The war on Iraq as well as the backlash against women’s rights were issues that marked the international agenda as well as the agenda of the International Free Women’s Foundation (IFWF) in 2003.

This year indicated once again: War always means war on women! Facing these developments, the IFWF focused its activities on strengthening initiatives for peace and defending women’s rights. Therefore the IFWF chose the fields of women’s education & empowerment and co-operation & solidarity for women’s rights as key-points for its projects in 2003.

Putting challenging issues like the ‘Effects of Violence against Women’ on its agenda, the IFWF has been trying to improve her abilities for the support of women suffering from traumata as result of violence. This issue was also one of the topics on the programme of this year’s Educational Summer-Camp for Women and Children. The experiences with summer-camps over the last 3 years, the frequent requests and the positive feedback pointed out the importance to provide more offers and facilities in this field. By setting up meetings for the establishment of a study group on research we made an attempt to arouse interest on co-operative research and scientific working among IFWF-board members, volunteers and interested women.

With local initiatives and international co-operation the IFWF intended to broaden and to delve into developing women’s positions, perspectives and activities. Besides we realised the need to strengthen the exchange and the solidarity between women’s organisations on international level with the aim to shape women’s alternatives. In this regard the Solidarity Campaign for KATAGI, the co-operation with further independent women NGO’s in Turkey and the continuing projects in the Kurdish refugee camp Maxmur/Iraq were important steps made by the IFWF in 2003. The Maxmur Committee, that has been continuing its works in support of the Maxmur Women’s Centre since Summer 2001, called for precautions concerning the security and the supply of the refugees with basic needs during the time of warfare.

Further more, with organising an international conference on ‘War, Violence and Migration’, a discussion evening on the ‘Impact of Balkenende II policies on Women’s Rights’ in Amsterdam and a workshop programmes at the European Social Forum in Paris and the BUKO-Congress in Bremen the IFWF intended also to give new impulses on the present mobilisations for peace, social justice and human rights. Therefore the IFWF participated also to a number of conferences, seminars, meetings and platforms, and was involved in the local activities of the Amsterdam Platform for Peace and the Platform Keer-het-tij, that was established to counter the right-winged tendencies in the Netherlands.

In reviewing the year 2003 we can state, that it was an eventful and moving year for the IFWF. The consolidating experiences and the raising number of volunteers gave us the courage to develop the project for a ‘Border-Crossing Education and Meeting Centre for Women’ as a result. Hereby, we hope to build up a strong and continuous basis to meet with women’s and children’s requirements on education, research, empowerment, solidarity and co-operation in the future. Making concrete steps for the realisation of this project will be the main purpose of the IFWF activities in 2004.

Last not least, we would like to express our gratitude to all the individuals and organisations that supported the activities of the IFWF – especially the Maxmur project - during the year. Namely we would like to mention the Dutch Ministry for Public Health, Charity and Sport (VWS), the National Commission for International Co-operation and Sustainable Development (NCDO), and the foundations Mama Cash and Stichting Haella, that contributed by project-funding to the realisation of our projects in 2003.

Table Of Contents

I. Education & Empowerment

• Theme-meeting on "The Effects of Violence against Women"

• Educational Summer Camp for Women and Children

• Research-Group: Women’s History

• Solidarity Campaign for Initiative for the Development of Women’s Position (KATAGI) 

• Women’s Delegation to Istanbul/Turkey in support of Gülbahar Gündüz

• "Violence Against Women in the World of War" Symposium in Istanbul/Turkey 

• "Building up a life in the desert" - Co-operation with the Women’s Centre in Maxmur / Iraq
  "War-Violence-Migration" Conference in Amsterdam

• "Globalisation Threatens the Achievements of Women’s Movements" Workshop at ESF 2003 

• "The Impact of Balkenende II policies on Women’s Rights" Discussion Evening in Amsterdam  

Call for a ‘Border-Crossing Education and Meeting Centre for Women’

Education is a fundamental human right and the basis for empowerment and creating social change. Thus, education projects promoted by the IFWF have the priority to cover groups of women and girls that do not find (sufficient) answers to their needs in existing education institutions. Since the foundation of the IFWF in 2001 especially Kurdish women living in the Netherlands and other European countries have confronted us with such an increasing request. By encouraging women to take decisions for themselves, to raise new issues, and create lasting and meaningful changes in their lives progressive developments spread in their surrounding. Through the experiences we gained with our educational projects so far, we noticed, that empowering women to carry their lives in their own hands has also an important influence on their families and communities.

