April 2010

Women’s Quiet Revolution Gets Louder

It was a sobering moment for women's rights advocates when governments came together at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March to assess "progress" on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. Fifteen years have passed since the creation of that inspiring document - inspiring and almost unimaginable today, as women from South Dakota to Jakarta struggle to hold on to legislative gains and basic rights. But a quiet revolution gets louder as women everywhere organize to protect themselves against violence and push for jobs, food, healthcare and democracy. Grassroots women working with JASS in Malawi have mobilized energetically to get mobile ARV clinics as they prepare for a bigger campaign. Three young leaders involved with JASS Southeast Asia are taking over coalitions in their countries and positioning JASS for bigger regional action aimed at the ASEAN economic policy process. Through the JASS-Nobel Women’s Initiative’s ongoing solidarity with the women of Atenco and their land rights movement, Jody Williams went to Mexico to lobby key officials for the release of political prisoners. In the coming months, an international JASS delegation prepares to participate at the US Social Forum to share grassroots feminist strategies for confronting militarism in our communities and consolidating alliances with our sisters in the US of A. Find out more and join us there!

~ Lisa VeneKlasen, ED + the JASS team

Women Pushing Back in Malawi

“In their communities, the JASS activists have created a kind of ‘bank account’ of relationships nurtured by trust and collaboration. They can draw on this investment to mobilize collective action to achieve a common purpose,” writes Hope Chigudu from follow up visits, with Sindi Blose. Their training and support has unleashed a force of grassroots organizing, with women planting district-wide herb gardens, for example, on land they requested from chiefs; getting two mobile clinics on the road, with more promised, to ensure women’s access to ARVs and health services; and training and negotiating with traditional leaders on land rights for women. In this same moment, debate is intensifying on the criminalization of homosexuality in Malawi – legislation and reaction that have been funded and stirred up by US fundamentalist evangelicals. JASS’ strategic support approach, taking the lid off sex and sexuality, challenging taboos and dealing with food and health needs, could not be more urgently needed. Read more.

Continued Repression of Pro-Democracy Activists in Honduras

Vanessa Yamileth Zepeda, feminist resister & union leader Photo: SITRAIHSS

JASS ally, Feminists in Resistance, as well as numerous other independent sources, confirm that civil society activists identified with the movement opposing last summer’s coup d’état are increasingly suffering threats, assaults, and even murder in retaliation for their peaceful political activities. In a March 8 statement, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the ongoing “murders, kidnappings, arbitrary detentions, acts of torture, sexual violations, illegal raids” and other politically-motivated attacks against the resistance movement. In the month since the Commission’s statement, the violence has ratcheted up. In addition to the murder of well-known LGBT activist Walter Trochez and feminist union leader Vanessa Zapeda, José Manuel Flores, a school teacher and active member of the resistance, was murdered on March 23 by a team of masked hit men in front of his students and other faculty. No doubt Secretary of State Clinton’s assertion on March 1 that “the Honduras crisis has been managed to a successful conclusion…without violence” rings hollow in the ears of the friends and families of activists murdered during the past month. Although many feminist leaders have fled the country due to the violence, those who remain in Honduras courageously continue to document human rights violations and to organize popular demand for a Constituent Assembly.

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Mexico: Women Continue the Cross-Border Fight for Land and Peace

“Women in Atenco want security AND justice, not security OR Justice." ~ Jody Williams

So said Jody Williams to Mexican officials in her continued appeal for the release of political prisoners and justice for the women-led land rights movement in Atenco, Mexico which continues JASS and the Nobel Women’s Initiatives’ ongoing partnership and solidarity with the women of Atenco. In February 2010 JASS Mesoamerica’s Marusia López organized an advocacy mission to Mexico City for Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams. The mission included high-level meetings with Mexico’s Supreme Court, the foreign ministry, the ministry of governance and members of congress. During a national press conference featuring human rights activists and Mexican legislators, Williams made public a letter signed by 11 Laureates demanding justice for Atenco.

