Newsletter format.html
WORLD
MARCH OF WOMEN NEWSLETTER
VOLUME 11,
NUMBER 1 - FEBRUARY 2008
Editorial
Free Trade
and Integration: Part of the Current Scenario
Free Trade
Impacts and Feminist Integration Alternatives
GLOBAL
FREE TRADE
1. ASPAN:
free trade and militarised integration in North America
2. Africa
and European Union: alternative meeting seeks to build a different partnership
model
3. Costa
Rica and Israel-Mercosur: bilateral agreements advance; resistance continues
4. The WSF
Global Day of Action and Mobilization: The day the WSF went truly global
2.
“Enlazando Alternativas” (Linking Alternatives) III
3.
Participatory democracy from the local to the global level: for what sort of
development?
4.
Globalising the Struggle: I Encounter of Zapatista Women with Women of the
World
5. The
World March of Women ‘family’ keeps on growing: New National Coordination Body
formed in Bangladesh
Start
preparing yourselves for the VII International Meeting of the World March of
Women!
Calendrier
des événements
Contacts /
Prochain numéro
Editorial
Dear
sisters,
As an
anti-capitalist, feminist movement, one of the four focus action themes of the
World March of Women is Women’s Work. The political objectives of this theme
are to continue our work with regard to feminist economic alternatives, but
also to denounce the impact of neoliberal and patriarchal globalisation on the
lives of women, on their working conditions and on their financial autonomy. And
it is ‘free’ trade agreements that are not only one of the corner stones of
neoliberalism, but are in themselves the rules of a system based on the sexual
and international exploration of labour. For this reason, one of the desired
outcomes stated in our Strategic Plan 2007 – 2010 is to “Strengthen the WMW's
participation in the struggle against free trade”, and with this objective in
mind, we have chosen to dedicate the 1st edition of 2008 to this subject.
In the
first section of the newsletter, we look at the concepts of free trade and
integration, and analyse the impacts of the former and the feminist
alternatives to the latter. We examine: the threat of the North American PSP to
civil society, and resistance to it; the “Africa-Europe: What Alternatives?”
summit held in Portugal in December; and the advance of, and struggle against
bilateral agreements (Costa Rica; Israel – Mercosur). While in the second
section of the newsletter we highlight five anti-neoliberal globalization
alternatives around the world in which the March has taken part / will take
part in: the 3rd ‘Connecting Alternatives’ meeting in Peru that will take place
in May; the International meeting to discuss Participative Democracy in France
in December; the 1st Encounter of Zapatista Women with Women of the World; the
26th January: ‘the day the WSF went truly global’; and the launching of our
newest National Coordinating Body in Bangladesh, South Asia.
Our
challenge as an International movement is to ensure that the global struggle
against free trade is superior to the sum of its parts. In other words, how can
we share experiences and learning from each mobilization / event with each
other within the March and with other allies in constructive and creative ways?
How do we exchange ideas and mutually construct common strategies against the
advance of free trade and other neoliberal policies? The 26th January, Global
Day of Action and Mobilization of the WSF, was one such way and the 8th March,
International Women’s Day, will be another…Let’s not lose the opportunity to
make ourselves heard and seen and to demand another world based on feminist,
anti-capitalist, truly democratic principals.
FREE TRADE
AND INTEGRATION: PART OF THE CURRENT SCENARIO
In 2005 an
important step was taken in the fight against neoliberalism, for it was in this
year that the negotiations for the completion of the Doha Round - of the World
Trade Organization (WTO) – failed, a fact celebrated by the social
organizations, networks and movements worldwide that had been denouncing the
risks posed by WTO to populations since the beginning.
Created in
1995 to establish rules for trade exchanges among countries, the WTO has been
criticized for principally being a space where transnational corporations,
through the influence of governments from the most powerful nations in the
world, push for open markets and the elimination of internal regulations that
are of great importance for the development of southern countries. In the WTO,
the predominance of market rules extends further than the “free circulation of
commodities”, to include services not previously considered tradable objects,
such as access to health, education, and water. In this way, the role of the
State in the definition of the economy is reduced, a function that is handed
over to multilateral bodies such as the WTO, the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank, directly affecting people’s lives (see article below).
FTAs: a
new strategy
The same
WTO rationale – or even worse – is reproduced in many bilateral and regional
free-trade agreements (FTAs), economic partnership agreements (EPA), and
regional integration agreements. The constant problems in the WTO negotiation
rounds – and in the Americas, the failure of the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the
Americas) – led to the signing of FTAs, a strategy supported particularly by
the United States, but also by the European Union. FTAs are often used to put
forward issues that were obstructed at the WTO (trade of services, intellectual
property rights, investment protection measures and government purchases).
