INTERNATIONAL GATHERING of the GLOBAL WOMEN’S STRIKE
& INTERNATIONAL WOMEN COUNT NETWORK
The struggle against
poverty, war & occupation
Bolivia, Canada, China, Greece, Guyana, Haiti, India, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Palestine, Peru, Scotland, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, US, Venezuela, Wales
31 January – 8 February 2009
~ All Welcome ~
Resistance to Israel’s 60-year slaughter in Palestine & to US-UK wars is exploding around the world. The movement in the US has elected the first Black president to kick out the neo-cons & stop the war. Everywhere there’s a renewed will to end the lies & seize the time. Five events on what we’ve been doing at the grassroots & how we can make the most of the new possibilities.
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1. Grassroots Struggle Against Sexism and Racism:
an International Comparison
SPEAKERS: ¨ Rosario Panozo, Bolivia – The first Indigenous president and constitution ¨ Manju Gardia, India – Bringing women together, rural & urban, Tribal & Dalit, against bonded labour & rape, and for pay equity ¨ Andaiye, Guyana – How feminism is used to "genderise" imperialism ¨ Nicola Marcus, Halima Khan, Marbell Thomas, Guyana – African, Indian & Indigenous women unite to defeat the racism of political parties ¨ Phoebe Jones, US – The movement that elected Barack Obama ¨ Niki Adams, UK – Journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal and the struggle against the death penalty ¨ All African Women’s Group, UK – Victims of rape and other torture fight for asylum ¨ Clifton McGowan, UK – Racist lynchings in Telford ¨ Kathleen McCarthy, spokeswoman gypsies and travellers, Dale Farm ¨ Nina López, Argentina/UK – building an international network
DATE: Saturday 31 January 9.30am-5.30pm,
VENUE: Bolivar Hall, Venezuelan Embassy,
54 Grafton Way, London W1 5AJ
Warren St Tube
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2. Iraq, Haiti, Palestine – Occupation is the Crime
SPEAKERS: ¨ Hanaa Ibrahim, Iraq – Women surviving and resisting war and occupation ¨ Pierre Labossiere, Haiti – The 1804 revolution and the Lavalas movement ¨ Islamic Human Rights Commission ¨ Sara Kershnar, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network – Working with Palestinian resistance to defeat Zionist imperialism Dorothy ¨ Dorothy Mackey, US – Survivors Take Action Against Abuse by Military Personnel ¨ Jeremy Corbyn MP ¨ Henry Suarez, Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela – Setting a revolutionary standard in government ¨ Selma James, UK – CLR James’s ‘Black Jacobins’ then and now ¨ Peter Hallward – How the US funded NGOs to defeat the revolution in Haiti ¨ Payday, UK/US – Supporting Israeli refuseniks
FILM Haiti: We must kill the bandits, Kevin Pina
DATE: Sunday 1 February 10.30am-5.30pm,
VENUE: Bolivar Hall, Venezuelan Embassy
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3. Rape and Prostitution – A Question of Consent
While government feminists and religious fundamentalists say prostitution is rape and claim most sex workers have been trafficked, rapists continue to get away with it – the conviction rate for reported rape in England and Wales is 6%. But a growing international movement for women’s safety is demanding the decriminalisation of sex work. In England it is opposing a new bill to "rehabilitate" sex workers, raid brothels and criminalise clients. In San Francisco 41% voted for decriminalisation in the last election.
Hosted by John McDonnell MP, Baroness Stern, Lord Faulkner. Endorsed by Safety First Coalition
SPEAKERS: ¨ Andrea Spyropoulos, Royal College of Nursing ¨ Baroness Sue Miller, Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson ¨ Fr. David Gilmore, Rector, St. Anne’s, Soho ¨ Helen Bamber, Helen Bamber Foundation ¨ Jean Johnson, Hampshire Women’s Institute ¨ Jenny Pearl, sex worker mother of child with disability ¨ Karen de Souza, Guyana, sex workers’ welfare ¨ Lynne Jones MP ¨ Manju Gardia, India, organising against rape by police & landlords ¨ Nell Myhand, Legal Action for Women ¨ Niamh Eastwood, RELEASE ¨ Parisa Cannell, Sibilla Holcroft, Soho sex worker & receptionist ¨ Rachel West, US PROStitutes Collective ¨ Ruth Hall, Women Against Rape ¨ Victoria Andrews ex-lap dancer ¨ English Collective of Prostitutes
DATE: Tuesday 3 February 6-8pm
VENUE: Committee room 6,
House of Commons
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4. Invest In Caring, Not Killing:
Valuing the Work of Caring for People and the Planet
While money is always found for wars and banks, caring for people and the planet is never the priority. Women do 2/3 of the world’s work and produce all the workers of the world. But we must fight for every penny to feed families in war and so-called peace, and to survive flood, drought and other catastrophe. Rural workers who produce the food we eat are the most neglected.
SPEAKERS: ¨ Esther Morales Aymá, Bolivia – Indigenous women organise ¨ Leddy Mozombite, Peru – Domestic workers unionise ¨ Wang Shu Mei, China – Making changes in the countryside ¨ Helen Lowder, UK – Mother and parliamentary secretary: double trouble double day ¨ Margaret Prescod, Barbados/US – A Black community takes on a multinational ¨ All African Women’s Group, UK – Asylum seekers campaign to reunite with children left behind ¨ Sam Weinstein, Utility Workers Union, US – Pay equity across gender and race ¨ Kim Sparrow, UK – Defending single mothers as unwaged workers ¨ Claire Glasman, UK – The social disability of physical disability ¨ Payday, UK/US – Refusing to kill: the anti-war movement within every military¨ Mary Kalyna & Pam Thomas, US – Mothers’ struggle to wrest their children back from the State ¨ Red Thread Guyana – An anti-racist time use survey
DATE: Saturday 7 February 9.30am-5.30pm
VENUE: Bolivar Hall, Venezuelan Embassy
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5. Rediscovering Tanzania’s Ujamaa – Tribute to the Great Ntimbanjayo Millinga and the Ruvuma Development Association
In the 1960s, a great anti-imperialist movement swept the world. President Julius Nyerere urged Tanzanians to reject capitalist exploitation, and build a society based on African communalism. Ntimbanjayo Millinga with a few others and hardly any funding put these views into practice and built an extraordinary rural society based on equity between women and men, young and old. By 1969, 17 ujamaa villages had formed the Ruvuma Development Association (RDA). But the governing party was so hostile to grassroots power that, against Nyerere’s will, they closed it down. Tragically, Millinga died in 2008. But the RDA he led is a beacon in our struggle today.
SPEAKERS: ¨ Conrada Millinga, colleague and widow of Ntimbanjayo Millinga ¨ Suleman Toroka, Head-teacher of RDA ¨ Ralph & Noreen Ibbott, British colleagues who helped build RDA ¨ Selma James, who reclaimed RDA for the movement today.
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DATE: Sunday 8 February 1.30-5.30pm
VENUE: Bolivar Hall Venezuelan Embassy
Access: We apologise that Bolivar Hall is not wheelchair accessible.
Every effort is being made to assist. Steps will be ramped, and staff available to help down the stairs. Unadapted toilet off the hall (no steps).
The Gathering is unfunded, donations welcome. For info, to help out or interpret please contact: Crossroads Women’s Centre, 230A Kentish Town Rd, London NW5 2AB
Tel: 44 (0)20 7482 2496
womenstrike8m@server101.com www.globalwomenstrike.net
www.allwomencount.net
