Zapatista women enter the auditorium in a single file

“We Learn As We Go” – Zapatista Women Share Their Experiences

Zapatista women enter encuentro
On December 29 - 31 women from all five Zapatista Caracoles (centers of resistance) gathered in the community of La Garrucha, Chiapas to meet with women who had come from all around the world to hear their stories of struggling, organizing, and participating in the Zapatista movement, and to share their own experiences. It was the Tercer Encuentro de los Pueblos Zapatistas con los Pueblos del Mundo - the Third Encounter/Gathering between Zapatista Peoples and Peoples of the World.

Photo from nwhm.org

Citizen Diplomacy of Women: The New Cycle Begins

On 31 October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted unanimously Resolution 1325  (2000)  urging "Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts."  Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security was the first time that the UN Security Council acknowledged that women play a key role in promoting sustainable peace and stressed the participation of women in peace processes from the prevention of conflict, to negotiations, to post-war reconstruction and reconciliation.

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India Paper Taps Marginalized Women as Reporters

Three years ago Lakshmi Bhagel, a dishwasher earning about $2 a day, wandered through the doors of a newspaper she'd heard about from a friend. She was nervous, and though illiterate, she had reason to hope the editors might publish her story. Without hesitation the editors of Mahila Paksh--a weekly, family-run broadsheet in the central Indian city Gwalior--sat down and listened to Bhagel. They told her she could do more than talk to the editors: She could report her own story for the paper.

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Talking Dirty About Revolution in Venezuela

Sara walks into the neighborhood clinic where I am volunteering in rural Venezuela, in a municipality of less than 15,000 people situated in the Andes mountains. Besides tourism, agriculture fuels the local economy, which is dependent on small farms. Sara visited today for her checkup. She's 35 and has lived here all her life. "Before this clinic was here, I never went to the doctor," she explains.