Chilean Feminist On Trial
Maria Antonieta Saa, an active feminist, member of the Isis International team in Santiago, Chile and representative of the women's movement in the Asamblea de la Civilidad (Civic Assembly) in Chile, was released from prison in Santiago on 21 August 1986. Ms. Saa had been arrested on 10 July, along with 13 other members of the Assembly for their part in calling for the general strike of 2 and 3 July in Chile. She has been released on bail, pending trial. No date has yet been set for the trial.
Maria Antonieta represents the Chilean women's movement in the Civic Assembly through the Mujeres por La Vida (Women for Life), an umbrella organization bringing together feminist organizations, women's groups within various opposition political parties and labor unions, professional and sectoral women's organizations and women's groups from poor urban areas.
The Asamblea de la Civilidad is a forum of organizations representing various sectors of Chilean society including labor unions, professionals, students, the urban poor, indigenous peoples, artists, business, transport workers and women's organizations, calling for the return of democracy to Chile.
After her arrest, Maria Antonieta Saa was imprisoned in the San Miguel Prison where a group of thirty women political prisoners are incarcerated in a special section of this prison for men with a population of 700 males accused or convicted of various crimes. The conditions of their imprisonment are considerably worse than those of male political prisoners.
A vast campaign in support of Maria Antonieta Saa and in protest against her arrest and detention was mobilized in Chile and around the world through feminist networks and organizations and through many other groups and organizations supporting human rights.
"Antonieta represents for us all the women who are struggling against the dictatorship and for democracy," the Solidarity Committee for Maria Antonieta in Chile states. "All women who want to build a freer, more just and more egalitarian society. A part of each of us is imprisoned with Antonieta. Through imprisoning her, the regime is trying to trample, silence and imprison the demands of all the women of Chile."
While still in prison, Maria Antonieta said "the solidarity shown to me by women has been heartwarming and deeply moving. It has given me great strength." In speaking of her relationship with the other women political prisoners, she says: "This has been one of the most valuable experiences of my life. They have given me immense warmth and solidarity. Their courageous example and will to live has strengthened me."
From the Ashes
The earthquake that hit Mexico City last September 1985 reduced much of the city to pile of rubble, but out of the ruins emerged a women's garment union. The "September 19th Seamstresses" was formed by women workers who survived the earthquake but lost their livelihood when their 20 or so textile factories were destroyed. Like most of the city's poor and disadvantaged, the workers had no protections against the natural disaster and many now are left jobless, homeless and hungry.
Since October 1985, the workers have pressed the government and the factory management for the following demands:
- Removal of the dead bodies from the factories
- Compensation for the families of the killed workers
- Reopening of their workplaces or compensation for unemployed workers
- Recognition of their union
Not surprisingly, the government and management have been unresponsive and the workers have received little public support. With most Mexican unions "yellow," or government-controlled, independent unions fight an uphill battle for recognition. For this reason, the workers are calling for international solidarity for their demands through telegrams of support to the following government officials:
President of the Republic
Lic. Miguel del la Madrid Hurtado
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Mexico, D.F.
President of the Emergency Commission
CP. Ramon Aguirre Velazquez
Plaza de la Constitucion
Edificio del D.D.F. Mexico, D.F.
Donations can be sent to:
Evangelina Corona Cadena,
Secretary General
September 19th Seamstresses Union
San Antonio Abad, No. 151
Colonia Obrera, Mexico D.
Women in Turkish Prisons
Today, alongside the hundreds of men political prisoners detained in Turkey there are many women, who often experience brutal torture and rape at the hands of the Turkish police. Their crime: participation in peace groups, women's groups, labor unions, and other political organizations.
Women who had adopted the slogan "kindergartens not arms'' were among the leaders of the Turkish Peace Association brought to trial in 1982, in the first NATO country to criminalize its peace movement. One of those women, Reha lsvan, said in her statement to the military court, "As a women I have given birth to life, as a teacher I have nurtured new generations of human beings, as an agriculturalist, I love nature and want to enrich it. I do not want my life's work to be destroyed in war ... that is why I ' take my place on the side of peace." She was subsequently sentenced to eight years imprisonment.
During the 1970s, Turkish women enjoyed a brief period when they began to exercise their rights and find a voice in the political arena. In 1975, the llerici Kadinlar Dernegi, or Progressive Women's Organization, was founded with 30 women members to fight for concerns such as equal pay for equal work, maternity leave, and an end to child labor. In four years. the group grew to include 15,000 members, mostly working women. But it was banned in 1979, shortly before the military seized control of the government.
One Turkish woman, who asked that her name be withheld, has recently circulated a letter to publicize the response of a prominent government party leader, Turgut Sunalp , to charges that the Turkish police used truncheons to rape women political prisoners. "Now why should one need truncheons when we have young men, strong as rocks?" this official replied.
"It is sickening to elaborate the perverted logic in this statement, writes the correspondent. "He is implying that truncheons are not necessary as long as the supply of young men ... is available for raping women, which he apparently considers legitimate."
