Regional Meeting defined common working plan and calendar of actions
From 10th-12th June, women from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, New Caledonia, Pakistán, Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan gathered in Quezon City, Philippines, for the Asia-Oceania WMW regional meeting. As part of the activities, on the 11th of June, a demonstration denounced US imperialism in the region and the military violence against women.
“Enough of military violence against women! Enough of US wars and militarism! Stop US support to Israeli Terrorism!” These were some slogans that expressed the struggle of women from Asia and Oceania against free trade, military bases, and sexual exploitation of women. The demonstration remembered that the day following, 12 June, is Philippine Independence Day but only from Spain, not from US intervention, control and military presence.
Working plans
The participants of the meeting developed a working plan and a calendar of actions, having the debate on the four WMW area actions as starting point. In the framework of our Third International Action, within the Women’s Work action area, simultaneous actions are being prepared for beginning October around the recognition of domestic work as labor, a call for social security and for governments to promote policies towards sustainable local and full employment.
The actions in the plan include as well the solidarity with women in Congo (in October), mobilizations from 11 to 20th November against the G-20 (in Korea) and exchange of information on trafficking and prostitution on the 5th October and along the week of 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women (by the end of November).
The members of the WMW International Committee for the region, Jean Enriquez (Philippines) and Saleha Athar (Pakistan), highlighted how positive was the meeting. “We learned more about the region's women and political struggles in detail. Every participant was satisfied with the meeting and the demonstration”, Saleha told us. For Jean, it was very important that the women have decided to stay together acting as Asia-Oceania. There was a demand posed by New Caledonia for creating a new region that would gather the French-speaking countries of Oceania. This could increase marginalization and isolation of the continent. “Language may be a difficulty for all but should not be a barrier for our unity in the region,” highlights Jean.
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