Examples
of such FTAs are those signed between the United States and Chile, Colombia,
Peru and Costa Rica, between the European Union and Mexico and Chile, and the
discussions with Mercosur, African, Central American and Caribbean countries.
Thus, the resistance against the WTO and the FTAs is a permanent struggle,
which is fought along with the search for alternatives.
Some
examples of FTAs signed since 2004 |
|
Canadá-Peru |
January
2008 |
Israel-Mercosur |
December
2007 |
August
2007 |
|
September
2004 |
|
JPEPA
(Japan and Philippines) |
September
2006 |
January
2005 |
|
January
2004 |
|
August
2006 |
|
January
2006 |
|
US-Peru |
April
2006 |
For a
more comprehensive list, please visit the websites below: Bilaterals
(everything that’s not happening at the WTO): http://www.bilaterals.org/ Fighting
FTAs: http://www.fightingftas.org |
In search
of alternatives: Latin America, a unique example
Since the
failure of the WTO rounds, the global movement against neoliberalism has faced
the challenge of creating alternatives for regional integration and new global
organizations to support people’s interests. Latin America is the region that
currently presents the best political environment to build alternatives for
trade and integration of nations. The organizational practices among networks,
campaigns and social movements, which caused the end of FTAA negotiations in
Mar del Plata in 2005, and the election of several governments identified with
social movements in this continent, has allowed the discussion of a project of
counter-hegemonic regional integration, in opposition to the agenda of the
United States and other powers for the region.
The
discussion of such a project began to gain strength in 2006, integrating other
actors, such as political parties and research institutions. The key starting
point were the debates promoted by the movements during the struggle against
the FTAA and the WTO, the evaluation of previous integration proposals such as
Mercosur, and new proposals that emerged already within the scope of
resistance, such as the South-American Community of Nations (presently known as
Unasul – União da América do Sul, in 2004), Alba (Bolivarian Alternative of the
Americas), and TCP (Trade Agreements among Peoples), signed in 2006 by Bolivia,
Venezuela, and Cuba.
In
December 2006, the first Social Summit for the Integration of Peoples was held
in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which further permitted the strengthening of the
consensus among movements and the discussion of concrete proposals with
regional governments.
In 2007,
the creation of Banco del Sur represents another step forward in this
integration, as it will provide means of autonomous financing, independent of
the present WTO and World Bank structures that generate dependence.
In
addition to funding, another strategic issue in this debate is physical integration
(infrastructure) of the region. Regarding the proposal of IIRSA (Initiative for
South-American Integration), there are constant disputes between projects that
only aim to fulfil the productive and commercial interests of large companies
and those that aim to combine the supply of local energy and infrastructure
needs with the reduction of the environmental impacts on local communities.
The World
March of Women has participated in this debate with many other Latin American
social movements to develop an integration alternative that includes the
feminist perspective (see next article). This is not easy, for requires the
acknowledgment that there are several different forces and the need to
construct integrated visions in the face of contradictions, hierarchies, and
discrimination, in order to be able to develop a proposal that will respond to
all demands.
For
further information:
Our World
is not for Sale: http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.org/
Feminismo
e Integração da América Latina e do Caribe (Feminism and Latin American and
Caribbean Integration, only in Castellano): http://www.sof.org.br/arquivos/pdf/caderno_10.11.07.pdf/
Rebrip –
Rede Brasileira pela Integração dos Povos (Brazilian Network for the
Integration of Peoples: http://www.rebrip.org.br/
Ações das
mulheres contra o jogo da OMC (Women’s Action against the WTO, only in Portuguese),
published by SOF – Sempreviva Organização Feminista, San Paulo, September 2003
---------------------
Free trade
impacts and feminist integration alternatives
Free-trade
and integration agreements, based on the neoliberal rational of the market,
consumption and the reduction of the role of the State, have negative effects
on the lives of everyone. There is less employment, peasants and urban workers
are increasingly exploited, human rights are threatened, and governments are
less able to ensure access to health, safety, and food sovereignty and to
protect the environment and biological diversity. In this scenario, women are
the main victims. There is a perverse combination of market and patriarchy
within the structure of the neoliberal model.
