bideshi blue

Day 16: Human Rights Day

2011-12-10T23:17:00.007-06:00

Today has been International Human Rights Day and the last day of Take Back the Tech.

This past week, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton gave an extraordinary address on how gay, lesbian (bisexual, transgender) rights now constituted human rights benchmarks for the United States and its interactions-assessments of other countries.

for video link: http://bcove.me/qs3211sh

for article-video-link to her speech transcript:

http://news.advocate.com/post/13844217337/watch-the-speech-youve-been-waiting-for

Now if we can continue to make progress on these and other human rights to lives free from violence & war and filled with respect, good water, food, relationships, and peace!

For more ongoing actions and ideas, see http://www.saynotoviolence.org/

Day 3 Be Safe-Secure/Day 4: Ms- Represent and Challenge Stereotypes

2011-11-27T23:52:00.006-06:00

http://www.takebackthetech.net/node/5155

Safe Passwords and be Secure

Protect and vary your passwords (and keep track of them!). Also never share your passwords with others out of love or as a sign of trust relationship or manipulation...they can access your accounts and put you and your friends in danger!

http://www.takebackthetech.net/node/5161 Ms-Represent and Challenge Stereotypes

Challenge the stereotypes in media and watch a video of a tribal Pakistani womn
from the Sind province....Sakina...who tells her stories...and shows the strength and wisdom of women in all kinds of settings...as reflected in the 16 videos for 16 days of activism by MediaVoicePakistan

State sponsored violence & whose culture?

2011-11-26T23:05:00.005-06:00

State sponsored gender violence--often overt & covert--occurs all too often in all of our cultures, especially in response to women's resistance and presence in actions that challenge the state.

Some times women take their actions to their own blogs as in the case of Eypgt's naked blogger, Aliaa Mahdy, who posted her nude photo as protest against the cultural hypocrisy of military, police and/or militia who had forced women activists to remove their headscarves and conducted "hymen" virginity checks.

On 18 Nov 11 Egyptian American journalist Mona Eltahawy noted that

...."others did not receive such attention. Samira Ibrahim, the only one of the women subjected to "virginity tests" who is taking the military to court for sexual assault, has neither a dedicated hashtag nor notoriety. Another woman, Salwa el-Husseini, was the first to reveal what the military did to them, but news reports have said she can't raise a lawsuit because she doesn't have identification papers.

Not only did el-Husseini speak out, she courageously agreed to be filmed at a session of testimonies on military abuses. Again, hardly anyone knows her name, her recorded testimony isn't racking up page views, and she was called a liar and vilified for speaking out. Both women have vehemently maintained they were virgins.

If "good girls" in headscarves who kept their legs together only to be violated by the military speak out and no one listens, what's the message being sent? When the military justified its violations by saying "those girls aren't like your daughter or mine. These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square", what's the message?"

Ironically or in retaliatation for this story?, on this past Wednesday night (23 N0v) Egyptian Central Security Forces arrested journalist Eltahawy on a Cairo street, interrogated and sexually assaulted her resulting in broken left arm/right wrist among other injuries. The military forces have apologized for the CSF's actions although working as journalists remains risky in Egypt and other revolutionary-conflict situations.

See Eltahawy's more recent interview & video with Democracy Now on her experiences, sexual assault on women activists and more. She now has casts on both arms although her voice remains strong. The Women's Media Center describes even more violence against women reporters in Egypt.

Whose culture(s) condone such actions against women who resist, post, and/or report? Those courageous women including journalists who do report through "official" or informal channels often face scorn, retaliation and competing social media site pages. These pages contest their accounts (including their assailants who rationalize their abuse!) even though the women, police, and others have brought cases on their behalf. Or the state fails to follow their own law and prosecute their cases.

Speak up and support these brave women who chose different paths of resisting authority!

some vegan thoughts on food: eating and repurposing

2011-11-26T00:03:00.008-06:00

Thanksgiving Day in USA generates much food, recipes, and media on how to prepare, store, and transform leftovers into additional meals especially turkeys and meat-based dishes. As a vegan or plant-based person, I have posted many vegan recipes to friends and on Facebook in not so subtle hints on foods to prepare for gatherings where vegans and vegetarians might be present.

Friends at one gathering got the hints, made vegan dressing and mashed potatoes, among other dishes. I brought this sweet potato dish and a big green salad. My friends served a generous plate of the holiday foods that I mixed with two bowls of salad.

Now I faced a dilemma of what to do with the take home foods from the gathering and especially two issues of my ongoing diet and food waste. I have adopted a vegan diet to deal with blood-sugar and metabolic syndrome issues, which meant more consumption of whole foods and complex carbohydrates. I still ate occasional vegan desserts. Recently I have adjusted my vegan diet to eat more nutrient dense salads, vegetables and fruits, including beans, tofu and fewer starches according the ideas of the Eat to Live system. I have been losing weight and my blood sugar has come down/stabilized except during a recent faculty strike when I made mini-mocha muffins for those on the picket line (quality control...must taste).

Now what to do with the take home foods that mostly resided outside of this nutrient dense system? Blood sugar registered higher than usual this a.m. and I felt rather sluggish after dinner. Today, I worked in getting my gardens ready for winter and did some yoga. Tonight, I put some of the sweet potatoes in a pot of chili with beans-greens. I perused my slow-cooker cookbooks for other ideas for how to handle my leftovers from the gathering. Mix with leafy green and other veggies? Make a nutrient-intense shepherd's pie? Or combine sweet potatoes and dressing with vegan sausage? Share the leftovers with hungry graduate students?

According to the Nourishing the Planet, food waste in production (40%) and consumption (30%) hinder efforts to curb food inequities and hunger around the world! Think Progress's "10 Tips to Reduce Food Waste During the Holidays" has some valuable ideas on reducing waste in cooking, planning, storing, composting, and even recovering-recycling foods-gifts. Some salient tips especially for leftovers: first, plan to cook-consume less and self-serve on smaller plates. I am looking for recipes that incorporate/save my leftovers with my diet. Second, I can share my bounty with others on this occasion as well as when I make a big pot of soup-slow cooker. Third, compost! I can easily compost all my vegan gleanings/scraps and foods and the resulting compost nourishes my raised beds-gardens. Ideally, I can plan ahead for buying, cooking, and consuming. For those of us who buy shares in C.S.A.s (consumer supported agriculture) and/or have gardens, we often have more veggies than we can use. These can be preserved/shared/donated to local shelters, food pantries, and friends-graduate students. I've even shared some veggies with my classes.

Alas we may have overly ambitious plans for produce bought in local farmers' market and some of the same hints apply. Today is the last day for the local Carbondale IL Farmers' Market (until 1 April) and I need to stock up on assorted squashes and sweet potatoes for winter dishes. I have bought a winter share in Hollow Pumpkin CSA and can place online orders for greens and other winter veggies from Green Ridge farm. Hence, the ongoing cycle of buying, using, re-purposing, and composting continues, while we peruse the seed catalogues and plan for the spring gardening in the Cobden Community Garden and another share from Clear Creek CSA....

25 Nov International Day Against Violence Against Women

2011-11-25T22:53:00.006-06:00

Once again, 16 days against violence against women by Take Back the Tech, and please undertake one action per day to fight violence against women, children, and men.

This program starts on 25 Nov, which is the international day against violence against women, marked by many events and processions, even in Rangpur, Bangladesh. Unfortunately, this day receives little attention in the usa owing to the sad timing of post Thanksgiving shopping day;. However, many of us refused to buy into the consumer hype and observed "Buy Nothing Day" or "Boycotting Black Friday (sic)".

For a roundup of usa and international events, see this Ms. blog post and the Take Back the Tech site or #TakeBackTheTech, which is mapping events and actions. Many of us have taught, posted and protested against the ongoing violence against women in military, revolutionary, and resistance scenarios such as Arab Spring, USA military in Iraq & Afghanistan, reiterating that gender matters every day and especially on these sixteen days of action.

In my blog posts over time, I have noted the absence of any laws against domestic violence in Bangladesh. Some of us thought this had changed at the end of last year. The Bangladesh government finally framed " The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010", which became law 30 Dec 10. Yet nearly one year later, the government has yet to generate the rules for enforcement and no woman can file a case for domestic violence! Meanwhile, women continue to be abused, injured, and murdered by their family members and near & dear ones among others. Hence, the ongoing need for effective laws and enforcement in Bangladesh as well as change in minds, cultures, and behaviors on these issues in all countries-settings.

As Day 2 argues, "Violence is not our culture! Change it!" identify spaces such as Facebook pages, news media, or other social media that promote violence against women and protest! Or identify progressive spaces and practices!

Day: 8 Seek Our Solutions/Make Our Own Headlines

2010-12-02T22:34:00.005-06:00

Today focuses on acts of empowerment & solutions by and for women and generating our own media. This can occur through social media, twitter (I'm still not tweeting), blogs, zines, and other retro formats such as newspapers.

From TTBT:

"Search for creative, innovative, groundbreaking initiatives taking place near you, and let the world know. Share it as a tweet to @takebackthetech and let's create our own Twitter paper on
http://paper.li/takebackthetech. Take it offline and share it with the editors from your local newspaper."

See today's activities for a creative media list to get stories and messages across to our groups as well as larger groups, such as:

1) search local, national, and global media on issues important to you, solutions, and then share via tweet #takebackthetech

2) write politicians and newsmedia again and again. use the monthly reminder service given in the actions for this day

3) make your own headlines on these issues and solutions through tweets or a tweet newspaper aggregator as discussed in the actions

My own suggestion....share this TBTT day-link (and others) with all the media people that you have friended on facebook and other networks. This can bring local, national, and international attention to causes, issues, and solutions.

My recent favorite headline comes c/o The Daily Star in Bangladesh, 30 Nov 2010.

Youth held for nuisance on Facebook

A young engineer was arrested yesterday for harassing a female university student on the social networking site Facebook.

Arrested Aleem Uddin, 28, an assistant engineer of Western Marine Shipyard in Chittagong, hails from Noakhali.

Police said Aleem had opened a fake account of the victim, whom he termed his former girlfriend, on the networking site two months back.

He started posting indecent pictures and abusive words using the profile.

Getting verbal complaints from the victim a few days back, Kotwali police started tracing the fake account and other accounts of Aleem and his friends on the Facebook. The crime busters found the allegations to be true.

On receiving a written complaint from the victim on Sunday, a team from Kotwali Police Station raided Lalkhan Bazar crossing in the port city and arrested Aleem yesterday around 1:00am.

The girl, a Chittagong University student, filed a case with Kotwali Police Station accusing Aleem under Women and Children Repression Prevention Act and ICT Act yesterday morning...

go to original article to read more

Well done for the Chittagong female student who filed the complaint and for the arrest by the police. I hope that justice will be served in this case and that the Daily Star will follow up on what happens with this case....a failing of Bangladeshi and other media that only report sensational news with little or no coverage over time.

We need more attention to such solutions for mis-use of social media such as harassment, stalking, posting false info-photos as well as courageous people who stand up against such behaviors and bullying.

Day 7: World Aids Day--

2010-12-02T01:33:00.003-06:00

Today, I have reposted my Mr. Bunny picture and post from 1 Dec 2007. The clever (chalak) Mr. Bunny starred in a safe sex poster that I made for sex workers and others when no human male person would hold a condom. For the bangla translation and story about safe sex in Bangladesh, read the post! I'm sure that Mr. Bunny has continued his dushto ways with his abba Mr. Ripon.

And as I tell my students, "no glove, no love"!

Day 6: Grrls & Technology/what happened to Nari Jibon (a brief tale)

2010-12-02T00:04:00.011-06:00

read some important women creators and doers in ICT herstory and actions for this day

From 2003-2008, Katie Zaman and I worked with girls/young women on ICT access and training in Bangladesh at the Nari Jibon project and earlier projects. You can read more about those activities in my blog as well as their blogging activities in 2007-2009 through a Rising Voices blogging grant to Nari Jibon. From 2006-2009, Nari Jibon project provided classes in english, computers, graphics as well as tailoring. Some students received work-study (leikhapora chakri)to attend classes full time and gain work experience. Most students paid moderate fees to attend classes and fees to use the cyber cafe to practice their skills.

Nari Jibon had the only woman-only cyber cafe in Dhaka with multiple computers, access to internet, printer, cameras (digital and video). The cafe provided a safe space where girls and women could learn how to really use english and develop real skills in computers, graphics, internet. I tried to structure the cyber cafe staff, fees, and use to move toward sustainability and income generation for Nari Jibon, but some staff undermined these efforts in the cyber cafe, other classes, and Nari Jibon operations. Further, NGO registration faced many obstacles such as expensive bribes to ease the registration process. Sadly, I had to to stop sending funds in the beginning of 2009 and health issues have precluded return visits to Bangladesh. When the staff could not find other donors or sponsors for the well-equipped computer lab/facilities, Nari Jibon moved to a residence, and closed its doors/classes in summer 2009.

I took this picture in summer 2008 in the cyber cafe...Kira Kariakin and I worked with the students to actually blog and take pictures (some teachers had made excuses for why the students weren't so eager to blog, but we found much interest in blogging). Many students set up their own blogs in english and bangla and continued that fall with visits/video from David Sasaki (then coordinator of Rising Voices) and his translation of Laura Vidal's article. You can read my 2008 post about the bloggers. Some of our students had the computer and photo skills to gain jobs registering-photographing for Bangladesh's id cards among other jobs. You can read more success stories-herstories on www.narijibon.blogspot.com or herstory on www.narijibon.com

Alas with our departures , loss of enouragement-support (except for visit from Rezwan Islam) and the search for donors in spring 2009, the women stopped using the internet, blogging, and facebook use. I continue to wonder how the students are doing these days. I've seen facebook use by only two of our formers students and no blogging. I want to also acknowledge the hard work by our computer teacher, Taslima, who moved on to computer programming jobs.

What do young women need to have access to and use computers, social media? Have mobiles replaced using computers? How and where do girls and young women gain real computer skills (not just a 'certficate' in Bangladesh and can use safe and secure cyber cafes?

I hope that such facilities have continued to evolve and emerge in Bangladesh and elsewhere. For example, please see the good works and blogging projects of Rising Voices!

Days: 4-5: Be Your Own Expert; Women-Human Rights: Violence is Not Our Culture

2010-11-29T23:51:00.011-06:00

Day 4: Who's the expert? Break a Myth!

See the assorted actions that challenge media's self-appointed experts and consider even starting your own wiki (if you are not sick of wikileak stories that ignore women's issues)...

We also need to acknowledge our own expertise. In Patricia Hill Collins' book, Black Feminist Thought (chapter 11, 2nd ed): she challenges definitions of positivist experts and proposes a Black Feminist Epistemology (how we know what we know) or four criteria that are helpful for all of us.

1) We look at/respect the "experts'" lived experiences and their knowledge-wisdom
2) We use dialogue in assessing claims re knowledge or expertise and willingness to share back and forth.
3) We use ethic of caring--talking from the heart & respect.
4) We have personal accountability for one's expertise and how results or expertise are used; motives

These four points are in contrast to positivist methodology that emphasizes:
1) distance between research and subject;
2) absence of emotions;
3) "value" free
4) adversarial debates decide truth

For dealing with statistics and VAW, Hill Collins' criteria have guided my own work as a sociologist-feminist from the North. I value women's lived experiences with VAW and their own lives through my own research and spending time in women's lives and experiences in Bangladesh. I listened to and engaged in dialogue about my own understandings and women's and men's understandings. I also learned to be open about my own values, roles, and perspectives in gathering the oral and statistical data. Some times, based on these experiences, dialogues and feedback with Bangladesh colleagues, staff, and respondents, I changed my research questions, methodologies, and perspectives.

For example, instead of just listing signs of an abused woman in the Bangladesh domestic violence resource brochure, AKM Saiful Islam and I listed the signs of a good relationship (eng p2;. bn p2) first and signs of abusive relationships second. At the same time, I maintained that VAW was NOT just a matter of culture. Finally, I sought to be accountable for my research and my presence as well as the consequences for women participants and staff as I shared the research.

I suggest incorporating these criteria on our ways to empowering women to become experts in their own lives: listen to the women and their expertise because they have lived through VAW and suffered the consequences as well as being experts on survival. Support those who work through legal, political, and institutions to end violence against women. Share your experiences with one another inside and outside of the family to end the isolation and conspiracy of silence to maintain honor. Finally, reach out to one another if you suspect abuse.

Likewise, often when men heard that I was doing research on VAW in Bangladesh, they told me that they also were abused. I started listening to their narratives and learned what experiences they had defined as abuse: harsh words-actions from their spouse, socio-emotional dynamics of couples, and dowry and other pressures from their families. Although none of these narratives justified the physical, socio-emotional abuse, and abandonment of wives, the men's narratives gave me more insights on domestic violence in Bangladesh and possible solutions.

Day 5: Violence is not Our Culture--International Campaign

Read more about the campaign to stop stoning, honor killings, and other violence against women in the same of culture, religion, or tradition. Support women who bravely speak up for women's and human rights rather than demonizing and punishing them in the name of culture, religion.

Likewise, hold politicians accountable for what I call "opportunistic use of gender", where they use women's issues, rights, and/or violence against women as justifications for military action most recently in Afghanistan and Iraq, among other arenas. Then assorted leaders turn to "cultural" reasons for ignoring women rights, empowerment and well-being in these countries' new/old regimes and in the presence of USA and allied forces for nine years! Ann Jones in argues that "Afghan women have already been abandoned." For example, escalating violence against women is cited as a reason for the USA presence in Afghanistan despite increasing Talibanization of Afghanistan. Male leaders have excluded women from negotiations-deliberations about reintegration of the Taliban.

So please read these and the women's stories from around the world on the campaign website...culture increasingly has been used to justify violence in the USA- Dr. Tiller's murder as well as around the world.

See also: Zainab Salbi: Women, wartime and the dream of peace | Video on TED.com

Day 3: feminist slogans, actions, t-shirts

2010-11-27T22:51:00.016-06:00

Daily Actions and Discussion from TBTT (click here)

Each day, we wear assorted clothes and items from our wardrobes, which can include t-shirts with various trademarks (walking billboards) and/or other messages that we want to convey. Some of us have more agency than others about what we want to wear: social pressures-approval from parents, friends, standards in our countries, our gender-expression, race-ethnicity, class, and even religious beliefs and/or our willingness to draw attention to ourselves also shape what we can wear. In the USA, even the curvy shapes of our clothes can have gender-race/ethnic meanings. Or in Bangladesh and other countries, shawls and baggy kameez & salwar obscure the curves of women's bodies; burkhas cover even more. However, these clothes can hide many forms of resistance and transgressions.

Such clothes make the wearing of t-shirts with mottos and slogans somewhat tricky. Nonetheless, women manage many statements--covered and uncovered--through their t-shirts (diy or bought), chanted slogans in marches and demonstrations, "Hay, ho, patriarchy has got to go!; women united will never be defeated") feminist buttons (click on all buttons for ordering information & items from Peace Project.com) and/or google for other suppliers or get your own buttonmaker!), and of course, the TBTT's participant generated postcards.

I can trace my own feminist herstory through the feminist-activist t-shirts (and buttons) that I have worn over time: take back the night marches in Iowa City, Iowa and Carbondale, Illinois; Emma Goldman women's clinic (abortion and reproductive services), 1985 anniversary Michigan Women's Music Festival (motto: see you in august!), and one of my own diy: outlaw virgin (based on Marilyn Frye's argument that we need to reclaim the original definition of virgin--a woman in control of herself/body instead of later definitions of "untouched" by a man. This shirt generated many looks and comments at the local mall and my university. Later I translated this into Bangla for people who inquired about my marital status and marriage resisters: "shakti kumari" [strong unmarried virgin woman]. No t-shirts or buttons, however.

