinos que dan albergue a las personas que huyen por sus vidas, atacan todo lo que se mueve y todavía se burlan cuando te ven ahogada o golpeada, sobre todo si sos mujer o joven. Pero no solo los militares y policías nos atacan, también nos atacan los monopolios mediáticos, como CNN y los medios precursores del golpe, invisibilizando nuestra lucha y diciendo que en este país no pasa nada; mientras somos nombrados como uno de los países mas peligrosos para las y los periodistas y cada vez entendemos mucho más porqué reprimen descarada y desproporcionadamente cuando se intenta informar; como en el caso de Lidieth Diaz de canal 36. También nos ataca el Lobo seguidor del golpe diciendo con aires de dictador: calle tomada, calle desalojada, mientras ellos tienen tomados los edificios del INPREMA y toman las calles para acechar a las y los manifestantes. Nos ataca el concejo de “ministros” con sus aplausos a la brutalidad del Lobo. Nos ataca Oscar Álvarez diciendo que está orgulloso de sus soldados y de la labor que están realizando. Nos ataca la indiferencia de quienes saben lo que está pasando en este país y voltean la cabeza. Y por supuesto, nos atacan cuando encarcelan a las y los manifestantes y les convierten en presas y presos políticos procesándoles penalmente, sin decir exactamente de qué delito se les acusa: José Martín Suazo, José Erasmo Chinchilla Melgar, José Rolando Servellón Bonilla, Marco Antonio Melgar, Edat Malihd Cobos Guitierrez, Walter Urbina, José Alex Martínez, José Francisco Zelaya Ramos, Elvis Rolando Guillén Zelaya, Linda Melina Guillén Fonseca, Nuria Evelyn Verduzco, Ingrid Liseth Sierra; ó las torturas a las que sometieron a los y las menores de edad: Mario Leonel Valle, Abner Moisés Alvarado, Brayan Antunez al igual que Hector Núñez de la tercera edad, solo para poner algunos ejemplos.

Nos atacan todos los días, ¡todo el tiempo! ¿Y por qué nos atacan? nos atacan por defender la democracia, por salir a la calle y alzar nuestra voz, por defender el agua, el pueblo, la educación pública, la tierra, por querer una vida digna para todas y todos, por repudiar la violencia y la brutalidad… Nos atacan por no aceptar que se viole la democracia, por repudiar la violencia, por gritar a una sola voz libre al viento: ¡EL PUEBLO UNIDO, JAMAS SERÁ VENCIDO! ¡El MAGISTERIO CONCIENTE, AQUÍ ESTA PRESENTE! ¡ESTUDIAR, APRENDER PARA CHEPO NUNCA SER! ¡NI GOLPES DE ESTADO, NI GOLPES A LAS MUJERES! ¡NI DUEÑO NI PATRON PARA LA EDUCACIÓN! y por supuesto, nos atacan porque saben que vamos a refundar este pedacito de tierra que se llama ¡HONDURAS! Así que unan sus voces, sus manos, sus plumas y todos sus corazones a este pueblo que decidió ¡NO CALLAR MÁS!

My Body Is Not a Strange Flesh Anymore

2011-03-16T21:30:00.003-04:00

My body used to be a strange thing. It's a fragile yet a sacred monument full of myth, which I found out later is not the truth. In some cases the myth serve as the extention of patriarchy, another strange word in my ear. I was introduced to term patriarchal and patriarchy in my sociology class in high school. I was very happy to find the name to point at the reality I experience. But it was only one part. I was looking for another name to provide me with words to explain my experience.

I must say that I didn't born into my body. I learn to find it. I search the truth about it. I knew my body from what people say and what boys and men think and do to me. The female body that I knew was problematic and the source of harassment. I used to think that my body attract bad intention and ignite men's libido. I didn't question the bad intention and men's libido because most people will only question female body and desire. So I follow the mainstream way of knowing.

I know I have breasts, vagina, anus, and ovum. But they're meant nothing to me except agony. Each month my stomach will cramp from menstruation. If I complain, everyone including my mother will say that it is normal and it was a training for more pain in childbirth. Poor me! I can't think any moment when I felt grateful of my female body.

