The North Coast times-eagle., March 01, 2001, Page 8, Image 8

PAGE 8
WOMEN
ARE THE
MOTHERS
OF EARTH
BY THE WORLD WOMEN’S CONGRESS
FOR A HEALTHY PLANET
I swear it to you
On my common woman's head,
The common woman
Is as common
As a common loaf of bread. ..
And will rise.
-Judy Grahn
LUCIA HWONG
The major necessity of the 21st Century is to complete the social and personal equality
of vximen, vtfiich transcends every other pressing equity because it is the most basic correction
for humanity to make as well as the most potent force to successfully fulfill virtually everything
else that needs to be done.
Though we are a single species our genders have separate stories — fundamentally
and literally one is of life, the other of death; of persuasion and connection versus force and
supremacy. The male gender is out of control — so suffused with dominance and death it is
the greatest danger to the survival of the species and also to life on the planet The leavening
influence of women is most likely the only key to our future on the planet as a world society
and undoubtedly off-planet as well. Women, after all, were the real pioneers of the cultivation
of grains and domestication of animals that produced civilization in the first place
Ten years ago more than 1500 women from virtually everywhere on Earth attended
'The World Women's Congress For A Healthy Planet' in Florida USA These women who
called themselves "a privileged few" were at the conference "on behalf of those who could not
be with us, the millions of women who experience daily the violence of poverty, environmental
degradation and exploitation of their work and bodies due to an international economic order
that places capital before human and ecological well-being."
For four days they "listened to each other speak of the ills of our societies, our families
and our sacred nature We have been inspired by the courage and commitment of our sisters
throughout the world who protect and repair our natural heritage."
They concluded that "in a world in which nature and women are systematically exploited
by a so-called 'free market' ideology, there can be no environmental security." They wrote in a
collective declaration that rain forest dwellers, island peoples, the inhabitants of fragile arid or
Arctic zones, in particular "are threatened with displacement and dispossession due to human
disruption and pollution of vulnerable ecosystems." And they urged the UN and world leaders,
mostly male, to "increase their commitment to integrating women's perspectives at all levels
and in all programs and policies."
These "privileged few" women from all nations issued the following recommendations
as a basic guide to enhance environmental quality as well as human equality for the 21st Century
which they hoped would be "a challenge to create a safe and sustainable future"
-M ichael
We believe that a healthy and sustainable environment
is contingent upon respect for human rights, participatory demo­
cracy, self-determination of peoples, respect for indigenous
peoples and their lands, cultures, traditions and the protection
of all species.
We believe that basic human rights include access to
clean air and water, food, shelter, health and well-being These
rights are currently denied to millions of people, the overwhelm­
ing majority of whom are women
We are deeply troubled by the increasing inequities in
the quality of life of those living in the industrialized nations and
those of the so-called "developing" nations We are outraged by
the disparity between our children's nutntion, well-being, educat­
ion and opportunities for a full and productive life We condemn
the racism and disrespect of diversity on which this inequity
feeds
We equate lack of political and individual will among
world leaders, the great majority of whom are men, with a lack
of basic morality and spiritual values and an absence of respon­
sibility towards future generations
Based on "economic growth" and ludicrous investments
in weaponry, the current development model has wrought
human and environmental degradation and destruction
Unbridled consumerism of the industrialized nations leads to
unjust exploitation of the human and natural resources of poor
nations, vtfiich results in coopting governments and the political
process for the benefit of the few
We come together to pledge our commitment to the
empowerment of women, the central and powerful force in the
search for equity between and among the peoples of the Earth
and for a balance between them and the life support systems
which sustain us all
We appeal to all women and men to join in this call
for profound and immediate transformation in human values and
activities
Recognizing that nature is not limited by national
sovereignty or boundaries and that environmental degradation
is global; observing the worldwide social and environmental
consequences of development based solely on economic growth
measurements; recognizing the creative diversity of our culture,
class, race and the ecosystems and political structures within
which we live; believing that the world's indigenous peoples
have long been denied basic human rights or acknowledgment
of their contributions to world culture; and recognizing the
interconnectedness of women, the environment, economic
policies, development strategies, social justice and the survival
of all species:
We will demand full and equal participation for women
and men in public policy analyses, government decision making,
implementation, administration and funding at international and
community levels
We urge each other to seek to achieve a critical mass
in government and nongovernmental policy making leadership
positions, adopting the 60-40 formula (no more than 60% or no
less than 40% of either sex) as a guide to our empowerment
We demand that all governments comply wth the
requirements of the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies and the
United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
In full knowledge that the industrialized nations have
been the net beneficiaries of exploitation of the rich resources
of the South; observing the disastrous social, environmental
and economic consequences of international lending practices
and current terms of trade between industrialized and nonindust­
rialized nations and concerned about the negative impact on the
poor, especially women, of the International Monetary Fund and
World Bank structural adjustment policies; ashamed by the flow
of capital from poor nations to the banking system of rich nations
and recognizing the grievous consequences of this practice for
poor families in the South and for the natural resources upon
which we all depend:
We demand immediate official debt forgiveness
We will work for cancellation of commercial debt via
mechanisms equivalent to corporate bankruptcy law
We will cease to do business with banks that refuse
to reschedule debt repayments of nations to the South.