I look forward to the generation and proliferation of new slogans in all languages, cultures and formats as we continue to agitate and educate. For example, this t-shirt (and others) that can be purchased from Hijabman:

click on picture for ordering info and more pithy t-shirts

Day 2: Get the statistics & petition a politician!

2010-11-26T22:50:00.011-06:00

check out the TTBT campaign video and the linked videos below

Daily Actions
read more on the TBTT site

As a sociologist, I've known the difficulties of collecting and compiling data over time on sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence in my university town(s) as well as my more recent experiences working on domestic violence issues in Bangladesh. "Official" population or survey data are limited owing to the sensitivity of the questions as well as the survivors' experiences definition of harassment, rape, sexual assault and of shame-blame/honor/family and so forth. These data challenges occur around the world.

In the USA, we have had access to such data since the 1980s and we still have varying estimates such as 1 in 3 women experience sexual assault in their lifetimes and 1/4 domestic violence. Definitions also vary among researchers in USA and else where. Do these estimates refer to harsh words, grabbing, hitting, injuring, rape, and/or some combination, including death? Some women seek an order of protection, which may restrict contact with an abuser, but doesn't provide ironclad security against another assault. The filing of charges and convictions are even lower although changes in laws, police enforcement, legal advocates, and support have improved reporting and sanctions from previous levels. For example, when I started teaching at my university in the early 1980s, women students who reported stalking by men had few legal options. These newer laws had provided some legal recourse (although still difficult to charge and prosecute).

All these factors have led to ongoing underestimates of the problems and less attention to the causes and solutions by lawmakers, legal authorities, governments, and civil society. Ironically, domestic violence shelters have seen more demands for their services during the ongoing economic recession, while the state governments and funders have dramatically cut their funding. So one action for these 16 days might be to donate money, goods, and time to local domestic violence shelters and programs.

This use/misuse of ICT has received some attention mostly in widely publicized cases of abuse/bullying on basis of gender, sexuality, race-ethnicity (or intersections) on social networking sites by fake accounts, mobiles-cell phone use of photos, videos, sexting, and other activities. These forms of harassment have led to suicides, deaths, and socio-emotional trauma and only then do we hear about more cases across the USA. At the same time, some cell apps such as Hollaback can help pinpoint harassers and their locations. Once again we need more systematic data on these abuses as well as timely education and solutions on bullying, abuse of power, and harassment via newer forms of ICT such as social networks, smart phones, video cameras, and more!

In contexts where government and legal authorities have ignored or paid limited attention to sexual assault and domestic violence in the paucity of laws or enforcement and gathering data, we need to encourage the gathering of good, quality, and unbiased data on these crimes and their legal outcomes as well as concrete action and education. Meanwhile governments, schools, and parents will continue ignore how harassers and abusers find ways to use ICT to harass and abuse women through phone calls, social networks, sexting, broadcase of videos-photos (from mobiles and webcams) and more. Education also includes training young women and men on the vagaries and respectful use of ICT. For example, when posting "fun party" pictures on the internet, many people remain unaware that their images and words will stay on the internet and social networking sites. These materials can be retrieved by employers and future partners & in-laws by a simple google search. Some posters/postees have lost their jobs as a result. Likewise, adda-gossip-and facts about certain domestic violence-murder cases that went viral out on social media continue to circulate. This information can serve to inform-alert as well as serve as cautionary tales for what happens if women do and/or do not speak up. The TTBT site has many good suggestions and ideas for safe surfing and participation.

This brings me specifically to Bangladesh, which only in spring 2010 approved legislation against domestic violence despite rates that rank among the highest in the world. Unfortunately, the enforcement of laws against violence against women such as sexual assault, acid throwing, and sexual harassment, eve-teasing, and bullying have been limited and politicized. As more girls and young women attend schools, eve-teasing (illegal in Bangladesh) has limited women's education and mobility (see Bangladesh battles sexual bullying) and increased young women's suicides. In response the government has increased some police patrols outside of schools and some undercover women police in schools. This media report 500 arrests...and I wonder how many convictions and actual punishment for these actions and when eve-teasers turn on guardians?

As more and more Bangladeshi have acquired mobiles, such devices have become another vehicle for communication and harassment (ofen anon.) especially among young women and men who have little experience with respectful communication with each other. I observed this among male staff in a research project who used their mobiles in courting phone calls (bhalobashi kotha--love talk--I called it). Computer teachers and I talked with young women who came to the now closed Nari Jibon office in their mobile and internet communication including voice chats. We tried to provide some training on safe use of the internet and ICT. I wonder how they are faring in the expanded use of mobiles as well as the limited safe cyber cafes-spaces of the internet?

This can even affect bideshis (foreigners) as myself with unwanted phone calls by men who randomly call numbers until they reach a woman, esp foreigner (I've written about this in earlier blogposts). I threatened to call the mobile provider and police if he persisted in his phone calls. If politicians and law enforcers lack the will to deal with existing laws while insisting that every cell phone be registered to a listed person, then once again overburdened women's organizations and like-minded allies-- including the media-- must document and publicize the various ICT abuses and incidents.

So reach out and "touch" some one respectfully with kind, thoughtful words via your venue of choice...and insist that we have good data and practices dealing with those who abuse ICT.

In line with Day 3, on slogans....Refuse to be Abused....

25 Nov 2010 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and 2010: 16 days of activism

2010-11-25T22:38:00.008-06:00

TakeBackTheTech

www.takebackthetech.net

Take Back The Tech! is a collaborative campaign that takes place during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (25 Nov - 10 Dec). It is a call to everyone - especially women and girls - to take control of technology to end violence against women.

Please check out the TBTT website for daily actions, resources, videos, and activism. You can also sign up for the Take Back the Tech group on Facebook and/or follow via Twitter

You can view their video as well as others around the web.

On going illness has continued hinder my writing, reading, and postings. This year I intend to return to my daily blogging on these issues and others, which have remained very important to me and many others. I have done some of my writing and commentary on my facebook and delicious accounts where I have posted-book marked relevant articles as well share them with my students.

For example, I will note-discuss the ongoing problems of VAW with eve-teasing in Bangladesh and other countries where the harassers have returned to murder guardians who protested their harassment and other issues such as implementation of the new domestic violence laws. I will continue to share resources-research such as my website on Bangladesh and USA resources on domestic violence as well as the Out Against Abuse site for South Asian diaspora (also on Facebook)

Finally, I remain interested in issues of women, work, and empowerment in the global economy as well as emerging interests in social justice, commodity chains, food, security, and plant-based and vegan diets.

International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women

2009-11-26T00:59:00.007-06:00

This is my late start of 16 days of blogging on Ending Violence Against Women as observed starting on 25 November by many international and local organizations, NGOs, and activists. In particular, I'm interested in the technology activities from Take Back the Tech activists who post up daily activities, actions by various bloggers, tweeters, and other media activists. Every year, their efforts and activities grow in scope and complexity. I continue to be amazed by all the blogging, tweeting, photo-video-making, social media activism around the world and the positive impacts and changes that they have generated.

Alas I never enrolled in Twitter last year, but am thinking about it again.

My meager offerings for this first post:

overview of posts on ending violence against women in Global Voices: http://globalvoicesonline.org/specialcoverage/ending-violence-against-women-2009/

a series of videos on VAW as compiled by Global Voices' energetic video editor,Juliana Rincón Parra http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/11/25/video-end-violence-against-women-around-the-world/ (available in English y Español)

I will continue my discussions later today and in future posts will address issues surrounding violence against women in and around the military, in war zones, in USA, ongoing violence against women in Bangladesh including Awami League youth members' rapes of young women in Bangladesh, and other related topics.

This also a busy time for assorted events:

to my Muslim friends, Eid Mubarak

to my friends gathering for Thanksgiving--safe travels as well as remembering the indigenous people who suffered greatly colonial takeovers.

In response to the onslaught of conspicious consumption commercials for post-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas sales, I will be observing international Buy Nothing Day, 27-28 Nov.

Last not least, I will be making this semi-locavore-fairtrade vegan dish--lemony quinoa with butternut squash. (already purchased ingredients)

Blog action day on climate change/vegan MOFO III

2009-10-15T23:13:00.007-05:00

Today is return to blogging for me and a two-fer day: Day of Blogging on Climate Change and Vegan MOFO III (Vegan Month of Blogging). Ironically my last post in December 2008 was on food....

In my reflections-teaching on globalization, the latest economic crises (since November 2008), President Barack Obama's election (!), and ongoing recovery from illness, I've adopted some new interests-actions and personal changes.

First, I'm proposing that one solution to climate change is also a change in our diets and eating patterns...in particular to eat more plant-based, local, and seasonal foods in our diets, i.e. vegan diets. In 1978, I became a vegetarian because of inequities in food distribution as well as inefficient food production, for example, ten pounds of grain->one pound of beef. I sought to eat closer to the food chain. In 2008 and teaching about globalization, I also realized that our factory models of meat, milk, and egg production cannot be sustained through free range production around the world (more on this later) as well as the climate change induced by methane, by-products, and land cleared to grow grains to support factory food production. Mark Bittman in Food Matters and his column also inspired me by his exhortation to eat vegan for morning and mid-day meals and whatever you want in the evening.

Second, I've transitioned into a vegan diet (all day) while I have been recovering from an inland hurricane or derecho in Carbondale, tick-induced disease, and a flareup of my MS ...and limited energy for blogging, research, and writing. This diet has posed some interesting challenges for buying, cooking, and eating in my current USA location and also for overseas travel.

Third, changes have occurred in my activities in Bangladesh, research, and teaching and I will address some of these changes in future blogposts. At the same time, I remain very interested in violence against women in general and in Bangladesh (which still does not have a law against domestic violence), global economy & women workers, and empowerment. For example, what are the implications of the global crisis for women workers and their families? Diet and purchasing changes in the North for agricultural workers in the South? Fair trade? Organic? Genetically modified food? Eating locally? Time and $ implications for slow food vs. fast food? Last, I hope to post for the 16 days campaign against violence against women starting on November 25(see takebackthetech.net)

Finally, I leave you with a few of my favorite blogs on vegan issues-recipes:

http://www.theppk.com/

http://happyherbivore.com/

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

http://thevoraciousvegan.blogspot.com/

http://www.rhymeswithvegan.com/

http://www.veganplanet.com

http://showmevegan.blogspot.com/

Day 12: Collaborative cooking | Recipes against VAW

2008-12-07T00:57:00.011-06:00

On Day 12 recipes, techniques, and wikis of action--check them out!

However, I am cooking outside of the text again with my favorite recipe-cookbook blogs because I've learned that besides the Twitter, SMS, organizations, blogs, and images, we need roses and bread...or for many women around the world....rice or bhat-caul in Bangladesh.

One vegetarian cookbook blog that I adore, save and share recipes: 101 Cookbooks- by Heidi Swanson-a photographer and writer of her own vegetarian cookbook, Super natural Cooking (you want to eat the pictures, too, on both the blog and cookbook).

Also this time of year and also during rainy times, Bangladeshis eat and make big mounds of kichuri (mixture of rice, lentils, veggies and spices)--a kind of comfort or soul food--that I never learned to make until this fall (previously depending on my former students and VAW activists Dr. Rifat Akhter and AKM Saiful Islam--who needs to finish his path-breaking dissertation on domestic violence and Bangladeshi NGOs!).

This fall, I bought a small 6 cup rice cooker and have been making variations weekly on this recipe since then...in the following recipe...the cup refers to the small cup (3/4 cup) packed with the rice cooker

This is my adapted Bideshi Blue kichuri....that makes about 3-4 servings that are good warm-hot and/or as cold-room temperature leftovers for office lunches...and it's not so spicy for bideshis (foreigners). [NOTE IMPORTANT UPDATE--ADD WATER IN STEP 6]

1. rinse 1 cup of rice (mine does a great job with brown rice) along with 1/2 c mix of red lentils, moong dal (split hulled mung beans) and/or yellow split peas. rinse several times until water runs clear. put in large bowl.

2. make 1 cup of mixed veggies (i use frozen ) and or thinly sliced greens

3. chop small onion and several cloves of garlic

4. mix veggies, onion, and garlic with rice-lentils with pinches of tumeric, coriander, cumin, and ginger (salt if you like), also add one to two whole serrano or jalpeno chilis (depending on your heat tolerance) i also add a dried chilepotle pepper (smoky hot taste)

5. add 1/8-1/4 cup olive or canola oil and mix with rice, veggie, spice, chili mixture

6. stir in at least three cups of warm water-pani (rice cooker size cup) and pour into cooker insert pan-bowl

7. put in cooker, set to cook...and let steam for at least 15 more minutes after cooker clicks to keep warm mode (needed to steam and fully cook brown rice). the cook cycle takes about 30 minutes on my cooker. some times i steam more greens (kale, mustard, etc) in the steaming insert...toward the end of the cooking cycle...

you can check your email, blog, and/or relax, etc while the kichuri is cooking

8. fluff kichuri and eat. some times I add some cilatro sprigs, roasted nuts and/or some sliced baked tofu....by itself, kichuri is complete protein (rice+lentils).

Also I like to combine some leftover kichuri with some broth/water (1-2 cups), and after the mixture comes to a simmer, then I stir in one T or more of light miso (keep at simmer) to make soup. See also Heidi Swanson's post on miso soup!

This post fulfills the requests of several Carbondale, IL bideshis who have bought rice cookers after the New York Times article this fall and my summoning the courage to use my rice cooker.....and a big hat or rice cooker tip to Rifat e Saiful.

So what's your comfort food after a hard day of organizing, cold rallies, or computing??

Day 11: Burst media bubbles | Talk, draw, blog back!

2008-12-05T17:33:00.008-06:00

Day 11 I was in a cartoonish frame of mind....and some of my favorite cartoons with attitudes:

Danae in Non Sequitur (Wiley)--Danae is my tiny but mighty alter ego....who says what I think and also has an interesting use of Barbies and Ken (not shown) but she also keeps her father's life interesting....as I continue to do with mine!

Sylvia in Sylvia by (Nicole Hollander)--she says what I will say when I am grown up...she also has a series of books, involving mostly cats (my personal fav: Psycho Kitties among others)...that seem to inspire the take back the tech balinese (now one year older).

also click on image for Sylvia's home page and location

or you can also catch Sylvia at the very useful and informative Women'sEnews website

Dykes to Watch Out For cast of characters)--Alison Bechdel -her blog and her autobiography, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. DTWOF was one of the earliest cartoons with realistic lesbian cast of characters, partners, offspring, and allies, and their various adventures and never in mainstream comics. Although I just discovered that the 2 Dec 08 New York Times raved about her latest book, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For. Check out the DTWOF archive
and her Flickr stream link to a cartoon campaign comment.

Why don't we have more women cartoonists and uppity women and girls in cartoons and their commentaries?

Day 10: Controlling images-words ?| Secure online communications | Your right to privacy

2008-12-04T22:52:00.011-06:00

On Day 10, please consider the state of your identity in on-line networks, especially social networks. TTBT women have many useful tools and apps on their website.

I want to talk about readers, audience, and the possible uses and abuses of social networking sites.....and what recourse we have when some one takes images and (mis)information and posts it to us and/or social networking sites.

Ultra Violet has some interesting discussions started by Meena Kandasamy who had continued to grapple with a cyber-stalker, in "Self-expression and social networking sites" and pursuant discussions on readers and audience. After anonymous negative comments appeared based on a picture that she posted on her social networking site, she wrote:

Although one is aware that there are laws against defamation in place, how can these be put to use against anonymous trollers and orkut-scrap-posters and their like? Forget the case of independent writers, do we actually have any mechanism to punish ALL those who are abusive on the web because of the anonymity that it provides.

Recently Niveditha Menon asks what are "the voices in our head"? She discusses our abilities to name and/or articulate our experiences, picking our battles, and who is our audience? In particular,

how do we know who is in our heads when we write? Who are we writing for? Who are we writing against? Under what social pressures do feminist writers (whether male or female) articulate their experience? How do we know our “authentic” voice, given all this input from friendly and unfriendly sources?

Back to me (my puran-aged feminist self).....

Several important issues here....1) using writing and posting to clarify who we are, our place in the world and 2) then how our readers can take and use/mix/abuse our words, images, and some times actions. How much agency and control do we have over our own images, identities? TBTT and others stress using pseudonyms and many do.

At the same time, trolls and others hide behind their pseudonyms to stalk and provide misinformation about people, incidents, and episodes...once on the internet...this misinformation is very hard to scrub. As result, stalkers can pursue bloggers and/or people absconding on sexual assault or domestic violence felony charges can set up faux social networking identities complete with 'female friends' writing (interesting gender bending) and/or from the safety of their home country can continue to harass the plaintiff and their families via various internet ISPs...Others join in the discussion and gossip-adda of idiosyncratic personal matters rather than the broader and endemic issues of VAW and abuse. This is not an isolated incident...from some of my earlier writing but also some of my transnational emails and advocacy work on domestic violence.

So it's one thing to be clear on our voices, audiences, and purposes for writing, but what do we do when others hide in the anonymity of the internet and social networking sites and faux identities? Adda and gossip ensue?

Or how do we handle the announcement of beginning and ends of relationships via little symbols on Facebook? When relationships do not begin as we like and/or they end badly? Scorned persons? Or the uses of our images and videos by others, especially when be-friending people gives them access to our profiles and info? Or when disturbed former spouses-partners post pictures of their ex-partners on the internet-social networking sites. Or batterers claim that pictures of abused partners have been photoshopped....

These are also real experiences that brought me to Facebook, and also make me concerned about the uses-abuses of social networking sites. Hence I'm still looking for answers....how how we handle these situations...or when we discuss and use these sites to clarify such issues if that is possible giving the social constructions of our relationships and lives by multiple persons.

How do we handle when such (mis)information persists on the internet and is easily retrieved by searching on a person's name? I see these searches nearly every week on my blog. How do we handle troll comments on our blogs and sites?

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Day 9: Break Barriers-Translate-Network and learn!

2008-12-03T23:23:00.008-06:00

On Day 9, I want to give a hat tip to Global Voices and Rising Voices b/c they have done excellent work in compiling and translating blogs in multiple languages. Some of the Rising Voice grants are starting to develop blogs in Indigenous languages, for example, Cristina Quisbert's Bolivia Indígena, which includes Amarya and Nari Jibon students blogging in Bangla (you may need some Bangla fonts to read this post).

Or check out Renata Avila writing about Central American women, ICT, and TBTT in Global Voices and then featured in TTBT site via Manal Hansan's blog.

Or Aparna Ray who has been a wonderful khala (aunt) to Nari Jibon bloggers, including encouraging and doing translation of some of their Bangla works.

Or Rezwan Islam, the mama (uncle) to Nari Jibon bloggers and original editor of Rising Voices blog.

Please link up and check out these Rising Voices projects and participants. Share and comment on blog posts that interest you. Look up the regional editors and consider becoming a contributor, encourage them to cover more issues of concern to you such as VAW and women's lives, and/or a translator in the Lingua-Global Voices translation program, too. Finally, for those in mono-language mode, please consider learning some more languages....I'm working on my Bangla and Spanish....and enjoying Google Translator, if needed. Yes, I know that it doesn't do a good job, but I can get the gist....and who knows what's next in my studies....

More of my favorite links-posts tomorrow. I stayed up too late last night reliving the songs of my wanton feminist youth....for my previous post!

