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8 Machi 2004 – Inawaita
wanawake wote Historia ndefu ya umma MGOMO WA WANAWAKE DUNIANI ulianzishwa mwaka 1999 wakati wanawake wa Ireland walipoamua kuikaribisha milenia mpya kwa mgomo wa jumla wa kitaifa. Baadaye International Wages for Housework Campaign iliuunga mkono wito wao na kuwakutanisha wanawake wote duniani kufanya mgomo wa kidunia Machi 8 2000. Mgomo umetokana na historia ndefu ya umma mwaka 1952 na ulianzia na kabrasha ndogo iliyoitwa Nafasi ya mwanamke na kuendelea na Mamlaka ya wanawake na Mapinduzi ya Jamii ya mwaka 1972 na ambayo sasa ni mashuhuri. Pia Jinsia , Rangi na Tabaka mwaka 1973*. Kabrasha zote tatu zinaonyesha kwamba kazi wanazofanya wanawake na malipo ni kazi ya pili na pia zinaonyesha kazi tunazozifanya nyumbani na katika jamii bila malipo, kuwazaa wafanyakazi wote wa dunia na harakati zetu za kuibadilisha dunia hazikutambuliwa lakini ni za msingi. Tangu hapo tumekuwa tukipiga kampeni ya kupata UTAMBUZI na MALIPO kwa kazi zote wazifanyazo wanawake zisizokuwa na malipo pamoja na MALIPO SAWA—hizi ni NYENZO dhidi ya umaskini wa wanawake, unyonywji na ubaguzi wa kila namna. Kufuatana na UN 2/3 ya kazi duniani: kuanzia kunyonyesha na kuwalea watoto mpaka kuwatunza wale ambao ni wagonjwa, wazee na walemavu na kupanda mazao, kutayarisha na kupika chakula kinacholisha familia, jamii na mabara (80% ya chakula kiliwacho Afrika kimelimwa na wanawake), kazi za kujitolea na kufanya kazi katika sekta ya uchumi isiyo rasmi kama vile watunza usafi, washonaji, wauzaji wa barabarani, watoa huduma za ngono pamoja na kufanya kazi katika sekta za uchumi zilizo rasmi. Hapa tena kazi za wanawake mara kwa mara ni utunzaji wa watu mahospitalini na mashuleni, kama wafanyakazi wa ndani, mayaya, makatibu muhtasi au katika maduka ya fulana nzito – wanaume wanaofanya kazi sawa na wanazofanya wanawake wanalipwa malipo madogo lakini ukilinganisha wanawake wanalipwa malipo madogo kabisa na mara kwa mara wanakabiliwa na unyanyasaji wa kijinsia na wa rangi.Ingawa katika kila nchi kazi yote hii ni ya msingi kwa ustawi wa jamii na hata katika kudumu kwa utu haithaminiwi na inadharauliwa na Soko na wanawake wanapata 5% ya rasmali tu. Beijing mwaka 1995, International Women Count Network ambayo tunairatibu na inaungwa mkono na zaidi ya taasisi 1500ilishinda na kupata uamuzi muhimu wa UN. Akaunti za kitaifa zilitakiwa kufikiria maisha ya wanawake yanayotumika katika kufanya kazi zisizo na malipo na faida ambayo kazi hii huleta. Trinidad & Tobago na Hispania wameliingiza hili katika sheria; nchi nyingine zinafanya utafiti juu ya muda unaotumika na wanazidi kutafakari kazi zisizo na malipo katika maamuzi ya mahakamani na sera za serikali.
