Peace

Gender and

WACky
Peacebuilding
Newsletter of
Women's Action
for Change
(WAC), Fiji

I s s u e 3 D e c e m b e r 1 2 0 0 9

"At last free, N Commit ▪ Act ▪ Demand:

IG
at last I am a CA MPA
woman free!
We CAN End Violence Against Women
No more tied to

16 Days of Activism
the kitchen,
Strained amid the
stained pots,
No more bound to
the husband,
Against Gender Violence—
who thought me
less, 25 November—10 December 2009
than the shade he
This issue… Women‘s and girl‘s collectives, organiza- Coming up...In each WACky Peace issue we also show-
wove with his tions and networks all over the world are using this case work by women and girls in urban and rural informal
hands. period between 25 November—10 December to com- settlements in Fiji on alternative economies, human rights
mit, act and demand accountability on gender violence. and gender equality. We continue conversations on conflict
No more anger, no In this issue, we highlight WAC and network activities to
transformation and restorative justice, affirm diverse fami-
lies including women-lead households, and more on SRHR
more hunger, address gender based discrimination and violence
and sexual rights .
I sit now in the against women and girls, & all people experiencing
discrimination or violence due to actual or perceived Next issue we will profile WAC Theatre Unlimited, and
shade of my own
sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
tree. 2009-10 play ‗The F Word‘ on elimination of violence
Whether it is emotional, physical, sexual, economic or against women and girls and affirming women‘s work to-
Meditating thus, I otherwise, gender violence occurs because of the con- ward gender equal social transformation. We will also
am happy, I am tinued existence of patriarchal, masculinist ideas and feature the upcoming 2010 DAWN Development Debates.
serene." systems that prioritise the needs of men, and that view
them as superior to women and girls, trans people, and Nov 2009 also saw the premiere of WAC feminist pan-
others. tomime, ‗The Princess Who was Kidnapped‘ (see p4).
Zi Yes (6th-3rd
This is why WAC has a wide and intersectional feminist
century BC). Chi-
nese poet.
approach to peacebuilding, social justice, human rights COMMIT! ACT! DEMAND!
and ecologically sustainable development. For all.

arity
Forgotten violence – West Papua
Solid
1st December is remem-
bered by West Papuans as the day
they should have been
granted independence over 40
years ago.
This year thousands of people
across West Papua will risk their
lives by publicly calling for inde-
pendence from Indonesia.
In solidarity there is a day of action
in London, UK.
They will be meeting at 12 noon at
the Indonesian Embassy in Gros-
venor Square for a loud and
colourful demonstration in solidar-
ity with the demonstrations hap-
pening across West Papua.
WAC, Fiji says: ―The situation of
near genocide in West Papua
and 40 yrs of brave struggle for
independence from Indonesia is
yet another example of whole-
sale violence against Pacific
women and girls and their fami-
lies that is inadequately ad-
dressed by governments and
UN to date. There has also been
a marked lack of solidarity ac-
tion on West Papua in the
Pacific region by successive gov-
ernments and regional institutions.
If many will not touch this issue
due to Indonesian geo-political
status in the region, then as civil
society members and the public
we can continue to raise this to the
top of our own platforms.
We will not forget the people of
West Papua, and the 16 Days of
Activism against Gender Violence
is yet another opportunity to speak
out and act in solidarity!‖ More
information :
www. freewestpapua.org
 Advancing Sexual rights as part of Women’s
Equality and EVAW Work in the Pacific Noelene Nabulivou,
WAC Coordinator

WAC Background
After analysis of WAC projects in rural and urban areas of Fiji over 2007-2009 indicated an overall lack of SRHR knowledge at
the community level, and with particular concern over the lack of sexuality rights advancement as part of national and re-
gional SRHR agendas, WAC has increased work on this area in our 2009-2012 strategic plan. Sexuality rights must be at the
centre of SRHR work but this area of work is still contested and difficult for many in the Pacific, including civil society.

WAC is focusing on gender and sexuality baiting during the international ‗16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Cam-
paign‘ that takes place between 25 November-10 December, 2009 as a useful tool linking Sexuality rights and EVAW work.
ONLINE RESOURCE: ‗Written Out: How Women‘s Sexuality is used to Stop Women Organizing‘ (Updated). Cynthia
Rothschild. (2005). Edited and with contributions by Scott Long and Susana T. Fried . IGLHRC and CWGL Report.

We have also provided resources and workshop facilitation on sexual rights and SRHR for various networks and partners
over 2008-9, have participated in strategic conversations at a global level in 2009 (see below); hosted two learning circles in
November 2009 (see overleaf); are sharing information and resources through multiple issues of this enewsletter, and will
include gender and sexuality baiting content in ‗The F Word‘, a major national community theatre project with women and
girls that is supported by UNIFEM in 2009-2010. We also have a proposed project on SRHR intergenerational work with
women and girls from urban informal settlements in 2010-11, including attention to sexual rights.

Some learning circle highlights are shared in this issue by our partner network, Survival Advocacy Network (SAN) - next page
- along with a summary of outcomes from a recent strategic meeting for women human rights defenders hosted by the Cen-
tre for Women‘s Global Leadership, USA (below).

