sunday, september 3,1995, 9pm
greetings from beijing
stayed up late to process & post (therby missing the dance exhibition at the aftrica tnet); got up at 8am; found out that i missed mass; checked my laundry which i did 3 days ago (almost dry); grabbed a quick bite to eat with apc coordinator (edie farwell) who talked about her experiences coordinating the computer teams at the previous ngo conferences (this one is quite smooth compared to the earlier conf--could it be the all women team? the incredible care in planning?); and then hit the flobal tent.
the energy at the global tent cranks up about 10 times more than the previous day. as the dricks & ground dry out (it rained again last night), people have begun to spread their wares out on the ground--incredible beaded jewlery & fabris from africa, india, and indonesia. mounds of literature were eveywhere. black ribbons were being handed out to remember imprisoned (tortured & raped) women. the disability tent is in a much more accessible area--tight across from the global tent, near the entrance--already it was decorated, and abled & disabled where pulled into tight discussion circles. next to it was the youth tent--great dispaly by the girl scouts & guides of girls engaing in all sorts of tasks from sports, to computer usage, neddlework etc. i honestly believe that it was my initial experience in the girl scouts, with its empahsis on international sisterhood (hey--remember american girl magazine?) that gave me my first tast of girl potential/feminism.
made my way back to the ofan pavilion. got a fabulous free, full-colored, 8x11" double-sided, laminated card about breast self-examination from WEDO (hello bella abzug, wherever you are!). this card was being offered in conjunction with their breast cancer & environment campaign. i, myself, have done breast cancer fund-raising, had a recent LUMP scare (which is still their but the mammogram says it's ok--i'm watching like a hawk), am fairly familar what is out & about breast cancer literature, and never, ever have i seen such a detailed card. kudos to WEDO!
"sea change"--where i have i had heard that name? wow! it is the first
issue of the newsletter from the virtual sisterhood
next i stopped by the feminist press booth, which deserves a whole post
unto itself. it was passing out recent copies of women's studies quarterly
(topic: a world view), a special publication "revisioning feminism around
the world" which contains short essays by different feminists, & its
catalog. feminist press featured book is "a rising public voice: women in
politics worldwide" (ed. alida brill). much more about feminist press in a
later post.
the women, ink bookstore is almost filled to capacity, and still books keep
on coming in.
on the way to the healing tent, i found "the quiet space". a place filled
with lovely houseplants, a large rug, chairs--a perfect place to meditate
(i would be distracted by the screeching cicadas, but i am quite poor
meditator). finally i found the healing tent which is being coordinated by
CAPACITAR. A space was curtained off for massage, there was a place set up
from discussion, and in one corner was the first altar i have seen since i
have come to huairou--several piieces of guatamalean clothe formed a
backdrop for an offering of each of the elements; a bowl of burning
candles, a bundle of incense (sage?), flowers floating in a bowl of water,
and a plate of soil (perhaps there was some wood too); the highest piece
was a wreath of clothe people--nice.
i arrived at the lesbian tent, which was bursting at its seams, just as a
press conference was breaking up. there i joined with several other apc
team members in giving a workshop on email training. we talked a bit about
the value of using the internet & email in facilitaing the activities of
lesbian and other feminist groups. then we went back to the computer room,
sat down at the computers, did a brief demo of the apc network services
available at huairou, and then got down to business. women started sending
email back home to their loved ones. we also did netscape searches about
internet feminist resources--one women found the lesbian avenger web page
(via amy's obessession) and was able to print out hand over info that she
had promised another women to send when she got back home--everyone was
thrilled.
then i checked into the apc desk and spent the next five hours greeting
folks &setting up email accounts. more BEIJING95-Lers came by--great! i'm
encouraging everyone to post something to the list & apc/wcw
online.pavilion. people with apc accounts: please keep a careful eye on
online.pavilion, women.unwcw, canada.unwcw, and the mujer conferences.
also watch carefully the web page which is continuously updates. on the
web page you will find article from the daily newspapers, info about the
ngos, and soon the plenary speeches (when? as soon as the ngo forum
provides us with the text).
after the computer room closed, we settled down to our meetings. after the
user support mtg, we had a smaller meeting where the tech descibed what
kind of online activities where happening in conjunction with the
conference. it seems that the apc associate in canada, web.apc.com, will
soon launch their own womensnet. the apc associate in mexico, laneta,
quickly & carefully pulled together a network to disseminate the info
coming out of the conf coordinated by modem-mujer. australia pegasus has a
extremely well organized info dissemination team, facilitated by 8 email
accounts with links into the press. the techs from the zambia, brasil,
angola, the philipines--in fact all the techs--are quite busy recruiting
their friends & country women to post news back home & apc conferences.
most countries in africa, latin america, and asia have info networks
composed of folks with apc accounts, who scour the conferences & the net,
edit & resend the info to other folks with email accts, who then put out
the info on fax networks, whose recipients then xerox, mail, hand carry,
read in village meetings, or pass the info along by word of mouth.
from what i can tell when i read my email, BEIJING95-L is even more active
than ever, and the subscriber demand has sky rocketed. please feel free to
cross post to other email lists & friends, USENET soc.feminism & soc.women,
your own local conferences, internet service providers, bulletin boards &
web pages; get an apc account
thanks, jennifer
