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Feminist International Radio Endeavour September 2007 |
The
power of no: Costa rican women adding power to the no
September
14, 2007
"The
power of No"
is the name of a national women´s day against CAFTA (Central American
Free Trade Agreement) that will take place on Saturday, September 29th
in San José, Costa Rica. Around
1000 women from all around the country will participate in this day of
activism, which is being
organized by Women against the Free Trade Agreement (Mujeres
contra el TLC). The
women’s activity will take place the day before the Great Victory
March (Gran Marcha del Triunfo)
convened by all the social movements on Sunday, September 30th,
which is expected to draw massive participation. Women
from hundreds of organizations, activist fronts, religions, professions,
etc., have united with voices of NO to CAFTA, as organizers in individual
and collective, public and anonymous actions that have marked the path of
the “No”. Weaving History
The
women’s event will start at 10 a.m. with simultaneous activities
designed for dialogue and analysis of the consequences of the CAFTA in the
region and its impact on the female population in particular. For
this reason, a space for dialogue between Costa Rican activists, guests
from México, Central America and the United States, and members of the
Feminist Observatory of Transformational Politics (a regional group that
monitors women crossing the line towards social change) has been created. A
second activity is designed to help distribute general information about
the Referendum on CAFTA that will take place on October 7 this year, with
a booth set up to support the costs of the campaign on the Referendum, by
offering consultancy services related to the process through dynamic
training. Documenting the
process
A
Citizens Monitoring Office - formed by feminist lawyers - will
receive throughout the day the testimonies and complaints of those who
have suffered violation of rights related to the process of the CAFTA
referendum. The newly created
initiative will also formulate legal
recommendations and actions at the national (Constitutional law), regional
(Organization of American States) and international (United Nations)
levels in order to guarantee
the rights of the population in situations where many complaints have been
made but that need to be formulated in legal terms. The
banner of dreams
A
Banner of Dreams (manta)
of multiple colors in which thousands of reasons that make clear the
importance of the NO perspective will be completed that day. In
this long banner are captured
in thread and needle and inks and brushes the dreams of a better Costa
Rica in resistance to CAFTA. The “manta” forms part of this great POWER
of NO, and when sewn together it reflects the diversity of hands that
form part of the Costa Rican social weave. Vital
to this movement is the creativity expressed by women as reflected in the
banner, which is a collective symbolic and physical space for the
elaboration of messages and symbols that allow the participants to keep
weaving their personal mark. Likewise,
this great collective banner documents the process of peaceful and
creative citizen resistance to the free trade agreement. This banner will
be present in the Victory March of September 30th, as testimony of
all the people who have constructed and form part of the POWER of NO.
Concert: The Power
of No
Music
as a mobilizing force, will be played in the voices of Guadalupe Urbina,
María Prétiz and the group Amigos Íntimos,
the percussion of Gladis Chiny and the acoustic guitar of Larissa
Coto. From Honduras comes the solidarity of Carla Lara and Nicaragua will
be present in the voice of Elsa
Basil. The
Power of No will be transmitted live through Feminist International Radio
Endeavour who will link via the Internet to sister radio stations in
Nicaragua, Chile, México, Argentina, The United States and
Canada. You will
be able to listen to it at www.fire.or.cr
that day. Included
in the program is the participation of the Feminist Observatory of
Transformational Politics, the radio program Petatera and
another radio program of recently created by FIRE and “Mujeres del
No” as a local radio initiative
which has allowed women to be the main voices in the gender analysis of
the CAFTA and its various
impacts. Women
building the present Women
against the Free Trade Agreement is a collective initiative that
encourages the political power of women, contributing and validating their
creative expressions, which constitute significant inputs to the current
national political process and as such need to be recorded in history.
Place:
Law School Auditórium, Universidad de Costa Rica Time:
10 am – 4:00 pm Day:
Sepetember 29th, 2007 For
more information visit http://www.mujerescontraeltlc.blogspot.com
or email us at mujerescontraeltlc@gmail.com
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may use the images, text and audios citing FIRE as source. |
