Archive for the ‘Benefit’ Category
Haitian women’s groups report that while contributions from the international community continue to pour in, “in many camps essentials such as food and clothing are not yet widely available, especially for women and children.”
In a letter of appeal sent to colleagues in the international women’s movement, Sergia Galvan and Mayra Tavarez of Colectiva Mujeres Y Salud/CAFRA in the Dominican Republic write:
- ” … As with most other natural disasters, the strongest and the fittest tend to dominate disaster supply chain and distribution. Women and young girls are the last to have access to the supplies chain and distribution points. So they do not receive the supplies that they most urgently need in addition to food and water. So it is in Haiti.
“Rape of young girls and women is also a growing problem as is common in the aftermath of most disasters” they write. Because of this, there is also an “urgent need for the morning after pill.
Haitian women, young girls and youth are in need of:
* Feminine supplies.
* Combs.
* Feminine wipes.
* Panties, bras and clothes and other support (especially for pregnant women and new mothers).
* Personal/household supplies for birth delivery and after: (rubbing alcohol or disposable anti-germicidal substitutes; baby wipes, baby wraps, pampers, socks and caps and supplies for nursing. mothers/newborn; (It is cold at nights so there is need to cover the feet and heads of the newborns).
* Clothing and under garments for women and young girls.
* Bedding & blankets for babies and mothers.
Their plea: Send supplies or money to help purchase any of the above items. In general, say Galvan and Tavarez, “any supplies (such as toothpaste, tooth brushes etc) that can be used for daily living for men, women, boys and girls are welcome.”
- We need your support for these resources and any financial contribution towards shipment that you are able to make.
Donations can be sent directly to:
HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE FOR HAITI
Sergia Galvan and Mayra Tavarez
Colectiva Mujeres Y Salud/CAFRA
Calle Socomo Sanchez
No 74, Gazcu, Santo Domingo DR
This is a specific drive for Emergency Supplies for Haitian women and girls* that is being sponsored by the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) and Colectiva Mujers Y Salud (Women’s Health Collective), Dominican Republic, and the CAFRA Youth League in Haiti. This assistance is being transferred primarily through the Myriam Merlet International Solidarity Camp* directly to women and women´s organizations.
Myriam Merlet was a National Representative of CAFRA who was killed during the earthquake.
The solidarity camp is named after Myriam Merlet, a feminist activist who was killed in the earthquake last week. As an outspoken activist, Merlet helped draw international attention to the use of rape as a political weapon.
A Feminist International Solidarity Camp to help mobilize and transfer resources, and to open channels of communications directly with Haitian women will open next week on the frontier Jemaní between the Dominican Republic & Haiti. As a project organized by women’s groups in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere in Latin America & the Caribbean and beyond, the Camp will be eventually handed over to Haitian women.
The international solidarity camp is named after Myriam Merlet, It is organized as a Resource Center for international solidarity efforts to send resources directly to the women of Haiti, and also work with Human Rights defenders from Haiti to monitor, denounce and demand legal action regarding violations of human rights including women’s human rights during the earthquake and the aftermath.
Also to be included is a Health Center to help deal the grief, injuries, illnesses and traumas of the earthquake.
Coordinators of these efforts include the Women & Health Collective (COMUS) a women’s human rights and health NGO, and CIPAF, a feminist NGO of the Dominican Republic that works in building social/political movement.
The space will also serve as a Communications Center to include radio transmissions via Internet by FIRE (Feminist International Radio Endeavour), as well as blogs, and electronic networks organized by women’s communication networks throughout the region. FIRE was the first international internet radio created and run by women from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Participation is needed, particularly to find resources, share information from the Camp and develop solidarity in your place. .
For more information in English about the Myriam Merlet Feminist International Solidarity Camp and other ways to participate go to: http://www.radiofeminista.net (webpage of FIRE radio) as of Febrary 1st.
Write in English to oficina@radiofeminista.net
Or write in Spanish to: Colectiva Mujer y Salud in the Dominican Republic at http://www.colectivamujerysalud.org
Centro de Investigación para la Acción Femenina CIPAF also in the Dominican Republic at: http://www.cipaf.org.do
http://www.radiofeminista.net/index.php/es/noticias/70-solidarity-haiti-feminist.html
See also: “Myriam Merlet, Anne Marie Coriolan & Magalie Marcelin Feminist International Camp”
and: UNIFEM Mourns the Deaths of 4 Women’s Rights Activists in Haiti
The RAG is a magazine produced by a diverse group of anarcha-feminist women in Dublin. We are all feminists, united in our recognition that women’s subordination exists. We are all anarchists, united in our belief for the need to create alternatives to this capitalistic, patriarchal society wherein all are dominated and exploited.
RAG are organising a feminist gathering to take place on the Mayday bank holiday weekend in a rural setting in Leitrim. There will be workshops, discussions, skill-sharing, music and fun.
Feminists of all persuasions (and all genders!) are welcome to attend. Bring your enthusiasm and ideas. We also hope to make the gathering an inclusive space for children.
Costs will be kept to a minimum. Accomodation is camping, though we will help those with any special accomodation needs.
