World Social Forum Dakar 2011

Speeches from the Inter-Mouvement Feminist Dialogues
on February 8 at the WSF 2011 in Dakar, Senegal

Feminist from Europe, Latin America and Asia debated over the challenges and diversification of the women's movement: The need to integrate indigenous women and women of African decent and to fundamentaly address the question of domestic work that is liberating a few and pushing poor women into the informal sector.
Speeches in Spanish with written summary in English.

Alessandra Mecozzi from Italy
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Alessandra Mecozzi talked of the impacts of the economic and cultural social crises have on women and how women respond to them, especially women from the working class in Italy. Labor experience a degradation and aggravation. At same time in Europe we see the privatization of public services which has an impact on the daily live of people. Together with religion that has a huge influence in Italy not only on the society but also on the government this leads to the social and cultural crises. We experience a backlash in terms of women's control over their bodies. Young women are made believe by the media, if they have a beautiful body, They can make easy money with it, without having to work hard. So the commercialization of women's bodies has been reinforced.

Betania Betania Avila from Brazil
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Her speech was about the strengthening and diversification of social movements in Latin America, in particular the feminist movement.
We are experiencing new political practices in the social movements in Latin America and the feminist movements are important subjects in these practices. But we also see a democratization of the social life of the daily realities in our continent. The movements of the indigenous women, black women and sexual minorities such as the lesbian women have become very strong and take a strategic role in the democratization of the feminist movement.
They contribute to the diversification of the feminist movement. This diversification is not dividing us into fractions but much more uniting us in our diversity. And the feminist movement started to question the political practices within the movement. Realizing that we need to confront much more the structural discrimination and exploitation, that exists also within the feminist movement. Especially when it comes to productive and reproductive work.
Majority of the workers in the informal sector are women. They are working under very poor working conditions and with no labor rights. At the same time they are responsible for the domestic, reproductive work. In Latin America jobs in the domestic work divides women into classes. While the lower classes work as domestic helpers. The exploitation of these women is a strategy for middle class women to take up better paid jobs on the labor market.
This chain among women that liberates some and oppresses and pushes others into the informal sector, majority of them indigenous and black women has a very strong racial dimension and reinforces the inequality among women according to class and race.
In Latin America hardly any state provides social services to their people that merit this name. The lack of social services is being assumed by poor black and indigenous women. If we seriously want to end women's oppression we need to address the question of domestic work.
Further the influence of the religion in our countries have become much stronger again, especially of the catholic church, which has a negative impact o women's sexuality and reproductive health and the right to contraceptives and abortion. We live in a macho society an men impose a sexuality to us in which they dominate women. We need to reinforce that our bodies belong to us and we need to regain control over our bodies.
Cecilia Cecilia Moreno from Panama
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Feminism needs to be reformed and is in the process of reformation in Latin America to make the reality of black or women of African decent visible.
Black women are a part of society that so far has been outside the feminist movement, this became very obvious at the last WSF in Belem, Brazil.
Another very important question for the liberation of black women of African decent is access to information. Majority of us in Latin America do not have access to communication. We live in multiple exploitation, as women and as women of African decent. The same is true for indigenous women. We are more vulnerable because poverty, racism and lack of information put us into defense. The empowerment of women of African decent and indigenous women the feminist movement needs to address ethno-racial discrimination.
Women of African decent have also been deprived of our history and our roots. We need to fight for our identity as women of African heritage also within the feminist movement. How can we reach our autonomy as black women in Latin America?
As of now we do not have self-determination over our bodies. We need to learn what are our rights and take control over our bodies.
The feminist movement needs to incorporate the struggles of black women in Latin America. At the same time black women collaborate with other organization of people of African decent. This year there will be the first ever congress of people of African decent in Latin America. It will take place in the forest of Honduras in August and you are all cordially invited to attend.
Corinne Kumar from India
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Within the feminist movement we replicate dominant power relations. Corinne Kumar talked about the need to find new paradigms that brake away with the dominant capitalist cosmos.
Where do we find a new discourse that will be in conversation with the indigenous women with the people who have been silenced and subjugated and therefore look towards rebellion and insurrection?

 

An assessment of the World Social Forum 2011 in Dakar, Senegal by Lilian and Betania of the Feminist Dialogues

Interview and translation by Bianca Miglioretto

download mp3 in spanish (12MB) listen to the interview

(summary translation of the interview)

On the question her impression of this WSF, Lilian Celiberti noted the contradictory faces of the forum, as the strong and active participation of African women and youth was met by poor logistical organization, due to the need for preconditioned translation. When asked about her impression of the Feminist Dialogues, Betania reflected upon the lack of resources for a proper venue, and subsequently the loss of some participants and speakers. Nevertheless, rich discussion was had across varying perspectives and experiences.

Lilian also commented that the Declaration of the Women's Organizations was too heavily focused on international conventions and UN-Resolutions, despite the multiple tensions and conflicts amongst African groups and regions. Unfortunately, the Saharoui women of the Polisario experienced repression during the forum from Moroccan participants of the WSF, which made a democratic and participatory process impossible. Moreover, she recognized that although interpersonal exchanges enable the deepening of debates, “colonization continues in the divisions that we experience in different parts of the world,” and that we must ask how we can link these groups and develop collective thinking and solidarity.

For more reports in English on women's activities at the World Social Forum 2011 in Dakar visit the AMARC website.