Day 8: Songs Against Violence: Remember the Women!

2008-12-02T23:45:00.012-06:00

On Day 8, I'm sharing some inspirational songs-lyrics from the 1970-80s from mainstream and women's music and before....check out the TBTT site for some interesting ringtones against VAW and other aural items.

1) I Will Survive--lyrics-- Gloria Gaynor--(facts and ringtone) --usa feminists' disco anthem 1980s

2) Respect--lyrics---Aretha Franklin

3) Come unto me (sample)--no available lyrics--Sweet Honey in the Rock National Public Radio story long interview-this song and others within interview. you can hear more samples and see all Sweet Honey in the Rock's albums-cds at the Ladyslipper Music Site

4) Holly Near, "We are Singing for Our Lives"
We are a peaceful and loving people and we are singing for our lives......

Holly Near The Rock Will Wear Away lyrics (with Meg Christian)

5) Meg Christian Sweet Darling Woman Look Within

6) Chris Williamson, Retrospective--interview-songs women's music herstory Waterfall Song of the Soul (songs for many rallies) Tender Lady Sweet Woman

5) Give Us Bread and Give Us Roses--lyrics--Lawrence, Massachusetts Women Workers' Strike 1912,(Lyrics: James Oppenheim; Music: Martha Coleman or Caroline Kohlsaat) (1910s)--sung by Judy Collins

As we come marching, marching in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing: "Bread and roses! Bread and roses!"

As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women's children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!

As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for -- but we fight for roses, too!

As we come marching, marching, we bring the greater days.
The rising of the women means the rising of the race.
No more the drudge and idler -- ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses! Bread and roses!

Finally, a sad farewell to Odetta, the voice of the usa civil rights movement who passed away on 2 December. See the embedded video in the New York Times article link above. See also Time article. Some songs (many more on Youtube): Midnight Special-Little Light of Mine You Don't Know My Mind

I hope you enjoy some of these songs from my feminist herstory....as I did going to find links to these songs, lyrics, and performers...namaste.....

Day 7.5 kbw goes for HIV test

2008-12-02T19:54:00.022-06:00

For World Aids Day, I encouraged my students and colleagues at SIUC to go and take a free HIV test c/o the local county health department. Much shifting, hemming and hawing among the undergraduates, and I even offered extra credit for end of term motivation. After lunch, I went for my test, but they had lines and I got a safe sex kit to keep me occupied until I could return.

After office hours and more motivational chats with students, I went for my test, which used an OraSure mouth scraping instead of blood work. This test does not involve blood or needles and is very accurate. My test took place in a private screened area, my long-time friend "Chris" took down my personal information, brief discussion list of any recent-if ever risky behaviors (injectable drugs, sex in exchange for money, drugs, goods, intoxicated sex, and anonymous sex among others), as well as the last time I had unprotected sex.

Then then we opened the test kit...which consisted of a blue plastic scraper with a coated white end for the mouth and a tube for the collected skin cells.

I scraped on the inside of both cheeks and gums and then kept the white end in my mouth for four or so minutes while Chris gave me counseling on what I and family might do if I had a positive result, how I would react (first thought "damn" ) and then seek medical treatment, and that I would have access to local health department facilities around the USA. If negative, I learned what I could do in the future to protect myself and partners, including condoms, dams, and non-microwaveable plastic wrap.

I took the scraper out of my mouth and put it into a small white tube containing preservative, reattached the lid and handed it over to Chris ( no photos of this process). My tube has only an identification number and I am to go and get my results on 10 December with my number and in a private session with a nurse. The entire session took around 25 minutes with some discussion of how to use my Blackberry camera.

I got another safe sex kit....for educational purposes, of course....

one small packet holds eight condoms, two lube packets, instructions, local card for information

So there-- stop worrying and take advantage of the free and anonymous HIV testing, which is also held on alternative 1st and 3rd Thursdays , 2-6pm at Newman Center and 2nd and 4th Thursdays at Longbranch Coffee House from 2-6pm in Carbondale, IL

I did it...and I encourage others to be brave and check on their status as well...instead of the head in the sand approach that I heard from some of my students today. I will report on my results next week.

Balinese cat Madhu inspects contents of the safe sex kit

Meanwhile, I am locating some music for my next post...for Day 8....and will include some Ms. Aretha Franklin, among others.....

P.S. I got my "negative" HIV status results on 10 December and based on my counseling I can keep my status that way, too.

Day 7: World Aids Day-Mob Against Stigma

2008-12-01T23:28:00.011-06:00

On Day 7, the TBBT women have some wonderful actions for mass emails sent out about HIV-AIDS.

Take Back The Tech! Take part in a text mob against HIV/AIDS related stigma!

At 12.00 noon, wherever you are, send a message to 10 people about HIV/AIDS.
You can use twitter, SMS, email, IRC channel, forums, blog comment, call in to a radio programme or any communication channels you have access to.
We've come up with a few messages to help you get started:
Marriage does not mean automatic consent to sex. Stop HIV/AIDS! 1 Dec - www.takebackthetech.net (pass this on)
No condom no sex. It's about respect, not about shame. Stop HIV/AIDS! 1 Dec - www.takebackthetech.net (pass this on)
Poverty + violence spreads HIV/AIDS. End women's discrimination. Stop HIV/AIDS! 1 Dec - www.takebackthetech.net (pass this on)
Get tested. Get treatment. Get control. Stop HIV/AIDS! 1 Dec - www.takebackthetech.net (pass this on)
Ignorance + fear = stigma. Get facts. Stop HIV/AIDS! 1 Dec - www.takebackthetech.net (pass this on)
Publicise this call on your blog, website, Facebook, Twitter, myspace, instant messenger status etc, and grow this text mob.

Organise with your friends, networks and community. Spread the word & amplify the buzz.

This is a really simple action, and yet really powerful if lots of people take part in it. So join the text mob & take action on World AIDS Day!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Last night and earlier today, I posted info about Take Back the Tech on several blogs, linked up some friends on Facebook, and then I sent the following message to my students and friends at SIUC (and omitted the testing info for others outside the area):

Poverty + violence spreads HIV/AIDS. End women's discrimination. Stop
HIV/AIDS! 1 Dec – www.takebackthetech.net (pass this on)

Then I continued:

Free HIV/AIDS testing dec 1-3 testing SIUC student center...

The Jackson County Health Department will provide free and anonymous HIV testing in Student Center Ballroom B each day, Dec. 1-3, from 1 to 5 p.m. Those tested can get their results in the Mackinaw and Iroquois Rooms at the Student Center from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. daily Dec. 9-10. Anyone can participate in the free testing, but at-risk individuals are particularly encouraged to do so.

take care and be safe & tested,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

On 2 December, I will go and get tested...and encourage my students and near and dear ones to do likewise.

If you still need more to read on World Aids Day and Violence Against Women, check out Juliana Rincón Parra 's excellent post and videos on eliminating violence against women and her AIDS awareness videos and blogsite in general. David Sasaki updates us on his latest adventures in South Africa and his visits with some Rising Voices bloggers living with AIDS and their activism.

Enough for one day (including some snow-borof) ...and I still have to prepare a final exam among other things....

Day 6: How do you keep a social movement alive?

2008-11-30T14:45:00.012-06:00

On day 6, I'm going off-the-game script because I found an inspiring video , "how do you keep a social movement alive: why we can't wait " on this website : Document the Violence, which has organized many campaigns in usa and elsewhere to encourage women of color and their allies wear red in april and october to protest violence against women. Most recently, they sponsored the "Be bold, be red goes viral loco visual campaign" . This website includes many resources, including the free downloadable "Rape Documentary Study Guide. and essays, photos, links, and other visuals.

Maybe next year, the Take Back The Tech and 16 Days campaigns can also go glocal and wearing-going viral loco visual red.....

and good luck to all the gaming women geeks.....and programmers....

Day 5: Offline activism | Uncensor your phonebooth-tags-website

2008-11-29T20:21:00.004-06:00

On Day 5, we are supposed to take back the content of our sites and links through assorted snippets, business cards in phone boooths (the latter rarely exist any more...more like phone shops where you can pay to make a mobile call--and cyber cafes that are unsecure for women).

I've done another tag cloud from a post last December on International Day Against Violence Against Sex workers this post has had many readers, mostly due to the tag words and less so on the content and message of violence against sex workers. I've had similar results when I mentioned sex workers' struggles post Sidr cyclone and the failure of relief agencies to give supplies, protection, and relief.

So I am reasserting my own tags, especially those that attract the attention of men looking for certain girls and maybe even a few ISP links and computer users from Qatar and Saudia Arabia (most common) who are searching for such girls!

For an excellent blog, articles, and analyses on such issues including sex workers' own voices and phone booths(!), see Laura Agustín's Border Thinking on Migration and Trafficking: Culture, Economy and Sex

Here's the link/picture of a London phone booth that she mentions in her comment below.

Also Regina Lynn describes how the Desiree Alliance and SWOP (regional sex worker outreach projects) in USA have used Twitter, Tumbler iphones, and Google docs to create media blitzes. The Alliance and projects have their own blogs, for example, Bound, Not Gagged. These have evolved around episodes involving sex workers such as Ashley Alexandra Dupré and Elliot Spitzer in New York and get sex workers' voices-perspectives into mainstream media, while fending off reporters' questions on how to find an escort service among other things.

Day 4: Cloud up violence | The power of words

2008-11-28T23:52:00.013-06:00

In Day 4, explore the power of words and cloud tags...and here's one for pagol nari blog done with a different tag cloud tool...ironically many of these words-tags attract male readers around the world who are looking for "girls, mobile numbers, sex, hotels" etc in Bangladesh (that's another post!).

also be sure to check out the ongoing posts on narijibon.blogspot.com, or individual blogs such as Ahona's and her graphics!

Day 3: Connect and Help and maybe Twitter?

2008-11-27T23:06:00.020-06:00

On Day 3, we are encouraged to explore and empower our selves with some new mobile technology such as SMS to report abuse, actions, and seek help-information. Maybe it's my over-connected self and thumbs tired from texting that have resisted Twittering. My Blackberry and tiny keyboard seem connected to instant messages (Google Talk) among other distractions-instrusions of email, on-line news, and uploading my cat photos to Flickr or Facebook.

Or my nearly 40 years of organizing via telephone and in person (landline, letters, magazines, demonstrations, in person conversations) make me a bit leery-weary of the hi-tech and Facebook approaches to organizing. Users can "join" a cause, sign digital petitions, or cut/paste their email messages to politicians-corporations without taking concrete actions or making changes in safety, security or advancing their causes' goals-agendas. At the same time, I have seen the power of Youtube videos in Rahela's case (previous post) or in the recent USA presidental election of Barack Obama!

Or maybe the two Thanksgiving dinners that I attended to today have temporarily dulled my technological appreciation!

Computer technology has led to websites for help and connection around VAW. Toll-free hotlines have given women new forms of communication about VAW as well as reaching out for help and reporting on their lives and experiences. Recycled cell phones have given new and safer voices to women to make calls to police and shelters that cannot be tracked by their abusers who may have ripped out their landlines.

Friends and family separated by distance can also send emails and instant messages via the computer for support. Although many VAW shelters have to stress guidelines for safe computer use for women to protect the privacy of their passwords, email, and communication from jealous partners and abusers.

Nonetheless in many countries, access to the new mobile and computer technologies still depend on access to electricity and funds to power their computers, recharge their phones, as well as reliable and cheap internet and connectivity...still in short supply in many countries. Loadshedding means that your computer and internet won't work and/or your mobile providers' circuits are disrupted. Finally, some men have used these technologies to harass and stalk women.

Now we have Twitter among other things.....Some women and activists have also adopted "Twitter" a way of sending short 140 character messages to near and dear ones as well as friends and those who care to know about our activities, thoughts, and even music. People can sign up to follow our "tweets", which can also be posted on social networking sites, such as Facebook.

On Day 3, the Take Back the Tech women have given a very informative and creative overview of the ways we can use Twitter and SMS to communicate about VAW, actions, and events. From their feeds, today I have also learned about the ongoing use of such technologies by the AZUR Development group in the Congo, their activities on HIV-AIDs, use of SMS messages and radio:
http://www.aidsrightscongo.org/ http://reseausida.blogspot.com/ I'm also proud that they are also part of the Rising Voices blogging grants!

At the same time, I hope that we can creatively embrace these technologies without losing some our interconnections built on social interactions, communities, and networks. We have many possibilities for remaining connected. For example, through his Facebook tweets, I can follow the music and adventures of my digital friend, Rising Voices coordinator, and global traveler, David Sasaki. who just landed in South Africa on a We Blog the World Junket but with no announced sessions-visits to groups dealing with VAW or such issues in South Africa. (Please see David's later post on failure to address these and AIDS issues on the junket). Earlier this fall, David worked with a group of South African women elders to set up their own blogs. Finally, through Rising Voices grant at Nari Jibon, I've digitally connected with many bloggers and even met some in person!

During my writing of this blogpost, David just made a digital introduction of Azur participant with Nari Jibon bloggers and myself!

From his recent travels to new technology conferences, David considered the possibilities, usefulness, and challenges of such communications, SMS, especially in his thoughtful Mobile Active 08L 6.5 Billion Text Messages Don't Make World Peace. He questions the usefulness of text messaging for peace-political issues and generating action-change. We tend to devalue such communications, "the more we correspond, the less we value correspondence". He also reminds us that a crucial mineral--Coltan--for cellphones &computers is being mined and fought over in the violent chaos of the Congo. Other writers, activists, and documentary filmmakers have reminded us that beyond displacing women and their families, government and rebel soldiers have raped and abused many women and their children and/or spread HIV-AIDS and STDs.

Unfortunately some of these connections-interests also can keep us in our own circles-interests and networks of international tours, websites, and blogs that ignore programs and campaigns such as Take Back the Tech, Nov 25 as International Day Against Violence Against Women, or even the 16 Days Campaign (which have appeared in only one blog post in Global Voices, the larger umbrella of Rising Voices) . For an update, please see Juliana Rincón Parra 's excellent post and videos on eliminating violence against women and her video blogsite, which provide other forms of communication beyond Twitter. . Some of us are too busy (and/or distracted) to keep track of news-info-events on our own communities and countries much less all the possibilities on the Internet. Or other events intervene such as media attention to the three days of violence in Mumbai & needless deaths of many or the global economic crisis, which will send even more women, children and their families into precarious situations.

Hence I encourage every one to access, read, and learn from the Take Back the Tech feeds of SMSs from around the world, use your mobile technology to connect and make a difference, continue to speak up and educate people in your various circles of family, friends, blogs, classes, and media on these issues, donate and/or volunteer to local shelters, and last but not least go to the UNIFEM campaign for signatures: saynotoviolence.org --who knows the petitions just might work! [unfortunately they stopped taking signatures on 25 november!] the site collected over 500,000 signatures from around the world...

Finally, I will sign up for Twitter in the morning and as soon as I recover from my Thanksgiving and observe "Buy Nothing Day" on the day after Thanksgiving....but I am only blogging about this....well maybe I posted something on facebook...and I still don't have my Twitter account.....

P.S. I just learned about some conceptually interesting uses of Twitter, Tumblr, iPhones by sex worker networks in USA. Regina Lynn describes how the Desiree Alliance and SWOP (regional sex worker outreach projects) in USA have used Twitter, Tumbler iphones, and Google docs to create media blitzes. The Alliance and projects have their own blogs, for example, Bound, Not Gagged. You can learn more about 17 December Day Against Violence against Sex Workers , related resources and National and Regional events on the Bound, Not Gagged and the Chicago SWOP blogs--more details on Chicago in this SWOP blog.

Day 2: in memory of Rahela-- Change what is heard, and learned

2008-11-26T23:42:00.022-06:00

On Day 2, a hat tip to the Nari Jibon bloggers! You can read four excellent posts from Day 1 and the next generation of Bangladeshi shakti nari bloggers starting with computer teacher Taslima's post (also cross posted in Techna Tara) and three students' posts: Zannat, Tondra, and Nipa.

Today I want to give some links on Rahela--tortured, brave garment worker who died a month later from her injuries-assault in late summer 2004, but not before she named her abusers and spoke up from her gurney. Yet, Bangladeshi legal authorities did not pursue her case, allowed one main suspect to disappear into India, and "lost" evidence. Yet last fall 2007, Bangladeshi bloggers posted on her case, got another hearing in January 2008, and through demonstrations and continued coverage in newspapers (Bangla and English--New Age, Independent among others), got the authorities to pursue her case and get it rapid trial status...where it seems to be languishing in the run-up to the 28 December election (also delayed for two years).

You can read more in my friend Nadine Murshid's summary article on Rahela article in Samar May 2008 and view assorted video clips from Channel i on Rahela speaking and later Bangladesh activism:

original Youtube and see Rahela speaking from her hospital gurney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoXNL-xijeg

March 2008 Updates

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idkc12a6AuI
Manobbondhon-1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCeV84Imu7E

31st March report with Manobbondhon 2 in Srimangal/Sylhet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEEkRCOogcY

update in Bangla blog somewherein

Aparna Ray gives September 2008 update in Global Voices, Bangla Blogs are Keeping Rahela Alive (in English and multiple languages) [maf korben Aparna for missing this].

and join-see also Justice for Rahela cause-page in Facebook.

Hopefully 2008 will end with justice for Rahela or in 2009!

along with all the other garment worker Rahelas in the world, in Ciudad Juarez, Honduras, EPZs, among others...who are keeping their economies afloat while being disrespected, eve-teased, assaulted, raped, murdered and/or disappeared on their way to and from their factory work.

Day 1: 2008 International Day Against Violence Against Women

2008-11-25T18:04:00.016-06:00

Another year has gone by (among the many that we have been organizing against VAW) and it's Day 1 of 16 Days against Violence Against Women. I'm joining the campaign by the most excellent Take Back the Tech TBTT women and allies with their actions around the world. Please visit their multilingual website for daily actions, news and links to other actions, and resources starting with Day 1.

To begin, make sure that you have signed the UNIFEM petition "SAY NO to violence against women" to send 1 million signatures to Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations. This UNIFEM site also contains valuable data and resources on various VAW issues.

Tell your friends, family, classes, or workplace about this campaign....I signed up in spring 2008 (along with spring, summer, and fall semester classes) and I'm shocked that they still did not have one million signatures last month.

If you have a web-blogpage or social networking site...grab a widget for this petition effort and also share this info with your friends.

Please commit to local and blogging action about VAW for these 16 days...by reaching out to friends and family members, supporting local activists & shelters as well as linking to other blogsites, for example, outagainstabuse.com that seeks to educate about and provide resources against VAW for people of South Asian origin in USA and their allies.

I will be blogging daily on these issues, as well as on issues on VAW in Bangladesh, which STILL does not have a specific law against domestic violence and still no justice for Rahela--garment worker tortured-murdered in fall 2004 (even though her case has been moved to a speedy trial status) and as discussed in my previous post(s) in fall 2007.

You will also be able to read more on young Bangladeshi women bloggers' thoughts and graphics on VAW on narijibon.blogspot.com and some of their individual blogs listed on the Nari Jibon blog sidebar.

Pore kotha bolbo...(talk with you later).

