During the Summit of the Americas, women from the all over the planet will weave together their webs of solidarity… webs representing our hopes for a world without patriarchy, for a just world, that which we want to celebrate… webs representing the consequences of globalisation on our lifes, that which we want to get rid of. (see the invitation on the CMAQ web site at www.cmaq.net searching using the key words « weaving a web »).
Les salamiELLES, a Montreal-based affinity group, submits to you this document in order to jump-start the preparations for the activities to be held in the context of the « weaving a web of solidarity » action.

Proposals : actions and logistics

During the Summit of the Americas, women from the all over the planet will weave together their webs of solidarity… webs representing our hopes for a world without patriarchy, for a just world, that which we want to celebrate… webs representing the consequences of globalisation on our lifes, that which we want to get rid of. (see the invitation on the CMAQ web site at www.cmaq.net searching using the key words « weaving a web »).

Les salamiELLES, a Montreal-based affinity group, submits to you this document in order to jump-start the preparations for the activities to be held in the context of the « weaving a web of solidarity » action.

COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES
You are invited to participate in a first meeting of the Council of representatives (decision-making assembly composed of representatives of each participating affinity group) for this action, Sunday March 25 at 7pm in Montreal (exact location to be determined depending on number of participants signed-up). To sign up, please send the following information to toil...@moncourrier.com before March 22nd, 5pm : name(s) of representative(s) (we suggest 2 max.), name of affinity group (if possible), contact information, if you need a place to stay and/or daycare services, a list of proposals your affinity group may have to add to the agenda.
For those who will not be able to make it, please forward your proposals, as well as any tasks your affinity group can take on (see list below), to the toile femme e-mail. A virtual discussion forum will eventually (if someone takes on the task of organising it!) be the « location » of future Council of representatives meetings.

ACTIONS

We are proposing two actions in the context of the « weaving a web of solidarity » action :

Women's mural against the FTAA
When? April 19th, early evening
Where? On the security perimeter
What? Weave together our webs - webs wowen prior to the 19th by participating affinity groups, webs representing the negative consquences of globalisation for women - on the security perimeter… that which we want to get rid of, followed by a vigil.
How? Because this is a non-violent direct action, each affinity group must have participated in a civil disobedience training workshop, preferably before arriving in Quebec City. Contact toile femme by e-mail for names of trainers in your area. A last minute training session will be held on the 19th in Quebec City for those who will have been unable to find training before hand (first come, first served - all depending on space and number of trainers).

« Women's clothes line » on the « Alternatives Avenue »
When? April 20th, as of 10am
Where? Near the bassin Louise in the basse ville of Québec City (quite far from the perimeter)
What? Weave together our webs - webs wowen prior to the 20th by participating affinity groups, webs representing our hopes for a world without patriarchy, a just world -and hang that which we want to celebrate on the « women's clothes line » on the « Alternatives Avenue » (see French attachment, no english available as of yet).

TIMETABLE, QUEBEC CITY, APRIL 2001
17th: Council of representatives, all day (10am to 5pm)
18th: General assembly of all participants as of 7pm
19th: Civil disobedience training workshops from 10am to 2pm
19th : « women's mural » action in early evening (exact time to be determined)
20th : « women's clothes line » action on the « Alternatives Avenue » as of 10am
To see the list of all other activities, see the Quebec 2001 independent media center's web site at under the heading « action » (www.cmaq.net)

WOMEN'S SPACE
The Quebec Women's Federation is providing a women's space for the duration of the Summit activities. This space will be a resting, chatting, meeting place for women participating in anti-Summit actions… we have access to this space to have our meetings and to do our trainings.

HOUSING
Each affinity group is responsible for their own housing arrangements - if need be, you can contact a local group that is working on arranging housing www.oqp2001.org/fr/hebergement. Les salamiELLES will try to find group housing facilities, but the chances of success are slim since there is very little large group space available (e.g., gyms, classrooms).

TRANSPORTION
We know that many organisations are providing transportation, but the list of available transportation is yet to be drafted. Please try to arrange transportation locally.

LIST OF TASKS TO SHARE
The organisation of this feminist action is meant to be non-hierachical… since there is no central organising committee, each affinity group is responsible for the success of our action and its organisation. Les salamiELLES took the initiative to prepare this document and we have taken responsibility for certain tasks, but the other tasks need to be shared among participating affinity groups for our action to be a success. Here is a list of tasks we have identified :
-call and prepare the first meeting of the Council of representatives (les SalamiELLES)
-created a virtual discussion forum for the future meetings of the Council of representatives
-fill out a form for space on « Alternatives Avenue" (les salamiELLES)
-prepare a second meeting of the Council of representatives to be held April 17th, in Quebec City
-prepare the general assembly of all members to be held on the 18th in the evening in Quebec City.
-prepare the civil disobedience training workshop to be held on the 19th in Quebec City (les SalamiELLES)
-prepare a media strategy
-distribute a kit « what to bring with you and what to leave at home », along with other suggestions (les SalamiELLES)
-make a list of civil disobedience trainers (les SalamiELLES)
-organise a daycare service for April 18-19-20 avril
-prepare food for April 18-19-20
-make a list of housing options
-make a list of transportation options
-manage the e-mail account of toile femme (les SalamiELLES)
-manage the postal box (Monique Follée)
-finish and distribute the fact sheet on impacts of globalisation on women (les salamiELLES)

Please note
AFFINITY GROUPS WANTING TO ORGANISE ACTIONS OUTSIDE OF THOSE PROPOSED ABOVE ARE WELCOME TO THE ATTEND THE COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES MEETING.

***
In solidarity,
Les salamiELLES
An affinity group of the women's committee of salAMI, a Quebec-based citizens committee fighting against the globalisation of misery and for the globalisation of resistance.
Femm...@moncourrier.com