Analyses
of the impact of adjustment policies and the opening of the market show the
massive inclusion of women in precarious and flexible jobs, with no legal
protection, with no right to organize themselves as workers, performing the
same tasks as men for 30% lower wages. Also, women are used to complement and
to replace the State; they increasingly have to carry out domestic work and
care. Domestic work, considered as naturally “feminine”, intensifies
inequalities and characterizes the type of jobs obtained by women that migrate
from the South to the North. The neoliberal model generates more inequality:
between women and men, between South and North, among women. On the one hand,
women are increasing filling qualified job posts, and in the other hand, at the
same pace, the number of women under increasingly worse work conditions grows.
As a result, there is a wider diversity of interests among women, and class,
gender, race, and age relationships become more fragile.
Since its
creation, the World March of Women has criticized the economic model that
generates and strengthens inequalities. During the 2000s, it has participated
in the collective processes of struggle against free trade, and specifically in
the World Social Forum, along with other social movements, in the construction
of an alternative project for society. The debate on regional integration – key
in Latin America today – has been essential to moving this construction
forward. We believe it is not possible to reform the treaties and agreements currently
proposed by the governments and multilateral bodies with social and gender
clauses that would minimize the impact of free trade on people’s lives. An
alternative proposal, coming from the movements, is needed.
Elements
for an integration that will generate equality
The vision
of integration we want to build is based on ethics and the values of humanity,
not merely on the market. Therefore concepts such as growth, market,
modernization, and development are opposed to key principles of a feminist economy
– solidarity, cooperation, reciprocity, and justice. The challenge is to
transform rhetoric into practices and concrete proposals.
The first
element to build another integration and development model is to challenge
inequality - the unequal and hierarchical relationship between men and women –
that is the result of different social practices. It is necessary to make
visible the role of economic activities carried out by women in order to draw
attention to the large volume of domestic work and care performed by women that
is not recognized as work, but is an essential part of the reproduction of
life.
Another
form of integration is based on imperatives, such as the collective
reappropriation of our resources, the adoption of varied means to organize production,
the giving of priority to human care and well being, the strengthening of
diversity and the full autonomy of women.
An
integration that generates equality assumes dismantling mechanisms of
oppression based on class, gender, race, and ethnicity. This requires the
deconstruction of the different forms of discrimination of women, people of
colour, indigenous people, homosexuals, and of all oppressed sectors. This will
only happen if all movements actually embrace the demands of these sectors
during the process of discussion of an integration project.
To achieve
both equality within the movements and the inclusion of issues put forward by
the feminist agenda – in which everyone takes on this embraces this struggle in
their practice, values and proposals - is a permanent challenge. This entails
participating in spaces with an agenda that includes specific feminist demands,
and at the same time building and being part of the general construction of
these agendas. How to organize ourselves and to mobilize, how to work on these
issues and to make collective decisions… all these are challenges that this
process present to us, women.
(1) Text based on the pamphlet “Women
building alternatives for another integration,” (in Spanish: http://www.sof.org.br/marcha/arquivos/pdf/cochabamba_folder.pdf)
written for the Social Summit for the Integration of Peoples (December 2006),
and on the article “Feminism and Integration of Latin America and the
Caribbean”, available only in Portuguese in http://www.sof.org.br/arquivos/pdf/caderno_10.11.07.pdf
GLOBAL
FREE TRADE
1. ASPAN:
free trade and militarised integration in North America
In March
2005, during a private meeting of the heads of state of three North-American
countries – presidents George Bush (United States) and Vincent Fox (Mexico) and
prime minister Paul Martin (Canada) – the first steps were taken in the
discussion of a treaty whose main objective is to strengthen the region’s
integration, which was already under way with NAFTA (North America Free Trade
Agreement). This is how the Partnership for Security and Prosperity (PSP)
began.
All PSP
negotiations were secretive: neither the public, elected representatives, nor
civil society organizations were informed of such an initiative. After the
meeting – held very informally at Bush’s ranch in Texas – only a report by the
White House was made public, along with the joint declaration of the meeting.
Those negotiations were not even officially adopted.
Such
informality did not prevent the creation of several groups to put forward PSP
proposals:
1) 19
working groups (10 under the label “prosperity” and the other 9 under
“security”);
2) A
follow-up group, composed of public security, industry, and foreign relations
ministers, responsible for submitting an annual report on the progress of PSP
objectives to the heads of state;
3) A
Competitiveness North American Council (CNAC), established in 2006, whose
objective is to “counsel” rulers on issues concerning competitiveness,
comprising 10 businessmen from large companies from each country, and appointed
by the respective heads of state.
