WLOE E-News 20 October 2003:
Women in Bolivia; An International Call for Justice in Mexico; "The Threat
to Black Families"; Granny D on the road again…
- Bolivia
Bolivians’ protests force President out.
"After a more than a month of intense protests against the exportation
of Bolivia's gas to the US through a Chilean port," the pro-US Bolivian
president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, was forced from office.
See a good background article at: http://www.ain.org.bo/updates/Bolivian%20Government%20Falling%20Apart.htm
Articles and news in Spanish and English: http://bolivia.indymedia.org/en/
Statement from the Mujeres Creanda, Bolivia
"Mujeres Creando was formed as a feminist struggle movement in solidarity
with our people, not as a group of artists for individualist actions or self-promotion,
though they without doubt also have their value, but Mujeres Creando is a
space for the construction of community, within the global vision of our native
people. Since the beginning of the unrest in the city of El Alto on Wednesday
8th, Mujeres Creando as a movement decided to join in the fight and mobilization
in the streets, without any self-promotion either by the group or its members,
united shoulder to shoulder with the people."
read full message at: http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/10/279142.html
- Mexico
From the international Women in Black network: CALL FOR JUSTICE!!!
The Day of the Dead * El Día de los Muertos, Saturday, November 1,
2003
Solemn Procession Mourning the Hundreds of Young Women Murdered and Disappeared
In the State of Chihuahua, Mexico since 1993 and supporting their Grieving
Families Beginning at 11 AM in front of the OAS, Constitution Ave. and 19th
Street, NW Proceeding to the offices of the Interamerican Commission on Human
Rights and the Mexican Embassy.
For information and to receive updates on plans, send your name and email
address to:mjaag@wam.umd.edu
"The hundreds of murders and abductions of young women in Ciudad Juárez,
and Chihuahua, Mexico since 1993 are CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY! There is growing
concern that the authorities have not investigated these cases effectively.
The authorities have repeatedly claimed to have solved these crimes, but the
disappearances and murders continue.
An authoritative report on the situation in Chihuahua state, Mexico regarding
the investigations has been published by Amnesty International:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR410272003
(english)
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/eslAMR410272003
(spanish)
"Those advocating for more effective investigation are being threatened
and intimidated. One advocacy group in particular, Mujeres de Negro/Justicia
para Nuestras Hijas (Women in Black/Justice for our Daughters), has been targeted
by the Chihuahua state’s attorney general for investigation as an "accessory
to murder." Mujeres de Negro is one of the most effective and vocal of
the human rights NGOs to push for more effective investigation..."
- America
"The Threat to Black Families":
Margaret Kimberley writes an important column in the web magazine "Black
Commentator" that includes a good analysis of right-wing, social conservative
efforts to reach and use African-Americans for their cause: "Conservatives
have looked long and hard to find issues that would make their ideology attractive
to black people…."
"In September 2003 the Brookings Institution released the report, Work and
Marriage: The Way to End Poverty and Welfare. The first specious premise of
the report is that advocates of the poor have spent too much time demanding
increases in public assistance funding instead of demanding increases in employment.
It is news to me that activists have not asked for full employment. It has
been a constant rallying point for progressives for decades. The title of
the report also gives away its second premise, that the poor need to get married
more often…"
http://www.blackcommentator.com/60/60_fr_family_pf.html
Ms. Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City. You can readmore
of Ms. Kimberley's writings at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/
Granny D is on the road again
Elder activist Doris "Granny D" Haddock, 93, is the chairwoman of the "Our
Town Votes" project. She walked across the U.S. in 2000 to support cleaner
campaigns with fewer strings attached to special interests. She is now leading
a voter registration bandwagon is traveling the U.S.. For a map, schedule,
and opportunities to help with voter registration see: http://www.GrannyD.com
"Working women have a hard time voting because of all the demands on their
time. I know because I worked for many years in a shoe factory. Those of us
who now have some time on our hands can make it a little easier for these
hard working, common sense women. If they vote, America will elect good people.
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