When my breasts are young, there was a boy who mischievously like to touch them. I was angry at the boy but mostly to my own breasts. Because it wouldn't happen if I don't have breasts. At one point I questioned God intention of creating female in this world. Either God is ignorant or thing have gone out of his/her control.

I was 11 year-old when I got menstruation and no one told me about sex, pregnancy, risk, etc. They're just calling it “coming of age”. Very sweet but it didn't tell me anything. It took 6 years when I finally have one conscious woman teacher to tell straight in front of class on how a woman can get pregnant. My friends were laughing. I was not. I was angry.

How come I don't know about this? Why is it kept like a secret? What are other knowledge that I don't know about my body? Am I too ignorant? I can't forget that moment. I still remember when she drew sperm cells and eggs in blackboard. I remember when she said the word penis and vagina. That was my true coming of age.

It's not easy to know your body when people around you used to answer “that how it is” to avoid further questions, evenelse critical thinking. Having born with sexuality doesn't mean I understand it very well. Especially if people around you don't know about it and consider it unimportant. Books, internet pages, and finally an institution that support critical questions were much needed haven. JASS, among other institutions, is one of those haven. I remember when I met Anne and Eva in 2008, I was wondering of their confidence wearing their bodies. I observed and learned from them but I keep it to myself.

I began to make peace with my body. It was great to build an attachment to my body. I like the sensation of my breasts, my curve, my vagina, my thighs, everything. I feel comfortable and please to have them. It's not a strange flesh anymore. It's me. (NL)

Taking the Power Within and Crossing the Line: Reflections from JASS in Malawi

2011-03-02T18:09:00.004-05:00

Hope Chigudu shares reflections about building women’s voice in Malawi and powerful stories of the ways in which grassroots women internalize the power framework and use it to challenge, resist and rebel against various forms of oppression and violence in their own lives and, literally, Cross the Line.

"Every human being has the capacity to rebel and transgress, to cross the line of oppression but usually a catalyst is required to invoke and politicize the spirit of rebellion. JASS might not be the catalyst but it provides the tools that act as a stimulus, an awareness of the need for change. It also provides a safe space where critical thinking can be brought to bear on the individual environment. With political awareness each woman crosses her own line when she is ready to do so (lines of oppression and exploitation, of what is acceptable or what is not). No individual human being can cross the critical line for another." – Hope Chigudu

Shredding human dignity: *Sarah’s story (as told in her own words)

"I had known my husband’s temper when we got married. He’d sworn he could control it, and he actually had—for a while. However once in a while he would forget to control himself and hit me hard. I had run away from him many times, but he was very good at bringing me back. On this fateful night, he hit me so badly that I lost four teeth; he terrorized, wounded, traumatized and tortured me. He hit me because I had gone to a local clinic and tested HIV positive. He claimed that I was sleeping around and hence my status. I [had] married at the age of 16 and never had sex with any other man, surely he must have known about that.

"I ran away, and ran and ran until I saw stars floating in front of my eyes, expecting at any second to be hit from the back by either him or a car. I ran until I couldn’t—until my legs twisted under me. I sat down under a tree with my torso bobbing back and forth as I sucked at the thin air. I could not go any further. In between huffing and puffing, trying to listen, I closed my eyes. Everything went dark for a while, and when the light came back it was the sun, pink and weak, flaming on the side of the mountain. It was dawn.

"Where should I go? I chose to face the indignity of seeking shelter at my parent’s home against my and their will. They had made it clear that no matter what happened I was to stay in my marriage. It was clear I was unwelcome at home but surely, even if we are forced to accept someone against their will, should we push them away, ignore them the way I was ignored?

"The reception from my brothers was shocking. They feared I would share their little land for my survival. They made my life miserable. I felt there was no reason for having been born into this world. Every time I saw any of them, I tried to be as invisible as possible. I always lowered my glance as I walked by any of them. I was treated as unwanted clutter and an undesirable person around the house; not only is an undesired person not wanted where she is, but while she’s there she’s also not easily forgotten, so there was no place for me, not even in the trash-heap. In my own father’s house, my brothers did not want to give me a corner in which an unwanted object might lie.

