Transnational feminism

24 January, 2005, Porto Alegre. FIRE /RIF

Feminists from Latin American and the Caribbean gathered in a Spanish workshop questioned the use of “transnational movement” by the feminism. The majority considered that the feminism is international and not transnational, a term assigned to the market with connotations to the advancement of great corporations.

That happened today, during the second day of the Feminist Dialogue (FD) being held at this city from 23 to 26, prior to the IV World Social Forum. The agenda of this day contemplates Simultaneous Workshops by Language Groups (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese) and a Plenary Session to summarize the political achievements in charge of Brazilian feminist María Betania Ávila.

The “transnacionalization” theme is in the Concept Paper of the Feminist Dialogue, when it characterizes the type of movement needed, although the meaning is not defined. The text states that “As women’s movements, we have the challenge to find new and different ways to analyze and understand these forces”. It further adds “We need to ask new questions which allow us develop a more vital paradigm for the feminist understanding and perspective about globalization. A transnational and transcultural action and thinking turns imperative in our search for strategies. And because these processes are articulated in different ways in different parts of the world, our strategies need to also be global.”

No doubt it will be one of the necessary dialogues among the feminists at interregional levels as well as with the other regions of the world gathered here, because among other things this has consequences in respect to the local and international levels, characterized by other movements as “global” to reflect the link between both in the struggle against the type of globalization which strives to wipe out all local matters or to make the local invisible. The concept, regarding communications, was comprised by the Spaniard Manuel Castells, who states that the expansion of the global can highlight the local in the information process. Is this also applicable to political and social processes?

The FD is organized by a coalition of organizations including Isis International (Manila), Development Alternatives for Women in a New Era (DAWN), INFORM (Sri Lanka), Women’s International Coalition for Economic Justice(WICEJ), Articulación Feminista de Mercosur (AFM–Latin America/Caribbean), African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET, Africa), National Network of Autonomous Women’s Groups (NNAWG) in India.

The main objective of the Feminist Dialogue is to provide an strategic space for the feminists to gather in all its diversity in order to explore the current times, their differences and affinities as well as their role within the social movements of wider range.

Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE/RIF) is broadcasting live the deliberations of the Feminist Dialogue and placing all relevant information at www.fire.or.cr

This broadcasting initiative by FIRE in collaboration with the Media Team of the FM is co-sponsored by a group of women’s organizations which not only collaborate in the coverage but also in the distribution of the information. Among them are Association for Women and Development (AWID), FEMLINK, Media Initiatives for Women in Asia Pacific, WOMENSNET from Africa, ISIS International in Chile, Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), the Latin America and Caribbean Health Net and the International Feminist Gift Economy Network.

(Translated from Spanish by Ana Ugalde of FIRE)