Women Human Rights Defenders
WHRDs are self-identified women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBTQI) people and others who defend rights and are subject to gender-specific risks and threats due to their human rights work and/or as a direct consequence of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
WHRDs are subject to systematic violence and discrimination due to their identities and unyielding struggles for rights, equality and justice.
The WHRD Program collaborates with international and regional partners as well as the AWID membership to raise awareness about these risks and threats, advocate for feminist and holistic measures of protection and safety, and actively promote a culture of self-care and collective well being in our movements.
Risks and threats targeting WHRDs
WHRDs are exposed to the same types of risks that all other defenders who defend human rights, communities, and the environment face. However, they are also exposed to gender-based violence and gender-specific risks because they challenge existing gender norms within their communities and societies.
By defending rights, WHRDs are at risk of:
- Physical assault and death
- Intimidation and harassment, including in online spaces
- Judicial harassment and criminalization
- Burnout
A collaborative, holistic approach to safety
We work collaboratively with international and regional networks and our membership
- to raise awareness about human rights abuses and violations against WHRDs and the systemic violence and discrimination they experience
- to strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure more effective and timely responses to WHRDs at risk
We work to promote a holistic approach to protection which includes:
- emphasizing the importance of self-care and collective well being, and recognizing that what care and wellbeing mean may differ across cultures
- documenting the violations targeting WHRDs using a feminist intersectional perspective;
- promoting the social recognition and celebration of the work and resilience of WHRDs ; and
- building civic spaces that are conducive to dismantling structural inequalities without restrictions or obstacles
Our Actions
We aim to contribute to a safer world for WHRDs, their families and communities. We believe that action for rights and justice should not put WHRDs at risk; it should be appreciated and celebrated.
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Promoting collaboration and coordination among human rights and women’s rights organizations at the international level to strengthen responses concerning safety and wellbeing of WHRDs.
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Supporting regional networks of WHRDs and their organizations, such as the Mesoamerican Initiative for WHRDs and the WHRD Middle East and North Africa Coalition, in promoting and strengthening collective action for protection - emphasizing the establishment of solidarity and protection networks, the promotion of self-care, and advocacy and mobilization for the safety of WHRDs;
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Increasing the visibility and recognition of WHRDs and their struggles, as well as the risks that they encounter by documenting the attacks that they face, and researching, producing, and disseminating information on their struggles, strategies, and challenges:
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Mobilizing urgent responses of international solidarity for WHRDs at risk through our international and regional networks, and our active membership.
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Selection of Forum activities

For each AWID Forum we call for contributions from a wide range of feminist and social justice movements to propose activities and create the Forum program.
For the 14th AWID international Forum, we want to make the program truly representative of the diversity of the movements.
That is why we put in place a new and engaging way to choose the proposals that will generate the final Forum program: the Participatory Selection Process (PSP).
What is the Participatory Selection Process (PSP)?
The Participatory Selection Process is the final step in reviewing the activity proposals and selecting those that will be part of the official Forum program.
This is how it works:
- Activity proposals have originally been submitted via our Call for Forum Activities, open to everyone - groups and individuals - interested in presenting their feminist reality at the Forum.
- Out of all the activities submitted, AWID staff pre-selects the ones best reflecting the Forum theme and presenting a creative approach for audience engagement.
- Activities are then reviewed and short-listed by different Forum Committees to ensure a good diversity of regions, movements and ideas.
- The selected proposals are then reviewed and rated by individuals and groups whose proposals have also been short-listed. The proposals which receive the most votes from fellow candidates will become part of the final Forum program.
The whole activity selection process at a glance:
|
Step
|
Step 1: Call for Forum Activities: Application submissions |
Step 2:
|
Step 3:
|
Step 4:
|
| Timeline |
December 2019 - mid.February 2020
|
January-February 2020
|
Summer 2020
|
timeline to be adjusted
|
| People involved | Everyone interested in co-creating the Forum program |
AWID staff
|
AWID staff; Content and Methodology Committee; Access Committee |
Shortlisted applicants
|
| Number of activities involved |
838 activities submitted
|
306 applications selected
|
126 activities selected
|
50-60 most voted activities selected for the final Forum program |
Why did AWID decide to organize a PSP for the 14th AWID Forum activities?
We think a PSP is relevant for the AWID Forum because:
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It places at the centre of the decision making process the communities who live the feminist realities that will be showcased and discussed at the Forum
-
It is consistent with our identity and our role as a movement support/ accompaniment organization.
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It is in line with our vision of the Forum as co-created with different feminist and social justice movements, who shape the Forum through their participation in committees (content and methodology, access, artivist and host country), creating and facilitating activities as partners with AWID and also making decisions about the Program through the PSP.
-
It allows for greater diversity in the textures that will make up the Forum fabric (or in the voices that will compose the Forum song). It ensures we go beyond AWID itself and the movement partners that we already know and work with. It opens the door to the unexpected.
How did AWID come up with this PSP idea?
This is the first time AWID is considering such a process.
The initial idea came from AWID’s Co-EDs and staff. Before committing to a decision, we consulted some of the community funds that have been implementing participatory selection processes for years. These included FRIDA: The Young Feminists Fund, the International Trans Fund, UHAI - East Africa’s fund for sexual minorities and sex workers - and the Central American Women’s Fund. We consulted them to learn from their extensive experiences and get their feedback.
Pre-selected activities
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Financial autonomy, breaker of silence
ORGANISATION DES FEMMES AFRICAINES DE LA DIASPORA (OFAD) ASSOCIATION LES PETITES MERES PRODADPHE ASSOCIATION AMBE KUNKO (AAK) -
Contribution of feminist organisations to the fight against violent extremism in Niger
Femmes Actions et Développement (FAD) -
Self-financing: home banking for women
Rassemblement des Femmes pour le développement endogène et solidaire RAFDES -
Food and food sovereignty for rural women
Association Song-taaba des Femmes Unies pour le Développement (ASFUD) -
Feminist leaders, investing in positive masculinity, creating a new balanced social order: how to change mentalities?
