On International Women's Day civil society wonders if this is Beijing Plus Ten or Beijing Minus Ten
Release Date: 8 March, 2005
By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary General
I am writing this on a plane to Spain to attend a conference to mark the first anniversary of the Madrid bombings. The International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security http://english.safe-democracy.org, is a grim reminder that the one lesson we should have taken from recent terrorist attacks, we have not embraced.
In the main, with a few exceptions, we know that those that have planned and executed these actions were men, and those that have the power to determine what is the most appropriate response to these gross violations of human rights are men. The latter group, unfortunately, seem determined to undermine fundamental tenets of democracy in the name of the flawed naming and prosecution of the so-called "war on terrorism".
As I mentioned last week, the CIVICUS Board was meeting in Johannesburg. Of all the comments that will stay with me for a lifetime, was one from the treasurer of the CIVICUS Board, Stuart Etherington, who heads the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in England. Stuart said at the start of the meeting, "Last night, I left a country, the United Kingdom, which has just imposed house arrests, and this morning I landed in a country, South Africa, which was notorious for house arrests and arbitrary bannings, where this practice has been outlawed.” Chilling irony, don't you think? And all in the service of protecting "democracy".
In attempting to address the challenge of terrorism, male political leaders simply refuse to place at the centre of our strategy full gender equality in all walks of human existence, and particularly, in terms of political leadership and governance. It is against this background that many civil society activists from within the women's movement have gathered in New York, (and all around the world), to try to protect the imperfect commitments made in Beijing ten years ago. As is common in UN processes, follow up meetings are called Plus Five or Plus Ten depending how long ago these commitments have been made.
The sad reality is that conservative shifts in political power in several powerful countries around the world have sought to erode the hard won commitments that women's organisations pushed for in Beijing. It is for this reason that some of us now refer to this process underway as Beijing Minus Ten.
As we have noted elsewhere, of all the setbacks from earlier commitments made by governments at international summits, the biggest setback is probably in terms of gender equality. If we examine the Millennium Development Goals, what we see around all these goals, but particularly those on gender equality, is that we have the most minimalist set of goals and a conscious reversal of agreements made in Beijing.
Is all lost then? Hardly. The women's movement, perhaps more so than other social movements over time, while hardly homogenous, has learnt that unity at times such as these is critically important even if it means working alongside organisations that you do not have a hundred percent agreement on all the key issues about which these organisations are concerned.
While the women's organisations that are doing a launch event of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty in New York are deeply critical of the individual MDGs, some have made a strategic assessment that in the current global climate, it is important that we use the framework (not the goals) and to push for greater fundamental transformation towards greater gender equality.
Kofi Annan, and a few other UN staff, are now periodically also referring to the goals as Minimalist. Of course, the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, which is working hard to ensure that there is a high level of focus on gender equality and the leadership of women in all aspects of the mobilisations that are planned, is much more than the MDGs. It is concerned with the structural and systemic manifestations of social and economic injustice, while recognising that people enter the struggle against poverty from different vantage points. Some enter through advocacy and others through seeking to provide support and direct services to those citizens living in poverty.
Yet others are more concerned with the macro issues around the fundamental questions of deepening governance and democratic deficits. So it is not surprising that feminist organisations such as the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) www.awid.org, of which I was privileged to serve as a board member for the last four years, or the Women's Environmental and Development Organisation (WEDO) www.wedo.org, are finding common ground with such massive networks such as the World Association of Girl Guides and Girls Scouts www.wagggsworld.org and the World YWCA www.worldywca.org.
The gender equality movement has always had the cards stacked against it, and the current political moment is no different from historical reality. Optimistically, as the gender equality movement has shown over and over again, adversity is a source of innovation, courage and deepening commitment. On this International Women's Day, all of us who are part of the broader global justice movement, whether from faith based organisations, trade unions, NGOs, social movements or community based organisations, should pause to salute the women's movement for their perseverance, stamina, and indomitable courage, but most of all for their example. As we used to say in apartheid South Africa, "white people will never be free until all people enjoy full freedom and democracy", we should say to ourselves, particularly men who are reading this, "men will never enjoy full freedom and democracy, unless and until women enjoy every single right that men enjoy".
The anniversary of the tragic Madrid bombings challenges all of us to reflect on the large numbers of lives lost in these specific attacks, but also the large loss of civilian life that we are seeing in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere all in the name of the "war on terrorism".
These situations of conflict and violence, as we all know, affect women and children most deeply and devastatingly. We owe it to all the women, children and men who have died in terrorist attacks, or ill advised responses to these attacks, to work for a world in which full gender equality is a core part of any strategy towards long term human security. Failure to make significant progress in this direction will be a betrayal to the memory of all those women, men and children who have lost their lives in recent and distant times, in political conflict fuelled by the egos, machismo, and flawed judgements of predominantly male political leadership. Yes, I know that Margaret Thatcher was a woman, but that is a topic for discussion on another day!
Good luck in the work that you are doing to make the world a more just and safer place, and happy International Women's Day to all our sisters, mothers, partners, daughters, wives and all women who enrich our lives, our identity, our sense of meaning and purpose. Apologies for any incoherence or rambling, fighting to hold back sleep over the skies of Africa as I finish off these words.
Peace and warmest regards,
Kumi Naidoo
Please send your comments and suggestions to e-mail kumi@civicus.org.
