Women's Views on News |
- Grans and mums move against fracking
- Prostituted women are not ‘sex workers’
- Cycle lanes don’t need to be gendered
| Grans and mums move against fracking Posted: 07 Aug 2014 05:05 AM PDT
At 5am this morning a team of around 25 grandmothers, mothers and others from the Blackpool area set up a protection camp in a field earmarked for development by shale gas industry operators Cuadrilla. They said that they had, over the past three years, tried all lawful methods available to them to stop 'fracking' and this action was now a matter of necessity. Cuadrilla has applied for planning permission for access roads on the field off Preston New Road to enable the building of the drilling rig and wants Lancashire County Council (LCC) to grant permission. Some 5000 letters objecting to the planning application have been handed into the council offices in Preston by others from the Frack Free Lancashire coalition of local anti-fracking groups. A spokesperson said a further 10,000 would be delivered over the coming weeks. A spokesperson from the group said: "There has been massive growth in resistance here in Lancashire as well as across the UK and despite this, our government continues to push for fracking. "We have done our research, spoken to those living in places across the world where fracking has already caused untold harm and come to the conclusion that this is an industry we will not have near our families. "We don't do this lightly, it is an awful thing to have to do but it is now a matter of self-defence." When asked how long they intended to stay, the spokesperson said: "We wanted to be sure that whilst LCC considers the Cuadrilla request, that they consider what we want too, as mothers and grandmothers who worry for the safety of the next generations as well as our own. "We will have a week to further raise awareness and will be offering tea and cake to visitors as well as a wealth of important and honest information about what living in a shale gas area would be like. "Then we will join with the Reclaim the Power camp in their actions." This action comes exactly one week before the event by national group 'Reclaim the Power' who plan to bring over 1000 people to camp somewhere (not yet confirmed) in the Blackpool area in order to support local groups. The Reclaim the Power camp will run from 14-20 August, and hold workshops and training as well as a day of direct action targeting Cuadrilla and its partners. "We have no defined end-date and are using a 'Section 6' to hold the space we have taken (as security guards have done on behalf of Cuadrilla just a few fields away – setting the precedent) as well as a '144 Disclaimer' to ensure we continue to act within the law," the spokesperson added. Others in the group include women from Garstang Against Fracking, Frack Free Fylde, Fleetwood Folk Say No To Fracking, Residents' Action on Fylde Fracking, Longridge Against Fracking, Keep East Lancashire Frack Free, Thornton Unites against Fylde Fracking, Frack Free Blackpool, Frack Free Creators – Knitting Nannas Lancashire, as well as residents from nearby the proposed site. Some of those participating had this to say when asked what led them to being a part of this action: Karen, a Fylde resident, said: "I was excited by the thought of jobs and prosperity coming to Blackpool until I learned about the short-term nature of shale gas and I came to see we were being sold a con about “lower energy prices”, “energy security”, “long-term employment”. "We are being sold a brief boom and bust, with nasty long-term consequences. We need permanent solutions to our energy supply and use, not this get-rich-quick then get-the-hell-out industry." Tina, of Residents' Action on Fylde Fracking, said: "The shale gas industry and Cuadrilla in particular have not acted honestly in their dealings with our community and are not to be trusted with the health and well-being of our children. "We do not want them here and so are gathering to make sure we are heard and we are calling others to help us amplify this. "As air and water do not recognise county boundaries, the defence is for everybody in the UK." Anjie, of Fleetwood Folk Say No Fracking, said: "This isn't the wide open planes of anywhere, it's heavily populated Lancashire; this industry has been banned in many places across the world including Europe – what do they know that our government isn't listening to?" And her colleague Ros said: "I feel very strongly about the health impacts and that they're wanting to pump toxic chemicals into the earth and bring up radioactive matter. "I do not want to live in an industrial wasteland where air and water are at risk." While Ginette, also of Fleetwood Folk Say No Fracking, said: "I vividly remember the earthquake of 2011 that I thought was an explosion. "Since then I have found out the real reason it happened and it needs to be stopped." Hilary, of Keep East Lancashire Frack Free, said: "There's a lot of reasons to be here and do this. Basically we've taken this situation for too long and enough is enough. "We need to protect our communities and they are being misled by this industry and the government." And Janice, of Longridge Against Fracking, said: "I'd like to quote Socrates: 'When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the user' – we've seen that happen in the media, from the authorities, from the government and the industry; now our backs are against the wall and we're claiming self defence." Becky, of Frack Free Creators – Knitting Nannas Lancashire, said: "My family alerted me to the proposed shale industry coming to Blackpool. Having done my own research and attending some public meetings, I feel there are better alternatives for our future." Julie, of Residents' Action on Fylde Fracking, said: "I learned that 1 well in every 6 fails on installation and that 50 per cent fail in 5 years and over time, all wells fail so I get the distinct feeling that we could be sitting on a time bomb." And Gayzer, of Frack Free Fylde, said: "Ask yourself this question: Can something that turns fresh water into toxic waste be a good thing?" Cheryl, of Fleetwood Folk Say No Fracking, said: "I want to see my children and future grandchildren enjoying a safe and clean environment." Mica, Cheryl's daughter, said: "I teach English in China and have first-hand experience of industrialisation and the devastating effects it has. "I don't want England to get like China is where you can't get water from the tap and have to buy bottled water." And Bex, of Fleetwood Folk Say No Fracking, said: "I grew up here on the Fylde Coast, my children grew up here and no-one is listening – I need my grandchildren to now be able to grow up in a clean, safe environment. This is my obligation as a grandmother."  |