Theme-meeting on "The Effects of Violence against Women"

Violence against women has many forms and knows no border in sense of age, ability, and cultural, economic or religious background. But all acts of violence have destructive and painful results for everyone involved, including families, communities, and society. Although it is important to develop strategies that aim at ending any kind of violence, we cannot ignore its present effects on women. Aiming at the empowerment of women and strengthening the role of women within society, along with the activities of the IFWF during the last three years the need became obvious to maintain appropriate support for women who suffer from the effects of violence and traumatic experiences. Hereby we have to take further steps to break with the silence around an issue that is still a taboo in many communities. Against this background the IFWF organised a two-days theme-meeting on "The effects of violence against women" for board-members, volunteers and members of the foundation on February 1^st and 2^nd 2003 in Amsterdam. It was prepared as the second part of a project intending to strengthen the internal organisation of the IFWF, which was funded by the Dutch Ministry for Public Health, Charity and Sport (Ministerie VWS).

The seminars which dealt with the effects of violence on the lives and the personalities of women were prepared and guided by the psychiatrist Dr Isik Iscanli of BAVO/RNO Rotterdam and Serpil Dogan, a psychologist from the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey. Because of the fact that most of the volunteers and the women taking part in the activities of the IFWF are from Turkey and other countries in the Middle East, the program prepared with the speakers dealt mainly with the social situation and the experiences with violence of women from this region.

During the meetings the following two subjects took a central position:

• The influence of violence within the family and society and the role of the state.

• Organisations and foundations, which can provide refuge for the women, giving them help and medical care.

The meetings were attended by 18 women. Apart from the lectures, which were given by the expert speakers, there were question and discussion sessions to give the meetings more depth.

The planned program for the first day was aimed mainly at encouraging discussions about the social taboo subject of "Violence against Women" among the volunteers of the IFWF and to pass on the scientific expert information on the subject. On the second day the experiences of different organisations and aid programmes, which deal with, the victims of violence was passed on. The aim was to create new inspiration for the future plans of the IFWF and that the necessary knowledge would become available to work together in a structural way with other professional organisations and institutions. The thought behind this was that this would make it possible to give quicker and better guidance to women with traumatic experiences.

The conclusions of the lectures can be summarised as follows:

The knowledge collected by the participants over the two days resulted in new approaches towards subjects like "violence" and "illness" which in most cases were seen by the women as their "personal fate". An important result of the discussions was that the causes of violence and psychological illness were placed within the context of repressive structures both within society and within the family, without losing sight of the individual situation and the wishes of the victim. While some women had the opportunity for the first time to say something about their personal experiences, and the way they had been affected, the weekend seminar also provided important pointers for giving mutual support in dealing with experiences of violence and taking in expert knowledge about how to deal with traumatised women.

Many women from the ethnic minorities in the Netherlands, especially Kurdish and Turkish women are living in isolation. Often this is the result of social reality, which is part of their background. Because of this reality a feeling of loneliness and isolation from the outside world develops. The result is that women involved lose their self-confidence and their feeling of security. To take these women out of their loneliness and isolation, and to encourage them to participate in society the IFWF has organised Summer Camps for Women and Children during the past three years. The third summer camp of the IFWF took place between August 24^th and 31^st, 2004 in Vledder in the province of Drenthe.

The camp was for both, women and children, together because in many cases women cannot participate in social and cultural activities due to the lack of child-care. To prevent this from becoming an obstacle we decided to include children in our program. In total 40 women and children participated. We had set up parallel programs for women and children to ensure that the different needs were met. The program opened with an introduction round, followed by some stocktaking of the expectations of the participants. The program consisted of seminars on women’s history, paediatrics, psychology, healthy nutrition and self-defence courses. In addition cultural activities were offered by forming of choir, theatre and folklore groups among the participants as well as a workshop on silk-painting. Hereby the participants were given the opportunity to discover their talents and creativity.

With a comprehensive seminar programme we aimed at covering all parts of women’s lives and relating them to one another.

Women’s history: The IFWF chairwomen Gönül Kaya held seminar on women’s history. She linked up women with their own history to show women’s role in creating civilisations and societies. At the same time she drew attention to the roots of patriarchal mentality and common sources of many problems women face today. She mentioned, that understanding our past gives us also the opportunity to realise the present situation and to find more effective solutions for solving problems. By the means of this topic it was an aim to realise, that oppression and domestic violence are not a women’s "destiny", which also gives the option to women to (re-)gain their self-confidence.

