[asia-apec 910] women's workshop unity statement

[tpl at cheerful.com]

>3rd International Women's Conference Against APEC
>Workshop on Strategies, Gains and Challenges
>in Women's Struggle Against Globalization
>sponsored by APWLD, GABRIELA, SRED and
>Tamilnadu Women's Forum
>
>Statement of Unity
>
>We say NO to globalization! We say YES to resistance and common action!
>
>We, women representing organizations from various parts of the world, come
together to affirm our unity and commitment to be at the forefront of the
continuing struggle against globalization.
>
>We say no to economic policies wreaking havoc on the lives of people all
over the world. Women suffer the most disastrous impact of globalization as
it continues to marginalize, displace and turn millions of women into
modern-day slaves.
>
>We say no to unparalled mass lay-offs and labor flexibilization schemes
such as casualization and contractualization. Asian women have become the
cheapest source of labor as they work longer hours, are paid the lowest of
wages and subjected to miserable working conditions in and out of their
countries.
>Capitalists resort to union busting and other forms of trade union
repression and deny the workers the rights that they have gained through
years of struggle.
>
>We say no to landlessness and displacement of peasant and indigenous women
and agricultural workers. TNCs acquire vast tracts of agricultural land for
land-use and crop conversion, and governments pay lip service to genuine
land reform. Plantation and other agricultural workers get slave wages and
suffer the harshest working conditions.
>
>We say no to prostitution and sexual slavery. Extreme poverty has resulted
into graver forms of violence against women and children. Globalization has
forced women to migrate exposing them to trafficking.
>
>We say no to communalism and fundamentalism. They perpetuate patriarchal
and repressive religious, cultural and traditional norms and practices that
take us back to the medieval period.
>
>We say no to state repression against peoples' dissent and resistance. The
state, which represents not the people but the monopoly capitalists and the
local elite, use repression, terrorism and other violations of human rights
to cow and control the people. They use rape, mutilation and other forms of
sexual violence to enslave women.
>
>We say no to mainstreaming women in the neo-liberal development model.  It
only makes women a major source of cheap, docile and flexible labor for
TNCs and other foreign employers.  It obscures unemployment and under
employment. It depoliticizes the women's movement and takes women's
initiatives away from their struggle for emancipation. 
>
>We say NO to globalization! We say YES to resistance and common action!
>
>We say yes to women workers' strikes, peasant rallies, student protests,
boycotts, pickets, demonstrations, caravans and all other forms of women's
action to thwart the onslaught of globalization on women's lives.
>
>We say yes to awareness-raising, political education and mass organizing
that would  militate, expand and consolidate the fighting ranks of women
within and across nations.
>
>We say yes to the widest range of strategies and alternatives that bring
women from all oppressed sectors and classes together to share experiences,
take joint actions, struggle against all forms of discrimination and
transform our lives.
>
>We say yes to uniting and integrating women's actions with democratic,
progressive and militant peoples' movements to advance the cause of
grassroots and other women.
>
>We say yes to building a broad-based, strong and united front against
globalization and all forms of imperialist offensive against women and all
other peoples of the world.
>
>How grim the future would be under conditions of imperialist
globalization. How bright the future would be for nations and peoples
fighting for self-determination, and for women fighting for true liberation.
>
>