Wanawake katika nchi zaidi ya 60 Tangu mwaka 2000 Mgomo umekuwa na mafanikio makubwa sana. Umewakusanya wanawake kutoka NCHI zaidi ya 60 ikiwa ni pamoja na taasisi za umma zenye sifa nzuri za kuigwa; ambazo nazo zinadai dunia ithamini kazi za wanawake na kila maisha na wale waliofanikiwa kutenda makubwa.Wao ni sehemu ya mtandao wa kimataifa wa waratibu wa Mgomo. Venezuela inafanya kazi na wanawake ambao wanajenga uchumi na wakashinda kifungu cha 88 cha Katiba ambacho kinasema kazi za nyumbani kama shughuli ya uchumi inayoongeza thamani na kuzalisha ustawi wa jamii na afya inawapa haki wanawake kupata ruzuku ya serikali. Mgomo umekuwa ukisambaza habari za ushindi kama huu na kuunga mkono njia ya mapinduzi ambamo wanawake kutoka katika umma ni wahusika hai. Mgomo ni sehemu ya wanaopinga vita na uvamizi na si Iraki tu bali pia kule Palestina, Chechnya, Colombia, Kongo, Kashimir……Kipaumbele chetu ni kuakisi harakati za wanawake na mwelekeo unaotokana na hilo. Kutokana na hilo mfumo wote utanufaika lakini mara nyingi hudharauliwa kama kazi za kujikimu zisizo malipo tunazozifanya. Tukiwa na lengo la KUWEKEZA KATIKA UTUNZAJI NA SI KUUA tunadai kwamba zile $900 bilioni ambazo sasa zinatumiwa kwa bajeti za majeshi badala yake zitumiwe mahitaji ya msingi ya kujikimu -- upatikanaji wa maji safi, chakula, usalama, huduma za afya, nyumba, elimu, usalama dhidi ya ubakaji na vurugu nyingine za kutumia nguvu,tulinde sayari yetu – kwa hiyo kwa wanawake ambao ni watunzaji wa kwanza na wapiganaji wa kwanza kutetea wawapendao tunadai kwa kuanzia bajeti ya majeshi ya Marekani – ni zaidi ya nusu ya bajeti ya majeshi ya dunia – na kwa hiyo Corporate America inalazimisha uchumi na siasa zake kwa dunia nzima (ikiwa ni pamoja na wamarekani wenyewe pia)
Mchango wa zile sekta zinazobaguliwa zaidi Zile sekta za wanawake ambao wanabaguliwa zaidi ya wengine – wanawake weusi, wanawake wenyeji na wengine mashombe, waseja, wanawake walemavu, wanawake wahamiaji, wanaotoa huduma za ngono, wasagaji…….watumie mgomo kuonyesha mchango wao katika kila uchumi, jamii na harakati. Mgomo unasisitiza kwamba sekta zenye nguvu zaidi zitambue mchango huu. Pia tunadai utambuzi wa mchango wa wanaume ambao wanaunga mkono kwa dhati harakati zetu kwa sababu wanakubali kwamba KUWEKEZA KATIKA UTUNZAJI SI KUUA ni kipaumbele cha wafanyakazi wote na utu.Wanaume si kwamba wana deni la mahitaji ya kujikimu ya kila siku tu, --kuanzia kunyonyeshwa mpaka kupikiwa chakula, nguo safi na kusaidiwa kihisia – lakini pia wanategemea wanawake katika kuweka vipaumbele kupinga amali za Soko, amali ambazo sasa zinatishia kudumu kwa dunia. Tovuti ya Payday, mtandao wa wanaume www.refusingtokill.net , ni mchango muhimu kwa mapambano dhidi ya vita na kwa utambuzi wa wote wale wanaohatarisha maisha yao na uhuru ili kulinda maisha ya kila mtu na uhuru.
Mfumo wa umoja Mara kwa mara tunaambiwa ili tushinde lazima tuwe na umoja lakini hatusikii kuhusu jinsi ya kufanya hivyo (isipokuwa kutoka kwenye vyama vya kisiasa vinavyotaka kutuongoza). Tunautumia Mgomo kama mfumo wa umoja – kati ya sekta za wanawake, kati ya wanawake na wanaume, ndani ya na kati ya nchi – kwa sababu ni msingi wa kila sekta inayokubali na kusitawisha harakati huru ya kila moja wao. Mgomo si chama cha siasa, wala si watenganishi. Ina nia ya mabadiliko lakini inapinga nia za binafsi ambazo zinazuia manufaa ya wote. Mgomo wa Wanawake Duniani umeongezeka kutokana na vitendo vya pamoja kila Machi 8. Hivi sasa ni mtandao wa kidunia ambao unaimarisha harakati za kila siku zinazoendelea za wanawake wa umma (na wanaume). Tunaambatisha kile waratibu wa Mgomo katika baadhi ya nchi wanasema kuhusu mafanikio waliyoyapata. Mgomo unathibitisha kwamba kama watunzaji, wenye malipo au wasio na malipo daima sisi ni WAFANYAKAZI, na kwamba tuna uwezo wa kusimamisha uchumi mzima. Hivyo ndivyo walivyofanya wanawake Iceland tarehe 24 Oktoba 1975. Walisema: WANAWAKE WAKISIMAMISHA, KILA KITU HUSIMAMA. Nasi tunaongezea: SIMAMISHA DUNIA NA IBADILISHE. Selma James na Nina Lopez, 17 Januari 2004 Womenstrike8m@server101.com www.globalwomenstrike.net
* Mpaka sasa ilichukuliwa tu kwamba wale wanaofanya kazi za mishahara zaidi wanaume katika nchi zenye viwanda ndio walikuwa wafanyakazi "wa kweli" na kwamba wao tu ndio wangeweza kuibadilisha dunia. Malipo ya Housework Campaign yalianguka na ujinsia na ubaguzi, wakifanya kujitawala kuwa msingi wa kuanzisha na kuleta umoja.