Nari Jibon : a place for your Jakat or donation

2008-09-19T11:29:00.003-05:00

Nari Jibon is an appropriate place for your Jakat or any other contribution/donation

By Golam Rabbany Sujan (Sujan's Chinta) crossposted in Bangladesh from Our View

There are many organizations that are committed to develop women or vulnerable women in the world. Some of these organizations provide money to women in the hopes of making them self-reliant. These organizations also report that those women are running business or being self reliant using their money. But we can see that often, their money is used by their husband or other male persons. But Nari Jibon does not give them current money. Nari Jibon gives skill training and makes them able to be self reliant or sometimes helps them for being self reliant. As an example Nari Jibon provides tailoring skills including business knowledge. Nari Jibon provides cloth and students make most of the items during class and internship. Students also visit some tailoring business centers. Then sometimes Nari Jibon provides some money for sewing machine and some business set up cost. Nari Jibon authority also follows up on their progress. Similarly, the other section provides computer knowledge. Students in this section will also learn how to write a standard cover letter and resume, as well as create a portfolio. She will use cyber café for practicing and visiting various web pages and blogs from where she will increase her computer and English knowledge. Every student will open an e-mail account and also students will write blogs. By the reading and writing blogs, students can increase their knowledge and skill more in English and computer programs. Thus students become fit for job.

About Nari Jibon Nari Jibon is a non-profit charitable service organization. It is working in South-Dhaka, Bangladesh since 2005. Nari Jibon provides services and support to the women students and workers of low and mid-level families. Nari Jibon provides basic educational and technical skills for employment, income-generation, empower and business development. Nari Jibon provides Bangla primary education to the illiterate women, tailoring cutting and sewing master course, English-1 and English-2 (spoken) and computers (MS Office Programs, graphics and webpage design, photography, and hardware trouble shooting and program maintenance).

Nari Jibon computer lab

Nari Jibon cyber café

David Sasaki, Director of Rising Voice teaching students about blogging

Nari Jibon English class

English volunteer teachers (Stella and Lee Goldman) are taking English-2 (Spoken English)

Difference of Nari Jibon skill training programs…

1. Nari Jibon is safe place for the women

2. Nari Jibon takes only nominal registration fee for all the courses.

3. Computer students have to have English knowledge or have to learn English at Nari Jibon as it is most essential for related job.

4. Students must use Nari Jibon’s cyber café to have more practice, visiting more web sites, reading and writing blogs and learning other online activities.

5. Nari Jibon motivates students to read and write posts for blogs as it improves students’ knowledge in English and computer. If students want to continue blogging they can open individual blog sites.

6. Often students are trained by some foreigner experts besides Nari Jibon internal expert instructors.

7. All the students will write their own portfolios by themselves.

8. Scholarship students will communicate with individual donors writing thank you letters and monthly progress reports.

Why you should donate for women only.

After being married women are excluded from their parents’ wealth. If any woman becomes a widow at her young age, she is bereft from her husband’s wealth. There are many divorced women who are neglected by her parents’ family. Some male persons take more wives and so that those women are neglected by these husbands. We can see some husbands leaving their wives and hiding them. Some husbands demand dowry after marriage and torture their wives. Some husbands try to pressure their wives into the informal sector. Some low and mid-level families are not interested in spending money for their female members/daughters. And there are fewer job opportunities for the women in our country. So women need more skill training/ education scope to protect themselves and compete against male students as we know that sons get more scope for education than the daughters.So Nari Jibon can be your appropriate place for donation or Jakat. If you donate to Nari Jibon, you will be informed how your donation is spent. As an example if you donate above $10 dollars, you will get thank you letter, picture of students and progress report and successful history.

How and how much money you donate-

You can donate students’ registration course fees, Microsoft Office Program- $17 including 4 cyber passes, Graphics and Web design course $24 including 6 cyber pass cards, photography course $13, Bangla course fee-$1.50, tailoring, cutting and sewing Master Course fee-$5. (These amounts cover only the admission fees that we charge. It costs us much more to actually provide the services, so any extra amount that you can give is much appreciated.)You can provide some money as conveyance with registration fee or you can donate a sewing machine to a poor or vulnerable woman. Nari Jibon has a special scholarship program named LPC (work-study-women) program. Some women need to earn money to survive and they also need to learn skill to change their career or profession. As an example one housemaid or sex worker or poor (dropped out) student who is strong determined to change her profession but she needs to earn money to survive. If she gets LPC scholarship, she will be free to learn skills. She will learn skills and she will also take practical work experience at office. Thus LPC students will make her more fit for jobs and she will also communicate with the employers during course duration. LPC students get $ 50 dollars per month so totally she will get (50 X 4 = $200) Or you can also donate some money to continue Nari Jibon activities such as you can donate a computer or UPS (uninterrupted power supply) or one month electricity bill or rent.
Unrestricted-open ended donations of any amount also towards general costs also welcomed!
Tax deductible donation- make check out to Give2Asia, donation form (must use credit card via website and/or mail in) form available on links on Bideshi Blue site (right side) or on the link below. For more info on gift list, please visit Nari Jibon USA web site and check the link “possible gift list Nari Jibon” or communicate with Dr. Kathryn B Ward
Donors should also email Dr. Kathy Ward pagol.nari@gmail.com for gift specifics-purchase and also so that we have donor’s contact-email info.

Nari Jibon Project and Its Bloggers: What Other Bloggers are Saying

2008-08-15T23:48:00.021-05:00

Recently I returned from 45 hot (beshi garum) days in Bangladesh where I visited the Nari Jibon Project, among other activities. Loadshedding continued to take its toil on me, Nari Jibon computers, students as well as garment factories. Nonetheless students have come to their computer and english classes as well as practiced in the women only cyber cafe. During this visit, many students opened their own blogs!

Students in the computer lab.....

During this time, Nari Jibon hosted a visiting lecturer, Kira, who gave a lecture and worked with smaller groups on blogs, photography, photo websites.

In response, many students posted in the Nari Jibon english blog for the first time. Other students have continued to contributed to Nari Jibon bangla blog. Many of the bangla poems have been translated into english and posted in the english blog. Some students opened their own blogs (in English and Bangla) and some staff started blogging again...

some bloggers' photography session with Ms. Kira:
Zannat, Jannat, Afiya, Choti, Kira, Jainub's daughter, Jesmin

new! Ms. Kira's moving reflections on working with the new bloggers-photographers and leaving Nari Jibon and Bangladesh: http://www.k-minos.com/?p=613

For overviews of these blogging activities, check out what she and others have been saying about Nari Jibon and its bloggers. Please follow the links within and read the bloggers' creative activities as they find and develop their own voices and computer-photo skills and continue to post. Your comments (kind, thoughtful, constructive) will provide much needed encouragement. Below, I list some students' and staff members' individual blogs.

new from David Sasaki's visit to Dhaka and Nari Jibon Project:

http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2008/09/02/nari-jibon-using-blogs-to-give-bangladeshi-women-new-skills/

new ! http://el-oso.net/blog/archives/2008/09/02/bangladesh/en/

http://el-oso.net/blog/archives/2008/08/15/an-update-from-nari-jibon/en/

http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2008/08/14/nari-jibon-making-a-difference/

http://uncultured.com/2008/07/25/what-would-kathy-do/

http://www.k-minos.com/?p=577

http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2008/07/10/nari-jibon-the-joy-of-having-their-own-blog/

Some Students’ blog addresses

Afrin's Gallery http://asiaafrin.blogspot.com/

Jesmin’s garden http://jesmingarden.blogspot.com/

Zannat's world http://zannatworld.blogspot.com/

Rainbow http://jannat-fardoush.blogspot.com/

Bangladeshi Women http://jainub-khanam.blogspot.com/

Ahona http://ahona-hira.blogspot.com/

Window of Mind, http://sufia-eti.blogspot.com/

My Dream, http://poly-dream.blogspot.com/

Choti’s blog http://choitrerdinguli.blogspot.com/

Staff blog addresses:

new ! Kajol's destiny http://kajols-destiny.blogspot.com/

Bipa’s Prokrito Bangladesh http://www.bipa-prokritobangladesh.blogspot.com/

Sujan’s Chinta, http://hi-bangladesh.blogspot.com/

Creative talk by Nilufa http://annekuet.blogspot.com/

Kazi’s eye, http://kazi-rafiq.blogspot.com/

Techna Tara: http://taslima-toma.blogspot.com/

computer teachers taslima & nilufa watch kira teach about photography

The Tribal Crafts-Bangladesh

2008-07-08T09:35:00.017-05:00

Mary Milon Chisim checks me out...

Welcome to Indigenious World of Bangladesh....The Tribal Crafts handicrafts shop

In Dhaka, my favorite place to go and shop is the The Tribal Crafts shop in Banani. At Tribal Crafts you can find many reasonable items made by indigenious and matrilineal Garo, Chakma, Santal, and Munpuri women among others and the proceeds go to directly to the women rather than as overpriced products through NGO middle people. I have bought many of my urnas (shawls), ganna (wraps), wall-hangings, and gifts from this shop. In the brochure below, you can read about many of their products and see some of them in my photos. Please visit this shop! (and Mom please send more $$)...

The shop is located at NEW ADDRESS (just adjacent to Khilket over-bridge):

Tribal Crafts
Shop no.1, Rajuk Trade Centre
Nikunjo- 2, Dhaka-1229.
email: tcraft@dhaka.net
cel: 01716607144

bloggers meet face to face in Dhaka, Bangladesh!

2008-06-23T10:03:00.010-05:00

Shaina, Shawn, Kathy y Kira @ Nari Jibon Project, Dhaka, June 2008

First, Rezwan (Berlin) linked to Shawn (Bangladesh). Kathy (USA-Dhaka) linked to Shawn and gave him some of her expat advise and in turn he gave a video workshop at Nari Jibon. David (todo del mundo y Rising Voices blogging grants) linked Kathy to Kira (Bangladesh, Africa, Venezuela) who gave a blogging workshop at Nari Jibon. Shaina’s dad (Florida-USA) sent Shawn’s link to Shaina (Sociology undergraduate, Florida State USA) who read about Nari Jibon in Shawn’s blog. Shaina sent an email to Kathy about volunteering at Nari Jibon in summer 2008, where she has been teaching English2 since May.

Second, in June 2008, Shaina, Shawn, Kathy, and Kira all sat together at Nari Jibon. Kira gave a Flickr workshop. You can read Shawn's thoughts and Kira's photos and thoughts on our gathering(s). Such are the intersectionalities of blogging and Dhaka.

of jackfruits, mangoes, and load-shedding

2008-06-23T09:30:00.006-05:00

Driver Ripon and two ripe jackfruit

Bangladesh—what can I say—jackfruits, mangoes, litchees, and load-shedding. Several times per day, the power goes out at office, guesthouse, and friends’ apartments. Some have generators for fans and lights and some do not. Some computers have big battery backups and some do not. Blogging depends on local electricity as well as the connectivity to the server-provider, which may or may not have power.

These load-shedding levels are the worst that I have seen in my eight years of travel to Bangladesh and fresh mangoes do not ease my discomfort. Load-shedding is relatively new excuse for no work at the office and classes even though Bangladeshis have worked, studied, and lived for many years without electricity, computers, blogging, and such.

Poor people suffer even more during the day and at night. As one guest house staff member said, his choto chele (little baby boy) does not understand load-shedding, heat, and sweating when the baby wakes up in the night.

Load-shedding is an ongoing challenge for bideshis habituated to central air & air conditioning, nearly constant electricity, and a phone number to call when the lights-power go out. Load-shedding is an increasing challenge for some Bangladeshis and students who have tasted-experienced electricity, fans, and even some air conditioning as well as blogging. Meanwhile, their assorted governments have made some corrupted poor choices-investments in power plants-generation and failed to meet growing demands for power as well as provide stable links-submarine cable to the global net.

Below, Nari Jibon students sit and swelter in dark computer lab during 1 hour+ loadshedding....and a virtual tour of our cyber cafe, office, and computer lab during load-shedding....

Pohela Baisakh--Bangla New Year

2008-04-11T22:46:00.009-05:00

Suvo nabo borsho!

Happy Bangla New Year to Nari Jibon Project and my Bangladeshi-Bengali friends!
1415

14 April 08

Suvo janmodin-happy birthday, Evana Kathryn

2008-04-11T22:33:00.005-05:00

Happy birthday-suvo janmodin to my namesake e shakti choto nari, Evana Kathryn, who will be one year old on Sunday. Best wishes for her health and good luck e putuli. She is the daughter of Nari Jibon research director-blogger, Sujan and his wife, Shila, a sociology major and homemaker. I will eat cake in your honor in the USA and more later in Dhaka.

International Women's Day 2008--Tell Your Stories

2008-03-08T22:08:00.008-06:00

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.

Native Voices, WDBX, & Citizen's Media Resources

2008-03-01T23:34:00.009-06:00

Host of "Native Voices" John Rivera interviews Kathryn Ward about blogging, Rising Voices, and Nari Jibon Project. Sandy Rosencrans photo.

From 2 March 2008, Native Voices radio program on WDBX, Carbondale, IL, USA, here are some of the discussed resources and blogsites (late night posting of a blogging amateur--check back for updates and more links).

Blogs are more simplified versions of websites, where bloggers can post their stories, thoughts, recipes, perspectives, pictures, slideshows, music, and/or videos. They can hyperlink to other blogs, stories and sources so that readers can go to these sources and other blogs. Readers can comment and respond. Many blogging platforms are 'free' such as Blogger (from Google), Word Press, and/or open source and link to photo and video sites (such as Flicker, Photobucket, Youtube, Bliptv, too. Increasingly, many languages are used in blogs. Finally readers can organize their blogs and searches through labels and tags in their own and other blogs.

Readers-bloggers can learn about updates on blogs through RSS feeds (really simple syndication) and subscribing to their favorite blogs, newspapers, and other sources through readers such as Google, Fireburner, My Yahoo, Bloglines, among others. Or they can look at what other blogs their favorite bloggers are reading-linking.

Readers can also bookmark their favorite blog posts through other sites-aggregators (more explanation soon on this) so that their friends and other can see what's being read, popular, etc.

Global Voices from their website: "Global Voices seeks to aggregate, curate, and amplify the global conversation online - shining light on places and people other media often ignore. We work to develop tools, institutions and relationships that will help all voices, everywhere, to be heard."

Global Voices groups post by geographic regions and topics.

Rising Voices projects blogsite "Rising Voices aims to extend the benefits and reach of citizen media by connecting online media activists around the world and supporting their best ideas." Rising Voices blogsite gives description and reports-posts on the first five small grant blogging projects, resource guides on tools of citizen media, such as an introductory guide to citizens' media (available for download in English, Spanish, and Bangla), and expanding 'the international conversation. A new round of request for grant proposals will appear on the Rising Voices website later this summer.

The five first wave grants included Voces Bolivianas with Spanish. Aymara, and English posts-videos; participants had their own blogs, in particular, Aymara-Spanish blogger, Cristina Quisbert who also blogs at Bolivia Indigena

and Hiperbarrio (Colombia) with Spanish and English posts-videos
Nari Jibon Project blogs(Bangladesh) in English and Bangla
Neighborhood Diaries (Kolkata India), English
TBCS Think Build Change (Sierra Leone), English

Five new blogging groups include projects in Madagascar--environmentalists in English, French, and Malagasy--including their incredible video coverage of a recent hurricane (FOKO), Jamaica (Prison Diaries), Kenya (Repacted) Uruguay ( OLPC one laptop per child) Iran (in progress).

OTHER BLOGS-TOPICS:

Many other blogs exist on topics of interest to Native Voice listeners. Hopefully, soon Native Voices WDBX host John Rivera will have his own blog!

The Migrant Technology Center in Cobden, IL, just came on-line with their own blog, TechnoCentro. Please check back as they add more on their activities and students' stories and photos.

This is just a small list of blogs....that I often read and use in my classes and for my own education

Native American Netroots a forum for Native American issues
Pretty Bird Woman House a women's shelter-education program at Standing Rock Reservation--this shelter burned down in 2007 and through blog stories/appeals raised $70,000+ to rebuild their shelter. See their story here and at Native American Netroots.
Migra Matters progressive immigration reform
Race Wire the blog of Colorlines magazine
Culturekitchen dissent served fresh daily
New America Media expanding news lens through ethnic media
The Unapologetic Mexican need I say more? incredible graphics-analysis
Citizen Orange prosocial justice-immigration
La Chola brown feminist power
WOC Ph.D most recently has included profiles of powerful women academics-activist of color--Asian, African-American, Native American among others.

Most newspapers have their own blogs...so check the listings for your favorite newspapers, magazines, etc. as well as most social justice organizations.

Finally you can also access many radio-media sources via the web and streaming content such as WDBX 91.1, streaming url

Or favorite artists' websites/blogs, for example, John Rivera's recent guest, Robert Mirabal, Taos Pueblo or one of John's favorites, Joy Harjo Eagle

Nari Jibon Project: Three Years of Alternative Skills to Women

2008-03-01T13:18:00.008-06:00

cross-pointed on Bangladesh from Our View

Shuvo Jonno Din ba Happy Birthday to Nari Jibon Project! Three years ago on 1 March 2005, the Nari Jibon Project (women's lives) opened to provide alternative skills to disadvantaged urban women in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Three Fulbright fellows and Bangladeshi staff provided low cost classes in Bangla, tailoring, English, and computers in a cramped one flat space (for our herstory, see the Nari Jibon website). Nari Jibon has now expanded to three flats and more offerings such as three levels of English, more computer classes with broadband access (including repair-graphics-photography-video), and also a website, nari only cyber cafe, tailoring shop, and research cell. Since June 2007 and thanks to a small grant from Global-Rising Voices, Nari Jibon also has two blogs in English and Bangla, which have been read by over 13,000 readers. You can read a Rezwan's recent overview of the blogs and spring in Bangladesh.

Many of our students have gone on to develop their own businesses, improve their salaries from literacy in Bangla and skills, jobs in offices and NGOs, and pursue their higher education with computer and improved skills in English and Bangla speaking, writing, and reading. To learn more about our students and their lives, photographs, and videos, please scroll through the Nari Jibon blog and website.

My thanks go out to the Nari Jibon Project staff and thousands of students who have passed through our doors for various studies. May they have learned many different skills that they have used in their lives, families, income generation, and continued education. Thanks to all our donors and supporters for your time and generosity.

Alas, we still need your support for Nari Jibon's continued success and programme. If you are interesting in donatiing time or funds, please contact me and/or go to Narijibonusa.org where you can learn what your donation can provide, more success stories and download a donation form for cheque donations to Give2Asia and/or contribute by credit card Give2Asia Foundation for the Nari Jibon Project (tax deductible in USA and Canada permitted by law).

If you are in the Carbondale, IL, USA area, you can attend a Women's History month performance by The Composters, the wonderful feminist oral-media performance duo on 21 March 2008, 8 pm, LongBranch Coffeehouse, West Jackson Street. Donations will go to Nari Jibon Project.

You can follow the pithy advice & adventures of avid Composters Glenda Greenhouse & Mary Mercury as they perform sustainably in their Compostthis! blog. They have also been featured in Spring 2008, Bitch Magazine.

You can also hear me discuss Nari Jibon and blogging on WDBX Radio, 91.1, "Native Voices" radio programme, on Sunday, 2 March, 1:00-1:30pm (central standard time) streaming url, http://wdbx.scientistsuperstar.com/ Here, you can read more on blogs and weblinks that I discuss on this program.

I will also appear on the "Big Muddy Media" radio programme, which will be broadcast on the same station/streaming url from 9-9:30am (central standard) on Wednesday, 5 March 2008. On the Rising Voices blogsite, you can hear me discuss the benefits of blogging for Bangladeshi women via an interview segment on mp3.

I hope that all will have some misti (sweets) in honor of Nari Jibon's birthday as well as some fair trade chocolate-tea-coffee on International Women's Day, 8 March 2008.

