International Women's Day 2008--Tell Your Stories

Take Back the Tech women have returned for International Women's Day and their great gifs and actions.

They urge all of us to tell our stories about our lives, experiences, and actions about violence against women, and hopefully write our own stories and code!

On this day and other days, I would like to urge you to remember the origins of International Women's Day to honor the women who died in the 1911 Triangle Shirt Waist Fire in New York City. Consider also the women in your everyday lives and their stories of survival, resistance, and perseverance in their homes, schools, work, streets as well as during disasters, wars, garment factory fires (yes they still occur often), internal displacement from ethnic & religious conflicts as well as the good times.

The Take Back The Tech women have developed printable story bands that you can print and write--"let me tell or ask me about my story"

they suggest: Write "Ask me" on the band, and invite people that you meet on International Women's Day to ask about your story. After you have shared your story, give them a band of their own, and ask them to continue telling and listening to stories with other people that they meet. You can also write your story on your band, and send us a picture. We'll put it up on the campaign website to widen the circle.

The Take Back the Tech site also has many useful tools and links for readers with assorted tech talents. Please check out this site!

Other sites and action:

Rising Voices held an International Women's Day Poetry Jam for the Rising Voices Blog Sites. Check out four selected poems from Madagascar, Bangladesh and Colombia as well as photos from Bolivia and Bangladesh.

You can read more poems from Bangladesh on the Nari Jibon blogsite(s).

For more about education and actions on gender abuse and violence against women in the South Asian community, see the Out Against Abuse blogsite.

Go to my earlier post re Southall Black Sisters --an extraordinary shelter-education program in London--and related links to read about their possible closure owing to funding cuts by local council. Please provide support and write a letter of protest.

Southall Black Sisters need your support to avoid closure

Photo from Louise, Demonstration at Ealing Council, "Save Southhall Black Sisters"

(belated note from nov....Southall Black Sisters won their case re funding in July 2008 and you can see more pictures and comments here from the above photographer, Louise) .....

In February, I wrote:....I've recently learned that the Southall Black Sisters, a resource centre for Asian & African Caribbean women facing violence and abuse in West London and an exemplar for such programmes around the world, is facing closure because their main funder will withdraw funding by April 2008. This centre has done extraordinary work in shelter, advocacy with the Asian-African-Caribbean diasporas, as well as leading campaigns against forced and child marriages. Their major funding source (Ealing Council) has decided to end specialist services or streamline, e.g. combine domestic violence services, even multi-ethnic resources are needed...one size fits all programming does not work in address domestic violence and abuse. Please go to the Southhall Black Sisters (SBS) link to learn more about this vital organization as well as how you can provide support by writing letters to their funder and donate-contact SBS.

Ironically, I learned about this potential closure on a day when Womensenews published a report and data on child-forced marriages, which includes many of the countries whose migrants receive services from Southall Black Sisters either in London and/or where women are forced into marriages with men-families who have migrated to London and elsewhere. Bangladesh is #3 on the list of forced-child marriages despite much funding of anti-child marriage programmes.

Please share this information and provide support and letters!

According to SBS information and from F-Word:

"The group is calling for supporters to contact the council and voice our discontent with this decision. The person to contact is:

Jason Stacey
Leader of Ealing Council
Ealing Town Hall
Uxbridge Road
Ealing
W5 2BY
jason.stacey@ealing.gov.uk