2007 Feminist Dialogues preparations begin in earnest

Building common political agendas; identifying global strategies to address fundamentalisms, globalisation, and militarism towards democracies for diverse global women's movements; moving forward. These were the buzz words at the planning meeting for the Feminist Dialogues (FDs) held at Nairobi, Kenya from 5-9 August 2006.

This renewed focus on strategies builds on insights from the two previous FDs held in Mumbai, India in 2004 and in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2005.

As the Methodology Note of the Pre-FDs Meeting explains, the first two FDs were organised to raise conflicts, dilemmas, and experiences of feminists in the context of globalisation, fundamentalisms, and militarism, and deepen feminist analyses on these issues. While these
meetings served as arenas for discussing strategies for addressing conflicts and dilemmas, they did not focus on ways for moving forward. This was a conscious decision of the FDs Coordinating Group (CG), as the members preferred to nurture the diversity among women's movements and not to guide the meeting in ways that would result in common political action.

However, the CG's assessment of these meetings methodology surfaced the need for an approach which positions movement building and rebuilding of a feminist politics at the top of the feminist agenda.

Indeed, the CG sees the Feminist Dialogues process as a space for critical minded feminists who still believe in the political project of movement building, even if the understanding of movements is more fluid, and is full of diversities and contradictions.

As such, while the Nairobi meeting was organised partly to plan for the 2007 FDs, it was conceptualised foremost to have a more intensive and intimate dialogue among CG members.

The discussions were organised around five sub-themes. Three were still on the three major axes affecting women's lives as seen through the lens of the body and sexuality:

• fundamentalisms,
• neo-liberal globalisation, and
• militarisms.

Two new themes were added given the stronger focus on movement building:

• feminist ways of working in different regions, and
• global feminist strategies on addressing fundamentalisms, neo-liberal globalisation, militarism in various terrains of engagement.

The Coordinating Group devoted the last one and a half days of the meeting on brainstorming plans for the Feminist Dialogues in 2007, discussing its theme, methodology, and programme.

Asked what the next FDs will be like, Susanna George, Coordinator for the meeting said, This next FD promises to be far more focused on strategies and political action grounded in a strong analytical and theoretical base, and much less of a talk shop. I think we want to see this meeting catalyse a revival of feminist organising, strategizing and political action in different parts of the globe, and at different levels.

The FDs being a strategy space to explore how to collectively make more impact at the World Social Forum, feminist participation at that alternative space was seen as critical. Some ideas floated were the holding of a Controversy Dialogue on Fundamentalisms, the Anti-War Movement and Feminism; a Central Panel on Radical Democracy; a Women's Rally; an Inter-Belief Dialogue; and a Workshop on Feminism 101 for interested social activists and young people. However, given that the Feminist Dialogues is not a network nor an organisation, but a process to which the CG members are committed, George said these projects will be taken on by different CG organisations as independent initiatives.

The CG will be having further online discussions in the coming months to finalise plans for the FD.

Thirty-five feminists from the FD Coordinating Group attended the Pre-FD planning meeting. They represented 12 feminist organisations from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe: The African Womens Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Akina Mama wa Africa (AmWA), Articulacion Feminista Marcosur (AFM), The Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights (CLADEM), INFORM, Isis International-Manila (Isis-Manila), Latin American and Caribbean Youth Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (REDLAC), The National Network of Autonomous Womens Groups (NNAWG), Network of Popular Education Between Women (REPEM), Women in Development Europe (WIDE), and Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML).

Some 300 women are expected to participate in the third Feminist Dialogues which will be held for two and a half days on 17-19 January 2007 prior to the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya.

For more information on the FD, go to <http://feministdialogues.isiswomen.org> or <http://feministdialogue.isiswomen.org/>.

We have different backgrounds, with different practices and attitudes, different histories and contexts. We are diversity itself and feel proud of that diversity as we consider it our biggest asset. But we need to move forward towards a common political agenda shared both by all of us and with other movements.

- Lucy Garrido in the Note on Translation circulated prior to the planning meeting