This will be expanded in 2010 issues through papers on aspects of sexuality rights in Fiji, the
Pacific and globally by various writers in WAC networks.

Strategic Conversations with women human rights defenders

The Centre for Women‘s Global Leadership (CWGL) in collaboration with the Women Human
Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC) organized a strategic conversation on
Addressing Gaps in the Defence of Women Human Rights Defenders from June 27-30, 2009.

About 30 women human rights defenders from 25 organizations and 19 countries, including Noelene
Nabulivou from WAC, Fiji, convened at the CWGL, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, USA to dis-
cuss three thematic strands pertaining to gaps in the defense of women human rights defenders. Depending on experience and inter-
ests, participants were part of three working groups: Families, Communities and Culture; Sexuality Baiting, the use of sexuality to at-
tack women’s organizing; and Direct Accountability of Religious Fundamentalist Political Forces. The following is a summary of out-
comes prepared by CWGL, with full report to come:

The working group on Families, Communities and Culture paid particular attention to the complicated roles of families and communi-
ties as both sources of support for women human rights defenders as well as common locations of abuse and violation...The group
affirmed that women are not products of the community, but part of the community themselves and therefore have a powerful and inte-
gral role in reclaiming and shaping the cultures that influence their communities and families.

Participants in the working group on Sexuality Baiting discussed the ways antagonism towards activism around women‘s and sexual
rights work subject women human rights defenders to attacks. Oftentimes, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic activism is looked upon as
―coalition-breaking‖ or disuniting even by well-established international rights organizations. Members of the working group noted that
progress on sexuality baiting would not be made until the women human rights defenders community and its supporters became well-
versed in language to resist baiting, especially those couched in religious or cultural terms. The group particularly stressed the need for
women human rights activists to recognize that sexuality baiting is not only the manipulation of prejudices in regards to sexual orienta-
tion, but is deeply connected to gender and therefore affects not only LGBT activists but even male and other human rights defenders.

Members of the working group on the Direct Accountability of Religious Fundamentalist Political Forces discussed the ways in
which violations against women human rights defenders at the hands of religious fundamentalist forces have been ―disappeared‖ in the
international human rights arena. The working group suggested the creation of mechanisms to expose and delegitimize the gendered
nature of the violations committed by these groups through the documentation of threats as well as to consistently raise these issues to
hold fundamentalist-terrorists and their supporters accountable for heinous violations against women and women human rights defend-
ers. In the coming months a formal report will be available showcasing the collective analysis developed from the meeting.

More information at the Centre‘s website: http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/policy/unadvocacy/whrd.html

 gender and sexuality baiting Naina (Stina) Rokocama Kaloukigau
Female Coordinator
learning circles. SAN says... Survival Advocacy Network,

Two learning circles that were held over 17-18 November 2009 at WAC included
trans people and women. They discussed gender and sexuality baiting, commonly
experienced by sex workers, transgender people, women human rights defenders
and LGBTIQ human rights defenders, and of course women in wider Fiji society.

Firstly, one may ask what really is gender and sexuality baiting - a term now some-
times heard but rarely understood. Baiting is basically about having negative ideas
and opinions about diverse gender identity and sexuality and deliberately using this
to discriminate against an individual, or organisation and to stop people from
coming together to change society. Gender and sexuality baiting can slow down
our response to gender based violence and work towards gender equality.

Here are some SAN observations from the circles:

Creating the learning circle by women and transgender participants made ex-
changes amongst the group easier, and stories were shared more freely. The circle
itself took away the feeling of being insecure by participants and made each one Some participants from the circles
feel that they can help to fight against gender inequality and discrimination. We were able to
explore the ways a particular person is baited and tried to think of ways that one can deal with the baiting in order to minimize, or take
away the feeling of pain and insecurity when baited, as well as how to stop it once and for all.

First we discussed the many identities and roles we have in our lives, for example a woman could be labeled, and name herself as a
mother or a single mother, an aunt, a sister, grandmother, divorcee, businesswoman, and so on. We named also shared some of the
positive, loving terms we have been called by our partners, peers, friends and family.

While an individual may think of themselves very positively, the community may bait them with negative labels, e.g. a transgender people
being called ‗qauri‘ or ‗pufta‘, terms that can offend personally, and increase discrimination and violence because others think they can
do the same.

There were a number of bodies that were discussed to be major players in gender and sexuality baiting in Fiji. These included the Police,
church, wider clans and families, friends and even spouses and partners of women and transgender participants.

For transgender persons doing sex work, sexuality baiting that comes from government bodies like the police seems to be one of the
most difficult to deal with. This is due to the traditional perception of the community that the ―the Police are the Police‖ and that every-
thing they do is right, or not changeable. The main method we think, for dealing with baiting coming from this very influential government
body, is helping people know and understand their basic human rights to help them respond better to these sort of baiting, and having an
active friend/ NGO support network that can immediately call on expert help when needed.

