* * * GUYANA 2001 * * *

A CALL TO ACTION ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, 2001

CROSSING DIVIDES AMONG WOMEN
Statement delivered by Karen de Souza at the Launching of the GAP-WPA Campaign for Elections 2001, on behalf of WPA women

Mothers in Black and other groups have put out a Strike Call, across Guyana and the Caribbean "as women across race, for women across race". One hour every week Mothers in Black hold a protest "demanding that after 7 years, action be taken to find Monica Reece’s murderer, and justice for all the women and all the young people who have suffered violence at the hands of high ranking men as much as low ranking men – whether the violence was by vehicle – like Alecea, or by gun, like Patricia, or by fist, like Kaloutie." They want an accounting for the lost lives and a change in the traffic laws and their management. "This is not a simple matter of "traffic". It is about what the society values. Madmen kill our children and walk away – some with short sentences and time off for ‘good behaviour’, some with no sentence at all; some never even arrested."

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They’re also demanding that women’s unwaged work in the home, in the community, in subsistence farming, be counted; social security for all Guyanese women; accountability and high standards from medical services that are destroying women’s lives; and an equal share of power to make decisions about the lives and the future of Guyanese children, women, and men.

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The multiracial Working People’s Alliance is working with the party of the Indigenous people to present joint candidates at the next election – they will also raise the Strike.

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