Southall Black Sisters need your support to avoid closure

2008-02-27T23:43:00.008-06:00

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

Out Against Abuse blogsite

2008-02-14T23:46:00.007-06:00

Also cross-posted in Bangladesh from Our View

As readers of this blog know, I have been very interested in issues of violence against women, in particular, domestic violence in Bangladesh and where ever Bangladeshi women migrate as students, wives, and family members as well as in the USA. I have encouraged readers to learn more and reach out to one another and give support to organizations within their own communities. I'm very excited by a new website, Out Against Abuse, started in January 2008 to educate and organize the South Asian community in USA against gender abuse-domestic violence through information, interviews with activists, and comments-participation by readers. Please go to this blogsite, bookmark it, and read through the posts to date. The most recent post is a very informative interview with Dr. Nusrat Ameen, law professor, activist, and author of Wife Abuse in Bangladesh: An Unrecognized Offence, UPL, 2005.

The co-founders, Sabrin Chowdhury, executive director and Raj Gupta, technology director, provide their mission statement. They looking for more interviews with activists, commentary on gender abuse, information about events and resources. You can contact Out Against Abuse: info@outagainstabuse.org.

In the following section, Sabrin Chowdhury writes about the purpose of Out Against Abuse:

Educating Our Community: Taking the First Step Against Gender Abuse

“Two out of five South Asian women have experienced partner violence, a rate disproportionately higher than that of other minority groups,” – www.dayahouston.org.

Domestic violence is defined as “a pattern of abusive behavior which keeps one partner in a position of power over the other partner through the use of fear, intimidation, and control*,” and is an ongoing problem that continues to plague women from all around the world. South Asian women tend to suffer from problems of gender abuse at a much more severe rate than other races; however, the topic of domestic violence is one that is rarely discussed in the South Asian community.

The problem stems from the fact that many of us do not realize how vast the effects of abuse can be and how instances of domestic violence have a grave impact on many other problems in our community. Unfortunately domestic violence is not an issue of the past and is not limited to just rural and economically disadvantaged women in South Asian countries. More and more we hear about incidents of violence committed against highly educated and independent women. In many instances these women feel forced to stay in abusive relationships due to the societal stigma that comes from failed marriages or relationships and the lack of awareness of how to deal with domestic violence in general. Many people also wrongly believe abuse to only refer to physical violence. However, domestic abuse includes physical, sexual, economic and emotional abuse, creating an atmosphere of fear and despair for the victim.

I believe that the first step in putting an end to gender abuse is educating ourselves and our community. Out Against Abuse is a blog based website devoted to discussing the issues surrounding domestic violence and gender based abuse in the South Asian community. The blog will be updated with articles discussing key women’s issues and also with interviews conducted with various activists working to combat domestic abuse. This forum was created to increase awareness and discussion in the South Asian community about gender based abuse. The more we become conscious and educated about the issue, the harder we can work at ending violence against women. But for that we need your thoughts, comments, and collaboration to spread the word in our community.

With that, I leave you with the question: What actions can we exactly take to educate our community and put a stop to violence against women? Whether the impact is great or small, how can we all do our part to end violence?

* http://www.apiahf.org/apidvinstitute/ResearchAndPolicy/factsheet.htm

World Social Forum Global Day of Action=Foro Social Mundial Día de Acción

2008-01-26T13:23:00.000-06:00

Foro Social Mundial Español

mpg3

World Social Forum english

video

See-read Shawn's reflections on the ground in Bangladesh on Davos World Economic Forum in his Uncultured Project posts: Post 1 / Post2/ Post3

See-hear-listen how Rising Voices grants have enabled young women in Bangladesh and young people in Bolivia, Colombia, India, and Sierra Leone and other parts of the world to express their opinions, dreams, hopes, and life stories on these issues and more. You can read more about global citizens' media & download guides in Spanish, Bangla, and English.

See Global Voices video editor, Juliana Rincón Parra's overview and discussion of Davos Videos
including Youtube and other bloggers' answers to The Davos Question:“What one thing do you think that countries, companies or individuals must do to make the world a better place in 2008?”

Read (es) how Las Panchas en Honduras are working & talking together on their lives, futures, and environmental issues via videophotography and community organizing.

Post-Honduras, back to spring semester, updates, links

2008-01-22T23:01:00.000-06:00

Since 4 Jan 08, I'm been back from my fun and hot Honduras trip, including a Latin New Year's eve and last day shopping in San Pedro Sula--thanks to Mr. Nando and my gracious host Sandra. Here's a mountain view from near her casa....

While in El Progreso & San Pedro Sula, I saw many fast food franchises (owned by a large soft drink corporation), two big malls with few customers, a large grocery store & many pulperias (small neighborhood stores) and street markets,

a huge export processing zone (EPZ) and heard of more cases of missing-murdered maquila women in San Pedro Sula (as in Ciudad Juarez, MX and other Central American countries). I bonded with Mr. Nando-driver through listening y singing to radio music (Alejandra Guzman muy bien) in Spanish and English and used my debit card to buy groceries and other items (CAFTA?).

Beyond my two previous posts, I also spent some time walking y jostling through street markets and driving through some streets of these two towns. One afternoon, I spent three hours sitting outside a visitation at a funeral home and where I met a young maquila worker, his six month old son (who ended up on my lap ), his young wife, and gradually his extended family-- y all in Spanish. Like many others, he also wanted to leave the maquila and go El Norte for better pay and work.

At the same time, I experienced-learned some limitations of infrastructures of roads, drinkable water, sewers (some serious flooding my last night in El Progreso), schools, ATMs, poverty, and public safety (bank and store guards with large guns and other security guards with machetes), and my need to work on my Spanish and to retain my improved gringa comprehension. Unlike Bangladesh, no loadshedding, however.

Since my return, I've been recovering-resting, & making my transition to cold Illinois and the start of the spring semester at my university. I am teaching two upper division classes: Globalization & Development and Comparative Race-Ethnic (gender-sexuality....) Relations. Hence I will be sharing some new links, thoughts, and insights from these classes and my students.

Some recent and interesting posts during the past month:

Shawn at Uncultured Project has a a very insightful post-videos-photos on post Cyclone Sidr aid efforts--hard lessons of aid work. I will be using much of his site and videos in my globalization class.

The Nari Jibon bloggers have continued their efforts in English and Bangla. Four bloggers (in English and Bangla) received awards for their efforts and also participated in a video training workshop conducted by Shawn. You can follow this link to the bloggers' names and their prize winning efforts.

Rezwan has an excellent new post on social media-nonprofits-NGOs.

Last but not least, the USA is in the midst of primaries for selecting the next president, and I will leave those thoughts for another post. An interesting exchange on race x gender transpired on Democracy Now between Gloria Steinem and Dr. Melissa Harris-Lacewell about issues raised by Steinem's op-ed article.

And I've been paying attention to las gatas....and their statement on peaceful dreams....

35 years on Roe V. Wade, Global Reproductive Rights

2008-01-22T21:03:00.000-06:00

Today 22 January 2008 marks 35 years since the Roe v. Wade decision on reproductive privacy and abortion in the USA. Unfortunately, access to safe and legal abortions as well as women's control over their own bodies and reproduction has been a contested terrain in the USA as well as elsewhere. Various state legislatures, court decisions, and various federal mandates have affected women's access to abortion and birth control around the world--as in the last 24 years (except during the Clinton years) international family planning & women's organizations have had their U.S. federal funds & grants restricted by the gag rule, instituted during Reagan-Bush1-Bush2 --unless the programmes actively opposed abortions and related activities. In turn, we got the failed abstinence policies and programmes and & even less access to safe and effective birth control!

For those in USA and other countries with safe-legal abortions that have come of sexual age-activities that might lead to the risk of pregnancy since 1973, all of us have taken for granted that we would have access-choice. Others remember life (and loss of lives pre-Roe). Still millions of women in other countries have never had access to such safe reproductive choices, but rely on unsafe procedures in unlicensed clinics and/or folk remedies/desperate measures and higher levels of maternal mortality. Pictures of dead women who died from a Drano and/or coathanger abortions remain seared in my memory. Other women lack even the ability to dissolve abusive marriages as in the Philippines much less having control over their reproductive lives and ability to use birth control and make reproductive choices.

Or Liza at Culturekitchen offers her thoughts on outsourced births or where women surrogates in India and other countries in the South carry-bear babies for affluent women in the North and/or the South.

Many blogs have marked this day with commentary and links. AlterNet has a extensive and thoughtful list of posts on reproductive justice & gender.

My favorite photo appeared in Feministe:

Time for more Jezebels and others to step forward and speak up for safe reproductive choices and lives for women around the world!

Las Panchas

2008-01-01T17:21:00.000-06:00

Last Friday, I went up to Los Laureles,a colonia on the mountain outside of El Progreso with several others (OYE's director y translator, Sandra Erika Gómez Osorio, two facilitators, and Mr. Nando--skilled driver) via rutted roads as we searched for las baleadas- a typical Honduran snack--but settled for soda and crackers, only. As we climbed up the mountain road, we passed many concrete block houses--finished and unfinished--and many neighborhood pulperias--small grocery stores-markets.

We arrived at an open air after school program of Las Panchas--a group of young women who are using video as a tool to raise social consciousness among themselves, families, and communities on subjects such as environment, drug abuse, and life. The members gradually drifted in, picked up name tags, signed in, and we started the meeting. The oldest Las Panchas--Leticia--videotaped the meeting and proceedings.

I shared photos of the Nari Jibon Project videobloggers and talked a bit about the Nari Jibon programme in Bangladesh. Las Panchas asked many questions about Bangladesh including questions about the bloggers clothes, burkhas, teen age pregnancy, dowry among other things. Although the weather and temperatures are nearly the same between Bangladesh and Honduras in December, the differences in clothing were quite apparent especially given the three piece salwar kameez and burkha of the Nari Jibon bloggers in contrast to the tight capri, jeans, and t-shirts of Las Panchas and in religion--Muslim and Catholic. At the same time, I recognized the same sly glances, whispers, and behaviours that I have seen at Nari Jibon project when young women must sit and listen to an older foreigner-gringa talk. I explained that we were very interested in sharing pictures with one another over time.

The two psychology and sociology students --Yalena and Jorge-- who facilitated the meeting, talked about developing trust with one another and group dynamics for Las Panchas. The members talked earnestly and at times with tears as they sorted through their conflicts. This session ended with two songs by Jorge, soda, and crackers.

I shared some pens from my Carbondale bank--First Southern Bank-- and some small toiletries from my travels--a form of socio-emotional cleansing as conveyed by apt translator, Sandra and I provided translation of the contents on request.

As the meeting ended, a group of Las Panchas took me to the back of the building where one tried out her 'Asalaam Malikum' and then posed for a photo.

I also took a picture of video operator, Leticia and her two daughters.

We headed back down the mountain around 5pm--very slowly over rutted roads--and sped back into El Progreso...for me to contemplate what I had seen and heard...and resolve to work more on my Spanish before my next trip to Honduras....

¡Hola desde Honduras!

2007-12-27T11:55:00.000-06:00

Greetings from Honduras. I´ve left the kittens with a capable cat sitter, tried to work on my BangSpanglish, y have fled the snow-ice of Illinois to go south to Honduras to visit my friend y world traveler, Sandra Erika Gómez Osorio (M.S. SIUC 1992).

She is La Directora, OYE Adelante Jóvenes in El Progreso, which provides scholarships to high risk youth and with volunteers from around the world, OYE conducts arts-sports-communication programs. This week I will meet with Las Panchas, a group of young female video-makers. I will post more pictures-videos of El Progreso (a large suburb outside of San Pedro Sula) as they become available.

International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers --Bangladesh issues

2007-12-17T20:23:00.000-06:00

"Those of you who call us bad
You made everything bad
Now let me take
my own responsibility"
(thanks to Saif for translation)

Dec 17 is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Since 2001, I have been working with various groups of sex workers in Bangladesh, mostly in Dhaka with women evicted from the area brothels in the late 1990s who ended up on the streets, women have worked the streets and cinema halls, and finally hotel and residential sex workers. All of these women have inspired and challenged me in my research and activism in Nari Jibon over time & in their offices, living &work spaces, conferences, and together sharing rides, tea, food, and mehndi.

I want to speak about the consequences that I have observed stories and testimonies heard, and photographed and their implications for sex workers' lives during their sex work and as they may age out of and/or leave sex work.

Many sex workers, particularly in the brothels and streets, have experienced violence from their sardanis (madams), mastans (thugs), police, and officials (military, special police, etc) and customers, including beatings and head injuries. Many women have knife slashes on their arms to mark them as sex workers. Many public officials insist on sex without payment with the threat of arrest, if the woman does not comply. In previous times of campaigns against crime-corruption, street based sex workers have been harassed by police, military personnel, and I can only imagine what has been happening in the Caretaker State of Emergency.

Even more women experience violence within the hotels and residential settings when customers refuse to use condoms thereby exposing women to a variety of illnesses as well as economic sanctions, if the women refuse. They also face violence from the customers, staff, and muscle men around the hotels and residential areas.

Sex workers also experience violence in the street and in their neighborhoods as they go to and from their dwellings. Many hotel and residential women live some distance from where they do their work and travel in burkha to protect their identities from those in the streets. Several times per month, the local media report that a woman's body has been found--in the street, hotel, or hidden--depending on the location--someone has murdered a sex worker.

Over time, from these beatings and violence, many sex workers have cognitive problems very much like those people with head injuries--memory loss, confusion, inability to solve problems and/or learn new skills as well as ongoing illnesses from life on the street.

As discussed by Dr. Jana of Durbar in Kolkata (also worked in Bangladesh), Bangladeshi and other societies do not give sex workers the space to live their lives and/or take alternative- different paths because they are always reminded of their work by their scars, beatings, head injuries, and experiences by others as well of denial of their basic human rights. In all my time in Dhaka, I could not find a single micro-credit NGO that would give loans to sex workers. Many sex workers end up with little or no savings but have children, medical, and living expenses. Older sex workers need living places. If the sex workers seek other skills and more education, they may experience learning challenges from their work and living conditions. For example, one student at Nari Jibon came for classes and could not use the computers because her neighbors had beaten her when she came back from the training programme. Furthermore, as reported earlier in my blog, sex workers at the Mongla brothel area had problems finding shelter against Cyclone Sidr and getting subsequent relief.

Some NGOs have provided assistance--such as Concern, CARE, Action Aid, Naripokkho, but their assistance often depends on grant cycles.

Over time, sex workers have developed their own organizations--Ulka, Durjoy, and Sex Workers' Network-- to advocate for the rights of sex workers, an end to violence against them (including evictions from brothels during the coldest months), and rehabilitation before evictions.

One of the oldest organizations, Durjoy, durjoy_98@yahoo.com has established a day care center among other activities, but funding for their drop-in centres-safe spaces ended b/c misguided USA donor regulations that refuse support of any group that does not actively denounce sex work or signs such a pledge. For a video on the consequences of this regulation, see "Taking the Pledge"this video includes testimony by Hazera of Durjoy (last segment): .

Within the past five years, Sex Workers Network sexwn@yahoo.com has emerged and seeks to organize all types of sex workers, including brothel women.

For more information about these two organizations, you can contact these two dynamic women-leaders (Bangla-speaking):
Momataz Begum, President / cell : 01724 517574, (on the right with glasses, pictured below in Daily Star article) (you can also contact the leader of Ulka, Parul, through her) or
Sahanaz Begum, General Secretary / cell : 01819 404850

Sex Workers Network of Bangladesh
122 P.C. Culture, Road # 0, Block- Ka, Shamoly,
Mohammadpur, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh

Another email contact is: sazumia@gmail.com, who conveyed these images to me.

So on this day, I join the call to eliminate violence against sex workers in Bangladesh--my friends and acquaintances-- and elsewhere. Eid Mubarak!

For an international online vigil see: http://www.swopeast.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday-Mr. Ripon-Bijoy Bhai--

2007-12-16T11:50:00.000-06:00

Bijoy Bhai e Mr. Bunny

Besides Victory Day, another significant event occurred on 16 Dec 1971: the birth of Md. Ripon Miah Sarkar, also known as Mr. Ripon, driver & logistics person to many foreigners bideshis, proud father of two daughters, devoted husband, uncle mama to many, and driver-business owner. Despite a struggled life where he had to stop school at class 5 to support his mother, he has worked very hard to develop and educate himself and build his driving business. Without his expert driving, translation, logistical support, and ability to work-drive with many different kinds of people on six of my seven trips, I would not have been able to do my research. If you are interested in his driving services, you can contact me and/or the Nari Jibon office.

daughter 1, 2, wife
Ripon and daughter 2

helper, Ripon's late mother, kbw, daughter1

Ripon "mama" with Isaac Zaman, son of Katie Zaman
Fulbright Fellow and co-founder, Nari Jibon,

Shovo Jonno Din (happy birthday) Mr. Ripon Bhai!

Bangladesh Bijoy Din/Victory Day-37 Years

2007-12-16T11:18:00.000-06:00

Today 16 Dec 07 marks 37 years since the Victory of Bangladeshi forces over Pakistan.

This resilient country--Bangladesh--has survived despite many natural and human-made challeges.

This past week has been marked by many media pieces on the historical events leading up to and during the Liberation War, the birangana women--raped and tortured by Pakistani forces and collaborators during the war and later ostracised as they lived in their own country. Many articles recalled the intellectual and cultural martyrs murdered by Pakistani forces and their Bangladeshi collaborators in the two days preceding Pakistan's surrender. The

This is also a time of mixed feelings with nearly one year of the Caretaker government (backed by the Military), no elections until end of 2008, the continued sufferings of survivors of Cyclone Sidr as detailed by reports on BBC, who have fallen off the international and local media's radar.

You can read more about these historical events in Mash and his historical documents, and some current perspectives in some profound columns by Rumi and incisive analysis (and good flag graphic) by Rezwan.

Liberation War Memorial, Savar, 2003, kbw

Day 16-Int'l Human Rights Day-Moving on from Justice for Nadine

2007-12-10T23:10:00.001-06:00

At the end of 16 days of blogging to eliminate VAW, today was Int'l Human Rights Day. Today Global Voices has an interesting discussion of the Elders and their new Campaign, Every Human has Rights. BTW, I hope that Nobel Peace Prize winner, Elder, and Grameen Bank President, Dr. Md. Yunus will consider giving Cyclone Sidr devastated borrowers --predominately women--a longer break from their micro credit debts-payments than until March.

Take Back the Tech wants us to revise & recast /or take steps to feministing Wikipedia by adding our research & sources. I hope that any posters will do this carefully and mindfully b/c Wikipedia can be a very powerful resource. Unfortunately too many students in my classes are just cutting and pasting Wikipedia as their own work without doing the necessary research and work. I hope that people who have built my bridges and did my surgery have not just looked it up on Wikipedia.

For those who have been following the Justice for Nadine saga (and ignoring the many other cases of domestic violence and VAW in our own communities), I strongly encourage you to read Abdul Kargo's concluding and profound essay (and esp the last three paragraphs): Lessons Have Been Learned. Now it’s Time to Pick up the Pieces and Move On., on this saga, and also in response to 157 comments (including 3 by me) on his earlier post, What's a Woman's Worth Meaured Against.

He concludes: "Accept that it happened. Acknowledge that it was terrible. Then pick up the pieces and move on. That’s what I intend to do."

My concluding remarks--on this case until he's arrested and had his day in court: alleged abuser and rapist Sajid Huq, is still a fugitive, wanted by New York City on these felony charges. The warrants for his arrest remain open. Until there is justice & safety for Nadine and other abused women from their abusers, none of us will be safe from the Sajid Huqs of the world.