As in
other “free trade” and integration agreements that were vertically proposed,
excluding any discussions with the society, the PSP is a typical initiative in
which large businesses lobbies do not counsel, but rather directly influence
the content of the decisions and guidelines adopted.
What to
expect?
PSP
anticipates continental integration to become stronger at the sub-regional
level – started in North America with the Free Trade Agreement between Canada
and the United States (1987) and NAFTA (1994). Both these trade agreements aim
at the free trade of all goods, assets and services, turning everything into
commodities: natural resources, energy, water, social and health services,
education, and other elements that are common assets of society. PSP
accelerates privatisation and the exploitation of resources on behalf of
“prosperity”, which it links to the idea of “national security”.
Militarisation
is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the PSP. The fight against terrorism,
after the 11th September attacks, became key for the Bush administration,
which, along with PSP, has been able to align several Canadian and Mexican
public policies with US policies, such as those regarding immigration and
border security. In Canada, for instance, the war became a central element of
foreign policy, with an increase in military spending since 2001. The Canadian
military forces, which used to act principally in humanitarian missions, are
increasingly engaging in combat missions, such as in Afghanistan. These changes
in the foreign policies of Mexico and Canada result from the fear of losing
their privileged economic relations with the US.
Based on
preventing threats to the security of the United States, this harmonization of
policies of other countries implies clear loss of sovereignty. At the same
time, measures such as sharing passengers’ lists to hunt terrorists are
pretexts to increase the control of the State over individuals.
Resistance
The
Alianza Social Continental (Hemispheric Social Alliance) is a network of
movements that, in the Americas, brings together diverse regional and national
resistance networks against free trade, such as RQIC (Reseau Quebequois sur
l’Intégration Continental) and Common Frontiers, from Canada, RMALC (Red
Mexicana de Acción contra el Libre Comercio) from Mexico, and ART (Alliance for
Responsible Trade) from the USA.
Some
articles with detailed information on PSP can be found in the websites of these
networks.
- http://www.commonfrontiers.ca/
2. Africa
and European Union: alternative meeting seeks to build a different partnership
model
Activists
from many networks, research centres, NGOs and social movements from Europe and
Africa gathered from 7th – 9th December,
Meanwhile,
at the official summit, governments gathered with the objective of signing new
temporary trade agreements – the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA), to
replace former agreements that expired on December 31st. This objective failed,
as most African leaders refused to sign the new agreements. This second
official summit was held seven years after the first one, held in 2000, and
three years after a failed attempt at a new round in 2003.
At the
alternative summit, African and European participants stressed the historical
and contemporary role of European governments and corporations in Africa. 50
years after the first decolonisation, African populations - particularly in the
Sub-Saharan region - were the first to be effected by the inequalities caused
by economic and financial globalisation: essential services, such as access to
water and education, are not ensured and family income – mostly derived from
agriculture – is being constantly eroded. In addition, the EU support to
authoritarian and dictatorial regimes in Africa was denounced.
The “AU-EU
Strategic Partnership” was considered as an immediate and consistent threat to
Africa. Rather than promoting true solidarity with that continent, European
policies –represented mainly by the Cotonou Agreement and the Euromed strategy
– impose aggressive trade agreements aimed at facilitating the access of
European transnational companies to the natural resources of the African
continent, and, at same time, increasing restrictions to the circulation of
peoples, maintaining African populations dependent on international aid, threatening
their economic, social, environmental, and cultural rights.
An
alternative of the peoples
The
alternative summit was a way to allow European and African citizens to
participate in the joint building of another European policy for Africa. Based
on the debates, a document expressing common visions and proposals on how a
real European-African partnership, with true solidarity was written - fairer
for countries north and south of the Mediterranean. This document, delivered to
the representatives of the governments participating in the official summit,
presents demands on each of the four axis of the meeting, such as the end of
the imposition of economic policies harmful to African countries and end of the
bilateral agreements; public support for small farmers – African and European;
the adoption and practice of the many conventions and recommendations that
ensure fundamental rights (access to health, education, housing, etc.) for all,
including the “sans papiers” migrant workers and their families. The human
rights agenda of the declaration also includes especially the rights of women
and their sexual and reproductive rights. “We reject gender violence, forced
marriages and other practices that are violations of human rights and are
killing thousands of women and girls every year.”
