It will be interesting to see exactly which customs the Vatican is going to allow from the past rich five centuries of Anglican worship, life and thought.
Quote of the day
 ColumnsPaul Rogers Li Datong Fred Halliday Mary Kaldor Daniele Archibugi The World
Email & RSSSign up to oD's editorial summaries email:
Who's linking?NavigationOur Authors around the Web
|
 |
Nobel Women's Initiative 2009
The second international conference of the Nobel Women's Initiative took place in Guatemala, May 10-12, 2009. Four female Nobel Peace Laureates gathered with 135 women activists and policy makers from 24 countries to discuss ways to "Redefine Democracy for Peace Justice and Equality”. openDemocracy was there to explore the major themes and record events in articles, a multi-authored blog and podcasts. We are grateful to the Barrow Cadbury Trust and The Tides Foundation for their financial support which made this project possible. For our coverage of the first Nobel Women’s Initiative conference “Women Redefining Peace in the Middle East and Beyond” in Ireland in 2007, click here. Rapporteurs blogged the discussions and we podcast the meeting daily. Shirin Ebadi, Isabel Hilton, Ann Carr and Nadwa Sarandah explored the major themes in an article series. We are grateful to The Tides Foundation and The Joukowsky Family Foundation for their financial support which made this project possible. During this year's
Nobel Women's Initiative in Guatemala,
Mairead
Corrigan Maguire spoke to Rosemary Bechler about her involvement with the
peace boat that sailed to Gaza to help break the
blockade.
Iranian journalist Zhila Bani Yaghoub and her husband Bahman Ahmadi Amooyi were arrested in Iran
over the weekend after government forces reportedly raided their home.
Yaghoub is a veteran journalist who has worked to promote women's
rights in Iran. She spoke recently at the Nobel Women's Initiative conference on 'Redefining Democracy' held in Guatemala.
The Nobel Women's Initiative issued a statement saying:
"We are worried for the safety of Zhuila, her husband and the countless other Iranian activists and protesters currently being detained in Iran. We encourage your support in this ongoing struggle"
Read more
Mairead Maguire: "This kind of behaviour and treatment is unacceptable. They questioned
me about my nonviolent protests in USA against the Afghanistan invasion
and Iraqi war. They insisted I must tick the box in the Immigration
form admitting to criminal activities. I am not a criminal, my
nonviolent acts in the USA opposing the war on Afghanistan, and Iraqi,
are acts of conscience and together with millions of USA citizens, and
world citizens, I refuse to be criminalized for opposing such illegal
policies." Read more...
I am back from Guatemala, from this exciting, spiritually-connected
gathering: a great dance, party, food, and robust conversations at an
invigorating meeting. It’s so exciting that I keep smiling to myself
remembering the energy in the room, the sisterhood, the fact that as
women race, colour, region, affinity, language never matter. For us it
was about how to make a difference and truly redefine “Democracy”. As I
transit in Texas, my realities hit again and I leave dreamland. Read more...
Nurgul Djanaeva writes "I expected a lot from this Nobel Women's Initiative event, because we are planning next
year to organise our own international conference on "Women and Security" in
Kyrgyzstan, and so I was not just an observer, but I came to find out what can
be achieved at such a gathering - who is
doing what about which kind of security priorities? What is the concept of
security in a wider framework of peace and democracy and how best can it be
implemented? And there have been some wonderful surprises" Read more...
We talked about the joys and challenges of building links with other
social movements and the difficulties associated with resource mobilisation,
popularisation of feminism and dealing with resistance to backlash. We went on
to examine the merits and perils of transnational organisations. We were like a
tank of water that would not fill. Read now...
Laureate Mairead Maguire spoke to Jane Gabriel about a new politic she sees arising: one in which ‘deep democracy’ is built by people, one to one, and demanding that the money be taken out of militarism. Listen now...
WOMEN'S STRUGGLES FOR DEMOCRACY ON THE OUTSIDE
This presentation
is based on an airplane conversation between Hope Chigudu, other sisters and a
man (fellow passenger) who introduced himself as Tino. Read more...
Every woman at the NWI gathering in Antigua had a way of redefining democracy - from writing the new Ecuadorian constitution to include the rights of nature, to fighting for a place at the negotiating table of the peace talks in Sudan. Jane Gabriel listened to three days of stories,debate and plans for the future. Listen now...
