Connect and the WRI Women's Congress 1992

Networks of women are working together to create a special event.  The War
Resisters International women's congress in Thailand: "Women Overcoming
Violence: Women Redefining Development and Changing Society through
Nonviolence".  It asks how women are affected by militarism and poverty, and
what initiatives women have started in order to create a better life.  The
congress will give a place for women to exchange experiences; a place where
we can work on a global sense of women's liberation; and a place where we can
give encouragement and power to each other to enrich our further work.  The
congress will be held in Thailand because we want to hear the voices of Asian
and Pacific women.  Both forms of violence are focal points of the congress:
violence from the military and militarization, and violence due to poverty. 
The congress will attempt to make linkages and will look for structural
connections among these different forms of women's oppression.
 
When women do not resign themselves to violence then resistance grows out of
it.  What forms have women developed to fight the military violence and to
decrease hunger and poverty?  On what kinds of projects for a better world do
women work?  Women and women's groups from as many parts of the world as
possible will be given the opportunity to describe their situation and to
tell about their experience.
 
Groups who want to feed into the conference can contact CONNECT in Australia.
Apart from finding women who wish to attend the congress and raising funds
for their expenses, CONNECT also wants to strengthen the links between women
in this region, building on existing networks and initiating discussion and
sharing of experiences about these important issues as an end in itself.  We
hope to create opportunities for women who are unable to attend the congress
to feed into it (with videos, poster presentations, tapes etc.) and create
ways for them to get feedback afterwards.
 
For example, in Australia, we would also like to organise discussions
(mini-conferences) with the same title of the conference.  We also intend to
do some nonviolent actions around the forthcoming military trade fair, AIDEX,
which is to be held in November in Canberra.
 
CONNECT is:
* looking for women (especially those from less developed countries) who
would like to attend the conference;
* inviting groups or networks to feed into the conference by sending us a
description or summary of your work through a poster presentation, a booklet
or whatever way you think is appropriate;
* asking individuals and groups of women, "How would you redefine
'development' so that it means something positive for you and your
community?";
* asking women to put a message on cloth so that we can sew the patchwork
together and use it in our action here in Australia against militarism;
* seeking speeches from or by Asian women that we could use for our
mini-conferences in the form of a video or written.
 
We would love to hear from you if you are interested in any part of what we
are doing.  We need your ideas, experience and energy to make it all happen.
Wendy Orams and Margaret Pestorius
CONNECT  c/o 19 Murray St, West Brunswick,  Vic 3055, Australia
Tel: (03) 383 5785, Fax: (03) 6420187 Mon to Fri attention to Lee Tan, 
or (03) 8026450 Sat. and Sun. and public holidays, but not at night, please.