We will oppose those debt for nature exchanges (swaps)
which threaten sovereignty, indigenous peoples rights to lands
and self-determination and which are not subject to wide public
debate
We will hold personally accountable those who borrow
in the name of their people, for the social and environmental
consequences of those loans
We call for the rejection of structural adjustment policies
(SAPs) which shift responsibility of basic social services from
governments to women without compensation or assistance
We call for the dismantling of all unfair protective trade
measures used by the North against the South
We call for renegotiation of terms of trade that will
ensure an equitable relationship between the price of raw
materials and prices of manufactured goods
We demand a total ban on the export of goods rejected
for local consumption (or destruction) in or by the country of
origin.
We suggest that historic audits of nation-states (from
1945 onward) be conducted to determine the net beneficiaries of
natural resource exploitation, an assessment which would serve
as the basis to cancel current debt
ELIZABETH A. BALDWIN
is pleased to announce the relocation
of her office for the practice of law to
536 BOND STREET
ASTORIA OREGON 97103
Across the street from her old office
(503)325-5173
Telephone number remains the same
mccusker
Recognizing the current moral and ethical double
standards applied to environment, development, women's
participation and social justice throughout the world and
distressed that policy planners and political representatives
have such barren instruments (systems of national accounts)
on which to make all major economic and environmental
decisions:
We will work for the adoption of an international code
of environmental conduct for business and industry, for govern­
ments, for UN agencies and for nongovernmental organizations
which will include regulations on bio-technical genetic engineer­
ing
We will organize monitoring systems that will hold
institutions and states accountable for their actions, products
and policies.
We call for a reappraisal of national income accounts
to reflect the balance between constructive and destructive
production
We totally oppose environmental accouriting and the
commodification of "free gifts of nature "
We demand time/use studies of women's work —
household, cottage industries, subsistence agriculture, child
care, elder care, volunteer community service
We require governments, World Bank. International
Monetary Fund (IMF), and lending agencies to establish
environmental audits with which every proposal must comply
before implementation of loans
We will endorse new proposals of international law,
including strict liability for environmental harms and nonadver-
sarial dispute resolution mechanisms to compensate victims
Aware that the gross inequities in land tenure and
ownership are primary causes of social injustice, poverty of
women and their children, homelessness and environmental
degradation, and the dispossession of indigenous people;
aware that land ownership and control is becoming increasingly
polarized; recognizing that current agricultural policies, in the
North and in the South, are uprooting and displacing land-based
communities and are diverting land from food production to cash
crops for exports; and recognizing that in many communities the
nutrition of the family is dependent upon women's ability to
produce a family and domestic market food products, and that
because women and children are an estimated 1.000.000,000
people in the world who go hungry every day. women's access
to food and land tenure and ownership must be regarded as a
basic human right
We wll call on the UN. governments and nongovern­
mental organizations to cease discriminating practices which
limit omen's access to land and other resources, to increase
allocation of resources vtfiich enhance food security and provide
appropnate technologies vtfiich reduce women's work
We will stnve to create awareness about the environ­
mental impact of land use technologies guided by immediate
profit at the cost of long-term sustainability and productivity
We will search for ways to strengthen agricultural
research of indigenous foods and conservation of local crop
varieties