Two Generations of Feminists Look at
Globalization Movement from Porto Alegre to Florence
From July 7 to 13, the IIRE held a Women's
Seminar to discuss global strategy for Women's Liberation. Although with fewer
participants than hoped, we had women from Québec,
Canada, United States, France,
England and Denmark.
The discussion focussed on the intersection
between women's liberation work and the broad globalization movement that has
existed for the last several years. Thus we discussed the intervention of the
women's movement, specifically through the World March for Women Against
Violence and Poverty, in the World Social Forums in Porto
Alegre, in Québec 2001 with the struggle against the Free Trade
Areas of the Americas (FTAA), and more recently the plans for the European
Social Forum in Florence, Italy, for November 2002. The
seminar was fairly equally divided between women who radicalized in the women's
movement of the 1970s and those that have become involved in the 1990s. This
led to very interesting discussions about the relevance of various struggles
and the recognition of the need for continued discussion and debate, especially
in the thorny issue of strategies and demands related to the sex trade,
especially in Europe where it overlaps with the issue of immigration. The
discussion was broad and encompassing while at the same time focussing on the
strength - and weaknesses - of the women's movements in the various countries.
While the globalization movement does offer an important milieu for women's
liberation struggles, it remains important to work on the national and, in the
case of European countries, on the European Union levels. The participants
agreed to establish the means to continue the discussion using the Internet and
to plan for a longer - perhaps three-week - session next summer to have the
time for a more thorough discussion of both current interventions and
thetheoretical issues raised.