If you wish to attend, join the organising list asap to guarantee your space:
Send a blank email to: feministgathering-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk
To Post message: feministgathering@yahoogroups.co.uk
Any problems with that, or any questions before subscribing, just email us here ragdublin@riseup.net.
Please forward this msg to anyone you think might be interested.
Solidarity
RAG
ps!
Sat 12th April, Lower Deck, Portobello – Fundraising gig for Gathering
Truck, Party Weirdo, Zing, Clodagh Kerley.
€6 min donation/ €5 unwaged
* Women and children behind bars in the UK.
* Hear their voices. Show you care.
* With Juliet Stevenson and Harriet Walter
The heartbreaking and heroic journeys of women and children who have sought refuge in the UK, brought to life through personal testimony by refugees and performance by leading actors.
Due to overwhelming response to the sell out performance on Mother’s Day ( see https://womensphere.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/mothers-day-event-at-the-young-vic-highlighting-mothers-and-children-in-detention/) there will be two further performances of Motherland on Sunday 15th March at 3pm and 7.30pm.
For details on booking go to Young Vic website page at http://www.youngvic.org/whats-on?action=details&id=1941 or contact Women for Refugee Women at wrw@womankind.org.uk
All tickets £10 – free to asylum seekers (call 020 7922 2922)
Proceeds to Women for Refugee Women and the Yarl’s Wood Befrienders
* http://www.refugeewomen.com
* http://www.ywbefrienders.org.uk
We are delighted to announce the launch of an extra date for Professor Robert Winston’s Women for Women Cycle Cuba event.
Three dates for the challenge in November 2008 and March 2009 are now completely full but we are pleased to advise you of a fourth event date from 13 – 22 March 2009 across this stunning Caribbean island. This is of course fantastic news as it will mean even more funding for research work that will have a major impact on the health of women and babies worldwide.
Be part of another amazing women-only cycling adventure – this time it’s across the stunning Caribbean island of Cuba. It will be the 8th Women for Women challenge to raise funds for Professor Robert Winston’s appeal to improve the health of women and babies.
A fantastic group of women have already helped raise more than £1.5 million to fund research by taking part in women-only cycle rides in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Cuba, Turkey and India. This Morning TV presenter Fern Britton, who took part in rides in Egypt and India, will be cycling again for Women for Women in Cuba. This is an opportunity to share a challenge of a lifetime with a special group of women, cycling 370km across the Caribbean’s largest and least commercialised island and one of the world’s last bastions of communism.
It will be a challenging ride, but one that is achievable by women who are reasonably fit and prepared to put in plenty of cycling training beforehand. To take part you need to pay a non-refundable registration fee of £250 and pledge to raise minimum funds of £3,000 for Women for Women which funds research aimed at improving the health of women and babies and is administered by the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Trust. Professor Winston is Chairman of the Trust and Women for Women.
If you would like to join the 4th Cycle Cuba event date please download your information pack and application form at http://www.actionforcharity.co.uk/eventdetails.asp/urlsearch/Women-for-Women-Cycle-Cuba or reply to events@actionforcharity.co.uk to request the information by post.
Transition Year (TY) students highlight horror of domestic violence
They may be County Mayo’s only entrants in the Young Social Innovators project for this school year, but the Transition Year (TY) students of Davitt College, Castlebar, sure knew how to pull an emotionally-charged punch at yesterday’s (Monday’s) presentation on domestic violence.
“My name is Chris/I am three,/My eyes are swollen/I cannot see,/I must be stupid/I must be bad,/What else could have made/My daddy so mad.”
Their short and simple drama was created by using a tableau of two figures illuminated behind a screen, with one repeatedly assaulting the other, as a chorus of students narrated a grim tale.
“The hurt and the pain/Again and again/O please let it end!/And he finally stops/And heads for the door/While I lay there motionless/Sprawled on the floor/My name is Chris/I am three/ Tonight my daddy/Murdered me.”
For these TY students, who wish to ‘inspire a change’, a ‘broken home equals a broken heart’. On Thursday next they will join with other Young Social Innovators in Sligo and make their short dramatic presentation. They will also sell ‘Inspire a Change’ wrist bands to their fellow students in a fundraising effort for Mayo Women’s Support Services (MWSS) and their refuge.
“We think it is fantastic that the students are raising awareness about domestic violence. I think, as the Inspector [Mick Murray] said, the impact on children is not highlighted often enough. Children can be very torn and very confused by marital difficulties and violence,” said Catherine Neary of MWSS.
Praising the students for their dramatic presentation earlier, Insp Murray had observed it was usually the husband and wife who were highlighted when focusing on domestic violence issues.
“As a garda since 1980, I have dealt with more domestic violence incidents than I wanted to. Your depiction was impressive. It is usually the husband and the wife we meet and the children are often emotionally neglected and ignored in the whole situation,” said Insp Murray. He said that ‘economic circumstances’ was a very common reason for a woman remaining in a violent home. “Any man that hits a woman is a coward,” concluded Insp Murray. He warned: “Girls, don’t stay with a man that hits you.”
