Con lleno total se llevo a cabo el Recital de Mujeres en Contra de la Guerra en Irak y en apoyo a las mujeres norteamericanas, este 4 de marzo en el Centro de Arte La Estancia. El evento, que sirvió de marco para la jornada de recolección de firmas en contra de la guerra, contó con la presencia de más de 200 mujeres y hombres de distintas organizaciones sociales como el Movimiento de Mujeres Clara Zetkin, Movimiento de Mujeres Manuelita Sáez, Fuerza Bolivariana de Mujeres, Inamujer, Trabajadoras de la Radio Nacional de Venezuela, Unión de Mujeres Negras, Colectivo Mujer tenía que Ser y el Foro Itinerante de Participación Popular, entre otras. Destacaron las intervenciones de Helena Salcedo, Presidenta del Circuito Radio Nacional de Venezuela, quien señaló la importancia de estar "alerta contra las amenazas y las agresiones del imperialismo, porque lo que pasa en Irak puede pasar mañana también aquí", Elena Linares, del Movimiento Clara Zetkin quien hizo un llamado a la cohesión del movimiento de mujeres y a estar atentas a la corrupción, Mercedes Aguilar, quien felicitó la a actividad en nombre del Inamujer y señaló que ya van recogidas más de un millón de firmas y Nora Castañeda, presidenta del Banco de la Mujer, quien dijo que este "banco, así como muchas otras instituciones del proceso revolucionario, es un instrumento del pueblo, de las mujeres, para la construcción del socialismo".

Élus Professionnels : paradoxe ?

Paris, 20 février 2006

Honorable Parlementaire,

Les responsables de la diaspora laotienne, co-signataires de cette lettre, tiennent tout d'abord à saluer la résolution du Parlement Européen sur les "Droits de l'homme au Cambodge, au Laos et au Vietnam", adoptée à la quasi-unanimité lors de sa session spéciale à Bruxelles le jeudi 1er décembre 2005, à la veille du 30ième anniversaire du régime totalitaire laotien.

Cette résolution marque une étape historique dans la lutte pacifique pour la démocratie au Laos. Elle condamne en des termes particulièrement fermes "les mesures restrictives à l'encontre de la liberté d'expression, de la liberté de la presse, de la liberté d'association, de la liberté de réunion et de la liberté religieuse" prises par les autorités de la République démocratique Lao, et interpelle le régime sur les "abus à l'encontre des Hmong du Laos dont la situation humanitaire reste effroyable".

US rulers are determined to seize exclusive domination of the Middle East. This is because of the importance of the region and its resources for the US "long war" to control the world. The aim of the “long war" is to prevent the rise of rival imperialist powers as well as crushing people’s resistance and revolution around the world. Both collusion and contention are always present amongst imperialists and recently European powers led by France and Germany have shifted temporarily to defend US moves in the region.

27 February 2005. A World to Win News Service. The US bears a large share of the responsibility for the violence between Shia and Sunni Moslems that has killed so many people in Iraq over the last week, and actually many months.

27 February 2005. A World to Win News Service. Somebody’s knocking at the door! Who is it? If we don’t open up, they’ll break in! Is it American soldiers? They raid homes and terrorize children and the whole family. We’ve seen it on TV. They insult, beat and arrest the men…

"In Fallujah many women were killed. Seventy-two women were killed the same way, shot once in the head, and their only sin was they opened the door to their homes", said a witness at the International Tribunal on Iraq in Istanbul. But the men at the door might be just common thugs and criminals who break in and rape the women. None of this was common before the US invasion. An Iraqi woman at the Tribunal testified that from the day that Iraq was invaded, there has been growing violence against women and systematic denial of their rights. They have been kidnapped, raped and even hunted to be traded to foreign countries for the vast global prostitution network. An Iraqi woman told a journalist, "Kidnapping and raping women has become so widespread that every woman worries that she may become the next victim. Very few women are seen on the streets. It was not like that before the war, no! Many are frightened to step out of their home."

Since the invasion, especially in the southern city of Basra governed by US and British-backed Shia clerics, women have been pressured to cover their heads. Barbers have been warned not to shave men, and tailors have been told how women must be dressed. So many women have been driven out of their jobs, especially young women, that now only 10 percent work. "Honour killings" are increasing at an alarming rate all over Iraq, even in Kurdistan.

After last year’s approval of the new constitution and the establishment of an Islamic regime based on Sharia (religious law), the kind of things that were happening to Iraqi women in day to day life became enshrined in law.

FÉMINISMES MONDIAUX ET TRANSFORMATION SOCIALE

CONCERT et FORUM
Le 3 et 4 mars, 2006
Université Concordia
1455 de Maisonneuve Ouest
(Métro Guy)

MANIFESTATION
8 mars, 18 h (rencontre à 17 h)
Place Émilie-Gamelin
Coin Sainte-Catherine et Berri
(Métro Berri-UQAM)

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