Take Action Archives

Calls to Action

• Bomb blasts in Algeria
  A call from concerned Algerian citizens to citizens' organizations, progressive parties and unions in Europe
  http://www.siawi.org/
  Today December 11, 2007, Algiers was devastated by two bomb blasts. The first reports claim 26 dead and 177 wounded. According to press reports, Al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for these attacks.
  After a decade of murder and terror in the nineties that made 200,000 victims, the Algerian people are exhausted. Yet this new escalation in violence is no surprise to us. In spite - or because - of the blanket amnesty officially labeled a 'reconciliation' policy  - i.e. an overall presidential pardon granted without even establishing facts and responsibilities -, Islamic armed groups never surrendered arms, and 'pardoned' perpetrators paraded in villages, threatening  their opponents and the survivors of their atrocities again, forbidding music, controlling 'morality' and imposing gender apartheid.
  For a long time, in Algeria as well as in other Muslim countries,  European and North American governments led by their interest in gas entertained the most ambiguous relations with the extreme right political forces working under the cover of Islam.
  But for a long time too, the vast majority of progressive parties and organizations in Europe and North America, as well as progressives in Asia and Africa and the anti globalization movement, refused to  distance  themselves from these same extreme right forces, under the pretext of defending the rights of the oppressed.
  We are numerous, in Algeria as well as in other Muslim countries and in the North African diaspora, to oppose the theocratic project of Islamic armed groups (i.e. the law of God as interpreted by extreme right religious forces), and to stand for a secular republic (i.e. the laws of the people that can be changed by the will and vote of the people). But we fought this battle virtually without support from  those in the international community who should have been our allies.
  On the eve of yet another battle against theocratic extreme right Islamic armed groups in Algeria, we call on citizens' organizations, progressive parties and unions, human rights groups and all concerned citizens in Europe and beyond, to extend direct immediate and sustained political support to all progressive forces, parties, unions, people's organizations, and women's organizations working for a secular republic in Algeria.
  Reach out to these forces, network with them, exchange with them. They/we need support and visibility.
  It is an illusion to think that this theocratic project will stop at your borders. Supporting those who are on the front line ultimately serves the interest of democratic freedom in the world.
  
  First signatories:
  SIAWI, Secularism Is A Women's Issue (siawi.org)
  Marieme Helie Lucas, Founder of WLUML, coordinator SIAWI, Montpellier
  Hakim Arabdiou, Paris
  Selim Ducos, Paris
  Lalia Ducos,women human rights defender, Paris
  Cherifa Kheddar, president Djazairouna, Blida
  Amir Rezzoug, photographe, Marseille
  Saleha Larab, journalist, Alger
  Samia Allalou, journalist, Paris
  Mohamed Ali Allalou, animateur radio, Paris
  Aziz Smati, film director, Paris
  Karima Bennoune, Associate Professor Rutgers School of Law, Newark
  Malika Zouba, journalist, Paris
  Mohamed Sifaoui, journalist, Paris
  Asma Guenifi, psychologist, Paris
• Women's Coalition Demands G-8 Action on Violence Against Women
  The 2007 G8 Summit is scheduled for June 6-8, in Germany, the country holding the current presidency of the G8. Chancellor Merkel and her Minister of International Development, Heidi Wieczorek-Zeul, have indicated their intention to raise issues of gender discrimination and disparities as integral to G8 funding commitments to addressing HIV&AIDS. The Women Won't Wait campaign calls on the G-8 to go beyond rhetoric and to commit substantial resources to efforts aimed at responding to, addressing, and eventually ending violence against women and girls, as an epidemic in and of itself and as a major driver in the HIV and AIDS epidemic. The following call to action is directed toward the G8 countries on the eve of the Heiligendamm Summit. Women Won't Wait to the G8
• Sign the global petition to support UN Special Procedures!
  The petition below has been launched by a number of human rights organizations and is intended to show support for the people who work within the UN system who are "Special Rapporteurs" and members of working groups that focus on certain issues and countries. The rapporteurs are "independent experts" and many have been instrumental in making advances in areas of women's human rights, human rights defenders, health and sexual rights. Certain States are trying to weaken or eliminate their mandates. We believe that a strong system of Special Procedures is necessary within the UN, and in the Human Rights Council, to ensure advances in the human rights framework and protection of gains already made. To read more about the petition, visit the petition website at http://www.actforspecialprocedures.org.

Women Respond to War in Iraq

• Sexual Domination in Uniform: An American Value by Linda Burnham, WCRC Executive Director http://www.coloredgirls.org
• One Year Later: Women’s Human Rights in “Liberated” Iraq (MADRE) http://www.madre.org
• The Women's International Coalition for Economic Justice (WICEJ), made up of 40 women's organizations in 22 countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Pacific, North America and Europe, brings together women engaged with the issues of economic justice and globalization, trade, women's rights, human rights, immigrant rights, indigenous rights, peace & security, and anti-racism. WICEJ works to link gender with macro-economic policy in both inter-governmental policy-making arenas and within social movements. WICEJ utilizes an integrated feminist analysis which links the multiplicity of systems that oppress women and recognizes the diversity of women's experience. The Center for Women's Global Leadership is a member of WICEJ. Women's International Coalition for Economic Justice Opposes Attack on Iraq, and War on Many Fronts, March 25, 2003 http://www.wicej.addr.com/antiwar.html
• Statement from participants at the AWID International Forum on Women's Rights and Development, October 3 - 6, 2002, Guadalajara, Mexico:
  
  We the undersigned who are gathered at the AWID international conference in Guadalajara Mexico are united against the proposed United States led aggression against Iraq which is contrary to international law and violates fundamental human rights.
  
  We come from more than 100 countries from all regions of the world and work for women's human rights and development. We express our concerns and those of our constituencies who are alarmed by and opposed to the increased militarization of the United State and other governments around the world.
  
  We urge the United States to immediately desist in its polices of military and economic aggression and to collaborate with the international community to promote peace, human rights and economic justice.
  
  For Spanish and French version, see http://www.awid.org/go.php?pg=forum9_antiwar&theme=forum
  
• Whose Security? by Charlotte Bunch, published in the September 23, 2002 issue of The Nation
• Women of Color Resource Center: Raising Our Voices for Peace and Justice, 10 Reasons Why Women Should Oppose the US "War on Terrorism"
• Women Say No to War, WEDO http://www.wedo.org
• International A.N.S.W.E.R. http://internationalanswer.org
• United for Peace & Justice http://www.unitedforpeace.org
• New Yorkers Say No To War http://www.nysaynotowar.org
• Code Pink http://www.codepink4peace.org
• American Friends Service Committee http://afsc.org/iraq