Matakwa ya mgomo yanaelekezwa kwa serikali zote:
__________________________________________ @ Visibility and respect @ Wider networks @ Grassroots women's anti-racism @ The largest women's anti-war event in our history @ We've all changed @ ____________________________________ ARGENTINA, Santa Fe "For more than 15 years we struggled in isolation for the huge amount of work we women do caring for others to be recognised with a wage and a pension. While this country was being sold and put in debt, women were more and more impoverished, and had to support a hungry population with only our free work. In all this time we have been called all sorts of names. For trade unions, civil servants, political parties and many feminists, we were "backward and mad". As we felt we were weakening, we had the immense pleasure of finding that there were other "mad ones" in many parts of the world, who had been in this struggle much longer than us. With the first Strike call we found these women on every continent. This has strengthened our organisation enormously. It has made us revalue the autonomy which has prevented any party from using us. From 2000 we have made a great leap forward locally and nationally. Now they look at us with respect. We have been able to reach more grassroots women all the time, encouraging them to form autonomous inter-neighbourhood women's networks, and to relate to other organisations which share our goals. Many times we had enclosed ourselves within borders put up by those who dominate us, thinking that we are worse off or better fighters than everyone else. Since joining the Strike, we have realised that there aren't better or worse struggles or experiences. Each of us invents thousands of ways to survive and take the Strike forward, which is the synthesis of all our convictions. This year most of our city (150,000 people) ended up under water because of a river flooding and the corruption of those who rule us. Strike women in other countries gave us the support we needed. Most importantly, we can carry on our class action for justice against the most powerful without fear, because we know that we are not alone and that in the face of any attack women in other parts of the world will raise their voices in our defence." Sindicato de Amas de Casa de Santa Fe __________________________________________ GUYANA, Georgetown "Sometimes Guyana is a country at war - when the tension and conflict that the British and American governments first helped create between Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese explodes into violence. Then there is the other kind of violence that those of us who are from these groups commit against those of us who are Indigenous Guyanese, whose interests are just thrown aside. In the last two years the Strike helped us to make our opposition to the racism and violence whose main victims are grassroots women and children visible. In 2002 we organized a march of women, of all race groups - Indo-Guyanese, Afro-Guyanese, Indigenous, Mixed - supported by children and men. We went to an Afro-Guyanese community, Linden, from which Indo-Guyanese were violently driven out in the 1960s and we said publicly that we had come to reclaim Linden for grassroots women of all races. Through the Strike we've gained recognition as grassroots women who are anti-racist. More women have joined our network. Every year we put forward practical demands - especially against the higher prices we're paying for water and electricity because of privatisation. But our main demand has been for an end to racist violence. We organized marches of mostly women, of all race groups - Indo-Guyanese, Afro-Guyanese, Indigenous, Mixed - supported by children and men, proclaiming our opposition to racist violence in Guyana and racist war in Iraq. We said: "We don't want to make our children to go and kill some other woman's child." We've all changed: all of us are more conscious of the racism, and more willing to speak out against it. We have begun to feel we're part of a global movement where before we used to feel cut off. We feel as if something happens in Guyana the Strike will fight with us internationally." Red Thread _______________________________________ IRELAND, Galway "What we are most proud of is that the Strike has given us a way to come together across many divides. Irish women are not expected to unite with English women, who come from the country that waged war and occupied Ireland so many centuries ago and where the bitter divides still remain. The religious divides between Protestant and Catholic that are a legacy of this have plagued us on this island, and now the new rift the warmongers have stirred up between Muslim and Christian is added to that. Many expect women from the South to know what women in the North have been through in the recent war there over whether that part of the island should be a part of the Irish or British State, but our ignorance is great and even there the divisions run deep. Under our constitution Ireland is neutral in all wars so the US military use of Shannon airport is supposed to be illegal. We have been able to use the Strike to organise a weekly picket against war and occupation, and an anti-war convoy to Shannon from Galway city, bringing women together from North and South of Ireland, Catholic and Protestant, Muslim, Christian, atheist, and to say why as women we are particularly opposed to war in many of the protest events we have participated in." Wages for Housework