tuesday, aug 30 9:45pm
Just back from the opening ceremonies. Today was the opening day of the computer room for ngo participant usage. Things seem to go fairly smoothly: while i was assigning email accts, I met a couple of BEIJING95-Lers. Alice from the IWTC/globalfax fame says hello to everyone. At 2pm, 5 apc techs & I walked back to our hotels to catch a bus to the opening ceremonies which were to be held in the olympic stadium in Beijing (the site was being negotiated to the last second). Passes to the event were fairly easy to obtain for ngo participants (red badge folk) but were extremely rare for staff (green badge, may grades) & press (blue).
So we got on the buses at the appointed time (2:40) & proceeded to wait & sweat (it is very hot & humid). The bus across from us was filled with singing & dancing women from paupau new guinea. The techs spent most of their time comparing notes about their home internet service providers & their computers (http://www.gn.apc.org/gn/partners/angonet/ango.old/>angola, equador, sri lanka, brasil) because most of them worked for the apc partner in their own country.
We were quite a spectacle as we traveled into Beijing. The chinese gov't must have rounded up every bus in providence & sent them to Huairou to fetch us. We didn't realize this until we got on the roads--there was nothing but a double lane of buses stretching for a mile or two(?). We stopped traffic in a major way. people came out of their homes to watch. I'm sure we had a major impact on their rush hour traffic.
I was also very glad to see the road in the daylight. The trees that lined the road seemed to be birch. There where many corn fields (I had expected wheat). There were also large fields of eggplant, hothouses, and a rose nursery.
B^* Speaking of roses, Karl King, cyber-rosearian extraordinaire, temp-ed for gagliajn while we were in Beijing. You simply MUST visit Karl By the Bay: CyberRose Garden, dedicated to old, odd, & rare roses. Tell him CyberFem Barbie B^* sent you.
Most of the homes are single story homes joined together made from brick. We also passed a large outdoor flea market. with the trees, cornfields, brick houses, & high humidity, it reminded me much of Minnesota, except the trees in Minnesota are evergreen & the sky is a bright blue or filled with rioteous clouds. Huairou & Beijing seem to be always overcasts (&/or smoggy--especially Beijing).
(An aside: last night instead of going directly home from the computer center, I made a slight detour & visited a chinese dept store, featuring all sorts of home appliances, liquor, chinese neddlecrafts, and snacks: my favorite "lonely god" instant noodles. I also went to a grocery store in search of vegetarian instant noodles & (I forgot my immerser)--I couldn't find what I wanted, but the shelves seemed well stocked and offered many beef & fish flavored items & many grades of tea, but none in bags.
B^* Convience foods are bad-if the styrofoam cups won't punch a hole in the ozone, high blood pressure from the sodium will. Nontheless, gagliajn is forever scouting for "good" meal-in-a-cup foods. Best so far-Dr McDougall's. But when she needs to be "sustained", she cooks up a pot of spaghetti & adds a jar of ragu-and is good for at least six more hours online.
I also walked through a night market. People were quite friendly & eager to sell & have definitely practiced their greetings in english).
B^* This shopping excursion was an occasion of incredible homesickness: often after work, gagliajn pops into our local chinese grocery store, Ranch 99, for pearl tea, tofu take-out, & such. Less than a mile away is another favorite shopping destination: the San Jose Berryessa Flea Market.. Because women were in Huairou from all over the world, it was even more like home: mandarin mixed with english, spanish, cantonese, tagalog, & vietnamese. The only notable difference was the color of the money--selection & price reflected city versus town. .
Finally after an hour drive which wound its way through downtown Beijing, we arrived at the olympic stadium. The paupau new guineans danced off the bus & into the stadium; we followed stopping only to lunge at the water offered us. The stadium is like an ampitheater in that the seats are made from concrete bleachers. but in each place was a very comfortable cushion, a full color program, and a lovely white silk scarf with the ngo emblem.
B^*Little did we know that these scarves would show up two days later on the delegation of Tibetan Women who gagged themselves with the very same silk scarves and staged a silent vigil in pouring rain, to symbolize China's silencing of Tibetan women's voices.
We found our seats approx 4:40ppm. The stadium was filled to the brim (approx 20,000 people, not including the dancers & press). At one end of the stadium, the chinese women orchestra was already playing (the event was scheduled to start at 5pm). The backdrop was a large, white abstract shaped women called the Goddess of Joy (from the program: the Goddess of Joy is holy & pure, and the good earth is bathed in the brillance of the sun). In the foreground was the all women orchestra & choir wearing full-length white grecian-inspired gowns.