Congratulating Class 4a, Mayor of Castlebar, Cllr Eugene McCormack, said the presentation had been ‘very thought-provoking’. “What I found interesting was that it was behind the screen and that, in reality, this is what often happens behind closed doors,” he said.
School Principal, Mr Ioseph McGowan, said the students’ chosen subject was a very topical one. “It is very important that young people live beyond their own interests. They have put a huge amount of work into this and will now raise money for the women’s refuge,” said Mr McGowan.
Last year there were 178 referrals to the MWSS. There have been 1,800 since the services started in 1996. Since 1996, 131 women have been murdered in Ireland; over half of them, 82, in their own homes.
Young Social Innovators was created in 2001 to develop social awareness and activism among young people – aged between 15 and 18. It aims to help them become effective champions for social justice no matter what job or profession they enter. The framework involves students working in teams, to identify a social issue they feel they could help to change. The chosen issue may affect their school, community, Ireland in general, or have an international aspect.
For further information, visit http://www.youngsocialinnovators.ie and http://www.mayowomenssupportservices.com
http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3468&Itemid=38
With an over 70% female student population and a reputation for originality and expression, there’s a lot of female creativity to be celebrated at Goldsmiths! Students at Goldsmiths, University of London, in conjunction with the Women’s and LGBT societies, are providing an opportunity to do just that through organising Ladyfest on Friday 22 February 2008.
The event will feature talks, workshops, and an art exhibition, and will be rounded-off by a gig boasting all female acts.
The exhibition will showcase work by Goldsmiths students as well as established female artists, and will open on Monday 18 February to lead-up to the Ladyfest events. The day itself runs as follows:
• 1pm – Talk on female creativity from Senior Lecturer in Popular Music, Jill Hallstead, and Gina Birch of all-female post-punk band, The Raincoats.
• 2.30pm – ‘Is sexy always sexist?’ A discussion featuring Professor of Communications, Angela McRobbie.
• 4pm – Belly dancing workshop – a chance to experience this traditional dance which promotes positive self image.
• 5.30pm – Artist, Spartacus Chetwynd, will show a documentary about the Japanese animation film studio, Studio Ghibli, and talk about its continuous use of powerful female role models.
• 8pm– Ladyfest gig with live performances from Wetdog, Congregation, Monday Club and a Goldsmiths band forming specifically for the event. DJs Twee as F**k will entertain between sets accompanying live performance art from Skip.
All events take place in the Students’ Union, Dixon Road, New Cross, and are open to the public. The events are free, except for the gig which is £5/£4 NUS on the door with all proceeds going to The Poppy Project, a sheltered housing scheme for the victims of sex trafficking.
Ladyfest is an arts festival promoting female creativity in all its forms with feminist and anti-discrimination messages. First held in Washington, USA in 2000, Ladyfest has quickly become a world-wide phenomenon.
For more information contact Laurel Sills by e-mail or phone 020 8692 1406.
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/press-releases/pressrelease.php?releaseID=626
See also:
* Ladyfest’s quest for real grrl power http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/leisure/outandabout/display.var.2057097.0.ladyfests_quest_for_real_grrl_power.php
* Poster http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/ramalamalama/beautifulladyfestposter.jpg
* http://www.myspace.com/ladyfestgoldsmiths
For two nights only a chance to watch Eve Enslers’ award winning “The Vagina Monologues” in the full knowledge that you are also helping to change the world!
Thursday 21st Feb 7:30pm The Folk House
Friday 22nd Feb 7:30pm The Folk House
What the press had to say:
* ‘Lie back and enjoy it’ ‘A wittily honest investigation about how women feel about their sexuality’ ‘Feminist without being man-hating, entertaining without being trite, and political without being earnest’ – Evening Standard
* ‘Laugh-out-loud funny and deeply poignant’ ‘The audience laughed and chanted with orgasmic vigour’ – The Independent
* ‘Part therapy, part entertainment, part polemic’ ‘It’s a joy to hear the pleasure principle promoted with such fevour and finesse’ – Time Out
Tickets available from Bristol Ticket Shop priced £7.75 (including booking fee). With all proceeds going to V-Day and Women’s Aid.
Hosted by: Bristol V-Day Group
Venue: Bristol Folk House
Contact: Ruth Wood
Recent postings- Towards a Future without Fundamentalisms: New Report Analyzes Religious Fundamentalist Strategies and Feminist Responses
- Statement on the Murder of Marisela Escobedo Ortiz, women’s human rights defender of Ciudad Juarez
- Sudan police arrest women protesting at flogging video
- UN Chief Leaves Women out of Year-End Summing Up
- Sex education is expelled from Egyptian schools
- Kurdish Parliament Turns Blind Eye to Prostitution
- Sexual harassment cases in Israel’s civil service rose 40% in 2010
- Women in south Sudan have been targeted in a string of abusive attacks by police cracking down on Western clothes
- Women and girls living in Haiti’s makeshift camps face an increasing risk of rape and sexual violence says Amnesty International new report
- Stand up against hatred and threats against LGBT in Malaysia
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