Mumbai, 16 January 2004 - Participants comprising 160 women from all over the globe recently concluded a historic strategising meeting dubbed as "Feminist Dialogues: Building Solidarities" in Mumbai, India.

Feminist Dialogues is "an attempt to transnationalise feminist debates and visions" as well to serve as a space for "an ethical dialogue among feminist organisations and. women from progressive groups and movements on the challenges and issues facing global women's movements." The dialogues also examined "the inter-linkages between the feminist movements and other social movements and advocacy groups involved in human rights struggles, including sexual and reproductive rights, social equality, peoples' development, environmental and economic justice and gender justice."

Held from 14-15 January prior to the opening of the World Social Forum (WSF) 2004, the meeting represented diverse feminist perspectives from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. While it agreed with the WSF principle of opposing neo-liberalism and domination of the world by capitalism, all forms of imperialism and cultural hegemony, Dialolgues was an autonomous event that also stood against oppression and discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, class, caste, nationality and sexual orientation.

The participants discussed the complexity of emergent issues in the light of globalisation and identified collective strategies beyond the Forum. They reflected upon and discussed the interrelationship of neo-liberalism, militarism, neo-conservatism, religious fundamentalism and gender/racial/ethnic inequalities through panel presentations, small group and plenary discussions. The the main themes of the discussions include: "Challenging Sexual Borders and Frontiers: Affirming Sexual Rights," "Contested Terrains: Women's Human Rights at the Intersection of Globalisation and Fundamentalisms," "Beyond the Local-Global Divide: Resistances in Current Geopolitics," and; "Reclaiming Women's Bodies: The Struggle for Reproductive Rights."

The meeting was organised by a core planning team from several feminist groups that first convened in support of the Campaign against Fundamentalism during WSF 2003 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The team included representatives from Articulacion Feminista Marcosur (AFM), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), INFORM, Isis International-Manila, Women's International Coalition for Economic Justice (WICEJ) and the organising group of Indian women's organisations gathered under the National Network of Autonomous Women's Groups (NNAWG).

Despite the participants' differences in language and consequent translation difficulties, as well as the varied feminist contexts, critical analyses and political responses (the women came from as far wide as Brazil, Tanzania, Bulgaria, Fiji, Iran and Thailand, among others), Dialogues both struggled and reveled in its diversity. As the organizers asserted: "We believe we can get hold of this moment for transnational women's movements to generate new dialogues across our differences and to explore the possibilities for common projects and larger coalitions--both amongst ourselves and with other progressive movements. With feminists from many perspectives working together and listening to one another, we believe a better world is possible."