Women's Views on News |
- Women’s Freedom Conference: online
- The state can spy on MPs: no more Wilson doctrine
- Gay marriage vote in Northern Ireland
| Women’s Freedom Conference: online Posted: 22 Oct 2015 10:07 AM PDT
The 2015 Women's Freedom Conference, the first all-digital, online conference organised by and featuring women of colour from around the world, will take place on 25 October 2015. This innovative conference will centre and amplify the unique voices and experiences of underrepresented women who have been disenfranchised beyond gender alone – women of colour whose identities are intersectional and whose womanhood is shaped and defined along those intersections. And in partnership with Black Star Media, the Conference aims to usher in a new era of conferencing that provides more access to quality content to more people around the world. “We at BSMdotCo are honoured to partner with the inaugural Women's Freedom Conference,” Kortney Ziegler, co-founder of Black Star Media, said. “As advocates for gender equity through the use of technology, we support the work of so many women that inspire us professionally and personally.” With over 25 dynamic speakers representing five continents, the Women's Freedom Conference will centre Women of Colour's successes, concerns, work, activism, and existence as vital contributors to making the world a better place. Conference ‘attendees’ will be able to access all of the content from their home computers and other such devices. This include presentations from women of colour discussing topics including diversity in technology fields, sustainability, using art for activism, mental health, movement-building, and the impact of colonisation on women of colour around the world. Content will be transcribed for the hearing-impaired and translated into Spanish, French, and Chinese. The conference is entirely digital, but the evening keynote speech, which will be delivered by Lourdes Hunter, the director and co-founder of the Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC), will be presented live in New York City ase well as being streamed globally. Featured speakers include: Jemele Hill, ESPN sports journalist, co-host of "His & Hers Show"; Majora Carter, Majora Carter Group; Bassey Ikpi, poet and mental health advocate; Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani, HuffPost Live; Tiffany Yu, REVOLT TV; Kathryn Finney, founder, digitalundivided; L. Joy Williams, political strategist and NAACP chapter president (Brooklyn); Feminista Jones, BlogHer, Inc./ SheKnows Media – and Lourdes Hunter, founder and director, Trans Women of Color Collective. The majority of the content remains free thanks in large part to generous sponsors, public support, and in-kind donations. Elisa Camahort Page, Chief Community Officer with one of the sponsors, SheKnows Media, said: “SheKnows Media's mission is to facilitate women inspiring women. “We manifest this mission by shining a light on women's voices, particularly those voices that have not often or easily taken centre stage. Supporting the many women in our community who are taking on entrepreneurial endeavours, whether to advance a cause, a brilliant product idea, or their own unique voice and point of view. “The Women's Freedom Conference, and its mission to centre the voices of women of colour, is exactly the kind of initiative that we look to support, and we're proud to be a part of their inaugural event.” Attendees can register to access free content, purchase access to two educational webinars, or purchase tickets for the live keynote address being held at The New School in New York City on 25 October 2015 at 6pm EST. Registration is now open.  |
| The state can spy on MPs: no more Wilson doctrine Posted: 22 Oct 2015 09:55 AM PDT
By Maggie Chapman. There was once a scandal so big that every abuse of political power since has been named after it. It led to the indictments of 69 people and the only ever resignation of an American president. At the heart of it was a simple criminal act: a political leader using the power of the state to spy on their opponents. It was, in other words, all about surveillance. What’s interesting about Watergate is how attitudes to it have changed. As recently as the early Seventies, the idea that the government would listen-in on the conversations of its political opponents was seen as fundamentally undermining democracy; to such an extent that the most powerful man in the world was forced out of office when it transpired he’d been involved in it. Polls show that most younger Americans today, who weren’t around at the time, can’t understand what all of the fuss was about. It’s worth remembering that when you read the ruling that came from the investigatory powers tribunal last week in response to a case lodged by my Green Party colleagues Caroline Lucas and Jenny Jones. It is now, apparently, legal for GCHQ to spy on MPs and MSPs’ emails. Caroline and Jenny brought the case in the face of revelations from US whistleblower Edward Snowden, which made clear that secret police (let’s not beat about the bush) were capturing their communications. This was, they pointed out, a direct breach of "The Wilson Doctrine" – an assurance dating back to the Sixties from the then Prime Minister that MPs would not be spied on. The fact that this promise was broken is worrying. The fact that the courts have now ruled that this breach is perfectly legal is more concerning still. Part of the problem with this is a simple question of constituents’ privacy. As Caroline said last week: "My constituents have a right to know that their communications with me aren't subject to blanket surveillance – yet this ruling suggests that they have no such protection. "Parliamentarians must be a trusted source for whistleblowers and those wishing to challenge the actions of the government." This is, of course, absolutely right. But what the case gets to the heart of is something deeper, more insidious. And in order to explore why, we need to get our heads round a rather complex idea: freedom. Quentin Skinner is one of the leading living theorists of freedom. And as he puts it: "freedom… consists not in being free from coercion in respect of some action, but rather in being free from the