From DEBRA@OLN.comlink.apc.orgTue Sep 12 08:26:55 1995 Date: Sat, 09 Sep 1995 08:23:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing95-l@netcom.com, beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: WCW: CHINESE SECURITY MARS WOMEN'S MEETING [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 : wfs@igc.apc.org ## date : 06.09.95 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright, WOMEN'S FEATURE SERVICE, All Rights Reserved Used here with permission. This story may not be reproduced, e- mailed, or posted anywhere outside the APC without specific permission from WFS. E-mail to wfs-info@igc.apc.org for subscription information. ====================================================================== CHINESE SECURITY MARS WOMEN'S MEETING By Joanne Levine Huairou, China, Sept. 1 (WFS) -- Neither torrential rain, nor distance, nor the most arduous working conditions have stopped a kaleidoscope of over 20,000 women from turning this tiny hamlet into a whirlwind of ideas and controversy. Hundreds crammed into an auditorium and were raptly attentive to a human rights tribunal, hearing story after story of abuse and violence, such as one New Yorker's tale of a decade of domestic abuse that resulted in her killing her former husband with a single gunshot to the head. Another standing-room-only forum featured veteran American feminist Betty Friedan, who spoke about how economic insecurity is sparking angry white-male backlash against American women. Then there were hushed talks about the status of Tibetan women. Welcome to the world's largest conference on women. It's been a long time coming -- 10 years since an international summit in Nairobi focused on the women's movement and issues such as trafficking in women, domestic violence and the value of women's work. But, it has been an even more difficult struggle for thousands of international grassroots organizations to get their gathering -- the NGO Forum -- underway. The meeting, which began on August 30, runs parallel to the much-touted U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, opening on September 4, where delegates such as First Lady Hillary Clinton will give their nod of approval to the fight for women's rights. In many ways the NGO meeting has become as much a conference about China and its human rights record as a forum that hopes to chart a path to the future of women and their status in the next millenium, say participants. "The story is getting lost," said Mickey Spiegel, consultant for the Washington, D.C.-based organization Human Rights Watch. "The burning issues of equality, universality and violence against women are being drowned out." The Chinese government has not made things easy. It has held up many visas and denied access to participants the government deemed inhospitable. It moved the original site in the capital for the grassroots meeting to the dusty town of Huairou, one hour from Beijing, whose locals still use horse-drawn carts and have no access to hot running water. The list of complaints is endless. Judith McDaniel, a lesbian- rights activist from San Francisco, takes her daily run around a mist-shrouded reservoir under the glare of security guards. Others tell of returning to their hotels to find personal items rearranged and Chinese security guards in their rooms. Uniformed men with dogs cleared out the press center one night, saying they were conducting a training exercise. Every meeting, rally and celebration is peppered with soldiers and undercover police. The Chinese government has designated a small school courtyard as the only protest space for participants, despite agreeing to abide by U.N. rules to treat all conference areas as U.N. territory. Simply, the Chinese government has treated the cadre of outspoken women as a hostile invasion. Their fear is "that we're going to interact with Chinese citizens who will tell us exactly the conditions that real women in China live under while the conference is going on in their midst," said Trish Durkin, a New York-based freelance journalist, who has been evicted from two hotels. Still, the Chinese rolled out the red carpet for opening day ceremonies which enabled an all-female Iranian camera crew to mingle with Buddhist nuns. As a torch was passed hand-to-hand and the soulful tune "Keep on Moving Forward" echoed through the silent stadium, pomp, circumstance and motivational speeches took center stage. "Look at the world through women's eyes -- look and act," said Supatra Masdit, a Thai politician in charge of the meeting of nongovernmental organizations. And that's exactly what the participants have been doing ever since, holding talks into the wee hours of the morning about women being overworked and underpaid, treated as unequal citizens and even the impact of the O.J. Simpson trial on the awareness of domestic violence in the United States. Through September 8, women activists at the NGO Forum plan to address 12 major areas of concern. Among them will be how armed conflicts affect women and children, the often-overlooked rights of the girl child, high rates of illiteracy among women worldwide and land ownership rights for women in developing countries. Women from Africa and Asia plan to draw attention to the growing incidence of AIDS among women. Those from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda and Algeria hope to shine a spotlight on the undue suffering, tortures and killings in their countries. Participants in the meetings remain defiant and determined that the unwelcome response of their Chinese hosts will not detract attention from the pressing concerns that have brought them together. "The focus has to be on the women's conference, because what is at stake is the status of half of humanity," said Amnesty International's General Secretary, Pierre Sane. "We have to make sure that the conference will come up with practical steps to improve the condition of women worldwide." (Ends/830 words)