October 11th 2008—Perils Faced by Human Rights Defenders

Posted byJacqui
About JacquicloseAuthor: Jacqui Name: Jacqui Patterson
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October 16, 2008

Today Las Petateras started the day with the disturbing news that the home offices of some of the Nicaraguan sisters in our team had been raided. Details are still forthcoming, but the concern is that the outspoken sharing in the truth circles and beyond in other visible spaces such as on La Radio Feminista had resulted repercussions at home. For me it is reminiscent of the perils faced by many of the human rights defenders in HIV&AIDS activism. I think of the murders of Gugu, Simangele, Sizakele and Salome in South Africa,   Solomon Adderly Wellington in Barbados, Steve Harvey in Jamaica, all of whom were in the spotlight because they dared to speak in defense of human rights and because they were gay/lesbian.  Whether it is armed conflict or just daily outspoken resistance, those who boldly speak or act in defense of justice often find themselves in jeopardy, which is all the more reason for us to weave the threads of our struggles. In unity we are stronger and not as easy to conquer.  In the words of two old African proverbs, “A bundle of sticks is seldom broken” and “When spiders unite, they can tie and lion.”

We ended the day and our time at the Americas Social Forum with another march. This time, the women gathered at the women’s tent, got ourselves organized, and then marched through the grounds with our usual chants from the first day, ending by taking over the stage of the day’s closing ceremony on the main stage.  Marchers had signs from the Women Won’t Wait Campaign reading “Las Mujeres No Esperamos. Acabemos Violencia Contra Mujeres y VIH/SIDA YA!” (Women Won’t Wait. End Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS NOW!) On the main stage women continued the justice chant as well as shared some musical performances. Then, the Feminist Manifesto, which had been compiled from contributions of many, was read to the throng of Social Forum participants.  It was in Spanish, so I picked up words and phrases here and there that I understood “sexual and reproductive rights,” “racism”, “against the war”, “violence against women,” “HIV&AIDS” “capitalism”, “patriarchy” etc. However, I promise to get an electronic copy of the manifesto and post it for all to read.

That evening as I enjoyed a rare moment online, on my homepage (New York Times) I was greeted with the image of the leaders of the G7 countries who were attending the IMF meetings and met to discuss how to work together to address the global financial crisis.  As I sat there staring at the photos of these 6 white men and one white woman, multiple thoughts were swirling in my head simultaneously. One, that it reminded me of a similarly demographically constructed image I had seen just a couple of weeks ago as US leaders gathered in the oval office of the White House (remarked upon by WOCU Member Tonya Perry and quoted in our road tour press release) to discuss the bailout of major US corporations. I thought of how the US situation is a microcosm of a larger dynamic where people of color/nations of color bear the brunt of bad policies and practices via climate change and the resulting disasters and other ramifications, the food crisis, global poverty, contagion (health related pandemics) and now the global financial crisis, all of which are very much interconnected. Whereas for many of the peers of the folks in the pictures, the economic downturn may mean taking one less family vacation, downsizing from a Hummer to an Accord paying a higher interest rate on the home that they own, for disproportionately many people and nations of color, the ramifications are much more severe. Whether it is the African American man with the family of five who just last week killed himself and his family because he couldn’t bear to go on anymore after having lost his job and was unable to care for his family, whether it’s the thousands who died in the 2004 Tsunami or the hundreds who dies in Hurricane Katrina, the millions who are dying of preventable diseases such as diarrhea, malaria, HIV&AIDS, and TB, or it’s the hundreds who are slowly dying bit by bit every day from being exposed to poisonous toxins every day in the western United States. These are the people who are not represented, but are instead subject to the determinations made by those in the pictures, in their small meetings, whose lives (and this is a bit of a generalization, I know) are scarcely touched by the realities of the throngs who suffer under their myopic decision making. It overwhelms me, fills me with despair, but also strengthens me to keep linking arms and continue weaving.