The write asks that women send letters of protest against this incident and against the violation of women's human rights to the. following names and addresses:
Ken Evren. President
Ankara
Turkey
Turgut Sunalp
MDP,TBMM
Ankara
Turkey
Nokta Magazine
Gelisim Yayinlari
Levent- lstanbul
Turkey
Source: Sparerib, March 1986 and
Aegis, No. 40. 1986
Margaret Randall: Fighting to Stay at Home
Margaret Randall, a poet and writer who recently published Sandino's Daughters: Testimonies of Nicaraguan Women in Struggle, is facing deportation from the US because of her critical views toward the US government.
Born in the US in the 1940s, she relinquished her American citizenship in 1967 In order to improve her chances of finding employment in Mexico, where she had married a Mexican citizen. When she returned to the U.S. several years ago to begin teaching at a university, she applied for permission to reside permanently in the country. But on October 2, 1985, the US government turned down her request and ordered her immediate deportation from the US. The legal decision invoked a law passed during the McCarthy era in the 1950s which permits the investigation or legal measures against anyone considered "subversive."
Randall's other works address women, social change and revolution in Cuba, Mexico and North Vietnam. She has been a persistent critic of US foreign policy for many years. With the help of a support committee. Randall is currently fighting the deportation order through the US courts. If you want to join in the campaign. write:
Margaret Randall Legal Defense Committee
Center for Constitutional Rights
853 Broadway, 14th floor
New York, New York 10003 USA
Source: Sparerib, May 1986
Malaysian Worker Call for Support
Workers at a Penfibre, a Japanese polyester manufacturing plant in Malaysia, have been on the losing side of a battle with management for nearly two years. In April 1985, workers' picketing in protest of layoffs ordered by a newly-hired company union buster set off a series or punitive actions, including cutbacks in economic benefits, the dismissal of union leaders, and a cancellation of their planned strike by the government. Penfibre workers are calling on your support through letters or protest to company management, solidarity action, or information that would help their campaign. Write:
Takashi Fujishi, Director
Penfibre Sdn Bhd (Lot 109-114)
Prai Free Trade Zone, PRAI 13600
Seberang Perai
Malaysia
Penfibre Workers
c/o Sahabat Alam Malaysia
37, Lorong Birch
10250 Pulau Pinang
Malaysia
Source: Asian Women Workers Newsletter, March 1986
Support Striking Women in Thailand
About 3,000 women workers in Thailand went on strike on March 21, 1986 and their strike continues as of July. They make garments under the brandnames Londonfox. Puma and Adidas for two Thai-Japanese companies, Thai lryo Co. Ltd. and Thai lryo Garments Co. Ltd.
The workers' decision to strike came after the management chose to get tough in response to their demand for a wage raise to at least the legal minimum wage and long- term job security with benefits. In response. the company dismissed 87 workers and revoked welfare benefits. The workers have issued a call for international solidarity actions. For more information, or to support the workers, write:
Committee for Asian Women
57 Peking Road
5/F Kowloon
Hong Kong
Source: Asian Women Workers
Newsletter, June 1986
Amar and Farid: We Want to Rejoin our Mother
Amar and Farid Houache, two teenaged sons of a French mother and Algerian father, have resided in Algeria since a court awarded custody to their father upon the parents' divorce several years ago. They have seen their mother only once since the divorce, for a brief meeting during Christmas 1985. On June 17, 1986, Amar and Farid approached the French Embassy in Algiers and asked to be rejoined with their mother in France. The French and Algerian governments have not yet acted on the request.
Amar and Farid are among some 2000 children in Algeria whom have been awarded by the courts to their Algerian fathers instead of their foreign mothers. In protest of this situation, five French mothers, including Amar's and Farid's mother, occupied the French Embassy in Algiers for five months from June to October 1985. After months of delayed action and postponed meetings, no settlement on the women's cases was reached with the authorities of both governments.
In continuation of their struggle to be reunited with their children, the five mothers and their friends are marching to the embassies and government offices each Wednesday from June through October 1986 and presenting French and Algerian government officials with faded white roses.Supporters are urged to organize delegations to the French and Algerian embassies in their own countries, and to present representatives with faded white roses.
If their case is not settled by October 1986, the mothers will march from Paris to Geneva to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights at that time.
Following is the partial text of a petition being circulated by the International Network Women Living Under Muslim Law:
"We have been informed about the case of two boys: Amar and Farid Houache, who with great difficulty managed to approach the French Embassy in Algiers on the 17th of June 1986 and have sought the services of the Embassy to be able to join their mother based in France.
We demand that Amar and Farid be provided full assistance by all the authorities involved and be granted the freedom to join their mother.
We also demand that the international Rights of the Child be guaranteed by the immediate signing of bilateral agreements between the governments of France and Algeria. We extend our whole hearted support to the five French women whose cases are currently in progress in the Algerian courts."
Please distribute a copy of this petition among your contacts and present it to the presidents of Algeria and France and to their ambassadors in your country. For more information, contact:
Women Living Under Muslim Law
International Solidarity Network
34980 Combaillaux (Montpelier)
France
