FROM THE FIELD
Vol. 5, No. 1: Spring, 2006
OAXACAN WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE
by
George Colman
On International Day Against Violence Against Women in 2005, headlines in the newspaper La Jornada identified Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chihuahua, and Quintana Roo as among the most dangerous states for women in all of Mexico.
In Oaxaca, women organizing to stop that violence remembered:
* the woman found broken and lifeless in the Atoyac river on the city’s edge, one of 70 women murdered here in 2004.
*Cecilia, the 22 year old woman who died in the Mixteca during a miscarriage brought on by the beating her husband gave her. The husband remains free because no charges have been filed. A sister of Cecilia explained, “We didn’t know it was a crime to beat her. They tell us that when you get married you do whatever your husband says. If he beats you, my aunts say, it’s because you’ve done something. I think that’s why Cecilia never complained.”
*19 year old Maria who had been raped by an uncle and then denied her constitutional right to an abortion because the laws defining procedures and assigning responsibilities for implementing that right have not yet been passed by the Oaxaca legislature.
Remembering all this and wanting to change all this, the women and men of eight Oaxacan organizations work together to coordinate and strengthen the struggle against such violence. It is this group which cooperated with the women of 12 other Mexican states to organize a national campaign affirming: “No es un delito. El aborto por violacion es un derecho!”, “It’s not a crime, abortion is the right of a woman who’s been violated!”
In Oaxaca, the group called a press conference to announce the campaign and to explain the urgent need for legislation which assigns responsibilities and defines the procedures necessary to implement the constitutional right of women to an abortion if violated. At that conference, Aline Castillanos, one of the spokespersons for the group, called on “all public officials, legislators, and the media to speak without fear of the hard realities with which women in Oaxaca live. We call on them to attend to their needs, to be respectful and united especially with the most poor among the women of Oaxaca who are now dying because of ‘abortos clandestinos’.”
In response to the this well-publicized campaign, banners were suddenly unfurled on the outside walls of Roman Catholic Churches in Oaxaca proclaiming “Si a la Vida!”, “Yes to Life!” The position of the Catholic Church is that abortion violates God’s will, Mexico is a Catholic country and the values of the Catholic Church should be observed by all Mexicans.
The position of the organizers of the “No es un delito. El aborto por violacion es un derecho” campaign is one of respect for Catholics who choose not to have abortions but they reject the right of the Catholic Church to impose its determinations about morality on everyone in the nation, especially since the clear law of the land, the Constitution of Mexico, gives women the right to have an abortion if a pregnancy is caused by being raped.
As Ana Maria Hernandez put it “The Catholic hierarchy has the right to express its opinion like any other group in society but it has no right to impose an undesired child on a woman, especially when a woman has been violated.” She stressed that in the absence of legal, medically safe alternatives Mexican women have an estimated 850,000 to 1,200,000 illegal, dangerous, too often deadly abortions each year.
An equally vigorous position is taken by the group,“Young Catholics for the Right to Decide”. In the Noticias newspaper of Sept.29, 2005, Maria de la Luz Estrada, a representative of the Young Catholics, is quoted as saying it is time for women to free themselves from the morality of “misogynist Roman Catholicism”. “Seven of every ten Catholics” she said, “believe that abortion is legitimate under certain circumstances in order to avoid the death of the mother….It is urgent to modernize the church and bring an end to the archaic church (and its) misogynist hierarchy.”
Catholics supporting a woman’s “right to decide” also insisted, “Our governors cannot continue avoiding a demand with such international backing. 40.5% of the world population now live in 54 countries in which abortion is legal without restrictions and 59% live in 139 countries where abortion is legal under certain conditions.” (Cimacnoticias 27 September, 2005).
To advance their point of view, Young Catholics produced and circulated the film “You Are Not Alone” in which 6 Latin American women describe the circumstances in which they decided for abortion. This film, shown in accessible, free public venues and followed by open, wide-ranging discussion of the issues is but one facet of the women’s public education and community organizing activities.
The women know that legislation necessary to assure a woman’s right to a medically safe and legal abortion if violated will not become law easily. Powerful, conservative forces like the Roman Catholic Church are vigorously opposed to any action that advances such legislation. When politicians have to choose between ignoring the constitution which does not vote or offending Catholics who do, many will quite predictably turn their backs on the constitution.
Which is what the women organizing the various campaigns to protect and advance the rights of women will not do. Aline Castellanos explained her commitment to a long-term struggle on this issue, “When you’ve seen the suffering of women, the violence against them, the misery and death caused by the absence of laws protecting their right to have an abortion if raped, you can’t just stand around with your arms crossed. You have to do something.”
And foremost among the things the women’s organizations do is public education---the careful, usually undramatic, day after day work of expanding the circle of those who know about the violence experienced by women in Oaxaca and who also decide they “can’t just stand around with their arms crossed” in the face of that suffering.
Demonstrations, conferences, lectures, forums, film productions, newspaper articles, discussion groups and the expert preparation and advocacy of legislation---these are all part of the women’s work, work in which they are encouraged by the positive responses of women and by their experience that many, perhaps most people are at least open to a discussion of the issues they raise.
These eight organizations have demonstrated a clear and impressive ability to work not only with women and men at the community level but also with leaders of city and state institutions. In 2005, for example, they cooperated with state legislators to organize a public “Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights: The Right to Decide” which was held in the offices of the state legislature.
And on “International Day Against Violence Against Women” they sponsored a well attended public presentation held in the Benito Juarez University at which the woman who is the Attorney General of the State and other city and state officials addressed the conference and affirmed their commitment to work with the Collective to decrease violence against women.