I hope that all who have participated in this saga will reach out to one another and their communities to end this violence-adda-gossip and support those activists and ordinary people who are doing the hard-difficult-everyday work in this area.

****Check out a new resource from January 2008: New Blogsite OUT AGAINST ABUSE to educate and organize the South Asian Community about domestic violence-gender abuse--please read, comment, and discuss this resource!****

Last but not least:

Please check out the today's and earlier VAW posts on Bangladesh from Our View (English) and Amader Kotha blogs (Bangla). These young women (and men) give me hope.
Best wishes e doa to Sheikh Rumana for her surgery & tara tari recovery so she can return to her work for women migrants' rights
To Shawn about making a difference btw, the voting is still open on his contest video.....'To Phil, From Bangladesh'--and in second place.
All those bloggers who have posted on VAW and the 16 Days Campaign
Those unnamed, cannot be named for their safety, and not so famous people doing the hard work to make sure that all of us have human rights

As for me, it's been a long 16 days, I have a satchel of seminar papers to mark, and Take Back the Tech kittens to feed.

Day-15/secure online communication-apps-cats

2007-12-09T22:48:00.001-06:00

The Take Back The Tech folks have a neat set of Portable apps to make your on-line activities safer and more fun. Given that many women (and men) around the world can only access computers and the internet via cyber cafes, safe and secure computing is a must. In the not- so- recent past (heck, some of us actually used punch cards), if we wanted to move from computer to computer. we would use large/small diskettes to transfer data (who has a disk drive any more, much less zip or jaz disks), and now we can use USB memory keys (including very tiny ones) or even external hard drives with 160 gb or more are the size of an index card and about 1/2 in or 1.27 cm thick. All this mobility means more chances for viruses and spyware to migrate around and with us as we move from computer, in particular, in countries such as Bangladesh, which has very poor anti-virus software, especially the self-updating kind. Hence give Take Back the Tech portable apps-toolkit a try you will need a memory key or flash driver with 1gb free space and/or a portable hard drive.

as to the cats (kittens-half sib blue point balinese):

insecure kittens who want to hide from computer, webcam (aug 07):

left: durga right: mahdu

secure--take back the tech cats---
appraise how they change the computer settings, walk on the keyboard & delete kbw's operating system files, dec 07

left: durga right: madhu

Monday 10 dec 07, Human Rights Day

Day 14.5 Calling all Men, Boys, Purush: What's Your Intervention

2007-12-08T23:24:00.000-06:00

I would like to highlight the contributions of A.K.M. Saiful Islam, a sociologist-researcher who has worked with me in Bangladesh on domestic violence issues, and developed & field-tested the domestic violence brochure on Bangladesh resources on domestic violence (Bangla e English) as part of his research assistantship for an ALO-USAID grant on domestic violence 2003-5 (with Drs. Mahmuda Islam, Dhaka University, Ainon Mizan, SIUC, and myself. He has co-authored with Dr. Rifat Akhter, myself and others working with qualitative and quantitative data. Currently he is finishing his dissertation on women's NGOs and domestic violence networks with me at SIUC while working full-time in Canada. I've appreciated Saif's ally work with various groups in Bangladesh, tastefully challenging people, especially men, on some of their beliefs about VAW, women, and men, and his careful interviews with activists and organizations. Among other people, he also deftly steered me through my assorted research projects, action meetings, visits, in particular, during our Bangladesh time in 2004-2005 all while recovering from dengue fever, taking care of his son with his wife and assorted family obligations, e. g. supervising his brother's wedding after being away from Bangladesh for about six years. Oh, did I mention, he's a good cook, too!

Saif conducts a focus group discussion of the domestic violence brochure with the English 2 class at the Nari Jibon Project office. Dhaka, 2005. all photos, kbward

Dissemination meeting of domestic violence brochure at CEDAW organization network meeting. Men getting ready to take pledge against VAW. A.K.M Saif Islam on right (yellow shirt & tie). Salma Khan and Dr. Mahmuda Islam, middle, blue sari, ALO-USAID Domestic Violence Grant co-PI, Dhaka 2005).

Saif (white shirt) with Dr Bipul Krishna Chanda and staff of One-Stop Crisis Centre, Dhaka Medical College. ALO-USAID grant co-PI, Dr. Ainon Mizan, SIUC in light green sari, December 2004. This OCC was the first dedicated facility for the intake and treatment of female survivors of VAW: rape, acid throwing & assault. Several police officers were also stationed there.

Saif and his son Ilan, Dhaka 2004-2005.

Some Post Cyclone Sidr Update: Will the Micro-Credit Installment -Collection Non-Interest Loan Plan Really Stand Up?

2007-12-08T18:58:00.000-06:00

~~TWO~~ THREE long weeks have passed since Cyclone Sidr roared ashore in Bangladesh and killed at least 3400+ people, injured many more, and devastated land, businesses, and futures. Many people have documented the profound losses, experiences, reflection, need for massive relief-fundraising now & better coordination of relief and such fundraising, and in the future, extensive reconstruction efforts. The United Bangladesh Appeal have launched the Sidr Victims' Compensation fund for survivors along with other donors' appeals. Nonetheless the Bangladeshi English media and blogosphere continue to have fewer reports on relief, but these few continue to report higher than expected damage estimates, disparities in relief distribution & recovery including safe water, requests for more donor funds by the CA, and also new loans given to a big micro-credit NGO to expand its activities, while at the request of the CA and Army Chief, key microcredit-NGOs announced suspension of installment collections.

Speaking of survivors: what about compensation, cancellation of micro-credit debt for Sidr's dead victims, and repayment pressures on struggling survivors???? More conflicting stories have appeared since I first posted this story at the end of November. As my long title shows, the stor(ies) still are unclear. At first, the media reported that some NGO staff members had been pressurizing borrowers for interest-loan payment. These borrowers had survived Cyclone Sidr, but lost their businesses-capital-customers and could not make repayments.

On 4 Dec, the media reported that the CA had met with a group of multi-lateral donors to request $1 billion for long-term reconstruction of shelters, embankments, and coastal areas. The donors urged best practices from other rehabilitation efforts and the need for more shelters, but also voiced their concerns, “that the caretaker government needs to be more careful because of its short tenure, especially as the donors feel the project would compel the government to make some tough decisions.”

Then starting from 5 December onwards, the CA and Army Chief have asked NGOs to tell their field staff to end the pressure and to forego payments at least until March and one newspaper opined that the NGOs should take these actions upon themselves, too. The CA and Army Chief also asked the Bangladesh Bank to consider waiving agriculture loan payments and disburse approved loans. Have the micro-credit field staff gotten these messages?

As of that previous week, no. As I wrote before, on Nov 26 the Caretaker government had asked NGOs not to demand loan repayments right now from cyclone survivors. Nonetheless, in a Daily Star article, Bilkis Begum would like her tk 80,000 microcredit debt cancelled because she feels like repayment is at least one year away. Md. Yunus of Grameen Bank explains why such debts cannot be cancelled, but that GB would offer 'interest free loans' tk 10,000 towards rebuilding account holders' houses, more time to pay off their debts and offers of new loans, e.g, more debt.

Then on 27 Nov 07, the Daily Star reported that micro-credit NGOs may have to cancel tk 600 cr (tk six billion) loans because of rules that if borrowers died, then their debts must be canceled. According to this article "In 12 south and south-western districts, some Tk 1,159 crore in loan remains outstanding with 15 lakh people, with 42 microcredit organisations operating in the region."Over 1227+ borrowers have died leaving the NGOs with many debts to cancel. These NGOs included Grameen Bank, BRAC, ASA, organizations affiliated with PKSF, and other smaller organizations.

Another official commented, "Although the microcredit providers are not going to make an announcement of the write-off right now, they might finally write the loans off since the small borrowers lost most of their houses, businesses, and other assets". Other officials indicated that they did not want to announce any more plans because people who could repay their loans would try to have them canceled, but they had advise their staff to 'suspend' their collection efforts from cyclone affected borrowers for the time being.

These debt cancellations will impact the micro-credit sector, but to what extent will only be seen over time. Critics have noted that many NGOs have used micro-credit operations as money makers among their other activities. Last year, as New Age noted about a World Bank report most NGOs survive and run their programs on micro-credit interest and not local donations (for bn version or full report) . Others have complained that although national offices made announcements about suspension of collection, often this message failed to trickle down to field staff who were under pressure from higher levels to collect loans.

Finally, this past week of 1-7 Dec 07, the national NGO offices gave their post Sidr plans. Grameen Bank announced suspension of installment payments for Cyclone Sidr survivors until end of June 2008 and interest free ‘realisable’ loans, and other interest free loans for rebuilding houses, livelihoods (which still increase debts), and cancellation of debts and return of savings to families of debtors who perished in Cyclone Sidr. ASA and PKSF announced similar packages. More recently BRAC announced that it would write off loans of tk 100 crore, discontinue installment collection until March, and provide loans to recover economic livelihoods. Interestingly, a few days earlier, BRAC announced a new $55m unsecured loan of seven years to expand taka microfinance from a consortium of international lenders . There have been no reports on what the smaller micro-credit NGOs will do about their loan write-offs for borrowers who died in Cyclone Sidr and/or borrowers-survivors who may be unable to service their loans given the lost of their businesses, dwellings, and customers. Or their viability: since most small NGOs have depended on loan repayments to fund their activities how they will continue to fund their programmes?

Nonetheless, by all accounts of the devastation in the coastal region, many surviving borrowers may never be able to recover much less with the micro-credit debt burden and pressurization on the survivors' backs. One author noted recently that in some areas so much food had come that some younger workers sold the excess food to meet other living needs and did not want to work in reconstruction. Further, his respondents’ “experience pertaining to default in payment of installment was not pleasant.” From this, readers-activists might ask: could surviving micro-credit debtors have to sell relief food-materials to make payments now and/or when installment collections resume?

Some previous micro-credit researchers has noted that often times women loan recipients skimped on food and household expenses to make their payment, e.g. eating their installments. Will the additional loans & debt to stimulate economic recovery be enough, especially if customers have no funds to make purchases from micro-credit businesses? What will happen to the borrowers and NGOs once the no- installment period passes and their debts-service have continued to accumulate through the interest free loans? This is how NGOs have padded their repayment rates—by giving more loans to pay off old loans and/or borrowers have taken multiple loans and/or borrowed from smaller micro-credit NGOs to pay off debts to larger NGOs. How long can borrowers--especially women borrowers-- and small NGOs in cyclone stricken areas survive these payment patterns?

So what is/are the real situations throughout the Cyclone Sidr area in regard to micro-credit installments and relief; for NGOs & survivors-borrowers?

note: this is a revision-update of a 28 Nov 07 post

cross-posted in Drishtipat

DAY 13/shift space-Monowara Begum who faced domestic violence after marriage

2007-12-07T23:35:00.001-06:00

On Day 13, the Take Back the Tech crew invite you to get geeky and try on some different add-ons for Firefox that enable you to add post-type notes via Shift-shapes and make and share comments with friends who have this add-on installed. Have fun!

I want to hightlight the brave & frank video made by Nari Jibon's computer teacher and blogging coordinator, Taslima: Monowara Begum who faced domestic violence after marriage
In this Bangla video on YouTube, Monowara tells about the domestic violence that she experienced from her in-laws. You also see her printing the english alphabet and showing what she has learned at Nari Jibon. Some english narrative about Monowara's life is included in this post, including her resilence through loss of one daughter, birth of two sons, estrangement, and reconcilation with her husband, and her Bangla and hopefully tailoring education at Nari Jibon.

This video was originally posted on Bangladesh from Our View blog and is Nari Jibon's contribution to the 16 days campaign to eliminate violence against women.

Nari Jibon's blogging activities are supported in part by Rising Voices-Global Voices, which seek to expand citizen media around the world through small seed grants. You can link to the Rising Voices website to read more about blogging projects in Bolivia, Colombia, Sierra Leone, and Kolkata.

Day 12/Capture Compelling Images-Posts on the Internet

2007-12-06T22:38:00.001-06:00

Often we have to scurry through disturbing images to get to more redeeming images and sites on the internet. Some times when pursuing the sitemeter links to our blogs, we can see purient search terms that certain readers use and end up linked to our blogs-sites. We can turn around and use these terms (girls, women, mobile, sex) or a certain alleged abuser-fugitive's name on our own sites of resistance.

The Take Back the Tech folks would like to see images that disturb, annoy, amuse, or inspire you from the internet or websites.

For day 12, I want to blog about some images-posts that inspired me. Yesterday, I included a variety of positive gifs and website images about VAW (those blinking gifs are still in my eyes). Today I link to three posts from Sheril Kirshenbaum, a gifted marine biologist, writer, musician, and advocate for women in science, environment, and for people around the world and Cylone Sidr, a category 5 hurricane that devastated much of Bangladesh three weeks ago.

In one of her most recent The Intersection posts, she wrote about how young women scientists had won the top honors at the Seimens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. This post had a great picture of one of the female winners wide-mouthed in surprise, happiness? These young women scientists inspire me (a sociologist) as well as Sheril's writing and advocacy for all kinds of water-fish-environmental issues (go to The Intersection for more of these posts).

Sheril has also written a thoughtful post on how she decided to change her blog picture to the current picture and representations of women scientists, for example, marine biologists. She discusses the tension about appearances, contents, and women defining themselves and parental input on our pictures-images. I sent her post to the Nari Jibon office to inspire some of the young and future computer students.

Finally, three weeks ago, I started reading Sheril on The Intersection when I was searching for information on Cyclone Sidr as it bore down on Bangladesh, but with little international media attention. Chris Mooney and The Intersection had the horrifying radar pictures of Sidr, and then Sheryl posted her motivational blogcast on how Bangladesh needs your help. Bangladesh still needs all of our help because the relief and reconstruction efforts are still ongoing, but international media attention has drifted away to the latest news (see some of my earlier posts on how to help and Nari Jibon blog coverage). Sheril's blogcast inspired and motivated to me to continue writing about Bangladesh, disasters, the cyclone, and about how disasters can lead to women and girl children's insecurity.

I look forward to seeing more of these articles and the Take Back the Tech images!

Day 11/Take Back the Gifs--Websites, Links

2007-12-05T22:06:00.000-06:00

heads-up--some blinking graphics today!

Today, the Take Back the Tech site calls for taking-moving any of your stencils-designs-mottos outside, including putting mottos such as Take Back the Tech on your papers, posters, t-shirts, mugs, pets (!) and so forth. Thinking about translating these mottos into assorted languages. I'm working on getting Take Back the Tech into Bangla.

You can see other activities and mottos from all regions of the world on the Take Back the Tech site. For some reason, my Balinese kittens have resisted taking on such mottos & blinking GIFs even in cute photo-ops, and have decided to sleep peacefully on my lap in solidarity with this campaign rather than walking on the keyboard (their favorite activity).

In looking around other sites, I've found some other interesting links and gif files. On Ultra Violet and a post on missing women in Indian history (a site for young feminists and a gorgeous header) , there are other file links: Open Democracy's 50:50VAW and gender blogs.
This eye-catching butterfly reminded me of some brilliant blue (and black) ones that I saw in New Zealand in 2002. See also this link for some other interesting gender blogs and campaigns.

UNFPA also has a campaign page including a story on the five most underreported forms of gender-based violence and an interesting GIF-graphic of hands that links to a list of 16 types of gender-based violence and how UNFPA is addressing them.

These are just some graphics that have caught my sociological attention, which must now return to more mundane tasks of reading seminar papers rather than blog surfing....

be safe, warm (snow and ice over much of northern USA), and a productive-creative activist--offline, too.

Day 10/ Offline Activism-Clothesline Projects

2007-12-04T21:59:00.000-06:00

Take Back the Tech has an excellent post today about taking our actions offline to what we wear, make, and use to tell the world about our experiences. They give very detailed instructions on how to design, stencil, and make your own t-shirt.

Another way of taking our activism offline is through Clothesline Projects. According to the Clothesline Project site, this action started in Massachusetts USA in 1990 and has been adopted in many states and countries. Survivors and people who have lost loved ones to VAW design their t-shirts using different paints, markers, threads, and materials. Different colors of T-shirts are used to represent different types of VAW:

WHITE for victims who have died as a result of domestic violence
YELLLOW or BEIGE for women and children who have been battered or assaulted
RED, PINK or ORANGE for women and children who have been raped or sexually assaulted
BLUE or GREEN for women and children survivors of incest
PURPLE or LAVENDER for women and children attacked because of their sexual orientation/identification.

You can find more about the project on their website or call 1-508-896-1875.

In my home town, the Carbondale IL Women's Center has held annual Clothesline Projects where they display t-shirts made by survivors and/or people who have lost or had loved ones deal with VAW. They hang the T-shirts on my university walkway where students must pass to go to and from class and the student center. They also display them in other public places and at VAW and "Take Back The Night" marches and demonstrations during October, Domestic Violence Awareness month . These displays are very stark reminders of VAW and its effects on survivors, families, partners, friends, and loved ones.

They also publish this warning about computer safety for women whose abusers may be monitoring their computer use.

Safe stenciling, clothesline chats, and computing!

Justice for Nadine delayed again--fugitive Sajid Huq again no show in NYC court 3 Dec

2007-12-04T11:07:00.001-06:00

NEW RESOURCE ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN JANUARY 2008:
NEW BLOGSITE OUT AGAINST ABUSE TO EDUCATE AND ORGANIZE THE SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY ABOUT DOMESTIC-GENDER ABUSE--PLEASE READ, COMMENT, AND SHARE THIS RESOURCE

In regard to (lack of) Justice for Nadine:

Her alleged abuser and rapist, fugitive Sajid Huq, missed a second court date on 3 December in New York City. An erstwhile Columbia University graduate student, he has been absconding since missing his first court date (1 Nov--warrant issued). Meanwhile, he (and his friends) have been posting his rationalizations for his abuse-rape on various blogs via a variety of names. See for example, in mid November, the excellent post on the case by Abdul Kargo and the ensuing comments--some by Sajid et al in T'ings 'n Things "What is a woman's worth measured against?". See my own recent post on the case and coverage in Bideshi Blue and other posts-links in the last month.

You can read more about this case on the Justice for Nadine facebook page, 9,411 and counting members from around the world, including pictures of Nadine post assault and also picture of Sajid. Pls inform the police and/or call 911 if you see him.

My thoughts are with Nadine and her family-friends during this difficult time.

Beyond this case, please reach out: listen and learn more and join community discussions and programs on domestic violence and violence against women VAW such as OUT AGAINST ABUSE ...where ever you are.

