One last thing - between 31st January and 8th February, the Global Womens Strike and International Women Count will be holding an International Gathering. The theme of this years gathering will be
"The Struggle Against Sexism & Racism: an International Comparison"
"Five major events will be held over 10 days:
1.Grassroots Struggle Against Sexism and Racism: an International
Comparison - Saturday 31 January
2.Our Debt to Haitians - the First to Abolish Slavery - Sunday 1 February
3.Invest In Caring, Not Killing: Valuing the Work of Caring for People and
the Planet - Saturday 7 February.
4.Rediscovering Tanzania’s Ujamaa - Tribute to the Great Ntimbanjayo
Millinga and the Ruvuma Development Association - Sunday 8 February.
5.Rape and Prostitution - A Question of Consent - Tuesday 3 February.
The events will include speakers from : BOLIVIA, CANADA, ENGLAND, GUYANA, HAITI, INDIA, IRAQ, IRELAND, PALESTINE, PERU, SPAIN, TANZANIA, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO, TURKEY, US, VENEZUELA. For more information see here.
I hope contributors and readers of F-Word will take the opportunity to attend and join in the debates whatever their political positions are on the issues named above.
]]>In XXY, a film from Argentina, Alex, the film’s protagonist, is a 14 year old intersex child who comes face to face with society’s prejudice.1 The close knit community of this small fishing village is populated by people this child would have viewed as neighbours. However because of the child’s intersexuality which in this case shows a female bodied child gradually turning male which is suggested abundantly throughout the film. The child’s secret is leaked somehow by an acquaintance and everyone is either curious, offended or out rightly oppressive towards Alex. Fearing their society’s reaction towards their child, the Alex’s parents invite a surgeon to see if the tide could be stopped. Under pressure even Alex seemed willing to give in but as long as the outcome is male rather than female gender identity, an already suggested gay sexuality in the mix (i.e. not lesbian as some might assume.) Although to my mind the film reflects society’s gender paranoia, I think it best that you judge it yourselves… How can a human child of fourteen be treated in the way depicted in the film does simply because of the child’s intersexed status? Continue reading Intersexuality - XXY
They've sent some porn actresses to Kenya, and filmed them having sex with impoverished local Africans for their Naked Continent series. The production company, Natural High, has proudly proclaimed that the director made an $11,000 donation to a local charity, and will donate another $10 for the purchase of every DVD of that particular film.
It's not the porn aspect that I find offensive but traveling all the way to Africa and then exploiting impoverished people in this way then using the money to donate to local charities. It's like the whole debt / aid thing where countries are impoverished with debt and then given aid money for not all but a great deal of useless dependency creating projects. This is one example of a fucked up world along with demonising single mothers for staying at home looking after (WORKING) their children. Woman after woman are phoning local radio stations in support of the proposed Bill with the usual rant about my tax payers money etc etc. Where were all these people a month ago when the banks were being bailed out with £billions of tax payers money? Why aren't they phoning and complaining about the $billions being spent on Iraq and Afghanistan instead of picking on the poorest most vulnerable people in England?
Meanwhile back at the farm you can engage yourself in ending hunger through a Heifer gift - that is a chick, goat, cow whatever. On the front is a smiling photo of a woman and a cow in a field just in case you miss the point of the happiness you will be creating with this gift of chicks, cow goat...and of course you get to forget the trees cut down in the Amazon to feed the cows you eat everyday that lead to the impoverishment of the people who you now give a gift of a chick, cow, goat..................
]]>Please read the press release and sign the Asylum from Rape Petition
On 25 November 2008, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we demand that the UK government meet its international obligations to provide protection to women seeking asylum from rape and other sexual torture.
In June 2006, Black Women’s Rape Action Project issued the “Asylum from Rape” petition demanding official recognition of rape as torture and persecution, and practical help for women to overcome the many obstacles they face in making their asylum claims. Thousands of people have already signed the petition including journalists Victoria Brittain and Caroline Moorhead, lawyer Gareth Peirce, actress Juliet Stevenson and poet Benjamin Zephaniah.
An estimated 50% of women seeking asylum in the UK are rape survivors. Women are spearheading the movement for asylum rights and exposing the hidden atrocities in the asylum process. This self-help activity has encouraged opposition from many quarters, including high level protests against the detention of children and vulnerable people. The “Asylum from Rape” petition is one way of informing people about who seeks asylum and why, and is a tool to demand change.
We are calling on all concerned UK and international organisations to endorse the “Asylum from Rape” petition.......Continue reading.....
]]>Why do queer activists in Uganda but animal activists in the USA bear the brunt of police suppression in their respective countries? Are they similarly subversive of “cultural” practices that turn out to be critical to the maintenance of state power?,
It doesnt work for Chris or and doesnt work for me. Chris responds......
