Accent of Women

Daniela Alvarado is an Ecuadorian feminist and a Public Health specialist. She is passionate about women’s reproductive rights. Daniela discusses the history of women’s struggles and campaigns in Latin America, and particularly in Ecuador, for social and economic rights, safe legal abortions and self determination.This program was first played on November 2014, and it is an interview recorded at a public meeting organised by Radical Women in Melbourne.

Israel has once again escalated its attacks against the Palestinians, provoked by the right-wing Zionist settler movement that wants the government to take control of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque compound and allow Jewish prayers on the entire site.  It is hard to believe that a future is possible in Palestine.  In fact, many are predicting a third intifada.  And yet, as Jerusalem burns, it seems there is the zygote of a progressive Jewish movement emerging in Isreal.  While a Jewish perspective on the occupation of Israel on Palestine is not a common view broadcast on Accent of Women, this week, we've decided to give this issue some air time.  I spoke with Jewish activist Sahar Vardi.  She's based in Israel and is an organiser in a campaign to end Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Under Pinochet era Anti-Terror laws, 15 Mapuche community leaders are currently in prison because they are opposing a forestry hydrolic company taking over their lands - all with the permission of the State.Marisol Salinas is a Mapuche in exile here in Australia, and a member of the Latin American Solidarity Network, where she co-ordinates the solidarity campaign for the release of the Mapuche political prisoners. She's our special guest on Accent of Women.

Effie Meehan is a woman from Greek background living with cerebral palsy. For over 30 years, she has been a tireless advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, particularly from migrant backgrounds.She is a co-founder of ADEC (Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities) and she is currently a Facilitator and a Disabily Ambassador.

Today’s show is dedicated to the case of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa marking the one-year anniversary since the event in which 43 students were forcibly disapeared.On the night of September 26, 2014, six people were killed by police forces, including three students. One of them, Julio Mondragón, appeared hours later with the skin removed from his face. On that night, 43 student teachers were kidnapped by state forces.One year on, the case of the 43 students has become an emblematic case of state repression and impunity, and an example of the close links between criminal organizations and state forces. It is also an example of the resistance, the solidarity and the resilience of the Mexican people standing up for justice.On today’s show we will discuss about the most recent report “informe Ayotzinapa”, produced by an Independent Experts Interdisciplinary group, GIEI for its Spanish Acronym. We are going to hear some reflections on the report and the journey of struggle and resistance led by the relatives of the disappeared students. We will hear the voices of two of the mothers of the Ayotzinapa students. They are Bertha Nava, mother of Julio Cesar Ramirez Nava, one of the students killed during the police attacks of the night of September 26, and Hilda Legideño, mother of Jorge Antonio Tizapa Legideño, one of the 43 disappeared students.These are some previous Accent of Women shows on the topic:11 November 2014:Can 43 students go missing for over a month without a trace? In Mexico, 43 rural teachers from the rural school of Ayotzinapa were kidnapped by local security agents and drug cartels. We discuss about how young poor people become targets of the violenceof State and criminal forces. - See more at: http://www.3cr.org.au/accentofwomen/podcast/accent-women-1111201416 December 2014:Social unrest in Mexico as a result of the dissapearance of 43 rural student teachers from Ayotzinapa. The action was perpetrated by the State, that responds with fierce repression to all forms of protest. Laura Carlsen, political analyst, discusses from Mexico about the ongoing demonstrations and provides an insight on the current social and political crisis in the country. - See more at: http://www.3cr.org.au/accentofwomen/podcast/accent-women-16122014You can find a video of the report´s launch in Spanish here.The full inform is here (in Spanish).

Since the election of Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, there has been a marked increase in military spending by the government.  This has led to an upsurge in anti-war actions in the last few years with massive demonstrations across Japan.  As the world prepares for increased military operations in the Middle East, Japan is eagerly running into these conflicts despite fierce opposition from the people. To help us understand the situation in Japan, Chie Matsumoto talks to Accent of Women.

On today's show, we will be learning about the work of ADEC, Action on Disability in Ethnic Communities, a community based organization that aims to empower people with disabilities from ethnic backgrounds, their carers and families.To learn about this organization we spoke with of its founding members, Effie Mehan, a woman from Greek background living with Cerebral palsy. She is a tireless advocate for the rights of people from CALD backgrounds living with disabilities in Victoria, and she is currently an ambassador for her organization. She has been working in the sector for over 30 years. In 2006, in recognition of her work, she was included among the Victorian Honour Roll of Women. Effie speaks about her personal experience living with cerebral palsy and the challenges she encounter living as a migrant women in Australia, at a time where not many services were available for ethnic communities. She also speaks about the role of the organization she helped build.This interview was recorded in 2014.To find out more about ADEC, follow the link to the organisation's website.And here is a link to the book about ADEC's story.

African feminism is as old as society. From Kenyan women asserting their right to dress as they choose and Nigerians standing up to the misogynist Boko Haram to feminists organising across the continent for LGBTIQ rights.  The Socialist Feminist organisation, Radical Women, recently organised a public meeting on Feminism in Africa. Nita Okoko, Kenyan feminist and international student at Melbourne University was the keynote speaker, and 3CR's Areej Nur recorded the speech.Nita started off by explaining that in many respects, it's difficult to discuss feminism in Africa – an entire continent, and that the expression of women's struggle is very different depending on where in Africa you are. Nonetheless, Nita embarked on this mammoth task.

On this week's show, we speak to an unlikely activist, a muslim woman who was so overwhelmed with the grief in her community that she organised a public meeting on fighting Islamophobia.

On the show this week, we bring you a remarkable story of the victory of the Anganbadi workers in India, who after weeks of struggle, won their dispute with the government. Anganbadi is a government sponsored child-care and mother-care program which relies solely on the work of the Anganbadi workers most of which are women. The urban poor in Delhi rely heavily on these services from pre-natal care to accessing information about immunization.  Apart from looking after malnutritioned children, as well as poor and expecting mothers, the Anganbadi workers make birth and death registrations and recently they also have been assigned election duties for which they receive no additional remuneration.  These workers are paid a mere 5000 Rupees ($100AUS) per month for supposedly being volunteer workers. After some two weeks of hunger strike and much police brutality, these workers won all of their demands, when their struggle ended in victory on Thursday the 30th of July.To tell that story, one of the organisers of the dispute, Shivani Kaul from Bigul Mazdoor Dasta, joins Accent of Women