Click on
the link to see the full declaration:
English - http://africa-europa-alternativas.blogspot.com/2007/12/final-declaration.html
French
- http://africa-europa-alternativas.blogspot.com/2007/12/dclaration-finale.html
Portuguese
- http://africa-europa-alternativas.blogspot.com/2007/12/declarao-final.html
The
participants of the summit also committed themselves to deepen solidarity
strategies using the political calendar of the African and European movements
in
The UNCTAD
XII meeting (United Nations Conference for Trade and Development) in Accra,
April 2008;
The
proposed conference on Global Europe and the EU Free Trade Agreements, in
Brussels, April 2008;
The 5th
European Social Forum, in Malmo (Sweden), in September 2008;
The
Migration WSF, in Madrid, September 2008.
Further
information on the summit can be found in the blog:
http://africa-europa-alternativas.blogspot.com
3. Costa
Rica and Israel-Mercosur: bilateral agreements advance; resistance continues
In Latin
America, the victory of YES in the official referendum on the Free Trade
Agreement in Costa Rica in October and the signature of the FTA between Israel
and Mercosur in December 2007 are two hard blows for the movement against free
trade. In the light of this, however, the reaction of movements and
organizations has been to intensify even more their mobilization efforts.
Further information on these processes below.
Costa Rica
“That
which seems, at first sight, a defeat of the Patriotic Movement for NO to the
Free Trade Agreement of Costa Rica, can actually be considered a victory for
the strengthening of the organized movement.” This is the assessment of Marissa
Revilla and Sandra Moran (Mexico and Guatemala) of the process of resistance to
free trade in that country. They participated as observers at the official
referendum on the FTA, held on 7th October
The
referendum was the result of the growing mobilization of Costa Rican civil
society since the FTA was signed with the US, Central America, and the
Dominican Republic in May 2004. Seventeen international observers (accredited
by the Elections Supreme Court) from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and
Panama participated. Observers visited 6 indigenous and peasant communities and
witnessed the irregularities that occurred throughout the voting period.
During the
referendum process, anti-imperialist and anti-neoliberal feelings were
intensified, and efforts were made to reconstruct history and national and
Latin American feelings of self-determination, taking into account a wide range
of ideas and perspectives, and emphasizing the role of the people, poor neighbourhoods,
and grassroots organizations. The total complacency of the of the Elections
Supreme Court and its submissive attitude to the government and its allies
allowed a series of irregularities to take place, which favoured the YES, and
betrayed the will of the voters.
The
presence of international delegations was an opportunity to establish and to
strengthen solidarity and political links among grassroots organizations and
communities of Central America, to exchange opinions and experiences, as well
as information on the effects of the FTA in Mexico and Central America, and
struggle and resistance strategies against neoliberal capitalism.
Women in
the NO
During the
entire process, women played an essential role: “they were present in radio
talk shows, in propaganda in the streets, organizing the mobilization days, and
in all activities proposed by the movement from the start.” In the organized
women’s movement, Mujeres contra el TLC (Women against the FTA) wrote a
declaration that clearly expressed what women demanded for themselves and for
their country. From now on “Women against the FTA” takes the name “Mujeres del
NO” (Women of NO). “NO to the implementation and to the abuse of power, both in
our homes and in our country. NO to public and private violence, perpetrated by
the President of the Republic or by male heads of families. NO to what is
blindly called development; NO to a model of society based on the production of
goods at the expense of the reproduction of life; NO to a system based on greed
and competition as supreme values; NO to the discrimination of women; NO to
efforts to hide our millenary resistance from view” (reported by Marissa
Revilla and Sandra Moran).
See the
complete report
on the referendum of Costa Rica on the WMW website, in Spanish: http://www.marchemondiale.org/themes/alternatives_economiques/freetrade-integration/referendum_costarica/fr
Israel -
Mercosur
Movements
and organizations of the member-countries of Mercosur – Argentina, Brazil,
Uruguay, and Paraguay – that participated in the South American Peoples’ Summit
in Montevideo, Uruguay, are concerned about the signing of the FTA with Israel.
In addition to adopting WTO principles and rules, which are in fact used to
defend the interest of large transnational corporations, the agreement allows
the access of services (water, education, health, etc.) to foreign companies,
thus becoming a threat to basic rights that should be provided by the national
states rather than being delegated to others.
Another
dangerous aspect of this FTA is the fact that Israel is one of the main allies
of the US war and militarisation policies: “a State that militarily occupies
Palestinian territories, builds an Apartheid Wall inside the Palestinian
territory, and today issues a virtual declaration of war against the legally
established Palestinian Authority; a State that brutally attacks the population
of Gaza and breaches the UN Resolutions on the Middle East, and has recently
disobeyed the ruling of the International Court of Justice that, as of July 9th,
2004, demanded that Israel stopped building the Wall and demolished it
(Declaration of the South American Peoples’ Summit, Dec 17, 2007).
