International Feminist Conference: Radical women conference features noteworthy Asian Feminists
September 22, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO - Optimistic rebels from all walks of life are invited to the National Radical Women Conference, “The Persistent Power of Socialist Feminism,” to be held at the San Francisco Women’s Building, October 3-6. Speakers include numerous Asian and Asian American activists and scholars.
The conference kicks off at 9 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 3, with a welcome address by Bay Area Radical Women Organizer Nancy Reiko Kato. This will be followed by a 9:30 a.m. keynote speech by acclaimed Chinese American poet Nellie Wong. Wong’s theme will be “Women and Revolution-Alive and Inseparable.” Wong is an Oakland native, a daughter of Chinese immigrants, whose works include Stolen Moments, The Death of Long Steam Lady and Dreams in Harrison Railroad Park. She is also a long-time delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council and represents her union, University Professional and Technical Employees.
At 7:30 p.m. on Friday evening, the embattled human-rights attorney Lynne Stewart from New York City will speak about human-rights issues in her speech called “Radical dissent: The Righteous Response to an Unjust System.”
A highlight on Saturday is a panel presentation entitled “Magnificent Warriors: Female Leadership in the Global Freedom Struggle.” Speakers will include Professor Wang Zheng, co-chair of the U.S.-based Chinese Society for Women’s Studies, who teaches Women Studies in Michigan, Beijing and Shanghai and Patricia Ramos Con, a Costa Rican-Chinese labor lawyer and leading organizer against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
At 11:30 Saturday, the body will discuss female leadership in the multi-ethnic immigrant rights movement, with a paper presented by Christina López, a Chicana-Apache frontrunner in the battle for rights for undocumented workers.
Interactive workshops in the afternoon include a discussion by Wang Zheng on “Women in the Chinese Revolution.” Other subjects will cover the ABCs of Marxist feminism; women’s stake in the antiwar movement; campus organizing; the need for childcare and reproductive justice; and issues confronting young queer people.
Sunday, Oct. 5, will begin at 9 a.m. with a panel on “The Galvanizing Impact of Multiracial Organizing in a Society Divided by Racism.” Sharing first-hand experiences will be campus organizer Emily Woo Yamasaki of New York City; Norma Abdulah, a civil rights veteran from Harlem, New York; Yuisa Gimeno, a Chicana-Puerto Rican feminist from Los Angeles; and reproductive-rights activist Toni Mendicino of San Francisco. Nancy Reiko Kato will be the chairwoman of the panel.
The remainder of Sunday will be devoted to issues and skills workshops. Nellie Wong will conduct a session on “Poetry and Rebellion.” Merle Woo, a groundbreaking Bay Area lesbian educator, will dialogue with a young Chicana feminist, Norma Gallegos, on “Radical Youth and Rebel Elders: Connecting the Generations.”
All sessions will be held at the Women’s Building, 3543 18th St., in the Mission District, near the 16th Street BART stop. Wheelchair accessible. Registration is $15 per day; students and low income $7.50 per day. Register at www.RadicalWomen.org. For more information, call 206-722-6057.
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One Response to “International Feminist Conference: Radical women conference features noteworthy Asian Feminists”
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Folks:
From this irreverent corner, with respect and good wishes . . .. . .
Greetings ! and kudos !! to Nancy Reiko Kato, Nellie Wong , Merle Woo and panel spokesprsons.
That, in this day and ambiance, you continue to raise the “radical,” “feminist,” AND “socialist” bannerS gives the lie to the rest of this somnolent, scared (as in terrified to the point of inaction) nation of “debt peons.”
I note the fact that even I could afford the price of admission to your upcoming conclave, were I able to attend, unlke the C-note tickets elsewhere.
That said, chances are you will scare off all but those who truly understand, because of the abovementioned, in quotes, adjectives and stances.
but that’s the point, isn’t it? Speak up and out, and more may hear.
In this regard, may I bring attention to today’s online Info Clearing House piece, anonymous but obviously a brother or sister herein, entitled “A Note of Appreciation from the Rich.”
Satiric and richly presented, it is a short and entertaining as well as enlightening “read” that ties in perfectly with companion pieces on that scurvy 700-bil heist, er, “bailout” of Wall Street multibillionaires who thus give fresh definition to “corporate” “socialism.”
Ah, that the last should be so subverted. Perverted?
That too.
Oh, and some “conservative” quarter has headlined an MSNBC? piece themed on the claim this nation is irrevocably “center/Right” and those latterday “liberals” (are there any left? Left of Center that is) had best remember that. Or else. Else what? McCain/Palin and four more years?
As Iraq/Pakistan/Afghanistan descends further into a chaos we made and continue to bumble, along with the concomitant of self-imm0olation thereto, our dear “leaders” continue to engage in silly sallies and irrelevant pissing-contests
Who’s running this show of shows, this tragicomedy of juvey jackanapes? A covey of transnational oligarchs no doubt, far too many of whom sit in or control the so-called Beltway and Pentagon, forget the servile “media,” and who, no doubt, are those referenced in that anonymous piece.
Or perhaps it’s time to prepare for Jesse Ventura’s promised 2012 return with a nouveau “posse comitatus”?
Or was I misreading the captions from Ron Paul’s St. Paul “rally”?
Well, we can still protest, can’t we? Even if Uncle is hip to what is it?, eight millions?, already on the domestic “enemies” database.
And the internet, and even this little ol’ website, may well constitute a force and a direction that NO agency OR dictat can gainsay?
One hopes.
Frank Eng