Day 9.5/Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui: Keeping Women Migrant Workers Safe

2007-12-03T23:11:00.001-06:00

Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui, Lalbagh Fort, Dhaka, 2003, kbw

I would like to acknowledge the very important research and policy-advocacy work of

Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui

in keeping women migrant workers and their remittances-earnings safe among other aspects of migration. She is affiliated with RMMRU (Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit) and is Professor of Political Science at Dhaka University in Bangladesh. Over time, she has utilized research to let us know about the lives and experiences of women migrant workers and improved banking & migration policy to to make migration and remittances safer for all. In her published research and policy work she has:

She wrote, Transcending Boundaries: Labour Migration of Women from Bangladesh (2001 UPL press) on women who migrate for work outside of Dhaka to the Middle East and elsewhere, their experiences, and as the impacts of their work and remittances back in Bangladesh on their families, dwellings and saving. Many women earned more by other overseas work and felt empowered, but she called our attention to the situation that some women's families and husbands had eaten-spent their earnings on their own land-businesses rather than saving the money and/or investing in the women's names. Others could not find as lucrative jobs when they returned to Bangladesh. She also noted the need for training women workers who went overseas as garment and domestic workers. She's also published reports on on women who work in Middle Eastern Garment factories (RMMRU website).
Her dissertation dealt with the various practices and excess interest-rates, charges and structures of NGOs in the micro-credit sector. see Siddiqui, Tasneem. 2000. "Growth and Sustainability of the NGO Sector in Bangladesh." biiss Journal 20:524-549
Researched and generated changes in Bangladesh government, banking, and NGO transmission policies on remittances of overseas wages so that more remittances have transmitted through safe-secure channels of banks & NGO banks rather than the informal and more costly hundi channels (with Dr. Chowdhury Abrar-co-founder of RMMRU). Earlier no one had a good accounting of the high level of remittances, which have now grown to be the biggest inflow of net earnings in Bangladesh. (Garments' net earnings are decreased by import bills for fabrics.) After these changes, more money came to family members and workers' accounts as well as foreign reserves for the government. Previously banks and micro-credit organizations charged high service fees and had slow transmission times for remittances, especially given the reliance of many banks on paper ledgers and disinterest in such funds. See the RMMRU website for a list of all the publications and training programs.
Challenged some activists' assertions and stereotyping of women migrant workers as trafficking victims. She's published a Bangla book on trafficking along with many articles and book chapters. Many women migrant workers chose to migrate abroad, especially for more lucrative work in factories in Malaysia, Bahrain and also for domestic work. After some accounts of sexual & household worker exploitation, the government of Bangladesh forbid until recently any migration of women under the age of 35 to the Middle East for domestic work. Even then these women needed the permission of their husbands and/or fathers to go for work. Still in response to some donor funds and anecdotal claims, some NGOs portrayed all women migrants as trafficked and/or sex workers/sexually exploited. This disturbed many migrant women workers who felt shamed by such assertions. These assertions in 2004, nearly put Bangladesh on the Tier III of the USA government's trafficking sanctions. Dr. Siddiqui, Dr. Chowdhury, and RMMRU among other NGOs such as Farida Aktar & UBINIG successfully countered these claims and the threat of sanctions ended. Some women continue to be trafficked to India and elsewhere, while others migrate willingly for many different kinds of work.
She has developed training manuals for combating trafficking and irregular migration.
She has encouraged migrant workers groups such as WARBE to incorporate gender issues and women & men migrants' training and returning counseling; she has also encouraged women's migrant worker groups such as BOMSA and their training programs.
She has fought the excess recruitment fees and visa paperwork fees charged by employment agencies as well as regularising migration guidelines, agencies, government bureaus, and programmes.
She has generated valuable data and insights on the potential and actual diaspora of expatriate Bangladeshis' capital and investment in Bangladesh
RMMRU has provided extensive training of Bangladeshi and regional researchers on migration-click here for more details.
She has served as coordinator for SAMReN, South Asian Migration Resource Network

Some of her other recent research and activities has included other relevant topics:

Mobility Patterns and HIV Vulnerability in Bangladesh (relevant for World AIDS day) &

Decent Work and International Labour Migration from Bangladesh (ILO)

Nearly all the reports and materials mentioned below are available (many PDF) from the RMMRU website.

I have known Tasneem since 2001, when she came to a Democracy Workshop at Southern Illinois University (my school and after my first trip to Bangladesh). She, her research, and impeccable valuable advice/insights have inspired me and my students ever since along with the hospitality & excellent tea of her home (my home away from home), including her gracious collaborator (and spouse) Dr. Chowdhury Abrar.

During these 16 days of Eliminating VAW, I'm very grateful for researchers-activists such as Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui.

International Migrant Day March, 2002

Kathy Ward ( blue baseball hat-shades-blue salwar kameez); Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui on right, t-shirt, purse, light brown sari; women migrant workers

Day 8- who makes herstory-who does the worK?

2007-12-02T18:49:00.001-06:00

Today, I want to acknowledge the unnamed teams of women (and some men) of mid range staff and NGO '"aides" who actually do the work in the VAW projects, who carry out the day to day operations, who are the people who answer the doors, phones, emails, keep our spaces safe & healthy & pick up our stuff, make our tea & cook our meals.

They write the web pages and code for our operations; translate documents, work the night and day shifts, conduct the outreach and interviews for research, crunch endless numbers and statistics, code narratives, pore over and compile newspaper clippings on VAW, type and deliver the grant applications and then keep track of the accounts for the final reports.

These same people count the number of days-nights stayed in shelters, services given, and reconcile the financial accounts, go to courts and deal with police, counsel survivors who may or may not go back to abusive situations, may die and/or escape and thrive. They burn out & grieve.

All these persons do the every day work that keeps the programmes running, but relatively unseen by government officials, elites, programme executive directors, and others in the media, political hearings, and journals, but known by those who utilize these services. These staff members rarely move into or from upper level management positions from NGO to NGO .

Also what of the lowly paid staff, often without benefits and who work according the funding and political vagaries and whims of politicians, government officials, and donors who don't want to fund women's safety and empowerment? So that women can can talk back, have choices that they can make about where and how to live and love with their near and dear ones, walk and/or live & love without fear and/or even to go to school for skills and to make a living w/o having their education funds suddenly withdrawn in change of government or safety net policies.

So let's make herstory by acknowledging women's unpaid, informal, and formal labors, how we have replicated some of these unequal gender-race-class-sexuality relations in our VAW and women's programmes, and how women's work-subsidy keeps our livelihood and capitalism in gear. By funding programmes and women's work that enable women-children-families to make choices and thrive rather than 'better than nothing." Also acknowledge the men who work in these projects as allies, speak up to their male peers when we are not around, and do the right thing, because.

Hence, my enormous gratitude and debt to the supervisors and fieldworkers on my research projects on domestic violence & women workers among others, the staff at Nari Jibon Project, and all the students and respondents who have patiently shared, waited and dreamed for a better day and life.

Day Seven - 1 Dec –World AIDS Day | Talk About SAFE Sex

2007-12-01T11:29:00.000-06:00

Let's talk about SAFE sex! AIDS has made its way into a variety of communities-gay men, heterosexual men and women, blood transfusions, and injectable drug users, and now migrant workers and truckers who move across regions and countries. However the majority of people living with AIDS are heterosexuals and increasingly women, many of whom lack the knowledge and power to insist on safe sex with their partners.

For example, in many cultures, men visit sex workers and then the men refuse to wear condoms. Some sex workers have made organizations and compaigns to insist on condom usage, such as in Thailand or India. At the same time, if the sex workers are unorganized in such a campaign, "No Glove, No Love", then they face economic pressures to insist that their customers wear a condom because the customer can move on to the next sex worker.

Or women trafficked and/or migrated to India or the Middle East and in sex work may have the same problems and can return HIV positive and face the social stigma from their previous activities and HIV infection.

Migrant workers--men and women--become HIV positive during their construction and domestic-sex-care work(s) and are deported back to their country of origin, for example, Nepali women or Bangladeshi male -female migrant workers, who in turn infect their wives-husbands.

Although the levels of HIV infection are still relatively low for Bangladesh sex workers, I am very concerned about their high client loads and low condom use by clients. For Bangladeshi sex workers in hotels, they may see 8-10 customers per day and really increase their risks of STDs and HIV, if the customers refuse to wear condoms.

In turn, the male customers go home and have unprotected sex with their wives--who due to social practices about sex within marriage--may not be able to ask their husbands to wear a condom b/c this would acknowledge his sexual activities outside of marriage. VAW mean that husbands and male partners may sexually assault wives and girlfriends who are unable to use safe sex protection and/or birth control and hence risk STDs, HIV infection, and unwanted pregnancy.

Other researchers have discovered that MSM (who have sex with men) in Bangladesh and other countries often are married, too, according to heteronormative social pressures to marry and procreate.

And the cycle of infections go on largely because we do not talk about or insist on SAFE sex with our partners. The central players in this story are the men who refuse to have safe sex-use condoms with their assorted partner(s). The people who have the most problematic sex histories are also the most likely to lie about their precautions, HIV status or even get tested, even if the facilities are available, which are very few in countries such as Bangladesh. Testing continues to carry shame-stigma for many people, hence, the publicity surrounding celebrities and politicians getting HIV tests.

During my time in Bangladesh, I have talked with sex workers how about to educate and motivate men for more condom use and created this safe sex poster. This poster stars Mr. Bunny, driver Ripon's rear view mirror-toy, because no men would hold or pose with condoms for this type of poster. I found that we could use Mr. Bunny in a variety of educational poses, storytelling, and situations.

Mr. Bunny has two condoms in hand and some taka tucked into in his little vest & lungi attire. In Bangla, Mr. Bunny says: "I have condoms and money. Let's make love. Smart rabbits always wear-use condoms."

Hence, on World Aids Day, let's talk about Safe sex with our partner(s), friends, family, and others. Let's also remember the people who have passed on as well as the large numbers of people living with AIDs around the world, and particularly in Africa and South Asia who are trying survive without access to the expensive anti-viral medicines used by people in the North.

Post Cyclone Sidr coverage by/of Nari Jibon Bloggers

2007-11-30T22:33:00.000-06:00

Bhalo korechen (well-done) to Nari Jibon students and staff bloggers and their English & Bangla blog & photo coverage of the Cyclone Sidr and relief efforts. For an overview of their blogging, personal stories, and links, see Rezwan's In the eye of the storm: Bangladeshi bloggers speak

As you can imagine, I am very proud of them, especially when they came to the Nari Jibon office in Dhaka on Saturday, 17 Nov, not quite 48 hours after the Cyclone Sidr stormed across Bangladesh and left the office-classes without electricity or internet connections. And they came for English and other classes and started handwriting their stories in English and Bangla, went out and talked with people and took photos, uploaded their stories and photos when the power & internet came on a few days later, and now they are accessible via the Internet to you.

Consider making a Sidr donation. Rumi tells of the sad story of Eachi’r Ma and her late daughter, and also encourages you to donate to the Sidr compensation fund to be set up via United Bangladesh Appeal, to provide funds to survivors. If you prefer another venue, check out the links in previous posts and making a donation for relief efforts, which will be going on for a long time.

If you are interested in knowing more about Nari Jibon Project, you can click on the links on the lower right side-blue box of your screen and/also the important link--donation--these young women and staff with support for their computer, language, tailoring, and training activities. They take classes in English, Computers, Bangla and Tailoring--all for nominal fees--and have access to the secure Nari-only cyber cafe (along with other women customers). Consider giving a donation-gift in your own or someone's name so that a meritorious but poor female can take a class, have safe transportation, and class supplies (a list of needs-donations-gifts is available on request, but uploaded soon at www.narijibonusa.org).

Day 6/Build the Transational Movement Against VAW- Find Your Resistance & Allies

2007-11-30T20:00:00.000-06:00

Today, I focus on building assorted knowledge, action, and movements to end violence against women VAW. I also encourage you to map and locate your sources of resistance, albeit everyday acts of speaking up, knowing how to find and work with allies in your household, classes, workplaces, streets, and communities such as local women's centers-shelters, to knowing that VAW often travels transnationally in our socio-emotional-economic and family luggage as we move to different households, places and even continents. These situations also affect the newly arrived wives, tourists, military personnel, and migrant workers--domestic, child care, and service workers as well as international students, ICT workers, etc-- in our communities and on deployment. For example (and these examples are taken from real cases):

Some women have found themselves in transnational webs of domestic violence when they move to the West or North to marry someone who in turn isolates and abuses them. When they file charges or complain, then their husband's family members pressurize the women's family members with false cases so that their daughter will drop the case.
The abuser can hold dual passports and commits his abuse in countries with few or no laws against domestic violence and flees to his other country. The woman survivor & children live in fear of his return trips and ongoing abuse-harassment by her estranged-divorced huband's family.
Some women with new citizenship in the North have returned to their country of origin to settle divorces and family matters. They find themselves and/or their children kidnapped and abused by their estranged husbands and in-laws. Their family members have to appeal to their embassies or High Commissions for help...and....

VAW also follows assorted military and peacekeeping activities, too, where the protectors can end up as abusers as seen in many military actions by USA and UN Peacekeeping forces. Women military personnel also experience VAW and/or as seen recently Iraq, in the chaotic psych-ops facilities, a few have administered abuse themselves. In turn, when the military and peacekeepers return to their home countries, they bring some of this VAW with them and their spouses and families are affected, too.

VAW also follows the tourism, entertainment, and R & R industries that sprung up around military bases as well as international donor funded tourism and business projects. Many of the industries employ women as domestic, entertainment, and sex workers, who have little control over the terms and conditions of their work places, passports, and earnings, but the promise of higher earnings than in their countries of origin.

Another alarming trend is the VAW in 'mail-order brides as well as women brides from men's countries of origin. Many clients in USA women's shelters are women from other countries--Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe-- brought to USA by men who wanted docile women rather than 'assertive USA women', and in turn the husbands abused their new wives in this strange land. Or newspapers in the North and South are filled with ads of transnational partners (esp men) seeking wives from their country of origin. The new wives--often with limited language skills or resources-- are brought to the USA and abused by their new husband and maybe their in-laws. They feel trapped because they are in USA on spouse visas, feel shame, and/or do not know what to do. Two developments in the USA are visa available to women who have suffered abuse and/or the "U" visa that can be sought by abused women who report their abuse to the police. Women in this situation should see the advice of their local women's program and/or immigration lawyers.

Finally, many domestic and childcare workers migrate, accompany elite families--business or diplomatic staff-- and/or are trafficked to other areas. in these work situations, they have little control over their work conditions, working in 24/7 days and also suffer sexual and physical abuse from their employers, employers' family members, or others. These "global" women do not see their children in their countries for many years. Often we learn of these women in our communities when they escape from their employers' homes often with injuries or only the clothes on their backs.

National and international laws-policies on domestic violence and VAW have been very slow in addressing the increasing transnational nature of VAW. Likewise, many advocacy programs may not have the contact with programs in other countries and knowledge of different laws and remedies.

So today--look around your life and note the sources of support and allies and provide volunteer time, including translation, and donations to them. Such programs who are very dependent on donations, grants and government support, which does not always fund women's real empowerment and escapes from abuse and poverty. In our transnational lives, we also need to know of and support international initiative and programs that work with migrant women, workers and family members and reach out to workers who are trapped in abuse as well as charge their abusive employers.

If you would like to see the reports of actions in this 16 days....go to the Take Back the Tech site day 6 and follow the directions and/or Map It. Or go to the 16 Days campaign website and the International Calendar of Activities and/or Resources links. Finally, I have omitted references the above points, but I can provide documentation for these points and/or you can go to the resource pages on the above websites.

Day 5-Women Bloggers Make and Broadcast the Message Against VAW

2007-11-29T14:03:00.001-06:00

The digital divide and VAW has often meant that women did not have access to the internet, video, and related media much less the tools to make and upload these media. When they did have access, they were often confronted with less than positive images. Now more women and male allies are making their own videos and media clips and posting on popular sites.

For example, in the Justice for Rahela campaign & other cross- posts this fall, a Youtube video on Rahela made available many video and visual images of Rahela as she struggled to live and name her assailants in the month before she died in September 2004. Many of us had never seen her before except in maybe a newspaper clip.

Thanks to a blogging grant from Global Voices-Rising Voices, computer and english students & staff at Nari Jibon Project (and four other locations) have had the opportunity to and learn how to write blog posts and also to use digital and video cameras. To date, they have posted video on the Bangladesh floods, & a homeless woman who gave birth in a garage and pictures of street girls, beggars, slum women rebuilding after Cyclone Sidr, including a mother nursing her child born during Cyclone Sidr, among other images. This past week, Computer Teacher Taslima (brown burkha) gave a digital camera and video training workshop for blogging students and staff (see stories and photos).

As their skills grow, I hope to see more blogs and video blogs on their perspectives as young women growing up and finding their way through the streets, schools, and lives amidst eve-teasing and VAW prevalent in Bangladesh (and elsewhere, too). Meanwhile I will scramble to keep up with their advances in technology and blogging.

Finally, I will leave you with a very haunting video with some [warning graphic-disturbing] photos of violence from the 1971 liberation war and the song, Bangladesh, as sung by Joan Baez. These words-song always move me (to tears) and to step up my efforts to end suffering where ever it may occur. Please see also the Drishtipat on Women of 1971, their campaign for restitution from Pakistan, and their varied experiences and stories as freedom fighters, grandmothers, mothers, daughters, students and children, including the thousands of Bangladeshi women raped by Pakistani soldiers and collaborators).

Some Post Cyclone Sidr Stories and Follow-up: Will the Real Micro-credit Repayment Plan Stand Up?

2007-11-28T22:18:00.000-06:00

Note: on 8 Dec 07, I have updated this post

It's been TWO long weeks since Cyclone Sidr roared ashore in Bangladesh and killing at least 3400+ people, injuring many more, and devastating land, businesses, futures. Many people have documented the profound losses, experiences, reflection, need for massive relief-fundraising now & better coordination of relief and such fundraising, and in the future, extensive reconstruction efforts. Now the United Bangladesh Appeal has launched the Sidr Victims' Compensation fund for survivors.

Speaking of survivors: what about compensation, cancellation of micro-credit debt for Sidr's dead victims, and repayment pressures on struggling suvivors???? More conflicting stories have appeared. At first, the media reported that some NGO staff members had been pressurizing borrowers for interest-loan payment. These borrowers had survived Sidr, but lost their businesses-capital-customers and could not make repayments.

As I wrote before, on Nov 26 the Caretaker government has asked NGOs not to demand loan repayments right now from cyclone survivors. Nonetheless, in a Daily Star article, Bilkis Begum would like her tk 80,000 microcredit debt cancelled because she feels like repayment is at least one year away. Md. Yunus of Grameen Bank explains why such debts cannot be cancelled, but that GB would offer 'interest free loans' tk 10,000 towards rebuilding account holders' houses, more time to pay off their debts and offers of new loans, e.g, more debt.

Then on 27 Nov 07, the Daily Star reported that micro-credit NGOs may have to cancel tk 600cr (millions of taka) loans because of rules that if borrowers died, then their debts must be canceled. According to this article "In 12 south and south-western districts, some Tk 1,159 crore in loan remains outstanding with 15 lakh people, with 42 microcredit organisations operating in the region." Over 1227+ borrowers have died leaving the NGOs with many debts to cancel. These NGOs included Grameen Bank, BRAC, ASA, organizations affiliated with PKSF, and other smaller organizations.

Other official commented, "Although the microcredit providers are not going to make an announcement of the write-off right now, they might finally write the loans off since the small borrowers lost most of their houses, businesses, and other assets". Other officials indicated that they did not want to announce any more plans because people who could repay their loans would try to have them cancelled, but they had advise their staff to 'suspend' their collection efforts from cyclone affected borrowers for the time being.

This debt cancellations will impact the micro-credit sector, but to what extent will only be seen over time. Critics have noted that many NGOs have used micro-credit operations as money makers among their other activities.

Nonetheless, by all accounts of the devastation in the coastal region, many surviving borrowers may never be able to recover much less with the micro-credit debt burden and pressurization on the survivors' backs.

Finally, although much attention has been given to the coastal survivors, residents of the mid-sections of Bangladesh also spent a scary night among the destructive winds-rains of Cat 3 Sidr in Dhaka, especially poor people in slums. Some staff and students of Nari Jibon continue to give their first person accounts of Cyclone Sidr in the Nari Jibon blog such as Sujan's, Rafiq's, and Taslima's posts. A hat tip to Research officer Sujan, who has continued to blog about relief and some of his photos of a nearby slum were shown on CNN-international this past week. Please check out these posts in English and Bangla! See Rezwan's summary of both english & bangla blog coverage.