possibility of coercion." He goes on to say: "To be free, we not only need to have no fear of interference, but no fear that there could be interference, but that latter assurance is precisely what cannot be given if we are under surveillance. "So long as surveillance is going on, we always could have our freedom of action limited if someone chose to limit it. "The fact that they may not make that choice does not make us any less free, because we are not free from surveillance and the possible uses that can be made of it. "Only when we are free from such possible invasions of our rights are we free; and this freedom can be guaranteed only when there is no surveillance." To put it another way, a toddler in a playpen may be perfectly happy. But if they cannot escape its walls, they are not free. If we cannot hide from the endless gaze of the state – and, what Edward Snowden revealed is that we pretty much can’t – then neither are we. Of course, Skinner’s chilling point applies to us all. What Snowden revealed is that we are now all being spied on as closely as were the citizens of East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall; even if through a means that is technologically updated and therefore somehow feels more distant. But we knew that already. What Caroline Lucas’ case reveals is the boundary of that ‘we’, and who gets to decide it. Because even the most ardent advocate of surveillance has to accept that who gets to do the snooping and who is snooped on is a question of trust. And in a democracy, we have a means of establishing who we, the people, trust: elections. And so if the people who we have declared at the ballot box that we trust the most – the people we have chosen to watch the state most closely for us – are instead being watched by the state, then this tells us something important. Surveillance is not a power we use to protect ourselves from some unspoken danger. It is a tool used by a particular section of society to protect itself from those who wish to peacefully replace them. It marks the hidden boundary of freedom in the play-pen that is politics in modern Britain. This may all sound very abstract. There are people in Scotland who depend on foodbanks; children growing up in poverty; jobs being lost and services being cut. But for me, I find it hard to separate these issues out. The question of who is allowed to spy on whom is a question of who has the power in our society. And the answer explains why we have such gross inequality, why people go hungry, why economic decisions are made for the wealthy and not for us all: power is becoming ever-more concentrated in the hands of a narrow elite. As a child growing up in Zimbabwe during the Cold War, I was brought up to believe that the difference between the West and the USSR was that people in the West had the privacy and the freedom to organise which is necessary for true democracy to flourish. Watergate was a scandal, but the fact that it was exposed and dealt with showed there was at least some truth to that claim, that there were limits on where the state could spy. The ruling last week shows that this is no longer true. Maggie Chapman is co-convener of the Scottish Green Party. A version of this article appeared in openDemocracy on 20 October 2015.  |
| Gay marriage vote in Northern Ireland Posted: 22 Oct 2015 02:10 AM PDT
When it comes to gay rights, Northern Ireland has been left behind: it is the only part of the UK where same-sex couples are denied the right to get married. But on 2 November the Northern Ireland Assembly will be holding a vote that could mean a move closer to equality throughout the UK. Belfast has been left behind by London, Dublin, Edinburgh and Cardiff; Northern Ireland is now alone in not enabling same-sex couples to get married. And the government also refuses to recognise such marriages conducted elsewhere. Ultimately, this means that lesbian and gay couples in Northern Ireland are being discriminated against. The law in Northern Ireland must be changed to allow civil marriage for same-sex couples – and on 2 November the Northern Ireland Assembly will debate and vote on marriage equality. The last time they did this, it lost by just two votes. Amnesty International has joined up with The Rainbow Project, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Cara-Friend, HereNI and NUS-USI to ensure that doesn't happen again. If we can make just two MLAs change their minds, we can end this discrimination. So if you write to your MLA in support of gay marriage, you could help. Although the vote for equality hasn't yet had a majority in the Assembly, it does have overwhelming support among the population of Northern Ireland: an Ipsos MORI poll from July 2015 showed that 68 per cent supported same-sex marriage, with just 28 per cent against. And this wasn't just in one section of society: there was clear majority support among both men and women, from both Catholic and Protestant community backgrounds and in all urban and rural areas of Northern Ireland. Meaning ‘no’ voting politicians are not in touch with popular opinion. They need to get up to speed and support gay rights and vote for civil marriage equality. Civil marriage equality is access to civil marriage for any two people regardless of their gender. Civil marriage is different and distinct from religious marriage: it is a state-recognised legal contract between spouses, via signing the civil marriage register. It takes place in a registry office or other non-religious venue. Churches and other places of worship will be able to continue with religious ceremonies and will not be required to conduct wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples. These rights would be protected by law. Allowing lesbian and gay people to get married will have no effect on anyone else's marriage. It is time for Northern Ireland’s politicians to vote for equality for all citizens. Let Northern Ireland's political leaders know you stand for equality – and demand they vote to allow gay marriage on 2 November. Take action: email Assembly ministers or your own MLA. You could also do so by using our campaign’s email manoeuvre. And ask your friends and family. Thanks.  |
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