by Nina Somera

Editor’s Note: Gigi Francisco is the newly appointed Global Coordinator of the Development Alternatives for Women in the New Era (DAWN). She is also the Chair of the International Studies Department of Miriam College in the Philippines. Isis gets up close and personal with Gigi Francisco to learn her thoughts on DOHA, Southern feminism, Obama, sex, love and much more. Below are excerpts of the interview. You may see the full text down below.

Achievements of DOHA
Governments could have been more decisive towards alternative economic governance systems where finance capitalism can be disciplined but they elected not to do so.

Expectations from the victory of Barack Obama
I don't think there will be a major shift in terms of a radical rupture from the political support of the United States for trade liberalisation as well as for the use of weapons and its own military clout for pushing the multilateral system towards a particular direction of its own choice.

Within the United Nations, I foresee the Obama administration [to be] open to more agreements, moving more closely towards the EU, being less stringent, arrogant, isolationist, self-protected government that the Bush administration had projected itself to be. .

Highlights of the recent AWID forum
The AWID has emerged as an important venue where one could go and step in to this site and feel that one is part of a diverse women's space. Such a feeling is very much akin to the spirit generated by Beijing and much of the women conferences of the ‘80s and ‘90s when the UN space was the sunshine space for everyone who was concerned with women’s rights and gender equality.

In that sense, AWID forum had certainly filled a vacuum. But the site itself is full of challenges. It is up to different women's groups and networks to creatively address these challenges.

The future of Southern feminisms
In a period of globalisation, our two-pronged strategy of externally promoting and advancing a South feminist critique and search for alternatives as well as our internal agenda of nurturing South feminist movements and perspectives have to be addressed together and in a simultaneous and interlinked way.

The role of young feminists
The fact that young people are now challenging the old is part of the natural order of things. And there are also young people who have in the recent past, developed more quickly their skills and capacities and are now more knowledgeable and informed about politics and about how to engage in politics which is more important. I see this as a product of critical thinking, of praxis, of contradictions and synthesis. I see this as one big important thread that keeps the movements alive. If movements are not able to shift their orientation and pass on leadership in an inter-generational way, then there is no future for that movement.

The politics of LGBT
One of the more vibrant movements that have emerged in the last few years is really the LGBT movement. While it was actively supported by feminists and women’s rights organisations, in the end raised very strong critiques against women’s and feminist movements. And I think this is healthy. It is not just about wanting to create one’s own comfort zone but this is really about a challenge to perspectives, how we understand the construction of our identities, our bodies, our sexualities and our humanity.

Thoughts on sex
Sex is like coffee. I looooove coffee. I drink it as much as I can.

Thoughts on love
I have loved many men and women in a romantic way. And I have loved many more women as my comrades, colleagues, beloved sisters in the feminist movement, as my loving friends, members of my extended family and as feminist protagonists. I have loved many many women.

Plans for DAWN
I don’t have any plans for DAWN. As the global coordinator, I am bound to a collective process in DAWN. DAWN is not about the global coordinator. We are about DAWN, a group of women. I can never imagine DAWN being just a single individual.

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