"One day, I gathered the courage to go to an organization that works in our area on issues of HIV and AIDS but the officials received me with prejudice and condescension. I did not go back. I packed my bags and went to town to stay with a friend. It’s this friend who introduced me to the world of sex work. I was forced by my condition into sex work. With limited education, I had limited survival choices.

"Sex work requires major changes especially when one is plain, submissive and naive. With the help of some of the veterans, I recreated myself by buying some sexy short dresses, high heeled and extremely uncomfortable shoes, makeup and other little things and then hit the street. It was hard, I was embarrassed but I did it. Later on I joined a sex work support group. We started sharing information and getting strong in our demand for the use of condemns as we did not want to be re-infected. I continued to feel really bad and decided to go to church to commune with God and his [followers] but there was such vigorous attack on ‘evil’ women like me, I left.

"Having stayed with friends for four months, I tried to find a place of my own but failed and then I found a lover with his own place, a male sex worker. He took me in. I was so afraid of losing him that every little cent I worked for, I gave it to him. I did everything for him, almost became his slave in the hope that he would love me and continue to love me.

"After attending the first JASS meeting where we all shared stories about our lives, I realized that I was not getting out of the poverty trap because I was taking care of a man at the expense of saving my money. During the workshop, I also was hit with the shattering knowledge that the ideas I had lived by were wrong, oppressive, and mindless. I made a vow that I would move out of his home and within two months, using the power within, one day I left him. I was able to save a little money and with that I bought a sewing machine and increased my income. I reorganized myself I started imagining a new reality, hoping, moving beyond discouragement, and reassembling pieces of my life again. Every evening, I imagined I was educated, able to speak English and with some good money in my bag. I refused to be diminished, suppressed, or destroyed. I refused to be warped by bigotry, tyranny, and pettiness. I refused!

"That is how I crossed the line of inferiority complex and dependency on men. I am now a member of an HIV support group for sex workers. Through JASS workshop, I know am a feminist, my body is my own. That is what I tell my sex worker friends. My future plans include buying a plot of land back home, building a small house and supporting rural based sex workers to learn to stand on their own feet."

Wise Advice for Activists from Ugandan Sex Workers

2010-12-17T15:30:00.006-05:00

In time for International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, Hope Chigudu shares lessons learned from our sisters - activists, sex workers, feminists in Uganda...

They hate writing. They like music, dance and storytelling. They like skits and sports, so have, for example a skipping rope and balls. They're very imaginative, (comes with the trade) so include in the training, some exercises that stretch their imagination. They are quick to improvise and to vision. They also enjoy evening sessions just to share wild and juicy sexual experiences, tricks and gadgets. An evening for just dressing up and showing off what they are made of should also be included on the training menu. A room for crying comes in handy…tears, buckets of them. They don’t like too many topics during training, so within the course of a week, two or three are enough.

There must be a healer, a counselor, doctor, entrepreneur and lawyer - then the training has meaning for them and they can connect with it. Forget the language of human rights, its foreign and theoretical. Instead, share some empowerment strategies, negotiation skills, communication as a tool in the trade and self management. They are cool with that.

One surprise for me was the question: do we really understand the nature of sex work? Several were married and wore expensive wedding bands. One was even married to a minister of church. I asked her why she was pregnant – with her fifth child. She showed me her ring. ”It’s this thing,” she said.

Some families have accepted their daughters’ career choice. One of the younger ones came with her mother, a local government counselor, as a child-minder.

Stories were shared - stories of abuse by family members, stories of rape, stories that are not new to most of us. Mary shared her story of abuse. She was fourteen when she was raped. At an age when other girls are enjoying their teenage years, Mary was regularly abused, raped, beaten, tortured, and ridiculed. Now an adult, sex worker and activist with Wonetha[1] – the activism is what cuts through her pain and despair offering her a community, a greater sense of security and, some nuggets of hope.

“When I meet other women and share my experiences: the rape I experienced as a child and the child of rape I bore, who does not know her father; when I speak about the step-father that raped me, speak about everything that has happened to me, I feel a sense of relief, hope, inspiration, healing and change within me".