Galia Golan, Zionist peace activist, explains that the time for a solution is now
Jody Williams speaks frankly to Jane Gabriel about the impact that being a Nobel Peace Laureate has on her life - both personally and politically. Listen now...
“I
am reflecting on experiences in Sri Lanka of working with women
involved in conflict situations at a time when the situation in Sri
Lanka is perhaps the worst it has ever been in thirty years of a very
protracted and bitter civil war.”
Sunila Abeysekera is Executive Director of International Women’s Rights Action Watch
– a Sri Lankan feminist activist and human rights defender who has
worked on issues of women’s rights and human rights in the Asia Pacific
region and globally for thirty years and more. Read more...
Only by starting from common principles agreed upon by all, rather than
limiting ourselves to the principles which only we believe in, will we
make progress with human rights. Shirin Ebadi writes from the Nobel
Women’s Initiative conference. Read now...
We call upon all states and multilateral institutions to recognize that
the democratization process is incomplete, and does not end with
elections. No country or society can claim to be democratic when the
women who form half its citizens are denied their right to life, to
their human rights and entitlements, and to safety and security. Read more...
Day Three. One of the
plenary speakers, I can’t remember who it was, told the delegates, ‘We
are the privileged ones’. People nodded and you could see that this
struck a chord. I have been wondering exactly what it meant. Read more...
It's hard to believe it's the third and final day of the conference. In
a way, it seems like we just arrived. In another, it feels like we've
been here for weeks, if not longer. We've come to expect conversations
across meals and coffee breaks that span region, sector, discipline,
and point of view. Read more...
Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams and Mairead Corrigan speak to FIRE about their involvement with the Nobel Women's Initiative. Listen now...
All events of this kind have their own shape and dynamics. If Day One
was an eager and passionate Tatiana’s letter, not to Onegin, but to an
already cynical yet surely reclaimable democracy – we seem to have
collectively matured overnight. There are three major themes to this
great day’s proceedings Read more...
Monday's program was full of provocative and interesting discussions by women
working for rights and democracy in repressive and violent contexts.
Upcoming elections in both Sudan and Burma will present opportunities
for democratic transformation, but also significant challenges.
In Sudan, the first general election since 1984 will be held in
2010. Read more...
Participants in the three-day conference reflect on the messages they've taken away from the second morning's sessions. Watch now...
STEPS is a women’s organization founded in 1991 and registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Act 1975, based in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu, to work
on the empowerment of all poor women, and particularly Muslim women in
the region. It aims to bring about a change in the dominant perception
– including among Muslim women themselves – about the rights of women
in Islam. Read now...
Mairead Corrigan rounds up the first day of the Nobel Women Redefining Democracy Conference 2009. Listen now...
Jody Williams, Nobel Laureate, speaks to delegates at the Nobel Women
Redefining Democracy Conference 2009, addressing the topic 'Why are we
here?' Listen now...
Yesterday, the presenter from Palestine made an
impassioned speech, arguing that feminists in Palestine should be
primarily part of the struggle against Israeli imperialism, rather than
focusing on patriarchy within their own culture.
In a further
discussion on challenges to democracy in national contexts,
participants from Mexico, and myself from Canada, discussed the
pressure on feminists not to “divide” the progressive forces in
society Read more...
The first day of deliberations was Women’s Day in Guatemala, and
participants at the Nobel Women's Initiative conference had awoken to
the sound of firecrackers in Antigua celebrating the role of mothers
and the sight of a local volcano
erupting ash, apparently an every day occurrence. Read more...
Democracy is about competition, competition on an uneven playing field,
and if women want to win there is no substitute to building
constituencies for gender equality, matched with building women’s
economic power. Efforts to level the playing field through affirmative
action are essential but have got to be temporary if they are to avoid
damaging democracy, for they are too easily subverted or distorted by
leaders more interested in flashing their credentials as modernisers
than in supporting genuine gender equality. Read more...
María Suárez and Margaret Thompson discuss the context of the
conference, its agenda, and take a look at the first day's proceedings. Listen now...
|
|
Related Websites
Related pagesNobel Women Redefining Peace (2007) |
Recent comments
10 hours 34 min ago
12 hours 59 min ago
16 hours 38 min ago
20 hours 1 min ago
20 hours 34 min ago
22 hours 2 min ago
22 hours 12 min ago
23 hours 55 min ago
1 day 53 min ago
1 day 4 hours ago