Current information on the 3rd World Women’s Conference of grassroots women from 03 – 10.09.2022 in Tunis/ Tunisia

16.05.2022

Current information on the 3rd World Women’s Conference of grassroots women

from 03 – 10.09.2022 in Tunis/ Tunisia

The Tunisian Preparatory Committee “Latifa Tamalaah” greets the women of the world. Together with all the organizations in Tunis, they are happy to welcome the women from 03-10.09.22 in the University of Manouba.

There will be overnight accommodations in the dormitory for 100 participants. The standard will be 2-3 bed rooms with one shower and toilet per floor. The cost will be approximately €10 per person per night. The standard is considered “very low” by the committee.

Continental coordinators, in consultation with the Tunisian Preparatory Committee, will advise on the distribution of these low-cost rooms. The priority is to make the offer available to all women with very low incomes, to our brigadists who are on the ground supporting the preparations and, if necessary, to the coordinators.

he committee sends us addresses of other low and medium standard hotels. Here the prices are about 30.- / 50.- €.

he organization “National Union of Tunisian Women” in the preparation committee supports the research for places to stay.

The travel agency “people to people” researches in cooperation with a representation in Tunis further hotels in Tunis, since there are hardly any hotels in Manouba.

The travel time from Tunis to Manouba is given with max. 1 hour (traffic). A cab for 3 persons costs about 3,50€. You can also take the metro, it stops directly at the university.

The food is organized by the university canteen. The food should cost about 3 € per meal. Furthermore there will be food stalls of local traders.

An official invitation letter is being made, which can be used for the international partnerships.
Also an overview of visa requirements.

The program of the World Women’s Conference
(the actual conference goes from 04 – 09.09.22):

03.09.22

Arrival day and registration at the university in Manouba

04.09.22

Big opening demonstration and opening ceremony in the heart of Tunis, and further registration

05.09.22

Workshops

06.09.22

Workshops

07.09.22

General Assembly of elected delegates; open for interested participants / observers

08.09.22

General Assembly of elected delegates; open for interested participants / observers

09.09.22

Large joint closing plenary session

10.09.22

Departure day or beginning of vacation trips


here will be cultural offers every day by the participants; The countries of Europe are responsible for the Continental Cultural Evening of Europe.

Declaration of the World Women from Europe on the Struggle for World Peace.

Adopted at the European Conference on 22/04/23.

The European Conference of World Women on 22/04/23 with 45 delegates and participants from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Germany, France, Great Britain, Croatia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey/ South Kurdistan, Ukraine, exchanged views on Russia’s war against Ukraine, discussed and decided:

No war of aggression is in our name. We are not the aggressors! We world women stand for international solidarity and friendship between peoples. We women are strong and persistent in the struggle for peace in the world!

We do not simply stand by and watch – we act.

We know that many wars are currently being waged in the world in the name of imperialist policies. But we see a new quality in the war and political events in the war against Ukraine. Because here, different powers stand against each other – Russia on one side, with Belarus, and NATO, the USA and the EU on the other side.

We have heard that Belarus is providing Russia with a military base, the use of airports and railways and oil factories for Russian military techniques.
Our women from Ukraine are afraid of the invasion of Lukashenko’s troops. Representatives from Bosnia-Herzegovina recall the NATO war in the Balkans. Even today, women in particular are suffering the consequences.

We World Women stand up against the threat of a third world war, even if we still have different opinions about how immediate it is. We oppose the preparation for war, the political development to the right and fascisation in our countries. We call for the broadening of humanitarian aid to the struggle for the building of a worldwide peace movement against all aggressions, especially imperialist aggressions.

We see ourselves in the tradition of Clara Zetkin, who organised the international conference of women against war in Berne in 1915.
“Only when the great majority of women also stand behind the slogan with the deepest conviction: war against war, then peace can be secured for the peoples.”

