Rosemary Bechler

Nobel Women's Initiative calls for the immediate release of Mairead Maguire and other Human Rights activists detained by Israeli authorities on June 29th.

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Jane Gabriel

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"

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Roja Bandari

 

These past days have been a nightmare. I and my fellow Iranians have been watching the small amount of democracy present in Iran erased within a day. Everything we hear from Iran is heartbreaking but more than anything, I have been anxiously watching the international media. Although some reports are accurate, many huge mainstream media sources still frame the events in a way that really feels as if they are twisting the knife in our wounds.

What media does in this situation can make a difference in saving lives in Iran. If those in power in Iran realize that the western media has become sympathetic to them, they will be as brutal as they desire. I'm asking you to please use all your resources and connections to raise awareness about a few things and spread the word.

Some media are framing the protests as "people whose candidates didn't win are now angry". This is not true. People (including myself) are not angry because Mousavi didn't win. We are angry because we feel the election was stolen. We are in the streets to defend our right to decide a president (at least out of the 4 we could choose from). We are angry because something has happened that is changing our system fundamentally.

The allegations of fraud are portrayed as only brought up by Mousavi or only the reformists. But the other conservative candidate, Mr. Rezaei, has in fact filed a complaint about this election as well, asserting that the vote counts don't make sense. So this is not a complaint among two candidates, or two sides. This is about committing electoral fraud.

Some call the peaceful protests "riots." People are not rioting. Yesterday's protest which ended in killing of innocent people was a "silent" protest. People were walking in complete silence for the majority of the march. We are not hooligans. We are citizens who are very aware of what is happening and we will not stay quiet.

Protesters are portrayed as pro-western and young. While most are young, and many might be interested in improving relations with the west, this is an inaccurate generalization. In pictures of large protests you can see older people, and you see many who seem more religious. It's really not about the west.

If Iranian state media (currently completely in the hands of a certain political segment) post any news in this regard, most mainstream media regurgitate it exactly, amplifying their voice and making it resonate all around the world. Often it is propaganda that gets amplified which is carefully crafted with the aim of crushing the protests.

Most Iranians have no doubt that the results are fraudulent. A president with 24 million votes, does not face such persistent protests with people, whole families even, coming out in the face of blind violence. If you cheat a whole nation people will not accept it.

Maybe there is a subconscious attitude among western spectators that thinks Iranians can not take the results of a democratic election if it's not who they liked most. But we are not savages, in fact that is exactly why people are in the streets. If the right to vote was taken away in the US or Europe, everyone would be protesting. That's why Iranian people are coming out day after day after day.

 

Sara Mojtehedzadeh

From the stone carving adorning the War Museum in Tehran, two women, chadors wrapped tightly around them, stare grimly ahead. Their lips are contorted into determined frowns. One wields a rifle.

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Solome Nakaweesi-Kimbugwe

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 the rest of this post...

Hope Chigudu

Many of us travelled on the same flight from Houston to La Aurora International Airport. Our entry into Guatemala was grand. We were welcomed by Erin Allison and the other organisers.

There was a comfortable minibus waiting to take us to our hotel, Casa Santa Domingo in Antigua city. Six of us, an ‘assorted' group of sisters, enjoyed the unknown landscape, and each other's company.  A few of the sisters already knew each other but the others were meeting for the first time. We easily fell into a conversation that took us from the personal introduction to the introduction of our organisations. We shared our hopes and excitement for the conference and located ourselves in it. Before we went to our different rooms, we agreed to meet at the end of day two, go into town and explore pubs, restaurants, the remarkable history of Antigua; its taste, texture and smell.

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Hope Chigudu

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.

 

Tino:  My name is Tino. Since we took off, I have been listening to the conversation between you and your friends. I could not help it. You are loud; everyone on this plane has been listening to you. You keep talking about the conflicts scourging the African continent and then your desire for democratic participation. Let me provoke you; if democracy were a woman, or feminist, what would she do?  Read the rest of this post...

Isabel Hilton

Behind the high walls of a hotel in Antigua, the tranquil colonial capital of Guatemala, as the more than 100 women participants moved into the third day of “redefining democracy” some 40 miles away in the modern capital Guatemala City, democracy did a little redefining of its own. It was precipitated by an event unusual even for Guatemala: the distribution at the funeral of a murder victim of a video in which the deceased, a respected lawyer, accused the president, his wife and his secretary of organising not only his own murder – he was shot on the streets of Guatemala City while riding his bicycle on Sunday - but the murders earlier in the year of two of his clients.

