Action Alert: Protest Denial Of U.S. Visa For Transgender Activist Silvia Martinez

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Nov 052009
 

Via Madre (see below for a link to take action):

On November 3, just a week before she was supposed to speak before audiences in the US about her work for sexual rights in Nicaragua, activist Silvia Martinez of the Trans Network of Nicaragua (REDTRANS) was denied a travel visa by the US embassy.

This decision came as a shock for several reasons:

- Silvia has been issued visas by other countries in the past. In 2007, she traveled to Panama to present recommendations of the LBTTTGI community to government representatives attending a session of the Organization of American States.

- She has an invitation through MADRE, a leading 26-year-old women’s human rights organization. MADRE has brought activists from around the world to speak in the US on previous occasions without a problem.

- She is firmly rooted in her community in Nicaragua and holds an important position in an organization (REDTRANS) that depends on her work in Nicaragua. There is no reason for her to give this up in order to live in a far less desirable situation in this country, away from her network of friends and allies.
Yet no member of the consulate even bothered to call MADRE to verify these facts.

Silvia clearly meets the above criteria that the US Department of State commonly uses to determine visa eligibility. The denial of this visa fits a broader pattern of the US embassy systematically rejecting visa applications from transgender people.

This discrimination constitutes a violation of internationally recognized human rights, which the US is obligated to uphold.

On a personal note, this is a huge disappointment because Martinez was planning to deliver a keynote lecture at the University of Louisville and many in the Louisville community were looking forward to meeting her and attending her lecture.  Please take a moment and click here to send a letter to the Consular Section of the US Embassy in Nicaragua.

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 Posted by Fempeace on November 5, 2009

Please Donate To Help Sexual Assault Victims In American Samoa In The Aftermath Of The Recent Tsunami

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Oct 082009
 

As the Pacific rim continues to be pounded by typhoons and earthquakes, it is important to remember that women in those regions need support in specific ways that are almost always inadequately addressed by the usual aid programs.  In particular, programs for sexual assault providers need additional help during this time when women are particularly vulnerable.  the Pennsylvania Coaltion Against Rape has set up a fund to specifically help victims in American Samoa.  You can learn more about it and donate here.

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 Posted by Fempeace on October 8, 2009

We Need An Exit Strategy For Afghanistan NOW

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Sep 142009
 

The Feminist Peace Network is participating in a week-long effort to demand an exit strategy for Afghanistan.  While certainly believing that there should be accountability for the bombing of the World Trade Center and the many lives that were lost that day, the Afghan people were not responsible for what happened and the United States’ unending campaign to destroy Afghanistan that has cost so many Afghan lives has clearly failed to destroy the Taliban and is unsupportable and needs to end.

As this blog has pointed out countless times, despite the use of the human rights of women in Afghanistan as part of the justification for our actions, the lives of Afghan women remain at extreme peril and the continuing militarism only exacerbates the everyday dangers that  they face.  It is time not only to get out but to substantively provide the Afghan people and especially Afghan women with the means to rebuild their country.  Doing so would make us all much safer.

Tom Engelhardt has put together an outstanding compendium of the true costs of the Afghan war, here are a few of those numbers:

  • Annual funding for U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan, 2009: $60.2 billion.
  • Total funds for U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan, 2002-2009: $228.2 billion.
  • Funds spent since 2001 on Afghan “reconstruction”: $38 billion (“more than half of it on training and equipping Afghan security forces”).
  • Percentage of U.S. funding in Afghanistan that has gone for military purposes: Nearly 90%.
  • Cost of the latest upgrade of Bagram Air Base (an old Soviet base that has become the largest American base in Afghanistan): $220 million.
  • Cost of a single recent Pentagon contract to DynCorp International Inc. and Fluor Corporation “to build and support U.S. military bases throughout Afghanistan”: up to $15 billion.
  • U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, 2002: 5,200.
  • Expected U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, December 2009: 68,000.

I highly recommend reading the list in its entirety on Tom’s site.

What can YOU do?  First of all  call or write to the President and your elected representatives and tell them you want out now.  Secondly, if you can, please consider making a donation to help the women of Afghanistan to any of the follow organizations:

RAWA

Afghan Women’s Mission (U.S. charity that supports RAWA)

MADRE’s Afghan Women’s Survival Fund

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 Posted by Fempeace on September 14, 2009

Insurance Companies Consider Domestic Violence A Pre-Existing Condition

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Sep 122009
 

In the very low blow department–As I’ve pointed out before, the current system of health insurance in this country is hugely discriminatory against women, but what I somehow missed until today is that health insurance can be  denied to victims of domestic violence in nine states and the District of Columbia because domestic violence is considered a pre-existing condition! No this isn’t a Granny Death Panel type rumor, it comes straight from a website run by the oh-so-radical Department of Health and Human Services.

As the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) blog puts it, “Words cannot describe the sheer inhumanity of this claim.”

If you are as angry about this as I am, please immediately let your elected officials know via the SEIU site.

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 Posted by Fempeace on September 12, 2009

The Girls’ Guide To The Economy Part 22–We Bail Out Banks But Bail On Victims Of Domestic Violence

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Jul 292009
 

The relationship between economic difficulties and domestic violence has been discussed here numerous times before (explaining in large part why we are at Part 22 of this series) and this is the latest unfortunate tangible proof of that connection.  Via Stop Family Violence:

Governor Schwarzenegger line item vetoed the Department of Public Health’s Domestic Violence Program, which provides $20.4 million for 94 domestic violence shelters and centers.

Domestic violence shelters are often the only thing standing between victims and grave physical danger, and California’s communities cannot sustain their loss.

Services provided by these agencies include emergency shelter, transitional housing, legal advocacy, assistance with restraining orders, counseling and other vital support services.

“We are appalled to see the Governor eliminate funding to vital programs that save lives,” said Tara Shabazz, Executive Director of The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (CPEDV). “State funding to domestic violence programs has been proven to save lives, and also millions of dollars in health care, law enforcement and other social costs. It is fiscally irresponsible to propose such cuts; the Governor is balancing the budget on the backs of our state’s most vulnerable citizens.”

“If the Governor’s budget cuts are allowed to stand, victims will not have a place to turn for help and lives will inevitably be lost.”

If you live in California, click here to take action!

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 Posted by Fempeace on July 29, 2009
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