Une societe cooperative, la chefferie traditionnelle des localites, les autorites administratives et les autres associations feminines ONG Centre Solidarite "Investir dans les Filles et les Femmes -
Co-creating the sponsorship methodology.
NEGES MAWON -
Millennium of opportunities to save the earth (MOST) by supporting climate justice for local and Indigenous communities in Congo Basin.
Jeunesse Congolaise pour les Nations Unies (JCNU), Association Genre et Environnement pour le Développement (AGED) -
Envisioning an Asian Queer Feminist Politics
ASEAN Feminist LBQ Womxn Network Sayoni -
Supporting the Self-Managed: Abortion Doulas, Acompanantes, and Radical Networks of support
inroads -
Online Feminisms: How Women Are Taking Back The Tech
Feminism In India -
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Sex Workers
Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW), The International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW AP) -
Sustainable Feminist Leadership and Organizing - Personal and Collective Experiences
HER Fund, Institute for Women's Empowerment (IWE) ,Kalyanamita, AAF -
Caribbean Realities: Black Sauna Radio
WE-Change Jamaica -
Telephone Helplines Care and Women Experience
Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Network (GIWYN),Youth Network for Community and Sustainable Development (YNCSD), Community Health Rights Network (CORENET) -
Sensuality as resistance; body movement workshop
UHAI EASHRI -
Lesbian Disco Eastern European Style
Sapfo Collective -
FitcliqueAfrica Feminist Utopia Installation, Trauma Healing and Self Defense Camp
FitcliqueAfrica (Fitclique256 Uganda Limited) -
Queering Communications for an Open Internet
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice -
Is the Way you Think about Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRHR) Ableist? Good Practices for Disability Inclusive SRHR Programmes and Advocacy.
Asia Pacific Network of Women with Disabilities and Allies -
Decolonizing Non-Violent Communication
API Equality-LA, Sayoni, ASEAN Feminist LBQ Womxn Network -
Feminist centred approaches to prosecuting sexual harassment in the world of work
Women's Legal Centre -
Women in Conflict in Myanmar
Women's League of Burma, Rainfall -
Caribbean Feminist Spaces, Creative Expressions & Spiritual Practices for Community Transformation
CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice -
POP-UPS: Just Power: Popular Education Tools for a Feminist Future
JASS/Just Associates -
UnAnonYmous: Queering Black African Diaspora Feminist Practices Sobriety
-
Digital Witchcraft: Magical Thinking for Cyberfeminist Futures
The Digital Witchcraft Institute -
Building Womanifestos: Grassroot Women's Agenda for Change in Asia Pacific
Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development -
Designing your astral travels
EuroNPUD, narcofeminists as a loose group -
Collective Care
RENFA Rede Nacional de Feministas Antiproibicionistas -
Music of our movements
Radical imagination -
From waste to Ecofriendly coal
KEMIT ECOLOGY SARL -
Collective care and insurgency of feminist antiracist movements under authoritarian and violent contexts
CFEMEA - Feminist Center of Studies and Advisory Services, CRIOLA - black women`s organization, Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras -
Breaking Patriarchal Religion's Stranglehold on Family Laws that Affect Our Lives #FreeOurFamilyLaws
Musawah -
Feminist approach to claim and control over lands within investment
Badabon Sangho, APWLD -
Women's Global Strike: Our resistance, our future
Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law & Development, ESCR-Net, Women's March Global -
Towards an Inclusive ‘Mother Earth’
Disability Rights Fund, Open Society Foundation -
From Inclusion to Infiltration: Strategies for Building Intersectional Feminist Movements
Mobility International USA (MIUSA) -
The hidden stories of women with invisible disabilities: Art in action
The Red Door, Merchants of Madness, Improving Mental Wellbeing through Art -
Public-Private Partnership and Women´s Human Rights: learnings from case studies in the Global South
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) -
The Interconnected Journey: Our Bodies, Our Sci-Fi! <3
The Interconnected Journey Project, Laboratorio de Interconectividades -
Compiling and Building: Alternative feminist vision to challenge the dominant world economic order
IWRAW Asia Pacific -
Self-publication as a feminist act
International Women* Space -
Good Practices of legal protection for gender & sexual minorities in Pakistan and their Intersectionality
Activists Alliance Foundation, Khawja Sirah Society, Wajood Society, Wasaib Sanwaro -
Feminist Approaches to Counter Trafficking
IWRAW Asia Pacific, Business & Human Rights Resource Center -
Critiquing individualism and state policies: transnational organizing against targeted violence
Masaha: Accessible Feminist Knowledge -
Decolonizing Intimacy: How Queer Identities Challenge Heteronormative Family Structures
WOMANTRA -
Yeki Hambe - Sex worker theatre
Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Task Force -
Creating the Indigenous feminist reality: honoring the sacred feminine and building new paths for Indigenous women
Cultural Survival, International Funders in Indigenous Peoples -
Eyes on Anti-prohibitionism by Brazillian Women
Mulheres Cannabicas, Tulipas do Cerrado -
Black Feminist Truth Commission: Addressing Injustices to Revolutionize Intersectional Feminism as the New Reality
Black Women in Development -
Community care is self care: true stories are told in safer spaces
Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, Metzineres, Urban Survivor’s Union, Salvage women and children from drug abuse -
NO MOVES BARRED:Dancing connections between Disability,trans & sexual rights against violence
National Forum of Women with Disabilities, Autonomy foundation, Nazyk kyz -
The Impact of Corporate Capture on Feminist Realities: Developing Tools for Action
ESCR-Net | Economic, Social, Cultural Rights Network -
Reimagining AIDS: building a feminist HIV response
Frontline AIDS, Aidsfonds, IPPI (Indonesian Network of Women Living with HIV), UHAI-EASHRI (East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative) -
Advancing Economic Justice towards Realizing Our Vision of a Feminist Planet
International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ESCR-Net -
Sex Workers Cafe
Hydra e.V. -
Adopting an ecofeminist approach in dealing with climate change and food security
Umphakatsi Peace Ecovillage, Human Rights Educational Centre -
Connecting the grassroots with the international: experience from creative sex worker mobilisation in Europe
International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe, STRASS - French Sex Worker Union, APROSEX, Red Edition -
Experiment with how innovative tech can help us feel safer when navigating our cities
Soul City Institute for Social Justice, Safetipin, Womanity Foundation -
question “Are hierarchies within organisations UNfeminist?”
Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya National, Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission -
We all are different, but we do have joint shared values
UNWUD (Ukrainian network of women who use drugs), JurFem Association, Women's Prospects -
A World Without Class
Bunge La Wamama Mashinani (Grassroots Women's Parliament) -
Women Empower the Community
Institute for Women's Empowerment (IWE), Solidaritas Perempuan, ASEC Indonesia, Komunitas Swabina Pedesaan Salassae (KSPS) -
Feminist Organizing: Transformational Leadership - Women Workers in Latin America Creating a Feminist Labor Movement and a Feminist World of Work
Solidarity Center -
Acting Out, Acting Up : Disability-Feminism decolonising narratives of Stigma thro' Participatory theatre
Rising Flame, National Indigenous Disabled Women Association, Nepal, The Spectrum & Union of Abilities, The Red Door -
Valuing and centering rest, pleasure and play
ATHENA Network -
The African feminist judgment project
The Initiative for strategic Ligation in Africa (ISLA) -
Voices from the frontlines: Bolstering collective power to end the incarceration of women worldwide
International Drug Policy Consortium, Equis Justicia para las Mujeres, National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Women and Harm Reduction International Network -
Queer Youth Organising: imagining in an era of human rights and sustainable development
African Queer Youth Initiative, Success Capital Organisation -
Our Struggles Our Stories Our Strengths
Oriang Lumalaban, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan -
Breaking barriers for collective Indigenous climate action in Southeast Asia
Cuso International, Asia Indigenous Peoples' Pact -
Love Positive Women: Going beyond romantic love to deep community love and social justice
Eurasian Women's Network on AIDS -
Intersex and Feminism
Intersex Russia -
Understanding the reproductive health experiences and needs of transgender and gender diverse people
Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) -
Because She Cares: Critical conversations on HIV activism as (un)caring work
Because We Care Collaborative -
The Mississippi Food Systems Manifesto
Center for Ideas, Equity & Transformative Change, National Council of Appropriate Technology - Gulf South, MS Food Justice Collaborative, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement -
Kurdish Women's Movement co-presidency experience as an example of a radical feminist realization: Co-presidency is our PURPLE line!
The Free Women’s Movement (TJA) -
WOES -"Walking on Egg Shells"
Eldoret Women For Development (ELWOFOD), Mama Cash, Young women against Women Custodial Injustices Network -
FREEDOM
-
Prison Isn’t Feminist: Exploring the impact and alternatives to reliance on police and incarceration
Migrant Sex Workers Project, Showing Up For Racial Justice -
Bondo without Blood: A Feminist Reimagining of Sierra Leonean Rites of Passage
Purposeful -
Liberated Land & Territories: A Pan-African Conversation
Thousand Currents (USA), Abahlali baseMjondolo (South Africa), Nous Sommes la Solution (west Africa/regional), Movilización de Mujeres Negras por el Cuidado de la Vida y los Territorios Ancestrales (Colombia), and Articulation of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Brazil) -
Popular Education and Organizing for a Feminist Economy
Jamaica Household Workers Union (JHWU), United for a Fair Economy, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL) -
So You Wish To Mobilise With An Empty Wallet? Let’s Make It Happen!