Paediatrics: the experienced paediatrician Ayten Adlim gave this seminar. In this seminar we took a look at the relationship between mother and child; on the existing problems and on how mother-child relationships can be deepened. Special attention was paid to children who grow up between two cultures, how it effects the relationship between parents and child, and what can be done to raise children in a healthy way, without punishment. The experiences of the mothers contributed to a lively discussion. The mothers tried some new methods of dealing with children and solving conflicts successfully during the time at the summer camp.

Healthy nutrition: The nutrition-expert and alternative healer Dr Havva Korkmaz gave a workshop. During the workshop information was given about healthy eating, on how to improve mind and body, including information about vitamins and minerals and their functions for the body. The theoretical knowledge was combined with practical exercises.

Psychology: Women who are forced to flee from war and oppression in their country usually live in isolation. One of the reasons is that they are not familiar with their new surroundings, habits and language. The social contacts of refugee and migrant women with the outside world are often limited. This situation is worsened by the widespread domestic violence. The feeling of loneliness and helplessness can have serious effects for their mental state. In some cases this has lead to sever psychological problems, and even suicides. The psychiatrist Dr Isik Iscanli offered a workshop on these questions, looking at the psychological effects of (forced) migration on women and the effects of domestic violence on women and children. Intensive discussions were led in small circles, where personal questions and problems could be raised.

Multicultural exchange: To give the Kurdish and Turkish women the opportunity to meet women from other communities living in the Netherlands and to introduce the different cultures and realities to one another we organised a day of multicultural exchange. While representatives from the women’s group ‘Pinaysa Holland’ described the situation of Philippine women in their home country and in the exile, while Dutch and German women gave an introduction on the past and present of women’s emancipation struggles in Europe. Although translation was required during the session, the exciting dialogs during the day made clear that communication needs more the wish for interaction than language skills.

Self-defence: During the time of the summer camp workshops on self-defence were offered to women and girls during the time of the camp. Two Wen-Do trainers gave an introduction to the aim and methods of Wen-Do, a women’s self-defence category that has been developed by women for women in order to protect themselves against any kind of violence. The workshop attracted the interest of many participants.

Children’s Program: For the children the whole time was fully booked with different games, sports, horse riding, painting and creativity. The children were divided up in different age groups to ensure that the child-care meets with their needs and interests. A theatre group was busy with preparations for a theatre play, which the performed at the cultural event before returning home. Although many children did not know any of the other children beforehand, new friendships were built up quickly.

Conclusion: The weeklong women’s and children summer camp was concluded on the final night with a cultural program. On the last day the participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire to gain an overview on the women’s impressions, the result of our work and suggestions for future IFWF-activities. From the questionnaires we were able to conclude that in general the participants were satisfied with the summer camp and the offered programme. Many of the participants indicated that such activities should be organised more frequently and in different areas. Mothers expressed the wish to add language course in the Kurdish mother-tongue for their children to the programme.

As IFWF we can state, that the developments we experienced with the preparation and organisation of our third Summer Camp – for which we unfortunately could not find any funding – encouraged us to proceed with activities in this direction. Nevertheless we were able to realise this project though the active support of many volunteers and the contributions by the participants themselves. The small, but precious steps that women made in their personal development during the time of the camp; seeing the requirement for socialising, mutual support, understanding and learning so obvious pointed out the need for permanent space, where women can create these opportunities.

In the beginning of 2003 the IFWF decided to set up a research-group. Starting with the issue "women’s history in the development of humankind" we organised a study group, in which IFWF-board members, volunteers and other interested women, living in the Netherlands and Germany, took an active part. It was our aim to promote co-operative research and scientific working under the umbrella of the IFWF. So far three meetings of the study group have been carried out. At the first meeting a discussion was led on scientific methodology, and alternative methods of learning and teaching. All participants contributed in this discussion to develop a common approach towards the aim and function of the study group.

Hereby we wanted to question the influence of historical developments on women’s lives today: Connecting history to sociology, to our daily lives – looking for a multidisciplinary approach, in a language that everyone can understand and in a way that everyone can relate to was our vision. We were curious to examine, in which ways still traits of a matriarchal culture, its influence on creativity, mind and feelings can be realised in nowadays living and societies.

Lectures on the ‘definition of history’, ‘the role of history writing’ and ‘methodology of scientific research’ prepared by a student of the archaeology department of the Cologne University/Germany contributed to the advancement of the discussions. Another important experience in this context was the participation of the IFWF-board member, Leyla Boran, to the World Congress for Matriarchy Research "Society in Balance" taking place in Luxembourg from September 5^th to 7^th, 2003. It gave an opportunity for a rich exchange with researchers involved in the modern matriarchy research from all over the world.