Gender and sexuality baiting from individuals that fall within a particular person‘s personal circle seems to offend or hurt people even
more. This is due to the trust that is supposed to be present between family members developed through years of living around each
other. Baiting destroys the trust that bonds each person to another in a particular family.

There were a number of ways described by the learning circle on how to deal with these sorts of intimate baiting. Firstly we discussed
ignoring it, but admitted that this is not really the best way as it doesn‘t get to the real issue of why the baiting is done. It also doesn‘t stop
it happening. When the baiting is done publicly by family members or friends join in, that‘s even more hurtful.

Another area where gender and sexuality baiting takes place a lot in Fiji, is by domestic partners and spouses. This type of baiting is
identified by the learning circle as the worst and the most painful of all types. As concluded by many within the circle, your partner is
supposed to be the last person to hurt you, or even to bait you. We think they should accept you for who you are as an individual. When
they bait you about your gender or sexual identity or, for example, your occupation as a sex worker, it hurts and it also encourages oth-
ers to do the same, especially when it is done in public.

Some self-care methods that different people use was by going out with friends, being alone, going for a ‗cruise‘ with the music turned
up, having a drink or a smoke, talking about it with someone we trust, trying to stop sexuality baiting through education of others, and
working with others on gender issues, etc.

We all have our own ways of dealing with baiting and methods that we‘ve been using; with varied success, but what we really need are
communities, NGOs and governments that have a more thorough understanding of gender and sexuality so that the baiting does not
happen in the first place. It is up to all of us to make this education happen on gender, sexuality and sexual and reproductive health and
rights, and also to share our knowledge with others.

For more information on Survival Advocacy Network (SAN), Contact Stina and Sheena, SAN Coordinators

333 Waimanu Road, Suva. PO Box 12398, Suva, FIJI

Phone : (679) 3314 363; Fax: (679) 3305 033; Mobile: 9311648 Email: sanfiji@gmail.com
 The Princess Who was Kidnapped
A WAC Pantomime
A premiere performance of the first WAC feminist pantomime, ‗The Princess Who was Kid-
napped‘, was held on Sat 21 Nov 2009 at the Raiwai Gymnasium, Leys Street, Raiwai.
Multiple school performances followed from 23-25 Nov 2009. All were free performances.

In this adaptation of an old Fijian story, a smart, strong Dreketi, princess, her friends the belo
(herons), and community outwit and outplay Lady Samuna. The play explores female leader-
ship, informed choice of marriage partners as against community expectations, plays with
gender roles and the triple burden of women‘s work.

This feminist pantomime was written by Peni Moore, WAC Creative Director, and is fully pro-
duced by local theatre company, WAC Theatre Unlimited, Suva. It is suitable for wide and
diverse audiences, from children to adults. Pantomime has been called ‗The Opera of the
Masses‘. It is an interactive, colourful format with songs, vibrant costumes and characters.

The pantomime was in plain English with some vernacular/local slang. All plays are in plain
English as WAC Theatre Unlimited cover diverse communities (including I Taukei, Indo-Fijian,
Rotuman, mixed ethnicities) across Fiji. Visual arts elements, sounds and songs/music, use of
local concepts, slang, stories, names, sites, and body language are all part of the communica-
Warming up
tion strategy of theatre. Hence their effectiveness for shared community learning.

Special Xmas issue, Dec 2009—Full profile of WAC Theatre Unlimited!

