by Lilian and Betania of the Feminist Dialogs.
(summary translation of the interview)

On the question what was her impression of this WSF, Lilian Celiberti responded:
This forum had two very contradictory faces. On one side there is the strong and very active African Participation, many women, youth and other organizations.
And on the other side there is the very poor logistical organization. A dialog needs certain preconditions such as venues and translation. Otherwise it is impossible to share, exchange and enrich each other. To organize a WSF means to provide the space that the different struggles of the world can come together. These preconditions were not given in this WSF.

I asked Betania about her impression of the Feminist Dialogs and what was the outcome:

Betania: It was a huge challenge to organize Feminist Dialogs under these difficult circumstances. We did not have a venue and went from place to place until we could finally tart the dialogs. On the way we lost many participants and some speakers. The outcome at the end was all the same interesting. All speakers were given the question, what they are doing against the structural oppression of women, such as gender based division of work, sexuality, religious dominance and power structures within the feminist movement. It resulted in a very interesting discussion from different perspectives and experiences. But the circumstances did not allow to elaborate proposals for the future collaboration. In other words as before the forum the organizations of the FD have to continue the discussions via internet.

With regard to the assembly of the women's organizations Lilian said:
This morning the declaration of the women's organizations was presented. During the last WSF in Belem, Brazil the assembly of the women's organizations was one of the highlights. The declaration is very comprehensive. But we were missing the issue of reproductive work of women. I feel the declaration made to much reference to international conventions and UN-Resolutions. May be this is an expression of the variation of the feminist struggles in different continents. In Africa there are a lot of tensions, conflicts with traditions and many wars.
The main issue here was wether we mention certain struggles in the declaration or not and power structures became obvious. The Saharoui women of the Polisario experienced repression during the entire forum. Every event that talked about the occupation of the West-Sahara by Morocco was sabotaged by Moroccan participants of the WSF and at the assembly of the women's organizations we experienced the peak of this sabotage.  This conflict made a democratic and participatory process impossible. We from the FD were not even able to speak. We need to learn to manage this kind of conflicts within the women's movement. It shows that there are issues that we have not yet discussed thoroughly. The struggle of the Saharoui people might look like a small detail in the declaration. But it is a question of respect for all struggles. That every people has a right to its country. If we mention the struggle of the Palestinian people we also have to talk about the Saharoui people.

I asked Betania, if she feels the assembly of the women's organizations here was a set back compared to the assembly at the last WSF in Belem?
Betania: I do not think that we can compare, as we have to see each assembly in its social contexts and the history. Here the armed conflicts are very present. While there were hardly any participants from Africa in Belem. It is extremely important that many people from Africa participated in this WSF. Unfortunately the domination over a minority population characterized this women's assembly. Terrible was also the threatening behavior of some men who opposed to the democratic decision to express solidarity with the Saharoui women  in the declaration. The strong presence of patriarchy at the women's assembly was disgusting.

Lilian said it is important now to look at the future:
Lilian: The individual WSF is a moment in a long process. The experiences, the exchanges, the contacts enable us to develop and deepen the debates. We need to recognize that colonization continues in the divisions that we experience in different parts of the world. How can we establish direct links between Latin American and African women. How can we develop collective thinking. Those are challenges for the next forum. This experience teaches us that we need to pay more attention to the struggles in this continent and strengthen our solidarity with the African women.

Interview and translation by Bianca Miglioretto