From Peace and Freedom, journal
of WILPF Australia,
April 2001 edition
from the branches....
nsw
In December WILPF (NSW) hosted
a beautiful afternoon tea in historic Vaucluse House to celebrate member
Edith Gilmour's 100th birthday. Over 80 old and new friends attended,
speakers paid tribute to WILPF and Edith, the solidarity choir sang, we
listened to Palestinian poetry, watched Philippina and flamenco dancing,
sang the Internationale. It was a triumphant occasion and there was hardly
a dry eye in the house!
In early January the executive
had a special meeting to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian rally and the
Star Wars (ABN Missile Defence) petition. Our Branch Bulletin in February
was well received, and we included copies of the Petition to all correspondents.
Unfortunately we only received 3 pages returned (although hopefully some
may have sent their completed pages straight to the US address.) Our branch
effort was redeemed by Trude who distributed the petition at the IWD event
and returned some 20 pages, and probably got it out to some of the unconverted.
In general I think we are unexcited by petitions.
Dorothy our president, and
two other executive, Jane and Stella, attended the Beijing+5 symposium
on Women's Human Rights, and reported back to the meeting. The international
Beijing+10 may be held in Sydney which would be inspiring. Dorothy also
attended the Indigenous Peoples and Racism regional meeting for the UN
World Conference against Racism. This was hosted by ASTIC and was prohibitively
expensive ($300 concession!) Dorothy has also been networking with the
State Dept for Women. Fourteen WILPF women attended the International
Women's Development Agency IWD breakfast where the speaker was a Shan
women from Burma. Rose has attended a Canberra WILPF meeting and we hope
to liase better with those sisters nearby.
At our February meeting we
heard Heather Formaini, psychoanalyst and advocate, on refugees and detention
centres. She has invited us to "see for ourselves" and visit
Villawood detention centre. Keeping people imprisoned and without facilities
for their children for years at a time can only adversely affect their
eventual release into Australian society.
In preparation for our topic
of racism for this year I took part in the Action for World Development
"Challenging Racism Game" which was an insightful and confronting
experience. We hope to get someone from AWD to come and do a workshop
with our group.
Our AGM is on April 21st. Membership
renewals are coming in well.
Regards to all from Angela
Drury.
wa
I attended the International
Women's Development Agency's Brunch in Fremantle on Sunday 4 March.
Congratulations to the organisers.
There were over 80 women and men under the trees in this annual backyard
event in White Gum Valley Fremantle.
Dr Bev Thiele, Associate Professor
in Women's Studies at Murdoch University opened the program telling us
of her recent conference visit on Gender and Equity in Scandinavia. Even
though some of these countries appear to be more successful with Equal
Opportunities and Mainstreaming, they too still have a long way to go
and are ever vigilant to protect women's interests.
Guest speaker Hseng Noung Linter,
founding member of the Shan women's Action in Thailand, told us about
the dreadful circumstances of how women and their families are just surviving
in Burma today. Yet many countries still trade with the military regime
in Burma.
Light entertainment followed
with a bellydancer and songs from Indonesia which made the event a terrific
success.
Carol Martin the newly elected
member for Kimberley and the first Aboriginal Woman to be elected to an
Australian Parliament was the guest speaker of the Fremantle Left Collective
at the IWD lunch in North Fremantle at the MUA Social Rooms.
Carol inspired those present
with her sincerity, drive and honesty. Carol has a great future ahead
as spokesperson for Aboriginal people and women in general. She is on
the threshhold of an important political career and what better day to
launch her career than IWD. Look out for Carol Martin - we will hear a
lot more of her I am sure. I look forward to meeting her again.
WILPF members also attended
the IWD march in Perth on 10 March.
by Mary Jenkins, newly elected
co-convenmor of WILPF WA along with Emma White.
tas
The major activities in the
furthest antipodes is that International Women's Day was celebrated at
the Women Tasmania Office by a lunch and then an informal discussion session
with four State Commissioners, Dr Jocelynne Scutt, Anti-Discrimination
Commissioner, Patmalar Ambikapathy, Commissioner for Children, Pat Leary,
President of the Tasmanian Industrial Commission, and Pauline Shelley,
Commissioner, Tasmanian Industrial Commission. Who needs three tenors
for entertainment when those women hold forth. Patmalar was in Launceston
for Women's Day activities there so her contribution was by phone. They
were asked in turn to talk about important role models and mentors and
what they thought was important for future directions in Australia. What
was very plain, although they spoke with humour and informally, was that
all believed current government policies were producing less not more
social cohesion and individual well-being.
