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WOMEN'S MARCH 2000: AGAINST GLOBALIZATION AND MILITARISM
"RedFem Report," People's Voice Oct. 16-31, 1999
(This article is from the Oct. 16-31, 1999 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
By Helen Kennedy
WHAT IS THE CONNECTION between capitalist globalization and militarism? Why should women be concerned? These were the questions discussed by thirty women on the first cold and rainy Saturday of October, at a conference organized by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in Toronto.
Founded in 1996, the Toronto branch of WILPF has been active in the areas of human rights, violence against women, peace and disarmament. It is a credit to WILPF that the conference, "Women on the Move," originally scheduled for last spring, was postponed when NATO started bombing Yugoslavia. WILPF decided it was more important to get "women on the move" against the war in the Balkans. Since then, WILPF has played an important role in the reformation of the Toronto Disarmament Network.
Colleen Burke of WILPF introduced the three workshops offered at the conference -- Capitalist Globalization, Peace and Nuclear Disarmament and Women's Human Rights. "There will be some overlap," she stated. "Often armed conflict and militarism can be at the root of violations against women's human rights. The poverty and instability caused by globalization can lead to armed conflict. International Monetary Fund policies have played a role in the conflicts in Rwanda and Yugoslavia.
"There is a link between globalization and oppression. Governments need to use force and control to implement their neoliberal policies. We've seen the crackdown worldwide on unions, activists, and anyone questioning government policy. In Vancouver it's pepper spray, in Ipperwash it's murder, in Colombia and countless other countries, it's disappearance, torture and murder."
Why were women spending their Saturday working out an action plan to fight capitalism? For many it was the opportunity to be heard and to hear first hand from other women about issues we live with every day -- violence, poverty and exclusion. For others it was their first contact with political organizing and their first women's conference. Initial admissions that "I'm just here to listen and learn," were soon followed by their personal contributions.
WILPF's Clothes Line project is a stunning example of why it is important for women to "name our experience and name the perpetrators." As Burke explained, "our experiences are written out of official reports, policies and decisions." The Clothes Line Project is a display of shirts that have been transformed by female survivors of violence or by friends, families or comrades of women who have died from violence, into moving testimonials of women's courage to survive and heal.
The objective of the conference was to develop local actions linked with capitalist globalization, militarism and human rights. So it was not coincidental that all workshops discussed involvement in the World March of Women 2000. The two overarching goals of March 2000 are to resolutely oppose poverty and violence against women. Capitalist globalization is as inseparable from women's poverty as militarism is from violence against women.
March 2000 was initiated by the Federation des Femmes du Quebec. So far, over 2170 women's groups from over 135 countries have signed up to participate. Planning is underway for activities beginning on International Women's Day next year, and culminating in marches all over the world on October 17, 2000 -- the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
The National Action Committee on the Status of Women is coordinating the Canada-wide events. It is time for women across Canada to get involved in local planning committees. There are 2000 good reasons to take part. All of them relate to women's ability to lead the struggle for social and economic justice on a global scale.
(RedFem Report is a regular column by members of the Central Women's Commission of the Communist Party of Canada.)
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