Last day of the WSF in Dakar, Part I: The assembly of the women's organizations ended in chaos. An assessment of the Forum by Lilian and Betania of the Feminist Dialogs.
ID 39198
The assembly of the women's organizations was divided over the question whether or not to include the struggle of the Saharoui women in the final declaration. Moroccan women opposed any mentioning of the occupation of the West-Sahara by Morocco.
An interview with Lilian Celiberti and Betania Avila of the Feminist Dialogs about the WSF 2011, the women's assembly and future perspectives.
An interview with Lilian Celiberti and Betania Avila of the Feminist Dialogs about the WSF 2011, the women's assembly and future perspectives.
Audio
11:55 min, 11 MB, mp3
mp3, 128 kbit/s, Stereo (44100 kHz)
Upload vom 22.02.2011 / 02:11
11:55 min, 11 MB, mp3
mp3, 128 kbit/s, Stereo (44100 kHz)
Upload vom 22.02.2011 / 02:11
Dateizugriffe: 970
Klassifizierung
Beitragsart: Feature
Sprache: english
Redaktionsbereich: Wirtschaft/Soziales, Frauen/Lesben, Politik/Info
Serie: Weltsozialforum 2011 in Dakar, Senegal
Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
Namensnennung - Nicht-kommerziell - Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen erwünscht
Namensnennung - Nicht-kommerziell - Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen erwünscht
Skript
Jingle
Music
In the morning of February 11 or of the last day of the WSF 2011 in Dakar the assembly of the women's organizations took place. The draft declaration of the women's organizations that was put together during the last five days was presented. The main focus of the declaration were the many armed conflicts in Africa from which many women are suffering. Among other issues the declaration expressed solidarity with the struggle of the Saharaoui women against the occupation of the West-Sahara by Morocco. This issue caused huge debates and no further discussion on other points of the declaration was possible.
O-ton
The assembly turned into chaos, many were shouting at the same time and no one could understand anything. The organizers called on the women to calm down and listen to each other.
O-Ton
When the women were quiet for a moment, one women suggested, that we should also include the struggle of women against the WB and the IMF and the democratization of the UN in the declaration.
While majority of the women's organizations present, were in favor of the struggle of the Saharoui women, some Moroccan women disrupted any discussion and refused to adopt any declaration that mentions the struggle of the saharoui people. They emphasized over and over again, that there are no votes in the WSF but only consensus.
O-Ton
Finally the women's assembly decided not to adopt any declaration and that some organizations could individually sign the declaration that expresses solidarity with the struggle of the Saharoui women.
Music
I took the opportunity to interview Lilian Celiberti from Italy and Betania Avila from Brazil of the Feminist Dialogs
O-Ton Lilian ....
On the question what was her impression of this WSF, Lilian Celiberti responded:
This forum had two very contradictory faces. On one side there is the strong and very active African Participation, many women, youth and other organizations.
And on the other side there is the very poor logistical organization. A dialog needs certain preconditions such as venues and translation. Otherwise it is impossible to share, exchange and enrich each other. To organize a WSF means to provide the space that the different struggles of the world can come together. These preconditions were not given in this WSF.
O-ton Lilian
I asked Betania about her impression of the Feminist Dialogs and what was the outcome:
O-Ton Betania
It was a huge challenge to organize Feminist Dialogs under these difficult circumstances. We did not have a venue and went from place to place until we could finally tart the dialogs. On the way we lost many participants and some speakers. The outcome at the end was all the same interesting. All speakers were given the question, what they are doing against the structural oppression of women, such as gender based division of work, sexuality, religious dominance and power structures within the feminist movement. It resulted in a very interesting discussion from different perspectives and experiences. But the circumstances did not allow to elaborate proposals for the future collaboration. In other words as before the forum the organizations of the FD have to continue the discussions via internet.
O-Ton Betania
With regard to the assembly of the women's organizations Lilian said:
O-ton Lilian
This morning the declaration of the women's organizations was presented. During the last WSF in Belem, Brazil the assembly of the women's organizations was one of the highlights. The declaration is very comprehensive. But we were missing the issue of reproductive work of women. I feel the declaration made to much reference to international conventions and UN-Resolutions. May be this is an expression of the variation of the feminist struggles in different continents. In Africa there are a lot of tensions, conflicts with traditions and many wars.
The main issue here was wether we mention certain struggles in the declaration or not and power structures became obvious. The Saharoui women of the Polisario experienced repression during the entire forum. Every event that talked about the occupation of the West-Sahara by Morocco was sabotaged by Moroccan participants of the WSF and at the assembly of the women's organizations we experienced the peak of this sabotage. This conflict made a democratic and participatory process impossible. We from the FD were not even able to speak. We need to learn to manage this kind of conflicts within the women's movement. It shows that there are issues that we have not yet discussed thoroughly. The struggle of the Saharoui people might look like a small detail in the declaration. But it is a question of respect for all struggles. That every people has a right to its country. If we mention the struggle of the Palestinian people we also have to talk about the Saharoui people.
O-Ton Lilian
I asked Betania, if she feels the assembly of the women's organizations here was a set back compared to the assembly at the last WSF in Belem?
O-Ton Betania
I do not think that we can compare, as we have to see each assembly in its social contexts and the history. Here the armed conflicts are very present. While there were hardly any participants from Africa in Belem. It is extremely important that many people from Africa participated in this WSF. Unfortunately the domination over a minority population characterized this women's assembly. Terrible was also the threatening behavior of some men who opposed to the democratic decision to express solidarity with the Saharoui women in the declaration. The strong presence of patriarchy at the women's assembly was disgusting.