Those
movements and organizations also stated “the Court recommended that other
countries should not acknowledge nor provide any cooperation that may favour
the continuation of the situation created by the Wall and the Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian territories.” It is for this reason that they
will press the parliaments of their countries to obstruct the ratification of
that agreement.
Read in http://www.movimientos.org/cumbrepueblos/show_text.php3?key=11511
the complete Declaration of South American Peoples’ Summit.
OUR ALTERNATIVES:
ANTI-GLOBALIZATION SPACES
1. The WSF
Global Day of Action and Mobilization: The day the WSF went truly global
26th
January 2008: it’s a –5ºc, snow on the ground day in Montreal, Quebec, and a
32ºc humid day in Manila, Philippines. But on this day – despite climatic
differences – the WMW was present in mobilizations around the world. From
Pakistan to Peru, Guatemala to Galicia, France to the Philippines, Bangladesh
to Brazil, March activists united to occupy the streets in solidarity with women
who are prevented from doing so. Under the slogan “They are Present”, the women
of Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iran, Kenya and Mexico were
remembered, while the current violence and abuses against them were denounced
in the strongest possible way.
Mobilisations
took a different form in different countries, but the WMW’s feminist ‘batucada’
(drumming group) was present in several: in Manila, Philippines where women
animated the march “On with the struggle: Jobs and justice, land and freedom!”
with feminist drumming rhythms for the first time; in the birthplace of the
‘batucada’ - Brazil - in several different cities around the country; and in
Montreal where WMW activists warmed themselves and onlookers up with their
funky beats.
In other
countries, the WMW took part in seminars and forums: in Pakistan 200
grass-roots women and others (peasants, fishers, journalists, lawyers…) took
part in a very successful Social Movements Assembly (unfortunately the
authorities did not permit the planned rally so the ‘batucada’ was not able to
play); in Galicia the March was present at the Constituent Assembly of the
Galician Social Forum where the International meeting of the WMW in October was
announced; in Mexico there was a women’s tent in the Zocalo in Mexico City in
which the WMW participated in the debates (and on 31st January there was a
mobilization against ASPAN in which the WMW was also present), while in Cuba
the WMW National Coordination promoted a reflection session on the present and
future of the March in the country. In yet other places, cultural events were
on the agenda, such as in the city of Villa El Salvador in Peru, where the 26th
was a day of culture – graffiti, mime, theatre, cinema – and debate, and in
France where cultural activities and debates followed the festive march through
Paris. In Bangladesh, the recently formed NCB organized a human chain in front
of the National Parliamentary building in the capital, Dhaka.
We will
continue marching until all women are free!
Towards 8th
March…
The
material produced by the International Secretariat for the 26th January
mobilizations – documents and information boards denouncing violence in Burma,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iran, Kenya and Mexico – are permanent
sources of information that can be used in other activities that you organize
(they are not dated, nor do they have the logo of the WSF). To download them,
please click on: XXXX
The
upcoming 8th March - International Women’s Day - activities, for example (for
which the 26th January mobilizations were a preparatory step), are an ideal
opportunity to denounce once again to the world the acute ongoing violence
against women in these countries.
2.
“Enlazando Alternativas” III
From 12th
– 15th May 2008, the third meeting of “Enlazando Alternativas” (Linking
Alternatives) – Bi-Regional Network of Latin American and European Movements –
will be held in Lima, Peru. This meeting will take place before the fifth
Summit of Heads of State of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean
(EU-LAC), scheduled for 16th – 17th May,
which aims is to further define and to sign bilateral trade agreements between
these two regions.
“Enlazando
Alternativas” III (EA3) will be another
opportunity to allow civil society organizations of both continents to press
their governments to change the direction of the relationships between these
two regions and to develop alternatives to neoliberal policies, characterized
by submission to transnational capital.
The
Bi-Regional Network of Latin American and European Movements was created in May
The third
“Enlazando Alternativas” was launched on 26th January as part of the Global Day
of Action linked to the WSF process in 2008. The preparation for the meeting in
May has started, with regional meetings in Peru. In addition to critically
analysing the EU-LAC relations, FTAs, militarisation, and criminalisation of
social movements of both continents, a Peoples’ Court hearing will be held to
discuss the impacts of the actions of transnational European companies.