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Declaration of the Nobel Women’s Initiative Conference on
Women Redefining Democracy
Antigua, Guatemala, May 10-12, 2009

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.  Despite this, we women have made extraordinary efforts to democratize the institutions of society that frame our lives and the well-being of all humanity – the family, the community, clan, tribe, ethnic or religious group, political, legal, economic, social and cultural structures, and the media and communications systems.  But our search for justice is continually overwhelmed by the violence perpetrated upon us, by the exploitation and colonization of our bodies, our labor, and our lands; by militarization, war and civil conflict; by persistent and increasing poverty; and by environmental degradation.  All of these forces affect us, and our children, far more severely and in unique ways.  We know that democracy that comes from the heart is not the rule of the majority, but safeguards dissent and difference with equal rights, and fosters a culture of peace.  We are in search of democracy that transforms not just our lives, but all society – and we will not be silenced until it is achieved in every part of the world.

 

First published on the Nobel Women's Initiative website.

Rosemary Bechler

It’s Time to Return to the Hotel Brochure

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. The most obvious reading belongs to the same family as the jesting remark made by Jane Austen’s Elizabeth when she suggests that she fell in love with Darcy when she first saw his lavish ancestral home, Pemberley. Read the rest of this post...

Mia MacDonald

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. So, another morning in Antigua, Guatemala: Safaa, from Darfur in Sudan, is explaining to a small group of Americans and an Australian what's next in terms of the political process, specifically the Sudanese national elections planned for February 2010. I join in, along with my breakfast plate: black beans (frijoles), plantains and a fried potato cake. I listen and then I ask a question, to which Safaa replies. "We are not going anywhere."

I'd wondered whether, if the south of Sudan decides to become independent in 2011, Darfurians might want to join them. Safaa goes on to describe, briefly, the history of Sudan and the centrality of Darfurians to it. She reminds us that nearly everyone in Darfur is a Muslim, like those in the north of Sudan. Moreover, she continues, it's the politicians who have made use of "tribal" identity, or Arab and African, as a means to divide people. At the local level, Safaa assures us, such distinctions don't have weight. There, it's not about tribes. "People at the local level can work out their issues," Safaa says.

Meeting someone like Safaa turns prevailing and gendered images on their head. Yes, the suffering in Darfur has been immense, and yes, women's rights and bodily integrity have been attacked relentlessly. Yes, most of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Sudan and Chad who've fled the conflict in Darfur are women and children. They are victims, but they are also leaders—exercising agency for themselves and many others. Safaa speaks with determination, force even. She's tall; unbowed, one could say. Her organization is based in Khartoum, but her work is, she says, "on the ground in Darfur".

We discuss a recently published book about Darfur and the Save Darfur Coalition by political scientist Mahmoud Mamdani, a Ugandan who teaches at Columbia University in New York. He views the conflict as having been simplified—Arab vs. African—in a way that has ultimately made the Western response at best unhelpful and at worst detrimental (devastatingly so) to a durable political solution.

I ask if the Sudanese government gave her trouble about traveling outside the country. Yes, she says, but that's nothing new. She and her colleagues expect it now, but they proceed with their work in any case. In fact, Safaa's just spent 10 days in Germany, working on constitutional issues related to Darfur in the context of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA). The Khartoum government sees Sudan as an Arab country, she says, as we walk to the morning plenary. But it isn't, she continues, and won't be. As we part, Safaa greets Lena, from Palestine, in fluent Arabic, on the terrace.

 

First published on the Nobel Women's Initiative website.

Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams and Mairead Corrigan speak to FIRE about their involvement with the Nobel Women's Initiative.

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With thanks to FIRE for use of their audio material.

Rosemary Bechler

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: lessons from some extraordinary women who have run for and held political office, strategic thinking from women reporting unforgettably from the front line of war-torn societies, and the sliding into place of the last gargantuan building block for our overhaul of democracy – the battle for women’s human rights.

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Isabel Hilton

When men have done making war on each other and on each other’s women, many return to home to make war on their own. Aftermath is the neglected story of war: what happens to the guerrilla fighter after he lays down his gun? Or to the former soldiers with stories of horrors never told, men cast adrift from the companionship of shared military experience, alone with unspoken memories?

The evidence is that many come home to act out their nightmares through violence against women.  Read the rest of this post...

Erin Simpson

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.  There have been significant problems with the census, specifically that many displaced and refugee Darfuris were not counted.  Read the rest of this post...

Participants in the three-day conference reflect on the messages they've taken away from the second morning's sessions.

With thanks to the Nobel Women's Initiative and JASS for the video footage.

Rosemary Bechler

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. It believes that interpretation of the Qu’ran through a patriarchal lens resulted in discrimination against the women of the community and forced them to lead subjugated lives in a way that is not sanctioned in Islam.

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Mairead Corrigan rounds up the first day of the Nobel Women Redefining Democracy Conference 2009.

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With thanks to FIRE for use of their audio material.

Jody Williams, Nobel Laureate, speaks to delegates at the Nobel Women Redefining Democracy Conference 2009, addressing the topic 'Why are we here?'