Breakthrough India -
Experience sharing establishing a network for women human rights defenders in East Africa: Ugandan perspective
Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda -
Tech clinic
Stichting Syrian Female Journalists Netowrk -
Building Inclusive Movements: Going Beyond Tokenism
Rising Flame -
Justice & Healing for Survivors of GBV: an interactive debate on restorative justice and the anatomy of an apology
One Future Collective -
Collective actions to ending transphobia through a feminist lens
Asia Pacific Transgender Network, Iranti, Transgender Europe -
LBQ women & Asylum
Sehaq -
Abortion and Disability: Towards an Intersectional Human Rights-Based Approach
Women Enabled International -
Learn how to support the self-organizing of undocumented, migrant, and criminalized and sex workers communities
Buttrerfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network) -
Self Care: A Fundamental Tool for Sustaining LGBTQI & Feminist Organizing
United and Strong Inc., S.H.E Barbados, Lez Connect -
Reclaiming Young African Feminist VOICES-REALITIES-POWER for climate justice
Young Feminist organization Gasy Youth Up, Young African Feminist Dialogues -
Women in action & solidarity: performing our realities (Asia & Africa)
Young Feminist organization Gasy Youth Up ( co-founder) , Young African Feminist Dialogues ( member) -
Women in action & solidarity: performing our realities (Asia & Africa)
Women Performing the World (Asia/Africa) -
Challenging patriarchy: Workers in entertainment sector
Women Forum for Women in Nepal (WOFOWON) -
The non-citizens: issues of women's citizenship in the context of migrant, vulnerable communities in South Asia
NEthing -
Visioning for voice in migration and climate crises
Women's Refugee Commission, The Feminist Humanitarian Network, ActionAid -
In It Together: Women's Funds and Feminist Movements Co-Creating Feminist Realities
Mama Cash, Global Fund for Women, Urgent Action Fund - Africa -
Co-creating magic with young feminist movements - participatory practices that spark joy
Feminist organizing, FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund (Community), Teia -
Protection right of woman’s in difficult realities 3 organizations of women from marginally communities
NGO Asteria, Ermolaeva Irena and Bayazitova Renata. NGO Ganesha Musagalieva Tatiana. NGO Ravniy Ravnomu Kucheryavyh Tanya -
Feminnale - traditions against art and expression
Bishkek Feminist Initiatives -
Resistance through knowledge, arts and activism: creation of a feminist library in Armenia
FemHouse, Armenia -
Conquering the UN System with Feminist Strategies (You Don’t Need to be a Lawyer to Have Fun)
Kazakhstan Feminist Initiative "Feminita", IWRAW Asia Pacific, ILGA World -
Data. Huh. What is it good for? Feminist data and organizing for feminist outcomes
International Women's Development Agency, Women's Rights Action Movement, Fiji Women's Rights Movement -
Criminalized Women’s voice, leadership and influence on laws, policies and practices in Kenya
Keeping Alive Societies Hope-KASH, Katindi Lawyers and Advocates, Vocal Kenya -
From Colombia to the world, African women's changing force
Proceso de Comunidades Negras en Colombia -PCN, Solidarité Féminine por la Paix el le Develppment Integral -SOFEPADI, -
Afro Queer Listening Lounge and Story-Telling Booth
AQ Studios, None on Record, AfroQueer Podcast -
Reclaiming Bodily Integrity
GBV Prevention Network : Coordinated by Raising Voices -
Learning from diversity
Circulo de Mujeres con Discapacidad -CIMUDIS, Alianza Discapacidad por nuestros Derechos -ADIDE, Fundación Dominicana de Ciegos -FUDCI, Filial Puerto Rico de Mujeres con Discapacidad -
Football as a feminist tool
Fundación GOLEES (Género, Orgullo, Libertad y Empoderamiento de Ellas en la Sociedad) -
Migratory constellations
LasVanders -
Ecofeminist dialogues to defend territories
CIEDUR (Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre el Desarrollo), Equit, Foro permanente de Manaos y Amazonia -
La Frida BikesMoviment
La Frida Bike -
Witchcraft, shamanism and other insurgent knowledge against patriarchy.
Colectiva Feminista MAPAS-Mujeres Andando Proceso por Autonomías Sororales -
Experiences, learnings and challenges in managing holistic security of horizontal feminist organisations and of gender-dissidence in times of social and political crisis. The experience of the popular uprising in Chile of 18 October.
Fudación Comunidades en Interfaz -
Food that we all know about
Las Nietas de Nonó, Parceleras Afrocaribeñas por la Transformación barrial (PATBA) -
Practices of resistance against climate change of Indigenous women in Peru and Guatemala
Thousand Currents, Red de Mujeres Productoras de la Agricultura Familiar, Asociación de Mujeres Ixpiyakok (ADEMI, Ixpiyakok Women's Association) -
Building Feminist Cities
CISCSA, Articulacion Feminista Marcosur -
Stand in my place
Alianza Discapacidad por nuestros Derechos - ADIDE, Circulo de Mujeres con Discapacidad -CIMUDIS -
Clearing the way for women's fullness of life, healing collective and historical traumas
Grupo de Mujeres Mayas Kaqla -
Zapoteca Indigenous women challenged by nature
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Houses of Care and Healing for Women Human Rights Defenders as part of Integral Feminist Protection: A Feminist Reality
Iniciativa Mesoamericana De Defensoras de Derechos Humanos, Consorcio Oaxaca para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad A.C, Red Nacional De Defensoras De Derechos Humanos en Honduras, Coletivo Feminista de Autocuidado -
Healing your unicornix voice: Weaving ancient and digital technologies to sharpen the tongue
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Feminist trajectories for an assisted motherhood protocol for women with disabilities
Circulo emancipador de mujeres y niñas con discapacidad de Chile, CIMUNIDIS, WEI -
School for trans feminist children
Fundación Selena -
REDTRASEX: Experience of Organization and Struggle for the Rights of Women Sex Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean
RedTraSex Red de mujeres trabajadoras sexuales LAC -
Gender based violence and the world of sex work in Mexico
Brigada Callejera de Apoyo a la Mujer, "Elisa Martínez", A.C., Red Mexicana de Organizaciones Contra la Criminalización del VIH. Red Mexicana de Trabajo Sexual -
Migration forces us to draw the path as we walk
Asociación de Trabajadoras del Hogar a Domicilio y de Maquila. ATRAHDOM -
New narratives for Black women: body, healing and pleasure
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Weaving memories and networks - Black Feminists strengthening Black feminisms in LAC
Red de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas, Afrocaribeñas y de la Diáspora, Articulação de Organizações de Mulheres Negras Brasileiras (AMNB), Voces Caribeñas
Clone of CFA 2023 - Hybrid like never before: in person - ES
Híbrido como nunca antes
Por primera vez, el Foro de AWID ofrece tres modos de participación:
Participación presencial
Lxs participantes se reunirán en Bangkok, Tailandia. ¡No podemos esperar!