Although in the end of 2003 due to some technical reasons we had to intermit the programme of the research group, this experiment arose great interest and inspiring discussions, which should be continued in the future works of the IFWF.

Along the topics War, Violence and Migration the IFWF tried in the year 2003 to develop a more intense dialogue and co-operation with women’s organisations, NGO’s and individuals. For that reason we chose these terms also as the headline of our first international conference, that we realised in may, 2003. The relation of these subjects to the violation of women’s rights, and their relation to emancipation struggles made us look simultaneously more closely at the present situation of women’s rights. The developments in Turkey and Iraq and the close link of IFWF to the region due to the Middle Eastern background of many women, who are active in our works made us concentrate on continuing our projects and broadening our activities the framework of co-operation and solidarity for women’s rights in these two countries.

These subjects along with the policies in European countries targeting at the withdrawal of rights that have been gained through the struggles of women’s movements during the last decades were important working-fields of the IFWF in 2003. Some small, but important steps have been made to stimulate boarder-crossing dialogues, co-operation and solidarity for women’s rights through transnational engagement and local initiatives.

Solidarity Campaign for Initiative for the Development of Women’s Position (KATAGI) in Turkey

Since the establishment of the IFWF an important focus of our activities has been the support for women and women’s initiatives that are engaged in the process for democracy, emancipation and peace in Turkey. The Solidarity Campaign for the Women's Initiative KATAGI from Turkey, which we launched in Spring 2003, was a part of it. 

The IFWF supported the realisation of this campaign and a project for education in the Kurdish mother-tongue through a series of events in the Netherlands in the framework of a Matra/KPA program, subsidised by the NCDO (Nationale Commissie voor Internationale Samenwerking en Duurzame Ontwikkeling). Hereby it was also an aim to inform the European public about the cultural, social and political developments in the EU-membership candidate Turkey from the perspective of women. More than 1.200 women, representatives of the media and local NGO’s attended to the cultural events and panel discussions participated by KATAGI activists Berivan Kum and Yeşim Başaran.

In June 2003, shortly after the completion of the IFWF-solidarity campaign for KATAGI, the Human Rights Association (IHD) Istanbul reports on two alarming events exemplifying the urged need for awareness and the support of women in the democratisation movement in Turkey: On 14 June 2003 Gülbahar Gündüz, an executive member of the Women’s Section of the Democratic People’s Party DEHAP Istanbul, was abducted from the street, blindfolded, raped and tortured by four men identifying themselves as police officers. Only two days later a more than hundred women were arrested in Bingöl, when they tried to set up a peace-table. An eyewitness from KATAGI stated afterwards: "In Bingöl, where we went representing 39 NGO’s, we couldn’t express ourselves. We went there to say ‘For a world without violence, where everyone feels safe, let’s discuss how to make peace and get the violence out of our lives’; we couldn’t let the inhabitants of Bingöl hear us. Although we tried to repeat our declaration we made before in Istanbul, Adana, Diyarbakir, and Ankara, we were taken under custody by force. They beat us saying ‘This is Bingöl, the laws you know are not valid here’. (...) Now, 125 women will be taken to the trial on 7 November 2003 in Bingöl for their attempt to set up a symbolic table and call for a peace-dialogue. We are charged with ‘breaking the law of assembly and demonstration’. We see this as a small but worth following case important for our aim to overcome the militarist practices and unlawfulness in Turkey."

Women’s Delegation to Istanbul in support of Gülbahar Gündüz

In reaction to the assaults on women, the IFWF took part in organising an international women’s mission to Istanbul from June 26^th till July 1^st, 2003. This mission followed a call of Human Rights Associations and women’s initiatives in Turkey expressing their concern about sever attacks on women activists as in the case of Gülbahar Gündüz. By joining this mission women called the European public’s attention to the worrying occurrences of state repression and expressed their solidarity with women’s struggle for peace and justice in Turkey and Kurdistan.

