{"id":372,"date":"2018-03-08T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/?p=372"},"modified":"2018-03-07T16:17:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T16:17:21","slug":"comment-by-shirley-walters-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/?p=372","title":{"rendered":"Comment by Shirley Walters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shirley Walters comments on the article “Inclusion, diversity and exclusion: Thoughts from within Aswat \u2013 Palestinian Gay Women”<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

ICAE Vice President for Africa, a social justice activist-scholar, based in Cape Town, South Africa.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rima Abboud tells the story of some of the strategies used by her organisation, Aswat, which educates, communicates, advocates and networks on behalf of Palestinian Gay Women.\u00a0 This is difficult in a context where homosexuality is not accepted by the broader society. Aswat members, therefore, are forced to work with great sensitivity, sometimes in subversive, underground ways which protect members\u2019 sexual identities. Many Palestinian lesbians feel very alone and Aswat works to build solidarity amongst them.<\/p>\n

The Arabic language does not have words to describe non-conformist sexual orientations. Also there is prejudice in Arabic literature to any mention of LGBTI+ \u2013 Aswat\u2019s responds by creating the language, or claiming words from history – and challenging the negative stereotypes that exist. This is often done through telling life stories. Illustrating what it means to be lesbian in Palestine through stories can make compelling reading but it also can be difficult.\u00a0 Exposing your sexual orientation is deeply personal and can have personal\/political consequences. There is a tension for those involved between anonymity and exposure.<\/p>\n

Aswat finds strength in networking with other feminists and connecting with organisations struggling for gender, social and economic justice. The work of Aswat is deeply implicated in broader political struggles and has \u2018justice\u2019 and \u2018freedom\u2019 as guiding principles.<\/p>\n

This is a story of an organisation which demonstrates great collective courage in a context which is hostile. It has much to teach others concerned with activism against exclusion and for inclusion and diversity \u2013 which of their strategies resonate with your context?<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

These are the links to the AED 84\/2017 publication in three languages:
\nEnglish<\/a>
\nFran\u00e7ais<\/a>
\nEspa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n

Estos son los links para acceder a la publicaci\u00f3n en tres idiomas:
\nIngl\u00e9s<\/a>
\nFranc\u00e9s<\/a>
\nEspa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n

Voici les liens vers la publication en trois langues:
\nAnglais\u00a0<\/a>
\nFran\u00e7ais<\/a>
\nEspagnol<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow the ICAE Virtual Seminar also\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Para espa\u00f1ol favor usar\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>google translator<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/a>en los casos en que el art\u00edculo no est\u00e1 traducido al espa\u00f1ol<\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\nVeuillez utiliser\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>google translator<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0pour traduire les articles qui ne sont pas en fran\u00e7ais<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shirley Walters comments on the article “Inclusion, diversity and exclusion: Thoughts from within Aswat \u2013 Palestinian Gay Women” ICAE Vice President for Africa, a social justice activist-scholar, based in Cape Town, South Africa. Rima Abboud tells the story of some<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384,"href":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions\/384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualseminar.icae.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}