The Scholar and the Feminist XXVIII:
Why? Feminist Analyses of the State of the Worldhow We Can Make a Difference – February 22, 2003

Conference Program (PDF, 156 KB)

Morning Session

Why? Feminist Analyses of the State of the State of the World
Neta Crawford, Watson Institute, Brown University
Lisa Duggan, New York University
Lois Ann Lorentzen, University of San Francisco
Meredeth Turshen, Rutgers University

Social Action Workshops

1. Expansive Vision/Effective Tools: Using Human Rights to Eliminate Gender and Race Discrimination in the United States (Amnesty International and Urban Justice Center)
   Ejim Dike is Program Coordinator of the Urban Justice Center Human Rights Project
   Sheila Dauer is Director of Amnesty International’s Women’s Human Rights Program
   Barbara Schulman is a consultant to Amnesty International USA Women’s Human Rights Program
   Over the past decade, increasing numbers of grassroots activists worldwide have begun to look to the international human rights system to support work for social change in their countries and communities. This workshop will introduce participants to an exciting new local effort: The New York City Human Rights Initiative, which will seek to secure passage of a citywide ordinance adopting the standards of two human rights treaties: CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) and CERD (Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination). The workshop will provide basic information on gender, race, and the human rights framework, and features a participatory exercise that demonstrates the relevance of the two treaties for activists working on a host of issues-including housing, education, employment, welfare and workfare, violence against women, and criminal justice.
2. Womyn in the Zapatista Movement: Shifting the Focus from Subcommandate Marcos
   (Barnard-Columbia Chiapas Delegation)
   Yaromil Fong Olivares is a Barnard College senior majoring in sociology. She has been a member of the Chiapas Delegation for two years and is currently volunteer coordinator for the Mexican Educational Foundation of New York. Her senior thesis focuses on queer youth organizing in New York City’s West Village. Rose Mishaan, a Barnard College Senior majoring in political science, has been a member of the Chiapas Delegation for four years; she has traveled to Chiapas three times to different Zapatista communities. Her senior thesis examines the development of indigenous social movements in Mexico and the United States.
   Christine Wook, a Barnard College senior majoring in urban studies and minoring in women’s studies, has been part of the Chiapas Delegation for two years. She coordinates the Ally/Safe Space Program at Barnard College and works as a peer educator at Callen-Lourde, an LGBTQ health center in New York City.
   This workshop examines the role of womyn in the Zapatista indigenous movement-both how womyn have shaped the movement and how the movement has shaped womyn. The Zapatistas, a network of indigenous peasants in Chiapas, Mexico who have rebelled against the Mexican government for eight years, are fighting for land rights, human rights, and cultural preservation. Having served in Chiapas as human rights observers, the workshop leaders will address both the vital role that the Zapatista movement plays in the context for global change, and the importance of supporting non-conventional, non-mainstream forms of feminism.
3. Asian Immigrant Women Organize for Peace and Economic Justice (CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities)
   Founded in 1986, CAAAV organizes poor and working-class Asian immigrant communities in New York City for Racial and economic justice.
   Chhaya Chhoum is the Program Coordinator of the Southeast Asian Youth Leadership Project of CAAAV, Co-coordinator of the Khmer Freedom Committee, and mother of Kaylee.
   Justina Dilla is a housekeeper from Malaysia, an Organizing Committee Member of the Women Workers Project of CAAAV, and a member of Domestic Workers United.
   Ai-jen Poo is the Special Projects Director at CAAAV and organizer with Domestic Workers United.
   This workshop will focus on the work of the Youth Leadership Project and Women Workers Project of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities. Facilitators will discuss the efforts to unite and organize service workers across diverse Asian nationalities, particularly domestic workers, as well as the efforts on the part of Asian women to resist recent post 9/11 attacks on Asian communities, including the Cambodian repatriation agreement that is secretly deporting young Cambodian men over the age of 16, from over 20 nations to the INS.
4. Fenced Out! (F.I.E.R.C.E.: Fabulously Independent Radicals for Community Empowerment)
   Gabriel Martinez is a 20 year-old Native American Two-Spirit activist. Serving as FIERCE!’s Community Outreach and Education Coordinator, she is committed to preserving the West Village as the Mecca of queer life for LGBT youth.
   Cindy Pierre-Lewish is an 18 year-old Hatian youth organizer with FIERCE!, who serves on FIERCE!’s steering committee.
   FIERCE! Is an organizing project for queer youth in New York City. This workshop, which aims to raise awareness about the current situation of queer youth in New York City, will feature the youth-produced documentary called Fenced Out! This film focuses on the struggle of a group of queer youth of color to save the Christopher Street Pier from demolition by the Hudson River Park Trust. For many decades, the Pier has played a crucial role in the building of queer community and the gay liberation movement, and it continues to be one of the few remaining places in the city where homeless queer youth can build communities. This screening and discussion is meant to foster coalitions between justice movements that radically address racial, economic, sexual, gender, and age oppression.
5. Filipina, Globalization, and the War on Terrorism (FORWARD: Filipino Organization for Women’s Advancement, Rights, and Dignity)
