An anthology of LGBTQ writers, survivors and activists confronting heterosexual privilege and the gender binary system while creating a dialog about the limitations of the anti-sexual violence movement in hopes of creating change.
Edited by Jennifer Patterson.
Queering Sexual Violence seeks 20-25 LGBTQ writers who are interested in submitting pieces that confront the current state of our anti-sexual violence climate. Part memoir / part criticism / part call to action, this anthology seeks to address the limitations of a society that is not only unequipped to deal with rape culture but also unable to look at it without the lens of heterosexual privilege and through the interests of a gender binary system. The anthology seeks to destroy the image of the "perfect survivor" and motivate the anti-sexual violence community to embrace a more radical perspective in order to foster sustainable change.
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission's Activist Institutes are two-week-long training spaces and are each attended by 20-25 LGBTI activists. IGLHRC has held five international LGBTI activist institutes since 2005.
The theme of each Institute is chosen by activists who have attended the trainings, focusing on particular groups or challenges and considering the needs of a community.
Below, find the Memoirs of the past three Institutes, detailing their programmes and methods. They also share activists' experiences and the information presented at each Institute, so that the Memoirs can be adapted or used by other activists and groups.
IGLHRC will soon make each of these reports available in Spanish, English and Portuguese.
Memoirs of Past Institutes:
Memoir of Training Institute for Trans and Intersex Activists La Falda, Cordoba, Argentine – 2005 Spanish · English · Portuguese
Memoir of Training Institute for Lesbian and Bisexual Women from Central American and Caribbean
Organised jointly by the OECD Development Centre and UNESCO
Friday, 12 March 2010 Room (tbc), OECD Headquarters, 2 rue André Pascal, 75016, Paris (FRANCE)
The workshop will provide an excellent opportunity to improve our understanding of the linkages between gender, culture and progress in societies, as well as to take concrete next steps in this regard. It will be attended by high-level policy makers and government representatives from around the world as well as leading academics, gender equality experts and development practitioners. This should allow for a very rich exchange of experiences and viewpoints.
A preliminary programme is available at www.oecd.org/dev/gender/progress. Should you wish to attend, please register by filling in the registration form that you will find on the website and by returning it to Mrs. Pamela Marqueyrol (tel: 01 45 24 82 86, e-mail:pamela.marqueyrol@oecd.org).
As places are limited, we will confirm your registration as soon as possible.
Ending the custom of Honor Killing by changing tribal perspectives, Empowering local women & promoting positive customs!
For the cost of a few cups of coffee, you can help save lives!!!
Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI), a youth-led civil society organization in Pakistan, has taken the bold step towards injecting life into traditions of death and headed towards abolishing the custom of Honor Killing in Pakistan!
The most unreasonable idea and the dynamic changemaking strategy is attacking the crime strategically by promoting the diverse positive tribal traditions in patriarchal societies of Pakistan, and actually taking the whole community itself towards changing the tribal codes of Honor.
The Minister of State responsible for Women's Helena Guergis has made several announcements in recent weeks for small grants to various organizations here and there in Canada, including those that promote and coordinate educational projects to support women entrepreneurs in the spirit of the new slogan of Status of Women Canada, "The strength of women is the strength of Canada." By cons, no announcement has talked about funding the initiative Sisters in Spirit of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC). "We have not said anything," says the director of Sisters in Spirit, Kate Rexe. "The government remains silent on the issue."
Sisters in Spirit held an initial grant of $ 5 million in five years compiling a database of more than 520 women have disappeared or been murdered over the past 40 years. The organization has prepared kits for use by families and police when a woman disappears and developed policies and programs aimed at breaking the cycle of violence.