Snippet - COP30 - Feminist Demands for COP30 col 2
What We Demand:
- Climate finance as reparations: grants, not loans
- Direct funding to frontline communities
- Phasing out fossil fuels NOW
- Defunding military and prison complexes
- Corporate accountability mechanisms
- Enabling environments for feminist alternatives to thrive
- The liberation of Palestine, Congo and Sudan
- Debt cancellation and an end to austerity
- Rapid, direct and flexible funding to frontline communities
- Decolonial feminist just transitions
Kunyit Asam: The Roots of Love and Resilience
By Prinka Saraswati, Gianyar, Bali
The menstrual cycle usually lasts between 27 and 30 days. During this time, the period itself would only go on for five to seven days. During the period, fatigue, mood swings, and cramps are the result of inflammation.
In traditional Javanese culture, this is the moment for women to rest and take care of themselves. During this moment, a woman would take Kunyit Asam, a jamu or herbal drink to soothe the inflammation. This elixir consists of turmeric and tamarind boiled together in a pot.
I still remember my first period - it was one day before graduation day in elementary school. I remember pedaling my bike feeling something warm running between my thighs. When I arrived home I did all I could to clean myself and then put on a menstrual pad. My mother came home from work about four hours later. I told her what had happened. She looked me in the eye and asked how I felt. I told her that it was painful, that my body was swollen in every place. Then she asked me to go with her to the backyard. I followed her to our little jungle, my mother sat down on the soil and smiled.
“See this slender leaf? This is the leaf of Kunyit, *empon-empon that leaves the yellow stain on your fingers. What’s most important is not the leaf, but the roots. You dig the soil and slowly grab the roots.”, my mother showed me how to pick Kunyit or Turmeric roots. Then we went to the kitchen where she boiled water along with some tamarind. While waiting for it to boil, she showed me how to wash and grate the orangey-yellow root. Then, we put the grated turmeric into the boiling tamarind water. “Tomorrow, you can make it for yourself. This will help you to feel better!”.
I remember the first time I tasted it - a slightly bitter taste but also sour. My mother always served it warm. She would also put some in a big bottle which I would place on my stomach or lower back for further relief. For days after, my mother’s hands and mine were yellow. My friends could always tell every time I got period because my hands would be yellow.
A year after my first period, I found out that you could get the bottled version in convenience stores. Still, I made my own Kunyit Asam every time I had my period because the one in the convenience stores was cold. It did not smell of wet soil and warm kitchen.
Fast forward, I am a 26 year old woman who casually makes this drink for friends when they have their periods. I’ve made some for my housemates and I’ve delivered some for friends who live in different towns. I do not grow turmeric roots in my garden, but I have grown and shared the love from my mom. What was once from garden to cup is now from *pasar to cup.
A couple of days ago, I asked my mother who taught her how to make the jamu.
“Who else? Yang Ti*! Your grandmother was not just a teacher”, said my mom. I was never close to my grandmother. She passed away when I was eight. All I knew from my mom was that she was a math teacher who had to teach courses after work. I had this image of my grandmother as a hard worker who was kind of distant with her children. My mom did not disagree with that but explained it came from her survival instinct as a mother. “She tried to make time. She tried. She taught me how to make jamu so I could take care of myself and my sisters”.
My mother is the second child out of seven, six of whom are girls. The reason my grandmother taught her is so that all of her children could take care of each other. While my mother was taught how to make the drink, my mother’s older sister was taught how to plant turmeric. Yang Ti knew which one loved the smell of soil more and which one loved the smell of the kitchen. My mother was the latter. She learned how to plant from my aunt, her older sister.
My grandfather worked in a bank but he got laid off when he was in his 40s. So, my grandmother had to do a side-hustle to support their children. My mother was in high school at that time when Yang Ti woke her and her older sister up at dawn. “Would you help me to pick some roots?”. Of course nobody said no. Especially if it was your mother, especially if you were born in Javanese culture where saying “no” sounded like a bad word. Together, the three of them went to the backyard, and they harvested empon - empon, rhizome, that was buried inside the soil. She grew many kinds of rhizome; temu lawak, temu putih, ginger, galangal, kunci, kencur, and kunyit. That was the day where my mother realized that her mother was never far away from her.
That was the day where she could spend more time with her mother. There, in the garden. There, in the kitchen.
“We’re sending these for Ibu Darti, the lady who lives across the river. Kunyit Asam for her and her daughters.”, said my grandmother to my mother and my aunt that day. They poured the Turmeric-Tamarind warm drink into a tall thermos and later my grandmother would deliver it on the way to school.
Over time, my grandmother got more orders for jamu. Everybody in the family helped her to make and deliver her jamu. The small business lasted only a few years, but that was what paid for my mother and her siblings’ education.
Today, my mother, who got laid off just a few days before I wrote this piece, harvested Turmeric and other roots. She’s making her Turmeric Tamarind drink from her kitchen.
My phone rang in the middle of this afternoon, a couple minutes after I boiled the rest of my grated turmeric. Today is one day after my period.
“Ingka, have you washed your pot after boiling those turmeric? It would forever be yellow if you don’t wash it right away!”
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*empon-empon = roots like ginger, turmeric, etc. coming from the Javanese word “Empu” which means, something or someone that has deep knowledge.
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*jamu = Indonesia’s traditional elixir made of roots, barks, flowers, seeds, leaves, and fruits.
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*Yang Ti = Javanese term for grandmother, taken from the term “Eyang Putri” the female you look up to.
-
*pasar = the word for traditional market in Indonesian.
“Feminist Movement”
by Karina Tungari, Hamburg, Germany (@_katung_)
The more women support other women, the quicker we’ll see progress. Together we are stronger and make even more impact.