   Riya Ortiz and Ana Liza Cabelles are core members of FORWARD.
   FORWARD Filipino Organization for Women’s Advancement, Rights, and Dignity) offers a workshop that will engage participants in a discussion about the consequences of the US military intervention in sovereign Third World countries, particularly the Philippines. Participants will explore the consequences of the Bush Administration’s war on terrorism, especially its devastating effect on women workers, peasants, migrants, Muslims, LGBQT, youth, and professionals. They will also gain insight into the importance of Filipino women’s resistance both in the US and transnational community.
6. Imagine Revolution (Radical Women)
   Emily Woo Yamasaki is the NYC organizer for Radical Women, a socialist feminist organization. Yamasaki is a Cuba solidarity activist and defender of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. She is the author of published articles on race relations and lesbian/gay/bi/transgender issues.
   Are you an optimistic rebel? Are you looking for an alternative to war and the current profit-based system? Bring your passion and ideas to this workshop sponsored by Radical Women and consider the possibilities of sharing wealth, power, are, and leisure in a society run by working people. A brief presentation by facilitator Emily Woo Yamasaki will be followed by open discussion.
7. How Old is Your Mind? Implication of the Construction of Age on the Development of a Feminist LGBTS Intergenerational Community (SAGE: Senior Action in a Gay Environment)
   Antonieta Gimeno is a 60 year old Mexicana-Salvadorena immigrant lesbian, working, and middle class single mother of 23 year old twins. For over 25 years, she has been involved in a variety of community organizing efforts, focusing on issues affecting Latinas and other women of color and youth.
   Sandy Warshaw is a 69 year old Jewish, lesbian, feminist grandmother who has been a life long activist and fighter for justice in marginalized communities. Her work extends from the school decentralization fights of the 1960’s to speaking out for older women and LGBT communities.
   This workshop will explore the cultural construct of aging-the beliefs, cultural practices, customs, and traditions-that shape our vision of ourselves and others as we grow old. The workshop will offer a brief introduction to SAGE, an organization dedicated to providing a variety of services to support the agenda of LGBT elders struggle for justice and human rights, both locally and nationally. Workshop objectives:
   1. To increase awareness of how US culture creates images of “old” and “young”, and how those images affect ageism and growing old in LGBT/Straight communities.
   2. To increase understanding of the importance of intergenerational dialogue to change out own and society’s vision of aging and promote a positive and conscious aging image.
   3. To explore how this type of dialogue promotes justice and peace through community building and organizing strategies.
8. Critical Visions: Youth and Women of Color Articulation Resistance to Nationalism and Militarism (SPEaK: Students Promoting Empowerment and Knowledge)
   Danielle Evans is a Columbia College junior majoring in Anthropology and African-American Studies. As a student, writer, and activist, she is interested in transforming institutional and national settings into safer spaces for art, poetry, color, complication, and cooperation.
   Lailan Sandra Huen is a senior majoring in urban and Asian-American Studies at Columbia College. She is a member of SPEaK, and she works with Domestic Workers United, a New York City based coalition for undocumented workers.
   SPEaK joins a number of community organizations for a workshop focusing on the analyses and experiences of youth and women of color, this workshop will provide an interactive space to inspire alternative visions of community, nation, justice, and peace in the face of increasing nationalism and militarization at home and around the world. The workshop will use the tools of artistic expression and political analyses to confront such current challenges as military recruitment in schools, immigrant student barriers to scholarships, criminalization, and rates of imprisonment, detention, and deportation.
9. A Model for Turning Personal Beliefs About Feminism and Human Rights into Action (Women for Afghan Women)
   Matsuda Sultan is Program Director of WAW. A committed advocate for the human rights of Afghan women, she is the co-founder of the Young Afghan World Alliance. She has contributed a chapter to the anthology that resulted from WAW’s first annual conference, Women for Afghan Women: Shattering Myths and Claiming the Future.
   Homaira Mamoor is a native of Afghanistan and a Board member of WAW. A devout Muslim and feminist, she is very dedicated to raising awareness of the plight of her Afghan sisters back home.
   Mary Lu Christie, BC ’67, is an active member of WAW’s Educational Committee. After September 11, she became interested in rebuilding the educational system of Afghanistan. She will travel to Afghanistan in March to work on a project to provide a day-care center at Kabul University.
   Batya Swift Yasgur is the author of a new book, Behind the Burqa: Our Life in Afghanistan and How We Escaped to Freedom. She is active in WAW’s Education committee and was a contributing editor to Women for Afghan Women: Shattering Myths and Claiming the Future.
   WAW participants are Afghan and non-Afghan women of different ages and backgrounds. Each will talk about how she has moved beyond personal concern about women and children in Afghanistan to direct action. There will be discussion of the process of “getting involved”. We will talk about finding discrete manageable ways to participate in the effort to influence the events discussed in the conference.

Afternoon Session

How? We Can Make a Difference
Cherie Honkala, Kensington Welfare Rights Union
Winona LaDuke, Environmental Activist from a Native Perspective
Kate Rhee, Prison Moratorium Campaign
Daphne Wysham, Sustainable Energy and Economy Network