The World
March of Women in Peru is an active participant of the EA3 committee, and along
with other sister networks, such as REMTE (Red de Mujeres Transformando
3.
Participatory democracy from the local to the global level: for what sort of
development?
The World
Meeting “Participatory democracy from the local to the global level: for what
sort of development?” was held from 10th – 12th December
The
discussions developed during the different workshops went through a first
moment of synthesis in the ‘Agoras’ (participative conference), from the points
of view of unionists, youth, and feminists. The ‘Agora’ “Equality between women
and men in development”, organized by the association EgalCité, placed equality
and freedom at the heart of participatory democracy. Women and men from
different social movements - including the World March of Women - and research
centres shared experiences and built follow-up proposals. One of which is the
future organization of an “equality between women and men in participatory
democracy” meeting that will bee preceded by the systematisation of exemplary
experiences from different regions of the world.
Several
proposals relating participatory practices with economic and political
institutions from local to global level were made, which require building a new
way of thinking, as well as cultural and institutional changes.
4.
Globalising the Struggle: I Encounter of Zapatista Women with Women of the
World
Refusing
to remain ignored and exploited by the Mexican government and the neo-liberal
capitalist system that it promotes, indigenous men and women of the Zapatista
National Liberation Army (ZNLA) appeared on the 1st January 1994. 14 years ago,
Mexico woke up to find the state of Chiapas, south-east Mexico, under control
of a left-wing rebel group, its members having spent 10 years in clandestine
preparation, organisation and mobilisation in the Lacandona Forest of the
region. Their spokesperson and leader is the infamous Marcos, entitled
Sub-commander because it is the people who are always the real commander.
Essentially
a political, anti-neoliberal globalisation movement, the Zapatistas[1] resorted to
taking up arms as their last hope for putting into practice the basic principals
of the Mexican Constitution and to defend the 38 municipalities of Chiapas
state that are their autonomous territories. Here, since the 1st January 1994
uprising, the almost exclusively indigenous rural population are no longer
treated like animals and subjected to slave labour by violent plantation
owners. They are still extremely poor, but they are finally free from hundreds
of years of exploitation and have put enormous effort – with the help and
defence of the ZNLA – into creating autonomous education, health, production
and justice systems. And they have achieved all this while “in resistance”, in
other words without accepting any financial or technical from the State, whom
they refer to as the ‘Bad Government’.
With the
establishment of the ‘Revolutionary Law of Women’ by the ZNLA before the 1994
uprising and the adherence to it by Zapatista communities since that date, the
position of women has improved significantly. Where once girls were not sent to
school because it was believed they had no need for education, they now attend
autonomous Zapatista schools with their brothers. Where once young women were
obliged to have sex with the plantation owners before their arranged marriages,
they now marry who they want without being raped beforehand by these bosses
(who no longer exist because in 1994 the Zapatistas reclaimed huge tracts of
land that had been stolen from indigenous communities). Where once women worked
for no pay or in exchange for leftover food in the plantation owners’ houses –
where they were at constant risk of sexual violence and pregnancy as a result
of rape - they now work with their communities and families. Where once they
were not permitted by their husbands to leave the house, they now hold
positions of responsibility and participate actively in community life.
However,
despite all these advances for women since the uprising, the inequality between
women and men is still strong and the oppression of women is evident in public and
private spheres of life. Men are still reluctant to let the women leave the
house, and they are still responsible for all the house work and looking after
the children and food preparation, although “the men help us a bit more now”
(Health promoter Sandra, Caracole Oventik, 30th December 2007). And they are
still in the minority at all levels of Zapatista autonomous authority and
suffer the ridicule of men who doubt their capacity to lead, make decisions and
take on community responsibilities.
The
Zapatista women commanders – community authorities and a handful of military
captains from the ZNLA - shared all these advances and challenges with each
other and with us (women from other organisations in Mexico and
internationally) at the I Encounter of Zapatista Women with Women of Mexico and
Women of the World from 28th – 31st December in the Caracole ‘
In the ‘La
Garrucha Declaration’
(http://www.marchemondiale.org/alliances_mondialisation/zapatistas/declaracion_garrucha/en),
women activists from the World March of Women and Vía Campesina expressed how
privileged they felt to be present at this event whose “international
character, and the honesty with which our hosts have shared their experiences
with us, permit the globalisation of women’s struggles around the world and
support to the Zapatista women and to the Zapatista movement in general.” They
declared that “during this Encounter we have learnt from the political
experiences of the Zapatista women: their numerous advances, but also that
there is still a long way to go. Their example strengthens our conviction that
the construction of a world of equality, justice and solidarity is achievable,
and gives us hope in the possibility of changing social and economic relations,
daily life, and the culture of oppression, exploitation and repression
that we are subjected to.”