Andrea Sturkenboom who participated to the women’s mission on behalf of the International Free Women's Movement and the Maxmur Committee reported: "Is women's struggle for peace and democracy truly that much of a threat? - The army, the police, the secret services and the numerous political parties in Turkey are bound to answer 'yes' to that question. They do pose a threat, because there are so many of them. They build networks and join forces in close co-operation and support. And even if they get arrested, tortured or even raped, they will not be silenced! (…) It is encouraging that women are getting more and more organised to actively promote change. In the past, they were all too often reduced to 'nameless, faceless victims'. However, it is equally important that Kurds and Turks join forces in their campaign for social peace. In fact, it's a dire necessity! For several decades, the Kurds in Turkey have fought for recognition, rights and respect. Many have risked their necks in this struggle and paid for it with their freedom or their lives. (…) To date, the Dutch media seems to have paid very little attention to the campaigns of the various women's organisations in Turkey. No Dutch MP has so far brought up the events in Turkey and the violence against women, more specifically against Gülbahar Gündüz in Parliament.

I joined the international women's delegation partly out of helpless indignation. But at the same time I felt motivated by an enormous respect and sympathy for Kurdish and Turkish women. From a position of virtual invisibility, they have managed to become a formidable force. Over the past years, they established several organisations, each in their own way contributing to the struggle against patriarchal oppression and other forms of repression. Many organisations and individuals have found each other in the struggle for human rights, social stability and democracy. Our encounters with Gülbahar Gündüz, the Women's Section of the DEHAP, the Women's Centres "Amargi" and "The Rainbow", with the lawyer Fatma Karataş, the Peace-Mothers and the IHD made a profound impression on me. Women spoke about their aims, their actions and their plans with great frankness. They shared with us their experiences and the problems they encountered. None of them doubted the justice of the women's struggle and the campaign for social peace.

Back in Europe, we try to give voice to the women's struggle by getting in touch with the media, with politicians and interested parties. To express my international solidarity, this is the least I, as a woman, can do."

Violence Against Women in the World of War 
- Symposium in Istanbul

The symposium under the title "Violence Against Women in a World of War" held at the Istanbul University of Science in the Taksim quarter was a lively expression of the energy of the new women’s movement in Turkey.

The event was organised by the Istanbul Women’s Platform (IWP), a democratic, multicultural platform of women’s organisations, feminist groups, individual women and women from mixed structures, such as trade unions, human rights associations and the peace movement. Aiming at keeping up with the women’s agenda, Turkey’s and the world’s agenda a representative of the IWP stressed in her opening speech, that they came together to organise women’s studies, to take political attitudes and to create sensitivity on current issues. Among the invited speakers were women representatives and activists from various movements, NGO’s and political parties from Palestine, Italy, from the Greek part of Cyprus, Britain, Germany, Armenia, Iran and all areas of Turkey to share their views and experiences. By this means more than 400 women participants gained the ability to transport their agendas related to the situation of women’s rights in Turkey across the boarders, while they could also get new inspirations by listening to the examples of women’s struggles against violence and war in different countries. Many women stated, that it was for the first time that tabooed issues like domestic violence, state-based sexual violence, heterosexism, women’s suicides, or sexist politic at the labour market and in trade unions could be dealt with so openly. On behalf of the board of the IFWF Leyla Boran reported in her speech on the situation of women immigrants and refugee women in Europe. She drew attention to the fact that the problem of domestic violence is becoming more and more dramatically due to the sexist approach and the aggravation of immigration politics in Europe. Throughout the programme the desire for discussion, exchange and expression became obvious through the attentive and lively participation of the audience. Only interrupted by the moderator pointing out the time limit, women from all ages spoke without restraint about their personal experiences and perceptions in their own language, also in Kurdish and Armenian. Saying that events like this should be organised weekly to share everything they had on their mind, the participants evaluated the symposium as an advancement in women’s politics in Turkey.

The refugee camp Maxmur is situated in the desert between Mosul and Kirkuk and has been an abode to approximately 10.500 Kurdish people from the boarder region in between Turkey and Iraq for the past five years.

In early 1994, thousands of refugees crossed the border to Northern Iraq and gathered near the border town Zakho. They had fled from their villages that were destroyed by the Turkish security forces in military operations against the Kurds. But even in the so-called "safe haven" in North Iraq, they could not find safety; military attacks and other harassment continued. The refugees had to move seven times before in 1998 the Iraqi government allowed them to stay on a place on Iraqi territory, at the edge of the desert close to the village Maxmur.

The refugees hope to return to their homes in Turkey, but this is still impossible under the present conditions in Turkey.