Nabirye describes Wonetha as a mouthpiece for women sex workers, some of whom don’t want to reveal their identity. She believes that sex work is a form of violence against women, that she is the victim of structural violence as a sex worker and the only way to end that violence is to legalize sex work. Until legalization happens, she will continue to carry a knife and some pepper in her bag.

During the workshop women shared tips for surviving violent men.

“Make him believe he has had great sex when, in actual fact, he has not penetrated you. That is the only way of ensuring that you can entertain ten men without ‘dying’. If a man is big, you hold him like this.” She demonstrates. “And never make a mistake of falling in love with a client. If you do, get out of the business.”

We were surprised that they get little money but make the most of it. ”If you ask people in my village for the home of the rich woman in the area, they will point at my house.”

“I have three rooms for rent and four pieces of land. I save little money per week and I have managed to buy myself a huge comfortable bed, the kind of bed that I dreamt about as a child. If you take a client home, never show him that you are poor, I have an electric stove, kettle and wonderful plates, my clients think I am expensive so they don’t shit on me.”

”I am sending three of my own children to school and all my siblings. They all know how I get the money. When I go home, they take care of me; they know I need moral support.”

”I am the only person in the community that everyone borrows from. When there is death, they don’t hold any meeting to arrange the funeral without me. They expect ideas and financial contribution. I do contribute. It’s important to appear to have money, you are respected.”

“You have to focus. Even if you eat poorly, you have to build something for yourself.”

“We have started a weekly group discussion with some of the Wonetha members on how to generate more money. Through the discussions, we are trying to fill the gaps in mainstream banking facilities that often do not cater for people like us, [people] without what they call stable jobs.”

Stories of constant threats and eviction from their office premises were also shared. The landlady, a human rights lawyer, wanted to evict Wonetha from its present premises. She was stopped by the elders in the area.

“Those are good women. They are taking care of their families. They have also reduced violence in the home. Instead of a man fighting with his wife for denying him sex, he visits a sex worker, goes home happy, satisfied and just cuddles the wife without making sexual demands.”

“For us old men who can’t get it up with our wives, we like these girls… they help us.” So the organization was saved from eviction.

The sex workers spent an evening sharing a mélange of experiences, fears, hopes and dreams. Dreams of owning a house with basic commodities like television, fridge, things that we take for granted. A young woman hopes to live in her house with her family, a happy family with children, a responsible father, and cousins - just the kind of home that children draw with crayons in their art class. In another story, a sex worker shares her hope of owning a huge mini-bus and using it to generate income. Another shares her wish to own some food business… supplying food, to address her long term needs.

They shared their experiences on the street and in brothels and related crimes like sexual violence, humiliation. They talked about travelling to Arab countries to sell sex, making money only to have it stolen. Many articulated their growing awareness that they are entitled to lives of freedom and will not tolerate crimes committed against them. They will continue to fight back. Margaret says that torture, violence, death and beatings are so much part of the women in the workshop and not even worth talking about. One of the participants was actually beaten and maimed. Some seem to have lost control in some areas but there is a tenacity to hang on.

In a candid session with a doctor about sexual health, questions poured as if from an uncontrollable water tap. They could not get enough of her wisdom and expertise.

And finally here is a message from our sisters!

“Hope, when you talk to your fellow women who sit in huge offices and ignore us, please tell them that sex workers are women, they are mothers. Some of us are married with wedding rings (they pointed to the rings). Sex workers can be enterprising and we can teach them a thing or two on investing for the future. How come they never invite us to their workshops as consultants?”

[1] WONETHA – Women's Organization Network for Human Rights Advocacy – is a sex worker organization established in 2008 in Uganda. See their website here: http://www.wonetha.4t.com/.

I am a Chameleon: Young Feminists in Zimbabwe Carve Out Space for Themselves

2010-11-24T10:12:00.005-05:00

Every woman is a chameleon. She changes her color to suit the situation; she adjusts and adapts to face the pressing challenges. She wears a different face but the essence of who she is remains the same. That’s how we have to be as young feminists, fighting on multiple fronts and living and working in this world.

