by Jameen Kaur, NWI rapporteur, Amnesty International Ireland
Suddenly there are faces to names. The First Nobel Women’s Initiative opened today, and with it the excitement of so many possibilities. Unlike many other conferences, this one opened with unexpected hugs from delegates from all around the world. Behind smiles, colourful outfits and vibrant languages were stories from the women’s human rights struggle from around the world, present are 80 women who had journeyed from 30 countries to be in Ireland.
Immediately, the tone has been set. The goal of the conference is not to act as monologue of the experience of women. But to provide an innovative opportunity to utilise the prestige and expertise of the laureates to gain further access and bring about real change. The sole aim is to improve the lives of millions of women from around the world. Whether this be of the woman who has been raped by militia forces in Darfur, or the young school girls in Gaza, who resist the occupation by continuing to go to school, despite daily harassment.
As a woman in my early thirties, I sit amongst women, humbled, intoxicated and energised by their decades of expertise and experience. I search for answers on their faces, what drives these women and the women their represent? The stories clearly illustrate that the ‘personal is political’ and ‘the political personal’. Words such as ‘Democracy’which have now been colonised by certain states, were giving meaningful definitions to reflect a reality to a woman: ‘Democracy is when a woman can talk about her lover without being killed.’
The emotions of the day shifted like the Irish Sea. We started upbeat, and celebratory, however as the stories unfolded, the real sadness and pain of the reality of the lives of women and girls in times of ‘peace’ and conflict hit home. How these realities were forced upon women around the world, without their consent. The ‘weaponising of women’s bodies’ a strategy used around the world and throughout time. Using rape as a weapon of war to humiliate the female victim and her community, and then women having to suffer additional abuse under patriarchal and religious fundamentalist structures.
The afternoon session with Antonia Juhasz’s excellent presentation almost had me running into the sea, screaming ‘is this for real, somebody please stop this brutal scary movie!! Antonia’s talk focused on the multi national corporations and the Bush administrations’ horrifying strategy of greed: the gobbling up the oil assets belonging to the Iraqi people. She stressed that 52 of the world’s largest economies were U.S. multi national corporations. That ‘for the first time in history of the United States we have a President, a Vice President and a Secretary of State who are all heads of Oil Companies’. She stated that Condelleeza Rice has more experience running an oil company then she does in government, she even has an oil tanker named after her, and ‘she has earnt it’.
Antonia laid out bare how the U.S government was essentially blackmailing the Iraqi government to ensure that this new legislative act which legally guarantees it controls and manages 63 of Iraq’s 80 oil fields and reserves under ground. If the Iraqi government refuse, the U.S. will terminate funding of Iraq’s reconstruction programme. Who is next, on the U.S multi national oil corporations shopping list? Could it be the third largest oil producer in the world – Iran?
‘Oh my God!! I just want to die’ said Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathi, as she remarked on these cruel facts. Delegates were in absolute horror as the Bush administration’s strategy was laid out bare, and the suicidal consequences this legislation would have on the people of Iraq and beyond, particularly the impact on women. As Yanar Mohammed stated ‘you state oil is cheap, I tell you it is hugely expensive. I tell you I queue for hours, to be told to come back tomorrow. My room is cold, my children are cold. Or if I want oil I must provide one of the soldiers a favour.’