CFA 2023 - Hubs - ar
جديد
محاور جديدة: السفر إلى الفضاء عبر الحدود
سيجتمع المشاركات/ون فعليًا في عدد من المواقع خارج مكان انعقاد المنتدى في بانكوك، في أجزاء مختلفة من العالم، في كل يوم من أيام المنتدى. وستكون جميع هذه المواقع ذاتية التنظيم مرتبطة افتراضيًا لموقع انعقاد المنتدى في بانكوك. كما هو الحال مع الأفراد المتواصلون عبر الإنترنت، سيتمكن المشاركون/ات من تسيير النشاطات والمشاركة في المحادثات والاستمتاع ببرنامج غني ومتنوع.
سيتم الإعلان عن مواقع التجمعات في عام 2024.
Berta Cáceres Flores
Communicating Desire and Other Embodied Political Praxes | Title Snippet EN
Communicating Desire and Other Embodied Political Praxes
with Manal Tamimi, Lindiwe Rasekoala, and Louise Malherbe
Podcast credit: Zuhour Mahmoud
Snippet - COP30 - Ecozine card - FR
📰 La solidarité féministe transnationale : un antidote à l’écocide
Ce fanzine collectif est issu d’une série de cercles de partage organisés en 2022, rassemblant des féministes des quatre coins du monde. Ces rencontres visaient à partager des expériences et à s’enrichir mutuellement pour découvrir comment les communautés réagissent à la crise climatique dans divers contextes locaux.
Pleasure Garden Exhibition
The artwork is a photography and illustration collaboration between Siphumeze and Katia during lockdown. The work looks at black queer sex and plesure narratives, bondage, safe sex, toys, mental health and sex and many more. It was created to accompany the Anthology Touch.



About the Artists:

She is creative director of HOLAAfrica! a pan-Africanist womanist online collective.
Her solo and collaborative performance work has been featured in a number of festivals and theatre spaces such as Ricca Ricca Festival in Japan
She directed two Naledi nominated productions in 2017 and 2018. She directed a show that won a Standard Bank Ovation award in 2020.
As a photographer she was part of a group exhibition titled Flowers of my Soul in Italy organised by the Misfit Project. Produced three publications for HOLAAfrica and was published in and provided the cover for volume two: As You Like of the Gerald Kraak Anthologies.

One of her most lovely and vivaciously titled works, Universe Protector, portrays the black soul as a divine entity full of strength, power, and greatness. In her youth, her love of graphic design was stimulated by her parents’ artistry and the Photoshop they had downloaded on their computer for their professional photography.
CFA 2023 - breadcrumbs Menu _ cfa-forum-ar
Hindia Haji Mohamed
La comunicación del deseo | Content Snippet ES
La comunicación del deseo
y otras praxis políticas del cuerpo
La comunicación del deseo
Anfitrionx: Tendemos a pensar en la comunicación del deseo como algo circunscrito a la intimidad de la alcoba y nuestras relaciones personales. Sin embargo, ¿podemos también pensar este tipo de comunicación como una estructura, una práctica que nutre nuestro trabajo, y cómo somos, y cómo actuamos en el mundo?

LindiweCreo que, desafortunadamente, en el pasado expresar tu sexualidad tenía sus limitaciones. Se te permitía expresarla dentro de los confines del matrimonio, lo cual estaba permitido; siempre el tabú y el estigma estuvieron asociados a todo intento de expresarla de una forma distinta. Cuando se trata de comunicar, obviamente, el hecho de que ciertos estigmas se asocien a la expresión de tu sexualidad o la expresión de tu deseo hace mucho más difícil comunicar eso en la alcoba o en la intimidad con tu pareja. Desde mi experiencia personal creo que, obviamente, si me siento más cómoda expresándome fuera de la alcoba acerca de otros asuntos u otros temas, para mí es más fácil construir esa confianza, porque comprendes la resolución de conflictos con esa persona en particular, comprendes exactamente qué hacer para que esa comunicación sea especial para esa persona en particular. No es fácil. Se hace constantemente en todo tipo de relación, ya sea la pareja, algo casual o solo un momento. Pero creo que la confianza en el afuera puede traducirse definitivamente en cómo comunicas tu deseo.
Manal
Desde la infancia, a una mujer se la cría con eso de: «no tienes permiso para hablar de tu cuerpo, no tienes permiso para hablar de tu deseo», lo que hace recaer una enorme responsabilidad en las mujeres, sobre todo en las niñas en su adolescencia, cuando necesitan expresarse y hablar de estos temas. Por lo tanto, en mi opinión, este es un gran problema. ¿Sabes? Llevo casada más de 25 años, pero todavía, hasta el día de hoy, no puedo hablar de mis deseos. No puedo decir lo que quiero o prefiero, porque es como si no tuviera permitido cruzar esa línea. Es como un pecado, a pesar de ser mi derecho. Lo mismo sucede con todas mis amigas, no pueden expresarse de forma correcta.
Louise
Personalmente creo que expresar nuestros deseos, mis deseos, sea como sea que se expresen, tiene que ver con la otra persona y la mirada que esa otra persona tenga sobre mí. Así que esto también es algo que podemos vincularlo con el cine. Y la mirada que tenga sobre mí misma también: lo que creo que soy como persona, pero también lo que la sociedad espera de mí y mi sexualidad. En el pasado, de algún modo, solía establecer una analogía entre lo que sucede en la alcoba y lo que sucede en el lugar de trabajo, porque a veces se da esta dinámica de poder, lo quiera o no. Y a menudo, la comunicación verbal es más difícil de lo que pensamos. Pero cuando se trata de representarlo en el cine, es un juego absolutamente distinto. Estamos muy lejos de lo que supongo que a todxs lxs presentes nos gustaría ver en la pantalla cuando se trata de comunicar deseos sexuales dentro y fuera de la alcoba.
