Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate (1997) Visits Atenco

Furthering our solidarity with the people of Atenco over the past two years, JASS, the Nobel Women’s Initiative, and Mexican allies brought Laureate Jody Williams to San Salvador Atenco on September 8 to support women struggling for voice and land rights, and to pressure the Mexican government to halt repression and fulfill its promises. Jody Williams speaks from the frontlines.


The women -- I don't even know what to say. Strong, defiant, so sad because of the 12 political prisoners. They called me from prison. They sent me a letter. Here is one paragraph:

"Al enterarnos de su presencia y participacion en Atenco hemos querido aprovechar esta oportunidad para pedirle a Usted que nos ayude en la medida de sus posibilidades para que sea nuestra voz que grite, anuncie y denuncie la injusticia que han hecho con nosotros el gobierno mexicano mediante la represion y tortura de la que fuimos objeto los dias 3 y 4 de mayo en Texcoco y Atenco....."

["When we heard about your presence and participation in this meeting in Atenco, we wanted to take this opportunity to ask you to help us, in as much as you can, so that our voices can be heard, loudly and clearly announcing and denouncing the injustices of the Mexican government, through the repression and torture that we were subjected to the 3rd and 4th of May in Texcoco and Atenco...."]

Then they called again in the public event and one of the women held the microphone to the cellphone and we (mostly) could hear. Two women standing behind me with their machetes started silently crying. Mothers of two of the prisoners. I had to get up and hug one and she started sobbing on my shoulder. It leaves me like a limp dishrag.

It fills me with rage. Disposable people. As one described herself/them, "We are cannon fodder."

Separately Rachel and I spoke with three of the women who had been raped. More rage.

I bought one of the amazing drawings by the political prisoner who is now sentenced to 112 years in prison. Dona Trini's husband. Sorry his name escapes me.

I can't write more at the moment. The dishrag is emotionally spent.

Su companera en la lucha,
Jody

The day I crossed the line

Tuesday at the IAC was an action packed day for me. I got to speak in front of a lot of people which was a new experience for me and it definitely made me feel more empowered. Before I got on stage I was telling myself that I cant do this, but at the same time I told myself this is the an opportunity for me to tell my story. Having the women from Jass there helped me a lot because they encouraged me and told me I could do it. As I sat on the panel I scribbled a lot of things I would want to say but when I was eventually introduced and had to speak I totally forgot it all and just spoke from my heart. Issues of violence affect me deeply as I have also had personal experiences of violence and its also common in the environment I currently live in. After I was done and the comments were now being made, I felt great about myself and that there were people who were in solidarity with me and the work I do. I appreciate being a part of the Jass process as it has given me the opportunity to share with a lot of great women issues that affect all of us. After the session I met up with so many different people who are currently working on such issues. I was then invited to speak at another meeting talking about the invisibility of WSW within the HIV/AIDS movement and the women's movement in general. It was a great place for me to share with others around the world on this issues and it was more relaxing now because it was not in front of such a big crowd so I was not as nervous as I was the first time. After that talk I then rushed over to the Cross Regional Dialogue. This was also an eye opening event for me as I got to listen to women's different experiences in Mexico, Spain and Africa. You get to realize that the group was so dynamic and the experiences shared are so different. As I listened to some of the women talking about legalizing abortion, I looked at the context where I was coming from and realized that we still have a long way to go as issues the legality of abortion were not even on our agendas yet. This was a great learning experience foe me especially talking about the strategies they used and appreciated the work that they were doing currently.
As we go into our final days in Mexico I am looking forward to being a part of a larger process especially having met other women from a different part of the world. I hope that the process will continue and we will share with each other regularly on the work we are doing and we would like to do collectively as Jass. By the way I am Patience Mandishona from GALZ.My final words are lets Keep Crossing the Line.........

From the Global Village and Opening Ceremony, AIDS 2008

I'm sharing this space with my friend and sister activist, Sindi Blose, from Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa. She won't mention the fact that she did an extraordinary job of rocking the Global Village this afternoon with the rest of our women crossing the line. The songs and dancing drew dozens of men and women to our cramped site with huge enthusiasm and nothing but joy and appreciation for the power of their very personal stories of struggle.


Hi everybody, I'm Sindi in Mexico having the time of my life so far. Today I attended the session on women and girls with a speech by Stephen Lewis. I was happy to finally be in the same room with him. We need many male leadership in Africa to view women as he does the world would be such a safer space for women to realize their full potential because there would be no discrimination against women on so many issues and platforms.

I'm part of a group of eight women from Southern Africa who planned a session on us being African women telling our own stories at the Women's Networking Zone in the Global Village today. When we got to the women's networking zone I was disappointed by the fact that we were 80% of our audience and there was a loud musical band distracting us so I thought that we won't be able to share our digital stories with anyone what a waste of time. we decided to sing African songs really loud, that speak about power and unity to fight against injustice on women. Then people started coming in numbers to hear what we have to say.

There are about 13 digital stories but we decided to only present three. First by Patience from Zimbabwe how she views her self as a women who is lesbian and how society discriminates and marginalizes her, second by Esther from Namibia her story about how she was robbed of her motherhood by her government health department when they decided to sterilize her without consent because she is HIV positive. Third story by Wala and post-natal depression how the public health system in her country fail women like her who suffer from post-natal depression

At least 70 people listened to our stories and felt the world is failing African women every single day, but most people were happy there we were there to tell our own stories in our own way.

The experience was empowering for me. It was my first time facilitating at an international AIDS conference. I am more than ready now to attend the rest of the conference and engage critically on issues relating to women especially in Africa.




Lisa again: the most powerful responses to Sindi and the other women came from a Mexican transgender who told me "i can feel the power with these women. I only want to sit here and listen to them all day."   Two African men committed their solidarity -- saying that they would do whatever they could to fight "this oppression of their African sisters."

In closing, the official inauguration at the National Auditorium in downtown Mexico City. An all star cast included the President of Mexico, the UN Secretary General, the VP of Spain and 4 other important and powerful AIDS leaders, yet it was an HIV+ 13 year old girl from Honduras who's shaking voice and personal plea stole the show and had the place cheering with a standing ovation. Honorable mention goes to the amazing mariachi band and the gorgeous and talented Folkloric Ballet.