With the threat of a new warfare in Iraq the Maxmur Committee addressed an Open Letter to the UNHCR. 813 signers of the letter appealed for the protection of international law and human rights, the maintenance of UNHCR-protection on refugee camps and the safety of the people in the Maxmur Camp and all other civilians in the region. During the time of war and fighting the camp was left to its own destiny, isolated from the outside world. On March 25^th, 2003 an urged call for security, medical aid and food supply from a refugees’ spokesperson reached the IFWF. Transmitting the voice of the refugees to the public and media in the Netherlands we received a spontaneous and encouraging answer by the Motherhood Foundation. Preparing an aid-transport to North Iraq they agreed to send one of the trucks with basic needs to Maxmur. On May 1^st, 2003 a truckload consisting of 20-ton flour and 800 packages for mother and childcare reached the refugee camp.

Conference: War – Violence – Migration

"The pain has no homeland, no identity and no boarder", it says a poem from Suna Aras, a woman from Turkey. Looking back at the thousands of years of human history we can state clearly "women’s pain exists without any homeland, identity or boarder".

The patriarchal system uses violence systematically as a method of its own reproduction. Among the crimes against humanity that aim on maintaining this system, violence against women is one method that is adopted globally. But what do we define as violence? Our world has been burnt and destroyed by innumerable wars. And how does violence influence women, children, elderly and young people? What is its impact on the nature? Can we say that nowadays women have gained their right of self-determination and decision-making? Can we say that women do not exist as an object anymore, and that therefore the problem of violence has been solved? How does violence – that aims at demonstrating patriarchal power and dominance – influence women’s personalities and lives? What is its impact on women’s relationships and the societies as a whole? What can be solutions? What kinds of approaches for solutions women have developed? Questions like these we have asked ourselves. And we saw the necessity to meet and discuss our questions together with other women that also had to experience different forms of violence or that are investigating and searching for solutions. The first step towards the solution of a problem is to ask the right questions and to name it correctly by analysing it in its details.These thoughts were the origin for us - as women from the International Free Women’s Foundation - to organise a conference under the title "War-Violence – Migration" on 24 and 25 May 2003 in Amsterdam.

As the phenomena of war, violence and migration are related to patriarchal dominance, structures and power, it was our aim to ask: What kind of alternatives can we develop as women? What are our perspectives for solutions? In conjunction with the co-operation we enjoyed during the last two years with women's centre in Maxmur refugee camp in Iraq, it was our aim to create an international dialogue among women with different nationalities. Through these works grew the idea to organise a conference, reflecting experiences and seeking for solutions of problems that might seem different but have common sources. With the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq the need to develop global strategies for democracy, peace and justice became even more urgent. Therefore we invited representatives from a broad spectrum of women’s movements and peace initiatives – mainly from war-torn regions – to give lectures.

A rich cultural program consisting of Kurdish, Palestinian and Dutch music; Moroccan and Russian poetry; Indian dance and Flamenco and an exhibition of photographs from Maxmur completed the conference. The conference, the warm reactions and constructive discussions showed us once again the importance of international women’s solidarity. While uprooting through violence, war and forced migration aims at evoking fear, loneliness, hopelessness, alienation, disturbance of self-confidence and social relationships, we have experienced that it is in our hands to overcome this dead-end by our approaches in our lives and struggle. Therefore it has been our first step to speak out, to communicate and to share our thoughts and experiences with one another. Our second step will be to apply our answers in our work and our lives in order to build bridges to every woman who asks, "How can we free our bodies and our souls from pain?"

We thank all the individuals, voluntaries and organisations that contributed by their efforts or by funding to the realisation of this event. Namely we would like to mention the foundation Mama Cash, Stichting Haella, the Nationale Commissie voor Internationale Samenwerking en Duurzame Ontwikkeling (NCDO), Instituut voor Multiculturele Ontwikkeling FORUM and the Amsterdamse Platform Voor Vrede (APVV).

After the participation to the first European Social Forum in Florence/Italy in 2002 the IFWF decided to become actively involved in this process and to strengthen women’s perspectives within the mobilisation. Beside the attendance to the European Assembly for Women’s Rights, the IFWF organised the workshop "Globalisation Threatens the Achievements of Women’s Movements" together with the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) on November, 14^th 2003 within the framework of the general programme at the ESF 2003 in Paris. The central aim was to provide an open forum for discussion on how globalisation impacts women; how women can (re-)gain their rights as women with different identities; and how women should organise and co-operate to take advantage of the positive effects of globalisation.

Under the slogan "the personal is political", women’s movements played an important role in the fight for social, economic and political emancipation in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1990s, this struggle bore its fruit. Women’s voices were finally heard at major UN Conferences like Beijing, Cairo and Copenhagen. However, much of the relative progress made during the past three decades is now threatened by globalisation, neo-liberal policies, and a conservative backlash at the national and international levels.