En línea y en el cuerpo
Anfitrionx: Podemos pensar en el mundo digital como hecho cuerpo: aunque sea virtual, no es menos real. Y eso quedó claro en el contexto del festival de las Realidades Feministas de AWID, el cual se celebró íntegramente en línea. Entonces, ¿qué implica hablar de sexualidad de forma colectiva, política, en los espacios en línea? ¿Navegamos por los espacios virtuales con nuestros cuerpos y afectos y, en dicho caso, cuáles son las distintas consideraciones en juego? ¿Qué implica para la comunicación y la representación?

LindiweLas redes sociales te hacen sentir en comunidad. Cuando expresas lo que quieres o lo que te agrada, habrá alguien que va a estar de acuerdo o en desacuerdo, pero quienes concuerdan contigo te hacen sentir que perteneces a una comunidad. Así que es más fácil lanzarlo al universo, o que otras personas lo vean, y potencialmente que no se te juzguen tanto. Y digo esto muy libremente porque a veces, según lo que expreses, serás humilladx o aprobadx. Pero cuando se trata de la alcoba, hay una intimidad y casi una vulnerabilidad que te expone a ti y a diferentes partes tuyas sobre las cuales no es fácil opinar. Cuando se trata de expresar tu deseo, hablarlo y manifestarlo y, quizás crear un tuit o un posteo en una red social, o incluso darle un «me gusta» y leer a otras comunidades con ideas afines, eso es más fácil que decirle a tu pareja, «así es como quiero recibir placer» o «así quiero que hagas ahora», debido al temor al rechazo. Pero no es eso únicamente. Sólo el aspecto de la vulnerabilidad – permitirte desnudarte a tal punto que la otra persona vea lo que estás pensando, sintiendo, deseando –, creo que es ahí donde radica la diferencia. Siento que en las redes sociales hay más comunidad y es más fácil involucrarse en conversaciones. Mientras que en la habitación, no quieres arruinar el momento necesariamente. Pero creo que eso, en cierta forma, te ayuda a comprender, según la relación con la persona, cómo te relacionarías de allí en más. Así que siempre sé que si intento comunicar algo y no lo logro en el momento, siempre puedo mencionarlo fuera de ese momento y ver cuál sería la reacción para saber cómo abordarlo en el futuro.
Louise¿Sabes? La cuestión con las películas es que no sé si la mirada masculina es intencionada o no. En verdad no lo sabemos. Lo que sí sabemos es la razón por la que la sexualidad en general ha sido tan heteronormativa y se ha centrado en la penetración, y por qué a las mujeres no se les da ningún espacio para realmente pedir algo en el cine: es porque la mayoría de la gente que ha trabajado en esta industria y tomado decisiones en cuanto a, ya sabes, la narración y la edición, han sido varones blancos. La venganza por violación es este género cinematográfico tan extraño que nació en la década de 1970, en donde la mitad de la historia sería sobre una mujer que fue violada por una o varias personas y, en la otra mitad, ella busca vengarse. Generalmente la mujer asesinará y matará a la persona que la violó y, en algunos casos, a otras personas cercanas al violador. Cuando este género comenzaba a surgir y, durante 30 años como mínimo, los varones eran quienes escribían, producían y dirigían esas películas. Por eso también buscamos tanto la representación. Muchxs feministas y pionerxs en la cinematografía queer también usaron el acto de filmar para hacerlo y reivindicar su propia sexualidad. Se me viene a la mente Barbara Hammer, una pionera queer y feminista del cine experimental de los Estados Unidos, que decidió filmar a mujeres teniendo sexo en 16mm., y, al hacerlo, reclamó un espacio dentro de la narrativa que se exhibía en el cine en aquel momento. Y también está el tema de la invisibilización: ahora sabemos, por Internet y el intercambio de conocimientos, que cineastas mujeres y queer vienen intentando y filmando desde los inicios del cine. Recién ahora nos damos cuenta porque tenemos acceso a bases de datos y al trabajo de activistas y curadorxs y cineastas.
La resistencia a la colonización
Anfitrionx: Y esto abre la conversación sobre la importancia de mantener vivas las historias feministas. Los mundos en línea también han desempeñado un rol crucial en la documentación de las protestas y las resistencias. Desde Sudán hasta Palestina, pasando por Colombia, los feminismos han tomado nuestras pantallas por asalto y desafiado las realidades de la ocupación, el capitalismo y la opresión. Entonces, ¿podemos hablar de la comunicación del deseo, del deseo de algo más, como la descolonización?

ManalQuizás porque en mi pueblo hay apenas 600 habitantes y es una única familia – la Tamimi – no hay barreras entre varones y mujeres. Hacemos todo de manera conjunta. Entonces, cuando comenzamos nuestra resistencia no violenta o cuando nos unimos a la resistencia no violenta en Palestina, nadie discutió si las mujeres debían participar o no. Asumimos un papel muy importante en el movimiento aquí en el pueblo. Pero cuando otros pueblos u otros lugares comenzaron a sumarse a nuestras protestas semanales, algunos hombres pensaban que, si estas mujeres participaban o se unían a las manifestaciones, ellas lucharían con los soldados y entonces serían mujeres fáciles. Algunos hombres que no eran del pueblo intentaron acosar sexualmente a las mujeres. Pero una mujer fuerte que es capaz de enfrentar a un soldado puede también confrontar el acoso sexual. En ocasiones, cuando otras mujeres de otros lugares se suman a nuestra protesta, en un principio son tímidas; no se quieren acercar porque hay muchos hombres. Si quieres participar en la protesta, si quieres ser parte del movimiento no violento, tienes que quitarte todas esas restricciones y todas esas ideas de la cabeza. Tienes que enfocarte simplemente en luchar por tus derechos. Desafortunadamente, la ocupación israelí conoce todo esto. Por ejemplo, la primera vez que me arrestaron, tenía puesta la hijab, entonces intentaron quitármela, intentaron sacarme la ropa, frente a todo el mundo. Había entre 300 y 400 personas y lo intentaron. Cuando me llevaron para interrogarme, el interrogador dijo: «lo hicimos para castigar a otras mujeres a través suyo. Conocemos su cultura». Yo le respondí: «No me importa, creo en lo que hice. Aun si me quitaran toda la ropa, todo el mundo sabe que Manal está resistiendo».