I spent a day hanging out with a group of young feminist activists from the Young Women’s Leadership Initiative (YOWLI). In some circles, they are known as the Vagina Warriors, a provocative name that sums up what YOWLI’s activism is all about: the centrality of the body, sex and sexuality to women’s struggles for rights and equality.

Here’s what Rudo Chigudu, proud Vagina Warrior, had to say about YOWLI and how young Zimbabwean feminists are carving a space for themselves and making themselves heard.

How did the Young Women’s Leadership Initiative get started?

I think the interesting and wonderful thing about YOWLI is it wasn’t started by an individual it was founded by a group of young women. It was born out of conversations with friends about the situation of young women in Zimbabwe. We discussed how issues of sexuality are at the core of the young woman’s struggle for a number of reasons: it [sex] was becoming an instrument to get through college; a source of violation for young women entering jobs so that you started to feel as if you were selling yourself in exchange for work; and in marriage, young women feeling that their sexuality was now owned by their husbands.

In 2008 we had our first strategic planning meeting and realized that our issues needed to be addressed and that it was time to create a space for young women to deal with issues of sex and sexuality. So we met with 15 young women, some who work in women’s and gender issues, friends and associates and we started to have a conversation about what we feel as young women and how can we address these issues. From then we used to have these conversations. We met quite informally in the garden at the national gallery and had these conversations and realized that the issues that each of us thought was unique about our struggle were actually shared.

How did you come up with the name Vagina Warriors? In Zimbabwean traditional culture, people never talk about the body explicitly and this name in itself is so political, how did it come out? And what kind of push-back, resistance, backlash do you get when you use it?

Initially the idea was that we needed something different, something radical that was going to break the silence around issues of sex and sexuality. And at the time, we were watching the original Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler and we thought it was such a powerful tool. I was reading the book and we all watched a DVD version of it together, and we started talking about how powerful it was to start naming parts of our sexuality, naming parts of our body.

As you were saying in Zimbabwean culture it’s not something that’s done, even to say the word vagina in English. But it’s the silence around these issues that causes the situation to remain as it is, so we needed to come out and just say it like it is and remove the shame and stigma attached to these things.

When a woman is raped, and stuck in a courtroom full of men, and she has to start naming the parts of her body – parts of her body that she’s spent her entire life being told that it’s the most sacred part of them - there’s shame attached to that. So she’s violated a second time by just saying these things aloud. How can we negotiate condom use if you can’t say the word vagina? How do you conversations with your partner about sexual health and sexual pleasure when you can’t even talk about anatomy?

We know, in Shona, the word ‘vagina’ is used to insult and offend. The moment a man uses that word on a woman you are silenced completely. So the name Vagina Warriors was all about reclaiming our power with the use of naming and language.

We were expecting backlash from other organizations and from the public, it’s inevitable because, you see, the reclaiming is associated with promiscuity, with loose women who go around saying these things in public. But we’ve also had responses from other women who’ve said that it’s so empowering to say the word vagina; that this is the part of my body where my child comes out; this is where I was violated; this is where I receive pleasure.

When you’re talking about sex and sexuality it’s a difficult journey. And so we used the word ‘warrior’ as a way to reclaim and understand that it’s a hard road and that we will face conflict and push-back along the way.

How do you engage with young feminists and feminists in general? Do you find challenges working within the Zim feminist movement?

I think for YOWLI this was one of the issues that was big because a lot of organizations, even those that work with women would call meetings and they’d only get older women. Young women hardly attended those meetings.

We’ve found that we’re able to engage with young women who are in institutions like high schools, colleges – we can go and target young women there because they’re all in one place. But once a young woman becomes a working woman it’s harder to connect and work with them. The women we work with in different communities are often part-time workers; sometimes we connect through aid organizations or knitting circles. Or we find them at women’s gatherings.

In terms of mobilization strategies we need to build our capacity in terms of mobilizing young women. It comes to a point that if you meet a group of young women on an afternoon out, you start a conversation and try to invite them to some of our meetings. We know that we have to start building a movement of young women. There are many who are interested and excited about what we’re doing, excited about learning more about sexuality and reproductive health. But the fact that they’re so isolated, we need to focus on building a movement, a critical mass to work towards the same goal.

