On March 8, the World March for Women 2000 will be launched in 146 countries. The WMW 2000 aims to highlight the issues of women living in poverty and violence against women. CATHIE PICCONE, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) representative in the Australian WMW 2000 coalition, spoke to Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly's KATHY NEWNAM.
The WMW 2000 was initiated by activists from Quebec in 1995 at the Beijing Women's Conference. The aim was to build on the success of a 10-day march which had received overwhelming support.
Piccone said the campaign will aim to raise awareness about the disparity between rich and poor and "restore the equity and human rights of women".
The 1996 UN Human Development Report found that the world's 358 billionaires had greater wealth than the combined annual income of 45% of the world's people. Piccone noted that the acceleration of this trend was being assisted by governments around the world which are "legitimising the robbing of the world's people".
The WMW 2000 will highlight the fact that women suffer disproportionately from the poverty that comes with "rampant capitalism", women being 70% of the 1.3 billion people who live in poverty.
With 3500 women's organisations from five continents participating in WMW 2000, the issues will be addressed in different ways in different countries. Piccone said there is a broad range of creative actions planned.
A unifying action will be the gathering of signatures on cards to be presented to United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan at the UN headquarters on October 17. There will also be demonstrations on October 15 outside offices of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
In Australia, the campaign is being organised by a coalition of 19 organisations, including Aboriginal representatives, the National Union of Students and the ACTU. According to Piccone, the issues the Australian campaign will address will be broad — from native title and the proposed nuclear waste dump in remote South Australia, to opposition to the GST.
Activities in Australia will also raise the issues of improving women's living and working conditions. The actions will have a "local focus but a global context".
The campaign in Australia will be launched in all states and territories on or near March 8 and at International Women's Day breakfasts, luncheons and rallies (to be held on March 11).
There will be 60,000 cards distributed to supporters and the card can be downloaded from the campaign's Australian web site. Piccone encouraged every woman with access to the internet to distribute the cards, which will be sent to New York in September to be included in the presentation to Annan.
Donations to the campaign are also welcomed. For more information about the WMW 2000, phone (08) 8269 4357 or write to WMW 2000 C/-WILPF, GPO Box 2094, Adelaide 5001. Visit .