Campaign. ________________________________________ PERU, Lima "With the Strike we acknowledge that women's struggles and objectives are the same all over the world. We have related to other women's organisations which fight for our common objectives with great courage and determination, each from our own specific situation, demanding our fundamental rights as women and as workers who care for the whole of humanity. We have extended our network in the provinces - Chota, Cajamarca, Jaén, Trujillo - where there are now new organisations of domestic workers, and our interchange with the Aymara communities of Puno. As a result of the Strike pressuring the UN and of the demands of organisations like our own and the Confederation of Domestic Workers in Bolivia, some governments are considering meeting the demands of our sector and laws have been passed in Peru and Bolivia. The Strike has helped us to accept ourselves as we are, so that, for example, our sisters can have free sexual choice. Before the Strike we were prejudiced because of our machista and patriarchal culture. We have broken the ice and lesbian women are able to organise autonomously and make their situation visible. We have learnt to be self-critical about our mistakes while also speaking our mind. From this we learn to be stronger and more aware." "The Strike has helped us to have a wider vision and to situate ourselves both as an exploited class and in the struggle against those who oppress the women of the world. The Strike is part of me because the demands of the women of the world are my demands. I feel that we are invincible because we are the great majority and they are my sisters in struggle. The Strike is the voice of all because we each carry out a mission of extending activist awareness for the defence of life." Centro de Capacitación para Trabajadoras del Hogar __________________________________________ PERU, Puno "The Strike gives us visibility, a space where rural women can participate and speak out about the issues that affect our daily lives. With the Strike we have won over more women's organisations such as mothers' clubs, craft groups, soup kitchens, as well as the support of men from some of these groups. It has enabled us to strengthen our local demands and form groups of different types of Andean crafts. The income that rural women contribute through crafts is for the benefit of the family - its education, food, housing. We now hope to reach an international market with our produce and cut out the middle men. We hope to call out on strike many more sectors in our country and in Bolivia." Centro Aymará "Pacha Aru" _______________________________________ SPAIN, Barcelona "The Strike has transformed us, helping to break us free of the habit of relating and prioritising one sector of women over others, to move beyond our neighbourhood and region, to act locally - in our neighbourhoods, plazas, markets, schools, workplaces - but with an international perspective, and to widen our networks. It has made visible the contribution of those of us who are immigrant. We have used the Strike to press for implementation of the laws to measure and value unwaged work in national accounts, which we won in the Catalan Parliament in 1997 and in the National Congress in 1998. The mass Strike actions brought together women's opposition to war and globalisation. We have compared the military budget and the government's support for US and UK warmongering (in spite of over 90% of the population actively opposing the war in Iraq), with welfare benefits for low income families - the lowest in the EU.
In Catalunya we won changes to school dinner grants for families without income who were discriminated against. With ongoing translations of materials over the e-mail, telephone, radio and at meetings, we grassroots women work hard to be connected, accountable and useful to each other." Campaña por un Salario para el Trabajo sin Sueldo _______________________________________ UGANDA, Kaabong "The poorest are the grassroots women globally. We are neglected and discriminated against because we are poor. BUT the Global Strike has changed our lives. We have gained free medical services, no cost sharing. The Land Act also allows women to own land and properties and inherit the late husband's properties. The Strike has helped to express our point of view in a more effective way. Like we say, Invest in Caring Not Killing. Wars will never bring peace in the world. Through our network many people are very much interested in the Strike because of the good fruits it has produced. Our major demand for this year's Strike is: we need accessible clean water. It's all our suffering. No war, no guns, and the government should stop the war which has been affecting especially children, women and all the communities in the whole of northern and eastern Uganda. Many people have died, or been raped and abducted; thousands are internally displaced without essentials. Why is our government interested in solving wars in other countries instead of handling this war in Uganda which has gone on for 17 years? There are many demands which are not met. But we shall win and change the world. An elderly member said, "We shall never give up the Strike. I ask all women to stand up and put their voices together and join in the Strike. Did I ever dream that my husband would give me a cow for my caring work? It is all because of the Strike. Please join us in our demand of WATER, WATER. We have the source of the river