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WOMEN FORGE
UNITIES VS. GLOBALIZATION
PRESS RELEASE
August 24, 1998
"Globalization's neo-liberal policies have bred unprecedented poverty which has unleashed the worst, most unimaginable violence against women and children." This was the statement of the recently concluded Women's International Solidarity Affair in the Philippines. (WISAP 98) sponsored by GABRIELA.
Over 40 delegates coming from women's organizations in various countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, Germany, Canada and Phlippine regional representatives participated in the conference held in Silang, Cavite last August 19 to 21.
Carrying the theme: "Building Unity and Strength Against Imperialist Globalization", the conference focused on the worsening Asian economic crisis, globalization, and its adverse effects on women.
Women delegates spelled out imperialist globalization as the cause of the Asian regional crisis. Its neo-liberal policies such as liberalization, privatization and deregulation have caused the suffering and unrest of workers and peasants from the poor and underdeveloped countries.
Globalization, WISAP delegates added, have turned women and children into modern day slaves: "In order to survive, women and children are pushed into prostitution and made easy prey to sex trafficking."
It is this crisis, according to WISAP, that has caused the unrest and tragedy in Indonesia. WISAP condemns the mass rape and violence against ethnic Chinese women during the May uprising in Indonesia. Rape remains a tool of war and repression in many countries where poverty has spawned social upheavals. WISAP delegates said that "Mass rapes, torture and mutilation have continuously been used to destroy the organized and militant people's struggle and cow them into obedience and acceptance."
WISAP delegates furthered that for the US to secure its stronghold and ensure the further implementation of its neo-liberal dictates, it now asserts its supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region via the Visiting Forces Agreement. An internationally coordinated campaign against the VFA was forged among the delegates who vowed to strongly oppose the said agreement.
Delegates have set nationally and internationally coordinated protests against the VFA on September 15 and October 28, the Filipino Women's National Day of Protest, and on November 25, acknowledged worldwide as the Day Against Violence Against Women, calling upon the international women's community to focus on condemning the use of rape as a tool of war and militarism. ###
