We have attended the 15th Forum of the global feminist network AWID!
Normally, the Forum is held quadrennially, but COVID has caused a delay, and the last Forum was held back in 2016.
Actually, we attended the forum for the second time. This time, our organization was represented by Yosh, the co-founder of the Feminist Workshop.
“I deemed the Forum a space suitable for discussing complicated topics and uniting with people from other continents, sharing our grief, anger, desperation, and disagreement.
I came to speak about Ukraine, but at first, I listened in silence, realizing that I am a white person here. I didn’t know how to say “We, too, have an ongoing war”, because not only are women from Palestine, Sudan, and Myanmar experiencing war as well, but they also lack the humanitarian support that Ukraine is receiving.
It’s a valuable experience that allows us to shift the focus from our grief to other people’s grief and reflect together on how we can keep living.
I was amazed by the fact that we were able to form a discussion circle with people from all over the world and bring new points to the table. We discussed mobilization tactics and social challenges for feminists, power dynamics within feminist organizations, and work with donors.
I changed my perspective on global framework agreements regarding women’s rights and countering violence: even though I deem them shallow in many aspects, they still form a common vocabulary and the ground for understanding for women all over the world.
“Our problems are less of developmental problems and more of existential problems. If we keep discussing it, confined in our isolated worries, they will never be solved,” said the activist from the central stage, and I couldn’t agree more.
During the war, it is tough to find the resources to empathize with women from other corner of the world. However, possibly it is precisely in this unity that we may find the answer to the end of violence.
And while we are resisting, we can learn from the Vanuatian activist how to organize the movement in the country flooded due to global warming. The Indian feminist can teach us how to resist Western well-being ideas when they take your land. And, maybe, we can also get support not only from the solidarity musings but from the power of knowledge rooted in their century-old tradition of resisting the colonizers.
In the end, as part of the solidarity action dedicated to women political prisoners, I sent a letter of support to Iryna Danylovych, imprisoned in Crimea.
And on the last day, I delivered a speech talking about the Ukrainian fight and hoping that empires shall fall”.