These women know that progress on these issues will be slow, often discouraging and sometimes dangerous. They also know the work to which they have committed themselves is bedrock necessary if Oaxaca is to become a more humane place in which to live.
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The eight organizations leading this work are the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights, the Center for Women’s Studies (Casa de la Mujer), the Support Group for Women’s Education, the Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Justice, Men for Equality in Relationships, the Care Center of the Valley, the National Forum of Women and Politicians, and the Center for Women and Family Studies. Each of these eight organizations belong to the 64 member Huaxyacac Collective.
Those who would like to keep up with developments in Oaxaca and Mexico regarding violence against women can do so by going to the Spanish language website Cimacnoticias.
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Exodus
by
Morris Mwavizo Msavia
The wind stopped howling in the dark night and the flail of the waves had become softer. The boat now gently rocked on the waters, moving with the tide.
Nikika opened her eyes and looked at her little girl. Wrapped in a bundle of all the clothes she owned, the girl was asleep. Like the rest of the boat, she smelled a mixture of sweat, vomit, blood and hopelessness.
It was a miracle that the girl was still alive. More than twenty people
had died since they left the shores of Morocco. Their bodies sadly and silently
dropped into the ocean, to make the boat lighter. No one had mourned; they
would mourn when they reached their
destination.
Nikika had wanted to get to Europe so badly that she thought she could have sacrificed her life for it. Now, she wanted to go back to her country. She wanted to face poverty and make something out of her life. She wanted to go back to her daughter's father. She was ready to take the beatings, sleep hungry and work like a donkey if that what was needed for her daughter to live. She wanted to go back and die in her father's mud thatched house.
Her lips were dry and cracked. Blood had clout in between the cracks and it hurt when she opened her mouth. Her throat was dry and hot; she thought a burning coal was in there. She had prayed to Jesus and the Virgin. When her prayers failed, she prayed to her ancestors, then to Allah and at last to the spirits of the sea.
She wished, hoped and made vows like never before. When the boat nearly capsized, she cried for what she thought was the last time, holding her girl. When her sister could no longer hold on, Nikika did not cry. She watched her struggle, watched her drown and swore that will not happen to her daughter as long as she lived.
Nikika's fingers were numb, her eyes blood shot and she was a skeleton of her former self. She felt more dead than alive. She couldn't remember how long they had sailed but she could remember every face of the dead ones. She recalled the rising winds, the biting force of the water on the boat and the fear that rose among them like a mountain on a plain. The wails of those who fell aboard, the helplessness state she felt as she watched them try to swim, stretching their hands out.
She could not stop looking and she saw it all. They went down after a short while, came up and made the last effort to live before the angry ocean swallowed them.
She watched the trail of blood that followed the boats as sharks feasted on the dead. She turned and looked at the remaining seven people on the boat. They were all asleep. Tired of trying to fight against the forces of nature. They were all ready to embrace death. They slept, waiting for it, praying for it.
She raised her head up and looked at the wide expanse of the ocean. Her head ached, her neck pained when she moved it. She stretched as she looked. At the edges of the horizon, the night seemed grey. She gently rubbed her eyes in disbelief and quickly removed her hands when she felt the salt penetrate the eyelids. The pain was forgotten as her breathing became rapid.
No, she thought. It couldn't be land. Could it? She sat up and looked hard in the night. She saw lights. She screamed with joy. The others woke up, startled. Nikika was pointing and screaming 'land' over and over again. She picked up her girl and hugged her so tight that the six year old started crying. They all looked where she pointed. Then, they all started speaking at the same time while hugging each other in joy.
The boat tilted dangerously. They stopped their sudden movements and silence once again reigned in the boat. An old man picked up an oar. Nikika looked at him, put down her daughter and picked another oar. The others followed suit. They started rowing, slowly towards the lights. The little girl looked at the lights unimpressed and sighed. She looked at the excited adults in wonder and went back to sleep.
The boat slowly crawled on the water but they paddled. Nikika's every muscle ached, she felt as though her body would disintegrate but she still rowed. The old man started humming a tune.
'Nkala, nkala sallah
Luka ole ntala lah'
'Trouble, trouble everywhere
God, please look at me now.'
A younger man started singing the song. His voice was soft, like the sound of a flute, it soothed away the pains and brought tears to her eyes. As he raised his voice, their speed slowly increased and tears flowed freely. They cried for the dead, the hardships they endured. They cried for yesterday and tomorrow.
'Luka ole ntala lah,
Poleh koha aha'
'God, please look at me now,
I am coming home soon'
Their spirits rose with every row, their pains seemed less with every centimeter gained. They rowed as they hummed the chorus.
'Luka ole ntala lah,
Ole ntala lah'
'God, please look at me now,
Please look at me now.'
Morris Mwavizo Msavia is a Tanzanian journalist and creative writer living and working in Dar Es Salaam. [ed.]
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DYING TO LEAVE
by
Michele Gibbs
As a new century begins
the global shadow is long;
not round:
its shape consisting
of human cargo.
Children cast adrift.
Boats containing
cadavers of hope.
drowning birds of passage
submerged in hostile waters
never meant to hold them up.
For these homeless, no sanctuary.
Smuggled lives
mugged dreams
paid for in blood
flood borderlines that bulge:
packed to the cracking point
crowded with eager seekers.
But there is room for you to join the flow.
Just trade in your past
for someone else’s future.
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To view the Spring 2006 Gallery, click HERE
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