What do you have planned for 16 Days of Activism, and how do you hope to use that platform in your work?

16 days is always one of those times where there are lots of mixed feelings for everyone. This is a chance for you to come out to say something boldly about gender-based violence and domestic violence. Yet it’s also a time of sadness as you remember people, as we all remember people that we’ve lost to gender-based violence. For YOWLI we remember a close friend who was murdered by her boyfriend earlier this year.

This is an opportunity to confront an issue that concerns all women and our families, our communities, society – the violence we’re experiencing, IT’S REAL. It can culminate in death. It’s a time where there’s a real wake-up call.

YOWLI is looking forward to opening and facilitating spaces for intergenerational dialogues; mentorship for young women with our older sisters. We’re also doing five shows of the vagina monologues with monologues developed by the women we’re working with. A group of sex workers that we work with will be performing in Bulawayo, young women will perform at different colleges and in communities around the country. We will also be launching a comic book in remembrance of our friend, Nonthando, who we lost earlier this year – dedicated to issues of gender-based violence (GBV). On the 10^th, we’re doing a final show; it’s the last day of 16 Days of Activism so it’ll be the biggest one with musicians, and drama, dance. The idea is to make as much noise as possible.

Looking ahead, we’re also doing a CD with poetry and music around GBV. During the elections a lot of women who were victims of GBV and rape and this CD and our work around 16 Days is about putting the word out that as young women we’re not going to tolerate that. It’s a platform to launch a bigger and more exciting campaign.

How are you guys dealing with issues around safety during 16 Days?

We are a little bit cautious but we’ve come to realize that with the coalition government coming into place, this is the best time for something like this. There’s fertile ground in the middle of so much confusion and chaos right now. People are more concerned about other things. I think it’s not as hostile as it was or the timing is just right.

The Vagina Warriors are preparing for 16 Days of Activism (November 25 – December 10), initiating and facilitating creative spaces and platforms for young women to step up and claim their rights. See their website here: http://www.pepeta.org/.

JASS SEA: Strengthening Solidarity and Sisterhood

2010-11-12T00:09:00.006-05:00

JASS SEA women from Cambodia, East Timor, Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia are in Bandung, Indonesia for a regional political planning focused on strengthening and amplifying the alternative agendas produced by grassroots organizing and young feminist mobilization with strategic alliances across Southeast Asia. The workshop provides a space for women from across the region to come together and share their experiences and strategies on women's organizing.

"The struggle against discrimination and injustice for women is not only a Timor Leste struggle but a struggle for all women of Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. This motivates us. When I have challenges and struggles in my personal life and my work, and I think I don't have support and don't have anywhere to go, I have JASS. JASS is my family. JASS is my home."
-Yasinta Lujina, young feminist leader, East Timor

While problems such as violence against women and lack of reproductive rights cut across all borders, participants focused their analysis on women's growing poverty and economic insecurity. Participants spent a day in the village of Subang meeting with a rural women's cooperative organized by PEKKA. They told stories of their 8 years of organizing -- today they have paralegals who accompany women to the police and courts and the profits generated from their cooperative have been invested in a women's community center and radio program. The conversations were broadcast live! In the recent elections, they even backed one of their leaders. "Organize and be recognized," said one of the women describing their mission.

The work being done by PEKKA and other cooperative credit union organizations like Pesada focus on education and training on financial management, providing sustainable economic alternatives for women. They are fundamentally different from micro-finance institutions, whose model places women as borrowers responsible for repayment of loans, and instead, in cooperative credit unions women are the owners and put the power and control over money directly into the hands of women. “This is not poverty reduction. This is not micro-finance. This is EMPOWERMENT.” –Dina Lumbatobing, Pesada/JASS SEA, Indonesia

Gathering again in the workshop on the last day, participants developed strategies linking grassroots economic and political empowerment to regional advocacy to influence the economic agenda of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). "The most important thing is to keep building our solidarity with each other. That's a source of our power." -Jojo Guan, Center for Women's Resources, Philippines