NWAC is ready to implement policies and community programs focused on three priority areas: the judiciary, the welfare of children and poverty. But these initiatives remain unresolved because Ottawa refuses to say whether he intends to continue to fund this work. "It's incredibly frustrating. We have all the knowledge and dynamism. We can initiate change now, but we can not even know if we can continue this planning. "
Sixty two years ago at the time of Pakistan’s birth in 1947 as a result of partition of United India, the majority of the population in this part of the world was not fundamentalist. The state structures, though weak, nevertheless had chances to grow as a democratic country but on account of repeated interferences by Military regimes, the state started adopting Islamic ideology, giving maximum space to religious extremist forces to promote their non-democratic agenda in the country.
Many religious political parties and sectarian groups were pampered and encouraged to grow by military regimes. Millions of petro dollars were poured in by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to strengthen these parties and groups under direct state patronage. The Islamist forces had a quiet walk over democratic and progressive forces, to consolidate their socio-political spaces in the country. Religious schools (madrassas) were set up to groom and recruit jehadis. These madrassas emerged like mushrooms across Pakistan particularly in tribal areas, which served as real breeding grounds for religious fundamentalism.
The Constitution of country was injected with pro-Islamic clauses, imposing restrictions on women rights, curtailing their mobility to participate in social life. Burka culture was promoted and women were pushed inside the four walls of the house. Segregation on basis of gender was introduced at all levels in the name of Islam. Military dictator Gen.Zia-ul-Haq enacted discriminatory laws against women to please religious forces. Parallel Islamic courts were established by Saudizing the constitution. Under Evidence Act women’s’ evidence was declared half in comparison to a man. Burden of proof of rape was shifted on woman, while in case of unwanted pregnancy as result of rape, victim was used to subject to punishment by lashes, prison and stoning to death. Women movements and progressive forces though in their limited capacity reacted to these barbaric state measures but could not stop the ugly onslaught of extremist forces.
KARACHI, Feb 1, 2010 (IPS) - No sooner does a visitor step into the facility than a surreal scene unfolds: The sound of laughter, the sight of ready smiles and vigorous, pumping handshakes mix with the acrid odor of an unwashed human body and the unbearable stench of neglect that in turn combines with the heavy smell of medicine.
A group of women gathers around the visitor, their eyes lighting up and faces breaking into a smile as they extend their hands to offer the latter a firm handshake, only to be shooed away by Waseem Fatema, a stocky nurse in her late 40s.
This is the Edhi Centre for the Mentally Ill Women in North Karachi – home to women suffering from various forms of mental or emotional disorder, some of which warrant long-term treatment, others do not, requiring at best compassion and understanding for otherwise fleeting states of mental or emotional impairment, brought about in part by these women’s inability to cope with what society expects of them.
Of the more than one thousand female wards confined at the centre, some are as young as five years old and others as old as 70, or even older. Children, who are either physically or mentally challenged, stay in an adjacent facility also run by Edhi. Some of them were brought to the centre by parents who invariably said they could no longer afford to look after them.
Equality Across America Midwest Regional Conference Unite and Fight: Strategizing for LGBTQ Civil Rights and Equality March 12-14, 2010 @ Columbia College, Chicago
Start Time:
Friday, March 12, 2010 at 7:00pm
End Time:
Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 10:00pm
Location:
Columbia College Chicago
Street:
For more info, contact unitefightmidwest@gmail.com
Featuring:: * Staceyann Chin, performance poet and LGBTQ civil rights activist * Dan Choi, infantry officer in the US Army discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" * Adam Bouska, photographer and creator of the "NO H8" campaign
Over a month ago a group of Iranian women’s activists called for all defenders of women’s rights, women’s organizations and networks to take action in support of the women’s and civil rights movements in Iran, and to prepare measures of support and protest under the banner of “freedom and gender equality in Iran”. They requested, in case of repression in Iran, that these organizations act as the voices across the world of their sisters in Iran, and in that way demonstrate solidarity with them. Thus far many women’s and human rights organizations have responded to this appeal and some of them are planning events for March. Now the women of the world are calling to everyone to show solidarity with the people of Iran. Please join us. The names of individuals and organizations supporting the appeal and holding events will be announced as confirmed.