Let us make the 3rd World Women’s Conference from 3 – 10 September 2022 in Tunis to a manifestation for world peace and active resistance!

On the preparation of the 3rd World Women’s Conference in Tunisia 3 to 10 September 2022

Women of the world weave bonds of solidarity!

In only 7.5 months we will organise our third WWC and we want to let you know that the preparations of the 3rd WWC are going well and have truly started in Tunisia and on the 25th of November also in other countries.
Of course we are still in a difficult situation with the COVID pandemic that is still roaming the world. On the one hand we don’t know how the situation will be in September and it will (perhaps) make it difficult for women who would like to participate to come to Tuni-sia. But we will prepare all necessary health measures. We have to be careful and protect participants and hosts.
But like we said during the preparation of the 2d WWC in Nepal after the major earth quake: Together we can do it!

We have a great task ahead of us. Let us work together as a team to make a success of the 3rd World Women’s Conference!
How can we together realise a really internationally organised World Women’s Conference of grassroots women that is financed independently ?
(more…)

Continental coordinators decide to postpone the 3rd World Women’s Conference until 2022 and start preparations worldwide

The Continental Coordinators unanimously decided to postpone the 3rd World Conference of Grassroots Women until the end of 2022.
Many factors are decisive for this, first of all the currently unpredictable situation in Tunisia itself and the still existing dangers of the corona pandemic.
The worldwide crisis of imperialism/capitalism is answered in many countries with mass protests, strikes, uprisings and revolts. Women are standing up, they are often at the forefront of the struggles against the shifting of the burdens of crisis onto the backs of the people. The need for a 3 World Women’s Conference of grassroots women is undisputed, but it must be able to take place as a face-to-face meeting! This is not possible at the moment. We can neither guarantee with the necessary care for the protection and health of all participants, nor can we organize visa and travel processes. We also lack the financial resources at the moment. And, also we have lost through Corona, important women leaders like Sharmistha Choudhury from India.
The Continental Coordinators propose that from now on, preparation for the 3rd World Women’s Conference begin in all countries: with street activities, culture, webinars, educational evenings, sporting events – the sky is the limit. The important thing now is to start planning.
A first highlight will be the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the 25.11.21. Worldwide, we will simultaneously present our demands in public as far as possible! At the same time, there will be a Zoom conference with representatives of the countries for further consultation on the situation and struggles of women worldwide.
Your continental coordinators

 

Letter of condolence from European Coordinators for Sharmistha Choudhury

European Coordinators
World Women’s Conference of grassroots women
Suse Bader, Halinka Augustin

Condolences for our comrade and friend Sharmistha Choudhury, General Secretary of the All India Revolutionary Women’s Organisation (AIRWO) and leading comrade of the CPI (ML) Red Star

Sharmistha died on the 13th of June 2021 in a hospital in Kolkata (Calcutta) as a result of corona disease. She was only 45 years old.

Dear friends of AIRWO, comrades of the CPI (ML) Red Star,
It is with great sadness that we learnt of the death of comrade Sharmistha.

On behalf of the militant world women’s movement, we extend our deepest condolences to her partner, her mother and to you all! Sharmistha’s death leaves a large gap in the revolutionary and international militant women’s movement.

We commemorate Sharmistha and her life’s work which has now ended so abruptly and far too soon.

Sharmistha was co-founder and leader of the All India Revolutionary Women’s Organisation (AIRWO), a mass movement with organisations in all states of India.

The liberation of women from exploitation and all forms of oppression was an important concern for her. As a revolutionary, she campaigned for liberation in a socialist society. Sharmistha also worked theoretically in this regard. The CPI (ML) Red Star writes in their obituary:

“On the question of women’s liberation, Sharmistha has written many important essays which have exposed the theoretical weakness of the communist movement from the beginning in developing a consistent political line and practice against Brahminical, Hindutua ideology and patriarchy …. and from …. all reactionary forces perpetuating the slavery of women and other genders. She has campaigned for the revolutionary emancipation of women….”.