I'm also very glad that Shawn has returned to Dhaka. You can read about some of his experiences while on the coast. I hope to hear more after he rests, recovers, and socio-emotionally digests some of his harrowing time on the relief journey.

Day 4/Media, Sexism, VAW & Blog Coverage Justice For Nadine

2007-11-28T19:37:00.001-06:00

On this day, we look the media & sexism in its mixed coverage of rape, dowry, and domestic violence. Media coverage can be complicated in countries such as Bangladesh with little reliable data on VAW and where legal and advocacy organizations must rely on news stories to count incidents and severity. In Bangladesh, most data on sexual assault and domestic violence come from newspaper story compiled by NGOs and human rights organizations such as Odikhar, Mahila Parishad, and Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association. These counts depend on the willingness of media reporters to write the stories and of the survivors to talk with reporters and/or people outside of the family. Some reporters can provide reliable reports and understanding of the power-gender dynamics, while others write stories with a sensational nature, victim-blame or as entertainment. Often coverage of any one case ends after the initial article and readers have no sense of the legal resolutions of cases as happened in the case of tortured-murder Rahela, a garment worker in 2004 among others.

An ongoing case that exemplifies these issues is the media and less than critical blogosphere coverage of a domestic violence-rape case filed in New York City in September against a Bangladeshi graduate student, Sajid, who allegedly beat and raped his wife, Nadine. He failed to show up for his court hearing in NYC in beginning of November and is a fugitive, who has continued to blog under his and a variety of fake names. Rather than to deny the charge, in his trail of blog posts-emails, he has described-justified his behaviors, which originally resulted in his arrest by NYC police. In turn, he has made a series of allegations about Nadine, none of which would stand as a defense against his abuse and rape charges in USA courts.

Concerned about the brutality and events in this case, others set up a Facebook page, Justice for Nadine, which provided support & information & post-abuse photos about her case and has responded to Sajid's et al ongoing postings. Soon they refused to get into point-counterpoint discussions and ceased responding to an onslaught of emails and pseudonym posts by Sajid et al. Missing from most of these blogs--any understanding of issues surrounding marital rape, domestic violence, and the gender power dynamics. Instead, many of the posts read like adda or gossip.

After an initial flurry of posts in October, most bloggers had ended their coverage until the middle of November when, Abdul Kargo wrote an excellent post, "What Is a Woman’s Worth Measured Against? Blogger Kargo has thoughtfully and deftly dealt with the variety of comments-issues generated by his readers and the reappearance of Sajid et al, who closed down his blog about the time Kargo wrote his post. During this month, some of the comments by Sajid et al have become repetitive intellectual excuses for his criminal behaviors and insulting language directed toward Nadine and those who seek an end to VAW. Others have challenged such comments, discussed the dynamics of VAW and responses when women speak up. They called for a change in in the nature of the comments posts and more community action to combat VAW. Today, I posted this comment #99, which expresses my sentiments on this case and the thread:

"Last night I wanted to say bash/shesh–enough, stop. Allowing fugitive sajid et al another forum to repeat their bogus pomo excuses over and over again creates ‘revictimization’, esp for survivors of abuse who may be reading. This also gives others the cautionary tale of what might happen to them if she speaks up, files charges, etc. or if their abuser-rapist is still at large b/c he did not show up for his court hearing. Dec 3 is his next opportunity.

From 25 Nov-10 Dec is the International 16 Days Campaign to Eliminate Violence against Women. Today—day four—asks people to look at their media (blogosphere) for coverage of violence against women and to note sensationalistic coverage & posts. As we’ve seen in this ongoing thread and other blog coverage, these ‘discussions’ ignore that most rapists & abusers know their victims; in such posts, abusers and some bloggers reduce the case to titillating & entertaining details, and ignore the unequal power relationships in rapes and domestic abuse that result in lingering physical, socio-emotional injuries and even death.

As reflected in others’ comments, I also encourage people to educate themselves more about these issues and get in involved community discussion and action such as recently initiated by Adhunika and Sakhi in NYC.

****Check out a new resource from January 2008: New Blogsite OUT AGAINST ABUSE to educate and organize the South Asian Community about domestic violence-gender abuse--please read, comment, and discuss this resource!****

For more info about the 16 days campaign:
http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/home.html

and to use ICT-blogs to end violence against women:
http://www.takebackthetech.net/frontpage"

Finally, I reiterate the points that I made in comment #5 in early November:

1. Sajid is a fugitive, who skipped his court hearing over charges filed in USA (they will not be transferred to Bangladesh!). Next hearing date: 3 December.
2. None of his posts-rationalizations about his USA felony charges will work in any USA court defense.
3. Any people who have been hiding him from police and the court can be subject to charges of obstruction of justice.
4. If Sajid is on a student visa at Colombia University and has not been attending classes because he is in hiding, then he is violating the terms of his student visa and subject to deportation. Immigration and SEVIS are probably very interested in finding him, too.

Day 3/ Impact of Violence Against Women

2007-11-27T12:11:00.001-06:00

Impact of violence on your daily life--do you take a different route to work or school every day to avoid eve-teasers or dangerous situations?

What's the impact of violence on women & after disasters? What happens to women's and children's security after disasters such as Cyclone Sidr or floods?

What are your stories????

Make a postcard, t-shirt, or video, and/or tell your story to some one.

Eve-teasing/Day 2.5/16 days Gender Activism VAW

2007-11-27T00:08:00.001-06:00

Day 2 Theme: Occupy All Spaces

Around the world, women have to reclaim their spaces and rights on the streets, public spaces, schools, transportation, cyber cafes (w/o other customers viewing disturbing images in the next seat), and and google searches on the internet. Many women face restrictions on their access to education, streets, and finding a secure space in a cyber cafe and internet.

They even have a hard time using their mobiles in a safe and secure way. As I noted in my earlier post, missed calls and/or phishing phone calls can also harass women users. Mobile cameras have been used to take and distribute graphic images of women (see Hana's post).

At the same time, mobile or cell phones can be life lines for battered-abused women; many shelters in USA and elsewhere seek donations of older & unregistered mobiles so that abused women can communicate easily with the shelter or authorities if the abuser blocks her phone usage or to have a safe-secure line. More recently, mobile phones enabled Bangladeshis to communicate with their near and dear ones during Cyclone Sidr.

Another issue on for women to occupy all spaces is eve-teasing--or men's street sexual harassment or molestation of young (any) women who travel their own streets to and from work, school, or their assorted tasks. For an excellent analysis, see Shoma Chatterji's post on eve-teasing in Kolkata and elsewhere in Fighting eve-teasing: rights and remedy.

Eve-teasing occurs in urban areas as well as in rural areas in South Asia and elsewhere although its name varies from country to region. In 2004-5 the Bangladeshi women's group, Mahila Parishad distributed a poster and conducted a campaign against eve-teasing because several young women, students, and even young girls committed suicide owing to social pressures-shame-daily harassment. In 2007, Advocate Habibun Nessa of Naripokkho, reported 29 suicide deaths in the last four years. In some cases the police colluded with the eve-teasers and blamed the women for their own problems. Bangladesh has no laws against eve-teasing, much less respect for women who dare to venture alone or even in groups in the streets.

These pressures also affect women's travels to Nari Jibon, which usually occurs with one or more friends. We've found that if a friend or travel companion stops coming to Nari Jibon , then the other student drops out unless she can find another friend to come to Nari Jibon.

Or two young women students who went out on the streets for a photo assignment and to ride a bus to and from Nari Jibon had to deal with young men who pushed ahead of them and eve-teased. Many times women get on the bus and find that men have taken the 'women's seats and they feel insecure in the packed bus. Photographer Syeeda Farhana captured sequence of Moina and Sathi as they tried to board a bus c. 2005:

The good news is that these women persevered and continued to come to Nari Jibon for English and computer training, pursued their higher education and taken some teaching jobs. Nonetheless many women service holders contend with daily eve-teasing as they commute to and from their jobs and same-same for students as they walk and/or travel to their schools. Eventually, women and/or guardians decide that these pressures are too much and they drop out of school, get married for security, and in some cases commit suicide. Dhaka has tried adding a few women only buses and other countries have tried adding women-only subway cars, but these measures & added buses will not be enough until men start treating women and girls with more respect as they move through and live in various spaces.

Time for women to freely and safely occupy all spaces!

International Day Against Violence Against Women--16 Days Campaign

2007-11-25T23:04:00.002-06:00

Today, 25 November 2007 is International Day Against Violence Against Women and the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (25 Nov-10 Dec).

You can read more about this campaign, history, and get materials from the Center for Women's Global Leadership, [Rutgers University-USA] including the 2007 Take Action Kit & the 2007 International Calendar. This site also contains a library on related resources on VAW and even a map to situate and log your activities. This site has materials in English, Spanish, some French and even Italian.

An interesting ICT action, is Take Back the Tech or Reclaiming ICTs to End Violence Against Women. Link here to learn more about what are the issues of ICTs & VAW From the website: "Both ICTs and VAW affects our capacity to completely enjoy our human rights and fundamental freedoms." This site has materials in French, Spanish, and English.

The website contains daily activities such as ka-Blog (blogathon, postcards, digital story telling, digital media resources, and GIFs to use in your website or blog during the campaign. On today- Day one, today's activity: share a number of your local shelter or resource centre.

Both sites want to hear more about your stories and actions and you can also learn more about actions-stories in other locales-sites.

As readers already know, I have been very interested in Justice for Nadine (survivor of spousal abuse and rape) and Rahela (the late tortured garment worker) as detailed in previous posts and links to websites. Most recently, Abdul Kargo wrote movingly about Nadine's case, "What is a woman worth. " If readers would like to know more about domestic violence issues-support in USA or Bangladesh, see this link. The next hearing for Rahela's case will be in January 2008in Bangladesh.

****Check out a new resource from January 2008: New Blogsite OUT AGAINST ABUSE to educate and organize the South Asian Community about domestic violence-gender abuse--please read, comment, and discuss this resource!****

Finally, Bangladesh continues to recover from the Category 5 hurricane, Cyclone Sidr. In such disasters, women have special health and security issues, especially post disaster for women without husbands and children who have lost their parents--suffer from insecurity and vulnerability to abusers and traffickers. I described a few issues here and as Sidr was heading to shore. See also Nari Jibon blog.I will post more on these topics coming days. Meanwhile, go to other previous posts-links on where you can donate for relief efforts.

Professor Rachel A. Rosenfeld, 1948-2002

2007-11-24T19:08:00.002-06:00

Sociologist, Feminist, Mentor, Co-Author & Friend

After fighting breast cancer for 16+ years, Dr. Rachel A. Rosenfeld passed on 24 Nov 2002, just after I arrived in Bangladesh and started my research fellowship on women workers--a long-time shared interest. I could not attend her funeral or memorial service. Nonetheless, her work and spirit lives on in all of us who some how intersected with her life & path-breaking scholarship on women workers.

University of North Carolina Memorial Page

UNC Biography Page

Post Cyclone Relief: Coordination & Donations to All Flood Affected & Give Food That People Can Eat Now

2007-11-23T12:32:00.000-06:00

It's been one week since Cyclone Sidr roared ashore on the coast of Bangladesh. The latest official toll is 3,032 and many more injured-missing.

Relief efforts are underway and millions of dollars of relief pledged, but not yet cash-supplies in hand for the Bangladeshi government, charities, aid agencies, much less for the flood affected people. USA Navy ships approach and/or even docked. One big problem as detailed by reports from BBC, CNN, and other media sources has been uneven coordination of relief efforts and getting relief materials to people who need it including people are not near district offices or received media attention or 'connections'.

Relief efforts are particularly important for women and children excluded from the community, without male partners, and/or ultra poor-geographically isolated. In a series of posts, on 22 November post, Naima Chowdhury writes how traffickers (including local police) are preying on young female orphans who have lost their parents.

Or some cyclone affected women and children are socially excluded from their communities: sex workers. In a repeated update to my earlier post re the sex workers in Mongla, we are reminded that some people affected by this Cyclone and might not be helped by their community and relief agencies. In a 21 Nov 07 post, aid worker, Naima Chowdhury, reported that although the women had advance notice of the Cyclone, local people refused them shelter and aid because of their work. Action Aid has given them chira (puffed rice and dal), but need more aid to continue. The women and their children are facing hard times because they have fewer customers from low activity at the port, she notes, "These women are incredibly poor and also face exclusion from the rest of the community."

As discussed by Sujan, in Dhaka, some people want to do something, but do not know what to collect and how to get it to agencies for distributions. On the one hand, some flood affected people need warm clothes, but on the other hand, how and where will they receive the clothes collected by students in Dhaka? Or will Shawn ever get to distribute his blankets?

Another very important issue is the actual content of relief packets (also a problem in earlier flood relief efforts): some people have received bags of rice and lentils, but have NO pots to cook in or fire to cook with AND no good water. Hence, the demand for food that the people can eat now.

Even during good times, Bangladeshis also survive on a system of loans--from micro-credit NGOs, banks, money-lenders, store credit, and even family members who are paid back when funds come in and/or are squeezed out family [rice] budgets. Many people also have ongoing loans from micro-credit NGOs for their small businesses and loans from banks & money-lenders for replanting their crops already washed away by two summer floods. As before and during post floods, many micro-credit agents demanded payments for interest from flood affected people. What will happen with the micro-credit & hurricane affected people who lost their livestock, business goods, and crops? Demands from banks, money lenders, and business people? According to DhakaShoshor and citing an Amader Shomoy article (Bn) conflicting accounts have developed over whether certain NGOs have continued their collections and/or extent of their relief efforts and the sources of these allegations.

Updated information 26 Nov 07, the Caretaker government has asked NGOs not to demand loan repayments right now from cyclone survivors. Nonetheless, in a Daily Star article, Bilkis Begum would like her tk 80,000 microcredit debt cancelled because she feels like repayment is at least one year away. Md. Yunus of Grameen Bank explains why such debts cannot be cancelled, but that GB would offer 'interest free loans' tk 10,000 towards rebuilding account holders' houses, more time to pay off their debts and offers of new loans, e.g, more debt.

Post disaster recovery has both short and long term needs and activities. Already affected people are starting to rebuild, but what are their needs now and later? Donations on the ground and in the pipeline will help with the short-run needs, such as food, water, and shelter. At the same time donations are also needed for the long-term recovery of very poor people who have lost everything. This includes their destroyed crops almost ready for harvest after post summer floods replanting & loans, in their fish ponds, shrimp farming (3rd largest export earner) & business livelihoods, rebuilding of the infrastructures, and such structures such as much needed cyclone shelters. Many of the over 3000 shelters were unusable, overcrowded, or simply not available. As earlier noted by Rezwan, some of the post recovery funds-donations should be directed towards building more shelters.

Such disasters take a very big emotional toll on relief workers, readers, and people who care. Some people might feel a sense of disaster & donor fatigue, especially after the Indonesia Tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and now Cyclone Sidr in 2007 (among others in the Gulf, Pakistan, and even more coming ashore in the Philippines) . BTW, Bangladesh donated $1 million in aid to the USA in response to Katrina!

Even if they know about Bangladesh and its location, others might feel that Bangladesh is an ongoing disaster with floods, political upheavals, and cyclones. I might have thought that, too, except for my stays and work in Bangladesh with resilient people who somehow bounce back and would still give their last grain of rice to a visitor. The problem is that many people on the coast have not a single grain of rice, a cooking pot, fire, or water.

I will leave for later my comments on the gendered nature of disasters and my analyses on patterns of aid, development, population growth that have resulted in large populations living in areas prone to cyclones, flooding, and earthquakes and dependent on export earnings and foreign aid. Or people living in high cost areas prone to regular wildfires or hurricanes (my home insurance rates are still higher from certain Atlantic-Gulf Coast hurricanes and I live far inland).

Hence, the people of Bangladesh and various relief agencies still need your donations. Places to donate can be found in earlier posts, or a convenient listing for people in the USA can be found on the website: www.helpthemsurvive.org This website, generated by an expat's USA company's programmers-staff (M2SYS Technology), lists links for some donors, news updates, and how you can raise awareness in your own community.

As Abdul Kargbo writes on why everyone should care, "Compassion Does not Recognize State Boundaries."

Post Sidr, Dhaka's cyclone baby, men who seek Bangladeshi girls, women, mobile numbers during storms

2007-11-19T11:40:00.000-06:00

This morning I was thrilled to see on Bangladesh from Our View, Sujan's new post "After Cyclone Sidr" and his accounts & pictures of a nearby slum (basti), residents repairing their plastic shelters after the Cyclone hit their area in Dhaka, and another cyclone baby! Bhalo korechen (well-done) to Computer officer Taslima who somehow uploaded this story and files on a very slow connection.

Given how many people are living in such shelters in Dhaka and other areas affected by the Cyclone, falling trees, flying tin roofs & poorly secured billboards, these were probably common scenes. At the same time, many have commented on how quickly the fallen trees and limbs were cleared by local residents and scavengers in Dhaka neighborhoods (see Shawn's ongoing posts).

Others on the coast had more mixed experiences with trees-branches that saved them, trees that graphically failed as secure shelter in 2007 & 1991 (see Rumi), and now for survivors--downed trees-branches that serve a source of income and fuel.

From a phone call and emails, I heard that Nari Jibon staff and students are fine. As the computer connections improve, more posts will appear soon re their own experiences, including Rafiq's post on his experiences and tense mobile calls to and from his sisters who were on the coast during the storm and his observations on information & preparations (and lack thereof) for Cyclone Sidr.

Finally in a reminder that all people have been affected by this Cyclone and might not always be helped by relief agencies, see Jonathan Munshi's post storm photos from the Mongla sex worker village (brothel) as they struggle to repair their dwellings. In a later post on 21 Nov 07, aid worker, Naima Chowdhury, reported that although the women had advance notice of the Cyclone, local people refused them shelter and aid because of their work. Action Aid has given them chira (puffed rice and dal), but need more aid to continue. The women and their children are facing hard times because they have fewer customers from low activity at the port, she notes, "These women are incredibly poor and also face exclusion from the rest of the community."

Ironically, before, during Cyclone Sidr, and even after, many people were still searching via Google for Bangladeshi girls, women, mobile numbers, sex, night life, etc (as reflected by the site meter readings & referral search terms that I monitor for the Nari Jibon blog and coming from some rather devout places). These links are common to all of us who blog on women's issues, but the international flavour and focus on Bangladeshi females has caught my attention.

Interesting how certain demands do not change even during disasters such as cyclones and floods--as I observed in 2004 floods--where sex workers were expected to show up for work at hotels as were garment workers who traveled to their factories by boat! To these persons searching during storms for female company, get a life, and use your funds to make a donation to one of the relief agencies! To the relief agencies--help everyone--especially those who are out of work b/c the disaster! This is particularly important for women and children excluded from the community, without male partners, and/or ultra poor-geographically isolated. Finally in the same series of posts, on 22 November, Naima Chowdhury writes how traffickers (including local police) are preying on young female orphans who have lost their parents.

I hope that relief will reach all affected persons despite their class, work, social standing, and/or location and that aid officals will pay particular attention to women without partners and orphaned children.

Drishtipat has an updated list of places to donate. As per my post last night re the Elephant-bus photo, DhakaShohor reminds us that the elephants cannot do the recovery work alone.

Please make a donation, no matter how small.