March 14th

FF-WPR talked with Tzazna Miranda Leal from the Migrant Women’s Coordinating Body and their recent event “Celebrating Women’s Resistance”, organized on the eve of IWD. The group is a coalition of a number of organization who would like to bring to the forefront issues affecting women living without status and the gendered and impacts of racist immigration practices and policies. Tzezna talked about migrant women working in the agricultural sector. She described the threat of violence against these women (especially sexual violence) as well as the lack of access to information about thir rights and healthcare amongst others. These women often can`t access a physician without the consent of their boss. Tzezna pointed out that the mainstream feminist movements had become a lot less politicized in her view. The struggles of migrant women needed to be incorporated into the struggles of all working women. The event Celebrating Women`s Resistance featured many performers,including the CUPE Freeedom Singers directed by Faith Nolan.

For more information or if you would like to get involved with the Migrant Women`s Coordinating Body, contact justicia4migrantworkers.com.

We also spoke with Professor Bellegarde-Smith about the role of women in the Haitian Revolution. His book Haiti: The Breached Citadel is one of the few works where the pivotal role of women in the Haitian Revolution (as in any other social movement) is documented. He pointed out that after the Haitian Revolution and it is men who write its history. He also talked about the practice of Vodou and contested its mainstream demonization in Hollywood and mainstream media. He pointed out that Haiti is 60% Catholic, 40% protestant and 100% Vodou. He talks about embracing Vodou as a valid and valued part of Haitian life and culture.

Professor Bellegarde-Smith is Haitian and is a houngan asogwe, an initiate and priest of Vodou. His doctorate is in the fields of International politics, Latin American history and Comparative Politics. He teaches courses on Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa in the Department of Afrocology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has written extensively on issues of Haitian cultural and national identity, Haitian social thought and philosophy and the Vodou religion.

March 7th

On the occasion of the 100^th International Women’s Day (IWD), we spoke with Christina from the campaign for Shelter, Sanctuary and Status for All as well as with Jenn and Cara from Maggie’s Toronto.

Christina talked about the historical and current trends within the immigration system; the deep-rooted racism and legacy of imperialism in the immigration system as well as its gendered impacts. Shelter, Sanctuary and Status for All is in response to the raids on women’s shelters and other safe spaces (anti-VAW spaces) by the CBSA. Women without status are targeted in these raids. Although they are often fleeing violence in their home countries, these women are further recriminated, re-traumatized and further victimized by Canadian law enforcement and the immigration system. Often, if these women are sent back to their home country, they are killed. There is also an adverse impact on children. In sharp contrast, dominant mainstream discourse paints Canada as this welcoming safe-haven, with one of the world’s most generous refugee systems (even as the quota for accepting refugees was slashed 60%). The Shelter, Sanctuary and Status campaign is looking to put an immediate stop to further raids on women’s shelters and is also attempting to develop a protocol for service-providers and agencies to deal with this threat. They are hosting a community meeting and press conference at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre (17 Pheobe Street) on Monday, March 8 at 10AM to come together and draft a joint response to this crisis. All are welcome to the community gathering. Christina felt that yesterdayès IWD celebration could have delved into the issues of non-status women more; although there was some mention of these issues and that the issues (like child-care and EI) which were covered are bigger concerns for non-status women. For more info visit http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/sss

We talked with Jenn and Cara from Maggie’s Toronto. Maggie’s works with women, men and trans people employed in the sex trade. It has been active in the community since 1986, providing a range of services, supports and advocacy for individuals as well as working on policy change and legal reforms. Maggie’s works to empower sex workers and views sex work as a legitimate and socially valued form of work. Maggie’s advocates that sex workers should be allowed to work with dignity and in safe conditions. They pointed out that although sex work itself is legal in Canada, the accompanying activities are criminalized. This forces sex work underground and the very laws put in place to protect sex workers contribute to their further marginalization and repression. They talked about the less than favourable response from mainstream feminists who often advocate sex work as a form of violence and as an outcome of patriarchy, rather than looking at it as a means of livelihood and as empowering for those engaged in it. (Sex workers can choose sex work just as any of us choose a particular profession). This discourse of sex work was altogether absent from the IWD celebrations. They stressed that sex workers face a multitude of accompanying oppressions depending on their social location, with racialized women, disabled women and poor women facing additional oppression. Maggie’s is part of an international network of organizers for sex work rights. Cara maintains that the women employed in sex work in the global south are far more organized than the North American context. For more information about Maggies, visit www.maggies.com.

Although we have a long way to go in terms of including all voices in mainstream feminisms and in the IWD celebrations, FF-WPR was nevertheless out there for the IWD March. Listeners heard clips from an event,- Celebrating Women’s Resistance, organized on Friday, March 5 by the Migrant Women’s Coordinating Body featuring Faith Nolan and the CUPE Freedom Singers, spoken word artists and other local performers that gave life to women’s struggles and resistance. We also heard a talk by Angela Davis towards the end of what turned out to be another 2 hour show.

We apoligize for technical difficulties during the show. We were unable to get Professor Patrick Bellegarde-Smith on air as promised and were unable to play the show originally planned by the programmers at Radio Cliteracy. We will attempt to have Dr. Bellegarde-Smith at a future show. Please stay tuned and don’t forget to leave questions or comments on our blog or call in to the station.

February 28th

As part of our programming for African Liberation Month, FF-WPR read through the remainder of an essay by renowned scholar of Africana, the late Dr. John Henrick Clarke. Clarke advocates a shift away from the essentializing historiography promulgated by the colonizers who in their writings about Africa and their dominant thinking, paints what is known to the modern world as Africa, as a place as (historically) under-developed. Clarke re-writes the history of Africa, to accord the continent and its ancient civilizations its rightful place in world culture and history. The contributions of the African continent , especially Egypt, have left a mark on world history and culture. The essay is an attempt to subvert dominant conceptions of Africa, a re-telling of world history and a call to action in a manner of speaking as Clarke encourages readers to re-imagine identity, particularly for the present African American community. Its a critical work which forces us to ask ourselves: who speaks for whom, what is told and what gets left out of the dominant discourse about Africa and her people. The essay can be found at http://africanbynature.com/eyes/openeyes_africanahistory.html

We also heard a poem and an interview with Dr. Afua Cooper. The interview is a discussion of slavery of black people in Canada and her critically acclaimed poetry. The interview can be found here: http://www.box.net/shared/ ahz4ef1xhc

For a complete biography of Dr. Cooper, including samples and a complete portpholio of her published work and poetry, visit: www.afuacooper.com

We apologize for not getting to Killing Rage: Ending Racism (1996) by Bell Hooks. We will attempt to review the book in a few weeks.

Please tune in next week for FF-WPR’s International Women’s Day Program!