WLOE E-News 20 October 2003:

Women in Bolivia; An International Call for Justice in Mexico; "The Threat to Black Families"; Granny D on the road again…

• Bolivia
  Bolivians’ protests force President out.
  "After a more than a month of intense protests against the exportation of Bolivia's gas to the US through a Chilean port," the pro-US Bolivian president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, was forced from office.
  See a good background article at: http://www.ain.org.bo/updates/Bolivian%20Government%20Falling%20Apart.htm
  Articles and news in Spanish and English: http://bolivia.indymedia.org/en/
  
  Statement from the Mujeres Creanda, Bolivia
  "Mujeres Creando was formed as a feminist struggle movement in solidarity with our people, not as a group of artists for individualist actions or self-promotion, though they without doubt also have their value, but Mujeres Creando is a space for the construction of community, within the global vision of our native people. Since the beginning of the unrest in the city of El Alto on Wednesday 8th, Mujeres Creando as a movement decided to join in the fight and mobilization in the streets, without any self-promotion either by the group or its members, united shoulder to shoulder with the people."
  read full message at: http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/10/279142.html
  
  
• Mexico
  From the international Women in Black network: CALL FOR JUSTICE!!!
  The Day of the Dead * El Día de los Muertos, Saturday, November 1, 2003
  Solemn Procession Mourning the Hundreds of Young Women Murdered and Disappeared In the State of Chihuahua, Mexico since 1993 and supporting their Grieving Families Beginning at 11 AM in front of the OAS, Constitution Ave. and 19th Street, NW Proceeding to the offices of the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights and the Mexican Embassy.
  For information and to receive updates on plans, send your name and email address to:mjaag@wam.umd.edu
  "The hundreds of murders and abductions of young women in Ciudad Juárez, and Chihuahua, Mexico since 1993 are CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY! There is growing concern that the authorities have not investigated these cases effectively. The authorities have repeatedly claimed to have solved these crimes, but the disappearances and murders continue.
  An authoritative report on the situation in Chihuahua state, Mexico regarding the investigations has been published by Amnesty International:
  http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR410272003 (english)
  http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/eslAMR410272003 (spanish)
  "Those advocating for more effective investigation are being threatened and intimidated. One advocacy group in particular, Mujeres de Negro/Justicia para Nuestras Hijas (Women in Black/Justice for our Daughters), has been targeted by the Chihuahua state’s attorney general for investigation as an "accessory to murder." Mujeres de Negro is one of the most effective and vocal of the human rights NGOs to push for more effective investigation..."
  
  
• America
  "The Threat to Black Families":
  Margaret Kimberley writes an important column in the web magazine "Black Commentator" that includes a good analysis of right-wing, social conservative efforts to reach and use African-Americans for their cause: "Conservatives have looked long and hard to find issues that would make their ideology attractive to black people…."
  "In September 2003 the Brookings Institution released the report, Work and Marriage: The Way to End Poverty and Welfare. The first specious premise of the report is that advocates of the poor have spent too much time demanding increases in public assistance funding instead of demanding increases in employment. It is news to me that activists have not asked for full employment. It has been a constant rallying point for progressives for decades. The title of the report also gives away its second premise, that the poor need to get married more often…"
  http://www.blackcommentator.com/60/60_fr_family_pf.html
  Ms. Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City. You can readmore of Ms. Kimberley's writings at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/
  
  Granny D is on the road again
  Elder activist Doris "Granny D" Haddock, 93, is the chairwoman of the "Our Town Votes" project. She walked across the U.S. in 2000 to support cleaner campaigns with fewer strings attached to special interests. She is now leading a voter registration bandwagon is traveling the U.S.. For a map, schedule, and opportunities to help with voter registration see: http://www.GrannyD.com
  "Working women have a hard time voting because of all the demands on their time. I know because I worked for many years in a shoe factory. Those of us who now have some time on our hands can make it a little easier for these hard working, common sense women. If they vote, America will elect good people.
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