Isis International Manila is organising the Panel Presentation "Globalised Media and ICT Systems and its Intersection with Globalisation, Fundamentalism and Militarism" as part of its active engagement in the WSIS process. The Panel Presentation will be conducted within the parallel WSIS space booked by the NGO Gender Strategies Working Group (NGO GSWG) on 10 December 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Since 2002, Isis consistently lobbied for the inclusion of the Southern women perspective in drafting the two major WSIS documents, the Draft Declaration and Action Plan, which will soon be adopted in the first phase of the Summit in December 2003. A number of NGOs have also tried to influence the processes and put forward their issues that range from free and open source software to freedom of the press, from internet governance to network security. However, such lobbying and advocacy efforts of NGOs and other civil society organisations have not created as much impact due to the following: the increased pressure from private sector and some governments; the apparent lack of information and interest on the impact of WSIS in the current global political and economic discourse, as evident in the relative silence of more progressive social movements from the South in WSIS; and the lack of financial support available to NGOs, peoples organisations, and other civil society groups to participate in the WSIS process.

The overall objective of the Panel Presentation is to facilitate the participation of feminist communicators representing various groups from the South to contribute in the discourse of emerging and cutting-edge issues such as globalised media and ICT systems, globalisation, fundamentalisms and militarisms. By examining the interrelationship of these issues through a panel discussion, Isis hopes to contribute in the analysis of today's global information and communication order. At the same time, Isis aims to incorporate a geopolitical and Southern feminist perspective in the analyses of the alternatives to media and ICT systems and structures put forward by women's networks and social justice movements.

Specifically, this activity aims to:

• facilitate and create a venue for more women activists from the South to present their positions and raise their concerns on critical issues related to gender and the new information and communication technologies within the WSIS context and beyond;
• provide a critique of the prevalent framework of analysis and present an alternative analytical framework to the various ideas being deliberated upon in WSIS, especially on the notion of empowerment, access, affective use of the new information and communication technologies, information society, and global commons.

The Panel presenters will be composed of feminist communicators from the South who are actively engaged in networking, communication and information work in their respective regions/countries.

The presentation and discussion will focus on the following topics: Impact of Globalised Media and ICT Systems and Structures in the South; The Role of Media and ICT in Globalisation, Fundamentalisms and Militarism; Effective Communication Tools and Channels Used by Women's Groups in the South; WSIS: Gains, Losses and Challenges in the Future.