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(Should you experience any problems with sound when using the above player, please click here to access the audio clip directly from the FIRE website.)

With thanks to FIRE for use of their audio material.

Erin Simpson

On Sunday, 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, but instead, to work as united movements, men and women. Read the rest of this post...

Rosemary Bechler

Thomas Rainsborough was the highest ranking supporter of the Levellers in the New Model Army when he spoke in the Putney Debates in July 1647, and uttered the immortal words for British parliamentary democracy:

"For really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, sir, I think it's clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not at all bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under."

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Rosemary Bechler

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. Naomi Tutu as the first moderator deftly appropriated the motherhood theme, which she said needed renovating, to give an undertaking on behalf of participants: we were going to be gestating a new definition of democracy capable of celebrating women’s achievements over recent months and years. Many of these definitions were offered during the next eight hours of discussion, though none perhaps so pithy as Mairead Maguire’s emphasis on ‘empowering people where they live – giving them dignity and hope’.

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María Suárez and Margaret Thompson discuss the context of the conference, its agenda, and take a look at the first day's proceedings.

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(Should you experience any problems with sound when using the above player, please click here to access the audio clip directly from the FIRE website.)

With thanks to FIRE for use of their audio material.

Anisha Desai

In Day One’s morning conversation, we discussed the meaning of democracy from a feminist perspective - how it had been defined, traditionally, through a patriarchal lens, and how it could be redefined to be more encompassing, holistic, and deeply permeating not only the political sphere but the personal sphere of our lives. A sister from the Sudan remarked that while the conversation about democracy was interesting, that it would have no bearing on the reality of the women she worked with, who are more concerned with the day-to-day material struggles of their lives. How was such a lofty conversation meant to impact them in a way that would produce real results? How could they possibly be asked to focus on conversations, which largely seem theoretical, in a space where the achievement of democracy seemed like a long-lost hope?

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The following is an interview with Erin Simpson, Manager of Policy and Advocacy for the Nobel Women's Initiative.  Erin talks about the motivations behind the conference and its theme, the debates and discussions so far, and what redefining democracy takes.

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(Should you experience any problems with sound when using the above player, please click here to access the audio clip directly from the FIRE website.)

With thanks to FIRE for use of their audio material.

Isabel Hilton

What can a government do to harass women fighting for their rights when they are not breaking the law? In Iran, according to Shirin Ebadi, Nobel prize winner, lawyer and human rights defender, one answer is to use the power of the courts against them. The Iranian delegation to the second meeting of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, which opened today in Guatemala, was meant to have five members. Two of them were prevented from leaving the country. Narges Mohammadi, spokesperson for the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights and an award-winning human rights defender in her thirties, and Soraya Arzizpanati, a Kurdish Iranian journalist active in the campaign to clear land mines in Iran, had passed through passport control at Tehran airport, their exit visas safely stamped in their passports, when they were called back by the police. Their passports were confiscated and they were notified that both were subject to court cases. They will now face charges in the revolutionary courts.

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Participants in the three-day conference reflect on the messages they've taken away from the first morning's sessions.

With thanks to the Nobel Women's Initiative and JASS for the video footage.

Isabel Hilton

The night the SAS stormed the Iranian embassy in London, May 5th 1980 - a very wet bank holiday as it happened - I was entertaining the writer Marilyn French, who died last weekend, to a very expensive dinner in the Savoy. The choice of location was hers and the bill, fortunately, was picked up by my then employer, for whom I was to interview her.

It did not go particularly well. I was a big fan. Like many women of my generation, I had devoured The Women’s Room, French’s first novel. It read like a souped up fictional account of the insights that Betty Friedan had published in The Feminine Mystique a few years earlier. I was keen to meet the author.

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Rigoberta Menchú Tum welcomed participants to the second international conference of the Nobel Women's Initiative in Antigua, Guatemala on May 10th. She introduced the Vice President of the Republic of Guatemala, who welcomed the women on behalf of the President.

With thanks to the Nobel Women's Initiative and JASS for the video footage.

Mathilde Muhindo Mwamini

Je serais venue à Antigua pour échanger avec vous sur ce thème, parce que ce sujet me concerne au plus haut point mais d'autres réalités m'y empêchent.

Lorsque je regarde ce qui se passe en Afrique, je fais de constat suivant: depuis que le vent de la démocratie a soufflé en Afrique après de longues dictatures, les élections ont été organisées dans plusieurs pays pour élire les dirigeants du peuple mais des présidents élus démocratiquement, les uns sont tués avant la fin de leur mandat, les autres s’octroient de mandat à vie et arrivent même à changer la constitution, s’il le faut, pour se maintenir au pouvoir. Et d’autres encore par intimidation ou par terreur se portent candidat unique à leur propre succession.

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