| Prostituted women are not ‘sex workers’ Posted: 07 Aug 2014 04:10 AM PDT
We the undersigned – victims and survivors of prostitution, women's groups representing marginalized communities of caste, class and ethnicity, and anti-trafficking organizations representing those trapped in bonded labor and other forms of servitude - would like UN Women to circulate a new note on sex trafficking and prostitution recognizing the realities of our lives. 1. We do not want to be called 'sex workers' but prostituted women and children, as we can never accept our exploitation as 'work'. We think that the attempts in UN documents to call us "sex workers" legitimizes violence against women, especially women of discriminated caste, poor men and women, and women and men from minority groups, who are the majority of the prostituted. 2. Body invasion is inherent to prostitution and cannot be legislated away. If we accept prostitution as work, the UN needs to hold consultations with all Member States and civil society representatives as it will be in contravention of UN standards defining what is accepted labour and livelihood. The nature of work should not be different for one class or caste of human beings just because they are socially and economically weaker. This would be in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 3. We want you to recognize that the majority of prostitution is an outcome of trafficking, as defined in the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, where the "abuse of a position of vulnerability" is recognized as a method of trafficking. It is our vulnerabilities that are taken advantage of to seduce, trick, coerce or force us into prostitution. These vulnerabilities are based on our caste (De-notified Tribes, Dalits, OBCs), class (families from where women and girls are mostly trafficked earn less than INR25 per day), sex (the majority of those who are prostituted are women and girls), and ethnicity (Hill Tribes). We are denied access to education, land, livelihood, capital and often to justice. Traffickers take advantage of this by offering us food, a bed, some cash, jobs, marriage, housing. Local and legal authorities that take pay-offs or free services from us often abet them. 4. We want you to recognize that our survival strategies are not a choice but an absence of choice. 5. By legitimizing prostitution as a form of 'work', delinking prostitution from trafficking, we feel that UN Women has let down marginalized girls and women, without even a proper consultation. It seems, that UN Women's policies are controlled by AIDS management agencies, who want to protect male clients/Johns from disease, rather than women and girls from repeated rape by male clients. 6. We ask that UN Women advocate with other UN agencies, as the agency charged with representing the voices of women, to recognize that commercial rape is the same as non-commercial rape and to remove all demands advocating for decriminalizing pimping and brothel-keeping. We want an end to impunity for all those who take advantage of our vulnerabilities to sexually exploit us. We want them to be held accountable and we want laws that penalize and punish them. By calling for the decriminalization of pimping, UN agencies are effectively helping the sex-industry and impeding our access to justice. We want UN Women to stand by agreed upon international conventions and protocols, including: 1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 4. The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 (CEDAW) To retreat from these protocols would be illegal and unethical. We therefore ask UN Women to circulate a revised note calling for more gender sensitive language in all UN documents, recognizing and promoting the rights of girls and women from lower caste, minorities and other marginalized groups. In particular: 1. We request that UN Women changes the word 'sex worker' in all documents to 'victims and survivors of prostitution' or 'prostituted women and children'. 2. We request that UN Women acknowledges that the majority of prostitution is an outcome of trafficking and calls upon all states and UN agencies to reduce the vulnerabilities of women and girls that make them easy prey for traffickers. As citizens of countries including India, Nepal and Bangladesh we are surprised that UN Women could issue a note without consulting Member States or Civil Society representatives. Both the note and its subsequent clarification contradict international law, as detailed in the conventions and protocols mentioned above . Please support us and sign our petition. Thank you.  |
| Cycle lanes don’t need to be gendered Posted: 07 Aug 2014 01:09 AM PDT
Former Labour MP Meg Hillier has called for separate lanes for slower cyclists to “pootle” in. While Hillier, a former Home Office minister, didn’t specifically mention women in that statement, she went on to say: “One of the big things is also that women don't want the "muck sweat" of cycling.” This would imply that, at least in her mind, women are automatically the slower riders (or not riders at all) for fear of getting their work clothes dirty. One wonders what men who wear suits do to cope in Hillier’s version of events. In principle, pootle lanes are a good idea – there’s no reason for cyclists to all want to stay at the same speed, and the current cycle lanes can be frustrating for those who are faster, and intimidating for those who prefer to ride more slowly. However, assuming that all the slower cyclists are women and the faster ones are men plays into the stereotype that women in general are less into sport. This ties in with an MP’s report that suggests girls are put off sport by PE, citing that only 30 per cent of women play sport once a week – though completely ignoring that the figure is only 10 per cent higher for men. If you reverse the figures, you find that the vast majority of men and of women do not play sport every week. Perhaps they have all been put off by school PE lessons. Both instances are cases of seeing what you want to see, as well as the unnecessary gendering of bizarre things like cycle lanes. If Hillier wants slow lanes for cyclists, she can go ahead – but leave gender out of it.  |
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