The Voice of Indigenous and Rural Women

2010-10-14T13:58:00.007-04:00

Last week JASS Mesoamerica and Sinergia No'j hosted over two dozen indigenous, rural women from all over Central America and Mexico for a communications training in Guatemala City. The training focused on the right to communication and involved discussions with representatives from women's media projects; site visits to local women-led media outlets, and; hands-on sessions on various topics. These included: developing communications strategy; creating campaigns, and the use of various tools such as blogs, video, press releases, and radio spots. What made this gathering unique was that it was specifically geared towards using communications tools to enhance women's organizing power and disseminate their messages to a global audience. Read the blog (titled: The Voice of Indigenous and Rural Women) that participants created during the workshop -- including a press release and a video also produced by the participants.

Live Radio Broadcast from Guatemala: Indigenous Women Exercising Their Right to Communicate

2010-10-07T11:48:00.002-04:00

By Daysi Flores

Right now I am privileged to be in Guatemala, as part of a team hosting this fabulous gathering of Indigenous women from all over Mesoamerica. Members of JASS and Sinergia Nój will be sharing our knowledge with and learning from the diverse experiences that participants will bring to this skills sharing and training exercise. We have an exciting program scheduled and are ready to welcome the women. We invite you to join us, along with our allies at FIRE, for a live radio transmission from one of the dialogue sessions:

Thursday, October 7^th @ 3:30 p.m. Guatemala time (UTC/GMT)

http://www.radiofeminista.net

A New Global Partnership

2010-10-05T12:45:00.004-04:00

JASS Board Member, Maria Victoria Raquiza, of the La Liga Policy Institute in the Philippines delivered these remarks to the High Level Plenary Meeting of the recent UN General Assembly on the Millenium Development Goals’ Roundtable on “Poverty, Hunger and Gender Equality.” The following are excerpts from her statement.

Good morning, Your Excellencies. We gather today to mark the 10^th anniversary of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We mark progress in some areas, but also take stock of policy reversals. Outside these walls and across the globe, the MDGs have meant too little to too many of the world’s poor and marginalized. For countless landless farmers, the MDGs may be only a distant reality. For slum dwellers in desperate need of social services, the idea that we will soon meet their needs may seem far-fetched. To upland indigenous people, life these last years may well have been worse than during the decades that preceded them. And wherever there is poverty or disempowerment, in all of these sectors, women continue to be the poorest and least empowered . . .

. . .economic growth has done too little to empower women worldwide, or to make them more secure. The Social Watch Gender Working Group stresses: “Women have contributed more to the expansion of the world economy than either new technologies or the emerging markets of China and India.” Despite these clear and undeniable contributions, women shoulder the brunt of the many crises we face today, oftentimes without buffers or safety nets to fall back on . . .

Policy simply must reflect the role that women and households play in sustaining the economy, and simply must protect these most vulnerable members of the world community, especially in times of economic crises.

This global recession provides an opportunity for a new model of development, rooted in the rights of women, men and children; a model that rewards the productive contributions of all people, regardless of their class or status, their gender, their ethnicity, or their location; a model that recognizes that working people deserve a living wage; a model that provides universal socio-economic security, starting with a universal minimum social protection floor, democratic politics and sustainable development.

Poverty reduction in our individual countries cannot proceed without transforming global structural constraints. And so we call on developed countries to provide significant policy and fiscal space for the developing world to prioritize our people’s well-being over debt payments, to reverse indiscriminate trade liberalization in favor of policies that promote mutually beneficial economic relationships. We call on the North to honor its aid commitments, and to provide additional funding for new programs such as those addressing climate change adaptation. We call for these actions and others required to meet our shared objectives of redistributive justice and social solidarity.

Let us re-imagine a new global partnership founded on shared commitment to economic, financial, social, environmental and climate justice. Let us place, at the heart of that vision, the rights of all people, particularly the rights of the poor, especially the rights of the socially excluded, and emphatically the rights of women. More than that, let us now, with a clear and full sense of what we are pledging, promise to work together to achieve this vision, not in some distant future, but now.

Thank you.