Abuse Discussed at the World Conference Against Racism

South Africa hosted a United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Other forms of Intolerance (WCAR), during the first week of September 2001.

An NGO Forum ran for the few days preceding WCAR, and for many of the delegates and organisations present, Women Abuse was an issue of central concern.

Some of the women delegates were sceptical that their governments would pay anything more than lip service to resolutions made by WCAR. But for most women it was heartening to see that at last, some recognition was given to the gender perspective of any form of racism or discrimination, and to how this inter-sectionality results in double discrimination against the women of any minority group.

An independent broadcasting corporation, known as The Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE), has sent out live broadcasts from UN conferences for the last decade, and this was no exception. For ten days they broadcast public programmes in English and Spanish, and invited all those who were interested, to participate in the discussions at their 'FIRE-PLACE'  website. 

Women from around the world took this opportunity to talk about the many ways that racism intersects with sexism to the greater prejudice of women. WomensNet, an African based communication and networking organisation for women, hosted a Cyber Cafe at the NGO Forum. Boasting more than 60 computers, it was the first Internet Cafe organised and run by women at a UN World Conference. The Cyber Cafe acted as the physical home of the FIRE-PLACE for the duration of the conference, and also offered training to any woman who was keen to learn how to use the internet.

Both WomensNet and FIRE are devoted to disseminating information by and for women so as to make sure that women's voices are heard. In fact, independent broadcasting such as this, was one of the strategies considered by the WCAR as a way to overcome racism and sexism in the media - instead of trying to regulate media content, it seems to be far more effective that those who are discriminated against, take control of media technology.

As part of its build-up to the WCAR, FIRE broadcast a 10-hour Internet Marathon that was focused on women's struggles against racism. The marathon took place on March 8, International Women's Day 2001, and gave voice to the many ways in which women are doubly discriminated against when racism and gender intersect. This kind of concern is still sadly absent from the mainstream media.

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