And still Women from 15 informal settlements
we rise... growing a movement for gender equality...
The local, community level is where the
strength and dynamism of social change
arises and thrives….Women in informal set-
tlements in Fiji are engaged in many areas of
individual and community action for social
change… So...
In 2006-7 work in this area was primarily focused
on untangling the complexities of land tenure in
Fiji for ourselves, making this information avail-
able to stakeholders such as settlement commu-
nities, landowners, government departments and
statutory bodies, funders and policymakers. With
ECREA, CCF and others, WAC were also in-
volved in urgent response to increased evictions
and coercive resettlements.
In 2007-8 WAC support and skillsharing work
became more specific and focused –
concentrating on meaningful inclusion of diverse
women in informal settlement community em-
powerment and development work. We initially
worked with the Peoples Community Network
(PCN) and ECREA, and increasingly more di-
rectly with growing women‘s circles.
In 2008 –9 WAC and the expanding network are
busy accessing resources for self-identified train-
ing programme, evaluating work, holding regular
information and skill-sharing workshops, and
also working on internal WAC organizational
development as more women become involved
in every aspect of the organisation.
The project started with women from 5 settle-
ments, and has grown to circles in 15 settle-
ments in the greater Suva/Nausori/Lami area.
UPDATE—NOV 2009— COMPUTERS
Recent self-identified training needs by women‘s circles
included ‗Introduction to computers‘. The first course has
been held at WAC from Nov 10 — Nov 26, 2009 in the
mornings and evenings for 18 women reps from 15 groups,
and 1 man. It included basic theory, access to computers
and shared group learning with facilitators from WAC.
At the start, 2 of the participants had email accounts, and 2
had direct access to computers. Four had used the internet
with friends and family in internet shops, but only 2 had
used it by themselves. All participants have learnt about
computer components, the internet, worldwide web., and
basic software. They have also been presenting back to
each other on various elements.
All participants set up email accounts, have an email net-
work, shared photos and documents, played games, and
have been emailing and some chatting online to each
other. One participant connected with her son in the British
Army. He was surprised and emotional to get an email
from his mother in Fijian, She is also using the internet to
search for diet assistance with gout. Three others practiced
using ‗‗Excel‘ to create personal budgets and two created a
fundraising flyer for a community gathering. Another con-
tacted family overseas about school fees for her daughter
with a positive reply. All worked on keyboarding skills and
say they are now confident to use internet cafes. They all
enjoyed the informal course structure.
There have also been group discussions on network build-
ing, replicating courses with women participants as future
trainers, and a needs analysis to inform future courses
building on existing skills - wherever the site - in homes,
women‘s circles, civil society, waged/salaried work, local
politics… We also analyzed what makes a neighbourhood
internet café safer and user-friendly for women and girls, &
identified opportunities and blocks to using computers in
the future. Next update –Dec 2009—Baking/Catering and
income-generation, ‘The F Word’, & alternative economies.
WAC continue a 3 year search for resources to pur-
chase a community warehouse-style centre and land,
where this work can be safely replicated and upscaled.
There is an existing proposal. Please contact us if you
can assist. This work is currently supported by IWDA.
Global Fund for Women provide our only core/untied fund-
ing to enable this project, and others.
Volume 1, Issue 3
Speech by Stephen Lewis
at the International AIDS Society Conference
July 19, 2009 Cape Town, South Africa
1 December is World Aids Day.
Our feature article for this issue is the powerful voice of
Stephen Lewis, Chair of the board of the Stephen Lewis
Foundation in Canada (www.stephenlewisfoundation.org).
He is a Professor in Global Health, Faculty of Social Sci-
ences at McMaster University, and Co-Director of AIDS-
Free World in the United States. Stephen Lewis‘ work with
the United Nations spanned more than two decades. He
was the UN Secretary-General‘s Special Envoy for HIV/
AIDS in Africa from June 2001 until the end of 2006. From
1995 to 1999, Mr. Lewis was Deputy Executive Director of
UNICEF at the organization‘s global headquarters in New
York.
This speech is perfect for this WAC 16 Days Campaign
issue because it weaves together issues of gender based
violence such as domestic sexual violence and rape of
women and girls, homophobic persecution, and impact
on the fight against the AIDS pandemic. Climate change
and anti-nuclear movements are highlighted as other im-
portant examples of movement building. Lewis also
speaks to the removal of false binaries between activists
and scientists, politicians and advocates...
In my younger days, decades upon decades ago, we were
consumed by the threat of nuclear annihilation. The forces of
darkness, East and West, seemed in the ascendance. The
Doomsday clock inched its way to midnight.
And then there arose, across a spectrum ranging from the
scientists and engineers writing in the Bulletin of Atomic Sci-
entists, through to the Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear
War, a loud clamouring cry of protest, accompanied by
marches, banners, polemics, statements, press conferences
demanding, in the name of humankind, that the madness end.
And it did, at least for a time at the end of the Cold War. And
the scientists and doctors won Nobel Peace Prizes and
showed the power of scholarly activism for the whole world to
see.
Two weeks ago, just prior to the meeting of the G8, a full-page
ad appeared in the Financial Times, with the headline
―Scientists Call on World Leaders to Take Action on Climate
Change‖. It was signed by twenty-five of the most renowned
climatologists and earth scientists. They didn‘t get all they
wanted by any means, but they jolted the political leadership
into the recognition that the scientists are mobilized, are
watching, are keeping the rest of the world informed and will
not be silenced.
I was immediately reminded of the letter, signed by eighty-one
acclaimed medical clinicians and researchers right after the
Toronto AIDS conference, demanding the resignation of the
then South African Minister of Health for reasons everyone in
this audience understands. It was an important moment in the
accelerating, cumulative pressure for a change in policy, a
change now underway.
In truth, there are many in this audience who fought for that
change. This is an audience that has devoted itself to making
the world a better place, so I hope that what I‘m about to say
will comfortably resonate.
No one should underestimate the power and influence of sci-
ence when it decides to take a stand. The two co-Chairs of
this Conference are striking examples, amongst many, of the
extraordinary impact scientists can have. And never has the
Page 6
exercise of power and influence been more imperative than at
this moment in the fight against the AIDS pandemic. Your indi-
vidual and collective voices are needed … sure, you have the
technological and laboratory acumen, you know about vac-
cines and microbicides and triple combination therapy and viral
loads and CD4 counts and pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis
… the entire panoply of sophisticated scientific discovery and
intervention.
And that‘s your work, and it‘s of inestimable value. We need
you to unravel the secrets of the science, to make all of that
elusive and mysterious information accessible to the untutored
rest of us. But we need the scientific community as well to
speak clearly, and unequivocally, boldly and
evocatively to the power-brokers of this world,
telling them of the risks and the benefits, and
what will happen if they make the wrong
choices.
―This business
Somehow, along with the science, we need the
activism. They are inseparable. of
discrimination
So when, as now, there‘s a backlash against
funding for AIDS, with mindless charges against against and
AIDS exceptionalism, you should find a way, oppression of
collectively, to shoot down the pinched bureau-
crats and publicity-seeking academics who women is the
advocate exchanging the health of some for the world‘s most
health of others – who propose robbing Peter to
pay Paul rather than arguing, in principled fash- poisonous
ion, that money must be found for every impera- curse.‖
tive, including maternal and child health, and
sexual and reproductive health, and environ-
mental health as well as all the resources re-
quired to turn the tide of the AIDS pandemic.
It can never be an either/or. We‘re talking about
human lives for God‘s sake, not about the phony parsing of
balance sheets. The Treasuries of the western nations are very
artful at the divide and conquer route. We must never allow