There is perhaps a problem with comparison in this example. Animal rights activists in the U.S. are targeted for our activities and successes against large corporations. Queer activists in Uganda are not targeted because they are activists, or not solely because they are activists. They are targeted for being Queer, thus the situation requires the transition into activism.
I am left wondering why Vegan Ideal chose to use Ugandan LGBTI activsts as a comparison. How can you compare actions based on a choice of belief against actions based on what you are - it assumes there is a choice in being a lesbian or not. Yes there may be a choice in coming out or not or even acknowledging one's sexuality. But there isnt a choice in being a lesbian or not.
]]>"I feel obliged to state at this point that I have a good degree from a good university, as so many people assume we do this job because we are poor, uneducated souls. I say "we" because I am not alone - I know many, many women who work the length and breadth of the UK in the same way as I do. I cannot speak for all these women, of course, and I do not intend to try to do so, but suffice it to say that my situation is not an unusual one."
Lara goes on to explain "her situation" which is probably typical of the majority of working Mums across the country. A situation she was personally unhappy with - long hours away from home, little money to show for the hard work, no time for your kids. She chose to do something different that would enable her to have a better quality of life - work as an "escort" from home. As she explains this is not for everyone but it was done out of choice and she is not a victim to be pitied nor a criminal nor a bad parent.
Escorting seemed like the natural solution. I say "natural" because it felt natural to me. I am well aware that this is not a job everybody could do. But as a sexually-aware and sexually-experienced woman in her mid-30s, the thought of having sex with strangers did not terrify me. I remember thinking that I might even enjoy it (and that has proved to be the case).I work from a flat on which I pay the mortgage - I do not have any landlord to worry about. I charge £150 per hour and I get enough enquiries to enable me to choose my own working hours
What the Brothel report does is conflate sexworkers like Lara with women who are forced into prostitution through trafficking, pimping and drug addiction. Lara represents many women in the sex industry who have the right to chose how they earn a living without having to live up to some latent Victorian sense of morality that is built on belief that women and sex are dirty. As Lara points out the kind of people who traffic women for prostitution are hardly likely to bother whether prostitution is legal or otherwise. They are already operating illegally by trafficking and abusing women. By criminalising prostitution as opposed to focusing on preventing and prosecuting trafficking AND by failing to support those women who are real victims of crime, more women like Lara are put at risk by having to go underground and of loosing their children. What the Brothel Report doesn't show is the hypocrisy of the British government towards trafficking victims who when found are in nearly all cases deported back to their home countries where they are once again vulnerable to be trafficked not just back to the UK but other countries across Europe and beyond.
]]>It is shameful that UK law allows children who are not British to be detained without time limits and without judicial oversight. Many of the 2,000 or so children detained for administrative convenience every year have been here seeking asylum with their families. Others arrive on their own and are detained because, in the absence of identification papers, the immigration authorities refuse to believe that they are children.
For years the British government has tried to cover up the truth of what happens to women and children in detention centers such as Yarlswood. Now Sir Al Aynsley-Green, who is the Children's Commissioner has exposed the reality for children in Yarlswood, nonetheless the government is refusing to change it's policy towards asylum seekers in general and the detention of children in particular......
We were told of children denied the use of a toilet (or allowed to go only while being watched with the door open) before lengthy journeys in caged vans. Girls claimed they were made to get dressed in the presence of male officers, and boys vice versa. Virtually every child spoke of their fear and distress at being awakened and shouted at by adults in uniforms who had entered their homes violently. Children said they were separated from their parents, were not told where they were being taken, and were humiliated in front of friends and neighbours as parents were handcuffed and they themselves were marched into vans. One child told me of being removed from his class at school by uniformed officers. Children, even the youngest, are deeply affected and traumatised by these events. Many of them have recurring nightmares about them, and they often demonstrate changes in behaviour. They can become persistently withdrawn, cling to their parents, refuse food or wet the bed. Children's best interests appear to me to be entirely invisible during the arrest and escorting process.................
The UK's immigration policy and detention of children is despicable. This is not just about compassion it is about justice and what is the right way to treat children - all children. Continue reading the rest of the report..........
For more information and support contact the All Africa Women's Group and Black Womens Rape Action Project at the Crossroads Women's Center, 230a Kentish Town Road, London NW5 @Tel: +44-20-7482 2496
A little background on the tournament: one of the fixtures of the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association which was started in 1980. The description of the games in London’s Pink Paper is somewhat misleading ............”Six continents fight for cup” - one team from the whole of Asia, one from Africa and two from South/Central America with a totally disproportionate number coming from North America and Europe is hardly representative of “six continents”! Nonetheless the championship, like most amateur sporting events and associations it has a laudable mission:
“to foster and augment the self respect of gay women and men throughout the world, and engender respect and understanding from the non-gay world, through the medium of football (soccer).”
