greetings from beijing!
apc had one of our more interesting meetings last night. 24 of us crowded into a single hotel room to discuss strategies of maintaining & distributing information after the conference. we taped large sheets of paper tp the wall & each person described to which internet services she access (email, conferences, gopher, web, full internet, dial-up, fido-net, uucp) plus the cost involved. at first it seemed quite tedious, but then we could see that our group was a microcosm of our users: that we couldn't solely rely on email becuse people often payed per post rec'd/answered plus download time, nor could we rely on conferences because not everyone has conference capability. then we brainstormed about the positive & "needs improvement" areas of the huairou experience. the techs were quite proud of the fact that the internet connection was stable & was able quality service to both experienced & novice internet users. we were also very proud that we were an all women team, loved the volunteers who came by to help, were amazed by the quality info provided by the users about their caucuses, and really enjoyed outreach/giving workshops on the internet. areas of improvement: our relations with other vendors, needed machines dedicated to uploading info, and the fact that we wanted to be everywhere helping everyone 25 hrs per day. we came out of the meeting very psyched up for the next day.
monday 8:30am (realtime, not apc time) we in the front lobby waiting for a bus to take us to the un sire (specificly the brc--beijing recreational center). when we found out that the bus went only to workers stadium, we wereready to punce on the taxis. the hotle transportation became alarmed & flagged down a mini bus which took us directly to the brc (perhaps he had heard what a group of brazilian women did after the latin america dance. when the buses refused to take them to beijing & instead pointed them to a waiting row of taxis, they started chanting "beijing! beijing!" when the buses tried to escape, the encircled them, until they & the crowd were let on & taken to beijing).
the zambian tech lead us to the plenary room which after hours is a disco. the entrance is guarded by artemis completer with bow & her familar hound. the main dance floor had rows of chairs, the video screens featured un proceeding with many closeups of madame mogrella, and different caucuses met in side party rooms which were lined with white leather couches & beautiful wooden furnishings (one had a covered frosted glass door of a rather risque picture of a woman). after checking into the apc computer room (1056) at the beijing international conference center (bicc), we then set out to visit caucuses, establish connections to bring in their info to upload, and gather information.
the first thing i learned about gathering documents is if they don't have in one place, they will probably have it in the other. there were un document centers on every floor of the bicc & the info distributed was dependent on what they had on hand. i was immediately able to snag several copies of the english L.1 "draft platform for action" (5-24-95) & its addendum L.3 (8-18-95), but had to go to another floor for "the nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women" & "human rights--discrimination against women: the convention & the committee." spanish, french, & russian versions of documents were also available. side tables groaned with literature from ngo.
i then went to the ofan caucus (once & future action) which is primarily concerned with point 35 of the beijing declaration which original reads as "[facilitate access to technology, information and markets on equitable [equal] termsas a means to further the advancement & empowerment of women;]"--there is much discussion around the bracketed language equal or equitable. ofan suggests that the wording be changed to: "ensure the declaration of intent" of the un commission on science & technology for the development which calls for full participation of women & girls in science & technology." hundreds of ofan & associates position papers are boiled down into this single sentence which they are lobbying un delegate to include in the beijing declaration. looking at one such position paper, i find that the most interesting point is "to recognie local knowledge systems, where they exist, and their gendered nature as a source of knowledge complenmentary to modern scince and technology." i then reminded ofan to post their working papers to their own apc conference ofan.pavilion & to crosspost it to other internet resources.
i then went to the women's human rights caucus on the main floor of disco cum plenary room. several groups gave detailed reports on the acceptance &/or improvements upon bracketed language in the draft declaration with regards to women & violence. it was quite easy to follow along in the hard copy of the draft & everyone was quite busy making notes with points on whom to further buttonhole. my favorite point is 126J about raising consciousness about female stereotypes in the media--the united states contributed the amendment: "consistent with freedom of expression"; the cubans also added: "as long as the freedom expression does not contribute to the stereotypes against women." these two amendments are now under discussion.
i tried to get into the us briefing for the ngos but it was filled so i was turned away. i went back to the computer room which was temporarily closed to add two new computers, plus plans were being made to add six much-needed macs dedicated to word processing in the ngo lounge. i then gathered together all my info, stopped off at a grocery store to get some coffee for my roommate, & then went back to the hotel to upload some info from my powerbook.
time for another meeting. more soon.
jennifer jennifer@wcw.apc.org
