Gaining Ground, Building Strength:
ADVANCING GRASSROOTS WOMEN'S STRUGGLES FOR LIBERATION

By Women's Solidarity Affair in the Philippines (WISAP) 1994

We, women of different races, nationalities, classes, cultures, and sexual preferences, have come together to weave our common experiences, struggles, and aspirations for an alternative world that is no longer based on exploitation, that is egalitarian, where sovereignty of nations are recognized, the rights of women and all oppressed peoples are guaranteed, and lasting peace and prosperity obtained for all nations.

In WISAP, we realize that the basic barriers to the freedoms of women and all oppressed peoples are so complex, powerful, and sophisticated that challenging them will engage the strength and participation of all oppressed classes, half of whom are women.

Our experiences have taught us that it is the people of color and poor classes, particularly women, who are most oppressed and exploited. This exploitation is rooted in the imperialist, capitalist, racist, patriarchal and feudal systems supported and nurtured by the state and its military. These systems have consequently perpetuated anti-woman cultures and structures.

The complicity of governments and the local elite of the exploited and exploiting countries pave the way for imperialist manipulation of the economic, social, political and military affairs of poor countries and societies at the expense of women and all oppressed people.

We urge grassroots women the world over to steadfastly challenge the systems that bind us to long years of oppression and exploitation and to advance a social system which is liberationg and empowering to the women and the people.

CONTENTS: Plenary Papers: The Global Economy: Issues and Implications for Women of the South | Global Peace and Security: Prospects and Challenges for Southern Peoples | Women's Struggle for Liberation: A Southern Perspective | Women and the Global Agenda: Strengthening International Solidarity among Grassroots Women; Workshop Papers: Women and the Asian Paradigm of Industrialization | Impact of Structural Adjustments Program on Women Workers | Women, Trade Liberalization, and Transnational Corporations | Resisting Fascism | Resistance by Women to Fascism and Neofascism; Workshop on Various Approaches to Organizing Women: Organizing Women Workers in the Industrial Sector | Women Workers and Trade Unions | The Situation of Nepalese Peasant Women | Organizing Peasant Women | Organizing Urban Poor Women: SAMAKANA's Experience in Retrospect | Organizing Indigenous Women: The Cordillera Experience | Organizing Overseas Filipinos in Canada | The Role of the Vietnamese Women's Union in a Post-Liberation Context; Workshop on Various Strategies in Building Women's Mass Movement: Optimizing Radio to Reach a Broader Audience| Optimizing Mass Media for Promoting Women's Issues : Print Media | Women's Actions on Violence against Women | Cross-Cultural Issues and Feminist Research | Center for Women's Resources: Education in Support of the Women's Mass Movement; Conference Resolutions.