On the Saturday following International
Women's Day there was the usual lunchtime rally and march through the
city. There were not huge numbers of participants or spectators, but then
we are a small place and it was pleasing to see some men marching with
us calling for the abolition of poverty and violence against women. It
is heartening to see staid, and not so staid older women, together with
staid and way out younger women and girls all peacefully but publically
querying political decisions. The police controlling the traffic were
courteous. It makes one aware that civil rights are very precious, were
hard won by earlier generations, and are far from universal. That thought
keeps one active!
One local initiative from the
International Year for the Culture of Peace was a City Council project,
funded for a year called Networking for Harmony. There was a project officer
hired and community consultations which resulted in a number of activities.
One was a photographic project. Cameras were given to different eihnic
groups who wanted them and members took photographs. That has been made
into a travelling display, opened on Harmony Day, which will travel round
that part of the state of the five councils involved.
Another initiatve, starting
with the Indian restaurants, but hopefully spreading to others, is culture
cards sitting on the tables so that diners learn something about the beliefs
and customs of India. There was a civic welcome for overseas TAFE students
held in our mall at lunch time on March 19. In the past there have been
racial incidents in the city, and I suppose they will continue but if
public bodies welcome other ethnic groups that must have some benign effect
surely. Certainly a lot of passers by stopped and watched proceedings.
Afterwards most walked back to the town hall together for refreshments.
On 23 March there was another
function, again in the town hall where the people of Hobart were given
an award for the best event of the International Year for the Culture
of Peace the Reconciliation Walk across the Tasman bridge. We certainly
believe, probably correctly, that proportionally our walk was the largest.
An older aboriginal, Aunty Ida West, a younger aboriginal, Lance Maynard,
an Older non aboriginal, Ian Newman, and a younger non aboriginal, Vicki
Rigney, received certificates and spoke briefly for the community. Sadly
the Land Transfer Bill has just been knocked back by the Legislative Council.
Still nothing worth having is easily gained. I end with a piece of really
good news. The Hobart Council is continuing to fund a project officer
for a day and a half a week so Networking for Harmony continues.
by Margot Roe.
qld
WILPF Qld started the year
with a planning meeting. Lots of ideas! The outcome of the meeting was
to work on some projects in keeping with the theme of eliminating racism,
nominated as a WILPF section project for 2001 and a follow up to the Racism
conference in Sydney.
To celebrate International
Women's Day, the Queensland branch invited Liz Connor, a Murri teacher
and healer, to talk to us about the River Dreaming Aboriginal Heritage
Trail at Ipswich High School. This is a joint project between the students,
school staff and traditional owners and Ipswich community groups. A heritage
trail, rainforest and medicinal plants and bushtucker have been planted
with connecting walkways. The trail features a stone circle, associated
with ceremonies and a learning circle based on the concept of ceremonial
sites and bora grounds. The trail is used as a learning resource by the
teachers for a variety of curriculum. It was wonderful to hear about young
people growing in their understanding and respect for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander culture. We were also blessed on the day to have two of
the Brisbane area elders come to the meeting and this was a wonderful
opportunity to talk informally about many topics.
At the planning meeting, it
was decided to form a sub committee to apply for grants to seek funding
to enable our Indigenous women to write down information that had surfaced
through the processes of reconciliation, native title etc. We have become
aware that this information should be written down but the women just
don't have the time or resources to do so. We were particularly interested
in the paper on the OSLO accord process which Mary Graham presented on
behalf of FAIRA at the ATSIC conference on racism which was held recently
in Sydney. We would like to explore further the possibilities of collaborative
work between WILPF and FAIRA to assist in the further development of the
concepts outlined in the paper and to promulgate these ideas more widely
among both Indigenous and Non-indigenous people. One way which occurs
to us is to jointly develop a discrete community education project and
apply for a grant to fund it. One such funding organisation is the Myer
Foundation which offers grants to community organisations under five categories,
one of which is social justice. According to the Foundations funding guidelines,
it will support initiatives that: Êfoster reconciliation with Aboriginal
Australians in order to achieve a united Australia that respects their
land, values their cultural heritage, and provides justice and equity
for all.
