Amplifying Women’s Voices

Another recurring WAM debate weighed the pros and cons of nonprofit versus capitalist structures for our enterprises. The nonprofit model dominated, as seen in the fact that an entire panel was devoted to fundraising. But even nonprofit advocates urged women to create strong business plans identifying diverse funding streams, pointedly noting that “foundations will not fund revolution.” In a follow-up meeting on funding, Filipina activist Mavic Cabrera- Balleza, Communication Program Officer of Isis International-Manila, noted that grant money for women’s projects is tighter than ever but that feminists could find funders for information and technology projects. 

Women even debated the old question of whether or not to use “feminist” as a descriptor of their projects. The Minnesota Women ’ s Press, a bi-weekly newspaper, is unveiling a new masthead this season, dropping the word “feminist” from its tagline in the hopes of expanding beyond their loyal feminist readership to include less politicized readers. In an editorial announcing the change, editor Editor J. Trout Lowen writes, “We think this change will resonate with young women, many of whom don’t identify as feminists first and foremost. Many of them have told us they see themselves and their lives as bigger, bolder and more complex that any single label.… Sadly, we must also admit that…there are some women who share the feminist values of equality and justice for women worldwide who don’t feel comfortable sharing our feminist identity. We hope they find kinship in our independent spirit,” as expressed in the new tagline “Independent news of independent women.” 

The paper is funded largely through advertising by Minneapolis-Saint Paul women’s businesses. Lowen, in a follow-up posting to the Women and Media listserv, used the recent editorial change at Ms. Magazine to reflect on the economics and politics at the heart of “inside/outside” debates in whatever movements and contexts feminists and other social change agents face, “Can we afford to talk only to those who think just like us?” 

Advocacy aimed at pressuring mainstream media to more fully represent and include the perspectives of women and other mar- ginalized communities was another prominent theme at the conference. In one workshop entitled “Root Causes, Our Cures: Women’s Activism for Media Justice and Reform,” women detailed today’s mainstream media mess and discussed the problem’s roots in capitalism and the structures of oppression which limit people’s ability to challenge the mainstream and create alternatives. 

Inja Coates, one of the workshop leaders and director of Media Tank, described the work of the Philadelphia Grassroots Cable Coalition to hold Comcast and other cable companies accountable for their legally mandated support of public access resources. Noting communication is recognized by the UN as a human right, the Philadelphia coalition is remarkable for the diversity of its constituents including welfare rights, labor, and consumer advocates—such as the Kensington Welfare Rights Organization, Communications Workers of America, and PIRG. The Coalition has issued a Code of Conduct that calls on Comcast to set an example for smaller cable companies by adopting public interest positions in areas such as consumer pricing, customer service, worker rights, community access TV, and open access internet. 

Jill Nelson, freelance journalist and author of Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience , gave a well-received keynote address slamming mainstream media’s capitulation to Bush administration deception. Citing a friend’s decision to withdraw her commentary from NPR when a producer challenged her contention that Bush is a liar, Nelson urged those of her audience who work in the mainstream to be prepared to find other ways to make a living rather than submit to political whitewashing. Neither did she hold out any hope for change under a potential Democratic president in 2008. The Democrats are “losers” and the system is “broken,” she declared. Even if someone with the personal and political integrity of South African Nelson Mandela were somehow to win the U.S. presidency, Nelson noted that no one person would be able to fix the chaos that has become our national predicament.

Nelson, an African American, characterized the years of the George W. Bush administration as a time when more and more people have become “niggerized.” Referring to 9/11 as an event that taught white men what it is to know fear, Nelson welcomed into the “niggerized” community those women who have not experienced the fear that people of color, gays, and poor people have lived with for all or most of their lives. Nelson urged white women to “anticipate the higher price that people of color pay for speaking out radically” and act in a solidarity informed by close scrutiny of white supremacy and white privilege. 

Nelson’s admonition to build a “human cloak of fearlessness” and to create our own media resonated with the crowd. From blogs to news wires to newspapers to op-eds, women strategized the multiple ways to increase the power of feminist opinion and institutions. 

ColorLines senior writer Daisy Hernandez led the closing strategy session of the conference. Urging feminist writers to understand that journalism is the work of community, she listed several insights she credited to her mother. Among others was “la que sabé, sabé,” (the one who knows, knows) which Hernandez elaborated to mean get the grassroots story, find out what people are talking about on the bus, and know what’s happening on the block. 

WAM organizing committee member and Beacon Press editor Gayatri Patnaik noted she was “so completely taken with the conference” after attending the inaugural WAM in 2004, that she eagerly joined the organizing committee with the goal of seeing women of color participating more in the 2005 conference. Noting presentations by radio activists Sonali Kol- hatkar and Deepa Fernandes, journalists Daisy Hernandez and Jill Nelson, and book publisher Jill Petty, among many other women of color, Patnaik felt that the goal had been “absolutely achieved.” 

Argentinian American Rita Arditi echoed the sense of determination that was palpable throughout the weekend when she recounted a saying by one of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo: “La unica lucha que se pierde es la que se abandona” (“the only struggle you lose is the one you abandon”). Judging from the huge burst of postings to the WAM listserv after the conference, the energy harnessed by WAM is being put to good use.