B^*Looking at the Goddess of Joy, one couldn't help but think of the Goddess of Democracy, who sprung full-body from the hearts of The People in Tian'anmen Square.
In the middle of the field was a large white & red flag with the wcw ngo emblem. While the orchestra played, about 20 people carried a large white, rubber/platic tube. was it a tampon? Was it a condom? Suddenly, the tube was attached to the flag & it was born aloft--such a surprise! With it our spirits truly soared!
Several people then spoke: chen muhua (coc vp), gertrude mongella, helvi sipila (sec of the 1st wcw conf in mexico city. her question: "what have women done in the past 20 years for peace? nothing!" (sic).) we all visibly gasped when she said this: what could she possibly be thinking? The Hague Appeal for Peace 1999 Conference (May 11-16, 1999) will discuss the full spectrum of initiatives integral to the promotion of peace in the 21st Century, including disarmament, peace-keeping, international law, gender issues, human rights, sustainable development, and others. lucille mair (sec 2nd wcw conf), dame nita barrow (ngo forum 85), & khunying suptra masdit (ngo forum 95) spoke. Then the peace torch was passed from the kampla committee on women for peace in africa presented the peace torch (did they bring it from nairobi?) to khunyin supatra masdit while we sang with pat humpries "keep on moving forward". while they were speaking, two zepplins circled the stadium, on which bore the sign: "equality, development, peace, & friendship" (what? not sisterhood? ;-). at this time, i also noticed a balloon & banner for the Hard Rock Cafe, Beijing.
then the field show began: first came a squad of 200 pompom girls dressed in sherbert orange (cheerleaders at a women's conf?!?)…
B^* Hey! Cheerleading is a Sport! And yes, cheerleading can be an occasion for objectifying women & girls. After months of preparation, 30,000+ women negotiated one of the most difficult courses in the world & crossed the finish line in Beijing/Huairou--why not cheer for ourselves?
… formed the the wcw ngo emblem. then came on a squad of men dressed in bright blue carrying huge fans--these were waved in patterns, punctuated with pompoms to create a nice effect. then lion dancers appeared in the stands--the narrater noted that lion dancing is traditionally performed by men, but women from a special kungfu academy were performing this dance. Then dancers & sings from the miao people performed, followed by children dancing & drumming (the children received the warmest response from the crowd). next a battle scene from Jingiy, a peking opera. was performed, and then a scene with YARDS of orange silk & round platform upon which a women danced pantomimed the path of the sun & a peaceful boat journey. Finally men came out with blue & silver large cards & formed block card formations with women waving more yards of blue & green silk & doves--this conveyed the feeling of ocean waves. In the finale, doves (? pigeons, maybe?) were released as all the performs came back onto the field. wow!
On the way out (6:50pm), we were given free bottles of water (a much appreciated gift). We found our bus quickly and proceed to wait & sweat alot more to begin the ride back to Huairou. A bhutanese woman introduced herself, and proceeded to fill me in on the situation of the bhutanese refugees in nepal (news to me)--she has an incredible story and I am incouraging her to make use of the apc internet services to inform folks about their plight. This women also works with domestic violence/torture issues & then our tech from zambia joined in conversation. we talked a bit about the oj & susan smith case. we talked about why women stay in abusive situations & how to explain that violence is not affection and is, in fact, wrong.
At this point, the zambian tech told us two stories; the first about a scandal in zambia on how a very strong woman of a powerful zambian ngo became the second wife of a politician to the dismay of the women's community (and how the tech led a response to the scandal). The second involved the young windows of the zambian soccer team. apparently the gov't was set to give them a state burial with no thought to their widows. the tech's fought for & won compensation from the gov't for the widows. i then asked the tech (who is the sys admin for zambianet) what i though was a stupid question: had these two stories had been published on zambianet? she said no and we all started laughing--this is such typical behavior--we never, ever talk about our own accomplishments, yet talk endlessly about our heros, etc. She promised to upload the stories. I mentally promised to be so vague when I talk about BEIJING95-L, Women's Wire, & IGC Womensnet.
time to post, more soon!
jennifer moderator BEIJING95-L & BEIJING95-WOMEN