5. The World
March of Women ‘family’ keeps on growing: New National Coordination Body formed
in Bangladesh
The WMW
organised a meeting of various Bangladeshi women’s organizations on te 15th and
16th November 2007, coordinated by Saleha Athar (WMW International Committee -
IC – member) and Shashi Sail (ex-WMW IC member, India).
After an
introduction of the participants - 35 women from 25 different organizations –
Saleha and Shashi presented background information about the WMW and the aims,
objectives and activities of the movement. The participants then discussed the
four focus themes of action of the WMW: Violence against women; Peace and
Demilitarisation; Women’s work; Common good and access to resources.
During the
meeting, the participants decided to create a National Coordinating Body (NCB)
for Bangladesh, and elected its members. Seven Bangladeshi organizations are
represented in the NCB, coordinated by Salima Sultana of “Women and Child Hope”
and they have already agreed on an Action Plan (organization of the first NCB
meeting, organization of WMW mobilizations on the 26th January, FSM Global Day
of Action, application of WMW Strategic Plan, organization of 8th March
demonstrations, etc) and discussed their desire to participate in the WMW’s
International Meeting in Galicia in October 2008.
Start
preparing yourselves for the VII International Meeting of the World March of
Women!
From 14th
to 20th October the World March of Women will be holding its VII International
Meeting in Galicia, northeast Spain, Europe. WMW activists from approximately
35 countries will spend 7 days learning together, discussing strategies, and
mobilizing around the theme of food sovereignty… start planning with your
National Coordinating Bodies (NCB) to make sure your country is one of them! To
this end, in June and July we invite you to organize an NCB meeting in your
country to discuss who will represent you in Galicia – women who have a history
of activism with the WMW - and how you will raise money for their participation
(flights, inscription fee…). Texts for discussion with your NCB will be sent
out towards the end of May.
Events
calendar
8th March:
International Women’s Day
31st March
– 3 April: WSF International Council meeting, Nigeria
4th – 6th
April: WMW European Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland
7th – 12th
April: Hemispheric meeting against the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas),
Havana, Cuba
1st – 4th
May: WMW International Committee meeting, São Paulo, Brazil
12th – 15th
May: III Linking Alternatives meeting – Biregional network of Latin-American
and European Social Movements, Lima, Peru
22nd – 24th
May: WMW African Meeting, Bamako, Mali
Click here
to have a look at the 2008
social movements events calendar: http://www.marchemondiale.org/cmicfolder.2005-12-23.6522433749/agenda2008/en
Contacts
WMW
International Committee
Miriam
Nobre (International Secretariat), Nana Aicha Cissé and Wilhelmina Trout
(Africa), Ynares Caridad and Saleha Athar (Asia), Farida el Nakash (Middle
East), Rosa Guillén and Gladys Alfaro (Americas), Celina dos Santos and Nadia
de Mond (Europe).
WMW Internacional
Secretary
Rua
Ministro Costa e Silva, nº 36, Pinheiros
São Paulo
- SP - Brazil
05417-080
Phone:
(+55) 11 3032-3243 / Fax: +55 11 3032-3239
E-mail:
info@marchemondiale.org
Website:
www.marchemondiale.org
SI team:
Alessandra
Ceregatti, Célia Alldridge, Maria Curione, Miriam Nobre and Nathalia Capellini
Written
contributions from:
Alessandra
Ceregatti, Célia Alldridge, Gisèle Bourret, Marissa Revilla, Nancy Burrows,
Rosa Guillén and Sandra Moran
Translation:
Ângela
Noronha, Catherine Degoulet, Maitê Llanos
Photos:
World March of Women (WMW) archives
Designed
by: Luciana Nobre
Financial
Support: Novib (Oxfam Netherlands), Global Fund for Women, Fund for
Non-Violence, Oxfam GB - Sur América, Development and Peace, E-CHANGER.
São Paulo,
February 2008
Next
Edition
Women and
climate change
WMW
International Committee Meeting in Brazil
WSF
International Council Meeting in Nigeria
[1] Named after Emiliano Zapata: leading
force of the Mexican Revolution that broke out in 1910, outstanding national
hero and symbol of rebelliousness.
Last modified 2008-03-04 09:31 AM
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