O-Ton Betania
Lilian said it is important now to look at the future:
O-ton Lilian
The individual WSF is a moment in a long process. The experiences, the exchanges, the contacts enable us to develop and deepen the debates. We need to recognize that colonization continues in the divisions that we experience in different parts of the world. How can we establish direct links between Latin American and African women. How can we develop collective thinking. Those are challenges for the next forum. This experience teaches us that we need to pay more attention to the struggles in this continent and strengthen our solidarity with the African women.
O-ton Lilian
Music
Jingle
Music
Music
In the morning of February 11 or of the last day of the WSF 2011 in Dakar the assembly of the women's organizations took place. The draft declaration of the women's organizations that was put together during the last five days was presented. The main focus of the declaration were the many armed conflicts in Africa from which many women are suffering. Among other issues the declaration expressed solidarity with the struggle of the Saharaoui women against the occupation of the West-Sahara by Morocco. This issue caused huge debates and no further discussion on other points of the declaration was possible.
O-ton
The assembly turned into chaos, many were shouting at the same time and no one could understand anything. The organizers called on the women to calm down and listen to each other.
O-Ton
When the women were quiet for a moment, one women suggested, that we should also include the struggle of women against the WB and the IMF and the democratization of the UN in the declaration.
While majority of the women's organizations present, were in favor of the struggle of the Saharoui women, some Moroccan women disrupted any discussion and refused to adopt any declaration that mentions the struggle of the saharoui people. They emphasized over and over again, that there are no votes in the WSF but only consensus.
O-Ton
Finally the women's assembly decided not to adopt any declaration and that some organizations could individually sign the declaration that expresses solidarity with the struggle of the Saharoui women.
Music
I took the opportunity to interview Lilian Celiberti from Italy and Betania Avila from Brazil of the Feminist Dialogs
O-Ton Lilian ....
On the question what was her impression of this WSF, Lilian Celiberti responded:
This forum had two very contradictory faces. On one side there is the strong and very active African Participation, many women, youth and other organizations.
And on the other side there is the very poor logistical organization. A dialog needs certain preconditions such as venues and translation. Otherwise it is impossible to share, exchange and enrich each other. To organize a WSF means to provide the space that the different struggles of the world can come together. These preconditions were not given in this WSF.
O-ton Lilian
I asked Betania about her impression of the Feminist Dialogs and what was the outcome:
O-Ton Betania
It was a huge challenge to organize Feminist Dialogs under these difficult circumstances. We did not have a venue and went from place to place until we could finally tart the dialogs. On the way we lost many participants and some speakers. The outcome at the end was all the same interesting. All speakers were given the question, what they are doing against the structural oppression of women, such as gender based division of work, sexuality, religious dominance and power structures within the feminist movement. It resulted in a very interesting discussion from different perspectives and experiences. But the circumstances did not allow to elaborate proposals for the future collaboration. In other words as before the forum the organizations of the FD have to continue the discussions via internet.
O-Ton Betania
With regard to the assembly of the women's organizations Lilian said:
O-ton Lilian
This morning the declaration of the women's organizations was presented. During the last WSF in Belem, Brazil the assembly of the women's organizations was one of the highlights. The declaration is very comprehensive. But we were missing the issue of reproductive work of women. I feel the declaration made to much reference to international conventions and UN-Resolutions. May be this is an expression of the variation of the feminist struggles in different continents. In Africa there are a lot of tensions, conflicts with traditions and many wars.
The main issue here was wether we mention certain struggles in the declaration or not and power structures became obvious. The Saharoui women of the Polisario experienced repression during the entire forum. Every event that talked about the occupation of the West-Sahara by Morocco was sabotaged by Moroccan participants of the WSF and at the assembly of the women's organizations we experienced the peak of this sabotage. This conflict made a democratic and participatory process impossible. We from the FD were not even able to speak. We need to learn to manage this kind of conflicts within the women's movement. It shows that there are issues that we have not yet discussed thoroughly. The struggle of the Saharoui people might look like a small detail in the declaration. But it is a question of respect for all struggles. That every people has a right to its country. If we mention the struggle of the Palestinian people we also have to talk about the Saharoui people.
O-Ton Lilian
I asked Betania, if she feels the assembly of the women's organizations here was a set back compared to the assembly at the last WSF in Belem?
O-Ton Betania
I do not think that we can compare, as we have to see each assembly in its social contexts and the history. Here the armed conflicts are very present. While there were hardly any participants from Africa in Belem. It is extremely important that many people from Africa participated in this WSF. Unfortunately the domination over a minority population characterized this women's assembly. Terrible was also the threatening behavior of some men who opposed to the democratic decision to express solidarity with the Saharoui women in the declaration. The strong presence of patriarchy at the women's assembly was disgusting.
O-Ton Betania
Lilian said it is important now to look at the future:
O-ton Lilian
The individual WSF is a moment in a long process. The experiences, the exchanges, the contacts enable us to develop and deepen the debates. We need to recognize that colonization continues in the divisions that we experience in different parts of the world. How can we establish direct links between Latin American and African women. How can we develop collective thinking. Those are challenges for the next forum. This experience teaches us that we need to pay more attention to the struggles in this continent and strengthen our solidarity with the African women.
O-ton Lilian
Music
Jingle
Music
