FIRE Marathon Focused on Women's Struggles Against Racism

by Margaret Thompson & María Suárez Toro

On March 8, International Women's Day 2001, FIRE broadcast a 10-hour Internet marathon entitled, Women: Full Spectrum Against Racism, with interviews and programs by women focusing on the struggle against racism and intolerance all over the world.  The program was designed as a contribution to the preparation for the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and other forms of Intolerance (WCAR) to be held in Durban, South Africa from August 28th-September 7, 2001.
 

Three young Afro-Costa Rican women sing  during the FIRE web marathon on racism.

The marathon, which was broadcast through the Internet from FIRE's studio in Ciudad Colón, Costa Rica, included pre-recorded radio programs and interviews with women in Spanish, English, French, and other languages, live calls from audience and activists, and on-site interviews with women from the Latin American and Caribbean Black Women’s Network and the Continental Articulation Against Racism.  It also featured a special program by black women activists in the USA about racial profiling. Many e-mails and spontaneus visits by women and men to FIRE also helped make the marathon an important event, locally and internationally.

Marathon Strategy Links Women's Voices, Events & Struggles Worldwide
The racism marathon was the second in a series of FIRE marathons, which are based on a strategy that is particularly innovative because it links voices, events, struggles, campaigns, and technologies worldwide on a local and regional level, offering multiple instruments for changing women’s subordinate condition in the world. 

Broadcast on International Women’s Day, the FIRE marathon was produced in preparation for WCAR in South Africa, but also for the “2nd International Women's Global Strike," in the campaign  "Voices Without Frontiers," organized worldwide by AMARC (World Association of Community Radios) from South Africa.  The marathon also commemorated the UNESCO Campaign, "Women Make the News 2001."

As a result, this racism marathon, as in other FIRE marathons, served to link many different events and voices from all over the world with one common goal, building awareness and informing about the perpetration of unjustice towards women worldwide, and particularly minority, immigrant and indigenous women who disproportionately face racial and/or ethnic-based violence, sexual abuse/trafficking, and limited or no employment opportunities.

FIRE’s marathon disseminated voices of those women affected by unequal work conditions, and gave a voice to women who are engaged in the struggle against racims and other related forms of intolerance, and to women active in NGOs who work against these forms of discrimination. Likewise, the FIRE webcast offered media attention to related campaigns, pointed out the lack of presence of the mainstream media in supporting these actions, and focused on women’s voices and participation in the media worldwide.

As in their other marathons, this global link made by women, for women, in the hands of women with this racism marathon is FIRE's strategy for building awareness among women in order to understand that personal oppression is one of many global exploitations, which are linked in multiple ways (such as the link between sexism, racism, poverty, exclusion of women from political power and control over media and technologies).  Thus these marathons are designed to empower women locally and globally into action.
 

Marathon Participants Emphasize Intersections of Multiple Oppressions
Feminists who spoke on FIRE's racism marathon emphasized the intersection of racism and sexism, among other oppressions.   Sergia Galvàn of the Dominican Republic, and Lesley Ann Foster of South Africa both noted the critical importance of the upcoming World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) as an historic opportunity for feminists to organize around issues of oppression intersecting race and gender.
 

Caribbean Activist Identifies Critical Feminist Challenges at WCAR 

Sergia Galvàn of the Latin American and Caribbean Black Women’s Network said that the WCAR is a very important and historic event for Afro-Latin American & Caribbean women and indigenous women in her region, and many of these groups have been organizing as feminists around issues of racism and xenophobia.

Sergia Galvàn speaking on the  FIRE-PLACE during Beijing +5

Sergia noted that incorporating women's perspectives into the conference agenda is a critical challenge at WCAR because "historically it has been very difficult to make the connections between race, gender and ethnicity."    Sergia continued, "Another challenge for us is to get the governments to make true commitment and to implement what they are approving in that conference. We also need to move forward with these issues in the agenda of the civil society." 

Although much work lies ahead, Sergia noted that "one positive step that we have already gained is that for the first time from the regional prep-com, discrimination on the basis of sexual preference is already in the agenda.  I want to use this marathon to call on listeners to mobilize with us and support us so that the richness of plurality in our region expresses itself in the process toward the conference."
 

South African Activist Emphasizes Importance of WCAR for her Country
Lesley Ann Foster of South Africa emphasized on FIRE's marathon the importance of WCAR for South Africa, and women in particular in terms of the opportunity to mobilize around the intersection of race and gender issues.
 

Lesley, of the Masimanyane Women’s Center in East London stated, "South Africa was chosen to host this conference because of the remarkable achievement of overthrowing the racist political apartheid system, which we did in 1994 when we had our first democratic elections in the country."  She said that the President had declared 2000-2010 "The Decade of Mobilization Against Racism," so the WCAR is a critical event to help launch this momentous campaign.

WCAR Offers Critical Opportunity for South African Women to Mobilize Around Key Neglected Issues
Lesley noted that "the changes that are taking place in South Africa focusing on women and gender equality are enormous," much remains to be done.  She described a recent large National Conference on the challenges of racism and racial discrimination faced by South Africa, but it unfortunately did not address the intersection with gender issues and sexism. 

"What I found, as a woman and a human rights activist, is that there was no focus on the way in which racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances impacted on women," said Lesley.  "As a black woman who grew up under apartheid, I thought it was necessary to look at the intersections of gender, racism, racial discrimination, etc., within the South Africa context." 

Lesley described to FIRE the commitment of women in South Africa to develop strategies and actions toward WCAR "related to our own lived experience."  She announced plans for a national women's conference to be held in June that would tackle issues such as:  "poverty; political participation; HIV/AIDS--which is a huge problem facing women at the moment; violence against women--because South Africa has the highest incidence of violence against women in the world; and culture and tradition....We have to look back to see how apartheid was institutionalized in order to exclude women--and black women in particular--from socio-economic areas, political participation, etc." 

Although the new South African Constitution and Bill of Rights includes equality clauses, Lesley noted that the results of these laws remain to be seen.  "For that we need a change of mind, and for all a change of approach of everybody within the society."  And WCAR offers this chance, particular for women:  "For us this conference is very important because it is going to say that we as women are not going to stand by and observe what is happening around this conference...We are taking control over the situation, we are engaging in reflections, discussions, research and analyses, to come up with a plan of action and a set of strategies, which will contribute to what is the decade of mobilisation against racism and that will give as an equal place in the political discussion."

Return to main feature, "Live Internet Broadcasts by FIRE at World Conference Against Racism Feature Women’s Perspectives."