But the IGLFA also needs to accept that there a huge amount of work to “engender respect and understanding” between LGBTI people. For example, acknowledging lesbophobia and racism as expressed by white gay men, as well as sexism and other prejudice in the non-gay world. The event claims to be a “World” tournament inclusive of lesbians and gay men. Yet no less than 95% of the participants were men, of whom 90% were white with only three teams from outside Europe and America - Japan, Mexico and Argentina. On the women’s side there were only five teams - the two CF teams from South Africa, one team from Chicago and two local London teams.
The hierarchies that exist everywhere do not just melt away in any context despite fine words. There is an assumption that these do not exist amongst the LGBTI people but they clearly do. This tournament played out those divisions and hierarchies. How can it be a “World Tournament” when many teams cannot afford to come, and if they could, are likely to be refused entry to the UK when they get here, or fear it will put them in danger back home? And where is the “level playing field” for those who do manage to participate when there is such a divergence in the support and welcome available to the teams - medical, diet, cost of food in the games tent and the cost of attending social events.
The Chosen Few (CF) came to the games having struggled to raise the travel, accommodation and living expenses.. But they faced more obstacles in their living conditions in London: lack of support facilities such as steam rooms, access to physio treatment and a proper diet (the team had been told that their hostel had a kitchen but on arrival this was not the case and they had to resort to 1 week diet of cheap fast food) and were finally reduced to one team due to injuries. Without acknowledging and tackling these disparities, this event will continue as a white male tournament with the participation of lesbians, particularly Black lesbians, reduced to tokenism.
The Chosen Few who arrived on the 22nd August for a week’s soccer, are all members of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women based in Johannesburg. The team is made up of young unemployed women from Soweto Township for whom football is a passion and membership of the team, an uplifting and supportive network of friends. The tournament began on Monday (26 August) with each of the CF teams playing 3 matches on both days. By the close of play on Tuesday evening the number of injured had reduced the two teams to one team with reserves. One of CFs two goalies was stomped on her fingers yet no penalty was given against the opposing team. She came back the next day and was stomped on again and only her determination and bravery enabled her to play in the semi-final on Friday. So bad were the stomping, kicking and fouling that one CF player requires an operation to her ankle, and may never play again, and another was told she needed an MRI scan before any further assessment could be made about the severity of her leg injury. Three other players had injuries needing further treatment.
The girl’s insurance will not cover the cost of medical treatment for their injuries. Due to lack of funds, their sports insurance is the bare minimum and covers only basic treatment here in UK - x-rays, bandages, pain killers- and nothing when they return to SA. So the situation is that there are five young women who cannot afford to pay for private care in SA (free health care is limited and poorly resourced) so are left with untended injuries which may well affect them for life. The words “disposable people” come to mind. Next year there will be another team as those injured permanently will be replaced by a new set of youngsters. They in turn will be sent into the lion’s den unknowingly only to be eaten up by mismanagement, racism, and a disregard for the general well being of amateur athletes by an international association which is part of world football in the name of FIFA.
Despite their injuries the CF team returned to play the final games of the tournament on Friday determined to win but this was not to be. A combination of totally unprofessional refereeing and ungame’womanship’ towards the CF resulted in the team loosing the match to Hackney FC. As one impartial observer said the CF team had “lost the game even before they began”. Like a number of others, including the CF coach, she was so infuriated, she went to call for the organisers to come over to see what was going on but showed their disinterest by never bothering to turn up. Requests to have the match replayed with another referee were also denied. Although they had dreamed of taking the trophy back to Soweto, visibly biased refereeing left a sour taste in the mouths of the players.
Because of their sexuality and by their insistence on being proud out lesbians from South Africa, the Chosen Few are challenging the largely homophobic hetronormative society. To then come to an international event which claims to celebrate an LGBTI identity and foster harmony and then be further marginalised is disappointing and frustrating.
One would have thought that this would have been seen to be a fantastic opportunity for the LGBTI community in the UK to meet and hear directly from young lesbians from the townships about their lives and the situation generally in South Africa. Yet not one event was arranged by the tournament organisers to facilitate this. What did the two London teams do to welcome the teams from Soweto, except have the audacity to offer the very team that they had fouled and stomped a second hand football kit?
“We wanted to win and take the trophy back to South Africa. We are disappointed in not being able to do that but we are also angry and frustrated that the tournament was not conducted in an atmosphere of fair play and we believe racism played a part in the refereeing and fouling by some members of the opposing teams.”
