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Solidarity Trip to Another World (3 of 6)
18.Jan.04 The Meaning of Glocal -- Women Against Wars, Wars Against Women panel
Women around the world are contending with the same questions we are in the U.S.: How to build an alternative world without doing so in negative terms (anti-this, anti-that)? What modes of resistance can we use, what tools and ways to build a world of true security and dignity? “The women’s movement worldwide is the greatest hope we have to counter hegemonic structures.”
Why women?
Women have become sites of violence, used as weapons of war, because of what women, in a patriarchy, have come to symbolize: objectifiable property, and reproduction (bearers of children, bearers of culture). Thus the mass torture and murder of an “opponent” community’s women. Thus the rampant gang-raping. Killing women decimates a people’s ability to reproduce, to live with dignity; raping women hails shame upon a community, while the generations that follow, born of mixed heritage – if any -- resonate with the echoes of war blood. This is why women are fighting to band together, in transnational solidarity, to tear this empire down, down, down.
Nawal El Saadawi of Egypt introduced a new term, "Glocal" - acting locally, but also networking/strategizing globally; (not just "think globally", but take action globally) This one main theme kept coming up over and over again: the importance of coming together transnationally to fight against globalization. “Our futures are linked, though our interests may be divided,” said one woman.
Hearing open critiques of the US --from voices outside of the US-- was especially powerful – hella folks pointed out that the US is full of “professional activists”, conservative NGOs and fra-g-men-t-a-tion. Confronting our own privileges …. Outside the gates of this “Another / possible World” countless women and children combed the streets begging for food and a few rupees. The smells, sights and sounds of Mumbai carve indelible lines into our skin, heart, vision. The WSF reiterated how damn important – crucial – it is to keep our local and national work in context. How to be humble. How coalition building, as hard as we know it is, cannot be as difficult as bathing in sewage water, begging for cents a day, if that. And how everything we now take as basic (running water, hot water, blankets, telephones, e-mail…), comes with direct costs: the hundreds of thousands of displaced, suffering, starving children, women, men in the Global South. Let’s not forget those criminalized and screwed over here in the United States. It’s all connected.
One exciting thing to learn about was the work of the Asian Transnational Corporations Project, which built links between organizations working to monitor Asian corporations in the investing countries benefiting from exploiting the workers and workers exploited by those corporations. This had special resonance for us because from our government to our military to our corporations, we have a duty to resist these institutions from within and to help those outside be able to better resist these kinds of policies.
Whether it be corporations exploiting unorganized garment workers or the United States military trying to force the installation of military bases, the key to mobilizing against the current phase of corporate globalization is to connect with other groups of people facing similar challenges in a united front.
19.Jan.04 Making TIBET a Zone of Peace – Mumbai, India
500 Tibetans, in saffron and blood red robes, carrying green, white and yellow flags high in the air marched into the forum on the first day - singing, shouting, glorious, bellies full of joy. Later on one of their woman leaders, tells one of us that this march was born upon entering the forum, born of the immediate energy of the space, a march spontaneously assembled. This is the power of the World Social Forum – the power in simply creating spaces of peace, of conscience, of possibility.
The Tibetans continue to struggle for liberation from the Chinese government. For40 years and counting, the Chinese occupation has meant the rape of Tibetan nuns and women, the torture of monks, and destruction of Buddhist temples. Now Chinese alliances with the US/Bush regime are making Tibetan freedom even more difficult. Seeing as we are US based activists of Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong heritages – we felt particularly responsible, and thus drawn to meeting up with these folks at the Forum.
Some of us were even conscious of the big Chinese letters printed across our t-shirts: No Blood For Oil. What will they think? Will they hate on us? The answers should be obvious – here, we found, are an entire people so deeply committed to ahimsa (non-violence), so committed to building, that they could not hate on Chinese people. They presented a clear analysis identifying the Chinese government – victim and perpetrator of Capitalism – not the Chinese people, as the source of their oppression.
That these people have survived such violence, and maintain their principles is a testament to just how possible another world is. “ Love and compassion”, one monk said, “they lead to life, and any sensible person would choose a life of compassion over misery, death, destruction, fear.” In each workshop the Tibetans focused on hope – as a source of inspiration and strength for the continuation of our liberation struggles. “The world is moving towards non-violence – because this is a choice of life and death.”
Lest one think the Tibetan monks were simply high on an idealistic track, one other message rang clear: the importance of cultivating critical self-awareness -- of our privileges, histories, power and positionality.
Solidarity!