Sebelan Kilic (IFWF) moderated the workshop. The speakers came from different fields of work and discussed issues that ranged from the global to the local and reflected the diversity of women’s views and struggles world-wide. Ann-Kristin Kowarsch (IFWF, The Netherlands) spoke of the negative impacts of globalisation and exhorted the audience to find strategies to counteract them. Mariana Mozdzer (WGNRR, The Netherlands) put forward the example of the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights to show how it is possible to build alliances and bridges between women of different cultures and regions. Reyhan Yalcindag (Human Rights Association IHD, Turkey) discussed the globalisation of violence and the dangers and threats faced by peace advocates and activists in Turkey. Bahar Ali (Kurdish Women’s Rights Institute, Iraq/The Netherlands) described the difficult situation that women in Iraq are going through since the Saddam Hussein regime until now, and how women’s organisations are starting to emerge. Meike Schmidt-Gleim (artist and political philosopher, Germany) brought a philosophical perspective into the discussion and addressed issues such as the homogenisation process within the women’s movement.

After the speakers’ insightful presentations, an interesting exchange of ideas followed. The relationship between the development of local and regional initiatives and global networks was one of the central topics during the discussion. Most participants considered that information sharing and the development of strong women’s networks to alert and inform each other were necessary elements in women’s strategies. Some participants remarked that it was necessary to start working in our own immediate surroundings first while others emphasised the importance of capacity building by strengthening solidarity, interaction and joint initiatives for action at the national, regional and global level. The need to challenge the understanding of freedom from a euro-centric perspective was mentioned by some participants. It was stated that due to the elusiveness of the concept of freedom in Western societies, issues like feminism or emancipation are not seen as "up-to-date" issues any more. Feminist movements have to combat this trend and be more self-assured by reflecting the "European perspective" critically. They should also contribute to the development of approaches for an emancipative education of boys and men. The gender struggle within and through the Anti-Globalisation Movement was deemed as an important field for future developments and exploration.

Most participants agreed that it is not possible to have one, homogeneous women’s movement. Young women voiced the need for the older generation of feminists to open up spaces for the younger generation to contribute to the women’s movement’s struggle. It is necessary to find strategies that will unite women in their diversity – bridging cultural, religious, age and political differences.

On 22 September 2003, almost 25,000 people gathered in Amsterdam to protest the unsocial policies of the Balkenende II government in the Netherlands. Severe cuts in public welfare expenditures including education, health, and pension among others, are drawing sharp criticism from the Dutch population. These policies affect especially the deprived and poorest sectors of society like the elderly, the homeless, the unemployed, single parents, migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, and women.

For women, these policies have led to taking the contraceptive pill out of the basic health insurance package, withdrawing government subsidies and support for women's organizations and reduced health insurance coverage for fertility treatment. The government justifies its cutbacks on these subsidies maintaining that such reproductive concerns like the use of the contraceptive pill is a woman's own private business and responsibility. These alarming trends in the government's social and economic policies are whittling away at hard-won democratic rights, including the right of women to make decisions about their reproductive health and their bodies. What are the effects of Balkenende II policies on women from different social-cultural backgrounds? What do these women think and what do they have to say about these policies?  What can women and their organizations do together to address and respond to this situation?
To develop analysis and strategies for taking concrete actions on these issues the IFWF organized a discussion evening in cooperation with Pinaysa Holland-GABRIELA (PsH-GAB) supported by Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) on 11 December 2003 in Amsterdam. During the discussions that were also followed by media-representatives women gave examples on how the policies and social cuts effected their personal situation. But instead of individual solutions the need for social responsibility was pointed out. Hereby the participants also reflected on the role of the media and social movements for building social conscious and awareness on the current developments. On one hand the participants stressed the importance to deepen research work in a comprehensive way by task groups and discussions on the issue within the own network. On the other hand it was emphasized, that a broad social debate is required in the Netherlands. Therefore women MPs, local and regional women’s organisations and civil society platforms should be approached.

The discussion evening created the opportunity for women - mainly from the Philippine, Kurdish, Turkish and other migrant communities - in Amsterdam to share their views and to develop further steps for mutual support and common actions for women’s reproductive and social rights.