Nile in Uganda. Why shouldn't we take the water for agriculture, so that women have enough food for their families!" Kaabong Women's Organisation ____________________________________ USA, Los Angeles "The 2003 Strike was the largest women's anti-war and International Women's Day event in LA history, with an estimated 3-5,000 participants. It brought together grassroots women, with the major anti-war networks, and activist celebrities such as actors Ed Asner, Dave Clennon, Danny Glover and Wendy Malnick, and internationally known Vietnam Vet Ron Kovic (played by Tom Cruise in the Hollywood film "Born on the 4th of July"), and it was supported by KPFK, a major alternative radio network. Women's contribution and leadership now have an unprecedented level of visibility in all movements for change in LA. The power of the Strike helped kick off our weekly anti-military/corporate occupation picket outside Bechtel Corporation, and to form an ongoing working relationship with community-based anti-war networks, the El Sereno and San Gabriel Valley Neighbors for Peace and Justice. The biggest anti-war network has supported the Strike and our ongoing activities. We are also invited to speak at press events and protests in support of the massive strike of grocery workers. Despite unprecedented access to male-dominated platforms, the Strike has helped us to resist the pull of two dangerous seductions: separatism on the one hand and male power on the other, and to remain accountable to grassroots women. The Strike has also given us a practical tool to acknowledge and attack the provincialism of those of us living "in the belly of the beast". By forcing us to focus on the global even as we focus on our local situation, the Strike helps those of us in the US, no matter how poverty stricken we may be, not to scab on our sisters in the South who are in much more dire straits. It has helped open our eyes to the leadership offered by those resisting US domination outside of the US and to be strengthened by it." Global Women's Strike/LA Women of Color in the Global Women's Strike ___________________________________ USA, Philadelphia "The Strike gained visibility, prominence and respect for women's voices and demands in the massive protests against war in Iraq. We have been asked to speak on the impact of the war at home and defend welfare and other benefits and services, which are being cut to make way for military spending, and are key to increasing the minimum wage and therefore all wages. We won't allow the disabilities and illnesses created by war and weapons pollution, in countries attacked by the US as well as among US vets and their families, to remain hidden. The Strike brought together the most diverse multiracial crowd of any anti-war activity in the region to date, an indication for all to see that the Strike demands speak to a wide cross-section of people, not just the "white peace movement". We have been a crucial voice for mothers and grandmothers against military recruitment programs in school. A Black woman raising her grandchildren said what we oppose: 'Billions for war and not a dollar for a child.' The Strike's involvement in Venezuela, has greatly enriched our view of the world and what is possible." Wages for Housework Campaign WinVisible - women with visible and invisible disabilities ___________________________________ USA, San Francisco "The Strike is where each year we make visible our particular initiatives, but it challenges us to draw out the inter-relationships between what have seemed 'separate' issues. Our strength has been the organizing for the civil and legal rights of women in the sex industry, which led to our founding a grassroots legal service for women. Many of us are lesbian, and in running a legal service for many years we have a wealth of experience based on organizing against the discrimination women, especially 'sexual outlaws', face from the police, courts, judges, in both criminal and family law. By the third Strike we used it to press City Hall on a resolution to end violence against sex workers. The Strike has helped us to extend our network to other sectors, organizations and neighbourhoods, ie homeless women, older women, welfare mothers, Immokalee farm workers, anti-war, solidarity and anti-globalisation networks . . . International Women's Day activities were almost non-existent in the Bay Area until the Strike. The Strike has brought an international focus to our work, connecting us more to the lives and reality of women in the South. We have learned what corporations are based in SF and what their role is in international exploitation. During the Strike we are taking control over areas of the City where many of us grassroots people don't ordinarily go. We also have seen the response of women and men at the Strike, and experienced ourselves a taste of the power of the sectors and issues coming together as one force." US PROStitutes Collective Wages Due Lesbians ________________________________ Global Women's Strike Co-ordination: ENGLAND Co-ordination of men's actions and support: ARGENTINA GUYANA INDIA IRELAND PERU Jr. 20 de Julio No 159, Urbanización Fernando Belaunde Terry,
Chanuchanu, Puno SPAIN TRINIDAD & TOBAGO UGANDA USA Philadelphia Crossroads Women's Centre San Francisco Crossroads Women's Centre Petition Lalamiko kwa serikali zote ENDELEZA MALEZI BORA SIO MAUAJI! Maoni kutoka kijiji cha Kaabong, Uganda Wafanyakazi was Majumbani Wapigania Sheria za Kazi Je wanaume wanasemaje kuhusu mgomo? |