17 December 2008

Dear Friends,                                                                                                             

 

An appeal to your generosity for our international gathering:
 The Struggle Against Sexism and Racism: an International Comparison

London, 31 January - 13 February 2009.

 

Greetings. In 2006 some of you were kind enough to help us to attend the World Social Forum in Venezuela, which we much appreciated. Our report showed how much we have gained from this coming together and the work we have done as a result.

 

We are writing to again ask you to help unwaged and low-waged women and men, particularly from countries of the South, to participate in our next network gathering, and towards its organizing costs. We aim to raise £10,000.

The gathering is a two-week programme of public meetings, films and consultations.

 

 

1. Public meetings
 

·         Grassroots Struggle Against Sexism and Racism: an International Comparison, 31 January.

·         Our Debt to Haitians - the first to abolish slavery. Speakers and films, 1 February.

·         Invest In Caring, Not Killing: Valuing the Work of Caring for People & the Planet, 7 February.

·         Rediscovering Tanzania's Ujamaa - Tribute to the Great Ntimbanjayo Millinga and the Ruvuma Development Association, 8 February.

·         Rape and Prostitution: a question of consent, House of Commons, 3 February.

·         A number of films will be shown, including on Haiti and In Prison My Whole Life.

 

All the events will involve women and men from Bolivia, China, Haiti, Greece, Guyana, India, Iraq, Ireland, Palestine, Peru, Poland, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, the US, Venezuela, as well as England, Scotland and Wales. They include asylum seekers, domestic workers, Dalit and Tribal women, farm workers, lesbian women, gay men, pensioners, sex workers, single mothers, rape survivors, people with disabilities, health workers, trade unionists, artists, breastfeeding advocates, students, soldiers and former soldiers who have refused to kill and rape . . .

 

2. Network meetings

 Groups working on the same or similar issues will exchange practical information on what they are doing and how, the alliances they have formed, and results. Groups will bring examples of their political tools and tactics, and explain their effectiveness.  Among them:

 

·       The first grassroots Time-Use Survey (Guyana); news on the Payment for Carers law (Spain); "How To Get Paid for Care Giving", a guide for those caring for disabled relatives (US).

·       Grain banks and winning release from bondage (India).

·       The Domestic Workers law and winning cases (Peru and Trinidad & Tobago), constitutional rights for women, Indigenous people and others (Bolivia & Venezuela).             

·       Asylum from Rape petition and Self-Help guide against deportation (England).

·       How to win compensation for rape (Haiti and England).

·       A Dossier of abuse of the child welfare system, including unjust removal of children (US).

·       Vigils, hunger strikes and other organizing in support of activists in Haiti (many places).

·       Proposition to decriminalize prostitution to protect sex workers from violence (England & US).

·       Update on military refusers & campaigns to defend them (Payday men's network).

 

We expect to learn a lot from each other by comparing organizing experiences, what cases we have won, and how we are using these victories to prevent other injustices.

 

3. Context of our meetings
Working to cross racial, ethnic, tribal, religious and every other divide, while making visible the many different sectors we come from, is the issue of our time - basic to everything we do.  With the rest of the world, we are celebrating the historic election of Barack Obama. A key question we will consider is: "A Black family in the White House: what power can we draw for our movement?"

 

We are anxious to learn from every group in the Strike network as all have a distinguished track record in defending the most vulnerable and active communities.

4. What we need the money for


 We aim for as many grassroots women and men as possible to participate, including those who have not travelled overseas before. We want to maximize the investment each of us has made in order to be together, so it will be an intense two weeks. Aside from the meetings, it is an occasion to make available to women from the South whatever resources and power we have as people living in the North, such as access to (few) supportive media contacts, (even fewer) politicians, and safe effective healthcare from our low-cost homeopathic clinic run by trained homeopaths in our network.

 

We aim to keep costs down but most people can't afford their airfare, and some have additional expenses arranging care for dependant loved ones, or making up for loss of earnings. Their organizations operate on a shoe-string, struggling to maintain day-to-day activities. The Strike itself depends on donations and unwaged work for every initiative. 

 

The main costs of the Gathering are:

·       We estimate £1,000 per person coming from the South and £250 from Europe. This will cover airfares, passports, visas and other travel/living costs. We are helping to prepare applications for travel grants (some people have never applied for funds before). This involves calls, emails, translation, faxing. We hope grants will cover airfares, but not everyone will be successful.

·       Travelling from a rural area to the UK embassy in the capital, food and accommodation while waiting for the visa to be processed. Getting a passport and visa is not easy if you are a rural woman campaigner with little English who has never left her village before, especially in the current climate when every low-income person coming to London is suspected of wanting to emigrate.

·       In the UK we will: arrange and pay for venues, interpreters, copying, equipment, childcare, transport to and from airports and within London; sort out accommodation in people's homes; cook a nutritious vegetarian lunch every day for people with different dietary needs; provide a daily allowance to those on the lowest incomes - essential in an expensive city like London.

This is a very hard time to be asking for donations, particularly from people on low incomes. Yet we have no choice but to depend on your generosity. We will again provide a full report with photos of the conferences and network meetings.

We look forward to a positive and early response, and would be more than happy to provide more information. Indeed we hope to see you at some of these events.

Please send cheques payable to: Global Women's Strike,

Crossroads Women's Centre, 230a Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2AB

 

Thanking you in advance for your investment in our global future!

 

Sisters and brothers in the Global Women's Strike and Payday (London, Galway & Barcelona)