them to play one part of the health sector against the other.
HIV/AIDS, for all the horrendous human consequences, has
objectively strengthened health systems, has brought together
all the sectors of government from agriculture to education, has
integrated private and public initiatives, has exponentially
raised awareness of the consequences of gender inequality,
has spawned remarkably novel ideas for raising resources …
all of it inevitably improving human health overall.
Believe me, if we could have back the lives we‘ve lost, I‘d relin-
quish in a heartbeat the institutional gains that flow from AIDS.
But we can‘t, so at least don‘t undervalue or dismiss the gains.
It‘s so easy for the detractors to coddle specious arguments.
Rather than asking for more money, they have this punitive
spasm to ransack resources for AIDS. You must not let them
get away with it.
And when the G8 won‘t renew its 2005 commitment to univer-
sal access; when the G8 cynically uses the financial crisis to
threaten cutbacks to AIDS funding; when the G8 once again,
yet again, always again subverts its own promises and in so
doing compromises the health of millions, then it‘s time for
science to speak with one powerful voice of accusation. And
when the Global Fund faces a shortfall of several billion, you
would do the world a tremendous service by simply finding a
way, collectively, from your positions of authority, to remind the
political leadership of how they used precious public money to
bail out the banks, so that Goldman Sachs could make a profit
of $3.4 billion in the second quarter of 2009, JP Morgan Chase
(Cont‘d from pg 6)
could make a profit of $2.7 billion in the same period, and
with obscene contempt for the human condition, pay
bonuses, yet again, beyond the dreams of hyperactive
wealth. You spend every day of your working lives to
make life possible, and the power brokers devalue your
work with the fraudulent plea of destitution. Don‘t let them
get away with it.
But funding isn‘t the only issue; the issues proliferate.
When the Government of Senegal jails eight gay AIDS
activists for no reason except homophobia, setting back
the fight against AIDS, where are the scientific voices of
condemnation?
Right now, in the Caribbean, every country save the
Bahamas, has laws that criminalize homosexuality. We
tiptoe round this twisted form of racism. We submit to
ridiculous claims of cultural relativism. The Prime Minister
of Jamaica, in the safety of Parliament, makes the most
contemptible statements about gay men, leaving every
elemental component of human rights in tatters, and he‘s
never called to account ... not by the UN Human Rights
Council, not by the G8, not by the G20, not by the Com-
monwealth … only by the gay activists themselves. What
is wrong with the international community? If this is how it
behaves, it doesn‘t deserve the name ―community‖ at all.
And if the political leadership lacks the courage to con-
front such outrageous slander, you shouldn‘t lack the
courage. You‘re scientists. You know that it‘s a scientific
reality that a certain percentage of the world‘s people is
gay. So tell the political philistines to get over it and stop
wrecking such damage. More, you know that an ugly
homophobic culture is a threat to public health that inevi-
tably serves to spread the virus … I beg you to say so.
The majesty of science is its influence.
Then there‘s the issue, commonly known as PMTCT ---
prevention of mother to child transmission. This should
have been the easiest intervention of all, instead we‘ve
had a panorama of unnecessary death for both the moth-
ers and their children. So-called PMTCT has been a
colossal failure, subjected to twisted linguistics, lousy
science, governmental chicanery, and astonishing delin-
quency on the part of United Nations agencies. Only now
is the political establishment coming to its senses. But it
needs your help so that it never goes off the rails again.
What help? Let me count the ways. First, never again
should it be called mother-to-child transmission. It should
better be called vertical transmission. How is it that we so
casually, mindlessly demonize the mother by naming her
as the vector? Second, even now a dreadful double stan-
dard prevails: in the industrial world we use full HAART;
in the developing world we still use, in the majority, single
-dose nevirapine. You‘re scientists: you know what that
means in terms of unnecessary infant infection and
death. Third, we abandon the mothers. In 2007, only 12
per cent of pregnant women living with HIV identified
during antenatal care, were assessed for their eligibility
to receive ARV treatment. That‘s an unconscionable
neglect of women that smacks of vestigial misogyny.
Fourth, the WHO/UNICEF/UNAIDS guidelines on breast-
feeding, and the use of breast-milk substitutes are widely
ignored. To this day, the value of exclusive breast-
feeding for six months in stemming HIV infection and
providing the infant with the strongest possible immunity
to other diseases is still caught between conjecture and
disavowal. Sometimes I think that every Minister of
Health should be required to take a mandatory course
from Dr. Coovadia. Failing that, the UN, and primarily
UNICEF, should do its job, and mount a massive global
education campaign to replace myths with facts about
infant feeding. Political and cultural influences can be dead wrong
where infant feeding is concerned; the scientists here assembled
have an indispensable role to play in setting the world straight.
And there‘s one other matter I must raise. The epidemic of domes-
tic sexual violence that lacerates the soul of South Africa is mir-
rored in the pattern of grotesque raping in areas of outright conflict
from Darfur to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in areas
of contested electoral turbulence from Kenya to Zimbabwe. Inevita-
bly, a certain percentage of the rapes transmits the virus. We don‘t
know how high that percentage is. We know only that women are
subjected to the most dreadful double jeopardy.
The point must also be made that there‘s no such thing as the
enjoyment of good health for women who live in constant fear of
rape. Countless strong women survive the sexual assaults that
occur in the millions every year, but every rape
leaves a scar; no one ever fully heals.
This business of discrimination against and oppres-
sion of women is the world‘s most poisonous curse.
Nowhere is it felt with greater catastrophic force
than in the AIDS pandemic. This audience knows ―You know that it‘s
the statistics full well: you‘ve chronicled them, a scientific reality
you‘ve measured them, the epidemiologists that a certain
amongst you have disaggregated them. What has percentage of the
to happen, with one unified voice, is that the scien-
tific community tells the political community that it world‘s people is
must understand one incontrovertible fact of health: gay.
bringing an end to sexual violence is a vital compo-
nent in bringing an end to AIDS. The brave groups So tell the political
of women who dare to speak up on the ground, in philistines to get
country after country, should not have to wage this
fight in despairing and lonely isolation. They should over it and stop
hear the voices of scientific thunder. You under- wrecking such
stand the connections between violence against damage.‖
women and vulnerability to the virus. No one can
challenge your understanding. Use it, I beg you,
use it.
When I said at the outset that this was the most
critical moment, I wasn‘t indulging in rhetorical flour-
ish. As has been pointed out time and time again, 2010 is the
anointed year for universal access. We have but seventeen short
months. If ever the scientific community was to engage in public
activism, that time is now. Not only must we save every life we can
in that seventeen months, but we have to create such energy that
the tide of intervention is irreversible, and neither financial down-
turns nor the feckless caterwauling of the critics of AIDS funding
will compromise our goal.
Make no mistake about it: that means taking on the development
aristocracy and those who advise and influence it … for example,
DfID in the United Kingdom, and the World Bank and the IMF and
even the World Health Organization.
Pause for a moment to think what we‘re dealing with. AIDS excep-
tionalism is a perfectly defensible and descriptive concept. Why do
you think the world created an organization called UNAIDS? AIDS
was exceptional. AIDS is exceptional. I tramped the high-
prevalence countries of Africa for more than five years; if I wasn‘t
viewing the most exceptional communicable disease assault of the
twentieth century, then the word ―exceptional‖ needs to be re-
defined.
As a consequence of that exceptionality, and the tremendous cam-
paigning of grass-roots advocates, AIDS received funding, a lot of
funding … never enough to be sure, but enough to recognize the
exceptionality.
Then along come the detractors, driven by resentment, resentment
at the success of the AIDS movement. These arithmetic arguments
alleging that AIDS is getting too much money at the expense of
(cont‘d from page 7)

