Observing women’s political participation and influence at the US
Social Forum in Atlanta from June 27-July 1 is an objective of the
Women’s Transformation Watch (“Women Crossing the Line”), an
initiative created by Mesoamerican feminists in 2006 together with
U.S. women’s human rights activists from Just Associates.
In
addition, FIRE’s virtual observatory will be interviewing women
participating at the Forum about what it means to “cross the line”
in engaging in transformational politics to bring women’s
perspectives into social change in promoting equality, peace, social
and environmental justice.
Past
observations by Women's Transformation Watch
The
Women’s Transformation Watch (called in Spanish,
Observatorio Feminista de la Transgresión) has so far observed
the 2006 Nicaraguan elections, “Women in Resistance” in Oaxaca,
Mexico in April, 2007, and a fact-finding mission to Costa Rica to
hear about women’s resistance to Central American Free Trade
Agreements (CAFTA).
For
example, in the Watch or “Observatorio” coverage of the
Nicaraguan elections in 2006, women from the Movimiento Autonomo
de las Mujeres (Autonomous Women’s Movement) crafted a feminist
agenda and candidates to bring to one of the political parties
because the women realized they needed autonomous organizing in
order to ensure that their rights and vision as female citizens be
included in political agendas.
In
Oaxaca, Mexico in April, 2007, the second Watch or Observatorio
recorded women’s resistance to neoliberal policies and the
“kidnapping” of the local state by the culture of corruption and
impunity among public officials that threatens the fragile democracy
of the country. The Observatorio collected numerous messages
of solidarity from around the world for participants at the “Women &
Resistance” meeting in Oaxaca. Women have been at the forefront of
the massive street mobilizations and protests, and have even taken
over media venues to be able to express their struggle in the
defense of human rights, democracy and social justice.
In
Costa Rica, a fact-finding mission by the Observatorio or
Watch in March, 2007 comprised of women from all Mesoamerican
countries and the US listened to feminists from Costa Rica who are
resisting the adoption by the government of the CAFTA agreement.
The feminists highlighted not only how this free trade agreement
affects them as citizens but also as women who bring to the struggle
their own perspectives regarding a democracy that includes equality
for women, peace that also includes an end to violence against
women, and social justice that includes policies that deal with the
impact of the feminization of poverty, etc..
These examples of Women’s Transformation Watch (Observatorio
Feminista de la Transgresión) showcase how Mesoamerican women
are “crossing the line” by undertaking transformational politics
that go beyond traditional liberal reforms, challenging and
reconceptualizing from a feminist perspective the main demands that
they share with the rest of the citizenship in their countries.
At
the USSF 2007 in Atlanta, FIRE (Feminist International Radio
Endeavour) and Just Associates, as members of the Watch will
organize this initiative for the purpose of contacting and
connecting with women’s groups and organizations to inform them
about this initiative and encourage them to join the Observatory in
future actions in the USA itself and elsewhere.
The initiative
to create the Watch emerged from an agreement among 25 feminists
from Central America and Mexico, who came together in Panama for a
meeting on “Imagining and Reinventing the Feminism of the Future”
from September 19-22, 2006, organized by the international
organization
Just Associates
with the support of
Hivos
of the Netherlands.
For more information
about the Women’s Transformation Watch, contact María Suárez of FIRE
at
maria@radiofeminista.net, or
Cindy Clark of
Just Associates, Inc. at
cac@justassociates.org.
Also look at the FIRE webpage at:
www.radiofeminista.net (Spanish) or
www.radiofeminista.net/indexeng.htm
(English).
Women’s Transformation Watch Report: Pre-USSF
One
of the themes at the US Social Forum is incorporating gender &
sexuality issues into social movements. Based on that theme, the
preliminary USSF schedule shows a number of activities and
initiatives related to women, sexuality, class, nationality,
immigrant/refugee status, etc., some of which are organized by the
Women’s Working Group, coordinated by SisterSong, as well as
other groups.
A few selections include:
-
The “Red Tent” in the
Health, Healing & Environmental Justice Tent
will be an information site for gender-specific activities and
workshops for navigation at the USSF. The inauguration of the site
consists of a “Red Tent Opening Ceremony” with a women’s celebration
to be held on Thursday, June 29 at 10 am.. It will begin with a
Cherokee women's ceremony followed by women's organizations
presenting a symbol of their work to our Sacred Center. Musicians,
singers and dancers will be present.
-
Gender & Sexuality
Plenary: The
Women’s Working Group, the Transformative Justice Caucus, the
Environmental Justice Working Group and the Queer Caucus
collaborated to organize the Liberating Gender and Sexuality:
Integrating Gender and Sexual Justice Across Our Movements
plenary on Saturday, July 30 6:00-7:30 pm at the Atlanta Civic
Center. For more info, please visit:
www.ussf2007.org/plenaries
-
Social Forum Court of
Women: A tribunal
on human rights violations against women in the US, Thursday, June
28, 1:00-5:00 pm at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 435 Peachtree St,
NE. Session topics include: Violence Against Women, the Criminal (In)Justice
System and the Gulf Coast Crisis. Judges, Expert Witnesses, and
Performers will be present. For more information contact Pat Willis:
Pwill06@coastalnet.com.
Selected sessions:
Rebuilding Women’s
Movements Across All Borders
(Thur. June 28), which will explore ways of rebuilding and
ere-energizing women’s movements across borders of power and
privilege;
Popular Education for
Social Transformation: Case Studies from Around the Globe (Fri. June 29), which will
explore examples of popular education from different contexts and
countries, and discuss common struggles and themes in using popular
education for social transformation;
Women Make Media: Not
War (Sat. June 30) ??
While
most mainstream media cover war through the eyes of the war makers,
many women at all levels of media concentrate efforts in rendering
visibility to women´s voices about peace. In this session, feminist
grassroots media practitioners will describe their experiences,
successes and the obstacles they face.
Other examples of sessions that illustrate women’s participation and
actions at the forum including the following topics:
-
State perpetrated violence against indigenous women & girls
-
Change women’s lives, change the world
-
Gender & militarism
-
Black women internationalists speak out
-
Advancing US women’s rights through global feminism
-
Rebuilding women’s movements across all borders
-
Combating military violence
-
Feminist look at age as a social construct
-
Women’s leadership in the labor movement
Other women's
events:
Breakfast: The Ms.
Foundation will be hosting a Breakfast on the morning of Thursday,
June 28th from 8:30-11:00 am at the Hyatt Regency Hotel
during the USSF. RSVP required. Contact Tiffany
Robertson:
trobertson@ms.foundation.org.
Reception:
The National Organization for Women is sponsoring a Women’s
Networking Reception on Friday, June 29, 5:30-7:30 pm at the
headquarters of CARE International, 151 Ellis Street NE. For more
information or to co-sponsor, contact Jan Strout:
womenvotenow@yahoo.com.
Hospitality Suite:
SisterSong is sponsoring a Women’s Hospitality Suite at the Marriott
Hotel, 160 Spring Street, during the USSF that will be open from
10:00 am – 6:00 pm, Wednesday 6/27 to Saturday 6/30. This suite will
have fruit, snacks and water for our sisters needing a place to rest
and refresh during the USSF.
