Women's Assembly
Report of the women’s meeting in the preparatory assembly of Vienna, 6-8 January 2006, of the European Social Forum
Introducers: Josette Rome Chastanet (Women World March, France, IFE) and Sonia Mitralia (Greek Committee for the organization of the Women’s
Assembly)
In this meeting took part: 38 women from 12 countries
(Catalonia, Italy, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Turkey, Great Britain, France,
Holland, Hungary, Romania and Greece) and 28 organizations from all over
Europe : FSG (Greece), Cidette (France), Rouge (France), Kokkino (Greece),
No Vox (France), Sud Ptt (France),
Hungary hoc.for « HEP » Association, Union Syndical Solidaires
(France), DEA (Greece), Colletivo Bellaciao (Britain), Imece Women Solidarity
(Turkey), Network Health Cobas (Italy), Romanian Social Forum (Romania),
Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya (Catalunya), COBAS (Italy), Wilf Europe
(Germany), ASF fem Forum and KPO (Austria), Platki Women (Germany), Steiriche Friedens-Platform (Austria), Initiative of Homosexuals against oppression
and Genoa Initiative 2001 (Greece), Social Forum (Turkey), Hungary Social Forum Association (Hungary), Abortion Rights, (Britain), National Assembly Agaist Racisme, (Britain), International Free Women’s Foundation, (Pays Bas),
IFE EFI, (France),
ADEDY (Greece), Women’s World March (Greece).
The meeting of women in Vienna’s Preparatory Assembly, reaffirmed that the
attendance of movements for women’s rights during the 4th European Social
Forum, will deal with :
Α) The organization of an Assembly of Women in the frame of the 4th
ESF in Athens.
The Assembly of Women in the 4th ESF will constitute an
autonomous space of discussion with the objective to allow the women of the European
feminist movement speak and make our
special oppression visible.
It should be the CLIMAX and the CENTRAL POINT of movements’ attendance for women’s rights within Forum’s framework.
The main task of the Assembly of Women will be to
converge into a common place all different thematic tasks in the seminars and
the laboratories that will take place during the ESF, concerning the
elaborations of the area of the “Feminist Alternative Proposal” itself, as well
as those of other countries that will present the dimension of women’s
rights.
An invitation will be launched for collaboration and
participation in the Assembly of Women, to all organizations and collectivities
that will organize seminars and laboratories that will treat the specific
gender dimension in their works.
Thus, the function of the Women’s Assembly will almost
be the same with the one of the Social Movements’ Assembly.
Β) A European Manifest will be adopted during the Women’s Assembly.
It will include the proposals that will come up during the ESF by the
workshops, the seminars and the laboratories of feminists and other social movements
that are fighting for women’s rights.
A draft of the European Manifesto will be launched as
soon as possible. The target of this manifest is:
- To start a European process of discussion between us, henceforth,
in order to integrate this manifest in the Assembly of Women during the 4th
ESF.
- To get acquainted with each other and develop relationships between
networks for women’s rights and social movements and try to converge by an
appeal that will analyze the main points of the specific attacks against
women’s rights. The Manifest has to overcome our disagreements and unify
us, it must underline some of our basic demands which could serve to
develop campaigns of massive mobilizations with specific goals. Finally,
the Manifest will probably have the function of an “Emergency Appeal” in
order to organize certain unified mobilizations and the massive counter
answer of women to the attacks launched, for example against the right to abort or against
the reactionary politics like the “re-evangelization of Europe” so popular
in Vatican, applied in some
countries of the European Union (Poland, Ireland, Portugal...), against
the comeback of slavery and
extreme poverty of women, etc.
- To make this manifest available to mixed organizations and networks
in order to be taken into consideration in the elaboration of the strategy
of the alter globalization movement, face to the new facts of Europe’s construction.
C) The organization of a women’s space
This space will be in a
central place (not isolated from other movements) in order to unite stands and
kiosks, it will be self-organized and will offer the possibility to show
videos, organize exhibitions etc. It will serve as a meeting point.
D) The proposal for thematic
seminars and workshops that will be
useful in order to describe and analyze the problematic of women’s rights and
to construct networks and campaigns.
The seminars and the workshops should take place
before the Assembly of Women so that there will be an interaction between them.
Some of the seminars’ titles that have been proposed
are: “Preparation of a european campaign against violence against women. The
preparation of the mobilization for the 25th of November and the
demand of a unique European law against
violence due to gender”, «Women Rights, secular state, democracy and equality, feminists
for a secular Europe. What kind of Democracy for another Europe? The role of
feminism in politics, feminism and the question of power, women’s rights and
feminist strategies in Eastern and Central Europe countries: threats and
resistances”, « Which
trade-union strategy for the fight against precarious employment of
women? », «What does
it mean nowadays to be a young woman?”, « Women
and the Bolkestein Directive», « E.U and liberalization of European
economies and the consequences for
women’s lives and the equality of the sexes », « Women, asylum and
immigrants : violence and coercive employment and trafficking », «Women,
asylum and immigration”, «Which politics in Europe for the effective fight against women’s
trafficking ? The role of civils’ society organizations », “The contribution of women in the resolution of
conflicts, the maintenance and the
construction of peace", "Lessons taken from the action of various
NGOs of different orientations like the
feminine ` Friends 1325 ' and examples taken from the functioning of directives CEDAW in the local and regional
legislation", “Immigrants, Gypsies and women of South in Europe: Poverty,
precarious employment, exclusions, exploitation and discriminations ",
“The fight for the defence and the extension of women’s rights to abort in
Europe", "Increasing attacks against the reproductive rights and
their repercussions on the equality of two sexes".
You can be informed for the program, be connected,
register or propose the seminars or your workshops in the electronic address:
Ε) The visibility of the Women Assembly. As we
have already stressed, we demand that the Assembly of Women constitutes a main
event of the entire ESF, and that it takes place in a central space of the Forum.
Since the seminars and the workshops should take place before the Assembly of
Women, therefore the Assembly should be organized either on Friday afternoon
(17-20 hour) 5th of May 2006 or Saturday morning 6th of May 2006 (this will depend on the hour
of the demonstration). We ask the support of the ESF and the Greek committee,
so as, if it is possible, the Assembly of Women does not coincide with another
big event organized at the same hour.
Finally, organizations and individuals can register to
a European feminist mailing-list, after having been in touch with the following
e-mail: soniamitralia@gmail.com
Last modified 2006-04-12 11:50 AM
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