We are suggesting that a project
proposed jointly by FAIRA and WILPF might include further research, the
development of both print and electronic educational materials, and some
educational events such as workshops. It might form one component of a
larger FAIRA program aimed at progressing support for the idea of an accord
process on the OSLO model. Qld branch is very excited about this project
as it would allow us to grow within the developing debate surrounding
a treaty, sovereignty and self determination. Mary is delighted to receive
support to promote the concept. This may be a project for all branches
to be involved in. Would it also be possible to invite our Norwegian sisters
to promote the concept from their corner of the world?
Other ideas included formation
of a Reconciliation Learning Circle at the Women's Infolink Centre.
At our AGM in March, we welcomed
the nomination of Norma Forrest as our new branch contact. Already Norma
is doing a great job. Thank you Norma for taking on this very important
role.
The Children's poetry competition
in honour of the life of WILPF member Joan Birt is nearing the closing
date and entries are being received. The life of our wonderful WILPF member
Brenda Lewis was featured in a local edition of an anti nuclear paper
Good News, featuring her life and visions for peace.
WILPF members attended a breakfast
and lunch to celebrate IWD and an information stall was set up in the
City Hall foyer.
A sub committee was formed
to stop Food Irradiation. Qld WILPF has joined The Stop Food Irradiation
Alliance. Next meeting we hope to have a speaker to talk to us about this
issue.
Palm Sunday had only a small
WILPF presence but a vital one. The spirit on the day was good and there
were a wide range of speakers followed by a march through the city streets
by around 100 peaceful people.spirit on the day was good and there were
a wide range of speakers followed by a march through the city streets
by around 100 peaceful people.
by Cathy Boyle.
sa
The South Australian Branch
of WILPF had met twice for 2001. I will begin by reporting the outcome
of our most recent gathering - the election of office bearers at our Annual
General Meeting of March 24.
We are pleased to announce
the inclusion of local WILPF member and long time international human
rights activist, Tina Dolgopol, onto the SA Branch Executive for 2001
-02. Tina has been elected to the position of Assistant Coordinator.
Cathy Picone has been returned
for another term as Branch Coordinator and Sharon Howe has been re-elected
Branch Delegate. With the position of Treasurer vacated, Janice High was
duly nominated and elected Branch Treasurer for the coming year.
The Branch is very grateful
to outgoing Treasurer, Desi Iannella for her sterling job in overseeing
our finances over the past year. Many thanks Desi.
At our February general meeting,
members tabled ideas for the coming year's activities. Reflecting on WILPF's
project for 2001 - to conduct activities in support of the aims of the
World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) - the Branch has decided to conduct
several inhouse workshops on various themes, including multicultural and
indigenous issues. We also intend to hold a more public workshop headed
by a panel of speakers.
Also at the February meeting,
in response to the question "what are your goals in relation to ending
racism?", members spoke of refining their own personal awareness,
working for political environment that supports a non racist society and
addressing racism within church/community groups and among family, friends
and other acquaintances. This discussion was enlightened by the views
of Caterina Iannella and Cassandra Iannella - potential future members
of WILPF!
On March 30th, the Branch held
a stall at a Community Fair in the Adelaide suburb of St. Peters under
the efficient organizational skills of Cynthia James. Cynthia was assisted
by Susan Greenwood, Bernadette and myself. A leafy green setting and perfect
weather set the scene for a very successful day. Among the food, crafts
and entertainment, many Fair goers showed a keen interest in WILPF's merchandise
and, most importantly, our cause of working for Peace. I might add that
watching Cynthia's gentle persistence at steering interested women towards
membership information was very instructive.
The first of our workshops
around the WCAR is scheduled for April 28. Cathy Picone will conduct a
workshop focusing on an area in which she has been working for eleven
years: the elimination of white racism. The workshop is titled "Unmasking
Whiteness - Unmasking Australianness". If the enthusiasm I encountered
at a recent unrelated women's gathering is any indication, the workshop
is sure to be very well attended.
By Sharon Howe
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