other health imperatives … this is simply naked academic and bu-

reaucratic envy. I know I‘m not supposed to say that, but it‘s got to
be said.
Why? Because the critics know that it‘s not a matter of pitting one
aspect of health against another. The critics know that it‘s a matter of
measuring the resource needs of global health against the crazy
expenditures that the world makes on other things. But the seething
resentment that pulsates beneath the surface creates this false argu-
ment
I urge the scientists and activists here assembled not to fight on the
terrain of the poseurs. Your whole life is in the world of AIDS. You
know the legitimate resource requirements. You just can‘t permit an
intellectual contrivance --- an argument in favour of accepting the
size of the pie and slicing it differently, rather than demanding a lar-
ger pie --- you can‘t allow that to be used to justify a terrible reversal
in public policy. People infected with HIV or at risk of infection, are
suddenly tossed onto the landscape of treatment ambiguity, and the
gains we‘ve made and the momentum we‘ve achieved are put at
risk.
Is my naiveté showing? Why is it not possible to allocate sufficient
money for every aspect of global health, of which AIDS is but a part,
and in so doing, meet the Millennium Development Goals … money
which is but a fraction, a miniscule fraction of all the public dollars
that have found their way, in one short year, into the bottomless pits
of greed and avarice?
No one dies from a surfeit of money. People die when poverty
and disease are the twin ingredients of life.
Madiba turned ninety-one yesterday. I strolled down to the
waterfront here in Cape Town where people were singing and
dancing and irrepressibly celebrating the life of their national
treasure.
This country has been through tough, tough times. The num-
bers of deaths, the psychotic denialism, the political betrayals;
it‘s taken an incredible toll. And yet, in the liberation and its
aftermath, and the constitution, the law, the courts, the phe-
nomenal culture of community activism, most sublimely exem-
plified by the Treatment Action Campaign … in all of that, there
lies hope. I saw hope everywhere yesterday. And if that tumul-
tuous passage from despair to hope can happen here, it can
happen anywhere.
But to take it to a global scale, requires the collective will of
people like the people at this conference… people who speak
with unimpeachable scientific authority, and if they so wished,
and brought advocacy to bear, could move the mountains of
resistance and inertia.
You could strike a fatal blow against the pandemic. I salute
those of you who have already risen to that challenge. I leave it
with all of you.
http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/

GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO REFORM THE UN FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS

On 15 September 2009,the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution enabling the
creation of the new UN gender equality entity.

GEAR NOW WE NEED TO ENSURE GOVERNMENTS HONOUR THEIR COMMITMENTS THROUGH

ADEQUATE RESOURCES FOR IMPLEMENTATION!
For Pacific updates please contact the Pacific GEAR focal point, femLINKPACIFIC:

Update!
Email: sharon@femlinkpacific.org
GEAR UP! Is a global campaign of over 350 organisations ensuring that the United Na-
tions (UN) puts into place adequate gender equality architecture reforms.

www.gear.collectivex.com

WANTED - ACTION, NOT RHETORIC!

Climate
WAC is part of ‗350‘ and ‗TckTckTck‘, global grassroots campaigns working to ensure
that governments and corporations around the world are fully aware of the scope and
depth of worldwide commitment to adequate and effective targets on climate change
mitigation and climate justice. WAC is part of wider Pacific efforts to raise awareness

Justice!
on already devastating climate change effects on small island states, and most of all
advocating that women are at the forefront of climate justice work.
On 24 October 2009, people at over 5200 events in 181 countries came together for the
most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history. See all 22,000+ photos
from 24 Oct on Flickr »

NEXT: ORGANISE A VIGIL –LARGE OR SMALL—On 10-11 December 2009: ‗350 ‗groups
keep the pressure on, at the crucial UN Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen this December.
Join the MASSIVE weekend of action and candlelight vigils during the Summit. »

Free online resource: ‗Climate Change and Gender Justice‘. Edited by Geraldine Terry
with Caroline Sweetman. Practical Action Publishing, and Oxfam.

More information: www.350.org

 Litiana , WAC actor and facilitator
When did you start at WAC and how did you become involved?
I started in 2004 through one of the WAC staff informing me about an
audition. I attended and got chosen.

What is your favourite current WAC play, and why do you like it?
My favourite recent play is ‘Take Over, Take Cover’. We want to show
the world that women can lead too, and also in the households.

What kinds of problems, discriminations and violence are faced by

women and girls in Fiji?
Family problems like husbands leaving their wives and kids, having affairs
and leaving the family behind with no source of income. Wife and chil-
dren suffering and kids ending up on the streets, in prison, etc. There
are teenage pregnancies and abortions. Also relationship problems like
boys beating girls up but continuing to live with her.

What is WAC doing to support women and girls?

Providing awareness spaces on child sexual abuse, violence and mental
health, and all issues. Also free courses such as care-giving, start your
own business, computer and baking courses.

How can we do it better?

By having a diverse approach toward projects.
By keeping in contact with community leaders, and creating even better
bonds with communities.
By having continuous funding to enable us to have more time sent on all
the important issues.

PAT ABEL MANUELI, WAC Management Collective

Please tell us a little bit about yourself:

Well, I was born in Vatukoula, and I’m a musician. I come from Melane-
sian, Micronesian, Polynesian and Caucasian ethnicity. I have lots of inter-
ests, including astronomy, reading, writing, scrabble, Sudoku, gardening,
creative work like beading, sewing, working with wood, and watching a
good story come to life on the big screen at Village Six...My favourite
quote is by Voltaire...”Those who make you believe absurdities, can make
you commit atrocities.”

When and how did you first join WAC? I actually met Peni and others from WAC when I was at FWRM
when it first started in 1986. I did the first newsletters for about a year. Then I went away to NZ, and
reconnected when WAC was first formed in 1993. I left again, and in 1996 met up with WAC again.
That’s when WAC was below St Andrews. I was part of the collective but I lived far away so it was
hard, Then in 2008 I came back into the collective and I’m still part if it today.

Why are you part of WAC? I like the closeness with communities, relationships built. Also the variety
of community work, not only one type of workshop, or on one issue. Also practical training for women,
violence against women, Start your own business, baking and catering, computer courses...

What are some issues for Fiji women? Definitely lack of respect from men. This lack of respect per-
petuates violence towards women, and all the disrespectful comments women put up with every day.
I just saw a local music production on TV, and it was clear most men seem to think they are the only
ones who exist. They just don’t seem to see women. It just makes more crimes and discrimination
happen to women. I’d really like to see local women write rap songs and give another view of what life is like for a woman in Fiji. I also
think it’s good to have the new decree on violence against women. It’s about time. Enough talking, we need to act.

