From DEBRA@OLN.comlink.apc.orgMon Sep 4 09:27:51 1995 Date: Sat, 02 Sep 1995 12:21:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing95-l@netcom.com, beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: Bella Abzug's Hopes for Beijing [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] ## Original in: /HRNET/WOMEN ## author : theearthtime@igc.apc.org ## date : 23.08.95 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bella Abzug's Hopes for Beijing By Bella S. Abzug Earth Times News Service With an anticipated attendance of more than 50,000, this will be the largest UN conference in history. It is about an unprecedented number of women coming together to make change and put pressure on governments to commit to taking action that will improve the lives of women and girls. Building on wave after wave from previous UN conferences, it is about the politics of momentum. Women, organized as never before, and represented here in the myriad of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) attending, are the emerging progressive force of civil society. This conference represents a confluence of movements for social change coming together--women fighting for improvements in environment, human rights, health, labor, peace and so on. What's the fight about? See the Linkage Caucus document, "Take the Brackets Off Women's Lives" for details. We are fighting for all people-- women and men, girls and boys--to have a better life. It is about accurately naming the problems, identifying alternatives and solutions, getting governments and institutions to commit to taking action, and then holding them accountable for their commitments. NGOs in the Women's Linkage Caucus will keep a "scoreboard" of government commitments throughout the conference at both the UN site and the NGO Forum as well as on the Internet. The NGO Forum, where 35,000 women and some men from all over the world will come together, will share their ideas and energy for a different future. In the Cultural Palace in Huairou from 9:00 am to 5:00 PM on August 31st and September 1st, WEDO will convene the 2nd World Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet. We will take stock of our progress over the last four years and our agenda for the future. This conference will have a profound impact on the lives of the women who participate. Each one of us will return to our countries and communities with concrete steps to take, with a road map for accountability and a comprehensive agenda for progress. On the initiative of Australia, supported by 80 nations governments, are being asked to make commitments to specific portions of the Platform of Action during their Plenary speeches. The loudest demand by women at this conference will be for governments to hold to and make real these commitments. As women demand equal influence, participation, and power in decision- making, they will also be demanding that the promises made by their governments become a reality. The women going to Beijing have a real sense that they can make a difference, and will emerge from the Conference confirmed in that belief and with a renewed sense of their power. Women and men should come away from it knowing what steps to take next. Every government delegate has a political and moral responsibility to use this power wisely. Like tossing pebbles in a pond, the ripples will be far-reaching. In the history books, the women's movement will be remembered as one of the great social change movements that changed the world. The Decade of Women from 1975 to 1985, gave birth to the global women's movement. Hundreds of organizations were started, paths crossed, lives were intertwined, destinies found. In seeking our rightful place as half of humanity, we've taken action to stop our pain, to turn it into something positive. In 1995, our agenda is about the politics of transformation--of making the world a different place. Women have great expectations.