This story began in May 2006 when Mexican police responded violently to community protests sparked by seizures of land for the construction of an airport in San Salvador Atenco, killing two people, injuring many more, and detaining hundreds. At least 45 of those detained were women, many beaten, raped, and otherwise assaulted by police while in state custody. Overnight, the housewives and mothers caught up in the violence assumed the leadership of the movement for land rights in Atenco and worked to build the international alliance with feminists and other solidarity groups to make their voices heard.

Philippines: Free the 43

JASS Southeast Asia joins its Filipino allies to bring a feminist agenda to another battle against political repression. On February 6, in a crackdown on Filipino activists in Mindanao reminiscent of the Marcos era and just 100 days before the presidential elections, 43 Filipino community health workers, including two pregnant women, were detained while conducting a training seminar, denied medical care and visits by relatives and friends, and reportedly tortured on suspicion of being Communist rebels. Relatives and colleagues accused the military of planting firearms and explosives at the training facility to justify the illegal arrest. Five of the detainees, including three women, are being held in solitary confinement. Through the Free the 43! Campaign, JASS’ partner in the Philippines, the Center for Women’s Resources, is pressing for their release.

Zambia: Young Women on the Move

“One thing that gives me energy and sustains me, is the networks of women I connect with across Africa. This is my community.” ~ Shamillah Wilson

JASS Southern Africa continues to build a team of young women organizers while connecting them  with grassroots women leaders – bridging class, generational and rural-urban divides. Zambian women emphasize the need to rebuild strong feminist leadership to mobilize the power of numbers to address inequalities and are setting specific and measurable personal and political goals: Mary Chileshe hopes to wield recognizable influence in her locality after one year, while Pesai Phiri plans to become a powerful and vibrant political facilitator and stand for Member of Parliament by 2016. Read more about Zambia from Martha Tholanah.

Regional Solidarity with Haitian Feminists

Photo: Lorena Espinoza Peña

Following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated Haiti January 12, feminists worldwide, including JASS and our allies, Las Petateras, organized in solidarity with Haitian women. Together, women from Haiti and other Caribbean and Latin American countries launched a Feminist International Solidarity initiative which has since mobilized and distributed resources to survivors, and is communicating the plight of Haitian women to the world through Feminist International Radio Endeavor (FIRE)’s live broadcasts. On March 8, International Women’s Day, feminists across the region dedicated their activities to their Haitian sisters, who continue to face tremendous challenges in rebuilding their lives and getting their voices heard in the decisionmaking regarding reconstruction. Follow the initiative’s activities via Facebook here.

JASS Welcomes Three New Faces!

Siti Masriyah (Ime) joins the JASS Southeast Asia team. Ime worked as a journalist in a national mass media outlet in Jakarta before joining the Indonesian Women’s Coalition in 2005. With a particular interest in women’s leadership, Ime wrote Women Go Forward, Women Win, a campaign guide with tips for women candidates in Indonesia’s 2009 general election and blogs in Bahasa Indonesian.

Daysi Yamileth Flores Hernández grew up in a low-income barrio in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, became a feminist at 15, and, in 1998, co-founded the Red de Mujeres Jóvenes de Honduras (Young Women’s Network of Honduras). A proud member of Las Petateras and Feminists in Resistance against the coup in Honduras, Daysi joined JASS Mesoamerica’s regional team in November 2009. She is passionate about music, language, cultural ancestry, and clean energy.

Jacqueline Nolley Echegaray arrived at JASS on World AIDS Day 2009 (December 1). As Coordinator for Mesoamerica, Jackie oversees the program and serves as a conduit for greater synergy between its various areas. Immediately prior to joining JASS, Jackie promoted women’s rights and health, human rights in Guatemala and equitable trade and development policies as a grantmaker at the Moriah Fund, a DC-based family foundation.

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