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3rd International Meeting - Day 3
of the World March of Women
October 2-6, 2001
Montréal, Québec Canada
Summary of October 5, 2001
Thursday we had an informal party and decided to take the rest of spend the rest of the evening relaxing after a long day.
Friday morning began by adopting a new agenda for the rest of the meeting since the many of the points on Thursday’s
agenda were not dealt with and the fact that many decisions (such as the structure of the March, the demands and
actions) still need to be made before the end of the meeting.
As you probably already understand, the deadlines are very tight and we have many challenges yet to meet in the time that we have left... including leaving this 3rd international meeting with collective decisions.
Morning Session
The participants adopted the 6 goals that orient the World March activities :
The 2 central themes of the World March of Women, poverty and violence against women have been maintained.
Goals of the World March of Women as modified at the 3rd International Meeting
1- Strengthen and maintain a vast solidarity movement of grass-roots women’s groups so that the March constitutes a gesture of affirmation by women of the world.
2- Promote equality between women and men and between peoples.
3- Support a vast process of popular education so that all women can analyze for themselves the causes of their oppression, and imagine possible alternatives.
4- To highlight the common demands and alternatives issuing from global women’s movements on the local, national, regional and international levels, relating to the issues of poverty and violence against women.
5- A) Bring political pressure to bear on governments and multilateral political institutions (e.g., the UN) so that they
institute the changes necessary for improving the status of women and women’s quality of life globally, and so that they
pursue a disarmament and conflict resolution policy.
B) Challenge the international financial, economic and military institutions (IMF, NATO, WTO, WB, etc.) responsible for
impoverishing and marginalizing women and intensifying the violence committed against us, and formulate proposals
for alternative institutions.
6- Convince the general public, other social sectors and social movements to institute the changes necessary for improving the status of women and women’s quality of life the world over.
They also adopted the Appeal of the World March of Women For the Construction of A Just, Equal, Cooperative, Democratic And Pacifist World.
Women then went into workshops in the March’s three working languages to discuss updating the world
demands. At the same time, other women held a news conference to publicly announce the position of the
World March of Women on wars of all descriptions.
Afternoon
The plenary session resumed to discuss the process for adopting demands.
Apart from strategic questions concerning tactics and means for obtaining concrete gains, certain themes, specifically those relating to choice, continue to give rise to difficult debates. These issues seem to divide women, and for many, the outcome of the half-day discussion on lesbian rights was painful, touching both on the emotions and on profoundly held convictions.
It was finally decided that between now and the next international meeting, national coordinating bodies will commit to consulting the groups in their countries/territories on demands 10 and 11 of the world demands and that the March will provide any tools necessary to assist in this process.
The day ended under the rain in Jarry Park, site of the Peace Vigil.
Anelyn De Luna, Thailand
Last modified 2006-03-23 03:07 PM
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