Some final thoughts to share? Take each day as it comes, be kind to planet earth, & question everything. Even you know who!
 Maria Morrell,
Duavata woman community leader, member of
the Peoples Community Network and WAC women’s
network, mother and grandmother:

When I first started working doing more community work, I was shy to speak in pub-
lic. After the first workshop I attended with ECREA I felt more able to speak. What I
heard, gave me courage to start.

The reason I am part of WAC is, it broadens my mind. I started to think about other
women in my area, and the challenges we face every day. Most of the women are not
well-educated, housewives, grandmothers, whatever. One thing that I see with WAC
in these workshops and meetings, is that we all look forward to the programs. WAC
This network listen to us when we say we need new or different things.
is many
things to It has helped to address violence too. We know more about where we stand as a
woman in our community and Fiji. How to stand up for our rights. There was one
many workshop where a lawyer came. She answered real questions for women who were
different having problems with divorce, child maintenance... We told her our stories. When I
told my story I felt proud and good. Why? Because I had never told it, it was the first
women.
time. I heard others too. From that workshop I had the courage to stand and speak.

It’s our Some of the women in my area, they live in fear to answer back, when they‘re in do-
mestic violence. Couples are fighting, but they can‘t answer back. Now the women
education, stand up or get away, or when they are not fighting, they share with their husband
we support what they really think. So when the violence comes again, you see the woman stand
each other, up in different ways.

share ideas, I also feel good about being a woman leader and having people look up to me now.
Being a woman and hosting a community meeting for the day, on behalf of Duavata,
get used to a
or the WAC network. It feels good when people come to see you.
public voice,
A woman leader, when she‘s determined to do things, she makes sure it‘s done.
and feel
That‘s my job. Women come and ask, and how you connect with people, your per-
proud. sonality, and how you speak with people-it‘s important. You have to be inviting. I feel
Maria Morrell, that it‘s my concern being a woman leader to outreach to my community, to let them
Nov 2009. know what this work we are doing is about.

I used to see before, when there is an organisation or group thing, it‘s mainly the men
running it. So it feels good for a woman to run it too. The invitation is there for men to
come too, but having women there together in the meeting is good because we‘re
straight to the point - what we need, what we want done.

This network is many things to many different women. It‘s our education, we support
each other, share ideas, get used to a public voice, and feel proud.

In each issue of WACky Peace, we highlight a woman community leader from

WAC women‘s network.
 Women‘s Action for Change (WAC) was founded in
1993 by a group of local feminist women who identified a need for more commu-
nity-based, participatory work on gender equality issues for diverse women in
Fiji.

The dream of this group was to create a sustainable community-based organisa-

tion using a wide variety of theatre and arts-based learning methods, working
toward full gender equality and social justice for all.
Women's Action for Change (WAC)
We believe that work to envision and create a gender equal future necessarily
333 waimanu road, SUVA, FIJI includes conflict transformation, active nonviolence and peacebuilding, and
PO Box 12398, SUVA, FIJI always an engagement with the personal as political.

Phone: (679) 3314 363

16 years on, WAC works in 12 provinces around Fiji (with limited regional and
Fax: (679) 3305 033 international work), using participative arts to connect with people in remote, rural
E-mail: wac@connect.com.fj and urban communities, and especially working among individuals and groups,
Alternate email: noelenen@gmail.com including women and girls, experiencing intersecting forms of discrimination,
marginalisation, violence and poverty.

Current WAC projects are supported by funders and long-term partners
including IWDA, Global Fund for Women, and Ausaid.
All views expressed in this newsletter are attributed to WACky Peace
Editor, excepting feature and contributory articles that retain author
copyright.
Editor—Noelene Nabulivou,
This issue: Stephen Lewis Foundation; Naina Kaloukigau, SAN
Photos: WAC staff
“WAC is founded on the principle that, “All persons, hence women, should
be treated equally regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, religion, sexual
orientation or ability.”
Our Mission, which we also call our dream, is “To create safe spaces
where individuals and groups, particularly marginalised people, can gain
strength and confidence to build a just society.”

Special 2009 WAC wrap-up, coming to you on Human Rights Day, 10 December 2009.

 Feature Article by Peni Moore, WAC Creative Director— ‗Gender, Restorative Justice and
Peacebuilding in Fiji —Lessons learnt Along the Way‘

 WAC Theatre Unlimited, Showcasing the community theatre group of Women‘s Action for
Change (WAC) - Background stories & past plays, methodologies, community theatre, staff profiles,
and more

 Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) - What‘s next in global south
feminist work? The 2010 DAWN Development Debates

 The F Word — The F Word project involves women and girls from 15 informal settlement com-
munities, who will collate and share women‘s stories of violence and strategies of survival, resilience
and transformation. The project will explore and affirm the existence of many kinds of families
through storytelling, and clarify the link between restrictive concepts of gender and sexuality in Fiji,
and their impact on women-led households, including increased social sanctions, discrimination and
violence, as well as women‘s work to change it. Workshops will be held with women from informal
settlements, sex workers and women of diverse sexual and gender identities, to produce theatre per-
formances and a DVD. A report on the first workshop (December 2009) will be included.