If young vulnerable and relatively disadvantaged people are to be invited to international sporting events like the London 2008 G&L Championship then those responsible for organising the tournament need to make the appropriate provisions so they can play on a level playing field with other teams. Without addressing these issues, the organisers cannot defend themselves at best against disinterest and tokenism and at worst against the charge of racism.
]]>In a televised speech, Chavez said: "Our oil shouldn't go to those countries" in Europe who apply new rules for deporting illegal immigrants. He also threatened to block European investments in his country. Venezuela sells most of its oil to the US and is a minor supplier to Europe.
Chavez's statement builds on that of Bolivian President Evo Morales on Returns Directive in which he placed immigration from Latin America and the global south in the context of colonialism and exploitation of human and natural resources.
Cross posted from Black Looks
]]>In a letter to a Liberal Democrat peer, seen by The Independent, Ms Smith said there was no "real risk" of gay men and lesbians being discovered by the Iranian authorities or "adverse action" being taken against those who were "discreet" about their behaviour.in her letter to Lord Roberts of Llandudno, Ms Smith rejected a call for an immediate halt to the deportation of gay and lesbian asylum seekers. "We recognise that the conditions for gay and lesbian people in Iran - and many other countries - are such that some individuals are able to demonstrate a need for international protection," she wrote. "We do not, however, accept that we should make the presumption that each and every asylum-seeker who presents themselves as being of a particular nationality or sexuality, regardless of their particular circumstances, should automatically be ... allowed to remain in the UK.
The idea that you will be safe from being executed if you pretend to be straight is inhumane and makes a mockery of a country claiming to defend human rights. The last "throwaway" sentence is an insult to asylum seekers and panders to the erroneous belief that there are hundreds of thousands of applicants every year with the government operating on the presumption that by far the majority are criminals. (23,610 in 2006) The reality is the numbers of people seeking asylum are small and they are not criminals. The statement is consistent with the governments attitude towards asylum seekers of disbelief and blaming the victim: - not believing claims; believing claims based on rape but saying unless they claimant can prove that the rape was part of a campaign of persecution against women then it is not valid; blaming the claimant for making a stand (for example in the case of a Zimbabwean, blaming him for protesting against Mugabe)
Links:
Trouble Sleeping [Film]
The Hell of Being an Asylum Seeker
It seems it is so easy to move from name calling to drawing a gun and shooting someone simply because they are different, different sexualities, different nationalities, different races. The murder of Daisy Dube is under investigation but like so many previous murders, rapes and acts of violence, the perpetrators remain free sometimes even to taunt their victims on the street, in the corner shop, in the HIV clinics. This is how Daisy Dube died on the evening of the 2nd June 2008 in Yeoville, Johannesburg.
On the evening of 2 June 2008, five close friends, four proudly self identifying as Drag Queens, went for an outing in Yeoville. Confronted by homophobic hate speech, they challenged three men to stop calling them “izitabane”.]]>Shortly after 9pm, one of the three men, sitting in a white Corolla, handed a gun to the other friend to “shoot lezitabane”. Twenty five year old Desmond Dube, fondly known as Daisy, died on the scene.
Close friend, Odwa Mbane, who was at the scene described the fear and chaos caused by the assassins. She affirms that the motivation was because of their gender identity and that they were not going to subject themselves to ridicule.
MaNonstikeleo Dube describes her daughter’s pride for who she was, her love for her, sense of responsibility and her great loss of a daughter who had carried her needs and dreams to the day she was brutally murdered.
Daisy Dube was buried at the Thembisa cemetery, following a moving service in Yeoville, attended by many members of the LGBTI community from around Johannesburg.
It is a shame that the Russian government is turning a blind eye on the growing level of attacks on foreign students and residents in Russia. Students of the international university in Moscow are the worst victims. I was shown video evidence of acid attacks and knife cuts. One African student, Nigerian Mukaila Odedina remains paralysed from an attack from right wing thugs in front of a Russian police station in Moscow, speaking with Mukaila brought tears to my eyes. He is in his final year and would have been a medical doctor in September 2005 now he cannot even raise a flight ticket back home; all contact with the Nigerian embassy yielded no result.
I remember meeting a Zimbabwean woman in 1990, who was to become a good friend, speaking about her similar experience whilst a student in the Soviet Union. "From Russia With Hate" is a video documentary by Christof Putzel which investigates neo-nazi groups in Russia. It's bad enough that that racist violence is described as "out of control" but many of the skin heads have support from the government....One member of the Duma is interviewed condoning the violence because the "government is not doing enough [about immigration]" A very disturbing documentary particularly when looked at in the context of the British government's increasingly anti-immigration rhetoric and accompanying legislation - one suggestion from Russia is to take away the citizenship of Russian women who marry foreigners!
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