Feminist Report from II World Social Forum

by Frieda Werden/ Wings
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2002 10:28:00 -0500


The feminist presence here at the World Social Forum has been very interesting so far.  There is a big white tent (actually a group of tents) called Planeta Femea, where testimonies took place last night from the Colombian women who went on the Japanese Peace Boat together to discuss solutions for making peace. They are from many different sectors of Colombian society. I audiotaped the presentation and will make it available on the web site www.fire.org when I get back to the US (after Feb. 6).

Planeta Femea has had many events already, including live broadcasts from the site by women in community radio, for a program called Falha Mulher (women talk).  One of their interviews was with a Brazilian lesbian mother. They also played music and had an instructor onstage teaching everybody to Samba at lunch time yesterday.  The whole area is full of women selling food they made, crafts, etc.

The movement here in Brazil is very broad, as demonstrated by the march the opening day (31 of January).  There were many union workers there, including quite a lot from Rio, protesting privatization of public services.  Also peasant farmers, youth, and a lot of leftist parties.  Porto Alegre, where this is being held, is governed by the PT, the Workers Party, which is celebrating something like its 22nd anniversary this week.  The students also marched, protesting what is essentially the privatization of public education in Brazil.

Yesterday, the World March of Women held an all-afternoon forum with many panelists from different countries.  French was the dominant language as they are based in Montreal, but many other languages were spoken. I taped this whole forum. There was simultaenous translation via headsets, but technically it was impossible to record from the headsets.

One issue that was much in discussion was the way that Patriarchy and Capitalism in concert rip off the gifts women and nature give for the survival of people and the earth.  There is a great statement circulating by Feminists for the Gift Economy, a group that formed in at the women~s university in Norway a few months ago, relating to the Gift Economy concept written about by Genevieve Vaughan in the book For-Giving, a Feminist Criticism of Exchange (I think you can find that text, which is very long, at www.for-giving.com).  I will try to get the relatively brief statement on line soon.  Angela Miles, a feminist from Toronto, gave a talk about the Gift Economy at the World March of Women panel.  And Angela and a Brazilian popular educator named Moema also spoke about it in a huge forum the morning of the first full day. 

A highlight of the World March presentation was an all-woman comic satire group that did feminist comedy routines featuring the theme promoted by the World March at this conference  -- Your Mouth is Fundamental Against Fundamentalisms.  They mean not just religious fundamentalisms but also economic and social ones.  The campaign has excellent materials.  They lofted a huge hot-air balloon at the end of the opening March of this forum, and dropped leaflets explaining that not just food aid but also social and human rights are needed as part of any relief effort. Clowns on stilts gave out literature. They also distributed masks for people to wear of a big mouth, saying Your Mouth is Fundamental, etc.

Today in a little while, there will be a march for womens reproductive rights starting at the Planeta Femea tent. 

This morning I went to a panel organized by ALAI about global feminisms.  Sara Longwe was there talking about the elections in Zambia, in which women did not do that well. She made suggestions for breaking into the cycle of discrimination. And Victoria Tauli Corpuz talked about the war against terrorism in the Philippines.  The tapes of these will probably feature in WINGS stories coming out when I come back.

There is much more to tell. FIRE is here covering things, and so is AMARC (the world association of community radio broadcasters).  You can find more about AMARC at www.amarc.org 
More later from me.

In sisterhood,
Frieda Werden
www.wings.org