• "Amsterdam Global Village" Meeting of refugee organisations in Amsterdam (28-03-2003)

• Cross-border meeting and dialogue of women movements "Black/Migrant/Refugee- and White Women/Movements in the Netherlands" in Amsterdam (10-05-2003)

• "Situation of Philippine Women in the Netherlands" Conference in Utrecht/Netherlands(17-05-2003)

• "Women’s History" Seminar in Nürnberg/Germany (25-05-2003)

• Workshop Presentation "Women’s Alternatives against War and Male Domination" at BUKO-Congress in Bremen/Germany (07/08-06-2003)

• "European Network for Peace and Human Rights" Conference by Bertrand-Russell-Peace-Foundation in Brussels/Belgium (26/27-06-2003)

• Mediterranean Social Forum in Neaples/Italy

• "Women’s Strategies for Peace in the Mediterranean" 11^th Annual AWMR Conference in Bologna/Italy (10 till 13-07-2003)

• "Onbegrensde Ontmoeting" Festival in Apeldoorn/Netherlands (21-06-2003)

• "Society in Balance" World Congress for Matriarchy Research in Luxembourg(05 till 07-09-2003)

• "Women’s Access to Health Campaign" Reception by WGNRR in Amsterdam (16/10/2003)

• European Assembly for Women’s Rights in Bobigny/France (12-11-2003)

• European Social Forum in Paris/France (13 till 15-11-2003)

• "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women" Panel at the University Bielefeld /Germany (25-11-2003)

• "Violence Against Women in the World of War" Symposium in Istanbul/Turkey(06/07-12-2003)

• Women-Networks-Meeting by Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation in Bremen/Germany(06/07-12-2003)

• Amsterdamse Platform voor Vrede

• Keer het Tijd Platform

Let’s Establish A ‘Border-Crossing Education and Meeting Centre for Women’!

As the International Free Women’s Foundation (IFWF) we are developing a new institutional project: Our aim is to contribute to an exchange and a close co-operation of women, teenagers and children from different national, cultural and social backgrounds. We wish to establish our ‘Border-Crossing Education and Meeting Centre for Women’ through the labour, strength and contributions of all women.

Within this Centre every woman with her own language, culture and social background is meant to play an active part in realising this project; contributing to discussion and decision processes. Hereby the social and cultural living together, learning form each other will gain a concrete expression. By providing different offers of further education we aim at women’s empowerment. We will improve our self-conscious by realising our abilities and developing our creativity and skills.

‘Border-Crossing Education and Meeting Centre for Women’shall be institutionalised on a farm in the countryside in the Netherlands where cultivation within a natural surrounding will be taken up. Within the Centre there will be a library, production workshops, ateliers, meeting rooms, accommodation facilities, a playground for children, sport facilities, places for the sheltering of small animals and fields for ecological cultivation.

What We Want to Do and Achieve?

By building up a ‘Border-Crossing Education and Meeting Centre for Women’ we want:

• To transform women’s creative power and energy, that has been hidden and oppressed, into the social, cultural and ecological development of the society.

• To offer further education programmes that meet with the needs of the different living realities of women. By providing language courses and seminars in the fields of health care, social science, psychology, theatre, music, arts and communication, we target on developing women’s social, cultural, intellectual, scientific and technically skills.

• To promote women’s economic independence.

• To encourage women to exchange their life experiences with women from different nationalities and give women the opportunity to develop solutions for their problems and new perspectives for their lives.

• To offer women and children from different backgrounds the opportunity to recover from the influence of depressive and suffocative surroundings in big city on their lives within a natural surrounding.

• To build on networking and co-operation in between women’s institutions and NGO’s by crossing topical and national frontiers.

• To provide infrastructures for different civil initiatives and the self organisation of women

We invite all women to participate in the realisation and development of the ‘Border-Crossing Education and Meeting Centre for Women’ according to their means and skills – in material or immaterial ways. ‘Border-Crossing Education and Meeting Centre for Women’ shall not only belong to the International Free Women’s Foundation but it shall belong to all women, but to all women who wish to take part in the social development of democratic and ecological living concepts.

The labour of women shall create the Centre. Hence each and every woman with 50, - € shall be contributing to one nail, mattress, plate or another equipment of our Centre.

Let’s Create Our ‘Border-Crossing Education and Meeting Centre for Women’ by our own means and efforts!

International Free Women’s Foundation
September 2003, Amsterdam

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International Free Women’s Foundation
Internationale Vrije Vrouwen Stichting
Weqfa Jinên Azad a Cîhanê

Willebrordusplein 10a
NL-3037 TC Rotterdam 
Tel.: 0031 (0) 465 1800
Fax: 0031 (0) 265 1460
E-mail: info@freewomensfoundation.org
Postbank Amsterdam: 62 18 545