LindiwePienso que incluso desde una perspectiva cultural, lo cual es muy irónico, si observas la cultura en África, antes de ser colonizada, se ve que mostrar la piel no era un problema. Usar piel animal o cuero para protegerte, no era ningún problema y la gente no estaba sexualizada salvo que se diera en un contexto determinado. Pero nos hemos condicionado a decir «deberías cubrirte» y cuando no te cubres, quedas expuesta y, por lo tanto, estarás sexualizada. La desnudez se sexualiza en lugar de estar simplemente desnuda; no quieres que a una niña pequeña la vean desnuda. ¿Qué tipo de sociedad nos hemos condicionado a ser si vamos a sexualizar a alguien que está desnudx fuera del contexto del vínculo sexual? Pero el entorno definitivamente juega un papel importante, porque tu madre y tu padre y tus abuelas y abuelos y tías y tíos dicen «no, no te vistas de manera inapropiada», o «no, eso es muy corto». Entonces, primero escuchas todo eso en el hogar, y luego, en el momento en que te expones al exterior, según el entorno, ya sea eurocéntrico o más occidentalizado que el que estás acostumbrada, entonces eres un poco libre de hacerlo. E incluso entonces, por más libre que seas, eso trae consigo muchas otras cuestiones en términos de abucheos y la gente que todavía sexualiza tu cuerpo. Puedes vestir una falda corta, y alguien se siente con derecho de tocarte sin tu permiso. Hay tanto asociado a la regulación y el control sobre el cuerpo de las mujeres, y la narrativa comienza en casa. Y luego sales a la comunidad, a la sociedad, y la narrativa se perpetúa, y te das cuenta de que la sociedad te sexualiza en general, sobre todo si eres una persona de color.

La resistencia como placer
Anfitrionx: Por último, ¿cómo puede nuestra resistencia traspasar lo que está permitido? ¿Hay un lugar para el placer y el gozo para nosotrxs y nuestras comunidades?

LouiseEncontrar placer en la resistencia y resistencia en el placer; en primer lugar, para mí está la idea del cine de guerrilla o el acto de filmar cuando se supone que no deberías o cuando alguien te dijo que no lo hagas, lo cual es el caso de muchas realizadoras, incluidas lxs realizadorxs queer, en el mundo de hoy. Por ejemplo, en el Líbano, que es un terreno cinematográfico que conozco muy bien, la mayoría de las historias de lesbianas que he visto las han rodado estudiantes en formatos muy cortos «sin valor de producción», como se diría en Occidente: sin dinero, debido a la censura en el ámbito institucional, pero también en la esfera familiar y privada. Creo que filmar lo que sea, pero también filmar el placer y el placer en la narrativa lesbiana, es un acto de resistencia en sí mismo. Muchas veces, tan solo tomar una cámara y conseguir que alguien edite y que alguien interprete es sumamente difícil y requiere de mucha convicción política.
LindiweTengo un grupo de apoyo para casos de violación. Intento asistir a las mujeres para que se restablezcan desde una perspectiva sexual: si quieren volver a tener intimidad, que los traumas del pasado no influyan a la hora de seguir adelante. No es fácil, pero es individual. Por eso siempre comienzo por comprender el cuerpo. Creo que cuanto más lo comprendes y lo amas y más orgullo sientes por él, serás mucho más capaz de recibir a alguien en ese espacio. Lo denomino entrenamiento en la sensualidad, donde hago que comiencen a verse a sí mismas no como objetos sexuales, sino como objetos de placer y deseo que pueden ser intercambiables. De ese modo eres tan digna de recibir como de dar. Pero no solo desde un punto de vista psicológico, también es físico. Cuando sales de la ducha, sales de la tina, y te pasas loción por el cuerpo, miras cada parte de tu cuerpo, sientes cada parte de tu cuerpo, sabes cuando hay cambios, conoces tu cuerpo tan bien que si te sale un grano nuevo en la rodilla, eres tan consciente de ello porque hasta hace unas horas no lo tenías. Con este tipo de cosas intento hacer que las personas se amen a sí mismas desde su interior, se sientan que son dignas de recibir amor en un espacio seguro, así las guío hacia la reivindicación de su sexualidad y su deseo.
Manal
¿Sabes? Comenzamos a ver mujeres de Nablus, de Jerusalén, de Ramallah, incluso de las 48 zonas ocupadas, que tienen que conducir entre tres y cuatro horas solo para sumarse a las protestas. Luego intentamos ir a otros lugares, hablar con las mujeres, decirles que no sean tímidas, que simplemente tienen que creer en sí mismas y que no hay nada de malo en lo que estamos haciendo. Puedes protegerte, entonces, ¿qué tiene de malo participar o sumarte? Cuando les pregunté a algunas de ellas por qué se habían sumado, respondieron, «si las mujeres Tamimi pueden, nosotras también». Con toda honestidad, escuchar esa respuesta me hizo muy feliz porque éramos una especie de modelo para otras mujeres. Si tengo que defender mis derechos, deberían ser todos mis derechos, no apenas uno o dos. Los derechos no se dividen.

