Live Internet Broadcasts by FIRE at World Conference Against Racism Feature Women’s Perspectives

by Margaret Thompson & María Suárez Toro

The key role of women in the UN Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and other forms of Intolerance will be the focus of daily live Webcasting at the “FIRE-PLACE” by Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE) in Durban, South Africa, from August 28th through September 7th. 
 
 

Sonja Bozak, a radio producer from South Africa, speaking on a FIRE-PLACE program at Beijing +5 in New York, NY in June, 2001.

Under the title, “Voices Without Brackets,” FIRE staff and guest producers will broadcast news reports and interviews in Spanish and English with women from around the world from the WomensNet CyberCafe with daily updates from the conference, as well as programs exploring the way that racism and other forms of intolerance intersect with gender, sexuality, ethnicity/culture, and other characteristics.

Listeners may also participate in “chat rooms” with the FIRE-PLACE staff and guests during the programs.  Thus as they have in every UN Conference in the past 10 years, FIRE will play a part in the dialogue of the conference to build more sophisticated analyses of racism and other forms of intolerance.
 

FIRE-PLACE and Web Marathons as Multidimensional Strategy 
Another FIRE program produced in preparation for WCAR was a 10-hour webcast marathon on March 8, 2001 called “Women: Full Spectrum Against Racism,” with interviews and programs by women focusing on the struggle against racism and intolerance all over the world.

As one of a series, FIRE's strategy in these web marathons and also the FIRE-PLACE is particularly innovative because it links events, voices, struggles, campaigns, and technologies worldwide on a local and regional level, offering multiple instruments for changing women’s subordinate condition in the world. 
 

WCAR FIRE-PLACE Schedule & Guest Producers
Starting August 28 through September 1, FIRE-PLACE programs in Spanish will be broadcast 6-7:30 pm (South African time, 10 am Costa Rica/MST); and in English 7:30-8:30 pm (11:30 am Costa Rica/MST) from the NGO Forum.

From September 2-7, the FIRE-PLACE will be broadcast 6-6:30 pm in Spanish, and 6:30-7 in English from the Official Conference.
 

The FIRE-PLACE entitled, "Voices Without Brackets" will include the following guest producers pre-registered to worked with FIRE to do programs, including:   Gloria Careaga (Mexico) of ILGA (International Lesbian & Gay Association) on issues of gender & sexuality;  Carol Barton (USA) and others with the WICEJ (Women’s International Caucus for Economic Justice) on the intersections of globalization with gender, race & class;  Tashi Dolma, Dolkar Lhamo Kirti, Youdon Aukatsang and Tsering Jampa from the Tibetan Women’s Association and the International Campaign on “Foreign Occupation and Tibetan Women”;  Mavic Cabrera (Philippines) and others with Isis International-Manila on media and racism;  Carmelita Nuqui (Philippines) and others of DAWN (Development Alternatives for Women in a New Era) on Filipina migrant women’s issues in Japan; Hazel Brown (Trinidad-Tobago), Caribbean Women’s Network on the topic, “Caribbean women emerging from 500 years of racism”;  Clarisse Delorme and others of the European Women’s Lobby on “Strengthening women's rights in a Multicultural Europe”;  Letitia Bouloukos (Australia) and others with the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland on the topic of using art to explore racism and xenophobia;  Fatma Alloo (Tanzania) with journalists from Zanzibar, Tanzania on the WCAR, and media and racism; Note:  A specific schedule will be posted on the FIRE webpage later in August. Also, several media organizations have asked FIRE for live feeds from WCAR or reports for redistribution in Switzerland, USA, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Costa Rica, Argentina, and other Latin American countries, and several African countries through the Women's Network of AMARC (World Association of Community Radios).

The FIRE-PLACE in South Africa is being sponsored by HIVOS, ASTRAEA, ILGAHR (International Lesbian and Gay Association of Human Rights), the University of Denver and the permanent support of Genevieve Vaughan.

Activists and others who wish to receive further press releases and reports from FIRE during the conference may ask to be put on the e-mail distribution list at:  femintra@hotmail.com.  Radio producers who wish to receive live feeds or do phone interviews may contact FIRE to arrange to call the producers at a specified time.

For more information, write to FIRE at: femintra@hotmail.com or check the webpage at:  www.fire.or.cr.