Sharmistha was an internationalist. In this capacity, she actively contributed to the organisations and development of the World Women’s Conference of grassroots women. At the 1st and 2nd World Women’s Conferences in Caracas/Venezuela and Kathmandu/Nepal, she made valuable contributions with theoretical contributions, translation, mobilisation and organisation work. She was a safe pair of hands for the international militant women’s movement.

In December 2018, together with AIRWO and the coordinators of the World Women’s Conference, she organised the first strategy seminar of the world women’s movement in Bangalore/India. The women from Banghar (West Bengal) gave moving accounts of their 22-month struggle against energy giants and the Modi government’s privatisation plans.

Sharmistha, together with her partner Alik Chakraborty and other comrades, built the “Committee for the Defence of Land, Livelihood, Ecology and Environment”.  The villagers blockaded the area and defended it against hooligans, government troops, police and representatives of the power giants. Over 20,000 people became active in these struggles and women played a prominent role.

Sharmistha trained and educated the women, who were often illiterate, on the tasks in the struggle. These women reported on this confidently, in colourful saris.

We heard: “I felt what freedom is for the first time.” and “Now we were sitting next to the men, we were no longer relegated to the house. When the men were arrested, we women stepped into their place in the struggle.”

On several occasions, the World Women’s Movement organised protest and solidarity actions for our comrade Sharmistha. Neither prison nor kidnapping stopped Sharmistha and her comrades from continuing the struggle.

Sharmistha was proposed to strengthen the Asian coordination of the World Conference on Women. Now this is no longer possible. The Indian authorities refused to allow her to leave the country in October 2019 and she was unable to attend the conference.

We bid you farewell Sharmistha, and we pledge to continue building our international militant women’s movement! At the 3rd World Women’s Conference in Tunisia in 2022, you will be there too!

 

We mourn the loss of Sharmistha Choudhury

Dear friends,

we are very sad to announce that our beloved friend and comrade Sharmistha passed away on 13/06/21 in a hospital in Kolkatta.

It is terrible and sad news and we wish our comrades and friends in India and her family much strength and solidarity.

Sharmistha was a cornerstone of revolutionary and women’s work in India and internationally. She was a leading force in the struggle of peasants in West Bengal for the preservation of their environmental and living resources.

She will be sorely missed by our friends in India and by all of us in the militant women’s movement as a friend, comrade and comrade-in-arms. Sharmistha only turned 45 years old.

A few weeks ago she contracted the coronavirus and had to be hospitalized because of additional problems caused by the disease. She got sick again when she was participating in the election campaign in Bhangar and had to stay away from all activities from then on. She was hospitalized on the eve of June 13.

European coordinators Halinka Augustin and Suse Bader

Thank you for your solidarity

Hello Halinka, Suse and Zaman,

We received your solidarity message on the very day when Women Farmers’ Day (18th January) was being observed at the farmers’ protest sites. Thank you very much.
Today our women gathered in large numbers at the protest sites to raise the voice of women farmers and protesters. The programme had a special significance because, very recently, in a very regressive observation, the Supreme Court of India advised the protesting farmers to ‘keep women away’ from the protest sites! Women across the country were outraged at the Court’s suggestion that women had no agency, that they were not conscious protesters, but had actually been ‘brought in’ by men and could be ‘sent back home’ by men. Hence today Women Farmers’ Day was spiritedly and militantly observed across the country, emphasising women’s inalienable right to protest and demanding repeal of the new draconian agri-laws.
I am sharing the links of two short videos here. The first shows Comrade Urmila of AIRWO reading out the solidarity message from the European Coordinators of the World Women’s Conference at the protest site on the borders (Tikri) of Delhi.
The next link shows Comrade Nandini of an organisation called Feminists in Resistance reading out the solidarity message at the protest site in Kolkata.
Warm regards,
Sharmistha