This book was made because of our curiosity and commitment: who are the women who come to the World Women’s Conference to celebrate for the hundredth time the International Women’s Day? What do they expect? What is their background and how do they work for women? 

The preparations have taken three years and were not without many complications. To organize such a conference from scratch without the support of a rich and powerful organisation takes a lot of perseverance. An enormous stimulation was the fact that after all those years, the International Women’s Day is still worldwide being celebrated on March 8, mostly locally, sometimes nationwide. Practically always as a form of resistance against the still existing inequality between men and women, a testimony of mutual solidarity and support for each other’s action goals. 

Beside a description of the preparations and the conference itself, the themes the interviewed women focus on, are extensively treated. This leads not only to organizations like Women on Waves, Saved Equipment and Women in Black, but also to the tribunal which was held in 1976 in Brussels, the testimonies and action strategies of which are still extremely current and useful. For the reprint of the book ‘Crimes Against Women’ in 1984, a strategy was explained to achieve a global feminism, very clear and certainly worth the trouble to think about and act upon. That is why we scanned the book and with the approval of the authors we put it on our website.

We are aware that organizing an autonomous World Women’s Conference without ample financial means and political support is a complicated process. Yet, after our peregrinations by way of the work on the interviews after the conference, we think we should put forward some recommendations for the next World Women’s Conference in 2016.

Contents: 

1. Introduction   1 
2. Notes to the contents, justification  4 
3. Conference   8
   1. Background and design
   2. Themes   12
4. Interviews   14 
   1. Lourdes Campes, Venezuela   rituals, shaman   15
   2. Dahab Suleiman, Eritrea         civil war, female circumcision   17
   3. Snezana Tabacki, Serbia         Women in Black, women’s tribunal   21
   4. Utfa Segler, Germany             Women for Peace, peace marches   28
   5. Yajaira Chacin, Venezuela      Women on Waves, abortion   30
   6. Gülsin Özkan, Switzerland       migrants, radio   37
   7. Charlie Bulelop, South Africa  Saved Tools, sewing machines   39
   8. Mariam Chhaibi, Morocco       women’s movement, politics   46
   9. Walaa Rizk, Egy,                    revolution   47
   10. Ulrike Ehrenberg, Germany     visual arts   49
   11. Dilia Mejias, Venezuela         Ana Soto, organizer conference   53  
5. Political influence on the conference   59 
6. Further elaboration of the themes   60 
   1. Double oppression
   2. Oppression mechanisms
   3. ‘Forgotten’ themes
7. Recommendations for a following conference   63 
8. Impressions of the conference   69 
   1. International brigades   69
   2. Conference, general meeting, workshops, culture, resolutions   93
   3. 8 March demonstration   104
9. Impressions from the interviewers   107 

ANNEXES 

Annex 1: Resolution of 7 March 2011   123 

Annex 2: Statistical data about the delegates, 6 March 2011   126 

Annex 3: Elaboration on the theme ’Elderly women’   129 

Annex 4: Global feminism   134 

Annex 5: Themes and Resolutions from the International Women’s Tribunal in 1976, Brussels   140

2.  Notes to the contents

          Justification

The contents of this book are various and unique. They include is a personal report of the participation in the preparatory brigades from 1 February 2011 and in the conference, as well as a reaction to and a critical analysis of what happened.Because of discontent with the program of the conference (we felt that politics, especially leftist politics, received more attention than women’s interests), we interviewed eleven participants from different countries. This book is written around these interviews.

We couldn’t have known beforehand that the interviews would express such a wide range of viewpoints regarding women’s support groups. In each interview some of this has been elaborated. We get to know Women on Waves (abortion), Women .in Black (non-violent protest against war and violence), Women for Peace, participation in peace marches, women who joined the fight in a civil war or a revolution, women who have been in prison, extra problems of migrant women, Saved Equipment (for economic independence), media, visual art, etc.

The annexes form an important part of the book. They contain the resolutions, voted on the last day of the conference by the delegates from the various countries, and some statistics on the delegates, as well as an extra elaboration on the theme ‘elderly women’. Beside these, there are also two annexes about the Tribunal on ‘Crimes Against Women’ in 1976 in Brussels. These were included because this tribunal in a number of aspects has interests that coincide with those of the World Women’s Conference in Venezuela.

Women’s Tribunal 1976

The interview with Snezana from Serbia, where next year a Tribunal will be organised because of the horrors of the Balkan war for women, led us to the book on the Women’s Tribunal that was held in 1976 in Brussels. It is titled: ‘Crimes Against Women’ and the contents were testimonies of many women. The testimonies were printed in columns throughout the text. These columns mostly correspond with the themes of the World Women’s Conference. There was also room to put forward proposals for solutions, resolutions and proposals for changes.

More than two thousand women from forty countries took part in this Women’s Tribunal. Here the preparation group consisted of an international group, that organized this Tribunal in a year and a half. In each of the participating countries the testimonies, analyses and strategies were prepared collectively.

In annex 5 we treat the Women’s Tribunal extensively, because this could provide an input for the organisation of the next World Women’s Conference in five years. The testimonies of many women and the subjects and strategies are still timely. They also lead to a number of recommendations for the planned conference in 2016 in chapter 7.

In order to place the complete book on Internet, in English as well as in Dutch, we established contact with the authors. Both reacted with enthusiasm to the publication and the book was even sent to us from the US! We also received a special hand-written advice to pay specific attention to the opening speech by Simone de Beauvoir, who said that the Tribunal was the beginning of the radical decolonisation of women!

Towards a ‘Global Feminism’

But this pronouncement by Simone is not the only part of what happened in Brussels that deserves special attention. The reprint of the book ‘Crimes Against Women’ in 1984 is preceded by a new introduction on the progress toward a ‘global’ feminism. We want to pay special attention to it, because of its importance. So we translated the complete text into Dutch and put it in annex 4.

First some important points:  

 Global Feminism, an explanation, see also page 134